Scaffold guided breast tissue regeneration (SGBTR) can both transform reconstructive and cosmetic breast surgery. Implant-based surgery is the most common method. However, there are inherent limitations as there is replacement of tissue rather than regeneration. Regenerating autologous soft tissue has the potential to provide a more like-for-like reconstruction with minimal morbidity. Our SGBTR approach regenerates soft tissue by implanting additively manufactured bioresorbable scaffolds filled with autologous fat graft. A pre-clinical large animal study was conducted implanting 100 ml breast scaffolds (n=55) made from medical-grade polycaprolactone in 11 minipigs for 12 months. Various treatment groups were investigated where immediate or delayed autologous fat graft, as well as platelet rich plasma were added to scaffolds. Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging was performed on explanted scaffolds to determine volume and distribution of regenerated tissue. Histological analysis was performed to confirm tissue type. At 12 months we were able to regenerate and sustain a mean soft tissue volume of 60.9 4.5 ml (95% CI) across all treatment groups. There was no evidence of capsule formation. There were no immediate or long-term post-operative complications. In conclusion, we were able to regenerate clinically relevant soft tissue volumes utilizing SGBTR in a pre-clinical large animal model.

Precise classification of sarcomas is crucial to drive optimal clinical management. In this prospective, multicenter, observational study within the Hellenic Group of Sarcoma and Rare Cancers (HGSRC) we assessed the effect of expert pathology review, coupled with the application of molecular diagnostics, on diagnosis and management of sarcoma patients. Newly diagnosed sarcoma patients were addressed by their physicians to one of the two sarcoma pathologists of HGSRC for histopathological diagnostic assessment. RNA next-generation sequencing was per-formed to all samples, using a platform targeting 86 sarcoma gene fusions. Additional molecular methods were performed on the opinion of the expert pathologist. Therefore, the expert pathologist provided a final diagnosis based on the histopathological findings and, when necessary on molecular tests. In total, 128 specimens from 122 patients were assessed. Among the 119 cases in which there was a preliminary diagnosis by a non-sarcoma pathologist, there were 37 modifications in diagnosis (31.1%) by the sarcoma pathologist, resulting in 17 (14.2%) modifications in management. Among the 110 cases in which molecular tests were performed, there were 29 modifications in diagnosis (26.4%) through the genomic results, resulting in 12 (10.9%) modifications in management. Our study confirms that expert pathology review is of utmost importance for the optimal sarcoma diagnosis and management and should be assisted by molecular methods in selected cases.

Intraoperative load sensors have been developed with the aim of balancing the soft tissue in the knee during Total Knee Replacements (TKRs). Literature has shown success in soft tissue bal-ancing however, concerns regarding the accuracy of these sensors remain. For this reason, pre-vious research has attempted to create robust sensors for intraoperative use. The design of the sensor in this research has aimed to address the concerns outlined in the literature to create a new and novel smart-sensor for soft-tissue balancing. This new intraoperative load sensor included design features to increase accuracy while artificial intelligence allowed for comprehensive sensing across the entirety of the sensor, providing unparalleled insight during the operation. Notably, the sensor was designed to withstand loads of at least 450 N, ensuring robust perfor-mance of the sensor. To optimize the design process while minimizing cost, Finite Element Analysis was employed. This approach ensured the design features fulfilled their function while maintaining structural integrity to withstand loads. Moreover, the novelty of using training data from simulated data will reduce the iterative process of the labor-intensive collection of training data for the artificial intelligence while reducing human error associated with it. Results from the evaluation demonstrated the ability of this design to successfully bridge the current gap in the market by fulfilling all essential design criteria established within the literature. This innovative smart-sensing tool will in turn enhance patient outcomes and alleviate financial burdens to pa-tients and the healthcare systems by reducing the need for early revision surgeries associated with improper joint tension.

Seeing atomic configuration of single organic nanoparticles at sub-Å spatial resolution by transmission electron microscopy has been so far prevented by the high sensitivity of soft matter to radiation damage. The difficulty is related to the need to irradiate the particle with a total dose of few electrons/Å2, not compatible with the electron beam density necessary to search the low-contrast nanoparticle, to control its drift, to finely adjust the electro-optical conditions and particle orientation, and to finally acquire an effective atomic resolution image. On the other hand, the capability to study individual pristine nanoparticles, such as proteins, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and polymers, with peculiar sensitivity to the variation of the local structure, defects, and strain, would provide advancements in many fields, including materials science, medicine, biology, and pharmacology. Here we report direct sub-ångström resolution imaging at room temperature of pristine unstained crystalline polymer-based nanoparticles. This result is obtained by combining low-dose in-line electron holography and phase-contrast imaging on state-of-the-art equipment, providing an effective tool for the quantitative sub-angstrom imaging of soft matter.

Amylose content (AC) stands as a pivotal determinant of rice grain quality, primarily governed by the Waxy gene (Wx), with its allelic diversity significantly influencing AC variation. In the current culinary landscape, soft rice varieties, known for their low AC and superior palatability, are particularly sought after by consumers. Notably, many soft japonica rice varieties cultivated in southern China, including the Nangeng series, are characterized by the presence of the Wxmp allele, derived from the ancestral Wxmq allele. While both alleles are associated with reduced AC, there remains a paucity of detailed understanding regarding the interplay between specific functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within these alleles and the overarching rice grain quality. Employing site-directed mutagenesis, we engineered three distinct transgenic rice lines, each harboring either the Wxmp, Wxmq, or Wxb-5c alleles, against the background of the glutinous rice cultivar Nip(wx). This suite of transgenic rice showcased a gradation ingrain transparency inversely correlated to AC, delineating a sequence from Wxmq, signifying the lowest, through Wxmp, to Wxb-5c, indicating the highest. Consequently, this gradation in AC precipitated variations in other rice grain physicochemical attributes, such as the taste value of cooked rice, gel consistency (GC), and starch pasting properties. Furthermore, analyses of gene expression and enzyme activity revealed that the functional SNPs, Ex4-53G/A and Ex5-53T/C, lead to a decline in the GBSSI enzyme activity without affecting expression levels. These findings underscore the potential of harnessing these SNPs in breeding programs aimed at developing soft rice varieties endowed with enhanced culinary qualities.

This research investigates the alignment of soft power and institutional skills in Montenegro's journey towards accession to the European Union (EU), with a particular focus on the environmental sector. An online survey targeting individuals employed in state institutions directly engaged in negotiation processes, notably the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism and the Agency for Nature and Environmental Protection, was conducted. The research conducted an online survey, distributed before and after the summer recess to accommodate the transition of power following parliamentary elections, aimed at assessing the effectiveness of current personnel and identifying areas for improvement in staffing and negotiation strategies within Montenegro's environmental sector. Employing diverse methodologies, the survey's analysis delved into the demographic, social, and professional backgrounds of respondents. It explored their roles within institutions, involvement in environmental negotiations, and possession of relevant skills and expertise. Furthermore, respondents' knowledge of environmental issues, legislation, and challenges facing the country was assessed to gauge institutional capacity for environmental governance. Demographic data, including gender, age, education and regional origin, were collected to understand gender-specific attitudes and regional disparities in environmental perspectives. The sample of 84 individuals, comprising executives and employees from both institutions, provided insights into the age structure and regional diversity of personnel involved in negotiation tasks for Chapter 27. The selection of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism and the Agency for Nature and Environmental Protection reflects their pivotal roles in shaping Montenegro's environmental policies and addressing climate change challenges. This study aims to illuminate the dynamics of environmental governance within Montenegro's state administration, contributing to the country's path towards EU accession. The research findings highlight the critical need for Montenegro to prioritize strategic initiatives in personnel management, skill development, and institutional capacity-building within its environmental sector. The implications of this research extend beyond academia to inform policymaking and societal action, emphasizing the urgency for Montenegro to bolster its environmental sector capabilities, fostering both EU alignment and sustainable governance practices for the benefit of present and future generations.

Proteins have the ability to adsorb on the surface of materials, such as soft contact lenses (SCLs), and can affect the hydrophobicity, roughness and surface properties of the contact lenses (CLs), which, in turn, can influence the friction between the lenses and the ocular surface. Excessive friction between contact lenses and the ocular surface can lead to discomfort for the wearer and may cause irritation or inflammation of the cornea, better known as corneal ulcers (keratitis). Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is often used as a standard protein in biocompatibility testing of materials, including contact lenses. One standard commercial contact lenses was tested under lubricated conditions to access the coefficient of friction (CoF), being the contact lubricated with a tear like fluid (TLF) solution containing six different concentrations of BSA. In all cases, a good linearity of the results of the friction force was verified, so the first friction law can be applied to determine the value of the coefficient of friction. It was found that friction increases with increasing protein concentration.

The rehabilitation of the road embankments alongside the irrigation canal, which is constructed on a Bangkok soft clay foundation, has resulted from land use growth for several decades. As a result, the embankment is always confronted with the problem of instability. Numerous articles have demonstrated that rapid drawdown of the water level in the canal could be one of the most significant reasons, whereas vehicle cyclic loading may potentially contribute to some effect of the embankment failure. To explore and assess the effects of the influence factors, the finite element method (FEM) and conventional and dynamic triaxial approaches were employed. The study also investigated the consequences of varying thicknesses of soft clay and cyclic loading with different magnitudes and frequencies. Consequently, cyclic loading can lead to an augmentation in strain distribution and excess pore water pressure. Likewise, more significant deformation and excess pore water pressure were induced by a lower frequency and deeper thickness of soft clay compared to a higher frequency and thinner thickness. In brief, vehicle repetitive loading is one of the primary factors contributing to embankment failure, with the threshold stress being approximately three-fourths of the undrained shear strength. In contrast, threshold strain is approximately one to two-fold of the monotonic strain condition.

Droplet-based microfluidics has revolutionized numerous fields such as biomedical research, pharmaceuticals, drug discovery, food engineering, flow chemistry, and cosmetics. This paper presents a comprehensive study focusing on the detection and characterization of droplets with volumes in the nanoliter range. Leveraging the precise control of minute liquid volumes, we introduced a novel spectroscopic On-Chip microsensor equipped with integrated microfluidic channels for droplet generation, characterization, and sensing, simultaneously. The microsensor, designed with Interdigitated-Ring-Shaped Electrodes (IRSE) and seamlessly integrated with microfluidic channels, offers enhanced capacitance and impedance signal amplitudes, reproducibility, and reliability in droplet analysis. We were able to make analyses of droplets length in the range 1.0-6.0 mm, velocity 0.66-2.51 mm/s, droplet volume 1.07nL-113.46nL. Experimental results demonstrated that the microsensor's has a great performance in terms of droplet size, velocity, and length, with a significant signal amplitude of capacitance and impedance, and real-time detection capabilities, thereby highlighting its potential for facilitating microcapsule reactions and enabling on-site real-time detection for chemical and biosensor analyses on-chip.

We analyze whether the central banks of a selected sample of emerging economies respond to exchange rate movements. We use economies that are inflation targters and exporters of a limited number of commodities. The latter renders them vulnerable to terms of trade shocks. The sample comprises Brazil, the Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa. We also investigate the role played by the terms of trade in explaining their business cycles. We estimate, for each economy separately and using Bayesian techniques, a regime switching open new Keynesian model. This model allows the parameters of the policy rule and the structural shocks to switch between periods of low and high regimes. We perform posterior simulation and find that, when compared to a constant parameters model, the regime switching fits the data better. The results indicate that, in some periods, the different economies respond strongly to exchange rate, while in others, some respond weakly. A terms of trade improvement leads to a currency appreciation. However, this is reversed for those economies that respond strongly to exchange rate movements. This leads to a rise in output and inflation even for economies that do not respond strongly but play a major role in international trade. This is the case of Russia. The terms of trade are found to play a major rule in explaining business cycles in emerging economies. Thus, although these economies follow an inflation targeting framework, they may set their respective policy rate in a manner to take into account exchange rate developments. This insulates themselves against adverse terms of trade shocks.

The article presents several innovative systems developed through student laboratory projects, including two autonomous vehicles, a four-legged walking robot, an active ankle-foot orthosis, a ball on beam balancing mechanism, a ball on plate system, and a manipulator arm—all powered by pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs). Fluidic muscles offer significant potential in various mechatronic systems, robots, and manipulators due to their flexible, lightweight nature and compliance. Their ability to produce smooth and adaptable motions is particularly beneficial in applications requiring natural and human-like movement, such as rehabilitation and assistive devices. Although PAMs powered control systems face challenges with nonlinear phenomena, their biologically inspired design holds promise for future applications across various industries. These may include innovative applicability in industrial, automotive, and aerospace sectors, as well as use in sports, medical aids, entertainment, and animatronics. Incorporating self-made laboratory systems actuated by PAMs into control systems education offers a comprehensive learning opportunity that combines theoretical concepts with hands-on experience. This approach develops the necessary skills of future engineers, expanding their understanding of technical principles and preparing them for future challenges in engineering practice.

In the present study. At first, some properties of r-fuzzy soft β-closed sets are introduced on fuzzy soft topological spaces based on the paper Aygunoglu et al. (Hacet. J. Math. Stat. 2014, 43, 193-208). Also, we define the closure and interior operators with respect to the classes of r-fuzzy soft β-closed and r-fuzzy soft β-open sets, and investigate some of their properties. In addition, the concept of r-fuzzy soft β-connected sets is introduced and characterized with help of fuzzy soft β-closure operators. Thereafter, some properties of a fuzzy soft β-continuity are studied. Furthermore, we introduce and study the concepts of fuzzy soft almost (weakly) β-continuous functions, which are weaker forms of a fuzzy soft β-continuity. Also, the relationships between these classes of functions are specified with the help of some illustrative examples. Finally, we explore new types of fuzzy soft functions called, fuzzy soft β-irresolute (strongly β-irresolute, β-irresolute open, β-irresolute closed and β-irresolute homeomorphism) functions, and discuss some properties of them. Also, we show that fuzzy soft strongly β-irresolute → fuzzy soft β-irresolute → fuzzy soft β-continuity, but the converse may not be true.

Comprehensively understanding the spatial ecology and habitat preferences of endangered species is essential for population restoration and conservation. We investigated the home range and movement of the endangered Amur soft-shell turtle (Pelodiscus maackii) in the Ussuri River, Heilongjiang Province, Northeastern China. The study involved tracking 19 Amur soft-shell turtles from late June to mid-October, 2022, resulting in complete and partial home range size data for eight subadults and two adults, respectively. The primary analysis focused on eight subadults, and the models that best described daily movement were identified. We also explored the potential factors influencing home range size. Mean movement rate ranged from 39.18 ± 20.04 m to 72.45 ± 29.36 m and was positively correlated with the linear home range and water temperature. The most insightful home range estimate was a 95% kernel density estimate, employing likelihood cross-validation smoothing with constraints set to the river boundaries. The mean home range size was 1.02 ha and was not correlated with body size. Subadults tended to establish well-defined home ranges over time; whereas, defining home ranges for adults proved challenging. This research addresses a gap regarding the ecology of the Amur soft-shell turtle and provides a foundation for future conservation plans.

The rapid retreat of coastal cliffs poses a profound risk to property, transport infrastructure and public safety both in Ireland and globally. This study combines historical data (maps and orthophotos, 1842 to 2000) with contemporary UAV surveys (2019 to 2023) to quantify cliff top and cliff face retreat along a 250 m wide coastal drumlin at Silverstrand in Galway Bay, Ireland. Retreat rates for the cliff top and cliff face were calculated using 2D mapping and 3D modelling, respectively. Critically, the choice of method appears to have a major impact on apparent rates of cliff top retreat, with output from the 2D mapping approach (0.14 +/- 0.02 m yr-1) being double that of the 3D modelling approach (0.08 +/- 0.02 m year-1). The aperiodic development of a talus cone, which offers temporary protection to the cliff from storm waves, also influences the estimation of cliff retreat. The repeat cycles of talus slope formation and removal in this high wave energy climate suggest that the drumlin transitions between a periodically transport-limited system and supply limited system over short- and long-time periods, respectively, on the continuum of cliff types. These results warrant further research to identify and quantify the rates, patterns, drivers (marine and subaerial processes), and timing of cliff retreat rates in response to climate change.

Abstract—Hydraulic switching actuators are high efficiency, fast response, and low cost solutions for hydraulic control systems. One of the challenging problems is throttling losses during valve transitions. Previously the authors proposed a zero-flowrate switching method to reduce throttling energy loss of the switching valve, where a hydraulic resonator is applied to make the flowrates through the lines approaching zero before the valves are switched off. The major challenge of this approach is fast switching valves whose transition times are less than 2 ms. In this paper, an improved zero-flowrate switching method is presented. It utilizes the capacity with independent inlet/outlet ports to regulate flowrates through the lines. Models of capacity applied in a simple line with different pressure signals are developed to explore characteristics of the capacity, based on which a complete actuation system is developed. In the complete model, resistance and inductance are optimized to achieve desired flowrate response. The improved zero-flowrate switching method reduces throttling energy losses by 99.945% compared to a hard switching system. The simulation results demonstrated that the improved zero-flowrate switching method performs as expected in the design condition. A capacity with proper volume is able to regulate flowrates through all the lines to zero, with the help of appropriate resistance and inductance. Compared to previous zero-flowrate switching method, the novel strategy allows slower switching valves applied in hydraulic actuation systems and achieves better efficiency performance. This research paves a new avenue for reducing throttling energy losses and improves system efficiency in hydraulic switching actuators, as well as most of the hydraulic switch-mode circuits.

Two polyurethanes (PUs) were similarly synthesized by reacting a cycloaliphatic isocyanate with 1,4 butanediol and two polyols of different nature (polyester, polycarbonate diol) with molecular weights of 1000 Da. The PU made with polycarbonate diol polyol (YCD) was the only showing intrinsic self-healing at 20 °C. For assessing the mechanism of intrinsic self-healing of YCD, a structural characterization by molecular weights determination, infrared and X-ray photoelectronic spectroscopies, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, thermal gravimetric analysis and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis was carried out. It was concluded that the self-healing at 20 °C of YCD was due to non-covalent dynamic exchange interactions among the carbonate groups of the soft segments. Therefore, the chemical nature of the polyol played a key role in developing PUs with intrinsic self-healing at 20 °C.

Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and induced acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) represent one of the greatest health burdens worldwide. The complex pathophysiological pathways that link highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and HIV infection per se with dyslipidemia make the management of lipid disorders and the subsequent increase in cardiovascular risk essential for the treatment of people living with HIV (PLHIV). Amongst the HAART regimens, darunavir and atazanavir in terms of protease inhibitors, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, nevirapine or rilpivirine in terms of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors respectively, and especially integrase inhibitors, have demonstrated the most favorable lipid profile emerging as sustainable options in HAART substitution. To this day, statins remain the cornerstone pharmacotherapy for dyslipidemia in PLHIV, although important drug-drug interactions with different HAART agents should be taken into account upon treatment initiation. For those intolerant or not meeting therapeutic goals, the addition of ezetimibe, PCSK9, bempedoic acid, fibrates or fish oils should also be considered. This review summarizes the current literature on the multifactorial etiology and intricate pathophysiology of hyperlipidemia in PLHIV, with an emphasis on the role of different HAART agents, while also providing valuable insights into potential switching strategies and therapeutic options.

We compare two methods for creating a microfluidic device from an initial positive master with the same surface relief as the final device. The first method uses urethane or epoxy resin to create an intermediate master for PDMS casting. This method has a very low failure rate but a longer processing time. The second method utilizes PDMS double casting where the intermediate master is passivated PDMS. This method has a higher failure rate but a significantly shorter processing time. Detailed methodology for both methods is included along with a comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of each method. The resin intermediate is a simpler method while PDMS double casting is faster and more scalable. Ultimately it is found that PDMS double casting is preferable in most situations.

We prove an analog of the removable singularity theorem for bounded harmonic functions on stratified sets. The harmonic functions are understood in the sense of the soft Laplacian. The result can become one of the main technical components for extending the well-known Poincaré–Perron’s method of proving the solvability of the Dirichlet problem for the soft Laplacian.

Continuum robots play the role of end-effector in various surgical robots and endoscopic devices. The robots may be categorized as rigid or soft continuum robots (SCRs). While the SCRs have proven advantages such as safety and compliance, more research and development are required to enhance their capability for specific medical scenarios. This research aims at designing a soft robot considering concepts of geometric and kinematic similarities. The chosen application is a semi-invasive medical application known as Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE), but the methodology can be implemented in other similar applications. Since established rigid carrier construction make use of principles we find as well embodied in vertebral spines, the paragon for soft robot solution can be the phylogenetic precursor of the spine, the Chorda dorsalis. The feasibility of fabrication of a soft endoscopic device derived from that paragon within a robotics laboratory was shown empirically by producing a three-segment pneumatic SCR. The kinematic model was proposed based on the method of transformation matrices, and an algorithm based on a self-organizing map (SOM) was proposed and applied to realize kinematic similarity. The simulation results indicate that the algorithm acting as an open-loop controller forces the soft robot tip to follow the desired path which in this case is the path of the rigid probe. It is concluded that the solution provides a soft robot that can surrogate and succeed the traditional rigid counterpart owing to size, workspace, and kinematics.

In this manuscript, we first introduce some properties of r-fuzzy soft α-open sets in fuzzy soft topological spaces based on the manuscript Aygunoglu et al. (Hacet. J. Math. Stat. 2014, 43, 193-208). In addition, we define the concepts of fuzzy soft α-closure (α-interior) operators, and investigate some properties of them. Furthermore, the concept of r-fuzzy soft α-connected sets is defined and characterized with help of fuzzy soft α-closure operators. Thereafter, we introduce and study the concepts of fuzzy soft almost (weakly) α-continuous mappings, which are weaker forms of fuzzy soft α-continuous mappings, and we discuss some properties of fuzzy soft α-continuity. Moreover, we establish that fuzzy soft α-continuity → fuzzy soft almost α-continuity → fuzzy soft weakly α-continuity, but the converse may not be true. It is also we show that the composition is fuzzy soft almost α-continuous mapping if, is fuzzy soft α-continuous mapping and is fuzzy soft almost continuous mapping. Finally, some new types of compactness via r-fuzzy soft α-open sets are defined, and the relationships between them are examined.

This paper illustrates an experimental activity for the closed-loop position control of an actuator made using shape memory alloy (SMA) wire. A solution with the self-sensing effect was implemented to miniaturize the systems, i.e., without external sensors. A proportional control algorithm was initially used, demonstrating the idea's feasibility: the wire can behave simultaneously as an actuator and sensor. An experimental investigation was subsequently conducted for the optimization of the developed actuator. As for the material, a Flexinol wire, Ni-Ti alloy, with a diameter of 0.150 mm and a length of 200 mm, was used. Preliminarily, a characterization of the SMA wire at constant and variable loads was carried out: the characteristics detected are elongation vs. electric current and elongation vs. electrical resistance. The control system is PC-based with a data acquisition card (DAQ). A drive board has been designed and built to read the wire's electrical resistance and power it by pulse width modulation (PWM). A notable result is that the actuator works with good precision and in dynamic conditions, even when it is called to support a load up to 65% different from that for which the electrical resistance-length correlation has previously been experimentally obtained, on which the control is based. This opens up the possibility of using the actuator in a counteracting configuration with a spring, which makes hardware implementation and control management simple.

The advantage of FPGAs lies in the ability to implement a fully hardware solution for interfacing with various input/output (I/O) devices. Each block can work in parallel with all the others, simplifying the satisfaction of timing constraints. However, this hardware utilization consumes FPGA resources that could otherwise be allocated to the primary project. An alternative involves employing a small "soft-core" processor implementing I/O in software. With the goal to design and evaluate a new tiny soft-core processor optimized for FPGA resources in I/O , a novel processor named Baby8 is developed. It is an 8-bit CISC soft-core processor optimized for reduced FPGA resources including program size for 8-bit applications. The number of instructions is not large but any instruction can access arbitrary memory locations. The performance and resource utilization of the newly designed processor are evaluated and compared with a variety of other soft-core processors. The results demonstrate its competitive performance, achieving an average maximum clock frequency of approximately 57 MHz and a power consumption of around 2mW. Furthermore, it conserves nearly half of the FPGA resources in implementation.

This work is devoted to consideration and analysis of the application of molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) methods to the study of nanosized polymer polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) thin ferroelectric films (two-dimensional ferroelectrics) and their composites with graphene layers: 1) to study and calculations of the polarization switching time depending on the electric field and PVDF film thickness; 2) to study and calculations of the polarization switching time depending changes of the PVDF on PVDF-TrFE film; 3) to study the polarization switching time in PVDF under influence of graphene layers. All calculations at each MDS step were carried out using quantum semi-empirical methods PM3. A comparison and analysis of the results of these calculations and the kinetics of polarization switching within the framework of the Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire theory for homogeneous switching in ferroelectric polymer films is carried out. The study of the composite heterostructures of the “graphene-PVDF” type and calculations of their polarization switching times were presented too. It is shown that replacing PVDF with PVDF-TrFE significantly changes the polarization switching times in these thin polymer films, and that introducing various graphene layers into the PVDF layered structure leads to both an increase and a decrease in the polarization switching time. Here everything also depends on the position and displacement of the ferroelectric coercive field depending on the system damping parameters.

Transformer models have emerged as frontrunners in the field of natural language processing, primarily due to their adept use of self-attention mechanisms to grasp the semantic linkages between words in sequences. Despite their strengths, these models often face challenges in single-task learning scenarios, particularly when it comes to delivering top-notch performance and crafting strong latent feature representations. This challenge is more pronounced in the context of smaller datasets and is particularly acute for under-resourced languages such as Arabic. In light of these challenges, this study introduces a novel methodology for text classification of Arabic texts. This method harnesses the newly developed Reverse Positional Encoding (RPE) technique. It adopts inductive-transfer learning (ITL) framework combined with a switching self-attention shared encoder, thereby increasing the model's adaptability and improving its sentence representation accuracy. The integration of Mixture of Experts (MoE) and Reverse Positional Encoding (RPE) techniques empowers the model to process longer sequences more effectively. This enhancement is notably beneficial for Arabic text classification, adeptly supporting both the intricate five-point and the simpler ternary classification tasks. The empirical evidence points to its outstanding performance, achieving accuracy rates of 87.20% for the HARD dataset, 72.17% for the BRAD dataset, and 86.89% for the LABR dataset, as evidenced by the assessments conducted on these datasets.

Skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTI) are common cases of hospital-acquired infections with aetiologic agents exhibiting antimicrobial resistance (AMR). We determined the prevalence, proportion of laboratory-investigated cases, AMR-profiles, and factors associated with SSTI and multi-drug resistance (MDR). This study was based on archived data of patients suspected of SSTI from 2019-2021 at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital. The analysis involved 268 randomly selected patient reports. Prevalence of SSTI was 66.4%. Laboratory-investigated cases were 14.11%. Staphylococcus aureus (n=51) was the most isolated organism. MDR pathogens explained 47% of infections. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus was up to 44%. In addition, 61% of Gram-negatives had the potential to produce extended-spectrum beta-lactamases, while 27% were non-susceptible to carbapenems. Ward of admission was significantly associated with infection (aPR=1.78, 95% CI: 1.003-3.18, p-value=0.04). Age category (19-35) was an independent predictor for MDR infections (aPR=2.30, 95%CI:1.02-5.23, p-value=0.04). The prevalence is relatively high with MDR pathogens responsible for almost half of the infections. Routine use of culture and sensitivity testing should be done for proper infection management. Gentamicin and ciprofloxacin can be considered for empirical management of emergency SSTI suspected of S. aureus. Recognizing SSTI under the Global Antimicrobial resistance Surveillance System would lead to improved preparedness and response to AMR.

Space instable target simulator (SITS) is a vital actuator for ground verification of on-orbital capture technology, the motion performance of which directly affects simulation credibility. Different delays reduce the stability of SITS and ultimately lead to its divergence. In order to achieve high fidelity simulation, the impact of force measurement delay, discrete control cycle, and simulator response delay on stability is analyzed firstly. Then, the dynamic equation and transfer function identification model of hybrid simulator is constructed, and the necessary and sufficient conditions of its stability and convergence are obtained using the Routh criterion. After that, a switching compensator with variable gain is proposed, the compensation principle diagram of which is build, and its mathematical model including the energy observer and tracking differentiator is also established. Finally, three sets of numerical simulations are conducted to validate the correctness of the stability analysis and effectiveness of proposed compensation method. Simulation results show that all three types of delay can cause SITS to lose stability under critical stable motion state, and the delay in force measurement has the greatest impact, followed by the influence of control cycle. Compared with the force applied to simulated target, velocity and its recovery coefficient of space instable target using fixed gain and linear gain compensation, the proposed compensator has significantly better performance.

A three-phase multilevel inverter (MLI) synthesized with 31-levels in the output voltage is used to provide ac supply to a three-phase, squirrel-cage induction motor. The gating angles required for thirty power switches in MLI are optimized by both Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Gray Wolf Op-timization (GWO). In the optimization technique, the optimal angles are determined by solving the trigonometric equations from the Fourier analysis for targeting minimum total harmonic distortion (THD) at the MLI output. Simulation model and experimental prototype are developed for performance analysis and validation. The results obtained demonstrate that the MLI is effec-tively able to produce 31-levels of three-phase ac output voltages with THD not exceeding 5% when loaded with a resistive load and a three-phase induction motor. The voltages and currents are measured and recorded for different loads and operating conditions, including the amount of energy consumed by the loads, as well as frequency analysis, which shows the absence of most of the triple harmonics that have a negative impact on the efficiency of the inverter.

The present review compared the efficacy of soft tissue substitutes (STS) and autogenous free gingival graft (FGG) or connective tissue graft (CTG) in mucogingival procedures to increase keratinized tissue (KT) width around teeth and implants. Two independent examiners performed the electronic search on Medline and Cochrane Library based on the following PICO’s format: (P) adult patients; (I) soft tissue substitutes and FGG/CTG; (C) STS vs CTG; STS vs FGG; STS vs CTR; (O) KT width gain; (S) Systematic Reviews, Randomized Controlled Trials. Results showed that around teeth, all biomaterials showed superior performance compared to CAF alone for treating gingival recessions. However, when compared to CTG, ADM yields the most similar outcomes to the gold standard (CTG), even though in multiple recessions CTG still continue to be considered the most favorable approach. Use of STSs (acellular matrix or tissue engineered) in combination with an apically positioned flap resulted in a significantly less gain of KTW compared to what achieved with FGG and APF. Around dental implants, free gingival grafts were deemed more effective than soft tissue substitutes in enhancing keratinized mucosa width.

Biomimetic stimuli-responsive materials can respond to various external stimuli in the form of structural or morphological transformations by actively or passively converting input energy into mechanical energy. They are the core element of soft actuators for typical smart devices like soft robots, artificial muscles, intelligent sensors and nanogenerators. While significant progresses have been made in bioinspired stimuli-responsive materials, they have not yet achieved the remarkable properties in biological systems. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in biomimetic stimuli-responsive materials that are instrumental for soft actuators. Different stimuli-responsive principles for soft actuators are firstly discussed, including fluidic, electrical, thermal, magnetic, light and chemical stimuli. We further summarize the state-of-the-art stimuli-responsive materials for soft actuators and explore the advantages and disadvantages of using electroactive polymers, magnetic soft composites, hydrogels, liquid crystal elastomers, shape memory alloys and chemical-responsive materials. Finally, we provide a critical outlook on the field of stimuli-responsive soft actuators, and emphasize the challenges in the process of their implementation to various industries.

The ubiquitous problem of electrical energy waste is driven by human error, in which people regularly forget to turn off appliances when they leave a room, resulting in excessive consumption. The paper presents an energy-efficient TRIZ-inspired (EETRIZ) paradigm to automate consumer electronic devices in order to address this problem. Employing motion detection at entry and exit points, the system discerns room occupancy, effectively managing electrical appliances like lamps, fans, and air conditioners. The integration of theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) principles guides the ideation and design of an efficient switching mechanism. The system demonstrates that it is flexible by controlling multiple electronic consumer devices simultaneously. This paradigm can be used in a variety of environments, such as homes, offices, schools, and universities, and its goal is to reduce excessive energy use that results from human negligence. With an emphasis on economic viability and environmental impact, the proposed EETRIZ paradigm not only offers enhanced energy efficiency but also lays the groundwork for long-term sustainability practices, aligning with global efforts towards greener and smarter energy management. The proposed EETRIZ is implemented on C platform with support of MPLAB, Nuvoton 8051 Serie MCU Programming, GMPLibrary (GMP-5.1.1) and, Miracl Library. The proposed EETRIZ outperforms current state-of-the-art methods in terms of energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness, precision, and user-friendliness, according to hardware testing.

In this paper, we first define the concepts of r-fuzzy soft α-open (semi-open and δ-open) sets on fuzzy soft topological spaces based on the article Aygunoglu et al. (Hacet. J. Math. Stat., 43 (2014), 193-208), and the relations of these sets with each other are established. In addition, we introduce the concepts of fuzzy soft δ-closure (δ-interior) operators, and study some properties of them. Also, the concept of r-fuzzy soft δ-connected sets is introduced and studied with help of fuzzy soft δ-closure operators. Thereafter, we define the concepts of fuzzy soft α-continuous (β-continuous, semi-continuous, pre-continuous and δ-continuous) functions, which are weaker forms of fuzzy soft continuity, and some properties of these functions along with their mutual relationships are discussed. Moreover, a decomposition of fuzzy soft α-continuity and a decomposition of fuzzy soft semi-continuity is obtained. Finally, as a weaker form of a fuzzy soft continuity, the concepts of fuzzy soft almost (weakly) continuous functions are defined, and some properties are specified. Additionally, we explore the notion of continuity in a very general setting called, fuzzy soft (L, M, N, O)-continuous functions and a historical justification is introduced.

Introduction: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are low-incidence tumors whose clinical and histopathological factors are associated with adverse oncological outcomes. This study evaluated prognostic factors (PF) associated with tumor recurrence and overall survival (OS) in patients diagnosed with STS of the extremities, treated at the Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (INC), Bogotá, Colombia. Materials and methods: An analytical observational study of a historical cohort was carried out, including patients diagnosed with STS and managed surgically in the Functional Unit for Breast and Soft Tissue Tumors of the INC from January 2008 to December 2018. Results: A total of 227 patients were included; 74.5% had tumors greater than 5 cm. Most patients (29.1%) were in stage IIIB at diagnosis. Age was associated with higher mortality (HR=1.01; CI95%: 1–1.02; p=0.048); tumor persistence at admission to the INC (HR=2.34; CI95%: 1.25–4.35; p=0.007), and histologic grade III (HR=5.36; CI95%: 2.29–12.56; p=<0.001) showed statistical significance in the multivariate analysis for recurrence of any type, as were the PFs associated with a higher risk of local recurrence (HR=2.85; CI95%: 1.23–6.57; p=0.014 and HR=6.09; CI95%: 2.03–18.2; p=0.001), respectively. Tumor size (HR=1.03; CI95%: 1–1.06; p=0.015) and histologic grade III (HR=4.53; CI95%: 1.42–14.49; p=0.011) were associated with a higher risk of distant recurrence. Conclusion: This cohort showed that in addition to histologic grade and tumor size, tumor persistence at the time of admission has an impact on disease recurrence, so STS should be managed by a multidisciplinary team with experience in this pathology in high-volume reference centers.

Abstract: Pasteurella spp. is a gram-negative bacterium that is part of the oral and upper respira-tory tract microbiota of many animals such as canids and felines. In humans it can produce pa-thology primarily associated with animal bites or scratches. In addition, members of this genus, and especially Pasteurella multocida, may also be involved in systemic infections, mainly in im-munocompromised patients in close contact with pets. The aim of this study is to analyse the prevalence and clinical characteristics of infections caused by Pasteurella spp. as well as the sensitivity profile of these isolates obtained in the Microbiology laboratory of the Hospital Can Misses (Ibiza, Ibiza and Formentera Health Area, ASEF) in the period from January 2013 to December 2018. The group of islands of Ibiza and Formentera is known as the Pitiusas Islands. Retrospective descriptive study in which all Pasteurella spp. isolates were analysed in the Microbiology Laboratory of Hospital Can Misses from 1 January 2013 to 31 De-cember 2018. Bacterial identification was performed by Vitek 2 automated biochemical test panel (bioMérieux, Spain) and antimicrobial susceptibility by E-test or antibiotic discs in Mueller-Hinton blood agar, interpreted based on European Committee on An-timicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) standards, 2022 version. Medical records were systematically reviewed by collecting demographic data of infected patients, comorbidities, epidemiological data and clinical features of the infection. A total of 22 isolates of Pasterurella spp. were obtained from 22 different patients, 62.8% female, from three different species: 18 P. multocida, 2 P. canis and 2 P. pneumo-tropica. Most isolates came from soft tissue infection samples: 7 wound exudates and 5 abscess material. The antibiotics tested with the highest sensitivity profile were gen-tamicin and cefepime (100% sensitivity). The species most commonly isolated in our environment is P. multocida. Close contact with companion animals, especially cats and dogs, is the main risk factor for Pasteurella spp. infections, although in many cases such contact cannot be established. So Pasteurella spp. infection should be considered a zoonosis in possible emergency, especially in rural areas such as Pitiusas Islands.

Alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) is a rare mesenchymal neoplasm. It affects young adults more and occurs more frequently in the extremities. ASPS is exceedingly rare in the nasal cavity. We report a case of ASPS in the nasal cavity of a 17-year-old female. Its most striking features included organoid and pseudoalveolar arrangement of tumor cells, which were large and polygonal, with vesicular nuclei and abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm rich in granules. There were PAS-positive, diastase-resistant crystalline rods within the cytoplasm. Our case displayed inapparent pseudoalveolar growth pattern and frank pleomorphism. The diagnosis of ASPS, which presents uncommon morphologic findings in unusual sites, is challenging. Recognition of ASPS is greatly assisted by attention to its characteristic cytological features, including intracytoplasmic crystals and immunohistochemistry showing absence of skeletal muscle, epithelial, and neuroendocrine markers.

Digital agricultural technology extension service and sustainable food production have attracted attention from academia. However, the association between digital agricultural technology extension service and sustainable food production has not yet been fully investigated. This research investigates the average and heterogeneous impacts of digital agricultural technology extension service use on eco-efficiency among 1302 maize producing farmers from Northeast China major maize producing area in 2022 to fill this knowledge gap. The slack-based measure model with undesirable outputs is applied to calculate the eco-efficiency of maize production. To obtain an unbiased estimation of the average effect, the self-selection problem generated by observable and unobservable factors is solved by the endogenous switching regression model. Quantile regression is utilized to analyze the heterogeneous effect. Notably, the mediated effects model is utilized to examine the potential mechanism between them. Our findings indicate that digital agricultural technology extension service use can increase maize production's eco-efficiency. Digital agricultural technology extension service users would reduce eco-efficiency by 0.148 (21.11%) if they had not used the digital agricultural technology extension service. Digital agricultural technology extension service nonusers would improve eco-efficiency by 0.214 (35.20%) if they had used it. The robustness check reconfirms the results. Moreover, digital agricultural technology extension service use is more helpful to maize farmers who have lower eco-efficiency than those who have higher eco-efficiency. Digital agricultural technology extension service use can improve eco-efficiency of maize production through the application of organic fertilizers, green pesticides and biodegradable agricultural films.

Five new cembrane-type diterpenes, lobocalines A–E (1–5), and four new steroids, lobocalines F–I (9–12), along with six known related compounds (6–8 and 13–15) were isolated from the Yalong Bay soft coral Lobophytum catalai. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis, NMR calculation with DP4+ analysis, time-dependent density functional theory-electronic circular dichroism (TDDFT-ECD) calculations, X-ray diffraction analyses, and the comparison with the reported spectroscopic data of known compounds. Further, with the aid of X-ray diffraction analysis, the structure of lobocrasol B (15) was firmly revised as 15a. In in vitro bioassays, compound 2 showed moderate antibacterial activities against fish pathogenic bacteria Streptococcus parauberis KSP28 and Phoyobacterium damselae FP2244 with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 8.7 and 17.3 µg/mL, respectively. All the steroids exhibited antibacterial activities against the S. parauberis KSP28 with MIC values ranging from 12.3 to 53.6 µg/mL. Compounds 2, 7 and 14 have remarkable inhibitory effects on the hemolysin production of Staphylococcus aureus, while compounds 8–12 have medium inhibitory effects on the pyocyanin production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Gastric mixing relies both on enzymatic reactions and mechanical solicitations through antral contraction waves (ACWs). This work aims at discussing the influence of ACWs frequency and digesta viscosity on human gastric mixing efficiency by comparison with that of a soft elastic reactor (SER), that induces mixing by vibration of its wall in a similar way as ACWs promote stomach motility. The SER mixing curve was considered in order to determine the flow regime reached during gastric mixing. The number of contractions required to achieve homogenization was found to depend on the viscosity of the stomach content and the ACWs amplitude. Moreover, it was deduced from the same range of SER and ACWs operating points that the mechanical solicitation provided by human peristalsis was low and that gastric mixing was confined in laminar regime. Further efforts are needed to investigate the role of other physiological processes such as gastric secretions and emptying in overall gastric mixing performance.

One of the frequently used classes of the sparse reconstruction algorithms is based on the iterative shrinkage/thresholding procedure, where the thresholding parameter controls a trade-off between the algorithm accuracy and the execution time. In order to avoid this trade-off, we propose using a fast intersection of confidence interval method in order to adaptively control the threshold value through the reconstruction algorithm iterations. We have upgraded the two-step iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm with a such procedure, improving its performance. The proposed algorithm, denoted as the FICI-TwIST, along with a few selected state-of-the-art sparse reconstruction algorithms have been tested on the classical problem of image recovery by emphasizing the image sparsity in the discrete cosine and the discrete wavelet domain. Furthermore, we have derived a single wavelet transformation matrix which avoids wrapping effects achieving significantly faster execution times when compared to more traditional function based transformation. The obtained results indicate competitive performance of the proposed algorithm, even in cases where all algorithm parameters have been individually fine-tuned for best performances.

Active front-end (AFE) rectifiers have been becoming widely employed in power systems to achieve unity power factor and harmonic mitigations. The typical modeling approaches applied for AFE rectifiers in the literature mostly relied on two baselines named the detailed model and the time average model. The former approach deals with the switching element model (SEM) leads to significant harmonics in currents with distorted waveforms. The latter approach uses the average-value model (AVM) to overcome the currents’ harmonics as well as provide fast responses. However, even the AVM baseline has contained problems during the starting stage (lack of control signals) and over the dead-time periods which causes serious issues in the implementation process. This paper presents an improved dynamic AVM for AFE rectifiers by precisely considering the issues mentioned above along with the practical starting procedure and desirable initialization. The studied AFE rectifier is developed using the voltage-oriented control (VOC) technique based on the different modeling methodologies including SEM, Conventional AVM, and the proposed AVM. The performance of all models is analyzed and compared using simulation results with MATLAB/Simulink R2023a Function blocks for all the algorithm parts and SimScape elements for the electrical circuit model. The simulation results illustrate that the performance of the proposed AVM approach can closely resemble the behavior of the SEM baseline with low harmonic distortion.

The Spiking Neural Network (SNN) has attracted more and more attention recently. It adopts binary spike signals to transmit information. Benefitting from the information passing paradigm of SNNs, the multiplications of activations and weights can be replaced by additions, which are more energy-efficient. However, its ``Hard Reset" mechanism for the firing activity would ignore the difference among membrane potentials when the membrane potential is above the firing threshold, causing information loss. Meanwhile, quantifying the membrane potential to 0/1 spikes at the firing instants will inevitably introduce the quantization error thus bringing about information loss too. To address these problems, we propose to use the ``Soft Reset" mechanism for the supervised training-based SNNs, which will drive the membrane potential to a dynamic reset potential according to its magnitude, and Membrane Potential Rectifier (MPR) to reduce the quantization error via redistributing the membrane potential to a range close to the spikes. Results show that the SNNs with the ``Soft Reset" mechanism and MPR outperform their vanilla counterparts on both static and dynamic datasets.

In the realm of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) and teleoperation applications, haptic feedback plays a role in enhancing task performance. One of the main goals of this study is to simplify haptic device hardware while improving its capacity to provide various stimuli at different intensities. In response to these challenges, this research introduces the Pneumatic Unit Cell (PUC), a soft-pneumatically driven device—a hollow silicone cylinder with the ability to provide both static pressure and vibrotactile feedback. Furthermore, Pneumatic Unit Cell's design simplicity has the potential for scalability, modularity, and the flexibility to mount the device on any part of the human body. The focus of the current paper is to study PUCs as an actuator and lay the foundation for future perceptual studies. The characterization studies encompass fabrication and verification of fabrication accuracy through dimensional measurements, characterizing PUCs under static pressure conditions (measuring free deflection and blocking force), and frequency conditions (measuring free deflection). In the static pressure conditions, we applied pressures ranging from 0 to 40 KPa to measure free deflection and from 0 to 30 KPa to measure blocking force. In the frequency conditions, we applied pressures of 10, 20, and 30 KPa, with inflation/deflation rates varying between 0.5 Hz and 100 Hz. The measurements of free deflection under static pressure conditions revealed that 0.9 mm and 1.2 mm PUCs exhibit a linear increase of free deflection with increase in inflation pressure. The results of free deflection measurements under the frequency conditions indicate a direct relationship between free deflection magnitude and applied pressure. The results also demonstrate an inverse relationship to the frequency of inflation/deflation. The characterization results demonstrate a broad range of free deflection observed under both static pressure and frequency conditions, encouraging the potential application of Pneumatic Unit Cell actuators as haptic devices.

In some applications of microgrid and distributed generation, it is required to feed islanded or stand-alone loads with high-quality voltage to provide low total harmonic distortion (THD). To fulfil these demands, an LC filter is connected to the output terminals of power electronics converters. A cascaded voltage and current control loop with pulse-width modulation schemes are used to regulate the voltage and current in these systems. However, these strategies have some drawbacks, particularly when multiple-input multiple-output plants (MIMO) are controlled using single-input single-output (SISO) design methods. This methodology usually produces a sluggish transient response and cross-coupling between different control loops. In this paper, a model predictive control (MPC) strategy based on the concept of optimal switching sequences (OSS) is designed to control voltage and current in an LC filter connected to a three-level neutral-point clamped converter. The strategy solves two well-formulated optimisation problems to achieve control of the LC filter variables and the voltages of the DC-link capacitors. Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) results are obtained to validate the feasibility of the proposed strategy, using a PLECS-RT HIL platform and a DSP Microlab Box controller. In addition to the good dynamic performance of the proposed OSS-MPC, it is demonstrated by the HIL results that the control algorithm is capable of obtaining low total harmonic distortion (THD) in the output voltage for different conditions.

Aggressive angiomyxoma (AAM) is a rare and benign mesenchymal tumor, localized predominantly in the female pelvis. Its invasive growth and local recurrence are challenging for professionals. Histologically, AAM is a tumor with a myxoid, highly vascularized stroma. The diagnosis is made relatively late due to nonspecific symptoms. Treatment of AAM is extensive local surgical excision. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists are added postoperatively. The prognosis is good and metastasis is rare. We present a case of an AAM located in the left greater labial area in a 50-year-old woman initially diagnosed as left inguinal hernia. The tumor was extirpated under epidural anaesthesia on the date of the patient's informed consent. The patient was prescribed postoperative therapy with Zoladex 3,6 mg according to the schedule. The patient was subjected to monthly gynecological check-ups for one year after the surgical intervention. To date, no recurrence of the underlying disease has been detected. Long-term results show a good trend. In conclusion, we can say that the optimal treatment of AAM is wide local excision. Рadicality is not recommended because of the risk of postoperative complications. Postoperative administration of GnRH-a is advisable to avoid recurrences. All patients undergo regular follow-up examinations for long-term.

Reliable motor control design is a critical part of the electric vehicle application. Control techniques and motor control devices play an important role in achieving system reliability. In this study, motor control devices have been proposed to implement control techniques in sensorless PMSM. Motor control devices including PWM signal generation by FPGA, gate driver circuit (GDC), and power inverter were developed to be integrated into single-stage motor control devices for sensorless motor control applications. Improvements in GDC design have been the focus to increase the performance of the motor control devices used. Switching losses due to the parasitic elements caused ringing switching behavior of the power inverter circuit, which reduces the performance when the system is integrated. Moreover, in the implementation of sensorless motor control using observer techniques, these conditions affect the accuracy of rotor position estimation, which uses the current or voltage information of the power converter as a variable in the observer design model. Therefore, a GDC design using IR2110 with additional ringing suppression circuit configuration was proposed for the application of motor device control topology to improve the performance of sensorless motor control system. Furthermore, the reduction of switching losses, reduction of current distortion, and accuracy of rotor position information were confirmed by experimental results.

The stability of deep soft rock tunnels is of particular concern under seepage conditions. Aiming at thoroughly discussing the seepage actions and their consequences on the support scheme of such structures, the host rocks of the Weilai Tunnel situated in Guangxi province of China are taken as the research substance. Emphasizing on seepage conditions, stresses, displacements and plastic zone radii along the surrounding rocks of such tunnel are adequately examined taking into consideration the Mogi-Coulomb strain criterion and the elastic-plastic theory. Subsequently, based on strain-softening model, the coupled actions of seepage and softening on the rocks surrounding the tunnel are studied. According to the results, it is revealed that the support scheme of deep soft rock tunnels must be of highest resistance possible to better decrease the plastic zone and the tangential stress along the host rocks. Moreover, throughout the surrounding rocks, the dissemination of pore water pressure is strongly affected by the uneven permeability coefficient under anisotropic seepage states. Combined effects of softening and seepage are very dangerous for the surrounding rocks of deep-buried tunnels. To better guarantee reasonable longevity of such tunnels, long-term monitoring of their support structures with reliable remote sensors is strongly recommended.

The Sarcoma Assessment Measure (SAM) was developed as a sarcoma-specific patient-reported outcome measure to be used in clinical practice. We have reported in detail how SAM has been developed in collaboration with patients and healthcare professionals. The aim of this paper is to report the preliminary validation of SAM. The 22-item SAM was administered alongside a validated quality of life questionnaire and measure of activities of daily living. Linear modelling was used to build a measure, which had predictive validity in comparison to more established outcome measures. Of the 762 patients who participated in the study, 44.1% identified as male, and participant age ranged from 13-82 years. Clinically, participants presented with a range of soft tissue (82.2%) and bone (21.8%) sarcomas. Our preliminary analysis indicates that SAM accounts for 35% of the Global quality of life scale and 18% of the TESS so psychometrically it overlaps with quality of life and activities of daily living, but also measures distinct concerns. This demonstrates that this measure picks up issues that are important to patients with sarcoma that are not reflected in other measures. We have established the preliminary validity of SAM and believe it has utility as a patient-reported outcome measure both as a research tool and for assessing the impact of symptoms and dysfunction related to sarcoma as part of clinical care. Further validation using a larger and more clinically diverse sample is now needed.

Plasmonic nanocomposites have the ability to enhance light-matter interaction due to the 1 plasmonic effects leading to promising potential applications. In this paper, we theoretically study the 2 group index of the silver nanoparticle-gold nanoparticle-quantum dot plasmonic hybrid system in 3 the optical region of the electromagnetic spectrum using the density matrix approach. The quantum 4 dot is considered to be a three-level atomic system of a lambda configuration, interacting with strong 5 control and weak probe fields. We find that the plasmonic hybrid system exhibits at near resonance a 6 strong switching between slow and fast light, which can be controlled by the inclination angle of the 7 gold nanoparticle and the size of the metals nanoparticles, in addition to the strength and detuning 8 of the control field. Thus, the silver nanoparticle-gold nanoparticle-quantum dot could potentially be 9 used in optoelectronic devices.10

Plasmonic nanocomposites have the ability to enhance light-matter interaction due to the plasmonic effects leading to promising potential applications. In this paper, we theoretically study the group index of the silver nanoparticle-gold nanoparticle-quantum dot plasmonic hybrid system in the optical region of the electromagnetic spectrum using the density matrix approach. The quantum dot is considered to be a three-level atomic system of a lambda configuration, interacting with strong control and weak probe fields. We find that the plasmonic hybrid system exhibits at near resonance a strong switching between slow and fast light, which can be controlled by the inclination angle of the gold nanoparticle and the size of the metals nanoparticles, in addition to the strength and detuning of the control field. Thus, the silver nanoparticle-gold nanoparticle-quantum dot could potentially be used in optoelectronic devices.

Traumatic myiasis is a parasitic infestation resulting from feeding fly larvae in traumatic lesions in the cutaneous tissues of vertebrate hosts. Species that cause traumatic myiasis are found in the families Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae. This study evaluated the traumatic myiasis cases detected during examining animals brought to Dicle University Wildlife Rescue, Rehabilitation, Training, Practice, and Research Center with wound complaints between 2020-2022. Species determinations of the larvae collected from traumatic myiasis cases were detected in five different animals were made as morphological and molecular, and four species were detected, including Lucilia sericata, Wohlfahrtia magnifica, Calliphora vicina, and Calliphora vomitria. We report a case of traumatic myiasis in the Euphrates softshell turtle and Wild goat for the first time. In order to reduce the exposure of wild animals to traumatic myiasis, new strategies for fly control need to be developed.

The human body contains 60-70% of water, depending on age. As a body fluid, it is not only a medium in which physical and chemical processes take place, but it is also one of the active mediators. Water is the richest substance with non-covalent hydrogen bonds. Water molecules, by themselves (in vacuum), are diamagnetic, but when organized into clusters, become diamagnetic or paramagnetic. Also, biomolecules (DNA, collagen, clathrin, and other proteins) have non-covalent hydrogen bonds in their structure. The interaction, as well as signal transmission, between water and biomolecules is achieved through the vibrations of covalent and non-covalent hydrogen bonds, which determine the state and dynamics of conformational changes of biomolecules. Disruptive conformational changes of biomolecules, cells, and tissues lead to their dysfunctionality, so they are a frequent cause of many disorders and diseases. For example, the rearrangement of hydrogen bonding due to mitochondrial disease mutation in cytochrome bc1 disturbs heme bH redox potential and spin state. In order to prevent and repair the dysfunctional conformational changes, a liquid substance was developed based on the second derivative of the C₆₀ molecule (SD-C₆₀), which has classical and quantum properties. Characterization of SD-C₆₀ by UV-VIS-NIR, FTIR, TEM, and AFM/MFM was done and it is shown that SD-C₆₀ water layers generate vibrations with near-zero phase dispersion which are transmitted through the Fibonacci’s water chains to biomolecules. In comparison to previously published SD-C₆₀ derivate (3HFWC, size until 10 nm, and 1-5 water layers), improved formulation (3HFWC-W, size 10-25 nm, and 6-9 water layers) showed multiplied cytotoxic activity against melanoma cell lines of different aggressiveness. Apart from this, the mode of action was preserved and based on induction of senescence rather than cell death. Importantly, high selectivity toward malignant phenotype was detected. Observed effects can be ascribed to a machinery of hydrogen bonds, which are generated in SD-C₆₀ and transmitted through water to biomolecules. This approach may open a new field in science and healthcare - a “water-based nanomedicine”.

The formation of the required AC voltage level is currently one of the most important problems. An unstable voltage level can lead to the failure of domestic and industrial equipment, also to the appearance of a lighting equipment flicker effect, which can adversely affect the operating mode. In this regard, the development of AC voltage regulators that perform the function of stabilizers has become relevant. In turn, new topologies should be energy efficient and reliable, this can be achieved by reducing the number of semiconductor elements, which in turn will reduce losses and increase efficiency. In addition to voltage stabilization, AC voltage regulators have found application as soft-start devices for asynchronous motors, and have become competitors to frequency converters. The power level can vary from units to tens of kilowatts where such devices can be used. This paper provides a review of AC voltage regulators, which can be used both as soft starters and AC voltage stabilizers. The analysis of the circuits was carried out and the efficiency was evaluated through their total harmonic distortions (THD), power factor and efficiency coefficient. Experiments were also performed for a number of circuits, where their operating modes were evaluated. Eventually, all circuits were divided into full number of switches with two or more AC switches per phase, with a reduced number of switches, where one AC switch per phase and with low number of switches – with one complementary pair of AC switches for all three phases.

Coasts are characterized by high biological and ecological productivities, and are theatre of strategic economic activities, including tourism, fishing and aquaculture. Both anthropic and natural hazards can thus affect coasts, causing their deterioration. The monitoring of coasts in terms of evolution, adaptation, contamination and resilience, is a pivotal point composed of both classic measurement approaches, and innovative approaches as remote sensing and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. In the last years, climate change is increasing its effects all over the world and coasts are a delicate system suffering these effects particularly. Climate change has important impacts on coasts, with a serious consequence represented by sea level rise. The latter causes coastal erosion, leading to ecological and economic issues and with consequences for human health. The Mediterranean Basin, which has always represented an important crossroads of different civilizations and economic and cultural exchanges, is now threatened by the consequences of climate change. This area is decribed as an example of coastal system of strategic importance and subjected to serious challenges. Engineering interventions are countermeasures to cope with coastal erosion and coastal degradation. These countermeasures are aimed at protecting the coasts and the populations living on the coasts. The types of intervention can be defined of hard engineering, as in the case of fixed structures in concrete, and of soft engineering, with structures of protection builted according to the principles of nature. Engineering procedures provide coastal benefits, although they can cause further coastal damage. It is thus necessary to protect the coasts and the same time actions aimed at mitigating climate change must be implemented, according to the rules of sustainability.

Due to the highly nonlinear, multi-stage, and strongly time-varying marine lysozyme fermentation process, it is difficult to assure the stability and prediction accuracy of the traditional single global soft sensor model on a global scale. This study innovatively proposed a soft sensor model based on an improved seagull optimization algorithm (ISOA) combined with Gaussian process regression (GPR) weighted ensemble learning. First, the sample data set is divided into multiple local sample subsets by the improved density peak clustering algorithm (ADPC). Second, the Gaussian process regression model is optimally altered with an improved seagull optimization algorithm for the purpose of establishing the corresponding sub-prediction model. Finally, the prediction model's fusion strategy is ultimately determined depending on the degree of connection between the test samples and a subset of local pieces. Simulation results show that the proposed soft sensor model, which searches GPR based on ISOA and combines various sub-models, can predict the key biochemical parameters of the marine lysozyme fermentation process better with less prediction error under the condition of fewer training data, and it can be expanded to the soft sensor models of general nonlinear systems, according to simulation results.

BiFeO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (BFO/LSMO) epitaxial heterostructures were successfully synthesized by pulsed laser deposition on (001)-oriented SrTiO3 single crystal substrates with Au top electrodes. Stable bipolar resistive switching characteristics regulated by ferroelectric polarization reversal was observed in the Au/BFO/LSMO heterostructures. The conduction mechanism was revealed to follow the Schottky emission model, and the Schottky barriers in high resistance and low resistance states were estimated based on temperature-dependent current–voltage curves. Further, the observed memristive behavior was interpreted via the modulation effect on the depletion region width and the Schottky barrier height caused by ferroelectric polarization reversal, combining with the oxygen vacancies migration near the BFO/LSMO interface.

The effect of ferromagnetic CaMnO3 (CMO) addition on structural, magnetic, dielectric, and ferroelec-tric properties of BiFeO3 are presented. X ray diffraction and Raman investigation allowed the identifi-cation of single pseudo cubic perovskite structure. The magnetic measurement showed that the pre-pared films exhibit a ferromagnetic behavior at low temperature with both coercive field and remnant magnetization increased with increasing CMO content. However, a deterioration of magnetization was observed at room temperature. Ferroelectric study revealed an antiferroelectric like behavior with a pinched P-E hysteresis loop for 5%CMO doping BFO resulting in low remnant polarization and double hysteresis loops. Whereas, high remnant polarization and coercive field with a likely square hysteresis loop are obtained for 10 % CMO addition. Furthermore, a bipolar resistive switching behavior with a threshold voltage of about 1.8V is observed for high doped film that can be linked to the ferroelectric polarization switching.

With the rise of internet technology and the growth of mobile communications, the global economy has undergone a significant transformation, shifting towards digital and soft markets. As a result, great efforts have been made to establish virtual marketplaces that provide customers with an exceptional shopping experience. One crucial aspect of this new paradigm is marketing, which has led to the emergence of a new stage known as E-marketing. In E-marketing, understanding customer behavior is of utmost importance. Marketing teams and companies are eager to gain insights into how different customer segments react to their products. Marketing strategies are now developed based on customer information such as financial status, location, age, gender, and more. As a result, the abundance of customer data generated by these new commerce technologies has surpassed the capabilities of traditional data analysis methods. To extract valuable knowledge from this vast amount of data, data mining technologies have come into play. Techniques such as clustering, classification, and prediction are utilized to mine marketing data and uncover hidden patterns and trends. The impact of data mining on E-marketing has been the subject of analysis in this study. A questionnaire-based review was conducted to collect the necessary data, which was then analyzed using SPSS 23 software. The study's results demonstrate that data mining can significantly enhance the performance of E-marketing by providing intelligent and efficient predictions of customer behaviour. Moreover, this technology offers similar advantages for end-customers as well. By leveraging the power of data mining, companies can gain valuable insights, tailor their marketing efforts, and ultimately provide better products and services to their customers in the digital marketplace.

Background and objectives: Unrestricted kinematic alignment total knee arthroplasty (KA-TKA) with a soft tissue respecting technique (STRT) is a soft tissue-dependent tibial resection entailing restoration of the original soft tissue tension using ligamentotaxis after resurfacing the femur, based on the concept of restoring the native or pre-osteoarthritis alignment in each patient. However, there is no consensus on the indications of unrestricted KA-TKA with STRT. We modified the STRT, followed by investigation of the effects of surgery on the postoperative hip-knee-ankle angle (HKAA). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical background data, including the preoperative and postoperative HKAA, of 87 patients who underwent unrestricted KA-TKA with the modified STRT. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the factors affecting the postoperative HKAA. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plot-ted to investigate the change in the cut-off values of preoperative HKAA with respect to the safe zone of the postoperative HKAA. We generated two regression models, the linear regression model and generalized additive model (GAM) using machine learning, to predict the postopera-tive HKAA. Results: Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed the preoperative HKAA as the factor most relevant to the postoperative HKAA. ROC analysis revealed that the preoperative HKAA exhibited high predictive utility, with a cut-off value of -10°, when the safe range of postoperative HKAA was set at ± 5°. The GAM was the superior machine learning model, indicating a non-linear association between the preoperative and postoperative HKAA. Patients with preoperative HKAAs ranging from -18° to 4° were more likely to fall within the ± 5° safe range of the postoperative HKAA. Conclusions: The preoperative HKAA influences the postoperative HKAA in unrestricted KA-TKA with the modified STRT. Machine learning using the GAM may contribute to the selection of patients eligible for the surgical approach.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical changes of the cornea after wearing soft contact lenses (CLs) in healthy myopic patients measured with the Corvis ST® analyzer. This prospective, cross-sectional, single-center study was performed in twenty-two Caucasian patients aged between 19 and 24 years (20.64 ± 1.21 years) range). Five device-specific biomechanical parameters, central corneal thickness and intraocular pressure were measured prior to fitting and one month after CLs wear. Differences between the means of the DA Ratio and the standard deviation of the DA Ratio pre- and post-CLs wear were found to be significant (p value=0.002 in both cases). Significant differences were found between pre- and post-CLs wear values in CCT (p value=0.013). For all other biomechanical measures, no significant differences were observed before and after treatment. A significant association was found between changes in bIOP and classification according to changes in Int. Radius (p value = 0.047) and SSI (p value = 0.026) standard deviations. The corneal biomechanical indices provided by CST demonstrate that fitting of soft CLs is a safe optical compensation method for the stability of corneal stiffness. No significant differences were found pre- and post-CLs wear in the assessment of bIOP.

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) offer robust, high energy density solutions for soft robotics. The proposed end effector consists of three spring roll configuration DEAs, each acting as a robotic finger, using a 3M VHB-F9473PC adhesive membrane. The lateral force, bending angle and response time of the actuator are measured experimentally and compared with the predictions of an analytical model. The cylindrical actuator measures 70 mm in length and 15 mm in diameter and achieved a lateral force of 30 mN, a bending angle of 6.8 ° and a response time of ≈ 1 s. Spring roll configuration DEAs are shown to reduce the effects of viscoelasticity seen in the membrane, making the actuator more controllable at higher voltages. The dielectric constant of the membrane is shown to be a limiting factor of actuation, with a decrease in dielectric constant resulting in larger actuation. The end effector successfully gripped numerous light objects for extended periods, showing the applicability of spring roll DEAs for soft end effectors.

The main objective of the paper is to provide a thorough analysis of currently used modulation control schemes for single phase bidirectional dual active bridge DC/DC converter. In this article, it will be shown that single phase shift, extended phase shift and Dual phase shift modulation schemes are special cases of triple phase shift (TPS) modulation scheme. The article aims to highlight six TPS switching modes and their complements with the operational constraints. Unlike previous studies that regarded TPS as a complex scheme, this paper simplifies the analysis of each mode and aims to standardize the understanding of TPS modulation in DAB converters. Power equations, range of power transferred and zero voltage switching (ZVS) are derived for all the modes under TPS without assuming fundamental component analysis. Additionally, a generic optimization algorithm is developed to show the advantages of TPS modulation and thus, detailed analysis presented in this paper provides valuable insights for single phase DAB converter designers in identifying a wide range of optimization algorithms to achieve higher efficiency under TPS modulation. This analysis contributes to the advancement of bidirectional DAB converter technology and facilitates its application in various power electronic systems.

The clinical requirement for a good esthetic result for immediate implant placement is the absence of dehiscence in the anterior facial alveolar bone. In the presence of a dehiscence, it is recommend-ed to use a connective tissue graft in addition to immediate implant placement or to change to ear-ly implant placement. However, the literature focusing on dehiscence is scarce, and the influence of different placement times and combined use of connective tissue graft on postoperative esthetics in cases with dehiscence is unclear. Therefore, we quantitatively evaluated the pre-extraction de-hiscence morphology and postoperative changes in the facial tissue of implants in three groups: immediate implant placement (Group I), immediate implant placement with connective tissue graft (Group IC), and early implant placement (Group E). Fifty-two implants were obtained (20 in Group I, 16 in Group IC, and 16 in Group E). A wider dehiscence increases the risk of soft tissue regression, which was one reason for choosing early implant placement. A combination of imme-diate implant placement and connective tissue graft, or early implant placement, tended to result in less soft tissue regression due to the thicker postoperative facial soft tissue volume.

Background: This study aimed to investigate the effect of fascial manipulation (FM) of the deep cervical fascia (DCF) and sequential yoga poses (SYP) on pain and function in individuals with mechanical neck pain (MNP). Method: Following the predefined criteria, ninety-nine individuals with MNP were recruited, randomised and assigned to either the intervention group (IG) (n=51) or the control group (CG) (n=48). Individuals in the IG received FM (4 sessions in 4 weeks) along with the home-based SYP (4 weeks). The CG participants received the usual care (cervical mobilization and thoracic manipulation (4 sessions in 4 weeks) along with unsupervised therapeutic exercises (4 weeks). The participants underwent baseline and weekly follow-up measurements of pain using a numerical pain rating scale (NPRS) and elbow extension range of motion (EEROM) during upper limb neurodynamic test 1 (ULNT1). The baseline and the 4th session follow-up measurements of the Patient-specific Functional Scale (PSFS) and Fear-avoidance Behavior Questionnaire (FABQ) were also taken. Results: A repeated-measures ANOVA was performed. The mean differences between the IG and CG on NPRS 3rd and 4th sessions are -1.009 (p&lt; 0.05) and -1.701 (p&lt; 0.001), respectively; on EEROM in the 4th session is 20.120 (p&lt; 0.001); on FABQ during the follow-up is -5.036 (p&lt;0.001), showing a statistically significant difference, whereas on PSFS during follow-up is 0.263 (p=0.566), suggesting no significant differences in PSFS. Conclusion: FM and SYP can aid in reducing pain and fear avoidance behavior as well as improving the function and extensibility of the upper quarter region.

We consider a stochastic production planning problem with regime switching. There are k≥1 regimes corresponding to different economic cycles. The problem is to minimize the production costs and analyze the problem by the value function approach. Our main contribution is to show that the optimal production is characterized by an exact solution of an elliptic system of partial differential equations. A verification result is given for the determined solution.

The necessity to reduce the effect of the greenhouse phenomenon imposed the turn of the food packaging technology to the use of biobased raw materials decreasing the carbon dioxide fingerprint. In this direction alginates derived from brown algae species are of the most promising biobased biopolymers, used for development of edible active coatings, capable to protect food from oxidation/bacterial spoilage. In this study sodium alginate, which was plasticized with glycerol and mixed with a biobased thymol/natural halloysite nanohybrid, was used to develop novel edible active coatings. Active nanocomposite coatings developed by mixing of pure halloysite with sodium alginate/glycerol matrix were produced for comparison purposes. X-Ray and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy indicated higher compatibility of thymol/halloysite nanohybrid with sodium alginate/glycerol matrix compared to the relevant of pure halloysite. This increased compatibility led to higher tensile properties, water/oxygen barrier properties, and total antioxidant activity. All coating samples were applied as edible active coatings for “tsalafouti” spreadable soft cheese, exhibited a reduction of mesophilic microbial population of more than one log10(cfu/g) unit comparing with uncoated cheese. Moreover, the reduction of mesophilic microbial population was increased by increasing halloysite and thymol content which indicates the sodium alginate/glycerol/thymol/halloysite as promising edible active coatings for “tsalafouti”.

Domain-specific systems-on-chip (DSSoCs) aim to narrow the gap between general-purpose processors and application-specific designs. CPU clusters enable programmability, while hardware accelerators tailored to the target domain minimize task execution times and power consumption. Traditional operating system (OS) schedulers can diminish the potential of DSSoCs as their execution times can be orders of magnitude larger than the task execution time. To address this problem, we propose a dynamic adaptive scheduling (DAS) framework that combines the advantages of a fast, low-overhead scheduler and a sophisticated, high-performance scheduler with a larger overhead. We present a novel runtime classifier that chooses the better scheduler type as a function of the system workload, leading to improved system performance and energy-delay product (EDP). Experiments with five real-world streaming applications indicate that DAS consistently outperforms fast, low-overhead, and slow, sophisticated schedulers. DAS achieves a 1.29x speedup and 45% lower EDP than the sophisticated scheduler under low data rates and a 1.28x speedup and 37% lower EDP than the fast scheduler when the workload complexity increases. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the superior performance of the DAS framework also applies to hardware platforms, with up to a 48% and 52% reduction in execution time and EDP, respectively.

The time-dependent behavior and long-term stability of deep-buried tunnels in soft rocks have received lots of considerations in tunnel engineering and allied sciences. To better explore and deepen the engineering application of rock creep, extensive research studies are still needed, although fruitful outcomes have already obtained in many related investigations. In this article, the Weilai Tunnel in China’s Guangxi province is studied taking its host rocks as the main research object. In fact, aiming at forecasting the time-varying deformation of this tunnel, a novel elasto-visco-plastic creep constitutive model with two variants is proposed, by exploiting the typical complex load-unload process of rock excavation. The model is well validated and good agreements are found with the relevant experimental data. Moreover, the time-dependent de-formation rules are properly established for the surrounding rocks, by designing two new closed-form solutions based on the proposed creep model and the Hoek-Brown criterion. The convergence deformations calculated from the closed-form solutions conform well to the on-site monitoring data. In only 27 days after excavation, the creep deformation of the Weilai tunnel overtakes 400 mm, which is enormous. To guarantee the long-term stability of this tunnel, a ro-bust support scheme and its long-term monitoring with appropriate remote sensors are strongly suggested.

Marine soft corals are prolific sources of various natural products that have served as a wealthy reservoir of diverse chemical scaffolds for new drug leads. The genus Litophyton contains almost 100 species but only a small part of them had been classified and chemically investigated, which calls for more attentions from the global researchers. In the current work, 109 secondary metabolites have been discussed based on published data from 1975 to July, 2023, covering a period of near five decades. The studied species of the genus Litophyton inhabited various tropical and temperate regions and afforded a variety of biologically active natural products such as terpenes, steroids, alkaloids, and lipids. A wide spectrum of pharmacological effects of these compounds had been evaluated, including cytotoxic, anti-HIV, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-malarial, antifeedant, molluscicidal, PTP1B inhibitory, and insect growth inhibitory activities. This review aims to provide an up-to-date literature survey and comprehensive insight into chemical structures, taxonomical distributions, and biological activities of the reported metabolites from the title genus whenever available.

University-Business partnership for collaborative curriculum design, development and delivery is possibly the less explored dimension of University Business Collaboration (UBC). Even if some models for curricular design and development might be available, scarce information exists on how the partnership is constructed, the new curricula are designed, developed and how they are implemented. This article intends to present and discuss the experience obtained during a three-year European funded Project, namely Think4Jobs. This project exemplifies the significance and benefits of UBC in the design, development and delivery of curricula that meet the evolving demands of the labour market while promoting Critical Thinking (CT) as a foundational 21st century skill to contribute to graduates' employability. Think4Jobs project brought together a multidisciplinary team of researchers and business organisations from five European countries (Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal and Romania) with interests in promoting and developing CT and mitigating eventual competence gaps. The project's success was attributed to key practices, including defining a common conceptualization of CT, employing participatory co-design, and providing common training for university and business partners. Clear objectives, explicit roles, effective communication, and ongoing evaluation further enhanced the collaboration. Experiential learning, real-work problems, and case studies reinforced the curricula, bridging the gap between academia and the labour market. By embracing these insights, future UBC initiatives can empower graduates with the necessary skills to stand out in an ever-changing labour market, contributing to enhanced education and successful careers.

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate whether radiomic features extracted solely from the edema of soft tissue sarcomas (STS) could predict the occurrence of lung metastasis in comparison with features extracted solely from the tumoral mass. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 32 STSs including 14 with lung metastasis and 18 without. Segmentation of the tumor mass and edema was performed for each MRI examination. A total of 107 radiomic features were extracted for each mass segmentation and 107 radiomic features for each edema segmentation. A two-step feature selection process was applied. Two predictive features for the development of lung metastasis were selected from the mass-related features, as well as two predictive features from the edema-related features. Two random forest models were created based on these selected features; 100 random subsampling runs were performed. Key performance metrics including accuracy and area under the ROC curve (AUC) were calculated, and the resulting accuracies were compared. Results: The model based on mass-related features achieved a median accuracy of 0.83 and a median AUC of 0.88, while the model based on edema-related features achieved a median accuracy of 0.75 and a median AUC of 0.79. Statistical analysis comparing the accuracies of the two models revealed no significant difference. Conclusion: Both models showed promise in predicting the occurrence of lung metastasis in soft tissue sarcomas. These findings suggest that radiomic analysis of edema features can provide valuable insights into the prediction of lung metastasis in soft tissue sarcomas.

This work investigates the sliding mode control (SMC) problem for a class of uncertain switched systems subject to asynchronous switching and an assigned finite time constraint. Two important issues are how to ensure the reachability of state trajectories within the assigned time and the input-to-output finite-time stability (IO-FTS) of the closed-loop switched systems during the whole phase under asynchronous switching. To achieve these objectives, an asynchronous sliding mode controller with adjustable parameters is constructed to drive the state trajectories onto the sliding surface during the assigned finite-time interval. By means of the partitioning strategy, sufficient conditions for the IO-FTS of the closed-loop switched are derived during the whole phase [0,T] using the multiple Lyapunov function (MLF) approach. Additionally, the asynchronous characteristics are detailedly investigated while analyzing the reachability of a specified sliding surface. Finally, an illustrative example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The process industry is confronted with rising demands for flexibility and efficiency. One way to achieve this are modular process plants that consist of pre-manufactured modules with their own decentralized intelligence. Plants are then composed of these modules as unchangeable building blocks and can be easily re-configured for different products. Condition monitoring of such plants is necessary, but available solutions are not applicable. The authors suggest an approach in which model-based symptoms are derived from few measurements and observers that are based on manufacturer knowledge. The comparisons of redundant observers lead to residuals that are classified to obtain symptoms. These symptoms can be communicated to the plant control and are inputs to an easily adaptable diagnosis. The implementation and validation at a modular mixing plant showcases the feasibility and the potential of this approach.

The paper first compares the turn-off performance of two package solutions (3-lead vs 4-lead) in Super-Junction MOSFETs. It is commonly assumed that the better performance (lower switching losses) of the 4-lead is obtained thanks to the decoupling of the power and driving loop. On the contrary, in this work, the experimental results, circuit models, and Kirchhoff laws have shown that the turn-off improvement (lower turn-off losses) obtained by adopting the Kelvin source is due to the lower inductance of the driver loop in comparison with the power loop inductance, instead of the decoupling between these loops.

The effect of cooling rate on the magnetorheological response was investigated for magnetic hydrogels consisting of carrageenan and carbonyl iron particles with a concentration of 50 wt.%. For magnetic gels prepared by natural cooling, the storage moduli at 0 and 50 mT were 3.7×104 Pa and 5.6×104 Pa, respectively, and the change in the modulus was 1.9×104 Pa. For magnetic gels prepared by rapid cooling, the storage moduli at 0 and 50 mT were 1.2×104 Pa and 1.8×104 Pa, respectively, and the change in the modulus was 6.2×103 Pa, which was 3.1 times higher than that for the magnetic gel of rapid cooling. The critical strains, where G‘=G“ on the strain dependence of the storage modulus, for magnetic gels of natural cooling and rapid cooling were 0.023 and 0.034, respectively, indicating that the magnetic gel of rapid cooling has a hard structure compared to that of natural cooling. Oppositely to this, the change in the storage modulus at 500 mT for the magnetic gel of rapid cooling was 1.6×105 Pa, which was 2.5 times higher than that of natural cooling. SEM images revealed that many small aggregations of carrageenan network were found in the magnetic gel of natural cooling and continuous phases of carrageenan network with large sizes were found in the magnetic gel of rapid cooling. It was revealed that, magnetic particles in the magnetic gel of rapid cooling can move and form a chain structure at high magnetic fields by breaking the restriction from the continuous phases of carrageenan.

Wearable exoskeleton solutions for upper limb rehabilitation or assistance, particularly for the hand area, have become increasingly attractive to researchers, proving to be effective over time in treating hand movement impairments following various neurological diseases. In the present work, the development of a wearable exoskeleton-type device for active hand rehabilitation has been addressed, based on fluid actuators made of elastomeric material and on myoelectric control by capturing myoelectric signals from the forearm area. The flexion movement of the fingers (phalanges) is actively assisted by pneumatic actuation of the built-in actuators and the extension movement is assisted by a depressurization control of the actuator. The device has been designed to be as easy to use as possible, light in weight, and to provide a high degree of comfort when used by the patient for rehabilitation training or daily life activities (ADL), which can be performed in the comfort of one's own home.

In recent times, the soft robotics field is gaining numerous research focus owing to its high level of manipulation capabilities unlike traditional rigid robots, which gives room for an increasing use in other areas. However, compared to traditional rigid gripper robots, being capable of controlling/obtaining overall body stiffness when required is yet to be further explored since soft gripper robots have inherently less rigid properties. unlike previous designs with very complex variable stiffness systems, this paper demonstrates a soft gripper design with minimum system complexity while being capable of varying the stiffness of a continuum soft robotic actuator and proves to have potential applications in gripping objects of various shapes, weights &amp; sizes. The soft gripper actuator comprises two separate mechanisms; the pneumatic mechanism for bending control and the mechanical structure for stiffness variation by pulling tendons using stepper motors which compresses the actuator, thereby changing the overall stiffness. The pneumatic mechanism was first fabricated and then embedded into another silicon layer during which it was as well merged with the mechanical structure for stiffness control. By first pneumatically actuating the actuator which causes bending and then pulling the tendons, we found out that the actuator stiffness value can be increased up to 145 % its initial value, and the gripper can grasp &amp; lift a weight of up to 2.075 kg.

Chemical investigation of the Chinese soft coral Lobophytum sp. has resulted in the isolation of six new compounds, namely lobosteroids A–F (1–6), along with four known compounds. Their structures were determined by extensive spectroscopic analysis and comparison with the spectral data reported in the literature. Among them, the absolute configuration of 1 was determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. These steroids characterized by either the presence of an α,β-αꞌ,βꞌ-unsaturated carbonyl or an α,β-unsaturated carbonyl moiety in ring A, or the existence of a 5α,8α-epidioxy system in ring B, as well as diverse oxidation sites of side chains. The prelimi-nary antibacterial bioassay showed all compounds exhibited significant antibacterial activities against the fish pathogenic bacteria Streptococcus parauberis FP KSP28 and Phoyobacterium damselae FP2244 with all inhibition rates more than 90% at the concentration of 150 µM. And at the same concentration, compounds 2, 6–10 also displayed potent inhibitory effects against vancomy-cin-resistant Enterococcus faecium bacteria G7 with all inhibition rates more than 90%.

Low back pain (LBP) is a common musculoskeletal complaint that can impede physical function and mobility. Current management often involves pain medication, but there is a need for non-pharmacological and non-invasive interventions. Soft tissue manipulation (STM) such as massage has been shown to be effective in human subjects, but the molecular mechanisms underlying these findings are not well understood. In this paper, we evaluated potential changes in soft tissue levels of more than thirty pro- or anti-inflammatory cytokines following instrument-assisted STM (IASTM) in rats with chronic, induced LBP using Complete Freund’s Adjuvant. Our results indicate that IASTM is associated with reduced soft tissue levels of RANTES/CCL5 and increased soft tissue levels of IL-4, which are pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors, respectively, by 120 minutes post-treatment. IASTM was not associated with tissue-level changes in CXCL5/LIX (the murine homologue of IL-8), CXCL7, GM-CSF ICAM-1, IL1-ra, IL-6, IP-10/CXCL10, L-selectin, TNF-α, or VEGF at either 30- or 120 minutes post-treatment. Combined, our findings suggest that IASTM exerts tissue-level effects that are associated with improved clinical outcomes and potentially beneficial changes in pro/anti-inflammatory cytokines in circulation and at the tissue level.

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), also known as Kennedy’s disease, is a debilitating neuromuscular disease characterized by progressive muscular weakness and neuronal degeneration, affecting 1-2 individuals per 100,000 globally. While SBMA is relatively rare, recent studies have shown a significantly higher prevalence of the disease within the indigenous population of Western Canada compared to the general population. The disease is caused by a pathogenic expansion of polyglutamine residues in the androgen receptor protein, which acts as a key transcriptional regulator for numerous genes. SBMA has no cure, and current treatments are primarily supportive and focused on symptom management. Recently, a form of precision medicine known as antisense therapy has gained traction as a promising therapeutic option for numerous neuromuscular diseases. Antisense therapy uses small synthetic oligonucleotides to confer therapeutic benefit by acting on pathogenic mRNA molecules, serving to either degrade pathogenic mRNA transcripts or helping to modulate splicing. Recent studies have explored the suitability of antisense therapy for the treatment of SBMA, primarily focused on antisense-mediated mRNA knockdown approaches. Advancements in understanding the pathogenesis of SBMA and the development of targeted therapies offer hope for improved quality of life for individuals affected by this debilitating condition. Continued research is essential to optimize these genetic approaches, ensuring their safety and efficacy.

Soft Rot Pectobacteriaceae (SRP) bacteria as Pectobacterium and Dickeya are phytopathogenic agents responsible of blackleg disease on several crop as potato, affecting the yield and depressing the seed production quality. However, neither conventional nor biocontrol product are available on the market to control this disease. In this study Pseudomonas PA14H7, a bacteria isolated from potato rhizosphere, was selected as a potential antagonist agent against Dickeya. In order to understand the mechanism involved in this antagonism we managed to identify the main active(s) molecule(s) produced by PA14H7. In that way, cell-free supernatant (CFS) of PA14H7 cultures were extracted and analyzed by LC-MS, GC-MS and NMR. We have correlated biological activity in extracted CFS-PA14H7 to the presence of 7-hydroxytropolone (7-HT) complexed with iron. Even if this molecule is produced by other Pseudomonas and mostly known for its antibacterial and antifungal activities, it is the first description of its involvement as an effective molecule against pectinolytic bacteria. We have synthesized 7-HT in order to determine the real amount produced by PA14H7 and to compare its activity at the same concentration with that of CFS-PA14H7. This study aims to understand the origin of the antagonist activity of PA14H7 as a potential biocontrol agent against potato blackleg.

A review is here provided about the thermal effects on the optical chirality. To this goal, chiral objects dispersed in an embedding fluid are examined for their magnetoelectric coupling. Thermal effects on several chiral meta-atoms and their ensembles are examined. To this goal, DNA-like helical structures are examined in detail. Mechanical aspect of thermo-elasticity is reviewed along with transverse deformations, while drawing analogies from condensed-matter physics. In this respect, chirality-induced spin selection is reviewed along with the temperature-mediated elec-tron-phonon interactions. A wide range of materials such as polymers and biological cells are also examined for temperature effects. A transition temperature delineating a sign flip in the chirality parameter is identified as well. Chirality-associated functionalities such as ratchet motions, switching, and modulations are investigated for their respective thermal effects. Issues of fabri-cating chiral meta-atoms are also discussed.

Electrically conductive adhesives (ECA’s) are used widely to replace or reinforce lead soldering or conductive metal components in electronic packaging applications such as die attachment, solderless interconnections, component repair, display interconnections, and heat dissipation. Their conductive behavior as well as the associated behaviors such as heat conduction and mechanical behavior (strength, rigidity, deformation and viscoelastic behavior, which may be affected by moisture ingression) are affected by adhesive film thickness, volume fraction, size and shape of the conductive filler, as well as uncured base adhesive viscosity, substrate and filler surface treatment and the applied pressure (during bonding and during conduction). The adhesive resistivity decreases precipitously above a characteristic filler volume fraction called the percolation threshold. In general, micron-sized metal fillers mixed in an adhesive (often an epoxy) resulting with different film thicknesses exhibit thickness thresholds for transition from three-dimensional conductivity to two-dimensional conductivity with considerable increases in thickness-direction (z-axis) resistivity when the film thicknesses are smaller than these threshold values. Recently, the use of conductive nanoparticles allowed decreases in percolation threshold levels as well as increases in mechanical strength and durability of ECA’s. Most ECA’s are supplied in liquid or paste form in varying viscosities and therefore, the method of their application also affects their performance. This work intends to provide an understanding of these effects on conduction behavior in (usually high-priced) equipment in which they are used.

In oral pathology, the appearance of a large ulcerated lesion may suggest a malignant process that requires an early diagnosis given the uneasiness of the patient and his or her family. Finding lingual carcinoma in children is, however, extremely rare We present the case of a 13-year-old girl who came to the oral medicine clinic, referred by her orthodontist, with a large round lesion on the ventral side of the tongue (15 x 12 mm) that did not heal, after three weeks of evolution and after eliminating the existing traumatic factors (orthodontic appliance in the lower jaw) and treatment with topical gel based on PVP (polyvinyl pyrrolidone), glycyrrhetinic acid and hyaluronic acid (Aloclair PLUS®). The objective of this article is analyse the possible causes and provide a review of the literature of a large ulcerated lesions.

Accidental soft tissue injuries are a frequent injury. We report a case involving a 37-year-old man with a soft tissue wound failing conservative treatment. The use of applied fibrin membranes and concentrated growth factors yielded a resolution of the injury in 16 months without need of skin grafting.

We report a small footprint cost-effective isothermal rapid DNA amplification system, with integrated microfluidics for automated sample analysis and detection of SARS-CoV-2 in human and environmental samples. Our system measures low-level fluorescent signal in real-time during amplification, while maintaining the desired assay temperature, on a low power, portable system footprint. A unique soft microfluidic chip design was implemented to mitigate thermocapillary effects and facilitate optical alignment for automated image capture and signal analysis. The system-on-board prototype coupled with the LAMP primers designed by BioCoS, is sensitive enough to detect viral loads of SARS-CoV-2 in a broad concentration range corresponding to a threshold cycle range of 16 to 39. Clinical specimens were tested at Kingston Health Sciences using a clinically validated PCR assay and variants were determined using whole genome sequencing.

Because of hyper complexity, difficulty to define, multiple stakeholders with conflicting perspectives, and lack of clear-cut solutions, wicked problems necessitate innovative and adaptive strategies. Operations Research has been a valuable tool for managers to make informed decisions for years. However, as we face increasingly complex and messy problems, it has become apparent that relying solely on either hard or soft OR approaches is no longer sufficient. We need to explore more innovative methodologies to address these wicked problems effectively. This study has bridged the research gap by proposing a structured process encompassing a subdivision-based problem structuring method for defining the wicked problem, a multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) for prioritizing sub-problems, and a hard OR technique, data envelopment analysis (DEA) for tackling one of the most critical sub-divisions. The proposed methodology, implemented in a case study, focuses on a higher education institution experiencing a decline in student admissions and involves five steps. First, a diverse group of stakeholders is formed to ensure comprehensive consideration of perspectives. Second, the wicked problem is defined, considering long-term consequences, multiple stakeholders, and qualitative stakeholder opinions. Third, a hierarchical structure is created to break down the wicked problem into manageable sub-problems. Fourth, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method prioritizes sub-problems. Finally, the sub-problems are addressed one by one using a combination of soft and hard OR tools. The findings highlight the benefits of integrating hard and soft OR approaches. The article concludes with reflections on the implications of using a combined OR approach to tackle wicked problems in higher education and beyond.

To solve the problem of smooth switching between car-following model and lane-changing model, the Intelligent Driver Model (IDM) for a single lane was used to study the driver's behavior switching mechanism of normally following, generating intentions to change lanes, creating space and speed gains, and performing lane change. In the case of sufficient lane-changing space and speed gains, the ego vehicle's intention to change lane was considered to solve the switching boundary between car-following behavior and lane-changing behavior, which is also the IDM failure point. In the event that there is no lane-changing gains, the IDM was optimized by incorporating the constraint components of the target lane vehicles in conjunction with the actual motion state of the ego vehicle, and the Stepless Switching Intelligent Driver Model (SSIDM) was constructed. Drivers' natural driving information was collected and scenario mining was performed on structured roads. On the basis of the collected data, an elliptic equation was used to fit the behavior switching boundary, and the two component balance coefficients of the front and rear vehicles on the target lane were identified. According to the test set verification results, the Mean Square Error (MSE) of the SSIDM is 2.172, which is 57.98% less than that of the conventional single-lane IDM. The SSIDM can accomplish stepless switching comparable to driver's behavior between the car-following behavior and the lane-changing behavior, with greater precision than IDM.

Humankind has entered a new era wherein a main characteristic is the convergence of various technologies providing services exerting major impact upon all aspects of human activity, be it social interactions as well as interactions with the natural environment. Fixed networks are about to play a major role in this convergence, since they form, along with mobile networks, the backbone that provides access to a broad gamut of services, accessible from any point of the globe. It is for this reason that we introduce a forward-looking approach for fixed networks, particularly focused on Fixed 6th Generation (F6G) networks. First, we adopt a novel classification scheme for the main F6G services, comprising six categories. This classification is based on the key service requirements, namely latency, capacity and connectivity. F6G networks differ from those of previous generations (F1G-F5G) in that they concurrently support multiple key requirements. We then propose concrete steps towards transforming the main elements of fixed networks, such as optical transceivers, optical switches etc. such that they satisfy the new F6G service requirements. Our study categorizes the main networking paradigm of optical switching into two categories namely ultra-fast and ultra-high capacity switching, tailored to different service categories. With regard to the transceiver physical layer, we propose: a) use of all-optical processing to mitigate performance barriers of analog to digital and digital to analog converters (ADC/DAC); b) exploitation of optical multi-band transmission, space division-multiplexing and adoption of more efficient modulation formats.

The paper deals with one new property of the linear time-optimal control problems with real eigenvalues of the system, no matter of the number of eigenvalue multiplicity. This property unveils a prospective of synthesizing the time-optimal control without the need of describing the switching hyper-surfaces. The already chrestomathy example of the time-optimal control of a double integrator is resolved by the new technique and compared with the classical synthesis.

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to the development of green public policies. We emphasize the significance of the System of Systems (SoSs) methodology, which concentrates on understanding and managing complex systems by contemplating their interdependencies and interactions as a single integrated system. Based on this perspective, we view green public policy as a system interacting with the energy, health, pollutants, and economic systems of the SoSs. We employ both Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) techniques as a method of systematic structural analysis to comprehend the relationships between the aforementioned systems. We provide a comprehensive literature review on the application of these soft operation research (SOR) techniques. We note that SOR methods are suitable for the formulation of effective and long-lasting public policies. Using an example, we demonstrate the primary advantage of DEMATEL and ISM, which is the establishment of easily comprehendible causal relationships between the systems in the SoSs.

Aiming at the problem that soft robots are challenging to take into account both flexibility and bearing capacity, Using the software Pneu-Net driver as the deformation mode, magnetorheological fluid material phase transformation to achieve variable stiffness, A pneumatic modular soft joint structure with dynamically adjustable deformation and stiffness in all directions is proposed. In this paper, mathematical models of deformation and variable stiffness are established. The correspondence between gas pressure and deformation and applied current and joint stiffness is obtained. The finite element analysis method was used to simulate the deformation characteristics and variable stiffness characteristics of modular joints based on the Yeoh model. Finally, the theoretical and simulation results are verified by deformation and variable stiffness tests. It is proved that the modular joint has good rigid-flexible coupling characteristics.

In order to study the surface settlement law of subway tunnel engineering site overlying soft soil layer under the action of earthquake, ABAQUS finite element analysis software was used to study the surface settlement law of subway tunnel construction site overlying soft soil layer under the action of three different seismic waves, including El-Centro wave, Kobe wave, and artificial seismic wave with exceedance probability of 10%, based on the Dalian Metro Line 5 with overlying soft soil layer as the engineering background, and the law was analyzed theoretically. Then, the surface settlement law of tunnel top was studied based on El-Centro wave and soft soil parameters, and the sensitivity analysis of soft soil parameters on surface settlement of tunnel top was carried out by orthogonal test method. The results show that under earthquake action, the settlement of the strata within a certain range of the tunnel roof is significantly greater than that of the surrounding strata, forming a settlement trough with a width of about 8 to 20 meters. The width of the settlement trough under the El-Centro wave is the largest, about 19.6 meters, surpassing the artificially synthesized seismic waves with a probability of 10%, which is about 15.6 meters, while the width of the settlement trough under the Kobe wave is the smallest, about 8.5 meters. The ground surface within a range of about 20 meters above the tunnel roof is most strongly affected by the seismic waves and the special lithology of the overlying soft soil layer, and the settlement is the largest. The settlement law of the settlement trough in the overlying strata of the tunnel conforms to the Peck formula. Increasing the elastic modulus of the silty soil can reduce the settlement of the ground surface above the tunnel roof, increasing the Poisson's ratio of the silty soil will increase the settlement of the ground surface above the tunnel roof, increasing the cohesive force of the silty soil to 20 kPa will basically stabilize the settlement of the ground surface above the tunnel roof, and increasing the internal friction angle of the silty soil will basically not change the settlement of the ground surface above the tunnel roof. The sensitivity of the soft soil parameters to the settlement of the ground surface above the tunnel roof is in the order of Poisson's ratio, elastic modulus, cohesive force, and internal friction angle.

Necrotizing fasciitis is a life-threatening soft-tissue infection affecting the deep fascia and subcutaneous tissue. It is characterized by a fulminant course and high mortality rates. NF of the head and neck is very rare, most cases being odontogenic in origin. Streptococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. are the most common isolated organisms. If the infection progresses to descending mediastinitis the prognosis becomes very poor. Since the initial clinical features can be similar to those of a non-necrotizing deep cervical infection, a high degree of suspicion is critical for an early diagnosis. Computed tomography scan can be useful in the diagnosis and to define the extent of the infection. Early and aggressive surgical debridement of all compromised tissue and antibiotic therapy and fluid resuscitation are essential and should not wait for bacterial culture results. Despite prompt and adequate treatment, mortality of CNF can be as high as 35%.

Fifteen new diterpenoids, namely xishaklyanes A-O (1-15), along with three known related ones (16-18), were isolated from the soft coral Klyxum molle collected from Xisha Islands, South China Sea. The stereochemistry of the new compounds were elucidated by a combination of detailed spectroscopic analyses, chemical syntheses, quantum chemical calculations and comparison with the reported data. The absolute configuration of compound 18 was established by the modified Mosher's method for the first time. In bioassay, some of these compounds exhibited considerable antibacterial activities on fish pathogenic bacteria, and compound 4 showed the most effective activity with MIC of 0.225 g/mL against Lactococcus garvieae.

Background: Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) are common presentations to the emergency department. However, this is less common after contact with contaminated water, both salt or fresh. This review presents the diagnosis and the management of water-related soft tissue sepsis in this vulnerable and difficult to treat subgroup of necrotizing soft tissue sepsis. Methods: A summative literature overview regarding bacterial and fungal SSTI after contact with contaminated water, with practical diagnostic and management aspects addressed. Results: The literature indicates that these remain difficult to treat wounds and organisms. An approach using appropriate diagnostic tools with both medical and surgical management strategies is provided. Conclusion: SSTI due to water contamination of wounds involve unusual organisms with unusual resistance patterns and require a nuanced and directed diagnostic approach with adaptation of the normal antibiotic or antifungal selection to achieve cure, along with aggressive debridement and wound care.

The challenge of achieving ultrafast switching of electric polarization in ferroelectric materials remains unsolved, as there is no experimental evidence of such switching to date. In this study, we have developed an enhanced model that describes switching within a two-dimensional space of generalized coordinates. Our findings indicate that stable switching in barium titanate cannot be achieved through a single linearly polarized pulse. When the intensity of the linearly polarized pulse reaches a certain threshold, the sample experiences depolarization, but not stable switching. Our study also reveals that phonon friction plays a minor role in the switching dynamics and provides an estimate of the optimal parameters of the perturbing pulse with the lowest intensity that results in depolarization of an initially depolarized sample.

In foggy weather scenarios, the scattering and absorption of light by water droplets and particulate matter cause object features in images to become blurred or lost, presenting a significant challenge for target detection in autonomous driving vehicles. To tackle this problem, this study proposes a foggy weather detection method, YOLOv5s-Fog, based on the YOLOv5s framework. The model enhances the feature extraction and expression capabilities of YOLOv5s by introducing a novel target detection layer, SwinFocus. Additionally, this research incorporates decoupled head into the model and replaces the conventional non-maximum suppression method with Soft-NMS. Experimental results demonstrate that these improvements effectively enhance the detection performance for blurry objects and small targets in foggy weather conditions. Compared to the baseline model YOLOv5s, YOLOv5s-Fog achieves a 5.4% increase in mAP on the RTTS dataset, reaching 73.4%. This method provides technical support for rapid and accurate target detection in adverse weather conditions, such as foggy weather, for autonomous driving vehicles.

Conducting related research is crucial since there are still many problems that need to be resolved in the research on soft robots in the areas of material selection, structure design and manufacture, and drive control. Soft manipulators, a subset of soft robots, are now a popular area of study for many researchers. In comparison to typical manipulators, soft manipulators feature a high degree of gripping flexibility and a basic morphological structure. They are composed of flexible materials. It has a wide range of potential applications in healthcare, rehabilitation, bionics, and detection, and it can compensate for the drawbacks of rigid manipulators in some use scenarios. A modular soft-body torsional gripping system is developed after a torsional and gripping actuator is conceived, constructed, and its performance is examined. The torsion actuator and the grasping actuator can be combined in the system in a modular fashion. With the help of RGB-D vision algorithms, this multi-modular setup makes it possible to combine soft actuators with various twisting degrees and achieve exact gripping. Through pneumatic control, the target object is precisely grasped and rotated at various angles, enabling rotation of the target object in three dimensions.

Palpation is a simple but effective method to differentiate tumors from healthy tissues. Development of miniaturized tactile sensors embedded on endoscopic or robotic devices are the key toward precise palpation diagnosis and the subsequent timely treatment. This paper reports on the fabrication and characterization of a novel tactile sensor with mechanical flexibility and optical transparency that can be easily mounted on soft surgical endoscopes and robotics. Utilizing the pneumatic sensing mechanism, the sensor offers a high sensitivity of 1.25 mbar and negligible hysteresis, enabling the detection of phantom tissues with different stiffnesses ranging from 0 to 2.5 MPa. Our configuration combining pneumatic sensing and hydraulic actuating also eliminates electrical wiring from the functional elements located at the robot end-effector, thereby enhancing the system safety. The optical transparency path in the sensors together with its mechanical sensing capability open interesting possibility in early detection of solid tumor as well as in the development of all in-one soft surgical robots that can perform visual/mechanical feedback and optical therapy.

The aim of this work is a comprehensive study of the effect of variable atomic composition and structural-phase state of (CoFeZr)x(MgF2)100-x nanocomposites (NCs) on their nonlinear electronic and magnetic/magneto-optical properties. Micrometer-thick nanocomposites layers on the glass substrates were obtained by ion-beam sputtering of a composite target in the argon atmosphere in a wide range of compositions x=9-51at.% The value of the resistive percolation threshold xper=34 at.%, determined from the concentration dependences of the electrical resistance of NCs, coincides with the beginning of nucleation of metallic nanocrystals CoFeZr in MgF2 dielectric matrix. The absolute value of maximum magnetoresistance of NCs is 2.4 % in a magnetic field of 5.5 kOe at x=25 at.%, up to the percolation threshold. Two maxima appear in the concentration dependences of magneto-optical transversal Kerr effect, one of which at x = 34 at.% corresponds to the formation of CoFeZr alloy nanocrystals of a hexagonal structure, and the second one at x=45 at.% corresponds to the phase transition of nanocrystals from a hexagonal to a cubic body-centered structure. The magnetic percolation threshold in (CoFeZr)x(MgF2)100-x system at xfm=34 at.% with the appearance of a hysteresis loop and a coercive force of Hc≈ 8 Oe, coincides with the resistive percolation threshold xper=34 at.%. Concentration dependence of the coercive force showed that at low contents of metallic alloy x<30 at.% NCs are superparamagnetic (Hc=0). With an increase of the alloy content, in the region of magnetic and resistive percolation thresholds NCs exhibit a magnetically soft ferromagnetic character and do not change it far beyond the percolation threshold with the maximum value of the coercive force Hc< 30 Oe. Decrease in magnetic order and soft ferromagnetic are influenced by the diamagnetic phase FeF2 that we discovered at the interface of magnetic nanocrystals CoFeZr with a dielectric matrix MgF2 by the Mössbauer spectroscopy.