Predictive maintenance technologies have emerged as a transformative force in retail supply chain management, offering the potential to significantly enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction. This study explores the implementation and impact of predictive maintenance within the retail sector, focusing on its benefits, challenges, technological tools, and future directions. The findings indicate that predictive maintenance enables a proactive approach to equipment management, leading to substantial reductions in downtime and maintenance costs, extended equipment lifespan, and enhanced sustainability through reduced energy consumption and waste. However, the adoption of these technologies is not without challenges. High initial costs, the need for specialized skills in data analytics and IoT, issues with data quality and reliability, organizational resistance, and cybersecurity concerns present significant barriers to successful implementation. Technological tools such as IoT sensors, data analytics platforms, machine learning algorithms, and digital twins are crucial for the effective functioning of predictive maintenance systems, providing real-time data monitoring and analysis that improve decision-making and maintenance planning. The study also highlights promising future trends, including advancements in AI, machine learning, IoT, and blockchain technologies, which are expected to further enhance predictive maintenance capabilities. To fully realize the potential of predictive maintenance, companies must address the identified challenges, invest in workforce development, and implement robust data security measures. Future research should focus on exploring these advancements, understanding the broader environmental impacts, and conducting cross-industry analyses to identify best practices. Overall, while predictive maintenance offers substantial benefits, its successful integration requires a nuanced approach that balances technological innovation with strategic and operational considerations.

In this paper we introduce the Adomian decomposition method for a class of first order fuzzy dynamic equations on arbitrary time scales for existence of solutions. The results are provided with suitable numerical examples.

This paper proposes an unusual method for the dissemination of geological sciences and the promotion of geotourism: the scientific documentary, where a representative itinerary of geological and geomorphological evolution of this portion of the Apennines was presented. The considerations that led to the identification of the geological route proposed to the editorial staff of FOCUS TV are presented in detail. At each stop there was an explanation by academic professors and researchers, mainly from the Geology Division of the University of Camerino (MC), who explained in detail the outcrops. During the episode, insights were also given into the anthropogenic frequentation of the epigean caves in Frasassi (AN), ancient places of frequentation and worship thanks to their suggestiveness and the sense of sublime that they can elicit. In addition to the illustration of the individual stops, the article offers further insights into the geomorphology of the most important geosites depicted, all of which are in nature parks or protected areas and characterized by a high landscape value. The result was the production of an episode of the television program 'Geological Wonders of Italy: The Marche and Umbria Regions', which was broadcast in October 2022 by the Italian national Mediaset group.

The human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, accounts for more than 500,000 deaths worldwide per year. From 2000 to 2019, the malaria global death toll fell from 864,000 to 576,000 deaths; however, progress on reducing this toll has since slowed, with the COVID-19 pandemic contributing to an increase in the mortality rate since 2020. The emergence of widespread resistance in P. falciparum to first-line treatment drugs has highlighted the need for new antimalarial drugs, and smarter approaches, including better combination therapies and mass drug administration. Nevertheless, recent successes of the first malaria vaccine (RTS,S/AS01) and the approval of a second (R21/MM), have renewed the promise of widely applicable vaccines in the future. Since 2015, the Eastern Mediterranean Region has experienced an overall increase in malaria cases and deaths. In the Arabian Peninsula, while most of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been declared free of indigenous malaria (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates), malaria is still endemic in two GCC countries (Saudi Arabia and Oman) and its neighbors (Yemen). Furthermore, a number of factors threaten malaria control in this region, at the level of the parasite (antimalarial drug resistance), the mosquito (the emergence of highly invasive species), the environment (climate change and increasing average temperatures), and society (imported malaria). In this review, we assess the current world-wide status of malaria in terms of public health, prevention and treatment, before providing an Arabian regional perspective, with a critical evaluation of the malaria situation in the GCC countries.

This study investigates the moderating role of information asymmetry in shaping the effect of environmental sustainability reporting on the firm value of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Utilizing an ex-post facto research design, the study draws on a stratified sample of 29 manufacturing firms from a population of 43 listed on the Nigerian Exchange as of December 31, 2022. Spanning from 2007 to 2022, the study collects secondary data from annual reports, Nigerian All Share Index reports, meristem securities and register platform Admin platform and sustainability reports. Employing descriptive and inferential statistics, along with multiple regression techniques, the analysis considers Firm value as the dependent variable, Environmental sustainability reporting as independent variables, Information asymmetry (IA) as the moderating variable and Equity ratio, Return on asset and Leverage as control variables. Results indicate that information asymmetry shows a negative and significant effect on the relationship between environmental sustainability reporting and firm value. The study concluded that information asymmetry impacts firm value despite environmental disclosure efforts. The study recommends that Nigerian manufacturing companies should engage in comprehensive disclosure practices to enhance transparency and address information asymmetry through adequate stakeholder engagement. The study’s findings emphasized the need for Nigerian policy makers to enhance regulations on environmental sustainability reporting. By implementing stricter disclosure laws and standards, policy can reduce information asymmetry and foster a more transparent business environment. This could attract foreign investment and demonstrate Nigeria’s commitment to sustainable practices. Furthermore, the study also highlights the importance of transparency in maintaining stakeholder trust. Improved disclosure practices can increase public trust in the manufacturing sector, promoting corporate responsibility. This heightened transparency benefits investors and the broader community, ensuring companies are accountable for their environmental impacts, ultimately leading to better environmental stewardship and community welfare.

This research article provides an unconditional proof of an inequality proposed by \textit{Srinivasa Ramanujan} involving the Prime Counting Function $\pi(x)$, \begin{align*} (\pi(x))^{2}<\frac{ex}{\log x}\pi\left(\frac{x}{e}\right) \end{align*} for every real $x\geq \exp(547)$, using specific order estimates of the \textit{Mertens Function}, $M(x)$. The proof primarily hinges upon investigating the underlying relation between $M(x)$ and the \textit{Second Chebyshev Function}, $\psi(x)$, in addition to applying the meromorphic properties of the \textit{Riemann Zeta Function}, $\zeta(s)$ with an intention of deriving an improved approximation for $\pi(x)$.

African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the island of Hispaniola increasing the need to develop more streamlined and highly efficient surveillance and diagnostic capabilities. One way to achieve this is by further optimization of already established standard operating procedures to remove bottlenecks for high-throughput screening. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the most sensitive and specific assay available for the early detection of ASF, but it requires high quality nucleic acid extracted from the samples. Whole blood from live pigs and spleen tissue from dead pigs are the preferred samples for ASF RT-PCR. Whole blood can be used as is in nucleic acid extraction, but spleen tissues require an additional homogenization step. In this study, we compared the homogenates and swabs prepared from 52 spleen samples collected from pigs experimentally inoculated with highly and moderately virulent ASF virus strains. The results show that not only are the spleen swabs more sensitive when executed with a low-cell-count nucleic acid extraction procedure followed by RT-PCR assays, they also increase the ability to isolate ASFV from positive spleen samples. Swabbing is a convenient, simpler, and less time-consuming alternative to tissue homogenization. Hence, we recommend spleen swabs over tissue homogenates for high-throughput detection of ASFV by real-time PCR.

This study proposes and validates a novel combustion control system for Oil-Fired Boilers aimed at reducing air pollutant emissions through flame image prediction. The proposed system is easily applicable to existing ships. Traditional proportional combustion control systems supply fuel and air at fixed ratios according to the set steam load, without considering the emission of air pollutants. To address this, a stable and immediate control system is proposed, which adjusts the air supply to modify the combustion state. The combustion control system utilizes oxygen concentration predictions from flame images via SEF+SVM as control inputs, and applies Internal Model Control (IMC)-based Proportional-Integral (PI) control for real-time combustion control. Due to the complexity of modeling the image-based system, IMC parameter tuning through experimentation is essential for achieving effective control performance. Experiments conducted on a 3000 kg/h marine oil-fired boiler in actual operation optimized the controller parameters for stability and responsiveness, and validated their effectiveness. The results demonstrate the potential of the proposed system to improve combustion efficiency and reduce emissions of air pollutants. This study provides a feasible and effective solution for enhancing the environmental performance of marine oil-fired boilers. Given its ease of application to existing ships, it is expected to contribute to sustainable air pollution reduction across the maritime environment.

This case study examines the impact of Machico City Airport expansion on sus-tainable tourism. It aims to identify the key effects on the environment, local economy, and community, and provides recommendations for mitigating negative impacts while promoting sustainable development. The study emphasizes adopting sustainable tourism practices to protect Machico's biodiversity and natural resources, drawing from the ECOS MACHICO project. It highlights the importance of environmental education for tourists, residents, and tour operators. Community engagement emerges as pivotal, advocating for inclusive plan-ning that incorporates local perspectives. The multifaceted implications of airport expansion on Machico's socio-economic fabric are explored, balancing positive and negative effects on residents and local businesses. Diversifying tourism offerings beyond mass tourism is advocated, with a focus on preserving local traditions and promoting authentic cultural experiences. In summary, the research provides a foundation for sustainable tourism devel-opment, offering strategies applicable to similar destinations. The study's implications extend to understanding broader impacts of airport expansions, presenting avenues for further research. The proposed strategies serve as a blueprint for destinations fac-ing analogous challenges, promoting enduring socio-economic and environmental well-being

This paper comprehensively explores the integration of cloud computing and advanced recommendation systems, emphasizing their pivotal roles in enhancing user experiences and operational efficiencies across digital platforms. It reviews the evolution of recommendation algorithms, highlighting their application in diverse domains such as e-commerce and media. The study evaluates the performance of advanced models like UniLLMRec against traditional counterparts using datasets from news and e-commerce domains. Additionally, the paper discusses the infrastructure architecture of cloud computing, demonstrating its capability to support scalable and efficient data processing. Through experimental insights and methodology, the research underscores the transformative impact of cloud technologies on optimizing recommendation system performance, thereby advancing digital engagement and competitiveness.

Neurodevelopmental disorders are characterised by an amalgam of genetic and epigenetic faults implicating neuronal protein-related loss-of-function and gain-of-function respectively, hence their inclusion into the category of complex diseases. Neurodevelopmental disorders are regarded as autism spectrum disorder due to this reason; that the risk factors and phenotype constitute a spectrum of faults and protein overactivity. One example of an epigenetic factor leading to the onset of neurodevelopmental delays constitutes a set of immune response-based dysregulations, as well as the excessive growth of the adaptive immune memory of the foetus or the baby following significant infectious disease during pregnancy, as well as in babies aged 0-2, given the existence of profound links between developmental immunity and developmental neurology. Given that genetic information very likely represents a form of energy, the intake of excessive pathogen-related information may transiently overload the adaptive immune memory similarly to the manner functional pathogens do whilst inducing significant illness, and if events as such occur during important stages of neuro-immunological development, then there could often be irreversible effects upon the rate of development in neurological networks that normally have a major importance in the modulation of the related cognitive and behavioural phenotype. The full extent of evidence may only be obtained via a thorough study of the applications of physical laws into biology and medicine, given the foundational role of the physical matter in the development and maintenance of life. A common misconception is that neurodevelopmental delays are characterised solely by an accumulation of protein loss-of-function incidences in the central nervous system area, rather than a disruption of neuronal region developmental rates. For example, an overexpression of neuronal proteins related to cognition factors that is accompanied by an underexpression of proteins related to social behaviour is phenotypically manifested in people with sharper rational thinking and poorer communication skills, with an impact on the abilities of decision-making as well, and this tends to be regarded as a classical example of the clinical manifestation of neurodevelopmental delays. More severe forms of autism spectrum disorder tend to implicate a more generalistic impact upon the developmental rates of key human behaviours, including those related with the development and maintenance of social and intimate relationships. Likewise, more severe implications upon regular developmental rates tend to bring a major impact upon the healthy function of related functions. As a result, lower functioning forms of neurodevelopmental delays bring fresh concerns with regards to a possible uncanny increase of incidences of deviated sexuality during years of adulthood, and in the worst cases, such deviations may lead to the planning and development of criminal activity, particularly in individuals who are or become prone to breaking the moral code that established the civilised society. What holds the concerns valid is the exponential increase in the number of lower functioning autism cases throughout the world and the major signs that such an increase will continue with a full force. One major solution to this potential future problem would be a much higher investment into awareness of the exact genetic and environmental factors that directly or indirectly result in the onset of lower-functioning autism and of the current research efforts to develop the matching support for people found in situations as such. The most important aim of future research with regards to such a scenario would be a separation of disease and disability with choices made to step into more severe forms of disease and into areas that are outside of the established moral circle.

Logistic Regression and Random Forest are used to identify risk factors that influence traffic accident fatalities in the United Kingdom. The mean decrease accuracy was used to measure variable importance. The speed limit, police attendance and quarter had an increasing influence on accident fatalities. They had a mean decrease of 102.1669, 221.5322, and 120.894 respectively. The speed limit, had a parameter estimate of 0.0046902 and a standard deviation of 0.0004875. Light Conditions: Night had a parameter estimate of 1.2657635 and a standard deviation of 0.0118409. Road Type Round About had a parameter estimate of -0.4055796 and a standard deviation of 0.0210848. Police Attendance classified as Yes had a parameter of 0.8546232 and a standard deviation of 0.0151043. The best predictors were speed limit, police attendance and quarter since they had p values that were less than 0.05. The findings of the study indicated that logistic Regression had a higher accuracy rate 79.85% as compared to 64.00% for Random Forest. A split test was used and a standard deviation of 0.0010486 was obtained for the Logistic Regression model.

High-precision displacement sensing has been widely used across from both scientific researches and industrial applications. The recent interests in developing micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (MOEMS) have given rise to an excellent platform for miniaturized displacement sensors. Advancement in this field during past years is now yielding integrated high-precision sensors which show great potential in applications ranging from photoacoustic spectroscopy to high-precision positioning and automation. In this review, we briefly summarize different techniques for high-precision displacement sensing based on MOEMS, and discuss the challenges for future improvement.

Systematic reviews represent a powerful instrument to summarize the existing evidence in medical literature. However, articles for a systematic review are hard to identify, and mostly require a structured search of the literature through a number of databases, using keyword-based search strategies, followed by the painstaking manual selection of pieces of evidence that are pertinent to the query. A.I. algorithms may offer solutions to reduce the workload on investigators. We applied BERTopic, a newer and much-recognized transformer-based topic-modeling algorithm, to two datasets of 6137 and 5309 articles of newly published systematic reviews in the area of peri-implantitis and bone regeneration in implant dentistry. In the two datasets, BERTopic identified 14 and 22 clusters, respectively, and it automatically created labels describing the nature of the topics for each individual cluster based on semantic interpretation of their titles. Most themes regarded the query theme, but in both conditions, BERTopic also uncovered articles related to off-themes, which composed around 30% of the dataset—with sensitivity up to 0.79 and specificities of at least 0.99. Our results suggest that adding a topic-modeling step to the screening process could potentially save working hours for researchers involved in systematic reviews of the literature.

The objective of this study, which is divided into two parts, is twofold: to address long standing challenges in the sensing of atmospheric turbulence-induced wavefront aberrations in strong scintillation conditions via comparative analysis of several basic scintillation resistant wavefront sensing (SR-WFS) architectures and iterative phase retrieval (IPR) techniques (Part I, this paper), and to develop a framework for the potential integration of SR-WFS techniques into practical closed-loop non-astronomical atmospheric adaptive optics (AO) systems (Part II). In this paper we consider basic SR-WFS mathematical models and phase retrieval algorithms, tradeoffs in sensor design and phase retrieval technique implementation, and methodologies for WFS parameter optimization and performance assessment. The analysis is based on wave-optics numerical simulations imitating realistic turbulence-induced phase aberrations and intensity scintillations, and optical field propagation inside SR-WFSs. Several potential issues important for practical implementation of SR-WFS and IPR techniques such as requirements for phase retrieval computational grid resolution, tolerance with respect to optical element misalignments, and the impact of camera noise and input light non-monochromaticity are also considered. Results demonstrate that major wavefront sensing requirements desirable for AO operation in strong intensity scintillations can potentially be achieved by transitioning to novel SR-WFS architectures based on iterative phase retrieval techniques.

A “watch and wait” strategy, delaying treatment until active disease manifests, is adopted for most CLL cases; however prognostic models incorporating biomarkers have shown to be useful to predict treatment requirement. In our prospective O-CLL1 study including 224 patients, we investigated the predictive role of 513 microRNAs (miRNAs) on time to first treatment (TTFT). In the context of this study six well-established variables (i.e., Rai stage, beta-2-microglobulin levels, IGVH mutational status, del11q, del17p, and NOTCH1 mutations) maintained significant associations with TTFT in a basic multivariable model, collectively yielding a Harrell's C-index of 75% and explaining 45.4% of the variance in the prediction of TTFT. Concerning miRNAs, 73 out of 513 were significantly associated with TTFT in a univariable model; of these, 16 retained an in-dependent relationship with the outcome in a multivariable analysis. For 8 of these (i.e., miR-582-3p, miR-33a-3p, miR-516a-5p, miR-99a-5p, and miR-296-3p, miR-502-5p, miR-625-5p, and miR-29c-3p) a lower expression correlated with a shorter TTFT, whereas in the remaining eight (i.e., miR-150-5p, miR-148a-3p, miR-28-5p, miR-144-5p, miR-671-5p, miR-1-3p, miR-193a-3p, and miR-124-3p) the higher expression was associated with shorter TTFT. Integrating these miRNAs into the basic model significantly enhanced predictive accuracy, raising the Harrell’C index to 81.1% and the explained variation in TTFT to 63.3%. Moreover, the inclusion of the miRNA scores enhanced the Integrated Discrimination Improvement (IDI) and the Net Reclassification Index (NRI), underscoring the potential of miRNAs to refine CLL prognostic models and providing insights for clinical decision-making. In silico analyses on the differently expressed miRNAs revealed their potential regulatory functions of several pathways, including those involved in the therapeutic responses. To add a bio-logical context to the clinical evidence, a miRNA-mRNA correlation analysis revealed at least one significant negative correlation between 15 of the identified miRNAs and a set of 50 Artificial Intelligence (AI) selected genes, previously identified by us as relevant for TTFT prediction in the same cohort of CLL patients. In conclusion, the identification of specific miRNAs as predictors of TTFT holds promise for enhancing risk stratification in CLL to predict therapeutic needs. However, further validation studies and in-depth functional analyses are required to confirm the robustness of these observations and to facilitate their translation into meaningful clinical utility.

The importance of diet shaping the gut microbiota is well known and may help with improving the overall health of an individual. Many other factors also have an influence, such as genetics, age, exercise, antibiotic therapy, or tobacco use. The purpose of this review is to summarize how three distinct dietary types (plant-based diet, Mediterranean diet, and Western diet) affect the composition of gut microbiota and the development of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases were used for searching papers with an emphasis on keywords ‘‘dietary pattern’’, ‘‘gut microbiota’’ and ‘‘dysbiosis’’. Plant-based diet and Mediterranean diet promote the production of beneficial bacterial products, and more microbial diversity and therefore are generally considered healthy dietary types. On the other hand, the Western diet is a typical example of an unhealthy approach to nutrition which leads to an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria. Moreover, understanding the impact of diet on the modulation of gut microbiota may give rise to new therapeutical strategies.

Let an odd integer be represented as $\sum_{n > m} 2^n + 2^m - 1$ for $m \geq 1$. To transform $2^m - 1$ according to the Collatz rules, the $3x + 1$ step is applied, resulting in the even integer $2^{m + 1} + 2^m - 2$. This even integer, being exactly once divisible by 2, becomes the next odd integer $2^m + 2^{m - 1} - 1$. This represents the growth phase, as exactly one even step follows an odd step. However, while the overall value of the integer increases, terms with decreasing indices are generated after each odd-even cycle. After $m$ such cycles, a term $2^{m - m}$ (which equals 1) is generated, canceling the negative 1. Additional even steps are then performed until the integer becomes odd again, which occurs when the next smallest index becomes zero. The positive 1 thus obtained is written as $2^1 - 1$. If uninterrupted, the term $2^1 - 1$ has the trivial cycle $2^1 - 1 \rightarrow 2^2 \rightarrow 2^1 \rightarrow 2^1 - 1$. This represents the shrinkage phase, as two even steps follow an odd step. To interrupt the trivial cycle, a sequence such as $2^1 + 2^2 + \cdots$ must be available to combine with $2^1 - 1$ and produce $2^{\mathcal{M}} - 1$. This starts another growth phase that lasts for $\mathcal{M}$ odd-even cycles. Finally, there is an attempt to craft an integer that can escape the shrinkage phase in the Collatz dynamics.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a rare soft tissue tumor of mesenchymal origin that most commonly presents in children. IMTs hold non-specific symptoms and radiological features, rendering diagnosis challenging. Presentation: We report a case of a 26-year-old man who was diagnosed at a different center with IMT of the right lower lobe. He underwent lobectomy with a positive gross margin, after which he was referred to our institution for further management, where we performed redo surgery with removal of residual tumor from the bronchial stump. The case presented here shows that interdisciplinary surgical planning is vital to ensure proper detection and successful tumor resection, while highlighting a unique case of recurrence necessitating a redo surgery.Conclusion: IMT is a rare entity in adults presenting with diverse, non-specific symptoms. IMT’s usually follow a favorable prognosis, but behavior may be unpredictable. While uncommon in adults, strong clinical suspicion is warranted. Complete surgical resection is the treatment of choice and follow up is crucial given the potential for recurrence.

The vaccine industry has undoubtedly contributed massively in the medical world, with hundreds of millions of lives saved as a result of the successful development of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against various infectious and oncological diseases. Simultaneously, there has been an ongoing evolutionary battle between polymorphic microbes and the human immune system, and various microbes have developed counter-responses against the human host immune system, by creating diverse “holes” of vulnerability in the innate immune system. Such mechanisms may have resulted due to the lower prophylactic and therapeutic focus upon sharpening the innate immune lines as directly as necessary. The overall objective of vaccine-development should be the sharpening of all immune departments that are targeted by various microbial agents for the purpose of transient innate immune suppression and the distribution of the microbial count/load at a systemic level. Likewise, it could be viable for the clinical research community to start focusing upon filling in the “gaps” of vulnerability that are now present in the pathways responsible for the proper natural immune activation and proportionate signalling toward the adaptive immune system. Perhaps, through such a process, the “road” toward the adaptive immune system, which is “old” and filled with “holes”, could be gradually transformed into a perfectly uniform “highway”, with all the required signals transmitted robustly from the innate to the adaptive immune system, before microbes manage to translate the various pathogenic proteins that transiently prevent such transmission altogether, until it becomes too late for the immune response to possibly develop in a proportionate and non-harmful manner to the organism. Such a scenario would be possible, given that it is almost impossible for human evolutionary growth to eventually stall and not risk experiencing a decrease as a result. Simultaneously, it is important for human society to bind by the principles of maintaining a healthy and nature-friendly lifestyle, given the philosophical quote of “We are what we eat.” The overall objective should be the facilitation of human and animal immune evolution over viral and bacterial molecular self-camouflaging from all possible directions, as a sharper human and animal evolutionary growth resulting from such actions could “cost” the sharper evolutionary growth of microbes as such, given that evolutionary patterns are based upon the models observed in Physics, in Newton’s Third Law of Motion, as well as in the First Law of Thermodynamics, which concerns the Conservation of Energy.

Objective: We reviewed the available literature on patients undergoing minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (MIMVS) with either transthoracic clamping (TTC) or endoaortic balloon occlusion (EABO). Methods: Original research studies that evaluated the perioperative outcomes of TTC versus EABO group were identified, from 2000 to 2024. The incidence of all-cause mortality, cerebrovascular accidents (CVA), and aortic dissections were the primary endpoints. The cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), cross-clamp, and ventilation time, along with the incidence of conversion to sternotomy, re-exploration, new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF), postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI), ICU stay, and LOS were the secondary endpoints. Subgroup analyses were performed regarding EABO cannulation approach (femoral and aortic) and MIMVS approach (video-assisted and robotic-assisted). Sensitivity analyses were performed including risk-adjusted populations and with the leave-one-out method. Results: Sixteen studies were included in the qualitative and quantitative synthesis. After pooling data from 6,335 patients, both groups demonstrated similar outcomes on all primary and secondary endpoints in the non-adjusted and adjusted total cohort analyses. These outcomes were further validated by the leave-one-out sensitivity analysis. In addition, the aortic cannulation EABO was associated with lower cross-clamp time, followed by TTC and femoral cannulation EABO approach. Furthermore, in the video-assisted subgroup analysis, the EABO approach was associated with a higher incidence of CVA, conversion to sternotomy, and longer ICU stay compared to the TTC group. Conclusions: The present meta-analysis indicates that both aortic occlusion techniques are safe and feasible in the context of MIMVS. A future well-designed Randomized-Control Trial should further validate the current outcomes.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) are two neurodegenerative diseases posing a significant disease burden due to their increasing prevalence and socio-economic cost. Traditional therapeutic approaches for these diseases exist but provide limited symptomatic relief without addressing the underlying pathologies. This review examines the potential of immunotherapy, specifically monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), as disease-modifying treatments for AD and PD. We analyze the pathological mechanisms of AD and PD, focusing on the roles of amyloid-beta (Aβ), tau (τ), and alpha-synuclein (α-syn) proteins. We discuss the latest advancements in mAbs therapies targeting these proteins, evaluating their efficacy in clinical trials and preclinical studies. We also explore the challenges faced in translating these therapies from bench to bedside, including issues related to safety, specificity, and clinical trial design. Additionally, we highlight future directions for research, emphasizing the need for combination therapies, improved biomarkers, and personalized treatment strategies. This review aims to provide insights into the current state and future potential of antibody-based immunotherapy in modifying the course of AD and PD, ultimately improving patient outcomes and quality of life.

In recent decades, the cultivation of avocados has expanded throughout the Iberian Peninsula, with most of the production occurring on the southern Atlantic and Mediterranean coast, as well as in the Canary Islands and the north. This expansion is due to high demand and high prices, which have made the crop very attractive. However, climatic suitability criteria have not always been followed, putting sustainability at risk. Avocados originate from tropical and subtropical areas and have very specific climatic requirements that must be met to ensure good production. This study analyzed key climatic variables, including winter cold damage, pollen viability, and flowering and fruit set temperatures. Using daily climate data from 1975 to 2022, advanced spatial analysis techniques were applied to produce suitability maps. The results indicate that the ex-pansion of the crop is possible in certain areas of southern Andalusia, but not in the rest of the peninsula. Minimum winter and March temperatures are the main limiting factors. This work provides valuable insights into the potential for sustainable agricultural intensification, the sus-tainability of agricultural decision-making, and resilience to climate change.

Accurate and robust deep learning models for facial expression recognition are challenging to achieve, given the diversity of human faces and variations in images, including different facial poses and lighting conditions. In this work, we proposed a clock-driven convolutional Spiking Neural Network (SNN) and STDP fine-tune architecture, meticulously calibrated its hyperparameters, and experimented with various optimization methods. The best model resulted was trained and evaluated on the Fer2013 and FER+ database, obtaining an accuracy of 61.87% and 79.97% without requiring auxiliary training data or face registration. To our best knowledge, the proposed SNN achieved comparable accuracy to CNNs of similar depth and possessed the advantages of low energy consumption and high computational efficiency. The computational efficiency of the proposed SNN is approximately three times that of CNNs. Along with this, we introduced the very recent cumulative spike guided encoder visualization technique and revealed the strong encoding capability of the proposed SNN.

In India, the divorce rate is rising year after year. Divorces are thought to have increased by more than a factor of two during the past two decades. India has great cultural diversity, and each of its states has something unique to offer. The divorce rate in India, which differs from state to state, is among the most frequently discussed subjects. More than 30% of marriages end in divorce in big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bangalore. Divorce applications have nearly tripled in the past few years in cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Lucknow. In India, the divorce rate has increased, especially in small cities. Hence, the reasons behind divorce in India were explored in this article. In order to analyze the causes of divorce, the current study aimed to combine the critical components of TOPSIS and COPRAS methodologies in a fuzzy environment. Additionally, it is shown that a comparison study may pinpoint the characteristics that influence divorces the most.

This study aimed to describe and distinguish shot characteristics between set winning and losing pairs in high-level male padel players from Finland. Between 2022 and 2023, we analyzed 4,469 points across 38 matches, examining factors such as match type, set outcome, effectiveness of the last shot, generator of forced error, and shot type. Results showed that set-winning players produced more winners (CSR = 7.7; CSR = 6.8) and committed fewer forced (CSR = 4.2; CSR = 2.8) and unforced errors (CSR = 4.0; CSR = 4.3) compared to set losing players, both in pressure training and competition matches. In addition, irrespective of the set outcome, these players achieved more winners and generated more forced errors with the smash, bandeja, forehand volley, and backhand volley. Nevertheless, a significant number of errors (both forced and unforced) are committed with the bandeja and volley (forehand and backhand). Furthermore, notable errors (forced and unforced) are observed in shots following one bounce and without a wall rebound, particularly in the forehand, backhand, and return. In conclusion, the ability to produce winners while minimizing forced and unforced errors proves to be crucial for securing sets in high-level men’s padel.

Gaseous air pollutants emitted from anthropogenic sources are diverse and form secondary products through photochemical reactions, complicating the regulatory analysis of anthropogenic emissions in the atmosphere. Here, we used an environmental chassis dynamometer and a photochemical smog chamber to conduct a parameter sensitivity experiment to investigate the formation of secondary products from a direct-injection gasoline passenger car. To simulate the mitigation of ammonia (NH3) emissions from gasoline vehicle exhausts assuming future emission controls and to allow photochemical oxidation and aging of the vehicle exhaust, NH3 was selectively removed by a series of five denuders installed between the vehicle and the photochemical smog chamber. Overall, there were no differences in the formation of secondary organic aerosols and ozone with or without NH3 mitigation. However, the secondary particle formation potential of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) was significantly reduced with NH3 mitigation. In addition, NH3 mitigation resulted in increased particle phase acidity due to HNO3 in the gas phase not being neutralized by NH3 and condensing onto the liquid particle phase, indicating a potentially important secondary effect associated with NH3 mitigation. The present study provides new insights into the effects of NH3 mitigation on secondary emissions from gasoline vehicle exhaust and the experimental approach.

The goal is the optimal synthesis of the parameters of the control law for a nonlinear satellite attitude control system under constraints related to the saturation effect of reaction wheels. The maximum stability degree of the control system is considered as a criterion for the optimality of the parameters of the control law, and the absolute values of the control torques and angular velocities of the reaction wheels, achievable within the limits of the physical characteristics of the drives, are considered as constraints. The solution to the optimal synthesis problem is based on the transformation of the nonlinear control system model into a linear model, within the framework of the problem of global asymptotic stability of the control system is also guaranteed. The problem is decomposed into a subproblems of obtaining the optimal transient process shape in the control system and considering the constraints. A method of synthesizing the optimal transient process shape based on the criterion of maximum stability degree had been developed. An analytical method of determining the optimal values of the control law parameters, based on decomposing the normalized characteristic polynomial in the linear model into three identical factors had been proposed. A method with regards to the constraints of the control torque and angular speed of the reaction wheels, based on transitioning from relative to real time is developed. An algorithm for calculation of the transition scale from relative to real time, ensuring the fulfillment of all constraints in the optimal synthesis problem, is proposed. An example demonstrating the efficiency and simplicity of the proposed methods and algorithm for targeted selection of technical characteristics of the control system, considering the maximum absolute values of angular speeds and control torques of the reaction wheels, is provided.

Non-toroidal shape primary pass through protection current transformers (CTs) are used to measure high currents. Their design provides them with a big airgap that allow passing several cables per phase though them, which is the main advantage versus toroidal types, as the number of CTs required to measure the whole phase current is drastically reduced. The cables pass through the transformer window can be in several positions. As the isolines of the magnetic field generated by the primary currents are centered in the cables, if these cables are not centered in the transformer window, the magnetic field will be non-uniform along the transformer core. Consequently, local saturations can appear if the cables are not properly disposed causing the malfunction of the CT. In this paper, the performance of a non-toroidal shape protection CT is studied. The research is focused on the cable position influence in possible partial saturations of the CT when it is operating near to its accuracy limit. Depending on the cable position, the ratio of the primary and secondary currents can depart from assigned ratio. The validation of this phenomenon has been carried out via Finite Element Analysis (FEA) showing that partial transformer core saturations appears in areas of the magnetic core close to the cable. Applying FEA, also the admissible accuracy region for cable positioning inside the CT is delimited. Finally, the simulation results are ratified with experimental tests performed in non-toroidal protection CTs varying the primary cables’ positions, which are subjected to currents up to 5 kA, achieving satisfactory results. From this analysis, installation recommendations are given.

Chitosan-based composites are interesting materials for dye adsorption. In this work, methyl orange (MO) adsorption using chitosan (CH) and chitosan-graphene oxide (CH-GO) aerogels produced by supercritical gel drying was assessed, by studying the effect of driving force (25-100 ppm) and adsorbent dosage (1-8 g/L). It was highlighted that the difference in the performance between the two adsorbents was non-negligible only at high concentrations, due to more intense interactions between the adsorbent active sites and MO molecules. Starting from a 10 ppm MO solution, using a dosage of 8 g/L it was possible to achieve adsorption efficiency of about 85%, meaning that small amounts of nanostructured devices can result in good process outcomes. Freundlich isotherm reliably describes the system behavior, leading to the consideration that adsorption between MO and CH-GO takes place between different active sites. Moreover, PSO kinetic describes the general trend of this system through time, unveiling heterogeneous chemisorption; lastly, the multi-linear IPD kinetic model confirms that in the case of nanostructured porous devices, there are different mass transfer phenomena that control molecule diffusion through the system.

Renal cancer is a common and serious malignant tumor of the urinary system. While surgery effectively treats early-stage renal cancer, advanced cases pose a significant challenge due to poor treatment outcomes and chemotherapy resistance. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop alternative therapeutic strategies. Ferroptosis is a newly defined form of programmed cell death characterized by the accumulation of iron-dependent lipid peroxides, which plays a critical role in tumor progression and drug resistance. Recent studies have shown that ferroptosis is involved in the occurrence and development of renal cancer, ferroptosis related genes can induce cell apoptosis, and can be used as potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of renal cancer and participate in drug resistance of renal cancer chemotherapy. With the continuous improvement of the mechanism of ferroptosis, drugs targeting ferroptosis for the treatment of renal cancer are emerging in an endless stream, Based on the theoretical basis of the occurrence of ferroptosis, this paper reviewed drug-induced ferroptosis in renal cancer cells from the aspects of herbal medicine, natural compounds, drug resistance mechanisms, and nanomaterials, hoping to provide a new strategy for the treatment of renal cancer with ferroptosis related drugs.

In recent years, Ethiopia's number of returnee entrepreneurs has increased dramatically, significantly contributing to personal financial achievement and the nation's economic development and transformation. However, their businesses are typically smaller and less profitable than non-migrant entrepreneurs. This study explores factors affecting the success of these returnee migrant entrepreneurs, including individual characteristics, entrepreneurial skills, and experience, financial resources, as well as the mediating role of government policies and institutional support. Data was collected from 390 returnee migrants who started their businesses and analyzed using a robust theoretical foundation and PLS-SEM to understand the impact of success factors. The results show that entrepreneurial skills, experience, and financial resources positively and significantly influence the success of returnee migrant entrepreneurs. Furthermore, social networks, while not directly significantly influencing the entrepreneurial success of returnee migrants are mediated by government policies and institutional support. Professional guidance and counseling provided by experts and mentors of the accelerator program were found to be essential for entrepreneurial success but did not improve the effectiveness of the policy. Financial resources, although crucial, did not significantly impact policy efficacy. These findings underscore the need for tailored policy interventions addressing the challenges faced by returnee migrants, including economic self-sufficiency, socio-psychological support, and effective social networks to boost the success of returnee migrants. Experienced returnee entrepreneurs play a key role in developing a vigorous and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem through community engagement and policy advocacy. Additionally, personal traits are crucial for entrepreneurial success, while practical experience influences government policies for substantiated policy development in returnee migrant entrepreneurship and its benefits.

Metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), a globally prevalent chronic liver disease, has only limited pharmacological options. Both metformin and Ganwei, a botanical supplement containing a potent inducer for glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT), have shown great promise for MAFLD. We conducted a 4-arm, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to investigate the safety and efficacy of metformin and Ganwei for MAFLD. Between September 2021 and March 2023, 64 patients with MAFLD were received metformin alone, Ganwei alone, combination of metformin and Ganwei, and placebo for 6 months. The primary MAFLD outcome was assessed by control attenuation parameter (CAP) and kilopascal (kPa) scores for liver steatosis and fibrosis, utilizing FibroScan. At 6 months after treatment, significant MAFLD improvements were observed in patients treated with Ganwei alone (repeated measures ANOVA test, p = 0.048 for both CAP and kPa scores). By employing a 6-point steatosis grade scale, the Ganwei alone arm exhibited a statistically better improvement than the placebo-controlled arm (mean score 1.1±1.9 vs. 0.1±0.7, p &lt; 0.01). In addition, patients in the Ganwei alone arm showed significant quality-of-life improvements. There was no serious adverse events observed. Our study demonstrated that Ganwei can be an effective treatment option for MAFLD patients. Clinical trial registration: NCT06244550.

This study describes the relationship between the epikarst and the surface karst of climatic karsts. Bedrock resistivity values along VES measurements were measured and calculated. The elevation difference between the surface and the karstwater table and the annual distribution of precipitation were calculated in certain karst areas. The resistivity of the epikarst can be high (drawdown dolines) and low (subsidence dolines). In the former case, the cavity index and the vertical drainage of the epikarst are heterogeneous, while in the latter they are homogeneous. Considering the above characteristics, two types of doline development are possible. A feature development controlled by the epikarst (tajga karst, soil-covered karst of the temperate belt, glaciokarst), by the epikarst and the karstwater (polje karst, fengcong karst), and controlled predominantly by karstwater (intermountain plain of fenglin karst, tropical karren). At feature development controlled by the epikarst, drawdown dolines (soil-covered karst) and subsidence dolines (covered karst) develop, in the case of feature development controlled by the epikarst and karstwater, drawdown dolines, subsidence dolines and feature assemblages with subsidence dolines and katavotra (polje karst, fengcong karst) are formed. At feature development controlled predominantly by karstwater, subsidence dolines (intermountain plain of fenglin karst), and giant grikes (tropical karren) develop.

Considering the widespread issue of distracted eating, our study explores how cognitive dis-traction influences the sensory perception of food-related odors among individuals with varying weight statuses. We used the Tetris game to mimic the dynamic nature of real-life cognitive dis-traction. Participants, categorized into a lean and an overweight/obese group based on their body mass index (BMI), rated odor intensity and pleasantness under low and high distraction condi-tions. Respiratory movements were monitored to ensure accurate assessment of sensory percep-tion. No significant effects of distraction on odor intensity ratings were established. However, our findings reveal a significant reduction in odor pleasantness under high cognitive load, more pronounced in lean participants compared to those with overweight. Moreover, we observe an interaction between sex/gender and cognitive distraction effects in odor pleasantness perception. The differential effects of distraction across weight status groups and sex/gender are discussed in the context of hedonic motivations and compensatory mechanisms at play. This study sheds light into the mechanisms of distracted eating from the sensory perspective, that can pave the way for more personalized and effective strategies for promoting healthier eating habits in a world dominated by distractions.

Cleomella serrulata is a native flowering plant found in North America. Even though this plant is of ecological and native medicinal importance, very little is known about the genomic makeup of Cleomella and the Cleomaceae family at large. Here we report the complete chloroplast genome of Cleomella serrulata and provide an evolutionary comparison to other chloroplast genomes from Cleomaceae and closely related families. This study confirms the taxonomic placement of Cleomella as a distinct genus, but also provides phylogenetic insights that imply potential adaptive strategies and evolutionary mechanisms driving genomic diversity of the Cleomella genus. Whole genome-based and ANI comparisons indicate that the Cleomella species form a distinct clade that is about equidistant from the other Cleomaceae genera as it is from the genera from the nearby Capparaceae and Brassicaceae. This is the first complete chloroplast-based phylogenetic comparison of Cleomella species to other related genera and helps refine the complex taxonomic distinctions of the Cleomaceae.

The primary purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview about the notion of the \textit{Mertens Function} $M(n)$ and \textit{Redheffer Matrices} $\mathbb{A}_{n}$ and, to derive specific order estimates for $M(n)$, in order to analyze the location of the non-trivial zeros of the \textit{Riemann Zeta function} $\zeta(s)$. A priori using the above concepts, the article aims at establishing a necessary and sufficient condition for the \textit{Riemann Hypothesis} to hold true.

Currently, there is a marked increase in the importance of the environmental and cultural ecosystem services of the forest. Among the social benefits, protection of human health and improvement of human well-being come to the fore. Forests, both reserve and commercial, benefit human health. However, people often have negative attitudes toward forest management activities, especially near urban areas, and prefer forest management that results in a forest that is close to natural. Second-growth forest and clear-cutting are the most visible manifestations of ongoing forest management in forests. The purpose of this study was to compare the benefits derived from exposure to second-growth forest, clear-cutting and mature forest stands. Fifty-five students of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW (WULS-SGGW) participated in the study. The study was conducted in October 2023 in a forest within the city of Otwock, within the range of the Warsaw metropolitan area. Participants were exposed for 15 minutes to selected plots: second- growth forest, clear-cutting area and mature forest stand. Before the experiment (PRE-Test control trial) and after each of the exposures four psychological questionnaires were administered: the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Restorative Outcome Scale (ROS), the Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS) and Profile of Mood States (POMS). The results indicate that not all analyzed features of the forest landscape have a regenerative effect on people. Exposure to a commercial forest, only in the case of a mature stand, yielded the most benefits in terms of mood improvement. In contrast, exposure to clear-cutting area resulted in a decrease in positive feelings and an increase in negative feelings, leading to a complete disturbance of mood, an increase in tension, depression and a decrease in feelings of vigor. Clear-cutting area has significantly worse restorative properties compared to mature forest stands and second-growth forest. This observation is relevant to forest management within city limits and in the suburban zone of large cities. Not only is clear-cutting area not accepted by people visiting forests for recreational purposes, but it leads to a detraction from the health benefits provided by forests.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and lethal forms of cancer, with a five-year survival rate of less than 10%. Despite advances in treatment modalities, the prognosis for pancreatic cancer patients remains poor, highlighting the urgent need for innovative approaches for early diagnosis and targeted therapies. In recent years, there has been significant progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying pancreatic cancer development and progression. This paper reviews the current knowledge of molecular targets for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

The financial crisis augmented the need to predict real estate prices. The current study examines the application of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model and Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model in forecasting real estate prices. The study uses daily observations, which accounted for a total of 2955 observations collected. We found that ANN outperformed significantly the VAR model providing evidence that these models can be used for valuation purposes in the area of real estate and financial markets. These findings are novel and important as they provide evidence of the usefulness of more sophisticated methodologies for market participants and regulators in real estate and financial markets.

In contemporary society, digital technology permeates every aspect of our routines. This study assessed students' comprehension of the environmental impacts of prolonged screen time, specifically during binge-watching sessions. It investigated awareness of carbon emissions from electronic device usage, binge-watching habits, and influencing factors such as content preferences, duration, and frequency. The study also explored potential interventions to mitigate environmental impacts. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected from 525 higher education students (150 male, 375 female) through self-designed standardized questionnaires. The analysis involved Percentage, t-test, ANOVA, Multiple Correlation, and coding processes. Results indicated that 66.67% of students had a high level of understanding regarding the environmental impact of binge-watching, while only 4.76% were highly aware of the carbon emissions from extended screen time. Additionally, 23.81% exhibited high levels of binge-watching habits and behavior. Gender disparities were significant; females demonstrated a deeper understanding of the environmental impacts (t=4.08, p < α) and showed different binge-watching habits compared to males (t=3.16, p < α). However, no significant gender difference was found in awareness of carbon emissions (t=0.28, p > α). A notable difference (t=12.98, p < α) was observed between students' understanding of environmental impacts and their awareness of carbon emissions. The study also revealed a weak positive correlation (R=0.36) and significant differences [F(2, 1572) = 320.10, p < 0.05, 0.01] in understanding the environmental impacts, awareness of carbon emissions, and binge-watching behaviors. Factors influencing binge-watching and potential regulatory measures were also identified.

Photodynamic therapy has emerged as a non-invasive treatment modality for various diseases, leveraging photosensitizing compounds to induce localized cytotoxicity upon light activation. This review explores the isolation and characterization of photosensitizing compounds sourced from microalgae, focusing on their potential applications in photodynamic therapy. Microalgae represent a rich source of bioactive molecules, including chlorophylls, phycobiliproteins, and carotenoids, which exhibit inherent photosensitizing properties. Methodologies for the extraction and purification of these compounds from different microalgal species are discussed, emphasizing the importance of optimizing extraction techniques to enhance yield and purity. Characterization techniques such as UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry are highlighted for elucidating the chemical structures and photophysical properties of isolated compounds. Furthermore, the review examines the photodynamic efficacy of microalgae-derived photosensitizers through in vitro and in vivo studies, assessing their cytotoxic effects on cancer cells and antimicrobial activity against pathogens. The integration of microalgae-derived photosensitizers into PDT protocols represents a promising avenue for developing sustainable and effective therapeutic strategies, underscoring the potential of these natural compounds in advancing biomedical applications.

Currently, the primary strategy for addressing polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) involves lifestyle modifications, with a focus on weight loss. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the impact of weight loss through dietary interventions on inflammatory status and hyperandrogenism in PCOS women. A comprehensive search was conducted to identify randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies assessing the impact of diet-induced weight loss on circulating inflammatory markers (CRP, IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α), androgens (testosterone, SHBG, androstenedione) and luteinising hormone (LH) in PCOS women. The quality and risk of bias of the included studies were assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for RCTs and the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale for cohort studies. Data were entered into RevMan software v5.9 for the calculation of standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) of circulating inflammatory markers, androgens and LH between baseline and post-weight loss values. Eleven studies (n=323) were eligible for the systematic review, of which nine (n=286) were included in the meta-analysis. Pooled analysis of data revealed a statistically significant decrease in circulating CRP (SMD 0.39, 95%CI 0.22, 0.56; 9 studies, n=286), IL-6 (SMD 0.37, 95%Cl, 0.12, 0.61; 3 Studies, n=140), TNF- α (SMD 0.30, 95%Cl, 0.07, 0.53; 4 Studies, n=162), androstenedione (SMD 0.36, 95%Cl, 0.13, 0.60; 4 studies, n=147) and LH (SMD 0.30, 95% Cl, 0.09, 0.51; 5 studies, n=197) after weight loss compared to baseline levels among PCOS women. Meta-analysis of five studies (n=173) showed a statistically significant increase in circulating SHBG after weight loss compared to baseline levels (SMD -0.43, 95%Cl, -0.65, -0.21). These findings suggest that weight loss induced by dietary interventions seems to improve PCOS-related chronic inflammation and hyperandrogenism. The possible causative relationship between the improvement in inflammation and hyperandrogenism remains to be determined.

Seven patients in our clinical program who were diagnosed with high burden (>10%) premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and concomitant significant upper GI disease with no other significant cardiac history demonstrated a significant reduction in the burden of PVCs following surgical or procedural interventions of the upper GI tract [68.34% reduction, p=0.024). Furthermore, in all cases, the origin of the PVCs was from the base of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT). This is the first report in the literature that we are aware of to report this unique association for which we propose a dual mechanism of action of vagally mediated upper GI driven PVCs and a direct anatomical effect of these upper GI anatomies on the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) of the heart. These are very prelimary findings that warrant larger clinical and mechanistic studies that may ultimately define a new subset of PVCs for which we propose a term, “E-PVCs”.

The efficacy and safety of organic UV-filters could benefit from their incorporation into lipid nanoparticles because of the ability of such carriers to reflect solar radiations, thus acting synergically as physical sunscreens. In this work, bemotrizinol (BMTZ), a broad-spectrum UV-filter, was loaded into nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) whose lipid matrix contained different oils to assess the effects of the lipid core composition on the properties of the resulting NLC. Subsequently, the effects of incorporating different concentrations of optimized BMTZ-loaded NLC on the technological properties of O/W emulsions (pH, viscosity, spreadability, occlusion factor, in vitro BMTZ release and skin permeation, in vitro sun protection factor) were assessed. Optimized BMTZ-loaded NLC showed mean size=190.6±9.8 nm, PDI=0.153±0.013, ζ-potential=-10.6±1.7 mV, loading capacity=8% w/w. The incorporation of increasing concentrations of optimized BMTZ-loaded into emulsions provided slight increase of spreadability, lower viscosity and no change of pH, occlusion factor and BMTZ release compared to the control. No BMTZ skin permeation was observed from all formulations. About 20% increase of sun protection factor values was obtained for vehicles containing BMTZ-loaded NLC. Therefore, BMTZ-loaded NLC incorporation into emulsions could be a promising strategy to develop safer and more effective sunscreen formulations.

Oxidative stress constitutes a main molecular mechanism underlying cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This pathological mechanism can be triggered by NADPH oxidases (NOXs), which produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). In fact, the different NOXs have been associated with myocardial infarction, atherothrombosis, and stroke. More specifically, we will focus on the implications of NOXs in atherothrombotic stroke. Each NOX member participates in a different way in the several stages of this disease: endothelial dysfunction, immune cell infiltration, foam cell genesis, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) proliferation, and atherosclerotic plaque formation. Additionally, some NOXs are involved in plaque instability, thrombosis, ischemic stroke, and ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Interestingly, the effects of NOXs in this pathology depend on the specific homologue, the cell type in which they are activated, and the stage of the disease. In this review we summarize the most up-to-date information about the implications of vascular NOXs in each of these processes. Finally, we highlight some limitations and future perspectives of the study of NOXs in CVDs.

Proactive deprescribing is the process of stopping a medicine before harm occurs. This study aimed to specify and validate with an international sample of healthcare professionals, a proactive deprescribing process of steps and constituent activities. We developed a proactive deprescribing process framework of steps which we populated with literature-derived activities required to be undertaken by healthcare professionals. We distributed a survey to healthcare professionals in-ternationally requesting for each activity; the frequency of its occurrence in practice and whether it was important. Extended response questions invited barriers and enablers to deprescribing. The 263 survey respondents were from 25 countries. A proactive deprescribing process was developed comprising four steps: (1) Identify a patient for potential stop of a medicine, (2) Evaluate a patient for potential stop of a medicine, (3) Stop a medicine(s), (4) After a medicine has been stopped, and 17 activities. All activities were considered important by ≥70% respondents. Nine activities re-quired healthcare professionals to undertake in direct partnership with the patient and/or care-giver, of which seven were only sometimes undertaken. Deprescribing interventions should focus on addressing the barriers and enablers of healthcare professionals undertaking the activities that require direct partnership with the patient and/or caregiver.

The efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs) is influenced by various factors, among which environmental temperature plays a significant role. Previous studies have shown that the thermal stability of these cells can be enhanced by incorporating a third component into their structure. Ternary organic solar cells, in particular, have shown promising results in improving thermal stability. A well-designed electron transport layer (ETL) can significantly bolster thermal stability by facilitating efficient charge transport and reducing charge recombination. In this study, we investigated the effect of temperature on the efficiency of inverted ternary structures, ranging from 300 K to 400 K. The structures examined include FTO/SnO2/PM6:D18:L8-BO/PEDOT: PSS/Ag, FTO/Spiro-OMeTAD/PM6:D18:L8-BO/PEDOT: PSS/Ag, and FTO/PC60BM/PM6:D18:L8-BO/PEDOT: PSS/Ag. Through simulations employing three different electron transport layers—SnO2, Spiro-OMeTAD, and PC60BM—we observed that at 340 K (65°C) these structures maintained 92% of their original high efficiency of ~20% at 300 K, which represents a high level of thermal stability under the high PCE condition.

Credit card payment platforms are increasingly used for e-commerce activities. Credit cards are payment cards issued to individuals so they can purchase products and services based on their accumulated debt. Since credit cards are becoming very popular and widely used, the number of related fraud cases is likewise increasing. Whereas, there are large numbers of credit card transactions daily; thus, it becomes complex to differentiate between fraudulent and non-fraudulent transactions. Accordingly, different machine learning (ML) tools have been deployed in the literature to filter credit card transactions to prevent cardholders and financial institutions from losing money. In this article, the ensemble hidden Markov model (EHMM) approach is deployed to predict credit card fraud. EHMM is a popular and flexible ML tool that can easily model randomly changing datasets. Yet, the performance of the EHMM solely depends on the adopted feature extraction technique. The more reliable the feature extraction technique, the better the performance of the EHMM. In this vein, this article analyses two feature extraction techniques that can be combined with the EHMM for the prediction of credit card fraud. First, the principal component analysis (PCA) feature extraction techniques are combined with the EHMM to effectively predict credit card fraud. Yet, the PCA increases the computational time complexity of the EHMM. Therefore, this article adapts some statistical features to reduce the computational time complexity imposed on the EHMM. These robust but simple statistical features termed MRE; Mean, Relative Amplitude, and Entropy, are merged to form a feature vector that can be combined with the EHMM to effectively predict credit card frauds. The performance of the PCA-EHMM and MRE-EHMM are evaluated using the credit card transactions dataset of European cardholders gathered within two days in September 2013. The results were documented using different performance metrics such as recall/sensitivity, specificity, precision, and F1-score. The findings of this article will offer solutions to the loss experienced by cardholders and financial institutions as a result of online banking which requires credit card details.

Thermal plasma is a versatile technology that can be used to treat various types of wastes, including vegetal and mineral oils, solvents, plastics, papers and cardboard, glasses, bricks and rocks, metals, clothes, and mixtures of these materials. In this study, we utilized a commercial plasma cutter as a thermal plasma source to decrease the volume of a simulated low-level radioactive mixed solid waste. The simulated waste included papers, plastics, clothes, gloves, metals and stable Co, Cs, Sr, and Ce additives as surrogates of 60Co, 137Cs, 90Sr, and 144Ce, the latter typical contaminants in nuclear LLW. As a result of the process two products were obtained, a solid phase in which we focused this work and a gaseous phase. To retain as much as possible surrogates in the solid final phase, crushed glass from broken bottles was included as a vitrification additive to the original waste. After undergoing heat treatment, a dense vitreous slag was produced and ashes. The process resulted in a volume reduction of 70%, indicating the successful gasification of organic excess materials. The surrogate elements were retained in the process and were found in the ashes composition: Co (3.4% w/w), Cs (37.7% w/w), Ce (0.6% w/w) and in the glass matrix composition of Co, Cs, Sr and Ce: 72.4 ± 14.7, 32 ± 18.2, 125.3 ± 31.6, 80 ± 13.1 % w/w respectively. For the actual experimental conditions, retention efficiencies were estimated for Cobalt (Co) at 72.4 ± 14.7%, Cerium (Ce) at 80 ± 13.1%, Strontium (Sr) at 125.3 ± 31.6%, and notably Cesium (Cs) at 32 ± 18.2%.

In this paper, polyurethane concrete (PUC) is used as wire embedding material to form a new polyurethane concrete- prestressed steel wire (PUC-PSW) reinforcement method. The lightweight and high-strength PUC materials not only bond and anchor the prestressed steel wire (PSW), but also passively participate in the structural force. The problems caused by using mortar or composite mortar as the embedding material are avoided. Twelve reinforced concrete T-beams were tested for PUC-PSW flexural reinforcement. It consists of 1 unreinforced beam, 4 PSW reinforced beams, and 7 PUC-PSW reinforced beams. The wire embedding material, wire anchorage form, PUC material depth, amount of wire, and loading type were used as variables. The test results show that PUC-PSW reinforcement can obviously enhance the flexural load and ultimate load of the reinforced beams compared with PSW reinforcement. The ability of PUC-PSW reinforcement to limit crack development is better than that of PSW reinforcement beam, especially after the main beam steel yield. The strength, stiffness and crack limiting ability of the reinforced beam increase with the PUC thickness of the reinforced layer.

With the development of educational technology, machine learning and deep learning provide technical support for traditional classroom observation assessment. However, in real classroom scenarios, the technique faces challenges such as lack of clarity of raw images, complexity of datasets, multi-target detection errors and complexity of character interactions.Based on the above problems, a student classroom behavior recognition network incorporating super-resolution and target detection is proposed. To cope with the problem of unclear original images in the classroom scenario, SRGAN (Super Resolution Generative Adversarial Network for Images) is used to improve the image resolution and thus the recognition accuracy.To address the dataset complexity and multi-targeting problems, feature extraction is optimized and multi-scale feature recognition is enhanced by introducing AKConv and LASK attention mechanisms into the Backbone module of YOLOv8s algorithm. To improve the character interaction complexity problem, the CBAM attention mechanism is integrated to enhance the recognition of important feature channels and spatial regions. Experiments show that it can detect six behaviors of students raising their hands, reading, writing, playing cell phones, looking down, and lying on the table in high-definition images. And the accuracy and robustness of this network are verified.Compared with small target detection algorithms such as Faster R-CNN, YOLOv5, and YOLOv8s, this network has better detection performance and can efficiently deal with the behavior recognition of multiple students.

A method is proposed for analyzing the tremor of the earth's surface, measured by GPS, in order to highlight prognostic effects. The method is applied to analysis of daily time series of vertical displacements in Japan. The network of 1047 stations is divided into 15 clusters. The Huang Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is applied to the time series of principal components from clusters with subsequent calculation of instantaneous amplitudes using the Hilbert transform. To ensure the stability of estimates of the waveforms of the EMD decomposition, 1000 independent additive realizations of white noise of limited amplitude were averaged before the Hilbert transform. Using a parametric model of the intensities of point processes, we analyze the connections between the instants of sequences of times of the largest local maxima of instantaneous amplitudes averaged over the number of clusters and the times of earthquakes in the vicinity of the Japan with minimum magnitude thresholds of 5.5 for the time interval 2012-2023. It is shown that part of the intensity of the sequence of times of seismic events, due to the influence of the times of the most expressive local extrema of instantaneous amplitudes, significantly exceeds the reverse influence.

Photocatalytic processes offer promising solutions for environmental remediation and clean energy production, yet their efficiency under visible light remains a significant challenge. Here, we report a novel silver-graphene (Ag-G) modified TiO2 (Ag-G-TiO2) nanocomposite photocatalyst that demonstrates remarkably enhanced photocatalytic activity for both dye wastewater degradation and hydrogen production under visible and UV light irradiation. Through comprehensive characterization and performance analysis, we reveal that the Ag-G modification narrows the TiO2 bandgap from 3.12 eV to 1.79 eV, enabling efficient visible light absorption. The nanocomposite achieves a peak hydrogen production rate of 191 μmolesg-1h-1 in deionized water dye solution under visible light, significantly outperforming unmodified TiO2. Intriguingly, we observe an inverse relationship between dye degradation efficiency and hydrogen production rates in dye solutions with tap water versus deionized water, highlighting the critical role of water composition in photocatalytic processes. Our findings demonstrate sustained hydrogen production under visible light and rapid initial rates under UV irradiation, underscoring the versatility of Ag-G-TiO2 catalyst. This work not only advances our understanding of fundamental photocatalytic mechanisms but also presents a promising material for solar-driven environmental and energy applications, potentially contributing to the global transition towards sustainable technologies.

Nanomaterials have shown significant promise for enhancing the performance of composite materials and increasing their functionality for various industrial applications. This review explores the unique properties of nanomaterials, particularly carbon-based nanomaterials, and provides key findings in utilizing them to enhance composite performance. It highlights specific nano-based composite materials and their significant potential in advancing the field of nanocomposites. Challenges associated with nanocomposite production and utilization are also discussed, along with possible solutions to address them. Finally, the study provides recommendations for continued research and innovation in nanocomposites to fully unlock the benefits of these advanced materials for broader future applications.

Background: The NOL system (PMD-200™ Nociception Monitor; Medasense Ltd, Israel) is used for real-time detection of physiological nociception in anesthetized patients by assessing varia-bles indicative of sympathetic activity, such as photoplethysmography, skin conductance, pe-ripheral temperature, and accelerometry, which are quantified into a "NOL" index. This index is more sensitive than traditional clinical parameters in estimating pain and stress responses. While its effectiveness in general anesthesia is well-documented, its efficacy in epidural anes-thesia needs investigation. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed NOL index dynamics compared to conventional pa-rameters after epidural administration of a local anesthetic during abdominal surgeries. After Ethics Committee approval and DRKS registration, 119 NOL measurements were retrospectively analyzed following thoracic epidural catheter administration. NOL values were assessed at 0, 1, 3, and 5 minutes post-application and compared to heart rate, blood pressure, and bispectral in-dex dynamics. Results: This studys showed a significant decrease in NOL values post-local anesthetic admin-istration, unlike classical clinical parameters. Higher doses of local anesthetics led to a signifi-cant, dose-dependent decrease in NOL index. Conclusions: This study is the first to demonstrate the NOL-Index's effectiveness in assessing nociceptive effects post-epidural administration, showing its superiority over conventional pa-rameters and sensitivity to dose variations.

Smith-Magenis syndrome is a complex neurobehavioral genetic disorder. The spectrum of SMS phenotype is broad but commonly includes craniofacial, neurobehavioral, and otolaryngologic features. While the etiology of SMS is commonly attributed to one copy interstitial deletion in the 17p11.2 region (90-95% of cases), variants identified by sequence analysis in RAI1 have also been reported in 5-10% of cases. The phenotypic spectrum of patients with RAI1 sequence alterations is not clear. In this study, we report a 9-year-old male with global cognitive and psychomotor developmental delay, musculoskeletal and cardiovascular abnormalities, and dysmorphic craniofacial features. Whole genome quad analysis of the proband, unaffected parent, and unaffected brother identified a novel de novo RAI1:c.2736delC variant. This is the first report of this variant in the literature. This report also highlights the details of the genome analysis and this patient's phenotypic spectrum.

Obesity is a chronic disease that is rapidly increasing in prevalence and affects more than 600 million adults worldwide, and this figure is estimated to increase by at least double by 2030. In the United States, more than one-third of the adult population is either overweight or obese. The global obesity epidemic is a major risk factor for the development of life-threatening arrhythmias occurring in patients with long QT, particularly in conditions where multiple heart-rate-corrected QT-interval-prolonging mechanisms are simultaneously present. In obesity, excess dietary fat in adipose tissue stimulates the release of immunomodulatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-6, leading to a state of chronic inflammation in patients. Over the last decade, increasing evidence has been found to support IL-6 signaling as a powerful predictor of the severity of heart diseases and increased risk for ventricular arrhythmias. IL-6’s pro-inflammatory effects are mediated via transsignaling and may represent a novel arrhythmogenic risk factor in obese hearts. The first selective inhibitor of IL-6 trans-signaling, olamkicept, has shown encouraging results in phase II clinical studies for inflammatory bowel disease. Nevertheless, the connection between IL-6 trans-signaling and obesity-linked ventricular arrhythmias remains unexplored. Therefore, understanding how IL6 trans-signaling elicits a cellular pro-arrhythmic phenotype and its use as an anti-arrhythmic target in a model of obesity remain unmet clinical needs.

Tooth extraction techniques have been refined over the years in order to be less traumatic and better preserve alveolar bone. A recently introduced extraction method involves the use of the Magnetic Mallet®, which allows the clinician to be more precise, faster and less traumatic. The aim of the present study was to clinically evaluate whether extractions performed by means of the Magnetic Mallet® can lead to less bucco-lingual bone resorption. Between February 2023 and June 2023, 9 patients with an average age of 62 years underwent 29 extractions using the Magnetic Mallet®. Sectoral CBCTs were performed in order to measure bucco-lingual bone thickness at time 0 (T0, before extraction) and 3 months after extraction (T3M). All the extractions were performed by 2 different expert operators using exclusively the magnetic mallet. For statistical analysis, a two-sample t-test was performed between the measurements taken at T0 and those taken at T3M in the 29 dental elements and between the difference in bone loss among the 2 different clinicians. 22 teeth were extracted in the upper jaw and 7 in the lower jaw. The average degree of mobility was 1. The average degree of force impressed by the instrument to extract the teeth was 2, while the average frequency of blows administered was 7. The average time taken for the extractions was 3½ minutes. After 4 months, the mean bucco-lingual bone resorption was 1.54 mm (SD: +-). The difference of bucco-lingual bone thickness between T0 and T3 was significant at an alpha significance level of 0.01. No difference were found in bone resorption based on the clinician. The use of the Magnetic Mallet® during tooth extraction led to less bucco-lingual bone resorption in the 3 months following dental extraction, compared to the traditional use of manual hammers, chisels and levers.

The Fading Affect Bias (FAB) occurs in autobiographical memory when unpleasant emotions fade faster than pleasant emotions and the phenomenon appears to be a form of emotion regulation. As emotion regulation is positively related to problem-solving, the current study examined FAB in the context of problem-solving. In-person and online studies asked participants to provide basic demographics, describe their problem-solving abilities, and rate various healthy and unhealthy variables including emotional intelligence and positive problem-solving attitudes. Participants also completed an autobiographical event memory form for which they recalled and described 2 pleasant and 2 unpleasant problem-solving and non-problem-solving events and rated the initial and current affect and rehearsals for those events. We found a robust FAB effect that was larger for problem-solving events than for non-problem-solving events in Study 1 but not in Study 2. We also found that FAB was positively related to healthy variables, such as grit, and negatively related to unhealthy variables, such as depression. Moreover, many of these negative relations were inverted at high levels of positive problem-solving attitudes, and these complex interactions were partially mediated by talking rehearsals and thinking rehearsals.

Lignocellulosic fungi are highly versatile organisms with valuable applications in bioremediation processes, including the biodegradation of agro-industrial effluents. In this work, the use of a native strain of the white-rot fungus, Pycnoporus aff. sanguineus, was studied for its use in the bioremediation of the sugar industry waste called vinasse, originating from the San Martín del Tabacal Sugar Mill, located in the north of the Salta province, Argentina. We studied under controlled laboratory conditions the bioremediation process of 3 concentrations of vinasse (5, 10, and 25% in distilled water) with a native isolated strain. The results showed biomass growth at all three tested concentrations, with a maximum at the highest vinasse concentration (25%), while the percentages of color and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal indicated that the most efficient treatment was with 10% vinasse. The results obtained are promising for the treatment of effluents from the sugar industry using white-rot fungi considering the valuable subproducts of Pycnoporus spp. biomass.

Medication non-adherence remains a substantial obstacle in asthma care, prompting the exploration of novel therapeutic modalities that prioritize rapid symptom relief, anti-inflammatory activity and facilitate patients’ compliance. This task is well served by a new form of therapy - inhaled triple-combination medications ICS/LABA/LAMA (inhaled glucocorticosteroid/long-acting beta2-agonist/long-acting muscarinic antagonist). The integration of three medications within a singular inhalation device culminates in the reduction of the effective dose of the principal therapeutic agent for asthma management, namely, ICS. This consolidation yields a dual benefit of minimizing the likelihood of adverse effects typically linked with ICS while concurrently optimizing bronchodilator efficacy. The accumulated evidence suggests that adding LAMA to a medium- or high-dose ICS/LABA results in a decrease of asthma exacerbations compared to medium- or high-dose ICS/LABA alone, accompanied by sustained enhancements in lung function parameters. We propose in adult patients experiencing suboptimal asthma control despite medium/high-dose ICS/LABA treatment - regardless of adherence to GINA-recommended strategies, such as MART therapy as a first-line approach or alternative second-line strategies - the preferred course for intensifying asthma therapy involves the addition of a LAMA, ideally in the form of SITT.

Schizophrenia is a complex mental disorder influenced by genetic and environmental factors, including diet. Oxidative stress and inflammation play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Nutritional deficiencies, such as lack of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and B vitamins, during prenatal and postnatal periods can nega-tively impact neurodevelopment and increase the risk of schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia show imbalances in antioxidant enzymes such as: glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and reduced levels of antioxidants (vitamin E, vitamin C), leading to increased oxidative stress markers such as malondialdehyde (MDA). Cytokine-mediated inflammation, microglial activation, and gut dysbiosis are associated with schizophrenia onset and symptom severity. There is no clear and universally accepted diet for the treatment of schizophrenia, which is considered the most popular. However, various diets and nutritional methods are being researched and applied to alleviate the symptoms of schizophrenia and improve the general health of patients, including the mediterranean diet, ketogenic diet, gluten-free diet and DASH diet. A healthy diet rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant nutrients can help manage schizophrenia by reducing oxidative stress, preventing complications, and improving quality of life. Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D and B vitamins are par-ticularly important for brain development and function. In this review we will focus on the influence of diet on schizophrenia. Additional research is needed to develop per-sonalized dietary recommendations for patients with schizophrenia.

In this paper, a generic fractional derivative is defined as a set of the linear operators left-inverse to the Riemann-Liouville fractional integral. Then the theory of the left-invertible operators developed by Przeworska-Rolewicz is applied for derivation of its properties. In particular, we characterize its domain, null-space, and projector operator, establish the interrelations between its different realisations, and present a generalized fractional Taylor formula involving the generic fractional derivative. Then we consider the fractional relaxation equation containing the generic fractional derivative, derive a closed form formula for its unique solution, and study its complete monotonicity.

Delaying the onset of laminar-turbulent transition is an attractive method in reducing skin friction drag, especially on streamlined bodies where Tollmien-Schlichting instabilities are the dominating mechanism for transition. Miniature vortex generators (MVGs) offer an effective approach to attenuate these instabilities by generating counter-rotating vortex pairs. They are placed in pairs within an array and resemble small winglet-type elements. The conventional methodology involves adjusting MVG parameters and conducting computationally expensive DNS and/or downstream stability analyses to assess their effectiveness. However, analyzing the vortex parameters of MVG-generated vortices can potentially guide a more targeted approach in modifying MVG parameters and identifying critical factors for transition delay. Therefore, this study investigates changes in three primary MVG parameters, namely inner distance, periodicity and height, and utilizes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis to create a dataset that examines the characteristics of the generated counter-rotating vortex pairs and their potential in drag reduction. The objective is to establish correlations among these parameters and their influence on delaying transition.

In this work, we propose an in-house simulation tool designed for the analysis and optimization of bifacial photovoltaic (PV) modules, which are currently under the spotlight in the renewable energy scenario. The tool is conceived to support researchers and engineers by providing fast and accurate predictions of the PV module yield under various operating and environmental conditions. For a chosen geographical site, the impact of module orientation, tilt, albedo, sky conditions, ambient temperature, and so on, can be effortlessly determined. In case of nonuniformity across the cells dictated by localized architectural shading, dirt, bird drops, defects, a circuit-based cell-level approach can be activated to compute the module production. An extensive simulation campaign is performed by assuming that the panels are installed in Naples without loss of generality. Results are shown to give detailed insights into the performance of bifacial modules, thus providing unambiguous guidelines for their correct installation. Further analyses are conducted to demonstrate the tool capability to quantify the detrimental influence of a poorly-irradiated cell on the backside, as well as of cracked cells.

The presenting pattern of celiac disease (CD) at diagnosis in children has changed over time, with a reduction of malabsorption-related phenotypes and an increase in regular or even excessive growth patterns. We retrospectively reviewed the body mass index (BMI) distribution of all patients with a new diagnosis of CD made in a Pediatric Gastroenterology Outpatient Clinic in 1990-2011, compared to those diagnosed in 2012-2022, according to their clinical and serological characteristics. The 1990-2011 and 2012-2022 cohorts included 250 (M:F=90:160, mean age 7.3±6.1 years) and 243 children (M:F=81:162, mean age 7.1±3.7 years, NS), respectively. The prevalence of underweight (UW) was higher in the 1990-2011 cohort (61/250, 24.4% in 1990-2011 vs. 31/243, 12.7% in 2012-2022, p=0.0001), whereas that of overweight (OW) and obese (OB) subjects was significantly higher in 2012-2022 (10/250, 4% in 1990-2011 vs. 24/243, 9.9% in 2012-2022, p=0.012, and 1/250, 0.4% in 1990-2011 vs 8/243, 3.3% in 2012-2022, p=0.018, respectively). In both cohorts, gastrointestinal symptoms were more frequent in OW/OB than in UW children (6/11, 54.5% vs. 5/61, 8.2% in 1990-2011, p<0.0001, and 24/32, 75% vs. 10/31, 32.3%, p<0.0001 in 2012-2022) and the extent of anti-transglutaminase antibodies increase was similar in OW/OB and UW subjects. The prevalence of children with a normal or even high BMI at CD diagnosis has increased in the past three decades, therefore CD should be suspected regardless of the BMI status.

In order to reduce the environmental impact of energy enterprises, it is important to promptly identify cases of possible changes in the quality of wastewater generated at power plants, that is cases of exceeding the maximum permissible concentrations of pollutants in wastewater. The goal of the method for detecting complex anomalies in multidimensional time series obtained from smart energy station’s sensor channels is to increase the accuracy of detecting pollution levels in industrial wastewater. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were solved: methods for detecting time series anomalies were analyzed, the method for detecting complex anomalies was developed, software implementation of the algorithm was carried out and experiments were conducted. The developed method is proposed to be used in an smart energy monitoring system.

In electromagnetic ultrasonic testing, it is difficult to recognize small-size bottom cracks by time of flight (ToF), and the lift-off fluctuation of the probe affects the accuracy and consistency of the inspection results. In order to overcome the difficulty, a novel EMAT (electromagnetic acoustic transducer)-PEC (pulse eddy current) composite sensor is designed. We use amplitude of bottom echo recorded by EMAT to identify the tiny bottom crack as well as the amplitude of PEC signals picked up by the integrated symmetric coils to measure the average lift-off of the probe in real time. Firstly, the effects of lift-off and bottom cracks on amplitude of bottom echo are distinguished combining the theoretical analysis and finite element method (FEM). And then an amplitude correction method based on the fusion of EMAT and PEC signals is proposed to reduce the impact of lift-off on the defect signal. The experimental results demonstrate that the designed composite sensor can effectively detect the bottom crack as small as 0.1mm* 0.3mm. The signal fusion method can accurately correct the amplitude of defect signal and the relative error is less than ±8%.

Physical fitness is a fundamental indicator of health, leading to increased interest in fitness activ-ities under professional guidance. Fitness instructors play an essential role, requiring both tech-nical and interpersonal skills. Their image significantly influences participants perceptions and satisfaction. The objective of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis between Romania and Portugal regarding the quality of services offered within group fitness classes, focusing on instructors. It involved 133 group fitness instructors and 210 participants from Romania and Portugal. An adaptation of the Szumilewicz et al. (2008) questionnaire was used to assess the importance of the different attributes of fitness instructor image. Statistical analyses included de-scriptive statistics, t-tests, and effect size to compare perceptions between countries and groups. Romanian instructors and participants generally attributed higher importance to the fitness in-structor’s image compared to their Portuguese counterparts. Significant differences were found in attributes like physical fitness, technical execution and communication. Instructors tented to overestimate the importance of their image compared to participants. The fitness instructor image is crucial in determining participant satisfaction and perceptions of service quality. This study highlights the need for a balanced approach in instructor training, emphasizing both technical proficiency and interpersonal skills tailored to cultural contexts.

The dried leaves of Lannea velutina A.Rich. and Sorindeia juglandifolia (A.Rich.) Planch. ex Oliv. are commonly used in traditional medicine across West Africa to treat inflammatory conditions. The present study aimed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of these plants' standardized hydroethanolic (70%) extracts and investigate the potential mechanisms of action based on their antioxidant activity. The induced paw edema model in rats was used to evaluate anti-inflammatory activity, while the DPPH, molybdic acid and ferric-reducing antioxidant power methods were used to assess antioxidant activity. Quantification of the major secondary metabolites classes was done by colorimetry, and the corresponding chemical fingerprint was established by LC-UV/DAD-ESI/MS for extract standardization. The results showed that the Lannea velutina extract had the highest inhibition of paw volume increase at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg (46.67% and 48.35%), while the Sorindeia juglandifolia extract showed the highest inhibition at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg (39.15% and 40.93%). Both extracts also showed antioxidant activity. Phenolic derivatives were considered as the main classes of secondary metabolites present in the extracts, with L. velutina having 350.1±20.6 mg GAE/g DE and S. juglandifolia having 463.4±29.4 mg GAE/g DE. Ten phenolic marker compounds were identified in L. velutina and six in S. juglandifolia extracts. The major constituents of L. velutina were identified as myricetin-3-O-glucuronide, quercetin-3-O-glucuronide, catechin, and gallic acid, while those of S. juglandifolia were gallic acid, isoquercitrin, and ethylgallate. The study confirms the anti-inflammatory activity of L. velutina and S. juglandifolia leaves, making them potential targets for producing anti-inflammatory herbal medicines standardized concerning their chemical composition and biological activity.

Lanthanum (La(III)) is one of the high-demand rare earth elements with applications in various products. However, La(III) in mining waste streams and electronic waste also poses environmental and health concerns. Therefore, recovery of La(III) in the waste is needed. In the present study, adsorption of La(III) with Dowex 50W-X8, Amberchrom50WX4, Amberlyst 15, and Amberchrom 50WX2 was evaluated, using a shaker water bath. Dowex 50W-X8 was found to be the best adsorbent and used to investigate the effect of the shaker speed (RPM=50-150), adsorbent dosage (1.0-4.0 g), pH (2.0-7.0), and temperature (20-40oC) on adsorption. La(III) adsorption was found to increase with the shaker speed, as expected. On the other hand, adsorption capacity decreased with the adsorbent amount. Also, the highest La(III) adsorption was observed at pH = 6.0. La(III) percentage removal didn’t vary significantly with temperature from 20 oC -40oC. However, the first-order kinetic rate constant decreased moderately with increases in temperature. Adsorption of La(III) by Dowex 50-X8 followed the Freundlich isotherm model better than the Langmuir model. In addition, adsorption kinetics was represented well by the first-order kinetic model. Moreover, enthalpy and Gibbs free energy changes were found to be negative, indicating an exothermic and thermodynamically favourable adsorption process.

Runway Safety Assistant Foreseeing Excursions (RUN.S.A.F.E.) is a complete embedded system solution that predicts a potential runway overrun of a civil aviation aircraft, during the Take off and Landing. This work examines the feasibility of such a system, through the algorithms and computations that predict the overruns. The system executes both static and dynamic calculations, the former being dependent, while the latter independent to the user’s inputs. Both outcomes and the runway’s length continuously estimate in real time if the process will end up in an overrun. All inputs are specifically selected, to either be available to the pilots, or to be retrieved from the existing avionics systems of the cockpit. A performance evaluation is conducted on both static and dynamic calculations, and metrics unveil the accuracy of the predictions and the time needed to converge to a reliable result. The solution is adapted for a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with CFM56-7B engines, yet the calculations also apply for similar aicrafts, equipped with a tricycle Landing gear and turbofan engines, namely the whole Boeing 737 family, the Airbus A320 family etc.. The system is aligned with current standards and certification specifications, where applicable.

Digitized counter-diabatic (CD) optimization algorithms have been proposed and extensively studied to enhance performance in quantum computing by accelerating adiabatic processes while minimizing energy transitions. While adding approximate counter-diabatic terms can initially introduce adiabatic errors that decrease over time, Trotter errors from decomposition approximation persist. On the other hand, increasing the high-order nested commutators for CD terms may improve adiabatic errors but could also introduce additional Trotter errors. In this article, we examine the two-qubit model to explore the interplay between approximate CD, adiabatic errors, Trotter errors, coefficients and commutators. Through these analysis, we aim to gain insights into optimizing these factors for better fidelity, shallower circuit depth, and reduced gate number in near-term gate-based quantum computing.

Mitral valve disease is a common heart disease in dogs. The aim of this study was to describe the cases of dogs who underwent mitral valve repair using a v-clamp device and to provide their long-term follow-up data on cardiac function after mitral valve repair. Four dogs with mitral valve regurgitation who experienced coughing and dyspnea underwent surgical mitral valve repair between December 2023 and June 2024. The patients were evaluated by transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography. Echocardiography revealed mitral valve leaflet regurgitation. Mitral valve repair was performed under general anesthesia using a v-clamp device introduced through an introducer wire guide. Echocardiography was conducted at baseline and the 6-month follow-up. Blood analysis results after surgical repair were normal. Follow-up echocardiography revealed no complications related to the procedure, with all dogs demonstrating improved respiratory signs and quality of life after repair. No adverse reactions were reported after surgery. A v-clamp device was used to repair mitral valve regurgitation in four dogs. Mitral valve repair using a v-clamp device is another treatment option for mitral valve disease in dogs.

Iron supplementation is associated with side effects and thus reduces the intake compliance. Because it has fewer side effects, a recent trial recommended low-iron micronutrient powder (MNP) for the prevention of anemia in Bangladeshi children exposed to a high concentration of iron from drinking groundwater. In the present study, we hypothesize that the low-iron MNP is a potential intervention to prevent childhood anemia in the low groundwater-iron settings in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Bangladesh with children aged 2-5 years who drank groundwater containing a low level of iron (0-&lt;2 mg/L).The combined intake of iron was calculated from the key sources--diet, groundwater and MNPs. The intakes of iron were compared against the standard reference intake. The children’s hemoglobin was measured using a photometer. Combined intake of iron from dietary, groundwater and low-iron MNP in children was 5.8±2.0 and 6.9±2.5 mg/day comprising 193% and 169% of the Estimated Average Requirement in the 2-3 year-old and 4-5 year-old subgroups, respectively. Combined intake of bioavailable iron from dietary and groundwater sources was 0.42±0.023 and 0.22±0.019 mg/day in children exposed to groundwater concentration 0.8-&lt;2.0 mg/L and 0.0-&lt;0.8 mg/L respectively (p&lt;0.001). The mean concentration of hemoglobin in the respective groups was 12.17±0.94 mg/dl and 11.91±0.91 mg/dl (p=0.30). The combined intake of iron from dietary and groundwater sources was associated with maintenance of hemoglobin concentration at the non-anemic level in most of the children. The finding highlights the potential of low-iron MNP in controlling childhood anemia in this setting.

Background: Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging tool in the management of anxiety, one of the most disturbing symptoms of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), which often leads to relapse. Still, patients with Alcohol Use Disorder frequently have a history of Acute Symptomatic Seizures, and they are subsequently excluded from studies using VR because of the hypothesized fear of inducing photosensitive seizures. The first part of this narrative review explores the pathophysiological mechanisms of seizures associated with AUD, specifically acute symptomatic seizures. In contrast, the second part explores virtual reality’s safe use in seizure-prone individuals, highlighting that the current state-of-the-art is based on a biased per-ception and old epidemiological data from studies conducted on photosensitive seizures in the late 90s. VR exposure has yet to be reported as triggering seizures within known pharmacovigilance databases. Significance: The implications weigh heavily on VR research currently associated with this significant adverse event. Further studies are necessary to address the risk of seizures triggered by VR in patients predisposed to developing seizures, like alcohol use disorder patients with a history of acute symptomatic seizures. Such research is essential to ensure that the potential benefits of Virtual Reality as a tool for managing anxiety in individuals with alcohol use disorder and acute symptomatic seizures are not unduly restricted. Furthermore, AUD can also serve as an intervention model feasible to de-bias attitudes toward the current lack of evidence base concerning the significant adverse events of VR-induced seizures, therefore facilitating the clinical implementation of this unharnessed digital treatment interface.

(1) Background: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) accounts for 70% of dementia cases and with no effective pharmacological treatments, new rehabilitation methods are needed. Motor activities and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have shown promise in stabilizing and enhancing cognitive functions. Objective: We want to investigate the effects of combined motor or cognitive activity with tDCS on cognitive functions in AD patients. (2) Methods: Patients with mild or moderate AD were randomized into four groups: motor activity or cognitive activity associated with anodic or sham tDCS (MotA, MotS, CogA, CogS). They received two weeks of treatment (45 minutes, 5 days/week), with the first 15 minutes using 2mA tDCS on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Cognitive assessments were conducted pre-treatment (T0), post-treatment (T1), and one week after (T2). (3) Results: Twenty patients were included. Mann-Whitney test showed significant improvements in anodic groups (MotA+CogA) in the global cognitive status (p=.042), in selective attention (p=.012), and sustained attention (p=.012) at T1, but not at T2. In addition, MotA improved in the Picture Recognition Test (p=.027) and in sustained attention (p=.047) at T2. (4) Conclusion: Combined motor or cognitive activity with anodic tDCS could slow cognitive decline in AD patients, with notable improvements in global cognitive state and attention at T1.

This review details the extraction, characterization and utilization of seaweed-derived biopolymers for future packaging applications. The review is contextualized within the broader scope of the challenge of plastic pollution and the current urgent need for more sustainable packaging materials. Macroalgae (or seaweed) has been highlighted as a promising source of biopolymers, most commonly sodium alginate, agar and carrageenan, for reasons such as a rapid growth rate and decreased environmental impact when compared to terrestrial plant-life. Extraction methods detailed include the traditional solvent-based extraction to more sustainable developments such as ultrasound assisted extraction, microwave assisted extraction and bead milling. The review additionally presents the characterization techniques most pertinent in determining the applicability of these biopolymers in packaging applications. Properties of key importance to the development of sustainable packaging materials such as thermal properties, mechanical strength, barrier properties and biodegradability are highlighted in comparison to conventional petroleum-based plastics. This review concludes by realistically identifying the challenges faced by implementing seaweed-based biopolymers into packaging structures, such as cost-effectiveness, scalability, performance while suggesting future directions to mitigate these issues and improve the commercial viability of these materials for the packaging industry.

Gigantism in theropods represents one of the most intriguing phenomena in dinosaur evolution, showcasing extreme adaptations in body size and ecological roles. This literature review focuses on Giganotosaurus carolinii, one of the largest known theropods to have ever existed, to explore its unique aspects of gigantism and the subsequent ecological impacts. By analyzing features such as its skeletal morphology, comparative anatomy, and paleoenvironmental data, we assess the evolutionary pressures and biological constraints that shaped the gigantism observed in Giganotosaurus. We discover that the species exhibited a combination of physiological and ecological adaptations that allowed it to thrive as an apex predator in its Cretaceous environment. We will also further examine the implications of its size on prey dynamics, competition with other large theropods, and the overall ecosystem structure. Through a thorough, multidisciplinary approach, this research enhances our understanding of how gigantism influenced theropod behavior, interspecies interactions, and the broader paleoecological landscape.

The current study aimed to examine the relationship between sociodemographic variables (i.e., sex, age, marital status, educational level, socioeconomic status, and working mode) and physical activity levels declared by Chilean adults. The sample comprised 483 Chilean adults, 159 men (32.9%), and 324 women (67.1%) aged from 18 to 69 years old (36.5±12.0). The participants completed an ad-hoc sociodemographic online survey that included questions about characteristics of participants such as sex, age, educational level, household income, marital status, and working mode. Vigorous, moderate, and walking activities were measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF), a self-administered questionnaire. Results: Men declared significantly higher vigorous and moderated physical activity than women. People aged 18 to 25, single or unmarried, and with the lowest household income, showed significantly higher scores in vigorous physical activity than those aged 26 to 45, cohabiting with a partner or married, and middle household income, respectively. Regarding working mode, people working on their job site said walking more than people not working, working on hybrid, and online mode. Our findings suggest that promoting strategies that increase physical activity during the pandemic is necessary to avoid health problems.

Nowadays and in the web era, there is a huge amount of information available due to automatically and easily generated websites. This information has many shared opinions from people toward different entities. Over the last decade there was a significant huge interest to determine the sentiment of any type of text especially on twitter. Twitter provides unstructured text that has many misspelling words, slang words and shortened forms. More complexity and challenges have come to the sentiment analysis researchers in the context of twitter. In this paper we conducted a literature review of the recent research of Twitter sentiment analysis on different languages. After that, we investigated challenges related to twitter sentiment analysis of Arabic language. Then we found a new solution for Sentiment analysis of Arabic twitter. So, we designed the main component of the proposed system and presented its algorithm. Finally, we performed many experiments under two kinds of datasets. The system achieves highest accuracy and shows many important results..

The Axillary Seabream Pagellus acarne is of economic importance for recreational and commercial fisheries in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, but a decline in total landings has been observed and raised some concern. Although biological information on the species has been provided for the Atlantic and Mediterranean, in the Portuguese continental slope data is restricted to the southern part of the country, which points to the relevance of the present work. A total of 520 individuals, between 7.8 cm and 39.9 cm TL, were monthly collected from September 2020 to August 2022 from commercial landings of fishing vessels operating off mainland Portugal, and used to study age and growth, the reproductive strategy and the annual sexual cycle. Age varied between 0 years (7.8 cm TL) and 15 years (34.2 cm TL) and the von Bertalanffy growth parameters were estimated from whole-otolith readings (L∞ = 35.2 cm, k = 0.133 yr–1 and t 0 = –2.78 yr). Pagellus acarne proved to be a protandric hermaphrodite species with males prevailing until 28.0 cm TL and females between 28.0 cm and 34.0 cm TL with a brief sex change phase. Females presented asynchronous oocyte development with a batch spawning pattern. The spawning season occurred from April to October with a spawning peak between June and August aas shown by histological analysis of the gonads and high levels of GSI during the period.

In the periodic table of the elements, ruthenium is ideally placed, right in the middle, just above iron. And like iron, it possesses several oxidation states, with +2 and +3 being the most common. Accordingly, ruthenium chemistry is extremely rich and well developed, ruthenium complexes show excellent catalytic aptitude, tremendous redox capacity, and intriguing biological activity. However, in the design of sensors, the use of ruthenium complexes remains scarce, despite valuable electro- and photochemical properties. Therefore, there is an opportunity here, and ruthenium-based complexes might become one day, key players in sensing technology. Starting ourselves a new research project with ruthenium-based sensors, writing this review was essential to see the current state of research in the field, to identify opportunities, and to have an overview of state-of-the-art examples.

Generative adversarial networks (GANs) have become a recent and rapidly developing research topic in Machine Learning. Since their inception in 2014, a significant number of variants have been proposed to address various topics across many fields, and has particularly excelled not only in image and language processing, but also in the medical and data science domains. In this paper, we aim to highlight the significance and advance that these GAN models can introduce in the field of Business Economics, where they have yet to be fully developed. To this end, a review of the literature of GANs is presented in general together with a more specific review in the field of Business Economics wherein only a few papers can be found. Furthermore, the most relevant papers are analysed in order to provide an approach the opportunity to research into GANs in the field of Business Economics.

Proteomics is the study of cellular proteome by investigating how different proteins interact with each other and the roles they play in the organism. For mRNA expression levels do not always correlate well with protein expression levels, and the study of mRNA does not consider protein posttranslational modifications (PTMs), complex formation and localization; all of which are key to protein function. Quantitative proteomics uses mass spectrometry to identify and quantify proteins so as to find differentially expressed proteins under different condition. This allows us to gain biological insights under stress or other pathological conditions. posttranslational modifications, such as lysine acetylation, succinylation and lactylation, occur after protein biosynthesis and play vital roles in protein activity and cell physiology regulation. Here we present the mass spectrometry analysis in detail to unveil protein acylase and deacylase’ roles in metabolic regulation based on PTMomics lysine acetylome and suincylome.

Abstract. Background: Injury of the spinal cord causes motor and sensory dysfunction, and pathological reflexes, leading to paraplegia or tetraplegia. The sequelae of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a significant burden and impact on healthcare systems. Despite constant progress in medicine, traumatic SCI still remains irreversible. Till now, no satisfying treatment that can enable neuronal regeneration and recovery of function at the damaged level has been found. Hundreds of experiments have been conducted on various possibilities of influencing spinal regeneration, some of them have yielded promising results, but unfortunately, the successes obtained in experimental animals have not translated into humans. Methods: This narrative review article presents the application of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (eSWT) in Spinal Cord Injury. The article has been divided into parts: 1. Use of extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy for regeneration of the spinal cord after traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. 2. Application of extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy in spasticity after Spinal Cord Injury. In both cases, the hypotheses of possible mechanisms of action will be described. Results and conclusions: A small number of clinical trials have demonstrated the potential of eSWT to influence the regeneration of the spine, as an innovative, safe, and cost-effective treatment option for patients with SCI. Some reports have shown that eSWT can improve spasticity, walking ability, urological function, quality of life, and independence in daily life.

Quality of life (QoL) focuses on a person’s ability to live a fulfilling life. In the elderly population, it helps in determining successful aging. Because of a scarcity of information regarding predictors of QoL in the elderly population in developing countries, this study was undertaken to assess the overall QoL and its predictors in the elderly population in an urban setting of Bangladesh. In this cross-sectional study, 275 participants were enrolled by systematic sampling at the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Data were collected by using a pretested semi-structured standard questionnaire for QoL (OPQOL-35). Pearson’s correlation was used to assess the association between QoL and sociodemographic factors. The Chi-square test was done for assessing the statistical significance between categorical variables. Multivariate linear regression was conducted to identify predictors of QoL, after controlling for potential confounders. The median age of the participants (n = 275) was 65 years (range, 60 to 85; 25th and 75th percentile, 60 and 68, respectively). The majority (78%) of them were married and 20% were widowed or divorced. The median score of QoL was 113 (25th and 75th percentile, 101 and 124, respectively). Most of the participants had a very poor (bad as can be) or poor (bad) QoL. Only 7.3% were observed to have “good” QoL (scores 140 or more). Females had significantly poorer QoL scores compared to males (p = 0.01). Educational status, marital status, body mass index and sleep duration significantly predicted QoL in a multiple regression analysis. In conclusion, the QoL of the elderly individuals in Bangladesh was very poor or poor. Future research should focus on service-oriented interventions, especially targeting women. Counseling of elderly people for enhancing their quality of life may include improving sleep patterns, healthy diets, regular exercise, and caring for their mental health.

This study focuses on the creation and implementation of a platform to improve personal financial management for scholarship students of the National Program of Scholarships and Educational Credit (Pronabec) in Peru. Using a mixed methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative techniques, the effectiveness and user satisfaction with the platform were evaluated. The results indicated that 50\% of users found the tool useful, 55\% considered it easy to use, 70\% reported a positive impact on their personal budget planning, and 85\% expressed high overall satisfaction. In addition to providing tools for financial recording and analysis, the platform promotes financial education among its users, significantly contributing to improving their financial management skills.

The integration of generative AI (GAI) into the financial sector has brought about significant advancements, offering new solutions for various financial tasks. This review paper provides a comprehensive examination of recent trends and developments at the intersection of GAI and finance. By utilizing an advanced topic modeling method, BERTopic, we systematically categorize and analyze existing research to uncover predominant themes and emerging areas of interest. Our findings reveal the transformative impact of finance-specific large language models (LLMs), the innovative use of generative adversarial networks (GANs) in synthetic financial data generation, and the pressing necessity of a new regulatory framework to govern the use of GAI in the finance sector. This paper aims to provide researchers and practitioners with a structured overview of the current landscape of GAI in finance, offering insights into both the opportunities and challenges presented by these advanced technologies.

The advent of 5G technology represents a transformative leap in the realms of retail marketing and supply chain operations, offering unprecedented enhancements and posing unique challenges. This study explores the multifaceted impacts of 5G, focusing on its influence on customer experiences, operational efficiency, and supply chain management. The integration of 5G enables advanced technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), significantly enhancing the interactivity and personalization of the shopping experience. Real-time data collection and analysis, facilitated by 5G, allow for more precise inventory management and optimized store operations, leading to improved customer satisfaction and reduced operational costs. In the supply chain domain, 5G technology offers enhanced visibility and control through real-time tracking and environmental monitoring, which improves logistics efficiency and product quality management. Despite these advancements, the adoption of 5G technology involves considerable challenges, including high infrastructure costs, data security concerns, and global disparities in technology deployment. Businesses must navigate these obstacles while leveraging the benefits of 5G to achieve competitive advantage. The study also highlights the role of 5G in integrating with other advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, to drive further innovation. Additionally, 5G supports sustainability efforts by optimizing energy use and reducing waste. Overall, the successful implementation of 5G requires strategic investment and adaptability, but it holds the potential to revolutionize retail and supply chain operations, enhancing efficiency, customer engagement, and sustainability in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

This paper proposes a theoretical silicon dioxide (SiO2) solar cell based dielectric metamaterial unit surface consisting of zinc oxide (ZnO) periodic nanorods of bandgap energy of 2.2-2.4eV. It evaluates the absorptive efficiency of the film using S-parameter and Z-parameter testing of magnitude, return/insertion loss, and impedance matching with respect to a frequency band of 0.0014-10.5THz. Terahertz applications of the result are considered due to potential scope for infrared (IR) and microwave (MW) spectral selectivity with ZnO. Calculations of input n-impedance and loss tangents are also presented with emphasis on the exhibition of antireflection to gauge the performance of the thin-film meta-surface in tandem solar cells. The data for the reflectance parameters of this structure, primarily the S11 loss and impedance matching (dB/dB10) are compared to those of prior investigations with different metamaterial coatings on SiO2 solar photovoltaic cells, as well as ZnO nanorods used in photovoltaic applications, to ascertain the cylindrical meta-surface structure with the preset thicknesses of the study being an effective anti-reflector. Application can be extended to other broadband domains requiring plasmonic graded refractive surfaces, in further work.

Aedes albopictus is considered one of the major invasive species in the world and can transmit viruses such as dengue, Zika, or chikungunya. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) can be used to suppress the native populations of Ae. albopictus. To support the development of the release strategy during the SIT application, Mark-Release-Recapture (MRR) studies are crucial. Mean-while, weather conditions can affect the MRR trial’s results and it is critical to understand the influence of climatic factors on the results. In October 2022 in Faro, Southern Portugal, 84,000 ir-radiated sterile males were released for three consecutive weeks and mosquitoes were recapture by Human Landing Collections (HLC) one, two, four and six days after. Generalised linear models with a negative binomial family and log function were used to estimate the factors asso-ciated with the number of recaptured mosquitoes, prevalence ratios, and the 95% confidence in-tervals (CI). A total of 84,000 sterile male mosquitoes were released, with 528 recaptured (0.8%) by HLC. The prevalence of recaptured mosquitoes was 23% lower when the wind intensity was moderate. Sterile-marked males had an average median distance travelled of 88.7 m. Median probability of daily survival and the average life expectancy were 61.6% and 2.1, respectively. Wild male population estimates was 443.33 males/ ha. Despite no statistically significant asso-ciation was found with humidity, temperature and precipitation, it is crucial to consider weather conditions during MRR trials analyses to obtain the best determinants estimation and a more ef-ficient application of SIT in an integrated vector management program.

It is meaningful to monitor and identify the concrete cracks as they will seriously reduce the fatigue life of pavement. In this paper a new method based on distributed long-gauge optic fiber sensing is proposed to implement the crack identification. Firstly, the damage indicator, namely strain curve envelope area ratio (SCEAR), is proposed and calculated with the measured strain in time series when the plane goes across the pavement where the sensors are installed. Then the indicators with different sensors are normalization by the value of the indicator from one referenced sensor where damage normally will not happen. If the crack happens within the sensing gauge of the sensor, the value of damage indicator SCEAR from the sensor will increase. Therefore, the crack will be identified with the change of the damage indicator. The effect of the proposed method is first verified by some simulations of prefabricated pavement as the cracks can be accurately identified by the proposed method. Moreover, the influence from the aircraft, such as taxiing position, aircraft load and aircraft type, is not obvious enough to mislead the identification results. Lastly the static loading tests were implemented with one small-scale model of prefabricated concrete pavement in the lab. From the experimental results the prefabricated cracks inside the pavement slab can be identified accurately with the proposes method as the parameter SCEAR is increased by about 100% at the crack position, while it is only changed by about 3% at the undamaged position.

Background: Approximately 10-20% of subjects vaccinated with HBsAg-based hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccines are non-responders. BM32 is a recombinant grass pollen allergy vaccine containing the HBV-derived preS surface antigen as immunological carrier protein. PreS includes the binding site of HBV to its receptor on hepatocytes. We investigated if immunological non-responsiveness to HBV after repeated HBsAg-based vaccinations can be overcome by immunization with VVX001 (i.e., Alum-adsorbed BM325, a component of BM32). Methods: A subject failing to develop protective HBV-specific immunity after HBsAg-based vaccination received five monthly injections of 20 µg VVX001. PreS-specific antibody responses were measured by ELISA and micro-array technology. Serum reactivity to subviral particles of different HBV genotypes was determined by sandwich ELISA. PreS-specific T cell responses were monitored by CFSE staining and subsequent FACS analysis. HBV neutralization was assessed using cultured HBV-infected HepG2 cells. Results: Vaccination with VVX001 induced a strong and sustained preS-specific antibody response composed mainly of the IgG1 subclass. PreS-specific IgG antibodies were primarily directed to the N-terminal part of preS containing the NTCP attachment site. IgG reactivity to sub-viral particles as well as to the N-terminal preS-derived peptides was comparable for HBV genotypes A-H. A pronounced reactivity of CD3+CD4+ lymphocytes specific for preS after the complete injection course remaining up to one year after the last injection was found. Maximal HBV neutralization (98.4%) in vitro was achieved 1 month after the last injection which correlated with the maximal IgG reactivity to the N-terminal part of preS. Conclusion: Our data suggest that VVX001 may be used as a preventive vaccination against HBV even in non-responders to HBsAg-based HBV vaccines.

Equine laminitis is a debilitating condition characterized by the breakdown of the dermal–epidermal junction, resulting in severe lameness and pain, often requiring euthanasia. This study aimed to establish an in vitro model of laminitis using a continuous keratinocyte cell line exposed to anoxia-reoxygenation and activated neutrophil supernatant. A significant decrease in keratinocytes metabolism was noted during the reoxygenation period, indicative of cellular stress. Adding muscle-derived mesenchymal stem/stroma cells during reoxygenation demonstrated a protective effect, restoring keratinocytes metabolic activity. Moreover, incubation of keratinocytes with activated neutrophil supernatant or myeloperoxidase alone induced increased keratinocyte myeloperoxidase activity, which was modulated by stem cells. These findings underscore the potential of muscle-derived mesenchymal stem/stroma cells in mitigating inflammation and restoring keratinocyte metabolism, offering insights for future cell therapy research in laminitis treatment.

Light is dispersive in gravitational field. It results in that, under the condition of strong gravitational field, the observed numbers, size, distance and spectrogram of a celestial object is different from the real ones. Therefore, the observed jets of the Sgr A* and M87 need be understood further with the orbit of the stars around them. And, the observed orbits of the S-stars around the Sgr A* is different from the real ones. It implies that the observed optical images of the distant celestial body with strong gravitational field need be further understood with other observations and physics laws to accurately and precisely know the real physical configuration of it.

This qualitative study explores the role of Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) in optimizing inventory within the context of e-commerce. Through semi-structured interviews with e-commerce managers and supply chain experts, the study investigates the strategies, challenges, and outcomes associated with SRM practices. Key findings highlight the critical importance of strategic partnerships with suppliers, emphasizing trust, transparency, and goal alignment as foundational elements for effective SRM. Participants underscored the transformative impact of technological advancements, including advanced analytics and blockchain technology, in enhancing supply chain visibility, optimizing inventory levels, and improving operational agility. However, the study also identifies challenges in SRM implementation, such as cultural differences, regulatory compliance, and geographical distances, which require proactive management strategies. Innovation emerges as a key driver of competitive advantage in e-commerce, facilitated through collaborative R&D initiatives and co-innovation with suppliers. Strategic alignment with organizational goals is crucial for integrating SRM practices with broader business objectives, including operational efficiency and risk mitigation. Recommendations include adopting integrated SRM strategies that leverage technological innovations while maintaining a focus on relationship-building and sustainability. Enhanced supplier performance monitoring, proactive risk management, and the integration of sustainable practices are proposed to strengthen supplier relationships and enhance supply chain resilience. By addressing these insights, e-commerce firms can optimize inventory management, drive innovation, and achieve sustainable growth in the digital economy.

A comprehensive design framework is proposed for optimizing sparse MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) arrays to enhance multi-target detection. The framework emphasizes efficient utilization of antenna resources, including strategies for minimizing inter-element mutual coupling and exploring alternative grid-based sparse array (GSA) configurations by efficiently separating interacting elements. Alternative strategies are explored to enhance angular beamforming metrics, including beamwidth (BW), peak-to-sidelobe ratio (PSLR), and grating lobe limited field of view. Additionally, a set of performance metrics is introduced to evaluate virtual aperture effectiveness and beamwidth loss factors. The study employs the desirability function and explores optimization strategies for the partial sharing of antenna elements in multi-mode radar applications. A novel machine learning initialization approach is introduced for rapid convergence. Observations include the potential for peak-to-sidelobe ratio (PSLR) reduction in dense arrays and insights into GSA feasibility and performance compared to uniform arrays. The study validates the efficacy of the proposed framework through simulated and measured results. The study underscores the importance of effective sparse array processing in multi-target scenarios and highlights the advantages of the proposed design framework, offering clarity on sparse array efficiency and applicability in processing hardware providing clarity on its advantages over uniform and nonuniform arrays.

Autoencoders are neural networks that have applications in denoising processes. Their use is widely reported in imaging (2D), though 1D series can also benefit from this function. Here, three canonical waveforms are used to train a neural network and achieve a signal-to-noise reduction with curves whose noise energy was above that of the signals. A real-world test is carried out with the same autoencoder subjected to a set of time series corrupted by noise generated by a zener diode, biased on the avalanche region. Results showed that, observed some guidelines, the autoencoder can indeed denoise 1D waveforms usually observed in electronics, particularly square waves found in digital circuits.