In this work, an entropy-stable and well-balanced numerical scheme for a one-dimensional blood flow model is presented. Such scheme is obtained from an explicit entropy conservative flux along with a second order discretization of the source term by using centered finite differences. We prove that the scheme is entropy-stable and preserves steady-states solutions. In addition, some numerical examples are included to test the performance of the proposed scheme.

Although most biological processes are characterized by a strong temporal asymmetry, several popular mathematical models neglect this issue. Maximum entropy methods provide a principled way of addressing time irreversibility, which leverages powerful results and ideas from the3literature of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. This article provides a comprehensive overview of these issues, with a focus in the case of spike train statistics. We provide a detailed account of the5mathematical foundations and work out examples to illustrate the key concepts and results from non-equilibrium statistical mechanics

The elegance of mathematical models in quantum mechanics has often been seen with awe, and especially frustration. Nonetheless, the mathematical physics of quantum mechanics is fascinating beyond measure. And fortunately, there are quite baffling things about quantum mechanics that showed us what we never thought could be seen, making it simpler to figure out the behavior of physical systems without having to delve into the subtleties of the subject. In this paper, we present a review on the density of quantum states in an intuitive fashion that is easily comprehensible to undergraduate students with an elementary background in physics.

Anion exchange of the halides, Br and I, is demonstrated through the direct mixing of two pure perovskite quantum dot solutions, CsPbBr3 and CsPbI3, and is shown to be both facile and result in a completely alloyed single phase mixed halide perovskite. Anion exchange is also observed in an interlayer printing method utilizing the pure, unalloyed perovskite solutions and a commercial inkjet printer. The halide exchange was confirmed by optical absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescent spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy characterization, and indicates that alloying is thermodynamically favorable, while the formation of a clustered alloy is not favored. Additionally, a surface-to-bulk photoemission core level transition is observed for the Cs 4d photoemission feature which indicates the electronic structure of the surface is different from the bulk. Time resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy indicates the presence of multiple excitonic decay features which is argued to originate from states residing at surface and bulk environments.

This article examines the impact of some system parameters on an industrial system composed of two dissimilar parallel units with one repairman. The active unit may fail due to essential factors like aging or deteriorating, or exterior phenomena such as Poisson shocks that occur at various time periods. Whenever the value of a shock is larger than the specified threshold of the active unit, the active unit will fail. The article assumes that the repairman has the right to take any of two decisions at the beginning of the system operation: either a takes a vacation if the two units work in a normal way, or stay in the system to monitor the system until the first system failure. In case of having a failure in any of the two units during the absence of the repairman, the failing unit will have to wait until the repairman is called back to work. We suppose that the value of every shock is assumed to be i.i.d. with some known distribution. The length of the repairman’s vacation, repair time, and recall time are arbitrary distributions. Various reliability measures have been calculated by the supplementary variable technique and the Markov’s vector process theory. At last, numerical computation and graphical analysis have been given for a particular case to validate the derived indices.

Analytical solutions for radiation dominated phase of Quasi Steady State Cosmology in Friedmann-Robertson-Walkar models are obtained. We find that matter density is positive in all the cases (k = 0,-1,1). The nature of Hubble parameter (H) in [0,2] is discussed. The deceleration parameter (q) is marginally less than zero indicating accelerating universe. The scale factor (S) is graphically shown with time. The model represents oscillating universe between the above mentioned limits. Because of bounce in QSSC, the maximum density phase is still matter dominated. The models represent singularity free model. We also find that the models have event horizon i.e. no observer beyond the proper distance rH can communicate each other in FRW mdels for radiation dominated phase in the frame work of QSSC. The FRW models are special classes of Bianchi type I, V, IX space-times with zero, negative and positive curvatures respectively. Initially i.e. at  = 0, the model represents steady model. We have tried to show how a good fit can be obtained to the observations in the framework of QSSC during radiation dominated phase.

Open source software such as OpenDSS has given a lot of help to distribution network researchers and educators. With high penetration of distributed renewable energy resources into distribution network, tradition distribution steady state analysis software such as OpenDSS is faced with difficulty in handling distributed generators. Three-phase distributed generators are often modeled in sequence frame while unbalanced distribution network are usually modeled in phase frame. So a load flow in sequence-phase coupled frame is proposed to handle models described in both frames. Voltage controlled DGs which are difficult to cope with in OpenDSS are handled in proposed program. The steady state analysis platform is programmed with open source Modelica language and the main aim of this paper is to introduce an open source platform for active distribution network steady analysis include load flow and short circuit analysis which can be easily adopted and improved by other educators and researchers.

We study the coupling of two topologcal subsystems in distinct topological states, and show that it leads to a precursor behavior of the topological phase transition in the overall system. This behavior is solely determined by the symmetry classes of the subsystem Hamiltonians and coupling terms, and is marked by the persistent existence of subgap states within the bulk energy gap. By investigating the critical current of Josephson junctions involving topological superconductors, we also illustrate that such subgap states play crucial roles in physical properties of nanoscale devices or materials.

We derive the stabiliser group of the four-vector, also known as Wigner’s little group, in case of massless particle states, as the maximal solvable subgroup of the proper orthochronous Lorentz group of dimension four, known as the Borel subgroup. In the absence of mass, particle states are disentangled into left and right handed chiral states, governed by the maximal solvable subgroups sol2± of order two. Induced Lorentz transformations are constructed and applied to general representations of particle states. Finally, it is argued how the spin-flip contribution is closely related to the occurrence of nonphysical spin operators.

The use of mixed-state ionic beams in collision dynamics investigations is examined. Using high resolution Auger projectile spectroscopy involving He-like ($1s^2\thinspace^1\!S, 1s2s\thinspace^{3,1}\!S$) mixed-state beams, the spectrum contributions of the $1s2s\thinspace^3\!S$ metastable beam component is effectively separated and clearly identified. This is performed with a technique that exploits two independent spectrum measurements under the same collision conditions, but with ions having quite different metastable fractions, judiciously selected by varying the ion beam charge-stripping conditions. Details of the technique are presented together with characteristic examples. In collisions of 4 MeV B$^{3+}$ with H$_2$ targets, the Auger electron spectrum of the separated $1s2s\thinspace^{3}S$ boron beam component allows for a detailed analysis of the formation of the $1s2s(^3\!S)nl \thinspace^2\!L$ states by direct $nl$ transfer. In addition, the production of hollow $2s2p\thinspace^{1,3}\!P$ doubly- and $2s2p^2\thinspace^2\!D$ triply-excited states, by direct excitation and transfer-excitation processes, respectively, can also be independently studied. In similar mixed-state beam collisions of 15 MeV C$^{4+}$ with H$_2$, He, Ne and Ar targets, the contributions of the $1s^2$, $1s2s\thinspace^{3,1}S$ beam components to the formation of the $2s2p\thinspace^{3,1}\!P$ states by double-excitation, $1s\rightarrow2p$ excitation and transfer-loss processes can be clearly identified, facilitating comparisons with theoretical calculations.

This article investigates hydraulic percolation in saturated porous media, focusing on containment systems using sheet pile walls and gravity concrete dams. The Laplace equation, which governs hydraulic flow in porous media, is solved using the Finite Element Method through the ANSYS software. The modeling of the porous media employs a planar quadratic element called Plane 55, originally used for thermal problems, composed of four nodes and one hydraulic degree of freedom per node. The numerical results of the water pressure acting on the hydraulic structure, flow rate, and hydraulic gradient at the outlet of the porous media are compared with results obtained in the technical-scientific literature using flow nets. Two different methodologies are used to obtain the rate of seepage: by using the average hydraulic velocity or by calculating the integral of the hydraulic gradient perpendicular to the flow area. Both methodologies are compared and validated in the numerical simulations. This work also demonstrates the importance of mesh refinement for obtaining the flow rate in the studied hydraulic systems.

By utilizing the Fourier transform, we present a practical method for evaluating a function of a derivative applied to any other arbitrary function of a single complex variable. As an illustration of this approach, we compute the actions of the displacement and squeeze operators on an arbitrary function, as well as the propagation of paraxial fields, Airy and number states, without the need for algebraic quantum operator techniques or the Fresnel integral.

Mechanochemical technology is developing rapidly, judging by the scientific information in both basic and applied studies. However, many issues and points of view remain to be discussed. This review presents some new key issues for the optimization of mechanochemical processes in theoretical and practical aspects. Emphasis is placed on powder technology aspects, which are not always discussed compared to functional or microscopic viewpoints. The transfer of chemical species across the interparticle interface between organic and inorganic species during the mechanosynthesis of nanocomposite oxides offers many new possibilities, which are discussed here in detail. Since all material transport is preceded by charge transfer, its driving force has been searched for using terminology beyond the well-established electrochemical ones. The role of organic compounds during the whole process is emphasized, regardless of their survival in the final product. The similarity with the pharmaceutical phenomena is pointed out, although its mentality is very different from that of the synthesis of nanocomposites. Not only for the rational amorphization of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, but also for the stabilization of molecular dispersion states with the participation of excipients are discussed. The effects of liquids, either added or formed by mechanochemical auto-liquefaction, are presented with reference to the comparison between wet and dry grinding. Finally, mechanisms of apparent stabilization of mechanically activated states of products are elucidated to investigate the practical applicability of mechanochemically synthesized products

Background: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the reliability of two 15-sec sprint cycling tests in men and women to estimate the maximum rate of glycolysis or lactate production (VLa-Max). Methods: Eighteen men and twelve women completed two sprint sessions over 1-week. A 10-min warm-up preceded a 3 µl blood lactate (BLC) sample, after which a 15-sec sprint was completed; cyclists then rested passively while multiple lactate samples were taken until levels peaked. VLaMax was calculated as (Peak BLC – Pre BLC) * (15-sec – Talac)-1. Trial differences and reliability across trials were analyzed using a paired-sample t-test, Pearson correlation, ICC, and Bland-Altman analysis with α=0.05 for all tests; data are reported as mean ± sd. Results: Power (W) was similar across trails (773.0 ±143.5 vs. 758.2 ± 127.4; p = 0.333) and coefficient of varia-tion (CV) of 4.7%. VLaMax was similar (0.673 ± 0.024 vs 0.635 ± 0.237; p = 0.280), but only moder-ately reliably across trials with a CV, ICC, and R value of 18.6%, 0.661, and 0.67, respectively. Conclusions: A 15-sec VLaMax cycling sprint is moderately reliable being affected both by the lac-tate measurement and other variables used in the calculation. More research may offer ways to improve reliability.

This paper reports applying Minimax principle and impulsive differential inequality to derive the existence of multiple stationary solutions and the global stability of a positive stationary solution for a delayed feedback Gilpin-Ayala competition model with impulsive disturbance. The conclusion obtained in this paper reduces the conservatism of the algorithm compared with the known literature, for the impulsive disturbance is not limited to impulsive control.

This research article provides a comprehensive analysis of the Expectation of Life at Birth in India and its larger states and union territories (UTs), with a specific focus on rural and urban disparities. The data, obtained from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India, highlights the variations in life expectancy by sex and area of residence, shedding light on the health and socio-economic conditions in different regions. The article discusses the implications of these findings and their relevance for public health policy and interventions.

In this paper, a controlled-phase-flip (P-CPF) gate using the polarisation and orbital angular momentum degrees of freedom for single-photon two-qubit quantum logic is proposed. This is critical to the realisation of quantum cluster states and graph networks using transverse degrees of freedom. A generalisation of the proposed scheme to arbitrary number and kinds of degrees of freedom, for optical systems, as well as arbitrary operations to be conditionally performed is proposed.

We compare several different measures of non-Gaussianity for two families of four-photon superpositions of the Fock states: even vacuum squeezed states and orthogonal-even coherent states.

African scientific research faces formidable challenges, particularly with limited access to state-of-the-art measurement instruments. The high cost associated with these devices presents a significant barrier for regional research laboratories, impeding their ability to conduct sophisticated experiments and gather precise data. This predicament not only hampers the individual laboratories but also has broader implications for the African scientific community and the advancement of knowledge in developing nations—the financial cost barrier considerably impacts the research quality of these laboratories. Reflection on technical and economical solutions needs to be quickly found to help these countries advance their research. In civil Engineering, the thermal conductivity property is the most important measurement for characterising heat transfer in construction materials. Existing devices (i.e., conductometers) in a laboratory are expensive (approximately 30,000 euros) and unavailable for some African laboratories. The study proposes a new and affordable device to evaluate thermal conductivity in construction materials. The method involves establishing a thermal flux between a heat source ( from the Joule effect provided by steel wool where a current is circulating) and a cold source (generated by ice cube) under steady-state conditions. The development of the cylindrical prototype is based on the comparative flux-meter method outlined in the measuring protocol of the ASTM E1225 standard document. Experiments were conducted on four distinct materials (polystyrene, wood, agglomerated wood, and rigid foam). The results indicate a correct correlation between the experimental values obtained from the newly developed prototype and the reference values found in the literature. For example, concerning the experimental polystyrene study, the detailed case analysis reveals a good correlation, with a deviation of only 4%. The percent error found falls within the acceptable range indicated by the standards recommendations of the ASTM E1225 standard, i.e., within 5% acceptable error.

In this work, meshless methods are applied for the solution of two-dimensional steady-state heat conduction problems with nonlocal multi-point boundary conditions (NMBC). These meshless procedures are based on multiquadric radial basis function (MQ RBF) and its modified version (i.e. integrated MQ RBF). The proposed meshless methods which were recently published in \cite{Reutskiy2016} is compared with standard collocation method (i.e. Kansa's method). Three different sorts of solution domain are considered in which Dirichlet boundary condition is specified on some part of the boundary and is related to the unknown function values at a discrete set of interior points. The influence of NMBC on the accuracy and condition number of the system matrix associated to the proposed methods is investigated. The sensitivity of the shape parameter is also analyzed in the proposed methods. Performance of the proposed approaches in terms of accuracy and efficiency is confirmed on the benchmark problems.

Background: Recent reports on the national temporal trends of sepsis-related mortality in the United States (US) suggested outcome improvement in several race and ethnicity groups. However, it is unknown whether national data reflect state-level trajectories. Methods: We used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research Multiple Cause of Death dataset to identify all decedents with sepsis in the US during 2010-2019. Negative binomial regression models were fit to estimate national and state-level trends of age-adjusted sepsis-related mortality rates within race and ethnicity groups. Results: There were 1,852,610 sepsis-related deaths in the US during 2010-2019. Nationally, sepsis-related mortality rates decreased among Blacks and Asians, were unchanged among Hispanics and Native Americans, and rose among Whites. The percent of states with similar trends were 30.0% among Blacks, 32.1% among Asians, 74.3% among Hispanics, 75.0% among Native Americans, and 66.7%% among Whites, while trending in opposite direction from 3.6% among Asians to 15.0% among Blacks. Conclusions: National trends in sepsis-related mortality in the US did not represent state-level trajectories in race and ethnicity groups. Gains in sepsis outcomes among race and ethnicity groups at the national level were not shared equitably at the state level.

Many quantum devices signals are proportional to the number of the participating atoms that take part in the detection devices. Among these are optical magnetometers, atomic clocks, and atoms interferometers. One way to enhance the signal to noise ratio is to introduce atoms entanglement that increases the signal in a super-radiant like effect. An initial novel experiment to test the realization of atoms correlation is described here. A Cs optical magnetometer is used as a tool to test the operation of a cell-in-cavity laser and its characteristics. A vapor cell is inserted in-to an elongated external cavity of the pump laser in Littrow configuration. Higher atom polarization and reduced laser linewidth are obtained leading to better magnetometer sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio. The Larmor frequency changes of the Free Induction Decay of optically pumped Cs atomic polarization in ambient earth magnetic field at room temperature is measured. Temporal changes in the magnetic field of less than 10 pT/Hz are measured. The first order dependence of the magnetic field on temperature and temperature gradients is eliminated, important in many practical applications. Single and gradiometric magnetometer con-figurations are presented.

The swelling behavior of titanium-modified austenitic stainless steel 15-15Ti was investigated by pre-implantation of He at room temperature followed by Ni irradiation at 580 °C to peak doses of 120, 240 and 400 dpa. Relatively smaller cavities were observed in the zone of helium implantation while large cavities appeared in the region near the damage peak. A correction formula of the dpa curve was proposed and applied for samples with large swelling. It is found that the steady-state swelling rate of 15-15Ti keeps at ~1% /dpa even to high doses. By comparing the swelling data of the helium-implanted and helium-free regions at same doses, 70 dpa and 122 dpa, the suppression of excessive helium on swelling can be deduced at such doses.

Energy supply interruptions or blackouts caused by faults in power distribution feeders entail several damages to power utilities and consumer units: financial losses, damage to power distribution reliability, power quality deterioration, etc. Most studies in the specialized literature concerning faults in power distribution systems present methodologies for detecting, classifying, and locating faults after their occurrence. In contrast, this study aims to prevent faults by estimating the city regions whose power grid is most vulnerable to them. This work incorporates the geographic space study to prevent faults in the distribution power grid through a spatial data analysis using local variables that increase the fault risk in feeders in some city regions. Geographically weighted spatial analysis is applied to data aggregated by regions to produce thematic maps with the city regions whose feeders are more vulnerable to failures. Spatial data analysis is developed in QGIS and R programming environments. It is applied in real data of electrical discharges in a medium-sized city with approximately 200,000 inhabitants. In this study, we highlight a moderate positive correlation between electrical discharge density and the percentage of faults in transformers by regions in the central and western areas of the city under study.

“Money has always been something of an embarrassment to economic theory. Everyone agrees that it is important; indeed, much of macroeconomic policy discussion makes no sense without reference to money. Yet, for the most part theory fails to provide a good account for it.” (Banerjee and Maskin, 1996, p. 955)The debate about whether or not a growth imperative exists in debt based, interest bearing mone- tary systems has not yet been settled. It is the goal of this paper to introduce a new perspective in this discussion.For that purpose an SFC computational model is constructed which simulates a post Keynesian Endogenous Money system without including economic parameters such as production, wages, consumption and savings. A case is made that isolating the monetary system allows for better analysis of the inherent properties of such a system.Loan demands, which are assumed to happen, are the driving force of the model. Simulations can be run in two modes, each based on a different assumption. Either the growth rate of the money stock is assumed to be constant or the loan rate, expressed as a percentage of the money stock, is assumed to be constant.Simulations with varying parameters are run in order to determine the conditions under which the model converges to stability, which is defined as converging to a bounded debt rate.The analysis shows that stability of the model is dependent on net bank profit ratios, expressed relative to their debt assets, remaining below the growth rate of the money stock. Based on these findings it is argued that the question about the existence of a growth imperative in debt based, interest bearing monetary systems needs to be reframed. The question becomes whether a steady state economy can realistically support such a system without destabilising it. In order to answer this question real world behavior of economic actors must be included in the model.It is concluded that there are indications that it might not be feasible for a steady state economy to support a stable debt based, interest bearing monetary system without strong interventions. However, more research is necessary for a definite answer. Real world observable data should be analysed through the lens of the presented model to bring more clarity.

The change in the value of the breaking energy is discussed here for selected steel grades used in building structures after subjecting the samples made of them to episodes of heating in the steady-state heating regime and then cooling in a simulated fire conditions. These changes were recorded based on the instrumented Charpy impact tests, in relation to the material initial state. The S355J2+N, 1H18N9T steels and also X2CrNiMoN22-5-3 duplex steel were selected for detailed analysis. The fire conditions were modelled experimentally by heating the samples and then keeping them for a specified time at a constant temperature of: 600°C (first series) and 800°C (second series), respectively. Two alternative cooling variants were investigated in the experiment: slow cooling of the samples in the furnace, simulating the natural fire progress, without any external extinguishing action, and cooling them in water mist simulating an extinguishing action by a fire brigade. The temperature of the tested samples was set at the level -20oC and alternatively at the level + 20oC. The conducted analysis is aimed at assessing the risk of sudden, catastrophic fracture of load-bearing structure made of steel degraded as a result of a fire previously occurred with different development scenarios.

Properties of coherent states for the Heisenberg group over a field of $p$-adic numbers are investigated. It turns out that coherent states form an orthonormal basis. The family of all such bases is parametrized by a set of self-dual lattices in the phase space. The Wehrl entropy $S_W$ is considered and its properties are investigated. In particular, it is proved that $S_W\geq 0$ and vanishes only on coherent states. For a pair of different bases of coherent states, an entropic uncertainty relation is obtained. It is shown that the lower bound for the sum of the corresponding Wehrl entropies is given by the distance between the lattices. The proof uses the fact that the bases of coherent states corresponding to a pair of lattices are mutually unbiased.

The experimental realization of twisted bilayer graphene strongly pushed the inspection of bilayer systems. In this context, it was recently shown that a two layer Haldane model with a thirty degree rotation angle between the layers represents a higher order topological insulator, with zero-dimensional states isolated in energy and localized at the physical vertices of the nanostructure. We show, within a numerical tight binding approach, that the energy of the zero dimensional states strongly depends on the geometrical structure of the vertices. In the most extreme cases, once a specific band gap is considered, these bound states can even disappear just by changing the vertex structure.

Snowpack seasonality in the conterminous United States (U.S.) is explored using a daily,14 km horizontal resolution gridded snow water equivalent and snow depth reanalysis product. I2calculated seasonal snowpacks using two established methods: (1) the classic Sturm approach that3requires 60 days of snow cover with a peak depth >50 cm and (2) the snow seasonality metric (SSM)4that only requires 60 days of continuous snow cover. The latter approach yields continuous values5from -1 to +1, where -1 (+1) indicates an ephemeral (seasonal) snowpack. Both approaches identify6seasonal snowpacks in western mountains and the northernmost central and eastern U.S. By relaxing7the depth constraint and providing continuous values, the SSM identifies greater areas of seasonal8snowpacks compared to the Sturm method, particularly in the upper Midwest, New England, and the9Intermountain West. Ephemeral snowpacks are identified throughout lower elevation regions of the10western U.S. and across a broad swath centered near 35°N spanning the lee of the Rocky Mountains11to the Atlantic coast. Because it lacks a depth constraint, the SSM approach is sensitive to interannual12variability, indicating it may inform the location of shallow but long-duration snowpacks at risk13of transitioning to becoming ephemeral with climatic change. A case study in Oregon during an14extreme snow drought year highlights seasonal to ephemeral snowpack transitions.

Hematological and biochemical reference values in sickle cell disease (SCD) are crucial for patient management and evaluation of interventions. This study was conducted at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar es Salaam, to establish laboratory reference ranges in SCD at steady-state. Patients were grouped into five age groups with respects to their sex. Aggregate functions were used to handle repeated measures within the indi-vidual level in each age group. A nonparametric approach was used to smooth the curves and a parametric approach was used to determine SCD normal ranges. Comparison between males and females and against the general population was documented. Data from 4,422 patients collected from 2004-2015 were analyzed. The majority of the patients (35.41%) were children aged between 5-11 years. There were no significant differences (p≥0.05) in mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), lymphocytes, basophils and bilirubin direct observed between males and females. Significant differences (p<0.05) were observed in all selected parameters across age groups except neutrophils and MCHC in adults, as well as platelets and alkaline phosphatase in infants when SCD estimates were compared to the general population. Laboratory reference ranges in SCD at steady-state were different from those of the general population and varied with sex and age. The established reference ranges for SCD at steady-state will be a helpful in the management and monitoring of the progress of SCD.

Biophoton emission has been experimented for decades. The photo-genic origin of biophoton has also been attributed to the oxidative stress or free radical production. However, there are considerable gaps in quantitative understanding of biophoton emission. In this work, I propose an analytical hypothesis for interpreting a few patterns of steady-state biophoton emission of human, including the dependency on age, the diurnal variation, and the geometric asymmetry associated with serious asymmetrical pathological conditions. The hypothesis is based on an alternative form of energy state, termed vivo-nergy, which is associated with only metabolically active organisms that are also under neuronal control. The hypothesis projects a decrease of the vivo-nergy in human during growth beyond puberty. The hypothesis also proposes a modification of the vivo-nergy by the phases of systematic or homeostatic physiology. The hypothesis further postulates that the deviation of the physiology-modified vivo-nergy from the pre-puberty level is deteriorated by acquired organ-specific pathological conditions. A temporal differential change of vivo-nergy is hypothesized to proportionally modulate oxidative stress that functions as the physical source of biophoton emission. The resulted steady-state diffusion of the photon emitted from a photo-genic source in a human geometry simplified as a homogeneous spherical domain is modeled by photon diffusion principles incorporating an extrapolated zero-boundary condition. The age and systematic physiology combined determines the intensity of the centered physiological steady-state photo-genic source. An acquired pathology sets both the intensity and the off-center position of the pathological steady-state photo-genic source. When the age-commemorated, physiology-commanded, and pathology-controlled modifications of the steady-state photo-genetic sources are implemented in the photon diffusion model, the photon fluence rate at the surface of the human-representing spherical domain reveals the patterns on age, the temporal variation corresponding to systematic physiology, and the geometric asymmetry associated with significant asymmetric pathological condition as reported for spontaneous biophoton emission. The hypothesis, as it provides conveniences for quantitative estimation of biophoton emission patterns, will be extended in future works towards interpreting the temporal characteristics of biophoton emission under stimulation.

Topological states of matter have attracted significant attention due to their intrinsic wave-guiding and localization capabilities robust against disorders and defects in electronic, photonic, and phononic systems. Despite the above topological features phononic crystals share with their electronic and photonic counterparts, finite-frequency topological states in phononic crystals may not always survive. In this work, we discuss the survivability of topological states in Su-Schrieffer-Heeger models with both local and non-local interactions with larger symmetry perturbation. Although such a discussion is still about ideal mass-spring models, the insights from this study set the expectations in continuum phononic crystals, which can further instruct the applications of phononic crystals for practical purposes.

A quantum particle constrained between two high potential barriers provides a paradigmatic example of a system sustaining quasi bound (or resonance) states. When the system is prepared in one of such quasi bound states, the wave function approximately maintains its shape but decays in time in a nearly exponential manner radiating into the surrounding space, the lifetime being of the order of the reciprocal of the width of the resonance peak in the transmission spectrum. Naively, one could think that adding more lateral barriers would preferentially slow down or prevent the quantum decay since tunneling is expected to become less probable and because of quantum backflow induced by multiple scattering processes. However, this is not always the case and in the early stage of the dynamics quantum decay can be accelerated (rather than decelerated) by additional lateral barriers, even when the barrier heights are arbitrarily large. The decay acceleration originates from resonant tunneling effects and is associated to large deviations from an exponential decay law. We discuss such a counterintuitive phenomenon by considering the hopping dynamics of a quantum particle on a tight-binding lattice with on-site potential barriers.

Many mathematical models of strategic play or better choice overlook adjustment costs. Rather often, the modeler's concern is just with improvement of objectives. This optic doesn't quite fit agents somewhat attached to status quo. They reason whether moving to another state be worth their while. For that, the realized gains must outweigh the inconveniences of the move. This note offers some observations on the fact that change usually entails cost.

A method for measuring the real part of the weak value of spin for non-zero rest mass atoms is presented using a variant on the original Stern-Gerlach apparatus. The experiment utilises helium in the metastable 2³S₁ state. A full simulation for observing the real part of the weak value using the impulsive approximation has been carried out and it predicts a displacement of the beam, Δ_w, that is within the resolution of our detector. It also indicates how this shift might be increased. The full analysis also indicated that there is a limit, L, to the applicability of the weak value approximation and has been evaluated for our apparatus. This experiment has the possibility to be expanded to utilise other nobal gas species such as neon and argon in the ³P₂ metastable state, but we shall restrict this paper to metastable helium only.

A mathematical model given by a two - dimensional differential system is introduced in order to understand the transition process from the normal hematopoiesis to the chronic and accelerated acute stages in chronic myeloid leukemia. A previous model of Dingli and Michor is refined by introducing a new parameter in order to differentiate the bone marrow microenvironment sensitivities of normal and mutant stem cells. In the light of the new parameter, the system now has three distinct equilibria corresponding to the normal hematopoietic state, to the chronic state, and to the accelerated acute phase of the disease. A characterization of the three hematopoietic states is obtained based on the stability analysis. Numerical simulations are included to illustrate the theoretical results.

The feasibility of a steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) brain-computer interface (BCI) with a single flicker stimulus for multiple-target decoding has been demonstrated in a number of recent studies. The single-flicker BCIs have mainly employed the direction information for encoding the targets, i.e. different targets are placed at different spatial directions relative to the flicker stimulus. The present study explored whether visual eccentricity information can also be used to encode target for the purpose of increasing the number of targets in the single-flicker BCIs. A total number of 16 targets were encoded, placed at eight spatial directions, and two eccentricities (2.5° and 5°) relative to a 12 Hz flicker stimulus. Whereas distinct SSVEP topographies were elicited when participants gazed at targets of different directions, targets of different eccentricities were mainly represented by different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Using a canonical correlation analysis-based classification algorithm, simultaneous decoding of both direction and eccentricity information was achieved, with an average offline 16-class accuracy of 66.8±16.4% averaged over 12 participants and a best individual accuracy of 90.0%. Our results demonstrate a single-flicker BCI with a substantially increased target number towards practical applications.

The locality condition of probabilities underpinning the derivation of Bell inequalities can be violated classically. The wave function collapse results in the factorization of quantum probabilities. It is possible to differentiate, locally, between ensemble probabilities of single detections with and without wave function collapse for the alleged quantum nonlocality. The theoretical concept of photonic quantum nonlocality cannot be implemented physically because of the quantum Rayleigh scattering of single photons. A distinction needs to be made between the correlation of individual, single measurements of pure states and the correlation of the ensemble states of the mixed states. The correlation operator of Pauli vector operators delivers the same probabilities of correlated detections of photons for both independent and multi-photon states as for ‘entangled’ states of photons. As single-photon sources are not needed, the design and implementation of quantum computing operations and other devices will be significantly streamlined.

The structures of Ag complexes with dimethyl amino phenyl substituted phtalocyanine m[dmaphPcAg]q of various charges q and in two lowest spin states m were optimized using the B3LYP method within the D4h symmetry group and its subgroups. The most stable reaction intermediate in the supposed photoinitiation reaction is 3[dmaphPcAg]-. Group-theoretical analysis of the optimized structures and of their electron states reveals two symmetry-descent mechanisms. Stable structures of maximal symmetry of complexes 1[dmaphPcAg]+, 3[dmaphPcAg]+, 2[dmaphPcAg]0 and 4[dmaphPcAg]2- correspond to the D4 group as a consequence of the pseudo-Jahn-Teller effect within unstable D4h structure. Complexes 4[dmaphPcAg]0, 1[dmaphPcAg]-, 3[dmaphPcAg]- and 2[dmaphPcAg]2- with double degenerate electron ground states in D4h symmetry structures undergo a symmetry descent to stable structures corresponding to maximal D2 symmetry not because of a simple Jahn-Teller effect but due to hidden pseudo-Jahn-Teller effect (strong vibronic interaction between excited electron states). The reduction of the neutral photoinitiator causes symmetry descent to its anionic intermediate because of vibronic interactions that must significantly affect the polymerization reactions.

The identification and physical interpretation of quantum correlations, more recently explored beyond entanglement, is not always a simple task. Two assumptions that, at least in principle, should lead to a relatively large dispersion for the observables of a quantum bipartite formed by systems I and II are to assume that; (a) all the possible observables describing the composite are potentially equally probable as outcomes of measurements; and (b) there cannot be concurrence (positive reinforcement) between any of the observables within a given system, meaning all their corresponding operators do not commute. The so-called EPR states are known to observe (a). Here we demonstrate in general terms that they also verify (b). As examples, we discuss three-level systems. Given the character of (a) and (b), one may expect the CHSH correlation for qubits to naturally violate its associated Bell’s inequality (i.e., it would yield values greater than 2) when applied to EPR states. Surprisingly, we show the CHSH contradicts such prediction. This finding emphasizes the subtleties of correlations in quantum mechanics, where the conceivable dispersive interdependence of EPR states observables results counterintuitively in a more limited range of values for the CHSH correlation, not surpassing the nonlocality threshold of 2.

We argue that a very large class of quantum pure states of isolated macroscopic bodies have sharply peaked energy distributions, with their width relative to the average scaling between $\sim N^{-1}$ and $\sim N^{-1/2}$, with $N \gg 1$, the number of atoms conforming the body. Those states are dense superpositions of energy eigenstates within arbitrary finite or infinite energy intervals that decay sufficiently fast. The sharpness of the energy distribution implies that closed systems in those states are {\it microcanonical} in the sense that only energy eigenstates very near to the mean energy contribute to their thermodynamic evolution. Since thermodynamics accurately describes processes of macroscopic bodies and requires that closed systems have constant energy, our claim is that these pure states are typical of macroscopic systems. The main assumption beneath the energy sharpness is that the isolated body can reach thermal equilibrium if left unaltered. We argue that such a self-sharpness of the energy in macroscopic bodies indicates that the First Law of Thermodynamics is statistical in character.

The very first case of corona-virus illness was recorded on 30 January 2020, in India and the number of infected cases, including the death toll, continues to rise. In this paper, we present short-term forecasts of COVID-19 for 28 Indian states and five union territories using real-time data from 30 January to 20May 2020. Applying Holt’s second-order exponential smoothing method and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model, we generated 10-day ahead forecasts of the likely number of infected cases and deaths in India until 29 May2020. Our results show that the number of cumulative cases in India will rise to169109 [PI 95% (14426, 19455)], concurrently the number of deaths may increase to 4863 [PI 95% (4221, 5551)] by 29 May 2020.Further, we have marked the states (e.g. Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu) where outburst is expected by considering the cases above three standard deviations. Under the worst-case scenario, Maharashtra is likely to be the most affected state with around 62628 [PI 95% (52840, 73555)] cumulative cases by 29 May 2020. However, Kerala and Karnataka are likely to remain in the lesser affected region. The presented results mark the states where lockdown by 1 June2020, can be loosened.

We investigate the flow structure and dynamics of moderate-Rayleigh-number ($Ra$) thermal convection in a two-dimensional inclined porous layer. Direct numerical simulations (DNS) confirm the emergence of $\mathit{O}(1)$ aspect-ratio large-scale convective rolls, with one `natural' roll rotating in the counterclockwise direction and one `antinatural' roll rotating in the clockwise direction. As the inclination angle $\phi$ is increased, the background mean shear flow intensifies the natural-roll motion, while suppressing the antinatural-roll motion. Moreover, our DNS reveal---for the first time in single-species porous medium convection---the existence of \emph{spatially-localized} convective states at large $\phi$, which we suggest are enabled by subcritical instability of the base state at sufficiently large inclination angles. To better understand the physics of inclined porous medium convection at different $\phi$, we numerically compute steady convective solutions using Newton iteration and then perform secondary stability analysis of these nonlinear states using Floquet theory. Our analysis indicates that the inclination of the porous layer stabilizes the boundary layers of the natural roll, but intensifies the boundary-layer instability of the antinatural roll. These results facilitate physical understanding of the large-scale cellular flows observed in the DNS at different values of $\phi$.

In this paper, we revisit the q-states clock model for small systems. We present results for the thermodynamics of the q-states clock model from $q=2$ to $q=20$ for small square lattices $L \times L$, with L ranging from $L=3$ to $L=64$ with free-boundary conditions. Energy, specific heat, entropy and magnetization are measured. We found that the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT)-like transition appears for $q>5$ regardless of lattice size, while the transition at $q=5$ is lost for $L<10$; for $q\leq 4$ the BKT transition is never present. We report the phase diagram in terms of $q$ showing the transition from the ferromagnetic (FM) to the paramagnetic (PM) phases at a critical temperature T$_1$ for small systems which turns into a transition from the FM to the BKT phase for larger systems, while a second phase transition between the BKT and the PM phases occurs at T$_2$. We also show that the magnetic phases are well characterized by the two dimensional (2D) distribution of the magnetization values. We make use of this opportunity to do an information theory analysis of the time series obtained from the Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, we calculate the phenomenological mutability and diversity functions. Diversity characterizes the phase transitions, but the phases are less detectable as $q$ increases. Free boundary conditions are used to better mimic the reality of small systems (far from any thermodynamic limit). The role of size is discussed.

Understanding the role of invasive species in ecosystem functioning represents one of the main challenges in ecology. Pteridium aquilinum is a successful cosmopolitan invasive species with negative effects on the ecological mechanisms that allow secondary succession. In this study we evaluated whether P. aquilinum favours the establishment of alternative states, as well as the effect of recovery strategies on the secondary succession. A random stratified sampling was established with three treatments, each one with at least 50 year of fern invasion and with variations on the periodicity of fires and cuttings (chapeos) vs one control without fern bracken We determined the species richness and composition, as well as the relative importance value (IVI) in each treatment. We found that P. aquilinum decreases the action of the mechanisms that allow secondary succession, particularly facilitation. The recovery strategies consist in monthly cuttings and control fires allow to recover the secondary succession and eventually, the regeneration of areas invaded by P. aquilinum. Our study has relevant implications on the ecology of alternative state, and in practical strategies to maintain tropical forests, as well as for the maintenance of environmental services and sustainability.

The interpretation of published experimental results intended to prove the existence of a quantum phenomenon of non-locality involving photonic entangled states did not take into consideration the existence of the quantum Rayleigh conversion of photons in dielectric media. This phenomenon leads to the existence of high levels of correlations between two independent photonic and linearly polarized quantum states generated after the entangled photons have been absorbed through the quantum Rayleigh conversion. Both pure and mixed individual states of polarization result in expressions normally associated with entangled photonic states, providing support for the view that the physical reality of quantum non-locality is highly questionable.

Many studies deal synthesis of carbon materials including all the disclosed states. This study describes the binding mechanism of different state carbon atoms. The binding energy as per gauge of certain state carbon atom is being invited under the application of force. In evolving different structures of carbon atoms their admissible electron-dynamics generate binding energy. Evolution of graphite structure is one-dimensional when certain amalgamated atom executes electron-dynamics to gain stable state to bind atom of attained stable state. Evolution of graphite structure is two-dimensional when amalgamated atoms under attained dynamics deal difference in surface format forces at the point of binding. Structural evolution is two-dimensional for nanotube and four-dimensional for fullerene (bucky balls). Structure evolution of graphite, nanotube and fullerene involve surface format forces mainly to invite binding energy of their atoms as per gauge of electron-dynamics. Structural evolutions of diamond and Lonsdaleite are under the joint application of surface format forces and grounded format forces to invite binding energy of atoms. Structural evolution of graphene involves both surface and space format forces to invite binding energy of atoms. Glassy carbon is related to layered wholly topological structure where layers of gas state carbon atoms, graphitic state and lonsdaleite state are being involved in successive manner to invite binding energy under space, surface and grounded format forces. Due to maintenance of electrons, carbon atoms do not bind when in the gas state. Diamond is south to ground tetra-dimensional, Lonsdaleite is south to ground bi-dimensional and graphene is ground to north tetra-dimensional topological structures. The Mohs hardness of carbon-based materials under different levitation gravitation behaviors attempting at electron level under contraction expansion of clamping energy knot is sketched. Carbon atoms when in fullerene structure is the best model to understand the influencing force at ground surface and the best model to explain binding mechanism in atoms of other elements.

A model of a single-server queuing-inventory system (QIS) with catastrophes and a finite waiting room for consumer customers (c-customers) has been developed. When a catastrophe occurs, all inventory in the system's warehouse is destroyed, but c-customers in the system are still waiting for restocking. In addition to c-customers, negative customers (n-customers) are also taken into account, which displaces one c-customers (if any). The policy (?, ?) is used to replenish stocks. If upon arrival of the c-customer the inventory level is zero, then according to Bernoulli’s scheme this c-customer is either lost or joining the queue. The mathematical model of the studied QIS is constructed in the form of a two-dimensional continuous-time Markov chain (2D CTMC). Exact and approximate methods for calculating the steady-state probabilities of constructed 2D CTMCs are developed and closed-form expressions are derived for calculating the performance measures. The results of numerical experiments are presented, demonstrating the high accuracy of the developed approximate formulas, as well as the behavior of performance indicators depending on the reorder point. In addition, an optimization problem is solved to obtain the optimal reorder point to minimize the expected total cost.

In this study, a numerical simulation of fluid flow through railway ballast in the time domain is presented, providing a model for unsteady-state flow. It is demonstrated that the position of the free surface with respect to time can also be used to solve the steady flow case. The effect of ballast fouling is included in the model to capture the realistic behavior of railway ballast, which is critical to understanding the impact of flooding. A thorough comparison with a range of previous studies, including theoretical and experimental approaches, is made and very close agreement is obtained. The significant impact of ballast fouling on fluid flow and its potential consequences for railway infrastructure are highlighted by the simulation. Valuable insights into the behavior of water flow through porous media and its relevance to railway ballast management are offered by this study.

In the present study, a mathematical model of non-steady partial differential equation from the process of oxygen mass transport in the human pulmonary circulation is proposed. Mathematical modelling of this kind of problems lead to a non-steady partial differential equation and for its numerical simulation, we have used finite differences. The aim of the process is the exact numerical analysis of the study, wherein consistency, stability and convergence is proposed. The necessity of doing the process is that, we would like to increase the order of numerical solution to a higher order scheme. An increment in the order of numerical solution makes the numerical simulation more accurate, also makes the numerical simulation being more complicated. In addition, the process of numerical analysis of the study in this order of solution needs more research work.

Research has shown that emotional states may influence the subjective experience of time. The present study involved 111 healthy adult participants and examined the impact of emotional stimuli on time perception, using a time estimation task with four conditions: in one of the conditions, participants estimated the exposure time of a black screen, wherein the duration could vary be-tween 2 to 7 s (condition without emotional interference); in the other conditions, participants es-timated the exposure time (also ranging from 2 to 7 s) of images that would induce pleasant, un-pleasant, or neutral emotions, to which participants were instructed to focus their attention (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral emotions). The results showed that participants estimated “shorter” time intervals (underestimation) for pleasant and unpleasant images compared to the condition without interference, but no significant differences were found between the neutral condition and the condition without interference. It is suggested that increased attention to an ex-ternal stimuli, regardless of its emotional valence, produces an underestimated perception of time.

The concept of {\it quantum ratio} emerged in the recent efforts to understand how Newton's equations appear for the center of mass (CM) of an isolated macroscopic body at finite body-temperatures, as the first approximation to quantum-mechanical equations. It is defined as $Q\equiv R_q/L_0$, where the quantum fluctuation range $R_q$ is the spatial extension of the pure-state CM wave function, whereas $L_0$ stands for the body's linear size (the space support of the internal, bound-state wave function). The two cases $R_q /L_0 \lesssim 1$ or $R_q/ L_0 \gg 1$, roughly correspond to the body's CM behaving classically or quantum mechanically, respectively. In the present note we elaborate more on this concept, illustrating it in several examples. An important notion following from introduction of the quantum ratio is that the elementary particles (thus the electron and the photon) are quantum mechanical, even when the environment-induced decoherence turns them into a mixed state. Decoherence and classical state should not be identified. This simple observation, further illustrationed by the consideration of a few atomic or molecular processes, may have significant implications on the way quantum mechanics works in biological systems.

This research article examines the state-wise literacy rates in India, with a focus on male and female literacy, as well as the disparities between them. The data was sourced from a survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), with a special emphasis on Union Territories and Northeastern states based on the 2011 Census. Kerala boasts the highest literacy rate at 96.2%, while Andhra Pradesh reports the lowest at 66.4%. Notably, the national male-female literacy gap stands at 12.9%. Kerala also demonstrates the smallest gender gap at 2.2%, while Rajasthan exhibits the highest at 23.3%. Through descriptive and explorative analysis, this article provides a comprehensive overview of literacy rates across various Indian states and Union Territories, highlighting the significant disparities that exist.

We derive a quantum speed limit for unitary evolution for the case of mixed quantum states using the stronger uncertainty relation for mixed quantum states. This bound can be optimized over different choices of Hermitian operators for a better bound. We illustrate this with some examples and show its better performance with respect to three existing bounds for mixed quantum states.

Josephson junctions (JJs) in the presence of a magnetic field exhibit qualitatively different interference patterns depending on the spatial distribution of the supercurrent through the junction. In JJs based on two-dimensional topological insulators (2DTIs), the electrons/holes forming a Cooper pair (CP) can either propagate along the same edge or be split into the two edges. The former leads to a SQUID-like interference pattern, with the superconducting flux quantum $\phi_0$ (where $\phi_0=h/2e$) as a fundamental period. If CPs’ splitting is additionally included, the resultant periodicity doubles. Since the edge states are typically considered as being strongly localized, the critical current does not decay as a function of the magnetic field. Here we go beyond this approach and inspect a topological JJ in the tunneling regime featuring extended edge states. We consider the possibility that the two electrons of a CP propagate and explore the junction independently over length scales comparable with the superconducting coherence length. As a consequence of the spatial extension, we obtain a decaying pattern with different possible periods. In particular, we show that, if crossed Andreev reflections (CARs) are dominant and the edge states overlap, the resulting interference pattern features oscillations whose periodicity approaches $2\phi_0$.

The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and the notion of superposition of states are examined and found problematical.

Among the various generalizations of persistent topology, the one based on rank functions and leading to indexing-aware functions appears to be particularly suited to catch graph-theoretical properties without the need for a simplicial construction and a homology computation. This paper defines and studies "simple" and "single-vertex" features in directed and undirected graphs, by which several indexing-aware persistence functions are produced, within the scheme of steady and ranging sets. The implementation of the "sink" feature and its application to trust networks provide an example of the ease of use and meaningfulness of the method.

Elucidating physicochemical processes in the degradation of pollutants may optimize their removal from water sources. This work presents a set of elementary steps in the photocatalytic degradation of carbamazepine (CBZ), assuming a steady state approximation in an Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) combining short-wave ultraviolet radiation (UVC), homogeneous reagent (H₂O₂) and heterogeneous (TiO₂) catalyst. Elementary steps include excitation of both reagent/catalysts by UVC photons, adsorption of CBZ on the excited TiO₂, or its oxidation by hydroxyl radicals. Assuming the steady state approximation on the intermediate products (excited TiO₂, CBZ- excited TiO₂ complex, and hydroxyl radicals), leads to rate laws for degradation of CBZ, in which UVC radiation, TiO₂, and H₂O₂ are pseudo first order at all concentrations or intensities having no direct influence on CBZ pseudo-order, whereas CBZ shifts from pseudo first order at low concentrations to pseudo-zero order at high concentrations. Several experiments to test the mechanism were conducted, by varying CBZ, H₂O₂, and TiO₂ concentrations, and UVC radiation intensities. Measured results indeed fit the suggested mechanism for the first three, but irradiation intensity appears to shift CBZ influence from pseudo-second to pseudo-first order with increased intensities. Corrected elementary steps are proposed to fit the results.

Abstract: Coal bed methane (CBM) reservoirs are complex systems whose properties differ from those of conventional reservoirs. Coal seams are dual-porosity systems that comprise the porosities of the matrix and cleat system. Gas in the coal seams can be stored as free gas in the cleat system and as adsorbed gas in the porous medium. The flow mechanisms of the natural gas through the formation include desorption, diffusion, and Darcy’s flow regimes. The permeability of CBM reservoirs is more sensitive to pressure variations than conventional gas reservoirs. To study the flow behavior of CBM reservoirs it is mandatory to use a model that considers their unique characteristics. The objective of this study was to propose a physical and mathematical model of production performance for horizontal wells in CBM reservoirs whose permeability is dependent on pressure. A solution for the model was obtained by applying Pedrosa´s transformation, perturbation theory, Laplace transformation, the point source method, and Sthefest´s algorithm. The solution to this problem was validated with previous work thoroughly. The type curves of the model were built and the pressure transient behavior of the model was analyzed and discussed. The effects of several parameters on pressure behavior were also discussed.

In systems biology, biological phenomena are often modeled by ODE and distributed in the de facto standard file format SBML. The primary analyses performed with such models are dynamic simulation, steady-state analysis, and parameter estimation. These methodologies are mathematically formalized, and libraries for such analyses have been published. Several tools exist to create, simulate, or visualize models encoded in SBML. However, setting up and establishing analysis environments is a crucial hurdle for non-modelers. Therefore, easy access to perform fundamental analyses of ODE models is a significant challenge. We developed SBMLWebApp, a web-based service to execute SBML-based simulations, steady-state analysis, and parameter estimation directly in the browser without the need for any setup or prior knowledge to address this issue. SBMLWebApp visualizes the result and numerical table of each analysis and provides a download of the results. SBMLWebApp allows users to select and analyze SBML models directly from the BioModels Database. Taken together, SBMLWebApp provides barrier-free access to an SBML analysis environment for simulation, steady-state analysis, and parameter estimation for SBML models. SBMLWebApp is implemented in Java™ based on an Apache Tomcat® web server using COPASI, the SBSCL, and LibSBMLSim as simulation engines. SBMLWebApp is licensed under MIT with source code available from https://github.com/TakahiroYamada/SBMLWebApp. The program runs online at http://simulate-biology.org.

Cognitive deterioration caused by illness or aging often occurs before symptoms arise, and their timely diagnosis is crucial to reducing its medical, personal, and societal impacts. Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) stimulate and analyze key cerebral rhythms, enabling reliable cognitive assessment that can accelerate diagnosis. The BCI system presented analyzes Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials (SSVEPs) elicited in subjects of varying age to detect cognitive aging, predict its magnitude, and identify its relationship with SSVEP features (band power and frequency detection accuracy), which were hypothesized to indicate cognitive decline due to aging. The BCI system was tested with subjects of varying age to assess its ability to detect aging-induced cognitive deterioration. Rectangular stimuli flickering at theta, alpha, and beta frequencies were presented to subjects, and frontal and occipital EEG responses were recorded. These were processed to calculate detection accuracy for each subject and calculate SSVEP band power. A neural network was trained using the features to predict cognitive age. The results showed potential cognitive deterioration through age-related variations in SSVEP features. Frequency detection accuracy declined after age group 20–40 and band power, throughout all age groups. SSVEPs generated at theta and alpha frequencies, especially 7.5 Hz, were the best indicators of cognitive deterioration. Here, frequency detection accuracy consistently declined after age group 20-40 from an average of 96.64% to 69.23%. The presented system can be used as an effective diagnosis tool for age related cognitive decline.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused several cardiovascular complications, including acute myocardial infarction(AMI) in infected patients. Our study aims to understand the overall trends of AMI among COVID-19 patients during the first two years of the pandemic and the disparities and outcomes between the first and second years. Methods: Our retrospective analysis via the 2020 and 2021 National Inpatient Sample(NIS) for hospitalizations between April 2020 and December 2021 analyzed adults with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 who experienced events of AMI. We compared month-to-month events of AMI and mortality of AMI patients with COVID-19, patient characteristics, and outcomes between the 2020 and 2021 AMI samples. Results: There were 2,541,992 COVID-19 patients, with 3.55% experiencing AMI. The highest rate of AMI was in December 2021 (4.35%). No statistical differences in trends of AMI mortality were noted over the 21 months. AMI cases in 2021 had higher odds of undergoing PCI (aOR 1.627, p

The study of photonic crystals has emerged as an attractive area of research in nanoscience in the last years. In this work we study the properties of a two-dimensional photonic crystal composed of dielectric rods. The unit cell of the system is composed of six rods organized on the sites of a C6 triangular lattice. We induce a topological phase by introducing an angular perturbation ϕ in the pristine system. The topology of the system is then determined by using the so-called k.p perturbed model. Our results show that the system presents a topological and a trivial phases, depending on the sign of the angular perturbation ϕ. The topological character of the system is probed by evaluating the electromagnetic energy density and analyzing its distribution in the real space, in particular on the maximal Wyckoff points. We also find two edge modes at the interface between the trivial and topological photonic crystals, which present a pseudospin topological behavior. By applying the Bulk-Edge correspondence, we study the pseudospin edge modes and conclude that they are robust against defects, disorder and reflection. Moreover, the localization of the edge modes leads to the confinement of light and the interface behaves as a waveguide for the propagation of electromagnetic waves. Finally, we show that the two edge modes present energy flux propagating in opposite directions, which is the photonic analogue of the quantum spin Hall effect.

Background and objectives: Since 2013, highly effective direct-acting (DAA) chronic hepatitis C (CHC) antiviral therapy became available, which has cure rates of over 95%. For choice of optimal CHC treatment, assessment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype (GT) and liver fibrosis stage are necessary. Information about distribution of these parameters among CHC patients in Baltic states and especially in Ukraine is scarce. This study was performed to obtain epidemiological data regarding CHC GT and fibrosis stage distribution for better planning of resources and prioritization of patients for DAA drug treatment according to disease severity in high-income (Baltic states) and lower-middle income (Ukraine) countries. Materials and Methods: This was an epidemiological, retrospective, cross-sectional study that included 1451 CHC patients. Demographic and disease information from medical charts was collected for each patient during a single visit. Results: Most frequent suspected mode of viral transmission was blood transfusions (17.8%), followed by injection drug use (15.7%); however, in 50.9% of patients exact mode of transmission was not clarified. In Ukraine (18.4%) and Estonia (26%) transmission by the injection drug use was higher than in Lithuania (5%) and Latvia (5.3%). Distribution of HCV GT among patients with CHC was as follows: GT1 - 66.4%; GT3 - 28.1; and GT2 - 4.1%. The prevalence of GT1 was the highest in Latvia (84%), and the lowest in Ukraine (63%, p<0.001). Liver fibrosis stages were distributed as follows: F0 - 12.2%, F1 - 26.3%, F2 - 23.5%, F3 – 17.1% and F4 - 20.9%. Cirrhosis (F4) was more prevalent in Lithuanian patients (30.1%) than in Estonians (8.1%, p <0.001). Conclusions: This study contributes to the knowledge of epidemiological characteristics of HCV infection in the Baltic states and Ukraine. The data regarding the patterns of HCV GT and fibrosis stage distribution will be helpful for the development of national strategies to control HCV infection in the era of DAA therapy.

Over the last several decades, large wildfires are increasingly common across the United States causing disproportionate impact on forest health and function, human well-being, and economy. Here, we examine the severity of large wildfires across the Contiguous United States over the past decade (2011-2020) using a wide array of meteorological, vegetational, and topographical features in the Deep Neural Network model. A total of 4,538 wildfire incidents were used in the analysis covering 87,305 square miles of burned area. We observed the highest number of large wildfires in California, Texas, and Idaho, with lightning causing 43 % of these incidents. Importantly, results indicate that the severity of wildfire occurrences is highly correlated with the climatological forcings, land cover, location, and elevation of the ecosystem. Overall, results may serve useful guide in managing landscapes under changing climate and disturbance regimes.

Any photon, regardless of its origin, carries the same optical field profile. This feature and the quantum Rayleigh emissions generate temporally discrete groups of several photons in a resonant cavity incorporating one single quantum dot. A periodic stream of single photons is distorted by high-finesse optical cavities and the quantum Rayleigh spontaneous emission in a beam splitter. Groups of photons emerge from interferometric filters because of multiple internal reflections.

Small Island States (SIDS) are among the nations most exposed to climate change (CC) and are characterised by a high degree of vulnerability. Their special nature means there is a need for more studies focused on the limits to CC adaptation on such fragile nations, particularly in respect of their problems and constraints. This paper addressed a perceived need for research into the limitations of adaptation on SIDS, focusing on the many restrictions which are unique to them. The main research question raised by this study was that how and to what extent the challenges by human activities (e.g., agriculture and tourism) posed to coastlines of SIDS could be addressed. This paper identified and described the adaptation limits they have, by using a review of the literature and an analysis of case studies from a sample of five SIDS in the Caribbean and Pacific regions (Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Cook Islands, Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Tonga). The findings of this research showed that an adaptable SIDS is characterised by awareness of various values, appreciation and understanding of a diversity of impacts and vulnerabilities, and acceptance of certain losses through change. The implications of this paper are two-fold. It explains why island nations continue to suffer from the impacts of CC, and suggest some of the means via which adequate policies may support SIDS in their efforts to cope with the threats associated with a changing climate. This study concluded that, despite the technological and ecological limits (hard limits) affecting natural systems, adaptation to CC is not only limited by such complex forces, but also by societal factors (soft limits) that could potentially be overcome by more adequate adaptation strategies.

Background and Objectives: Clinical trials are a critical step in the development of new medicines and medical devices, testing the efficacy and safety of new treatment regimens. However, if the results of clinical trials are not made public, the evidence base on interventions is incomplete and possibly distorted, which lead to suboptimal treatment choices and negatively affect public health. This study analyses and contrasts the laws and regulations governing clinical trial registration and reporting in China and the United States. Methods: We used desk research to compile, assess and compare current laws, regulations, compliance patterns, and enforcement mechanisms and actions in China and the United States (U.S.). Policy documents were downloaded from Chinese and U.S. government websites. A spreadsheet analysis was utilized for direct comparison. Results: Both China and the U.S. have laws and regulations governing clinical trial registration and reporting. Chinese legislation covers a broader range of trials. In the U.S. trial results must be disclosed to both the national regulator and the public, while Chinese law mandates disclosure to the regulator alone. Cross-country comparisons of regulatory compliance by trial sponsors are impossible due to the opacity of the Chinese data platform. Neither country effectively ensures that all clinical trial results are made public as required by the Declaration of Helsinki and recommended by the WHO. Interpretation: While neither country is perfect, both may be able to learn from each other. There is a major gap in the literature regarding the extent of non-publication of clinical trial results by sponsors operating in China.

Formation of the excited doublet (D) and quartet (Q) states of free radicals under their photoexcitation is discussed. Relative positions of D and Q states are compared to the positions of photoexcited states of organic molecules (Jablonsky diagram). A number of representative cases of the detected by emission or absorption excited is presented. A special case of the population lowest Q-state in some radicals of is discoursed. Spin-statistical factor in the reactions of Q and D is debated.

Emotions or affective states recognition in farm animals is an underexplored research domain. Despite significant advances in the animal welfare research, the animal affective computing through the development and application of devices and platforms that can not only recognize but interpret and process the emotions, are in nascent stage. By capitalizing on the immense potential of biometric sensors, the artificial intelligence enabled big data methods substantially offers advancement of animal welfare standards and meet the urgent need of caretakers to respond effectively to maintain the wellbeing of their animals. Farm animals, numbering over 70 billion worldwide, are increasingly managed in large-scale, intensive farms. With both public awareness and scientific evidence growing that farm animals experience suffering, as well as affective states such as fear, frustration and distress, there is an urgent need to develop efficient and accurate methods for monitoring their welfare. At present, there are no scientifically validated ‘benchmarks’ for quantifying transient emotional (affective) states in farm animals, and no established measures of good welfare, only indicators of poor welfare, such as injury, pain and fear. Conventional approaches to monitoring livestock welfare are time consuming, interrupt farming processes and involve subjective judgments. Biometric sensors data enabled by Artificial Intelligence are an emerging smart solution to unobtrusively monitoring livestock, but their potential for quantifying affective states and groundbreaking solutions in their application are yet to be realized. This review provides innovative methods for collecting big data on farm animal emotions, which can be used to train artificial intelligence models to classify, quantify and predict affective states in individual pigs and cows. Extending this to the group level, social network analysis can be applied to model emotional dynamics and contagion among animals. Finally, ‘digital twins’ of animals capable of simulating and predicting their affective states and be-havior in real time are a near-term possibility.

In the last two decades, variably doped strontium barium niobate (SBN) has attracted a lot of scientific interest mainly due to its specific non-linear optical response. Comparably, the parental compound, i.e., undoped SBN, appears to be less studied so far. Here, two different cuts of single-crystalline nominally pure strontium barium niobate in the composition Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6 (SBN61) are comprehensively studied and analyzed with regard to their photoconductive responses. We present conductivity measurements under systematically varied illumination conditions along either the polar z-axis or perpendicular to it (x-cut). Apart from a pronounced photoconductivity (PC) already under daylight and a large effect upon super-bandgap illumination in general, we observe (i) distinct spectral features when sweeping the excitation wavelength over the sub-bandgap region as then discussed in the context of deep and shallow trap states, (ii) extremely slow long-term relaxation for both light-on and light-off transients in the range of hours and days, (iii) a critical dependence of the photoresponse on the pre-illumination history of the sample, and (iv) a current-voltage hysteresis depending on both the illumination and the electrical-measurement conditions in a complex manner.

Astrocytes perform a wide variety of essential functions defining normal operation of the nervous system, and are active contributors to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer among others. Recent data provide compelling evidence that distinct reactive astrocyte states are associated with specific stages of Alzheimer´s disease. The advent of transcriptomics technologies enables rapid progress in the characterisation of such pathological astrocyte states. In this review, we provide an overview of the origin, main functions, molecular and morphological features of astrocytes in physiological as well as pathological conditions related to Alzheimer´s disease. We will also explore the main roles of astrocytes in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer´s disease and summarize main transcriptional changes and altered molecular pathways observed in astrocytes during the course of the disease.

Spatially uniform optical excitations can induce Floquet topological band structures within insulators which can develop similar or equal characteristics as are known from three-dimensional topological insulators. We derive in this article theoretically the development of Floquet topological quantum states for electromagnetically driven semiconductor bulk matter and we present results for the lifetime of these states and their occupation in the non-equilibrium. The direct physical impact of the mathematical precision of the Floquet-Keldysh theory is evident when we solve the driven system of a generalized Hubbard model with our framework of dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) in the non-equilibrium for a case of ZnO. The physical consequences of the topological non-equilibrium effects in our results for correlated systems are explained with their impact on optoelectronic applications.

Lineage diversity can refer to the number of genetic lineages within species or to the number of deeper evolutionary lineages, such as genera or families, within a community. Community lineage diversity (CLD) is of interest to ecologists, evolutionary biologists, biogeographers, and those setting conservation priorities. Despite its relevance, it is not clear how to best quantify CLD. With North American tree communities as an example, we test which taxonomic and phylogenetic metrics best measure CLD. We find that phylogenetic metrics outperform taxonomic metrics. Faith’s phylogenetic diversity performs well, but is skewed towards the number of lineages in recent time. The best metric is newly derived here, and termed time integrated lineage diversity (TILD). Mapping the lineage diversity of tree communities across the contiguous United States, we find a spatial pattern differing from that of species richness in key areas. The Pacific Northwest, Great Lakes Region, state of Maine, and south-eastern piedmont and coastal plain forests all emerge as areas high in lineage diversity, but relatively lower in species richness. We urge the consideration of lineage diversity, as well as species richness, when setting conservation priorities.

Small island developing states (SIDS) traditionally face a set of challenges like the narrow economic structure, environmental issues, and dependence on a few ranges of economic activities forcing them to open the economy to the exterior. Therefore, their development model, like in Cape Verde depends on migration, remittances, dependence on aid, tourism, and state employment. The current research offers an insight about the nature of Cape Verde’s economy as a SIDS and the degree to which its economy depends on tourism and government services, both of which are supported through aid programs. Understanding Cape Verde’s development model is important to clarify the challenges the country faces, and its development needs to gather a long-term resilience and to understand if it is changing from a MIRAB (Migrations, Remittances, Aid and Bureaucracy) model into another one.

We investigate a single-particle density of states in the three-dimensional system described by effective two-band Hamiltonian which describes a ground state in two distant electronic phases: the semimetalic nodal-loop phase and the insulating gapped phase. Analysis of valence bands and Fermi surfaces in both phases indicates that the density of states crucially depends on the parameter in the Hamiltonian of the system that controls a topological alternation of the Fermi surface. The signature of that alternation is expected to play an important role in all quantities closely related to the density of electronic states, such as charge transport and optical conductivity of the system for example.

There is a growing consensus that to effectively adapt to climate change, cities need user-friendly tools and reliable high-resolution biophysical and socio-economic data for analysis, mapping, modeling, and visualization. This study examines availability of various types of information used in climate adaptation plans of 40 municipalities with population less than 300,000 people in the United and in France, probing into the choice and usage of relevant information by small municipalities. We argue that non-climatic spatial data, such as population demographic and socio-economic patterns, urban infrastructure, and environmental data must be integrated with climate tools and datasets to inform effective vulnerability assessment and equitable climate adaptation planning goals. Climate adaptation plans frequently fail to address the existing structural inequalities and environmental injustices in urban infrastructure and land use. Adaptation methodological approaches should be reassessed in the context of much needed societal transformation. Lessons learned from our studies offer valuable insights for potential development of the national and state-level climate adaptation information services for cities.

Maxwell's electric equation and Schrödinger quantum equation are used to find useful expressions for the probability of electrons existence and the electrons transport. The first expression which uses special relatively also shows that the probability of the electrons existence is higher for lower energy states compared to higher energy states where the probability is low. This means that electrons transport takes place from higher energy states to lower states. This conforms to the laws of chemistry where the atom tends to be stable by forcing electrons to occupy lower energy states. The second expression used the momentum velocity relation instead of special relatively. This expression shows also electrons transport from higher to lower states. It also shows that the probability of the electrons existence is higher for lower electrons density regions and lower for higher electrons density regions. This means that the electrons transport is from higher density regions to lower density regions. This conforms to the diffusion law.

Azobenzene-containing molecules may associate with each other in systems such as self-assembled monolayers or micelles. The interaction between azobenzene units leads to a formation of exciton states in these molecular assemblies. Apart from local excitations of monomers, the electronic transitions to the exciton states may involve charge transfer excitations. Here, we perform quantum chemical calculations and apply transition density matrix analysis to quantify local and charge transfer contributions to the lowest electronic transitions in azobenzene dimers of various arrangements. We find that the transitions to the lowest exciton states of the considered dimers are dominated by local excitations, but charge transfer contributions become sizable for some of the lowest ππ* electronic transitions in stacked and slip-stacked dimers at short intermolecular distances. In addition, we assess different ways to partition the transition density matrix between fragments. In particular, we find that the inclusion of the atomic orbital overlap has a pronounced effect on quantifying charge transfer contributions if a large basis set is used.

UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 6 presents difficulties for small island developing states such as the Kingdom of Tonga, which relies on rainwater and groundwater lenses for freshwater supply. Planning and managing water resources to supply demands in dispersed small islands under variable climate and frequent extreme events is challenging. Tensions between water planning using top-down versus bottom-up processes have long been recognized. Tonga’s overarching national planning instrument is the Tonga Strategic Development Framework, 2015-2025 (TSDFII). This identifies desired national outcomes and is used to direct and resource Ministries and address international and regional commitments. Water supply was a low priority in the three-month consultations that led to TSDFII. Community Development Plans (CDPs), developed by rural villages throughout Tonga’s five Island Groups over nine years, involved participation from 80% of each village population who ranked local priorities. Analysis of priorities in 117 available village CDPs reveals improvements to village water supply was the highest overall priority in all five Island Groups and ranked within the top three priorities by 76% of all villages, with women, youth and men returning figures of 83%, 66% and 80% respectively. The mismatch between top-down and bottom-up priorities appears to result from an urban/rural divide.

We construct families of ground state representations of the U(1)-current net and of the Virasoro nets Vir_c with central charge c ≥ 1. We show that these representations are not covariant with respect to the original dilations, and those on the U(1)-current net are not solitonic. Furthermore, by going to the dual net of with respect to the ground state representations of Vir_c, one obtains possibly new family of Möbius covariant nets on S¹.

SHANK3 encodes scaffold protein involved in postsynaptic receptor density in glutamatergic synapses, including those in the parvalbumin (PV)+inhibitory neurons – the key players in generation of sensory gamma oscillations, such as 40-Hz auditory steady-state response(ASSR). Here we describe a clinical and neurophysiological phenotype of a 15-years old girl (SH01) with microduplication of 16389 bp in 22q13.33, affecting the SHANK3 gene in comparison to typically developing children (n=32). EEG were recorded during the binaurally presentation of 40-Hz clicks’ trains lasting for 500 ms with inter-trial intervals 500-800 ms. SH01 was diagnosed with mild mental retardation and learning disabilities(F70.88) and had problems with reading and writing, as well as smaller vocabulary than TD peers. Her clinical phenotype generally resembled the phenotype of previously described patients with 22q13.33 microduplication. SH01 had mild autistic symptoms but below the threshold for ASD diagnosis. No seizures or MRI abnormalities were reported. While SH01 had relatively preserved auditory event-related potential(ERP) with slightly attenuated P1, her 40-Hz ASSR was totally absent significantly deviating from TD’s ASSR. Absence of 40-Hz ASSR in patient with microduplication, affected SHANK3 gene, indicates deficient temporal resolution of the auditory system, that might underlie language problems, and represent neurophysiological biomarker of SHANK3 abnormalities.

This paper proposes an electric vehicle routing problem with considering states of charging stations and suggests solution strategies. Charging of electric vehicles is a main issue in the field of electric vehicle routing problem. There are many studies to find locations of charging stations, recharging functions for batteries of vehicles, and so on. However, states of charging stations significantly affect the routes of electric vehicles, which is not much explored. The states may include open or close of charging stations, occupied or empty of charging slots, and so on. This paper investigates how the states of charging stations are estimated and routing strategies are determined. We formulate a mixed integer programming model and suggest how to solve the problem with exact method. Numerical examples provide the optimal routing strategies of electric vehicles in the changing environments of the states of charging stations.

The real challenge in Human Robot Interaction (HRI) is to build machines capable of perceiving human emotions so that robots can interact with humans in a proper manner. It is well known from the literature that emotion varies accordingly to many factors. Among these, gender represents one of the most influencing one, and so an appropriate gender-dependent emotion recognition system is recommended. In this paper, a two-level hierarchical Speech Emotion Recognition (SER) system is proposed: the first level is represented by the Gender Recognition (GR) module for the speaker’s gender identification; the second is a gender-specific SER block. Specifically for this work, the attention was focused on the optimisation of the first level of the proposed architecture. The system was designed to be installed on social robots for hospitalised and living at home elderly patients monitoring. Hence, the importance of reducing the software computational effort of the architecture also minimizing the hardware bulkiness, in order for the system to be suitable for social robots. The algorithm was executed on the Raspberry Pi hardware. For the training, the Italian emotional database EMOVO was used. Results show a GR accuracy value of 97.8%, comparable with the ones found in literature.

The instability of traveling pulses in nonlinear diffusion problems is inspected on the example of Gunn domains in semiconductors. Mathematically the problem is reduced to the calculation of the "energy" of the ground state in Schrödinger equation with a complicated potential. A general method to obtain the bottom-part spectrum of such equations based on the approximation of the potential by square wells is proposed and applied. Possible generalization of the approach to other types of nonlinear diffusion equations is discussed.

Higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) are recently discovered topological phases, possessing symmetry-protected corner states with fractional charges. An unexpected connection between these states and the seemingly unrelated phenomenon of bound states in the continuum (BICs) was recently unveiled. When nonlinearity is added to a HOTI system, a number of fundamentally important questions arise. For example, how does nonlinearity couple higher-order topological BICs with the rest of the system, including continuum states? In fact, thus far BICs in nonlinear HOTIs have remained unexplored. Here, we unveil the interplay of nonlinearity, higher-order topology, and BICs in a photonic platform. We observe topological corner states which are also BICs in a laser-written second-order topological lattice, and further demonstrate their nonlinear coupling with edge (but not bulk) modes under the proper action of both self-focusing and defocusing nonlinearities. Theoretically, we calculate the eigenvalue spectrum and analog of the Zak phase in the nonlinear regime, illustrating that a topological BIC can be actively tuned by nonlinearity in such an HOTI. Our studies are applicable to other nonlinear HOTI systems, with promising applications in emerging topology-driven devices.

Functional Connectivity analysis using Electroencephalography signals is common. The EEG signals are converted to networks by transforming the signals into a correlation matrix and analyzing the resulting networks. Here, four learning models, namely, Logistic Regression, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and Recurrent Neural Networks, are implemented on the correlation matrix data to classify them either on their psychometric assessment or the effect of therapy; The EEG data is trail-based/event-related. The classifications based on RNN provided higher accuracy( 74-88%) than the other three models( 50-78%). Instead of using individual graph features, a correlation matrix provides an initial test of the data. When compared with the time-resolved correlation matrix, it offered a 4-5% higher accuracy. The time-resolved correlation matrix is better suited for dynamic studies here; it provides lower accuracy when compared to the correlation matrix, a static feature.

Social network analysis is an essential means to uncover and examine infectious contact relations between individuals. This paper aims to investigate the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from international to the national level and find a few super spreaders which played a central role in the transmission of disease in India. Our network metrics calculated from 30 January to 6 April 2020 revealed that the maximum numbers of connections were established from Dubai (degree-144) and UK (degree-64). These two countries played a crucial role in diffusing the disease in Indian states. The eigenvector centrality of Dubai is found to be the highest, and this marked it the most influential node. However, based on the modularity class, we found that the different clusters were formed across Indian states which demonstrated the forming of a multi-layered social network structure.A significant increase in the confirmed cases was reported during the first lockdown 1.0 (22 March 2020) primarily attributed to a gathering in Delhi Religious Conference (DRC) known as Tabliqui Jamaat. As of 6 April 2020, the overall structure of the network has encompassed local transmission, and it was significantly seen in the states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Karnataka. An important conclusion drawn from the presented social network reveals that the COVID-19 spread till 6 April was mainly due to the local transmission across Indian states. The timely quarantine of infected cases in DRC has not led it to spread at the level of community transmission.

Nollywood, based on the idea of Bollywood from India, is a series of outstanding movies that originate from Nigeria. Unfortunately, while the movies are in English, they are hard to understand for many native speakers due to the dialect of English that is spoken. In this article, we accomplish two goals: (1) create a phonetic sub-title model that is able to translate Nigerian English speech to American English and (2) use the most advanced toxicity detectors to discover how toxic the speech is. Our aim is to highlight the text in these videos which is often times ignored for lack of dialectal understanding due the fact that many people in Nigeria speak a native language like Hausa at home.

An all-dielectric metasurface composed of orthogonal-slit silicon disks is proposed in this study. By modifying the unit structure of the metasurface with the bound states in the continuum (BIC) theory, a sharp Fano resonance can be generated. The resonance properties of the metasurface are investigated by analyzing the effects of the structural parameters on the resonance using the eigenmode analysis method. The Q factor and the resonance wavelength can be adjusted by varying the slit width, the disk thickness, and the disk radius. The electromagnetic characteristics and mechanism of the toroidal dipole-BIC (TD-BIC) are explored in depth through an analysis of the multipole expansion of the scattered power, along with the electromagnetic field and the current distribution at resonance. This research provides a novel approach for excitation of a strong TD-BIC resonance and proposes potential applications in optical switches, high-sensitivity optical sensors, and related areas.

One of the intriguing recent results in the field of high-entropy alloys is the discovery of single-phase equiatomic multi-component Laves intermetallics. However, there is no clear understanding that a combination of chemical elements will form such high-entropy compounds. Here we contribute to understanding this issue by modifying the composition of duodenary TiZrHfNbVCrMoMnFeCoNiAl (12x) alloy in which we recently reported the fabrication of hexagonal C14 Laves phase. We consider three alloys based on 12x: 7x=12x-VCrMoMnFe, 12x+Sc, 12x+Be and observe that all of them crystalize with the formation of C14 Laves phase as a dominant structure. We report that 12x+Be alloy reveals single-phase C14 structure with very high concentration of structural defects and ultra-fine dendritic microstructure with almost homogenous distribution of the constituted elements over the alloy matrix. The 7x and 12x+Sc alloys contain C14 as a main phase and unknown impurity phases. To characterize the materials, we examine their heat capacity, electrical conductivity and magnetic properties. The measurements reveal that the Laves phases are Curie-Weiss paramagnets, which demonstrate metallic conduction; 7x and 12x alloys also reveal a pronounced Kondo-like anomaly. Analysis of experimental data as well as ab initio calculations suggests that chemical complexity and compositional disorder cause strong s-d band scattering and thus the rather high density of d-states in the conduction band. Analysis of the results suggests that the mechanism of Laves phase formation in multicomponent multi-principal element metallic alloys is may be the same as in polydisperse hardspheres mixtures. Another important conclusion is that the configurational entropy is a negligible factor in the stabilization of multi-element Laves phases.

In our recent works we reported that physical and chemical characteristics of serum can vary in relation to the psychic activity of an individual depending on whether it is oriented to stress or relaxation. We wandered if these observations could be accompanied by an appreciable modification of the Ph, electric conductivity and Delayed Luminescence of the same serum samples. Our preliminary data may suggest that the serum pH could significantly increase during a Relaxation Response intervention while electric conductivity seems to decrease. Moreover, Delayed Luminescense could vary in the same subject according to the Relaxation Response practice. According to our proof of concept study, we postulate the appearance of a coherent system within the blood samples analyzed after the Relaxation Response. Further researches and some technical development are needed to support our preliminary findings.

We review some new approaches to the description of the evolution of states of many-particle quantum systems by means of the correlation operators. Using the denition of marginal correlation operators within the framework of dynamics of correlations governed by the von Neumann hierarchy, we establish that a sequence of such operators is governed by the nonlinear quantum BBGKY hierarchy. The constructed nonperturbative solution of the Cauchy problem to this hierarchy of nonlinear evolution equations describes the processes of the creation and the propagation of correlations in many-particle quantum systems. Moreover, we consider the problem of the rigorous description of collective behavior of many-particle quantum systems by means of a one-particle (marginal) correlation operator that is a solution of the generalized quantum kinetic equation with initial correlations, in particular, correlations characterizing the condensed states of systems.

A formulation of nonequilibrium thermo field dynamics has been performed using the nonequilibrium statistical operator method by D.N. Zubarev. Generalized transfer equations for a consistent description of kinetics and hydrodynamics of the dense quantum-field system with strongly coupled states are derived.

A simplified version of the quantum teleportation protocol is presented in here. Its experimental confirmation will have deep implications for a better understanding of Quantum Entanglement with a particular projection on Quantum Communications.

We show that, as in the case of the principle of minimum action in classical and quantum mechanics, there exists an even more general principle in the very fundamental structure of quantum space-time: This is the principle of minimal group that allows to consistently and simultaneously obtain a natural description of the spacetime dynamics and the physical states admissible in it. The theoretical construction is based on the physical states that are average values of the generators of the Metaplectic group Mp(n) , the double covering of SL(2C) in a vector representation, with respect to the coherent states carrying the spin weight. Our main results here are: (i) There exists a connection between the dynamics given by the Metaplectic group symmetry generators and the physical states (mappings of the generators through bilinear combinations of the basic states). (ii) The ground states are coherent states of the Perelomov-Klauder type defined by the action of the Metaplectic group which divide the Hilbert space into even and odd states mutually orthogonal. They carry a spin weight 1/4 and 3/4 respectively from which, two other basic states can be formed. (iii) The physical states, mapped bilinearly with the basic 1/4 and 3/4 spin weight states, plus their symmetric and antisymmetric combinations, have spin contents s = 0, 1/2, 1, 3/2 and 2. (iv) The generators realized with the bosonic variables of the harmonic oscillator introduce a natural supersymmetry and a superspace whose line element is the geometrical Lagrangian of our model. (v) From the line element as operator level, a coherent physical state of spin 2 can be obtained and naturally related to the metric tensor. (vi) The metric tensor is naturally discretized by taking the discrete series given by the basic states (coherent states) in the n number representation, reaching the classical (continuous) space-time for n going to infinity. (vii) There emerges a relation between the eigenvalue of our coherent state metric solution and the black hole area (entropy) as A_{bh}/4 l_{p}^{2} = I alpha I relating the phase space of the metric found g_{ab} and the black hole area A_{bh} through the Planck length l_{p}^{2} and the eigenvalue I alpha I of the coherent states. As a consequence of the lowest level of the quantum discrete space-time spectrum, eg the ground state associated to n = 0 and its characteristic length, there exists a minimum entropy related to the black hole history.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) represents major public and socioeconomic issues. Alcohol exerts its phar-macological effects by altering different neurotransmitter systems, such as g-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamate, opioids, etc. Recent evidence suggests that the dynorphin (DYN)/kappa opioid receptor (KOR) system mediates the negative affective states associated with alcohol withdrawal. This system is also in-volved in stress-mediated alcohol intake in alcohol-dependent subjects. The DYN/KOR system probably exerts its action in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) to mediate the negative affective states as-sociated with alcohol withdrawal. This article aims to review the current literature regarding the role of the DYN/KOR system in the actions of alcohol. We first review the literature regarding the effect of alcohol on the level of the peptide and its receptor, and the role of the endogenous DYN/KOR system in alcohol reward and negative affective states associated with alcohol withdrawal is then discussed. We also review the literature regarding the effects of KOR ligands on these processes.

The design of more efficient photosensitizers is a matter of great importance in the field of cancer treatment by means of photodynamic therapy. One of the main processes involved in the activation of apoptosis in cancer cells is the oxidative stress on DNA once a photosensitizer is excited by light. As a consequence, it is a matter of great relevance to investigate in detail the binding modes of the chromophore with DNA, and the nature of the electronically excited states that participate in the induction of DNA damage, for example, charge-transfer states. In this work, we investigate the electronic structure of the anthraquinone photosensitizer intercalated into a double-stranded poly(dG-dC) decamer model of DNA. First, the different geometric configurations are analyzed by means of classical molecular dynamics simulations. Then, the excited states for the most relevant poses of anthraquinone inside the binding pocket are computed by an electrostatic-embedding quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics approach, where anthraquinone and one of the nearby guanine residues are described quantum mechanically to take into account intermolecular charge-transfer states. The excited states are characterized as monomer, exciton, excimer and charge-transfer states based on the analysis of the transition density matrix, and each of these contributions to the total density of states and absorption spectrum is discussed in terms of the stacking interactions. These results are relevant as they represent the footing for future studies on the reactivity of anthraquinone derivatives with DNA and give insights on possible geometrical configurations that potentially favor the oxidative stress of DNA.

By imposing the condition of non-vanishing expectation values for the amplitude and phase of field operators, pure quantum states are identified composed of two consecutive number states. These pure states also deliver noise-free radiation modes restricting the “half-photon noise” to the expectation value of the lowest level of dynamic and coherent number states. As a result, instantaneous phase-sensitive amplification of photons is easily controlled and direct evaluation of time or distance - varying wavefront distributions of photons and phases can be carried out for sub-Poissonian distributions of photons without the need for quasi-probabilities.

Microbes are the most prevalent and widely-distributed life form on planet Earth. They are also cognitive organisms with memory and superior problem-solving skills that use quantum phase transitions during their remarkably-effective gathering and dissemination of information. This narrative review explores the biological ramifications of human holobionts physically embodying the human microbiome and connecting to the Internet of Microbes (IOM) beyond our body. Within the review, we consider: 1) the ways in which our microbial co-partners exerted control over our ancestors and continue to influence our current human generation, 2) how they mold virtually every key aspect of our life and even remain with our body in death and 3) how inward-looking contemplative tools such as meditation and embodied cognition provide an ideal opportunity to connect to the microbial information super highway and tap the full range of human holobiont capacities.