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The impact of digital technology usage on economic growth in Africa

This study analyses the impact of the use of digital technology on economic growth for 39 African countries from 2012 to 2016. This analysis applies a system GMM estimator to understand the extent to which the usage of digital technology facilitates growth using a measure of digitalisation from the Networked Readiness Index. Unlike previous research, we distinguish between the impact of individual, business, and government ICT usage on growth and show that only individual usage has a positive impact. Furthermore, a disaggregated analysis of the types of usage reveals that two indicators, social media and the importance of ICTs to government vision, are significant for growth.

Crossover Effects of Education on Health within Married Couples

Although empirical work has shown that personal and spousal education are both related to health, the nature of these associations has been harder to establish. People select into marriages on the basis of observed and hard-to-observe characteristics, complicating the job of the researcher who wishes to make causal inferences. In this article, we implement a within-sibling-pair design that exploits variation within pairs in spousal education to generate estimates of spousal crossover effects. Results-based on a long-term study of siblings and their spouses-suggest that spousal education is positively related to health, but to a greater degree for women than men. Sensitivity analyses show that these patterns are unlikely to derive from measured differences between individuals or unmeasured characteristics that sort them into unions. These results are consistent with network-based theories of social capital, which view education as a resource that can be mobilized by network ties to enhance health.

Does an N-shaped association exist between pollution and ICT in Turkey? ARDL and quantile regression approaches

It is a debated issue that the influence of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on the environment is positive or negative in the literature. For instance, usage and disposal of ICTs may lead to environmental degradation and it may also increase carbon emission arising from electricity generation. However, ICT applications may contribute to environmental quality creating great opportunities for smarter cities, transport systems, electrical grids, and industrial processes. These two effects reveal the possible relationship of an inverted U-shaped association also known as the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis relationship between ICT and CO2. The objective of this study is to determine the structure of the relationship between environmental degradation and ICTs in Turkey for 1980-2017. The findings of the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) analysis indicate the validity of inverted N-shaped EKC hypothesis. However, the results of the quantile regression test are inconsistent with those of ARDL. When the coefficients from 30th to 95th quantiles are examined, it is observed that there is an inverted N-shaped relationship between ICT and CO2, but these coefficients are not statistically significant. In addition, in the 95th quantile, coefficients of the square of ICT and ICT are statistically significant, contrary to the cube of ICT which is not. This reveals that the relationship between the variables is U-shaped.

[Scale of Eating Behavior Phenotypes (EFCA), confirmatory factor analysis and psychometric properties]

Introduction: weight gain depends on multiple modifiable mediating factors, including ingestive behavior phenotype. The Eating Behavior Phenotypes Scale (EFCA) is a self-administered questionnaire designed as a tool for clinical use to characterize different sub-phenotypes of ingestive behavior: hedonic, compulsive, emotional grazing, disorganized and hyperphagic. Objectives: the aim of this study is to validate the psychometric properties of the Eating Behavior Phenotypes Scale (EFCA), to analyze the stability of the construct and its external validity. Materials and methods: three hundred adult participants completed a self-administered survey developed to identify eating behavior phenotypes (EFCA). A confirmatory factor analysis was performed, internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and concurrent validity was assessed using Pearson's correlation method between EFCA and BMI. Results: the EFCA scale and the subscales showed an acceptable internal consistency (α > 0.70). The confirmatory factor analysis showed a good adjustment of the data to the proposed structure (SBχ922 = 155, p < 0.05; CFI = 0.97; TLI = 0.96; RMSEA = 0.05; SRMR = 0.04). A positive and statistically significant correlation was found between BMI and both each subscale and total scale scores. Conclusions: EFCA and its subscales are a valid instrument to assess eating phenotypes in adults. The five-component structure shows high stability and consistent results in relation to a previous study carried out with a sample of obese patients.

CT-based evaluation of the acetabulum for age estimation in an Indian population

Age estimation constitutes an important aspect of forensic research, investigation and human identification. For the purpose of age estimation, various markers within the skeletal framework are employed. Degenerative morphological changes in the skeleton can be used for age estimation in adults. Amongst the various bones, age-progressive changes in the innominate bone are of particular significance in age estimation. Within the pelvis, the acetabulum presents as a durable and well-preserved evidence, characteristic manifestations of which can be employed for age estimation. The present study aimed at a CT-based evaluation of acetabular changes for the purpose of age estimation in an Indian population. CT images of 250 individuals aged 10-88 years were scrutinized according to the features defined in the Calce method of acetabular age estimation. Scores were allotted to the various features and a cumulative score was calculated. No significant bilateral and sex differences were observed. Significant correlation was obtained between the scores for these defined characteristics and the chronological age of individuals. Population-specific regression models were generated for age estimation. The scoring method devised in the present research requires further validation as it represents a new tool for age estimation in medico-legal cases.

Comparison of tablet splitting techniques for dosing accuracy of nebivolol tablets: Hand splitting versus tablet cutter and knife

Tablet splitting is a common practice in clinical settings to lower doses, facilitate swallowing or save costs. Splitting devices can be used when hand splitting is difficult or painful. However, data on the accuracy of tablet splitting are limited and it presents a number of patient or formulation-related problems. Thirty nebivolol IR tablets on the Turkish market were split by hand, a tablet cutter (Rabır®) or a knife, and tested for weight variation, loss of mass, disintegration, and friability. The accuracy of split tablets was in the range of 75.4-121, 82.4-115, and 86.9-115% when split by hand, the cutter, and knife, respectively. No significant difference in accuracy was determined between the left and right sides split by the cutter (p = 0.222). The differences were significant for hand and knife splittings (p < 0.005). The precision was 9.02, 7.87, and 6.11% (CV%) for hand, tablet cutter, and knife, respectively. Only hand splitting failed to comply with the subdivision test of European Pharmacopoeia. The split portions met USP standards for friability (<1%). Splitting decreased the disintegration time (4.5 vs. 2.2 min). Overall, the accuracy of the tablet cutter was more favorable than hand splitting and knife. The study demonstrated that the splitting technique may result in inaccurate dosing and significant drug fluctuations for nebivolol tablets.

Targeted protein degradation: from small molecules to complex organelles-a Keystone Symposia report

Targeted protein degradation is critical for proper cellular function and development. Protein degradation pathways, such as the ubiquitin proteasomes system, autophagy, and endosome-lysosome pathway, must be tightly regulated to ensure proper elimination of misfolded and aggregated proteins and regulate changing protein levels during cellular differentiation, while ensuring that normal proteins remain unscathed. Protein degradation pathways have also garnered interest as a means to selectively eliminate target proteins that may be difficult to inhibit via other mechanisms. On June 7 and 8, 2021, several experts in protein degradation pathways met virtually for the Keystone eSymposium "Targeting protein degradation: from small molecules to complex organelles." The event brought together researchers working in different protein degradation pathways in an effort to begin to develop a holistic, integrated vision of protein degradation that incorporates all the major pathways to understand how changes in them can lead to disease pathology and, alternatively, how they can be leveraged for novel therapeutics.

Dietary determinants of healthy/unhealthy metabolic phenotype in individuals with normal weight or overweight/obesity: a systematic review

Objectives: Nutritional factors are amongst the major determinants in the onset and development of obesity and metabolic complications. Nevertheless, the dietary determinants of metabolic health are not completely elucidated. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate nutritional and dietary factors that may contribute to metabolic heterogeneity in individuals with obesity or normal weight. Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and google scholar databases until August 2021, to locate studies that examined metabolic health and its association with intakes of specific foods or food groups, nutrient intakes or status, as well as adherence to certain dietary patterns. Two researchers had independently screened titles and abstracts, examined full-text studies, conducted data extraction, and evaluated their quality using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results: Twenty-seven studies, with a total of 39518 subjects, were included. Of these studies, 11 articles evaluated the association between different dietary patterns and metabolic phenotypes, while 15 had investigated the association of single food/nutrients intakes or nutrient status with metabolic phenotype, and one paper evaluated the association of dietary inflammatory index with metabolic health. The findings of these studies propose that healthy dietary patterns such as the Mediterranean pattern, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, and population-derived patterns (such as the "Healthy" and "Fruit and vegetable" patterns) were associated with higher odds of the metabolically healthy phenotype. Higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, dairy products, coffee/tea, vitamin D, magnesium, and flavonoids, were suggested to lower the risk of developing metabolically unhealthy phenotype, while, higher consumption of saturated fat, carbohydrate and sugar-sweetened beverages, fast foods, organ meats, and a pro-inflammatory diet increased the risk. Conclusion: Results from published studies, which were mostly cross-sectional, suggest that higher adherence to unhealthier dietary patterns, characterized by the consumption of refined and processed foods, was associated with a lower likelihood of having a healthy metabolic phenotype, while the opposite was observed for healthier dietary patterns. Findings may be used in developing nutritional strategies aimed at improving metabolic health in the population.

Optimizing Physiology During Prehospital Airway Management: An NAEMSP Position Statement and Resource Document

Airway management is a critical component of resuscitation but also carries the potential to disrupt perfusion, oxygenation, and ventilation as a consequence of airway insertion efforts, the use of medications, and the conversion to positive-pressure ventilation. NAEMSP recommends:Airway management should be approached as an organized system of care, incorporating principles of teamwork and operational awareness.EMS clinicians should prevent or correct hypoxemia and hypotension prior to advanced airway insertion attempts.Continuous physiological monitoring must be used during airway management to guide the timing of, limit the duration of, and inform decision making during advanced airway insertion attempts.Initial and ongoing confirmation of advanced airway placement must be performed using waveform capnography. Airway devices must be secured using a reliable method.Perfusion, oxygenation, and ventilation should be optimized before, during, and after advanced airway insertion.To mitigate aspiration after advanced airway insertion, EMS clinicians should consider placing a patient in a semi-upright position.When appropriate, patients undergoing advanced airway placement should receive suitable pharmacologic anxiolysis, amnesia, and analgesia. In select cases, the use of neuromuscular blocking agents may be appropriate.

Complement blockade with eculizumab to treat acute symptomatic humoral rejection after heart transplantation

Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) is a major barrier preventing successful discordant organ xenotransplantation, but it also occurs in allotransplantation due to anti-HLA antibodies. Symptomatic acute AMR is rare after heart allograft but carries a high risk of mortality, especially >1 year after transplant. As complement activation may play a major role in mediating tissue injury in acute AMR, drugs blocking the terminal complement cascade like eculizumab may be useful, particularly since "standards of care" like plasmapheresis are not based on strong evidence. Eculizumab was successfully used to treat early acute kidney AMR, a typical condition of "active AMR," but showed mitigated results in late AMR, where "chronic active" lesions are more prevalent. Here, we report the case of a heart recipient who presented with acute heart failure due to late acute AMR with eight de novo donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies (DSA), and who fully recovered allograft function and completely cleared DSA following plasmapheresis-free upfront eculizumab administration in addition to thymoglobulin, intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG), and rituximab. Several clinical (acute onset, abrupt and severe loss of graft function), biological (sudden high-level production of DSA), and pathological features (microvascular injury, C4d deposits) of this cardiac recipient are shared with early kidney AMR and may indicate a strong role of complement in the pathogenesis of acute graft injury that may respond to drugs like eculizumab. Terminal complement blockade should be further explored to treat acute AMR in recipients of heart allografts and possibly also in recipients of discordant xenografts in the future.

The role of globalization in CO2 emissions: A semi-parametric panel data analysis for G7

In order to provide flexible and comprehensive results about the relationship between globalization and CO2 emissions for the G7 countries, we introduce the KOF globalization index into traditional Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology model, and conduct the empirical analysis by applying a semi-parametric panel fixed effects model. The data covering the period of 1970-2015 consists of CO2 emissions, KOF globalization index, renewable energy consumption and GDP. Our results indicate that the relationship between globalization and CO2 emissions are inverted U-sharped, which strongly support the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis. Furthermore, an increase of economic output is associated with statistically significant growth in CO2 emissions. On the contrary, an increment of renewable energy consumption lowers CO2 emissions. Related policy proposals are then offered according to our empirical results. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Case Study of a Community Health Worker Program Located in Low-Income Housing in Richmond, Virginia

We reviewed data from the electronic health data system used by Community Health Workers (CHWs) in the Richmond/Henrico Health District of the Virginia Department of Health from January 1st 2013 to December 31st 2020, to map the Community Health Workers' impact on Social Determinants of Health. We also interviewed the CHWs to obtain demographic information and information about the challenges their communities face. Most referrals were for Healthcare Access (48.7%) and Economic Stability (38.3%), while Neighborhood and Built Environment (0.09%) was the least used referral in the Social Determinants of Health during the time under review. Community Health Workers also carried out 1367 and 565 Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar measurements respectively during the period. The Community Health workers were all women and their education ranged from High School graduate to Master's degree graduate and they served as Community Health Workers for time ranging from 1 to 8 years. We found their answers to the questions on the issue plaguing the community they serve to indicate empathy and understanding of the issues of low-income communities. Having CHWs working as part of the public health system to deliver health promotion and provide referrals for social determinants of health could serve as a model for improving health access and impacting Social Determinants of Health positively for low-income populations across the country.

Herbivore-induced plant volatiles, not natural enemies, mediate a positive indirect interaction between insect herbivores

Many insect herbivores engage in apparent competition whereby two species interact through shared natural enemies. Upon insect attack, plants release volatile blends that attract natural enemies, but whether these volatiles mediate apparent competition between herbivores is not yet known. We investigate the role of volatiles that are emitted by bean plants upon infestation by Acyrthosiphon pisum aphids on the population dynamics and fitness of Sitobion avenae aphids, and on wheat phloem sap metabolites. In a field experiment, the dynamics of S. avenae aphids on wheat were studied by crossing two treatments: exposure of aphid colonies to A. pisum-induced bean volatiles and exclusion of natural enemies. Glasshouse experiments and analyses of primary metabolites in wheat phloem exudates were performed to better understand the results from the field experiment. In the field, bean volatiles did not affect S. avenae dynamics or survival when aphids were exposed to natural enemies. When protected from them, however, volatiles led to larger aphid colonies. In agreement with this observation, in glasshouse experiments, aphid-induced bean volatiles increased the survival of S. avenae aphids on wheat plants, but not on an artificial diet. This suggests that volatiles may benefit S. avenae colonies via metabolic changes in wheat plants, although we did not find any effect on wheat phloem exudate composition. We report a potential case of associational susceptibility whereby plant volatiles weaken the defences of receiving plants, thus leading to increased herbivore performance.

An empirical nexus between economic growth, energy utilization, trade policy, and ecological footprint: a continent-wise comparison in upper-middle-income countries

This study investigates the causal connection between economic growth, foreign direct investment, primary and renewable energy utilization, trade openness, and ecological footprint for 33 upper-middle-income countries (UMICs) from Africa, Asia, Europe, and America during the period from 1994 to 2017. Initially, first- as well as second-generation panel unit root tests are applied to check the integration order after confirming the cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity. Four different tests (FMOLS, DOLS, FGLS, and AMG) are applied to estimate the long-run elasticity, whereas Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) non-causality test is used to test growth, conservation, and feedback hypothesis. Results show negative relationship of economic growth on ecological footprint in Africa and Europe; renewable energy utilization in Asia, Europe, and America; and trade openness in Asia. Moreover, the results revealed an adverse impact of trade openness on ecological footprint in case of Africa and America. Furthermore, the results of D-H panel non-causality test confirm the growth hypothesis for economic growth to ecological footprint in Africa, Asia, and Europe; foreign direct investment to ecological footprint in Africa and Asia; primary energy utilization to ecological footprint in Asia; renewable energy utilization to ecological footprint in America; and trade openness to ecological footprint in Africa, Asia, and America. Furthermore, the feedback hypothesis was confirmed between economic growth and ecological footprint in Asia and Europe; foreign direct investment and ecological footprint in Africa and Asia; renewable energy utilization and ecological footprint for America; and trade openness and ecological footprint for Asia and America. Finally, in context to efficient policy implications, it is suggested to associate the economic growth with clean energy and environment-friendly technologies by expanding the share of renewable energy in America and economic growth in Africa and Europe. Furthermore, Asian policy makers need to focus on foreign direct investment and trade openness by using green energy to overcome the environmental degradation. Impulsion with these findings, the central authorities of UMICs need to focus on more investments in environmental quality not only through foreign direct investment but also exchanging their clean energy technologies through trade policies such as tax exemption, feed-in tariffs, and subsidies. Government of these countries ought to upgrade the conventional capital which will ultimately improve the human lives by providing clean environment.

Sustainability in Tourism as an Innovation Driver: An Analysis of Family Business Reality

Sustainable tourism can be the motivation to manage resources to satisfy environmental, social and economic needs through cultural integrity, biological diversity, ecological processes, social and economic equity, and general enrichment. Based on a systematic literature review conducted on research papers published between 2015 and 2020, and on the case studies contained within them (19 papers), this analysis focuses on the innovation drivers and sustainability drivers identified within family businesses in tourism. This desk-based research has made it possible to highlight how variable sustainability is present, albeit in a limited fashion, within family businesses in tourism; at the same time, it also shows how innovative strategies contribute to sustainable development. From the analysis, the correlations between family businesses, family dynamics, sustainability practices, innovation drivers and case studies were analyzed. The results show the poor implementation of innovative strategies, and at the same time, the presence of other variables that guarantee the adoption of sustainable practices. Important research gaps are identified, and future research priorities are suggested. Furthermore, the article is based on a collection of non-exhaustive literary sources. The implications for both family businesses and sustainable development are discussed.

Dynamic hydrogen production from PV & wind direct electricity supply - Modeling and techno-economic assessment

Renewable hydrogen from water electrolysis could contribute to the defossilization of various energy intensive sectors but continues to suffer from unfavorable economics. Attention is being paid to the direct supply of renewable electricity to electrolyzers; in particular from photovoltaic (PV) and wind units, whose fixed remuneration period has expired. However, detailed analysis of such operating strategies via modeling and simulation of the dynamic behavior of alkaline electrolysis (AEL) and polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis (PEMEL) is lacking. In this work, an electrolyzer model is developed for both AEL and PEMEL and analyzed for PV and wind power input data sets from the region of northwest Germany. It is shown that key performance indicators (KPI) such as hydrogen production efficiency, electricity utilization rate, product output and net production costs are highly reliant on the shape of transient power input signals as well as the electrolyzers ability to cope with them. PEMEL technology generally has higher electricity utilization rates than AEL, while AEL still achieves relatively large hydrogen production quantities due to its higher efficiency. Thus, the better operational flexibility of PEMEL cannot generally be considered advantageous in terms of hydrogen production quantities - the same applies for economics. The most competitive hydrogen production costs were 4.33 (sic) per kg for the AEL technology with direct electricity supply from old wind farms, which no longer receive fixed remuneration. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Filtering Touch: An Ethnography of Dirt, Danger, and Industrial Robots

"Industry 4.0" marks the advent of a new wave of industrial robotics designed to bring increased automation to "extreme" touch practices and enhance productivity. This article presents an ethnography of touch in two industrial settings using fourth generation industrial robots (a Glass Factory and a Waste Management Center) to critically explore the social and sensorial implications of such technologies for workers. We attend to manifestations of dirt and danger as encountered through describing workers' sensory experiences and identity formation. The contribution of the article is two-fold. The first is analytical through the development of three "filters" to grasp the complexity of the social and sensorial dynamics of touch in situ while tracing dispersed mediating effects of the introduction of novel technologies. The second is empirical, teasing out themes embedded in the sociosensorial dynamics of touch that intersect with gender, ethnicity, and class and relate to the technological mediation of touch.

Income Inequality and CO(2)Emissions in Developing Countries: The Moderating Role of Financial Instability

This paper studies the effects of income inequality and financial instability on CO(2)emissions in the presence of fossil fuel energy, economic development, industrialization, and trade openness. Moreover, the present study is the first to examine the moderating role of financial instability between income inequality and CO(2)emissions. We utilized panel data of forty-seven developing countries for the period 1980-2016 by utilizing the stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology (STIRPAT) model. The empirical outcomes in all models indicate that income inequality and industrialization significantly reduce environmental degradation, while fossil fuel, trade openness, and economic growth decrease the quality of the environment. However, financial instability (without interaction term) shows no significant link to environmental quality, whereas (with interaction term) it shows a significant negative effect on CO(2)emissions. In addition, the result of the interaction variable reveals that an increase in inequality, ceteris paribus, in combination with the rise in financial instability, is expected to increase pollution. Furthermore, there exists a bidirectional causal association among income inequality, financial instability, fossil fuel, trade openness, industrialization, economic growth, and the interaction variable with CO(2)emissions.

Examining Effects of the COVID-19 National Lockdown on Ambient Air Quality Across Urban India

Lockdown seems the most effective way to prevent the spread of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as no vaccine is currently available in the market to cure it. Thus, India has enforced nation-wide lockdown from 25th March to lower the spread of this contagious virus and associated illness. This study aims to quantify the changes in pollution levels as well as meteorology during the 6-weeks COVID-19 lockdown over 17 cities of India for 5 major criteria pollutants using publicly available air quality data. Hourly averaged data is accessed from the air quality monitoring stations during the lockdown and immediate pre-lockdown periods and also corresponding data from the previous year (2019). During the lockdown, PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and CO reduced significantly with relatively small changes in meteorological conditions compared to the pre-lockdown period. The highest decline is observed over Ahmedabad (68%), Delhi (71%), Bangalore (87%), and Nagpur (63%) for PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and CO, respectively. The Northern region shows the highest decline for all the pollutants with most days below NAAQS during lockdown-86%, 68%, and 100% compared to 18%, 0%, and 38% in 2019 for PM2.5, PM10, and NO2, respectively. The smaller cities Dewas and Jorapokhar show lesser improvement with only 3% and 16% improvement in days under NAAQS for PM2.5. SO2 is the least affected pollutant with little improvement. The major decline is observed during 7-10 am and 7-10 pm hours of the day for PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and CO with more than 40% reduction. The meteorological changes are very small and heterogeneous over India showing a similar extent of changes compared to the previous year but the pollution levels have reduced significantly. Thus, the sharp decline in pollutant concentration during the similar to 6 weeks period national lockdown can be attributed to the reduced economic and transport activities.

The effect of health anxiety levels experienced by nurses in the COVID-19 period on conscience perceptions: A cross-sectional study

This study sought to determine the effect of health anxiety levels experienced by Turkish nurses upon their perceptions of conscience during COVID-19. The study was a cross-sectional study involving nurses working in X Hospital (n:207). The study data were collected using Personal Information Form, Health Anxiety Inventory, and Perception of Conscience Scale. The average total Health Anxiety Inventory score was 15.34 ± 5.93 (low). The mean total Perception of Conscience Scale score was 65.67 ± 10.27 (high). The independent variables were effective on perception of conscience at an effect size of 0.11.

Driving force analysis of carbon emissions in China's building industry: 2000-2015

China's building industry is the industry with the largest carbon emissions. In this study, Chinese buildings were divided into three categories: rural residential buildings, urban residential buildings and public buildings. The building steel stock was calculated, and the five contributing factors of China's building carbon emissions from 2000 to 2015 were analyzed by factor decomposition analysis and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model. They were energy intensity, energy emission coefficient, per capita building steel stock, economic output level and per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This study found that China's building steel stock had increased from 1.32 billion tons in 2000 to 2.89 billion tons in 2015, and its building energy consumption had increased from 264 million tons of standard coal in 2000 to 868 million tons in 2015. The other four factors promoted to the growth of building carbon emissions except for the energy emission coefficient. The biggest contributing factor was the level of economic output, with an average annual contribution of CO2 of 1.146 billion tons. And the second biggest factor contributing was the per capita building steel stock. Therefore, China should focus on the impact of these two factors on building carbon emissions in future.

Restraint Stress Delays the Recovery of Neurological Impairments and Exacerbates Brain Damages through Activating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-mediated Neurodegeneration/Autophagy/Apopotosis post Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury

Based on accumulating evidence, patients recovering from mild and moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) often experience increased sensitivity to stressful events. However, few studies have assessed on the effects and pathophysiological mechanisms of stress on TBI. In the current study, using a mouse model of moderate TBI, we investigated whether restraint stress (RS) regulates secondary neurodegeneration and neuronal cell death, which are commonly associated with neurological dysfunctions. Our data showed that RS significantly reduced body weight recovery, delayed the recovery of neurological functions (motor function, cognitive function and anxiety-like behavior) and exacerbated the brain lesion volume after moderate TBI. Immunofluorescence results indicated that moderate TBI-induced cell insults and blood-brain barrier leakage were aggravated by RS. Further Western blotting experiments showed that RS activated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress excessively after moderate TBI and decreased the number of NeuN-positive cells, but increased the number of CHOP/NeuN-co-positive cells by performing immunostaining in the injured cortex after moderate TBI. Moreover, RS increased the ratios of CHOP/Aβ and CHOP/p-Tau co-positive cells in the injured cortex after moderate TBI. However, blocking ER stress with the classic ER stress inhibitor salubrinal remarkably decreased apoptosis and the levels of autophagy-related proteins in the mouse model of moderate TBI plus RS. Collectively, RS delays the recovery of neurological function and deteriorates morphological damage by excessively activating ER stress-mediated neurodegeneration, apoptosis and autophagy after moderate TBI. Thus, monitoring stress levels in patients recovering from non-severe TBI may merit consideration in the future.

Environmental degradation: The role of electricity consumption, economic growth and globalisation

This paper examines the effects of electricity consumption, economic growth and globalisation on the CO2 emissions of top 10 electricity consuming countries. Taking annual data from 1971 to 2013, a panel cointegration approach is adopted where Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) methods are used to examine the long-run effects. Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test is used to explore the directions of causality between the variables of interest. The empirical results reveal that there is a long-term association among these variables; and electricity consumption and economic growth positively and significantly affect the CO2 emissions in these countries. In contrast, globalisation has significant negative impact on the CO2 emissions implying the improvement of environmental quality. The findings also confirm the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, the bidirectional causalities between economic growth and CO2 emissions, between electricity consumption and CO2 emissions, and between globalisation and economic growth in the sample countries. A unidirectional causality from economic growth to electricity consumption, from electricity consumption to globalisation and from globalisation to CO2 emissions is also found. Policy guidelines are suggested in line of the findings.

Electricity generation from a three-horizontal-well enhanced geothermal system in the Qiabuqia geothermal field, China: Slickwater fracturing treatments for different reservoir scenarios

Hot dry rock (HDR), as a clean renewable energy source, can help fulfill future energy needs and reduce the greenhouse effect. This energy source in the Qiabuqia geothermal field of Northwest China is expected to generate electricity. In this study, we used the lab parameters and the GR1 well data from the Qiabuqia site to numerically investigate the reservoir stimulation and electricity generation from a three-horizontal-well EGS system created in the granitic reservoir at depth 3500-3700 m, and at an average temperature of 218 degrees C. Slickwater fracturing and the resulting reservoir scenarios for different expected conditions in the region were analyzed in order to find suitable fracturing strategies. We then proposed three optimized EGS scenarios and evaluated their economic and environmental benefits. Results indicate that EGS power generation significantly depends on the reservoir stimulation results. The potential 2.61-4.90 MW installed capacity and 433.72-913.05 GWh total power generation are expected to be realized if the well spacing of 300-500 m and the hot water circulation rate of 20-40 kg/s in a 20-year period are achieved via the slickwater fracturing treatment. The final production temperature can be maintained at approximately 200 degrees C, and the corresponding temperature drops less than 10%. Such a case of geothermal engineering is expected to result in a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 0.15-1.1 Mt, and its levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is estimated at 0.047-0.066 $/kWh. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural systems that facilitate the representation of social rank

Across species, animals organize into social dominance hierarchies that serve to decrease aggression and facilitate survival of the group. Neuroscientists have adopted several model organisms to study dominance hierarchies in the laboratory setting, including fish, reptiles, rodents and primates. We review recent literature across species that sheds light onto how the brain represents social rank to guide socially appropriate behaviour within a dominance hierarchy. First, we discuss how the brain responds to social status signals. Then, we discuss social approach and avoidance learning mechanisms that we propose could drive rank-appropriate behaviour. Lastly, we discuss how the brain represents memories of individuals (social memory) and how this may support the maintenance of unique individual relationships within a social group. This article is part of the theme issue 'The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies'.

Interactions of high-rate nitrate reduction and heavy metal mitigation in iron-carbon-based constructed wetlands for purifying contaminated groundwater

Groundwater, as the most important drinking water source in arid regions of China, has been polluted seriously by accumulated nitrate and heavy metals. An economic alternative with capacity of simultaneous mitigation of nitrate and heavy metals is urgently needed. This study explored the incorporation of iron scraps and biochar into constructed wetlands (CWs) for enhancing purification performance and investigated interactions of effective nitrate reduction and heavy metals mitigation. The results showed that nitrate reduction performance could reach 87% in iron and carbon-based (Fe-C) CWs through Fe-C micro-electrolysis process, with lower nitrous oxide (N2O) emission (4.6-11.75 g m(-2) h(-1)) due to the complete denitrification process. Moreover, efficient heavy metals mitigation of 75-97% total chromium (Cr) and total lead (Pb) was obtained from Fe-C systems. However, the occurrence of heavy metals (Cr and Pb) in the influent posed an adverse impact on nitrate removal with the reduction rate of 19-43%. Biochemical characteristics of wetland plants indicated that the plants also suffered from the stress which induced from heavy metals. Overall, although the addition of iron and biochar in CWs enhanced nitrate and heavy metals removal in low carbon groundwater, further investigation is still needed to reveal the complex relationships between the removal of nitrate and heavy metals in CWs. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trials and Treatments for Vascular Brain Health: Risk Factor Modification and Cognitive Outcomes

There is robust evidence linking vascular health to brain health, cognition, and dementia. In this article, we present evidence from trials of vascular risk factor treatment on cognitive outcomes. We summarize findings from randomized controlled trials of antihypertensives, lipid-lowering medications, diabetes treatments (including antidiabetic drugs versus placebo, and intensive versus standard glycemic control), and multidomain interventions (that target several domains simultaneously such as control of vascular and metabolic factors, nutrition, physical activity, and cognitive stimulation etc). We report that evidence on the efficacy of vascular risk reduction interventions is promising, but not yet conclusive, and several methodological limitations hamper interpretation. Evidence mainly comes from high-income countries and, as cognition and dementia have not been the primary outcomes of many trials, evaluation of cognitive changes have often been limited. As the cognitive aging process occurs over decades, it is unclear whether treatment during the late-life window is optimal for dementia prevention, yet older individuals have been the target of most trials thus far. Further, many trials have not been powered to explore interactions with modifiers such as age, race, and apolipoprotein E, even though sub-analyses from some trials indicate that the success of interventions differs depending on patient characteristics. Due to the complex multifactorial etiology of dementia, and variations in risk factors between individuals, multidomain interventions targeting several risk factors and mechanisms are likely to be needed and the long-term sustainability of preventive interventions will require personalized approaches that could be facilitated by digital health tools. This is especially relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic, where intervention strategies will need to be adapted to the new normal, when face-to-face engagement with participants is limited and public health measures may create changes in lifestyle that affect individuals' vascular risk profiles and subsequent risk of cognitive decline.

Shared and unique affective abnormalities in schizotypy dimensions

Attention to affect is theoretically a precursor to one's ideal affect (i.e., preference for feeling low- and high-arousal positive and negative affect) and emotion regulation (ER). In schizotypy, there have been mixed findings regarding abnormalities in attention to affect. At the same time, little is known about ideal affect in schizotypy or whether differences in ideal affect or ER difficulties in schizotypy are driven by attention to affect. Thus, this study aimed to identify shared and unique abnormalities in attention to affect, ideal affect, and ER difficulties in schizotypy, and to test whether attention to affect underlies differences in ideal affect and ER difficulties. Using groups of individuals with either extreme levels of social anhedonia (SocAnh; n = 181), extreme levels of perceptual aberrations/magical ideation (PerMag; n = 105), or individuals low on both (i.e., controls; n = 531), we tested group differences in attention to affect, ideal affect, and ER difficulties. Our findings suggest both shared and unique affective abnormalities; compared to controls, the SocAnh group paid the least attention to positive affect. Only PerMag had heightened attention to negative affect compared to controls. Additionally, we found unique abnormalities relating to ideal affect but mostly shared difficulties in ER in schizotypy. Abnormalities in ideal affect and ER remain largely consistent after accounting for attention to affect for PerMag, suggesting that attention to affect is not the primary mechanism driving these abnormalities. However, we found evidence that attention to affect underlies some SocAnh-control group differences in ideal affect and ER difficulties. Our work helps to clarify prior work and contributes to the understanding of shared and unique affective abnormalities in schizotypy. Future research may consider longitudinal approaches to test causal mechanisms of affective abnormalities in schizotypy.

Of Semiotics, the Marginalised and Laws During the Lockdown in India

On 24th March 2020, the first nationwide complete lockdown was announced by the Prime Minister of India for 21 days which was later extended to 31st May 2020. Consequently, thousands of migrant workers placed in big cities had no other option but to go back to their native villages. Their journeys back to villages- thousands of kilometres on bicycles or foot due to the non-availability of public transport amidst the travel ban- were driven by the compulsions of food and shelter. In one of many heart-wrenching incidents, sixteen laborers were run over by a freight train (all passenger trains in the wake of lockdown had been halted) while they were resting on the railway tracks. The images of the Roti (Indian bread) on the railway track strewn across were beamed on the national news channels, as a telling commentary of the unimaginable hardships of these workers. Ironically, in the eyes of law, they were trespassers under the Indian Railways Act, 1989. The Indian Railway did not pay any compensation to the victims. Their act also violated the Indian Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Indian Penal Code, 1860- the law for the breach of lockdown guidelines and the law for disobedience of order by public servants respectively- for having decided to travel amidst a travel ban. The semiotics of law-making acts 'criminal' bereft of 'moral culpability' are seldom questioned on their supposed amoral foundations. Pandemic exhibited that social fissures not only condition the individual or community actions but also the actions of the State. Minorities especially Muslims were at the receiving end of State's selective enforcement of lockdown laws in India. The various instances in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic expose the hollow claims of equality before the law and the equal protection of laws as a constitutional promise to every citizen. This article aims to unravel the ostensible and the actual moral exhibition of such Indian laws through the lens of several incidents during the nationwide lockdown in India. This paper would argue that this constructed positivist amorality needs to be deconstructed to unearth the power imbalance that it seeks to hide.

Research on the impact of multi-dimensional urbanization on China's carbon emissions under the background of COP21

The Paris Agreement (COP21) further defines the concept of global climate governance as low-carbon green development. Urbanization and carbon emissions are two major characteristics of modern Chinese economic and social development. China's new urbanization requires not only the realization of population, the harmonization of land and economic urbanization also requires the protection of the ecological environment in the process of urbanization to achieve green and low-carbon development. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to explore the influencing factors of carbon emissions and compare their differences based on spatial econometric models and from various perspectives of urbanization. Empirical findings of the study are as follows: (1) The Moran's I indexes are all above 0.5, the spatial effects of regional carbon emissions are significant, and it cannot be ignored. Similarly, it shows that the optimal model is a spatial doubly model with dual fixed effects. (2) Direct effects of population, land, and economic urbanization are positive. Whereas, indirect effect about population urbanization is negative, but its total effect is same direction change with carbon emissions. Indirect and total effect of land urbanization are negative, indirect effect of economic urbanization is small and total effect is significantly positive. (3) Per capita GDP, energy intensity, and environmental regulation variables of control variables are all positive; opening to outside be positive but not obvious.

Thermodynamic analysis on the combination of supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle and transcritical carbon dioxide refrigeration cycle for the waste heat recovery of shipboard

With excellent physical properties, carbon dioxide has been widely employed as a working fluid in efficient energy conversion technologies, which are represented by supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle and transcritical carbon dioxide refrigeration cycle. In this contribution, with the aim to recover the waste heat of shipboard, a combined system coupling carbon dioxide Brayton cycle and refrigeration cycle is proposed to simultaneously produce power and cooling. In order to alleviate the temperature mismatch in recuperator and effectively utilize the discharged heat of refrigeration cycle, low temperature recuperator and gas cooler are shared by power and cooling cycles. For this novel waste heat recovery system, thermodynamic and economic models are developed to conduct energy, exergy and economic analysis. Thereafter, key cycle parameters including gas cooler pressure, evaporation temperature and turbine inlet temperature are investigated to reveal the effects on the system performances. The obtained results indicate that the energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed system are respectively 42.42% and 39.05% under design conditions. The corresponding average energy cost is 9.28 $/GJ. At lower evaporation temperature and higher gas cooler pressure, the advantages of low temperature recuperator can be fully utilized and more work is produced. However, lower cooling capacity is obtained. Furthermore, the turbine inlet temperature has no effects on refrigeration cycle, and the net work decreases with the increase of inlet temperature. These results will be beneficial to improve the design and performance of combined power and cooling system for future shipboard applications.

How to achieve green growth in China's agricultural sector

Green development is the direction of China's agricultural sector. Investigating the main influencing factors of the agricultural sector's CO2 emissions will help plan agricultural development and achieve low-carbon growth. This paper selects 2001-2016 panel data of China's 30 provinces, and uses the nonparametric additive regression models to investigate the agricultural sector's CO2 emissions. The empirical results show that economic growth, financial capacity, and energy intensity all have a "pull first, then restrict" inverted U-shaped nonlinear effect on CO2 emissions. However, the influencing mechanisms of these three influencing factors are different and need to be paid attention by relevant government departments. More complicated, the impact of urbanization on CO2 emission shows a gentle "M-shaped" pattern. In addition, an inverse "N-shaped" nonlinear link exists between trade openness and CO2 emissions. Therefore, government departments should formulate differentiated emission reduction policies at different stages. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Clinical phenotype and musculoskeletal characteristics of patients with aggrecan deficiency

Aggrecan is a proteoglycan within the physeal and articular cartilage. Aggrecan deficiency, due to heterozygous mutations in the ACAN gene, causes dominantly inherited short stature and, in many patients, early-onset osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease. We aimed to further characterize this phenotypic spectrum with an emphasis on musculoskeletal health. Twenty-two individuals from nine families were enrolled. Histories and examinations focused on joint health, gait analysis, joint specific patient reported outcomes, and imaging studies were performed. All patients had dominantly inherited short stature, with the exception of a de novo mutation. Short stature was worse in adults versus children (median height -3.05 SD vs. -2.25 SD). ACAN mutations were not always associated with bone age advancement (median advancement +1.1 years, range 0 to +2 years). Children had subtle disproportionality and clinically silent joint disease-25% with osteochondritis dissecans (OD). Adults had a high prevalence of joint symptomatology-decline in knee function, disability from spinal complaints, and lower physical activity on outcome measures. Osteoarthritis (OA) and OD was detected in 90% of adults, and orthopedic surgeries were reported in 60%. Aggrecan deficiency leads to short stature with progressive decline in height SD, mild skeletal dysplasia, and increasing prevalence of joint pathology over time. Optimal musculoskeletal health and quality of life can be attained with timely identification of pathology and intervention.

Atypical presentations and course of JC virus infection

There is increasing evidence that the spectrum of human polyomavirus 2 (JCV) CNS disease includes novel syndromes other than progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), the appreciation of which is increasingly important in the context of MS therapies and immunodeficiency states. Our objective is to describe unusual presentations of JCV infection to heighten clinician awareness. We describe three case reports of various PML presentations. Firstly a 56-year-old HIV positive male with decades of viral suppression and normal immune function presented with 1 month of non-specific headache that spontaneously resolved despite an MRI showing a new area of PML and CSF being JC DNA + . He had had two similar episodes in 2013 and 2014 with MRI scans consistent with PML, CSF, JCV, and PCR positivity once and brain biopsy-positive twice. Another 61-year-old male presented with subacute binocular vision loss and was found to have newly diagnosed HIV and JCV DNA detected in CSF. MRI brain only demonstrated symmetrical chiasmo-hypothalamic enhancement. There has been some improvement with combination antiretroviral therapy and corticosteroids for immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS). Thirdly, a 65-year-old male presented with subacute progressive confusion and behavioural disturbance, one year post-bilateral lung transplantation. MRI brain demonstrated no evidence of PML but CSF on three occasions demonstrated a progressively increasing JCV DNA load. Despite reduction in his immunosuppression, the patient developed profound encephalopathy without localising features leading to death two months later. These cases emphasise the atypical presentations of JCV: chronic relapsing, unusual symmetrical visual pathway disease, and non-localising encephalopathy without MRI evidence of PML.

Compressive strength prediction of eco-efficient GGBS-based geopolymer concrete using GEP method

Geopolymer concrete (GPC) could be used as an environmental-friendly alternative solution for concrete production due to the detrimental impacts of cement production on the environment. Since obtaining an optimal mix design, and subsequently, predicting the compressive strength of mortar using experimental means is costly and time-consuming, employing soft-computing techniques could facilitate and accelerate this approach. In this research, gene expression programming (GEP) was used to develop numerical models for predicting the compressive strength of GPC based on ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS). Through an experimental program, an extensive database of the compressive strength of GGBS-based GPC consisting of 351 specimens obtained from 117 different mixtures was generated. The five most effective parameters, including specimen age, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution concentration, natural zeolite (NZ), silica fume (SF), and GGBS content, were considered as the modeling input parameters. Using GEP algorithm, simplified and practical mathematical equations were proposed to predict the compressive strength of GGBS-based GPC mortar. Performance, high accuracy, and predictability of the proposed equations were validated by the conducted sensitivity and parametric analyses. The obtained results could promote the re-use of GGBS for GPC development, which in turn will lead to environmental and economic advantages.

Spatiotemporal evolving patterns of bike-share mobility networks and their associations with land-use conditions before and after the COVID-19 outbreak

Recent months have seen ever-increasing levels of confirmed COVID-19 cases despite the accelerated adoption of vaccines. In the wake of the pandemic, travel patterns of individuals change as well. Understanding the changes in biking behaviors during evolving COVID-19 situations is a primary goal of this paper. It investigated usage patterns of the bike-share system in Singapore before, during, and after local authorities imposed lockdown measures. It also correlated the centrality attributes of biking mobility networks of different timestamps with land-use conditions. The results show that total ridership surprisingly climbed by 150% during the lockdown, compared with the pre-pandemic level. Biking mobility graphs became more locally clustered and polycentric as the epidemic develop. There existed a positive and sustained spatial autocorrelation between centrality measures and regions with high residential densities or levels of the land-use mixture. This study suggests that bike-share systems may serve as an alternative mode to fulfill mobility needs when public transit services are restricted due to lockdown policies. Shared-micromobility services have the potential to facilitate a disease-resilient transport system as societies may have to coexist with COVID in the future.

Key factors influencing public awareness of household solid waste recycling in urban areas of China: A case study

With rapid economic development, population growth, and urbanization, household solid waste (HSW) causes significant environmental pollution and health threats to residents. As the sustainable waste management, HSW recycling is an urgent requirement in China and other countries. However, public awareness of HSW recycling and its influencing factors were seldom systematically analyzed in China. In present study, an on-site face-to-face questionnaire survey was the main research tool. We investigate public awareness of HSW recycling in typical Chinese cities, including public behavior, recycling knowledge, and public willingness to participate. The factors influencing public awareness were also explored. We found that public awareness was inadequate regarding HSW treatment behavior and recycling knowledge. Age is the most important sociodemographic factor influencing the public awareness of HSW recycling. White collar, residents with higher educational attainment, and those aged 20-50 years displayed less environmentally responsible behavior with regard to HSW treatment. Manual workers, those with lower educational attainment, those with higher monthly income, and older people tend to have poorer HSW recycling knowledge. White collar workers, those with higher educational attainment, and those with lower monthly income were less willing to participate in HSW recycling. Accordingly, measurements conducted amongst specific demographic categories are proposed to improve public awareness of HSW recycling. The scientific information provided by this study may contribute to HSW recycling especially from a public awareness perspective.

Fluorescent ABC-Triblock Polymer Nanocarrier for Cisplatin Delivery to Cancer Cells

Monitoring intracellular administration of non-luminescent anticancer drugs like cisplatin is a very challenging task in cancer research. Perylenebisimide (PBI) chromophore tagged fluorescent ABC-triblock polycaprolactone (PCL) nanoscaffold was engineered having carboxylic acid blocks for the chemical conjugation of cisplatin at the core and hydrophilic PEG blocks at the periphery. The amphiphilic ABC triblock Pt-prodrug was self-assembled into <200 nm nanoparticles and exhibited excellent shielding against drug detoxification by the glutathione (GSH) species in the cytosol. In vitro drug release studies confirmed that the Pt-prodrug was stable at extracellular conditions and the PCL block exclusively underwent lysosomal-enzymatic biodegradation at the intracellular level to release the cisplatin drug in the active-form for accomplishing more than 90% cell growth inhibition. Confocal microscopic imaging of the red-fluorescence signals from the perylene chromophores established the simultaneous monitoring and delivery aspects of the Pt-prodrug, and the proof-of-concept was successfully demonstrated in breast and cervical cancer cell lines.

The novel HLA-DRB1*13:306 allele, identified by sequencing-based typing in a Chinese individual

HLA-DRB1*13:306 differs from HLA-DRB1*13:02:01:01 in exon 2 in codon 84 by a single coding change.

Vehicle routing problem in cold Chain logistics: A joint distribution model with carbon trading mechanisms

Fierce competition and the mandate for green development have driven cold chain logistics companies to minimize total distribution costs and carbon emissions to gain a competitive advantage and achieve sustainable development. However, the cold chain logistics literature considers carbon trading mechanisms in sharing economy, namely the joint distribution, is limited. Our research builds a Joint Distribution-Green Vehicle Routing Problem (JD-GVRP) model, in which cold chain logistics companies collaborate among each other to deliver cold chain commodities by considering carbon tax policy. Based on the real business data from four cold chain companies and 28 customers, a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm is applied to optimize the model. The results indicate that joint distribution is an effective way to reduce total costs and carbon emissions when compared with the single distribution. The total cost is positively correlated with the carbon price, while the carbon emissions vary differently when the carbon price increases. In addition, carbon quotas have no effect on the delivery path. This research expands cold chain logistics literature by linking it with joint distribution and carbon trading mechanisms. Moreover, this research suggests that cold chain logistics companies could enhance delivery efficiency, reduce the business cost, and improve competitiveness by reinforcing the collaboration at the industry level. Furthermore, the government should advocate the mode of joint distribution and formulate an effective carbon trading policy to better utilize social and industrial resources to achieve the balanced economic and environmental benefits.

Combining climate, economic, and social policy builds public support for climate action in the US

Despite the gravity of the climate threat, governments around the world have struggled to pass and implement climate policies. Today, politicians and advocates are championing a new idea: linking climate policy to other economic and social reforms. Will this approach generate greater public support for climate action? Here, we test this coalition-building strategy. Using two conjoint experiments on a representative sample of 2,476 Americans, we evaluate the marginal impact of 40 different climate, social, and economic policies on support for climate reforms. Overall, we find climate policy bundles that include social and economic reforms such as affordable housing, a $15 minimum wage, or a job guarantee increase US public support for climate mitigation. Clean energy standards, regardless of which technologies are included, also make climate policy more popular. Linking climate policy to economic and social issues is particularly effective at expanding climate policy support among people of color.

Targets for a circular economy

The transition to a circular economy requires actions and policies. In the praxis of governance, a common way to steer the transition to a different state proceeds through the setting of targets. Thus far, no study has investigated circular economy targets in a systematic way. To bridge this gap, this study examines which targets can facilitate the transition towards a circular economy. The analysis focuses both on existing and new targets; the latter complement existing targets which are limited to a few discrete cases addressing only partially the goal of a more circular economy. A framework based on 10 common circular economy strategies (i.e. recover, recycling, repurpose, remanufacture, refurbish, repair, re-use, reduce, rethink, refuse) is applied to scrutinise the selected targets. The study clarifies that existing targets for recovery and recycling do not necessarily promote a circular economy, though they are the most commonly applied targets so far. Because of lack of efficacy of recovery and recycling, targets should instead favour other more powerful circular economy strategies. In relation to these, the study looks into new and existing targets showing how they can reduce waste, increase efficiency, close production loops, and maximise retention of the economic value of materials and products. In particular, the study proposes an expanded set of brand new targets for the transition to a circular economy together with a fresh view on targets aimed at scholars and decision-makers alike.

Getting Fit to Counteract Cognitive Aging: Evidence and Future Directions

Physical activity has shown tremendous promise for counteracting cognitive aging, but also tremendous variability in cognitive benefits. We describe evidence for how exercise affects cognitive and brain aging, and whether cardiorespiratory fitness is a key factor. We highlight a brain network framework as a valuable paradigm for the mechanistic insight needed to tailor physical activity for cognitive benefits.

Takotsubo Syndrome: A Review of Presentation, Diagnosis and Management

Takotsubo Syndrome (TTS) is a condition of transient left ventricular dysfunction that is typically triggered by emotional or physical stress. Since first described in Japan in 1990, it has increasingly been recognised in clinical practice, accounting for up to 2% of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) presentations. In fact, the clinical presentation can be indistinguishable from a myocardial infarction. Although current evidence suggests a catecholamine induced myocardial stunning, the pathophysiological mechanisms remain unknown. Interestingly, it is more common in woman, particularly those who are post-menopausal. This review aims to summarise the current research and provide an overview of the diagnostic strategies and treatment options.

Evaluation of the exposure risk of SARS-CoV-2 in different hospital environment

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has imposed a significant impact on social and economic activities. As a high infectious pathogen, the existence of SARS-CoV-2 in public space is very important for its transmission. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals are the main places to deal with the diseases. In this work, we evaluated the exposure risk of SARS-CoV-2 in hospital environment in order to protect healthcare workers (HCWs). Briefly, air and surface samples from 6 different sites of 3 hospitals with different protection levels were collected and tested for the SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid by reverse transcription real-time fluorescence PCR method during the COVID-19 epidemic. We found that the positive rate of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid was 7.7 % in a COVID-19 respiratory investigation wards and 82.6 % in a ICUs with confirmed COVID-19 patients. These results indicated that in some wards of the hospital, such as ICUs occupied by COVID-19 patients, the nucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 existed in the air and surface, which indicates the potential occupational exposure risk of HCWs. This study has clarified retention of SARS-CoV-2 in different sites of hospital, suggesting that it is necessary to monitor and disinfect the SARS-CoV-2 in hospital environment during COVID-19 pandemic, and will help to prevent the iatrogenic infection and nosocomial transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and to better protect the HCWs.

Creativity as a mediator between personal accomplishment and task performance: A multigroup analysis based on gender during the COVID-19 pandemic

The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is not only a health crisis but also a social crisis that affects all people and all parts of society from various perspectives. Effective management of the emotional and psychosocial effects of the pandemic is a critical issue for individuals and societies. In this study, the mediating role of creativity on the relationship between personal accomplishment and task performance was examined during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, a gender-based comparison analysis was performed to extend the analysis results. Survey-based research data were collected from 322 people working in different sectors. Partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze research data. The results indicated that personal accomplishment had a significant positive effect on both creativity and task performance. Also, it was found that creativity had a mediating role in the relationship between personal accomplishment and task performance. Lastly, the gender-based multigroup analysis (MGA) revealed a significant difference between male and female participants with respect to the relationship between personal accomplishment and task performance, between creativity and task performance, between personal accomplishment and task performance through creativity.

Sustainable supplier selection: A novel integrated fuzzy best worst method (F-BWM) and fuzzy CoCoSo with Bonferroni (CoCoSo'B) multi-criteria model

In sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), triple bottom line (TBL) of sustainability (economic, social, and environmental) are considered when selecting the suppliers. In this paper, the relative weights of SSCM practices are extracted by fuzzy best worst method (F-BWM) which is capable of better modeling of human thinking. Afterwards, the traditional Combined Compromise Solution (CoCoSo) method is enhanced by the integration of the normalized weighted and the normalized weighted geometric Bonferroni mean functions to select the most proper supplier in a supply chain. The integration of the Bonferroni functions into the CoCoSo method (CoCoSo'B) enables: (1) flexible decision-making respecting the interaction between decision attributes; (2) the elimination of the influence of extreme/awkward data on the values of the criterion functions, and (3) checking the robustness of the results through a variation of the parameters lambda, p, and q. Testing the model on the example of sustainable supplier selection demonstrates the rationality, objectivity, flexibility, and stability of the results of the proposed model. Further, the proposed framework makes it possible to evaluate suppliers in terms of sustainability in spite of ambiguities in the decision-making process and a lack of quantitative information. Finally, a real world example of home appliance manufacturer in Serbia is discussed to verify the proposed model applicability. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Membranes for zinc-air batteries: Recent progress, challenges and perspectives

Rechargeable Zinc (Zn)-air batteries are considered to be very attractive candidates for large-scale electricity storage due to their high volumetric energy density, high safety, economic feasibility and environmental friendliness. In Zn-air batteries, the membrane allows the transport of OH- ions between the air electrode and the Zn electrode while providing a physical barrier between the two electrodes in order to prevent electrical short circuits. The performance of this battery is greatly affected by the physicochemical properties of the employed membrane. However, the development of appropriate membranes has received insufficient attention. In this paper, an overview of recent developments and a critical discussion of the state-of-the-art studies focusing on membranes for Zn-air batteries are provided. The membranes are classified in seven categories, which are discussed in light of their structure, properties and performances in Zn-air battery. Moreover, membrane synthesis and modification strategies to minimize the crossover of zincate ions and formation/growth of Zn-dendrites are presented. Finally, the remaining key challenges related to the membranes and the most promising future research directions are provided. The main objective of this work is to provide guidance for researchers and industries for the selection and development of appropriate membranes with the ultimate goal of commercializing rechargeable Zn-air batteries.

Flexible environmental policy, technological innovation and sustainable development of China's industry: The moderating effect of environment regulatory enforcement

How to rely on market mechanism for achieving industrial sustainable development is an important issue both to current scholars and policymakers. Technological innovation is regarded as a mediator to construct a driving mechanism that flexible environmental policy affects sustainable development from the "narrow" perspective of Porter's hypothesis. Meanwhile, environment regulatory enforcement is introduced as a moderator to explore the institutional scenario that drives sustainable development of China's industry. Then we have adopted industrial panel data of 30 provinces in 2006-2015 and employed the sys-GMM method for empirical test. The findings show that: (1) flexible environmental policy can significantly facilitate industrial sustainable development. (2) Flexible environmental policy has a significantly positive impact on technological innovation. Meanwhile, technological innovation is significantly and positively related to industrial sustainable development, and technological innovation partially mediates the relationship between flexible environmental policy and industrial sustainable development. (3) Environment regulatory enforcement positively moderates the relationship between flexible environmental policy and technological innovation. However, it has a potentially positive but not significant moderating impact on the relationship between technological innovation and industrial sustainable development, indicating that there is still an "implementation gap". (4) From a regional point of view, technological innovation has partly mediating effects between flexible environmental policy and industrial sustainable development in the eastern and western regions, and environmental regulatory enforcement can positively moderate the role of flexible environmental policy in promoting technological innovation in the eastern region. Finally, this paper puts forward the policy implications. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Autophagy mediates the clearance of oligodendroglial SNCA/alpha-synuclein and TPPP/p25A in multiple system atrophy models

Accumulation of the neuronal protein SNCA/alpha-synuclein and of the oligodendroglial phosphoprotein TPPP/p25A within the glial cytoplasmic inclusions (GCIs) represents the key histophathological hallmark of multiple system atrophy (MSA). Even though the levels/distribution of both oligodendroglial SNCA and TPPP/p25A proteins are critical for disease pathogenesis, the proteolytic mechanisms involved in their turnover in health and disease remain poorly understood. Herein, by pharmacological and molecular modulation of the autophagy-lysosome pathway (ALP) and the proteasome we demonstrate that the endogenous oligodendroglial SNCA and TPPP/p25A are degraded mainly by the ALP in murine primary oligodendrocytes and oligodendroglial cell lines under basal conditions. We also identify a KFERQ-like motif in the TPPP/p25A sequence that enables its effective degradation via chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) in an in vitro system of rat brain lysosomes. Furthermore, in a MSA-like setting established by addition of human recombinant SNCA pre-formed fibrils (PFFs) as seeds of pathological SNCA, we thoroughly characterize the contribution of CMA and macroautophagy in particular, in the removal of the exogenously added and the seeded oligodendroglial SNCA pathological assemblies. We also show that PFF treatment impairs autophagic flux and that TPPP/p25A exerts an inhibitory effect on macroautophagy, while at the same time CMA is upregulated to remove the pathological SNCA species formed within oligodendrocytes. Finally, augmentation of CMA or macroautophagy accelerates the removal of the engendered pathological SNCA conformations further suggesting that autophagy targeting may represent a successful approach for the clearance of pathological SNCA and/or TPPP/p25A in the context of MSA.Abbreviations: 3MA: 3-methyladenine; ACTB: actin, beta; ALP: autophagy-lysosome pathway; ATG5: autophagy related 5; AR7: atypical retinoid 7; CMA: chaperone-mediated autophagy; CMV: cytomegalovirus; CTSD: cathepsin D; DAPI: 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole; DMEM: Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; Epox: epoxomicin; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; GCIs: glial cytoplasmic inclusions; GFP: green fluorescent protein; HMW: high molecular weight; h: hours; HSPA8/HSC70: heat shock protein 8; LAMP1: lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1; LAMP2A: lysosomal-associated membrane protein 2A; MAP1LC3/LC3: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3; mcherry: monomeric cherry; MFI: mean fluorescence intensity; mRFP: monomeric red fluorescent protein; MSA: multiple system atrophy; OLN: oligodendrocytes; OPCs: oligodendroglial progenitor cells; PBS: phosphate-buffered saline; PC12: pheochromocytoma cell line; PD: Parkinson disease; PFFs: pre-formed fibrils; PIs: protease inhibitors; PSMB5: proteasome (prosome, macropain) subunit, beta type 5; Rap: rapamycin; RFP: red fluorescent protein; Scr: scrambled; SDS: sodium dodecyl sulfate; SE: standard error; siRNAs: small interfering RNAs; SNCA: synuclein, alpha; SQSTM1: sequestosome 1; TPPP: tubulin polymerization promoting protein; TUBA: tubulin, alpha; UPS: ubiquitin-proteasome system; WT: wild type.

Procyanidin A1 alleviates DSS-induced ulcerative colitis via regulating AMPK/mTOR/p70S6K-mediated autophagy

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a recurrent chronic inflammatory disease. The symptom of UC is mainly diarrhea including bloody stools. Increasing evidence has suggested that procyanidin A1 (PCA1) exerts an anti-inflammatory effect in several diseases. However, the role of PCA1 in UC is still a mystery. In our study, we explored the effect of PCA1 in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced UC mice and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated HT-29 and IEC-6 cells. Then, cell proliferation, apoptosis, the production of proinflammatory cytokines, and autophagy-related markers were determined. Furthermore, the AMPK/mTOR/p70S6K signaling pathway was assayed by Western blot assay. In in vivo study, we found that PCA1 administration alleviated DSS-induced UC, as evidenced by reducing weight loss, clinical scores, colon weight/length ratio, histological damage, proinflammatory cytokines, and apoptosis. Moreover, we showed that the expression of Beclin-1 and LC3II/I ratio was increased, whereas the level of p62 was decreased after PCA1 treatment in vivo. Meanwhile, the reduced AMP/ATP ratio, enhanced expression of p-AMPK, and decreased p-p70S6K and p-mTOR levels indicate the activation of AMPK/mTOR/p70S6K signaling pathway. In in vitro study, PCA1 promoted cell proliferation and inhibited cell apoptosis in LPS-stimulated HT-29 and IEC-6 cells. Pro-inflammatory cytokines and autophagy-related factors exhibited the same trend as in in vivo results. Mechanically, PCA1 activated the AMPK/mTOR/p70S6K signaling pathway. The treatment with an AMPK inhibitor compound C significantly reversed the anti-inflammatory effect of PCA1 in LPS-stimulated cells. Taken together, these data indicated that PCA1 alleviated UC through induction of AMPK/mTOR/p70S6K-mediated autophagy.

Study on the interactive influence between economic growth and environmental pollution

With the rapid growth of economy, the environmental pollution problem is becoming increasingly prominent. How to promote the coordinated and balanced development of economy and environment is a strategic problem of great significance that we face urgently. Taking Wuhan City of China as the research object, this paper selects the key indexes of economic growth and environmental pollution and studies the interactive influence between economic growth and environmental pollution in Wuhan. On the one hand, the impact of Wuhan's economic growth on environmental pollution is analyzed by the proposed time-delay correlation analysis method and the time-delay EKC (Environment Kuznets Curve) models. On the other hand, the impact of Wuhan's environmental pollution on environmental growth is studied. By establishing the LARS-LASSO (least angle regression-least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) regression model and the stepwise regression model, the main factors affecting economic growth in preliminary environmental pollution indexes are analyzed, and then, an interaction model is established to study the impact of the interaction between any two main environmental factors on economic growth. The results of empirical analysis show that the main factors affecting economic growth are industrial wastewater emissions, industrial waste gas emissions, and industrial smoke and dust emissions, and the interaction between industrial waste gas emissions and industrial wastewater emissions restrains economic growth.

Site selection of wind farms using GIS and multi-criteria decision making method in Wafangdian, China

Site selection is one of the most significant decision making activities for development of wind energy resource. In this study, a novel method integrating Geographic Information System (GIS), interval Analytic Hierarchy Process (IAHP) and stochastic VIKOR was proposed to tackle site selection issue of wind farms in the Wafangdian region, China. Two major factors, i.e. biodiversity conservation and production safety, were utilized to determine feasible areas. Afterwards, the weight of evaluation criteria, including the social impact, economic benefit, terrain and eco-environment protection, were identified by using IAHP. Finally, the suitability indexes of various alternatives were calculated by stochastic VIKOR and their ranking was used to determine high-suitability areas for wind farm locations. The obtained results indicated that 30.2% of studied region were suitable for installing the wind-power facilities, but only 3.36% were determined to be highly suitable. By comparing the optimized results to the actual locations of existing wind farms, it was revealed that the ideological framework of this study were practical and effective in guiding site selection of wind farms, and they were also useful for applications in site selection of other renewable energy forms involving complex spatial analysis and multiple criteria evaluation, including solar, hydroelectric, geothermal and biomass. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Battery-Driven N2 Electrolysis Enabled by High-Entropy Catalysts: From Theoretical Prediction to Prototype Model

A small-scale standalone device of nitrogen (N2 ) splitting holds great promise for producing ammonia (NH3 ) in a decentralized manner as the compensation or replacement of centralized Haber-Bosch process. However, the design of such a device has been impeded by sluggish kinetics of its half reactions, i.e., cathodic N2 reduction reaction (NRR) and anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here, it is predicted from density function theory that high-entropy oxides (HEOs) are potential catalysts for promoting NRR and OER, and subsequently develop a facile procedure to synthesize HEOs in the morphology of sea urchin-shaped hollow nanospheres assembled from ultrathin nanosheets. The excellent electrocatalytic activities of HEOs for both NRR (NH3 yield rate: 47.58 µg h-1 mg-1 and Faradaic efficiency (FE): 10.74%) and OER (215 mV @10 mA cm-2 ) are demonstrated. Consequently, a prototype device of N2 electrolysis driven by commercial batteries is constructed, which can operate smoothly and deliver remarkable NH3 yield rate (41.11 µg h-1 mg-1 ) and FE (14.14%). Further mechanism study has attributed the excellent catalytic performances of HEOs to their unique electronic structures originated from multi-metal synergistic effects and entropy increase effects. The work will provide new clues for designing versatile catalysts and devices for large-scale industrialization.

Entrepreneurship as the Unsung Hero during the Current COVID-19 Economic Crisis: Australian Perspectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had a significant and catastrophic effect on business and economies globally, but has identified the external and internal enablement of new venture creation. This paper aims to provide entrepreneurship insights, implementations and dynamics to demonstrate the role of entrepreneurship in times of such adversity within an Australian context. We provide emergent enquiry narratives from leading Australian scholars, identifying entrepreneurial initiatives as a catalyst to new venture creation and growth. Narratives include insights associated with the entrepreneurial mindset, the multidimensional effects of resilience and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship enablers and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Opportunities for further research are identified, particularly regarding context and empirical outcomes. We postulate that entrepreneurship may well be the unsung hero during the current COVID-19 economic crisis.

Does electricity consumption and globalization increase pollutant emissions? Implications for environmental sustainability target for China

Giving that People's Republic of China is one of the two new frontiers of globalization, the country has continued to contend with the bottleneck of sustaining its economic growth amidst environmental hiccups arising from the drawbacks of globalization and energy consumption. By investigating the challenges of the country's drive toward environmental sustainability, the present study offers a new perspective on the role of electricity consumption and economic growth in a carbon-income function setting. This study also incorporates globalization into CO2 emissions equation for the experimental period of 1970-2014. Stationarity properties were ascertained by the Zivot and Andrew unit root test under a single structural break. Subsequently, the recent and novel combined cointegration test of Bayer and Hanck (2013) in conjunction with the Pesaran bounds testing approach is used to establish a cointegration relationship among the selected variables. Finally, the modified Wald test of the Toda-Yamamoto Granger causality test is employed to detect the direction of causality flows among the variables. Empirical piece of evidence finds a statistically positive correlation between electricity consumption and economic growth as seen in the long-run regression. This result is also affirmed by the Granger causality test. The test corroborates with the electricity-induced growth hypothesis in the case of China. However, there is an environmental trade-off, as more electricity consumptions spur increased carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). Our study finds empirical support that globalization reduced pollutant emissions in both the short and long run over our sampled period. Based on these results and outcomes, several policy prescriptions on the energy-income and environment nexus are renders for policymakers. Among such policy recommendations are (a) the need for the diversification of the Chinese energy mix to cleaner energy sources and renewables and (b) the need for decarbonization and adoption of carbon capturing and storage technologies.

Industry 4.0 sustainable supply chains: An application of an IoT enabled scrap metal management solution

The fourth industrial revolution and the digitisation of supply chains have led companies to realize that the adoption of Industry 4.0/Internet of Things (IoT) solutions creates opportunities for more sustainable management. The sustainable management of scrap metal is a challenging task for all the organisations that participate in the supply chain and especially for scrap metal producers and waste management companies. Although metals are considered to be infinitely recycled, scrap metal management is often inefficient due to several factors including collection processes, communication and marketplace limitations, which have significant environmental and economic impacts. The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of the impact of an IoT solution on the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) performance. A case study from a scrap metal producer that operates in the lift industry and a waste management company is presented, in order to illustrate how the deployment of a state-of-the-art industry 4.0 solution has the potential to improve sustainability both in the firm level and in the supply chain level. Direct benefits of the introduced solution are the automation of monitoring and negotiation procedures for the produced scrap metal. Indirectly, the proposed solution is beneficial in terms of CO2 emissions' reduction, resources availability and response time optimization. The results validate the framework for assessing SSCM for Industry 4.0 developed by Manavalan and Jayakrishna (2019) and demonstrate that Industry 4.0 solutions have the potential to improve, among others, the economic, environmental and social sustainability in supply chain management. The present study contributes to the literature by bridging the gap between theoretical developments and real-world cases in the fields of industry 4.0 and SSCM. Managerial implications, limitations and future research opportunities are also provided. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of 3-month follow-up of patients with postacute COVID-19 syndrome

In addition to the highly variable clinical presentation of acute COVID-19 infection, it can also cause various postacute signs and symptoms. This study aimed to evaluate patients with postacute COVID-19 over 12 weeks of follow-up. The study included 151 patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 by real-time polymerase chain reaction of a nasopharyngeal swab 1 month earlier, had radiologic findings consistent with COVID-19 pneumonia, and presented to the post-COVID-19 outpatient clinic between May and August 2021. The patients were divided into three groups based on COVID-19 severity: nonsevere pneumonia (Group 1), severe pneumonia (Group 2), and severe pneumonia requiring intensive care (Group 3). Evaluation of laboratory parameters at 4 and 12 weeks showed that Group 3 had a higher lactose dehydrogenase (LDH) level and a lower mean platelet volume than the other groups at both time points (p = 0.001 for all). Group 3 also had lower percent predicted forced vital capacity (FVC%), percent predicted forced expiration volume in 1 s (FEV1%), and percent predicted diffusion capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide divided by alveolar volume (DLCO/VA%) compared to Groups 1 and 2 at Week 4 (p = 0.001, 0.004, 0.001, respectively) and compared to Group 1 at 12 weeks (p = 0.002, 0.03, 0.001, respectively). Patients with persistent dyspnea at 12 weeks had significantly lower FEV1%, FVC%, DLCO/VA%, and saturation levels in room air and significantly higher LDH, pro-BNP, D-dimer, and heart rate compared to those without dyspnea (p = 0.001 for all). Although the lungs are most commonly affected after COVID-19 infection, vascular and endothelial damage also causes multisystem involvement. Our study indicates that laboratory values, radiological signs, and pulmonary functional capacity improved in most patients after 12 weeks of follow-up.

Zero-waste approach in municipal solid waste incineration: Reuse of bottom ash to stabilize fly ash

In this paper a simple method for all waste recovery through municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) is presented. For the first time, MSWI fly ash (FA) is treated using MSWI bottom ash (BA), which is considered as a new urban mining source due to its pozzolanic characteristics. The proposed technology involves mixing these ashes with two other components: flue gas desulphurization residue and coal fly ash. Thermal annealing at a low temperature (120 degrees C for 4 h) can also be performed, to accelerate some reactions, but it is not necessary for stabilization. The efficacy of the process is demonstrated by the comparison of elemental concentrations in leaching solutions that are detected in the untreated ashes and the obtained stabilized materials, which show the reduced solubility of leachable Zn and Pb (with respect to the starting MSWI FA). The chemical, morphological, and structural characterization of the obtained materials makes it possible to propose and discuss a stabilization mechanism, which was attributed to carbonation and formation of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H). In particular, for the stabilized sample, X-ray Diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of calcite, whereas the sample morphology shows some fibrils that may be due to amorphous C-S-H with a Ca/Si ratio that is slightly smaller than 1.5. Because the proposed method employs wastes produced at the same location, it is reasonable to conclude that the method may be directly applied to incinerator plants due to the simplification of the MSWI FA waste management strategy, which generally involves its transport and stabilization treatment before landfilling. Finally the saved carbon dioxide emissions and the economic benefits that are a result of the new urban mining proposed approach have been evaluated for Europe. In particular the avoid of MSWI FA landfilling was evaluated to save approximately 1.6 M(sic)/day, and the saved carbon dioxide emissions introduced into the atmosphere is approximately 960 kt/year. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cooperative breeding and the emergence of multilevel societies in birds

Multilevel societies (MLSs), where social levels are hierarchically nested within each other, are considered one of the most complex forms of animal societies. Although thought to mainly occurs in mammals, it is suggested that MLSs could be under-detected in birds. Here, we propose that the emergence of MLSs could be common in cooperatively breeding birds, as both systems are favoured by similar ecological and social drivers. We first investigate this proposition by systematically comparing evidence for multilevel social structure in cooperative and non-cooperative birds in Australia and New Zealand, a global hotspot for cooperative breeding. We then analyse non-breeding social networks of cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) to reveal their structured multilevel society, with three hierarchical social levels that are stable across years. Our results confirm recent predictions that MLSs are likely to be widespread in birds and suggest that these societies could be particularly common in cooperatively breeding birds.

The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies

A century ago, foundational work by Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe described a 'pecking order' in chicken societies, where individuals could be ordered according to their ability to exert their influence over their group-mates. Now known as dominance hierarchies, these structures have been shown to influence a plethora of individual characteristics and outcomes, situating dominance research as a pillar of the study of modern social ecology and evolution. Here, we first review some of the major questions that have been answered about dominance hierarchies in the last 100 years. Next, we introduce the contributions to this theme issue and summarize how they provide ongoing insight in the epistemology, physiology and neurobiology, hierarchical structure, and dynamics of dominance. These contributions employ the full range of research approaches available to modern biologists. Cross-cutting themes emerging from these contributions include a focus on cognitive underpinnings of dominance, the application of network-analytical approaches, and the utility of experimental rank manipulations for revealing causal relationships. Reflection on the last 100 years of dominance research reveals how Schjelderup-Ebbe's early ideas and the subsequent research helped drive a shift from an essentialist view of species characteristics to the modern recognition of rich inter-individual variation in social, behavioural and physiological phenotypes. This article is part of the theme issue 'The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies'.

Short interval intracortical inhibition: Variability of amplitude and threshold-tracking measurements with 6 or 10 stimuli per point

Reduced short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) in motor neuron disease has been demonstrated by amplitude changes (A-SICI) and threshold-tracking (T-SICI) using 10 stimuli per inter-stimulus interval (ISI). To test whether fewer stimuli would suffice, A-SICI and T-SICI were recorded twice from 30 healthy subjects using 6 and 10 stimuli per ISI. Using fewer stimuli increased mean A-SICI variances by 23.8% but the 7.3% increase in T-SICI variance was not significant. We conclude that our new parallel threshold-tracking SICI protocol, with 6 stimuli per ISI, can reduce time and stimulus numbers by 40% without appreciable loss of accuracy.

Epidemiological Aspects and Psychological Reactions to COVID-19 of Dental Practitioners in the Northern Italy Districts of Modena and Reggio Emilia

The outbreak and diffusion of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (Sars-CoV-2) and COronaVIrus Disease 19 (COVID-19) have caused an emergency status in the health system, including in the dentistry environment. Italy registered the third highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world and the second highest in Europe. An anonymous online survey composed of 40 questions has been sent to dentists practicing in the area of Modena and Reggio Emilia, one of the areas in Italy most affected by COVID-19. The survey was aimed at highlighting the practical and emotional consequences of COVID-19 emergence on daily clinical practice. Specifically, it assessed dentists' behavioral responses, emotions and concerns following the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic restrictive measures introduced by the Italian national administrative order of 10 March 2020 (DM-10M20), as well as the dentists' perception of infection likelihood for themselves and patients. Furthermore, the psychological impact of COVID-19 was assessed by means of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 test (GAD-7), that measures the presence and severity of anxiety symptoms. Using local dental associations (ANDI-Associazione Nazionale Dentisti Italiani, CAO-Commissione Albo Odontoiatri) lists, the survey was sent by email to all dentists in the district of Modena and Reggio Emilia (874 practitioners) and was completed by 356 of them (40%). All dental practitioners closed or reduced their activity to urgent procedures, 38.2% prior to and 61.8% after the DM-10M20. All reported a routinely use of the most common protective personal equipment (PPE), but also admitted that the use of PPE had to be modified during COVID-19 pandemic. A high percentage of patients canceled their previous appointments after the DM-10M20. Almost 85% of the dentists reported being worried of contracting the infection during clinical activity. The results of the GAD-7 (General Anxiety Disorder-7) evaluation showed that 9% of respondents reported a severe anxiety. To conclude, the COVID-19 emergency is having a highly negative impact on the activity of dentists practicing in the area of Modena and Reggio Emilia. All respondents reported practice closure or strong activity reduction. The perception of this negative impact was accompanied by feelings of concern (70.2%), anxiety (46.4%) and fear (42.4%). The majority of them (89.6%) reported concerns about their professional future and the hope for economic measures to help dental practitioners.

Task demands moderate the effect of emotion on attentional capture

The current experiment examined the effect of task demands on attention to emotional images. Eighty participants viewed pairs of images, with each pair consisting of an emotional (negative or positive) and a neutral image, or two neutral images. Participants' eye movements were recorded during picture viewing, and participants were either asked (1) which picture contains more colour? (colour task), (2) are the images equally pleasant? (pleasantness task), (3) which picture do you prefer? (preference task), or (4) were given no task instructions (control task). Although the results did not suggest that emotional images strongly captured attention, emotional images were looked at earlier than neutral images. Importantly, the pattern of results was dependent on the task instructions; while the preference and colour task conditions showed early attentional biases to emotional images, only positive images were looked at earlier in the pleasantness task condition, and no early attentional biases were observed in the control task. Moreover, total fixation duration was increased for positive images in the preference task condition, but not in the other task conditions. It was concluded that attention to emotional stimuli can be modified by the demands of the task during viewing. However, further research should consider additional factors, such as the cognitive load of the viewing tasks and the content of the images used.

Ensemble learning-based structural health monitoring by Mahalanobis distance metrics

Environmental variability is still a major challenge in structural health monitoring. Due to the similarity of changes caused by environmental variations to damage, false positive and false negative errors are prevalent in detecting damage that cause serious economic and safety issues. To address this challenge and its disadvantages, this article proposes a novel ensemble learning-based method in a nongenerative sequential algorithm for structural health monitoring under varying environmental conditions by three kinds of Mahalanobis distance metrics in three main levels. At each level, one attempts to find a few and adequate nearest neighbors of each feature to remove environmental variability via an innovative approach. The major contribution of this article is to develop a novel data-based method by the concepts of ensemble learning and unsupervised learning. The great advantages of the proposed method include developing a nonparametric data-based framework without estimating any unknown parameter, dealing with the negative effects of environmental variability, improving the performance of Mahalanobis distance, and increasing damage detectability. The performance and effectiveness of this method are validated by modal features of two real bridge structures along with several comparisons. Results demonstrate that the proposed ensemble learning-based method highly succeeds in detecting damage under environmental variability, and it is superior to some state-of-the-art techniques.

Giant Multilocular Prostatic Cystadenoma in a 14-Year-Old Male: A Case Report of a Pediatric Pelvic Mass

Giant multilocular prostatic cystadenoma (GMC) is an extremely rare, benign tumor seen in both adult and pediatric males. The neoplasm originates from prostatic tissue and is typically found within the rectovesical pouch, varying in both size and morphology. Microscopically, GMC contains both glandular and cystic prostatic tissue lined by cuboidal and columnar epithelium. Symptoms often arise once the pelvic mass begins to obstruct the surrounding structures and organs, although invasion into surrounding tissue is unlikely. Common symptoms include abdominal pain, urinary retention, and dysuria. The standard treatment for GMC is surgical removal of the mass with good outcomes and only 1 known case of recurrence. Here we present the case of a 14-year-old male with GMC-the youngest patient reported to date-who presented with abdominal pain, difficulty voiding, and hydroureteronephrosis.

Supply chain resilience in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic: A resource orchestration perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to global operations and supply chains. While the huge impact of the pandemic has nurtured important literature over the last couple of years, little is being said about the role of resource orchestration in supporting resilience in highly disruptive contexts. Thus, this study aims to this knowledge gap by proposing an original model to explore supply chain resilience (SCRE) antecedents, considering supply chain alertness (SCAL) as a central point to support resilience. This study focuses on the resource orchestration theory (ROT) to design a conceptual model. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) served to validate the model, exploring data from the UK supply chain decision-makers. The study reveals a number of both expected and unexpected findings. These include the evidence that supply chain disruption orientation (SCDO) has a strong positive effect on the SCAL. In addition, SCAL plays a strong positive effect in resource reconfiguration (RREC), supply chain efficiency (SCEF) and SCRE. We further identified a partial mediation effect of RREC on the relationship between SCAL and SCRE. Surprisingly, it appeared that SCAL strongly influences SCEF, while SCEF itself does not create any significant effect on SCRE. For managers and practitioners, the importance of resource orchestration as a decisive approach to adequately respond to huge disruptions is clearly highlighted by our results. Finally, this paper helps to grasp better how important resource orchestration in operations and supply chains remains for appropriate responses to high disruptions such as the COVID-19 impacts.

Exploring the nonlinear association between environmental regulation and carbon intensity in China: The mediating effect of green technology

Environmental regulation and green technology are important to mitigate global warming, whereas few studies explored the role of green technology in environmental regulation on carbon intensity. This paper systematically reviews the literature on the relationship among environmental regulation, green technology, and carbon intensity, and assumes that green technology is a potential mediator of the impact of environmental regulation on carbon intensity. The advanced SBM model and the factor analysis method were performed to measure the relationships. To explore the mediating effect of green technology, the two-step econometric model and the nonlinear mediating effect model were applied to a panel dataset of 30 provinces in China spanning the period 2005-2016. The results show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and green technology, and a U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and carbon intensity. Green technology has a significant negative impact on carbon intensity. This proves that green technology is an important mediating variable on the relationship between environmental regulation and carbon intensity. Moreover, the current environmental regulation intensity lies before the inflection point of both the inverted Ushaped and the U-shaped curves. The effects of environmental regulation on green technology and carbon intensity in developed and developing regions follow an inverted U-shaped, and a U-shaped curve, respectively. Furthermore, the mediating effect in developing regions is significantly larger than that in developed regions. Finally, policy implications are given to reduce carbon intensity.

Application of life cycle analysis to assess environmental sustainability of wheat cultivation in the west of Iran

Today, intensive use of energy sources leads to environmental damages such as global warming and resources depletion. Hence, this study provided energy, environmental and economic overview of wheat cultivation in Hamedan province, Iran. The initial data were collected from 75 wheat farms applying face-to-face interview technique. The prepared data related to the 2017-2018 production cycle. The energy analysis results demonstrated that the total energy consumption and output energy in wheat cultivation were 43054.63 MJ ha(-1) and 117407.13 MJ ha(-1), respectively. Energy productivity, energy use efficiency and net energy gain were computed as 0.12 kg MJ(-1), 2.73 and 74352.50 MJ ha(-1), respectively. Economic analysis showed that total value and cost of wheat production were 854.86 $ ha(-1) and 366.57 $ ha(-1), respectively. Net return was 488.29 $ ha(-1) and benefit to cost ratio computed as 2.33 in the investigated region. Wheat environmental impacts were evaluated by applying life cycle assessment methodology. Results of environmental impacts showed the largest emissions were related to marine aquatic ecotoxicity (319757.6377 kg 1,4-DB (eq).), abiotic depletion (fossil fuels) (6673.1319 MJ) and global warming potential (624.2944 kg CO2 (eq).). Electricity was a hotspot in abiotic depletion (fossil fuels), global warming potential, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, ozone layer depletion and photochemical oxidation impact categories. Cumulative exergy demand results indicated that the rates of non-renewable fossil (7088.05 MJ ha(-1)) for wheat farms mainly resulted from electricity and nitrogen fertilizer. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Distribution of COVID-19 Morbidity Rate in Association with Social and Economic Factors in Wuhan, China: Implications for Urban Development

Social and economic factors relate to the prevention and control of infectious diseases. The purpose of this paper was to assess the distribution of COVID-19 morbidity rate in association with social and economic factors and discuss the implications for urban development that help to control infectious diseases. This study was a cross-sectional study. In this study, social and economic factors were classified into three dimensions: built environment, economic activities, and public service status. The method applied in this study was the spatial regression analysis. In the 13 districts in Wuhan, the spatial regression analysis was applied. The results showed that: 1) increasing population density, construction land area proportion, value-added of tertiary industry per unit of land area, total retail sales of consumer goods per unit of land area, public green space density, aged population density were associated with an increased COVID-19 morbidity rate due to the positive characteristics of estimated coefficients of these variables. 2) increasing average building scale, GDP per unit of land area, and hospital density were associated with a decreased COVID-19 morbidity rate due to the negative characteristics of estimated coefficients of these variables. It was concluded that it is possible to control infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, by adjusting social and economic factors. We should guide urban development to improve human health.

Comparative economic and life cycle assessment of solar-based hydrogen production for oil and gas industries

Hydrogen is used in the petroleum industry to upgrade crude oil in refineries or as a chemical agent to produce ammonia, methanol and other products. It is mainly supplied by conventional production methods based on fossil fuels. Solar-based hydrogen production is a potentially advantageous option to the problems of climate change and depletion of conventional fuel supplies. Four hydrogen production pathways including steam methane reforming, coal gasification, photovoltaic and solar thermal electrolysis are considered in this study. This paper investigates solar hydrogen potential in terms of cost and emissions as a replacement for conventional methods to provide the hydrogen required in oil and gas industries. GHG abatement costs are evaluated to compare the proposed methods with a reference method. As steam methane reforming is the most common method used in the petroleum industry, it is considered as the reference method in this study. Our results show that the GHG abatement costs are $0.786/kg CO2 and $1.37/kg CO2 for PV and solar thermal electrolysis, respectively. An uncertainty analysis is also conducted to assess the effects of variations of different parameters on the results. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantifying the green view indicator for assessing urban greening quality: An analysis based on Internet-crawling street view data

The quality and aesthetic ecosystem services of urban green spaces can be assessed by green view (GV), which is an indicator to quantify the percentage of green area visually sensed by human eyes. There are several case studies on estimating GV at city-scale, however, the relationship between GV values and socio-economic & morphologic profiles of cities was rarely discussed. In this work, we analyzed the GV values and their potentially influential factors by adopting an internet data crawling approach, obtaining 36,654 panoramic Street View images from Baidu Map, in the urban zones at the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration (PRDUA), China. We calculated the GV value of each panoramic image using MATLAB 2015a, extracting the value of the hue channel from the digital image and then calculating pixel ratio according the color spectrum. Results show that: (1) The overall GV in PRDUA is 11.3 +/- 7.5%, lower than the cases of the developed countries; (2) More green could be sensed on the streets at the old central districts and the central business district in the cities in PRDUA; (3) The GV value is positively affected by public revenue per unit area, but is uncorrelated to green space coverage ratio, at the district-level. It indicates that an improved design and increasing monetary investment of urban green space may obtain higher people-oriented green quantity in cities. These findings can be useful for drafting more appropriate urban green space planning policies regarding the green view.

The BCH message banking process™, voice banking, and double-dipping™

Significant advances have been made in interventions to maintain communication and personhood for individuals with neurodegenerative conditions. One innovation is Message Banking, a clinical approach first developed at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH). This paper outlines the Message Banking process as implemented at BCH, which includes the option of "Double Dipping," where banked messages are mined to develop personalized synthesized voices. More than a decade of experience has led to the evolution of six core principles underpinning the BCH process, resulting in a structured introduction of the associated concepts and practices with people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and their families. These principles highlight the importance of assigning ownership and control of the process to individuals with ALS and their families, ensuring that as a tool it is empowering and offers hope. Changes have been driven by feedback from individuals who have participated in the BCH process over many years. The success of the process has recently been extended through partnerships that allow the recorded messages to be used to develop individual personalized synthetic voices to complement banked messages. While the process of banking messages is technically relatively simple, the full value of the process should be underpinned by the values and principles outlined in this tutorial.

Sesamol prevents mitochondrial impairment and pro-inflammatory alterations in the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells: role for Nrf2

Mitochondria are a primary source and a target of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Increased mitochondrial production of ROS is associated with bioenergetics decline, cell death, and inflammation. Here we investigated whether a pretreatment (for 24 h) with sesamol (SES; at 12.5-50 µM) would be efficient in preventing the mitochondrial collapse induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, at 300 µM) in the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line. We have found that a pretreatment with SES at 25 µM decreased the effects of H2O2 on lipid peroxidation, protein carbonylation, and protein nitration in membranes obtained from the mitochondria isolated from the SH-SY5Y cells. In this regard, SES pretreatment decreased the production of superoxide anion radical (O2-•) by the mitochondria of H2O2-treated cells. SES also prevented the mitochondrial dysfunction induced by H2O2, as assessed by analyzing the activity of the complexes I and V. The H2O2-induced reduction in the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was also prevented by SES. The levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), as well as the activity of the transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) were downregulated by the SES pretreatment in the H2O2-challenged cells. Silencing of the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) transcription factor abolished the protection induced by SES regarding mitochondrial function and inflammation. Thus, SES depends on Nrf2 to promote mitochondrial protection in cells facing redox impairment.

Preventive and therapeutic aspects of fermented foods

In recent times, the status of some fermented foods which are considered as functional foods that confer health benefits in certain disease conditions has grown rapidly. The health benefits of fermented foods are due to the presence of probiotic microbes and the bioactive compounds formed during fermentation. Microbes involved and metabolites produced by them are highly species specific and contribute to the authenticity of the fermented foods. Several studies pertaining to the effect of fermented foods on various disease conditions have been conducted in recent years using both animal models and clinical trials on humans. This review focuses on the impact of fermented foods on conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, gastrointestinal disorder, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.

Geothermal driven micro-CCHP for domestic application - Exergy, economic and sustainability analysis

Geothermal energy is going to play a key role in future smart energy systems. Geothermal-driven domestic energy systems, specifically, will largely contribute to the baseload supply of heating and cooling demand of societies. A low-temperature geothermal resource is considered to drive a domestic-scaled multi-generation system supplying power, heating, and cooling. The proposed cogeneration system includes a small-scale organic Rankine cycle (ORC), a single effect LiBr-H2O absorption chiller, and heat exchangers to supply domestic space heating and hot water. The waste heat of the ORC is harvested, also, to be used in space heating. Energy, exergy, economic, and sustainability principles are applied to the system to evaluate the system thermodynamic and thermos-economic performance. Results associated with the exergy destruction are obtained and effects on the system performance of chiller supply are investigated. Besides, the thermodynamic performance of the system is evaluated under the summer-time and wintertime conditions. Under the base condition, the generator employed in the absorption chiller is found to be the most exergy destructive unit followed by the evaporator utilized in the ORC. Furthermore, results revealed that by increasing the chiller supply rate, the system sustainability index enhances from 1.6 to 2.5 while the system's first law efficiency reduces. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Energy, exergy, economic and exergoenvironmental analyses of gas and air bottoming cycles for production of electricity and hydrogen with gas reformer

The purpose of this study is to investigate an intergration of three cycles consisting of gas, air bottom and steam cycles for electrical power generation and hydrogen production. The configuration of the three cycles is powered by the natural gas that is used by the gas cycle on the top. Then, the exhaust gas of the gas cycle is used by an air cycle at the bottom of the gas cycle and consequently a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) is driven by the exhaust gas of the air cycle. The purpose of the HRSG cycle is to produce steam to be used in the reformer for the hydrogen production. The energy, exergy, economic and exergoenvironmental analyses of this combined cycle is examined. The results of this study show that addition of air gas cycle to natural gas cycle improves the energy efficiency from 17.2% to 28.% and Payback Period (PP) from 4.72 to 2.92. Whereas, adding HRSG to the whole cycle improves the energy efficiency to 67.6% and Payback Period to 0.41 years. Moreover, this interagation of the cycles improves the Net Present Value (NPV) from 1.13 x 10(9) to 2.07 x 10(9) for gas and air cycle, respectively and to 3.89 x 10(10) $ by the whole cycle. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of junctophilin proteins in cellular function

Junctophilins (JPHs) comprise a family of structural proteins that connect the plasma membrane to intracellular organelles such as the endo/sarcoplasmic reticulum (ER/SR). Tethering of these membrane structures results in the formation of highly organized subcellular junctions that play important signaling roles in all excitable cell types. There are four JPH isoforms, expressed primarily in muscle and neuronal cell types. Each JPH protein consists of six membrane occupation and recognition nexus (MORN) motifs, a joining region connecting these to another set of two MORN motifs, a putative alpha-helical region, a divergent region exhibiting low homology between JPH isoforms, and a carboxy-terminal transmembrane region anchoring into the ER/SR membrane. JPH isoforms play essential roles in developing and maintaining subcellular membrane junctions. Conversely, inherited mutations in JPH2 cause hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy, while trinucleotide expansions in the JPH3 gene cause Huntington Disease-Like 2. Loss of JPH1 protein levels can cause skeletal myopathy, while loss of cardiac JPH2 levels causes heart failure and atrial fibrillation, among other disease. This review will provide a comprehensive overview of the JPH gene family, phylogeny, and evolutionary analysis of JPH genes and other MORN domain proteins. JPH biogenesis, membrane tethering, and binding partners will be discussed, as well as functional roles of JPH isoforms in excitable cells. Finally, potential roles of JPH isoform deficits in human disease pathogenesis will be reviewed.

Associations between pro-environmental behaviour and neighbourhood nature, nature visit frequency and nature appreciation: Evidence from a nationally representative survey in England

Progress on changing human behaviour to meet the challenges of regional and global sustainability has been slow. Building on theory as well as small-scale survey and experimental evidence that exposure to nature may be associated with greater pro-environmentalism, the aim of the current study was to quantify relationships between exposure to nature (operationalised as neighbourhood greenspace, coastal proximity, and recreational nature visits) as well as appreciation of the natural world, and self-reported pro-environmental behaviour for the adult population of England. Using data from a nationally representative sample (N = 24,204), and controlling for potential confounders, a structural equation model was used to estimate relationships. Indirect effects of neighbourhood exposures via nature visits and nature appreciation were accounted for. We found positive relationships between both recreational nature visits and nature appreciation and pro-environmental behaviour across both the whole sample and key socio-demographic groups. The more individuals visited nature for recreation and the more they appreciated the natural world, the more pro-environmental behaviour they reported. Although rural and coastal dwellers tended to also be more pro-environmental on average, patterns were complex, potentially reflecting situational constraints and opportunities. Importantly, positive associations between pro-environmental behaviours and high neighbourhood greenspace and coastal proximity were present for both high and low socio-economic status households. Improving access to, and contact with, nature, e.g., through better urban planning, may be one approach for meeting sustainability targets.

Strategies to Manage the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Supply Chain: Implications for Improving Economic and Social Sustainability

This paper aims to identify the negative impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on supply chains and propose strategies to deal with the impacts in the context of the readymade garment (RMG) industry supply chain of an emerging economy: Bangladesh. To achieve the aims, a methodological framework is proposed through a literature review, expert inputs, and a decision-aid tool, namely the grey-based digraph-matrix method. A total of 10 types of negative impacts and 22 strategic measures to tackle the impacts were identified based on the literature review and expert inputs. Then, the grey-based digraph-matrix was applied for modeling the strategic measures based on their influence to deal with the impacts. Findings reveal that the strategies "manufacturing flexibility", "diversify the source of supply", and "develop backup suppliers" have significant positive consequences for managing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the RMG supply chain. The findings help industrial managers recover from supply chain disruptions by identifying and classifying the impacts and strategies required to manage the major supply chain disturbances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a theoretical contribution, this study is one of few initial attempts to evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak and the strategies to deal with the impacts in the supply chain context.

Icariin regulates miR-23a-3p-mediated osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs via BMP-2/Smad5/Runx2 and WNT/β-catenin pathways in osteonecrosis of the femoral head

Icariin is commonly used for the clinical treatment of osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH). miR-23a-3p plays a vital role in regulating the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). The present study aimed to investigate the roles of icariin and miR-23a-3p in the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs and an ONFH model. BMSCs were isolated and cultured in vitro using icariin-containing serum at various concentrations, and BMSCs were also transfected with a miR-23a inhibitor. The alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and cell viability as well as BMP-2/Smad5/Runx2 and WNT/β-catenin pathway-related mRNA and protein expression were measured in BMSCs. Additionally, a dual-luciferase reporter assay and pathway inhibitors were used to verify the relationship of icariin treatment/miR-23a and the above pathways. An ONFH rat model was established in vivo, and a 28-day gavage treatment and lentivirus transfection of miR-23a-3p inhibitor were performed. Then, bone biochemical markers (ELISA kits) in serum, femoral head (HE staining and Digital Radiography, DR) and the above pathway-related proteins were detected. Our results revealed that icariin treatment/miR-23a knockdown promoted BMSC viability and osteogenic differentiation as well as increased the mRNA and protein expression of BMP-2, BMP-4, Runx2, p-Smad5, Wnt1 and β-catenin in BMSCs and ONFH model rats. In addition, icariin treatment/miR-23a knockdown increased bone biochemical markers (ACP-5, BAP, NTXI, CTXI and OC) and improved ONFH in ONFH model rats. In addition, a dual-luciferase reporter assay verified that Runx2 was a direct target of miR-23a-3p. These data indicated that icariin promotes BMSC viability and osteogenic differentiation as well as improves ONFH by decreasing miR-23a-3p levels and regulating the BMP-2/Smad5/Runx2 and WNT/β-catenin pathways.

Combined heat and power from hydrothermal geothermal resources in Germany: An assessment of the potential

This study investigates the potential of hydrothermal geothermal energy for combined heat and power (CHP) generation in Germany. Based on the theoretical potential of hydrothermal heat in place, the technical and economic potential is determined with a review and an analysis of existing geothermal plants. To this end, the thermodynamic and economic performance of operating power plants is analyzed and models for the efficiency and the production costs are developed. Based on this analysis, a technical potential of 12.2 PWh(el) and 16.7 PWh(th) as well as an economic potential of 9.1 PWh(el) and 12.5 PWh(th) is determined. In order to derive an annual contribution from the economic potential, the regeneration of the resource is taken into account. Considering a sustainable exploitation rate, an annual economic potential of 9.1 TWh(el)/a and 12.5 TWh(th)/a is derived. This corresponds to a share of 1.51% of the gross electricity demand and a share of 1.48% of the demand for space heating and domestic hot water. This analysis provides a profound review about the existing geothermal power plants and their thermodynamic and economic performance. Furthermore, the assessment of the geothermal potential in Germany is necessary for political decision making, particular with a view towards future adjustments of the feed-in tariffs defined by the Renewable Energy Act.

Mapping the Sustainable Development Goals Relationships

Sustainable development addresses humanity's aspiration for a better life while observing the limitations imposed by nature. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly approved the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the aim to foster the organizational operationalization and integration of sustainability and, therefore, to address the current and forthcoming stakeholder needs and ensure a better and sustainable future for all, balancing the economic, social, and environmental development. However, it is not entirely clear which are the mutual relationships among the 17 SDGs and this study aims to tackle this research gap. The results of the correlation confirm that Poverty elimination (SDG1) and Good health and well-being (SDG3) have synergetic relationships with most of the other goals. SDG7 (Affordable and clean energy) has significant relationships with other SDGs (e.g., SDG1 (No poverty), SDG2 (Zero hunger), SDG3 (Good health and well-being), SDG8 (Decent work and economic growth), SDG13 (Climate action)). However, there is a moderate negative correlation with SDG12 (Responsible consumption and production), which emphasizes the need to improve energy efficiency, increase the share of clean and renewable energies and improve sustainable consumption patterns worldwide. There is also confirmation that SDG12 (Responsible consumption and production) is the goal strongly associated with trade-offs. To sum up, this research suggests that change towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals offers many opportunities for reinforcing rather than inhibiting itself. However, some SDGs show no significant correlation with other SDGs (e.g., SDG13 (Climate action) and SDG17 (Partnerships for the goals), which highlights the need for future research.

Tufted hairs: A bouquet of flowers in different hair diseases

Tufted hairs, an unusual hair follicle dysplasia, are characterized by several hair shafts grouped together, emerging from a single hair follicle-like "doll's hair". This clinical picture is considered characteristic of folliculitis decalvans (FD). However, the emergence of grouped hair shafts from a single follicle can also be observed in other hair disorders, even if not as a distinctive diagnostic sign. This paper aims to collect and analyze all clinical and trichoscopic features of different hair diseases with tufted hairs to find distinctive features, helping the clinician with the diagnosis.

Impact of green finance on economic development and environmental quality: a study based on provincial panel data from China

The goal of green finance is to pursue the coordinated development of financial activities, environmental protection, and ecological balance. This study aims to examine the impact of green finance on economic development and environmental quality. Data concerning green finance, economic development, and environmental quality for 30 provinces and municipalities in China from 2010 to 2017 are used. First, the global principal component analysis is adopted to develop a green finance development index. Second, a model of the impact of green finance on economic development is constructed, which indicates that the development of green finance plays a role in promoting economic development. Next, emissions of industrial smoke (powder) dust, industrial solid waste, and carbon dioxide are used to represent the environmental variables, and a model of the impact of green finance on environmental quality is proposed. The model shows that green finance has a positive effect on environment improvement. However, the impact of green finance on environmental quality varies for different levels of economic development. Finally, based on the theory of the environmental Kuznets curve, a model of the impact of green finance on the relationship between economic development and environmental quality is developed. The model indicates that green finance can significantly improve this relationship, creating a win-win situation regarding economic development and the environment.

Bayesian auxiliary variable model for birth records data with qualitative and quantitative responses

Many applications involve data with qualitative and quantitative responses. When there is an association between the two responses, a joint model will produce improved results than fitting them separately. In this paper, a Bayesian method is proposed to jointly model such data. The joint model links the qualitative and quantitative responses and can assess their dependency strength via a latent variable. The posterior distributions of parameters are obtained through an efficient MCMC sampling algorithm. The simulation is conducted to show that the proposed method improves the prediction capacity for both responses. Further, the proposed joint model is applied to the birth records data acquired by the Virginia Department of Health for studying the mutual dependence between preterm birth of infants and their birth weights.

Inhibition of TRPM2 by AG490 Is Neuroprotective in a Parkinson's Disease Animal Model

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by motor impairment and dopaminergic neuronal loss. There is no cure for the disease, and treatments have several limitations. The transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2), a calcium-permeable non-selective cation channel, has been reported to be upregulated in neuronal death. However, there are no in vivo studies evaluating TRPM2's role and neuroprotective effects in PD. Here, we test the hypothesis that TRPM2 is upregulated in the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) mouse model of PD and that its inhibition, by the AG490, is neuroprotective. For that, AG490 or vehicle were intraperitoneally administered into C57BL/6 mice. Mice then received 6-OHDA into the right striatum. Motor behavior assessments were evaluated 6, 13, and 20 days after surgery using the cylinder and apomorphine-induced rotational testes, and 7, 14, and 21 days after surgery using rotarod test. Brain samples of substantia nigra (SNc) and striatum (CPu) were collected for immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting on days 7 and 21. We showed that TRPM2 protein expression was upregulated in 6-OHDA-treated animals. In addition, AG490 prevented dopaminergic neuron loss, microglial activation, and astrocyte reactivity in 6-OHDA-treated animals. The compound improved motor behaviors and Akt/GSK-3β/caspase-3 signaling. We conclude that TRPM2 inhibition by AG490 is neuroprotective in the 6-OHDA model and that the TRPM2 channel may represent a potential therapeutic target for PD.

Circular Economy Innovation and Environmental Sustainability Impact on Economic Growth: An Integrated Model for Sustainable Development

This study examines the link between selected indicators of a circular economy, including essential components of environmental and economic growth. Developed economies are continuously innovating to promote growth and giving governmental support to the producers to move from linear economies to circular ones. Hence, waste materials in industrial systems are recycled or re-used, improving the efficiency of using finite resources with the no-waste approach. The aim of this paper is the following: (1) to identify the main components of a circular economy, which are also supportive of sustainability and development; (2) to check the impact of these variables in the economic growth of European Union countries; (3) to find out if the three components of sustainable development adopted to circular economy (CE) indicators (environmental-social-economic) are significant to economic growth. We used a fixed effect panel data analysis to identify the circular economy's impact on the economic growth of European countries. Additionally, to support the results of the regression analysis, we employed a second method-generalized methods of moments-computing the Arellano-Bond dynamic panel data estimation method. The model included five independent variables, such as environmental tax rate, a recycling rate of waste, private investment and jobs in a circular economy, patents related to recycling, and trade of recyclable raw materials. The identification of each variable was made based on a deep search through literature. The results of both econometric models showed a strong and positive correlation between a circular economy to economic growth, highlighting the crucial role of sustainability, innovation, and investment in no-waste initiatives to promote wealth.

mitoDataclean: A machine learning approach for the accurate identification of cross-contamination-derived tumor mitochondrial DNA mutations

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has widespread applications in aging and cancer studies. However, cross-contamination of mtDNA constitutes a major concern. Previous methods for the detection of mtDNA contamination mainly focus on haplogroup-level phylogeny, but neglect haplotype-level differences, leading to limited sensitivity and accuracy. In our study, we present mitoDataclean, a random-forest-based machine learning package for accurate identification of cross-contamination, evaluation of contamination levels and detection of contamination-derived variants in mtDNA NGS data. Comprehensive optimization of mitoDataclean revealed that training simulation with mixtures of small haplogroup distance and low polymorphic difference was critical for optimal modeling. Compared to existing methods, mitoDataclean exhibited significantly improved sensitivity and accuracy for the detection of sample contamination in simulated data. In addition, mitoDataclean achieved area under the curve values of 0.91 and 0.97 for discerning genuine and contamination-derived mtDNA variants in a simulated Western dataset and private sequencing contamination data, respectively, suggesting that this tool may be applicable for different populations and samples with different sources of contamination. Finally, mitoDataclean was further evaluated in several private and public datasets and showed a robust ability for contamination detection. Altogether, our study demonstrates that mitoDataclean may be used for accurate detection of contaminated samples and contamination-derived variants in mtDNA NGS data.

Investigation of Cu metal nanoparticles with different morphologies to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 main protease and spike glycoprotein using Molecular Docking and Dynamics Simulation

Nowadays, considering the spread of the coronavirus as a global threat, scientific research on this virus through simulation has been increasing. In this study, effect of Cu nanocluster on prevention and control of disease transmission was examined using molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation studies on the SARS-CoV-2 main protease and spike glycoprotein. The cytotoxicity of different shapes of copper NPs and resonance changes of their surface plasmons on inactivation of the coronavirus was examined in order to control replication of coronavirus through copper NPs, active site of protease and spike glycoprotein. The simulations results showed that interactions of SARS-CoV-2 main protease and spike glycoprotein target and cylindrical and conical copper NPs ligands were more efficient than spherical copper NPs.

Vitamin D2 protects acute and repeated noise stress induced behavioral, biochemical, and histopathological alterations: Possible antioxidant effect

Noise is an environmental stressor which causes distress and hearing loss in individuals residing in urban areas. Psychological deficits such as anxiety, depression, impaired memory and cognitive decline are caused by noise stress. Different vitamins have been used as a potential antioxidant for neuronal protection. In this study we investigate the anxiolytic, antidepressant and memory enhancing effect of vitamin D2 (Vit D2) following noise stress. Thirty-six albino rats were randomly divided into six groups. (i) Unstressed + corn oil (ii) Unstressed + Vit D2 (iii) Acute noise stress + corn oil (iv) Acute noise stress + Vit D2 (v) Repeated noise stress + corn oil (vi) Repeated noise stress + Vit D2. 600 IU/kg body weight of Vit D2 dosage was prepared in corn oil. Corn oil is used as vehicle and all the drugs administered via oral gavage till end of the experiment (day 16). Recorded sound of generator which was amplified by speakers and had 100 dB intensity was used as noise stress. Repeated stressed animals were exposed to noise (4-hrs) daily for 14 days, while acute stressed animals were exposed to noise (4-hrs) once after 14 days. Behavioral tests (elevated plus maze, light dark box, tail suspension test and Morris water maze) of all groups were performed after15 days treatment period. After behavioral tests rats received their last dosage and decapitated after 1-hr. Brain of all animals was removed and used for biochemical (oxidative stress biomarker, antioxidant enzymes and acetylcholinesterase) and histopathological estimations. Results show that Vit D2 decreased time spent in light box and open arm of light dark activity box and elevated plus maze test respectively (used for anxiety evaluation), decreased immobility time in tail suspension test (for depression) and improved cognitive ability evaluated by Morris water maze test in acute and repeated noise stressed rats. Furthermore, increased antioxidant enzymes activity, decreased lipid peroxidation and acetylcholinesterase activity were also observed in Vit D2 treated animals following acute and repeated noise stress. Normalization in histopathological studies was also observed in Vit D2 treated following acute and repeated noise stress. It is concluded that Vit D2 protects from noise stress induced behavioral, biochemical and histopathological impairment through its antioxidant potential.

Investigation of an integrated system combining an Organic Rankine Cycle and absorption chiller driven by geothermal energy: Energy, exergy, and economic analyses and optimization

This study aims to investigate a novel hybrid system for combined cooling and power (CCP) driven by geothermal energy. This study is performed using energy, exergy, and economic analyses. The results of this study show that application of LiBr absorption chiller downstream of the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) cycle increases the energy efficiency of the system from 9.3% to 47.3%. But it decreases the exergy efficiency from 15.6% to 4.6%, mainly due to the increase in the exergy destruction of the system. By definition of a new parameter called the electricity and cooling cost for this hybrid system, the results show this parameter decreases from 0.0552 to 0.0028 $/kWh when the LiBr absorption chiller cycle is added. Moreover, a multi-objective optimization of this hybrid system is carried out by the MOPSO algorithm for two objective functions including cost of electricity and cooling (C-EC), and exergy efficiency (eta(ex)). The results show that the optimum electricity and cooling cost and exergy efficiency are 0.0033 $/kWh, and 6.8%, respectively. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring the folding energy landscapes of heme proteins using a hybrid AWSEM-heme model

Heme is an active center in many proteins. Here we explore computationally the role of heme in protein folding and protein structure. We model heme proteins using a hybrid model employing the AWSEM Hamiltonian, a coarse-grained forcefield for the protein chain along with AMBER, an all-atom forcefield for the heme. We carefully designed transferable force fields that model the interactions between the protein and the heme. The types of protein-ligand interactions in the hybrid model include thioester covalent bonds, coordinated covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds, and electrostatics. We explore the influence of different types of hemes (heme b and heme c) on folding and structure prediction. Including both types of heme improves the quality of protein structure predictions. The free energy landscape shows that both types of heme can act as nucleation sites for protein folding and stabilize the protein folded state. In binding the heme, coordinated covalent bonds and thioester covalent bonds for heme c drive the heme toward the native pocket. The electrostatics also facilitates the search for the binding site.

A comparative analysis of novel combined flash-binary cycles for Sabalan geothermal wells: Thermodynamic and exergoeconomic viewpoints

Sabalan geothermal field is one of the most important geothermal fields in Iran. In this study, four novel configurations namely Single Flash-ORC (SF-ORC), Double Flash 1-ORC (DF1-ORC), Double Flash 2-ORC (DF2-ORC) and Triple Flash-ORC (TF-ORC) are proposed to produce power from two wells of the field. The configurations are assessed by thermodynamic and exergoeconomic viewpoints. The exergy and SPECO based exergoeconomic equations are developed for the components of the proposed cycles and thermodynamic as well as exergoeconomic performance parameters are calculated for the components and the cycles. A comprehensive parametric study is also carried out for the proposed configurations considering various working fluids in the ORCs. Moreover, an optimization is performed to maximize the produced power from the wells. The results depicted that the DF1-ORC produces 4.03%, 1.32% and 1.2% more power than the SF-ORC, DF2-ORC and TF-ORC, respectively, in the optimum condition. It can be concluded from the exergoeconomic analysis that the SF-ORC with R123 working fluid has the best exergoeconomic performance with the power specific cost of 3.62 $/GJ. The thermodynamic and exergoeconomic performance of the DF1-ORC is compared with previous similar studies which shows the superiority of the proposed cycle. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Do country risks influence carbon dioxide emissions? A non-linear perspective

This study explores the non-linear effects of real income, energy use, and country risks on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in a panel of 111 countries from 1985 to 2014. By applying the panel smooth transition regression model, we find that real income, energy use, and country risks have different impacts on CO2 emissions when using country risks as thresholds. As to the full sample, the results show an inverted U-shaped relationship between CO2 emissions and economic risk, and that the financial and political risk indices have monotonically increasing effects on CO2 emissions. As country risks decrease, the positive effects of real income and energy use on CO2 emissions are first large and then become small. Moreover, with country risks changing, low-income countries have larger sensitivities to CO2 emissions. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impaired Metacognitive Differentiation, High Difficulty in Controlling Impulses and Non-acceptance of Emotions are Associated With the Severity of Gambling Disorder

The role of metacognition in gambling disorder (GD) is underexplored. To date, only two studies have investigated the role of metacognitive functioning, but among the adolescent population. The first aim of the current research was to assess and compare adult male gamblers with healthy controls (HCs) in relation to metacognition, impulsivity and emotional dysregulation. The second aim was to identify the variables among metacognition, impulsivity and emotional dysregulation associated with the severity of GD by means of linear regression.A total of 116 adult males (58 with GD and 58 HCs) completed self-report questionnaires on gambling severity, metacognition, emotional dysregulation and impulsivity. A linear regression analysis was run to assess the variables associated with gambling severity.Patients with GD exhibited more impaired scores than HCs in all the psychopathological dimensions investigated. More interestingly, gambling severity was significantly associated with metacognitive differentiation/decentration, difficulty in controlling impulses and non-acceptance of negative emotions.According to our results, the severity of gambling is associated with impaired metacognitive differentiation, high difficulty in controlling impulses and non-acceptance of negative emotions, and these findings can lead to new treatment implications. Interventions focused on metacognition and emotion regulation could help patients with GD to avoid maladaptive strategies such as behavioural addictions and, more specifically, to manage their own emotions. This type of treatment could help gamblers to become more aware of their internal state and learn strategies for adaptively managing emotions through functional metacognitive differentiation.

Energy production and trade openness: Assessing economic growth, CO2 emissions and the applicability of the cointegration analysis

The relationship between economic activities such as energy production, trade, and economic growth affects all areas of human life in terms of well-being, as well as a country's economic activities. In this study, we investigate these relationships using cointegration regression methods (FMOLS fully modified ordinary least square and DOLS dynamic ordinary least squares), we use the electricity production (hydro, natural gas and renewables), trade opening, GDP, and CO2 emissions to establish causality. We found that electricity generation, GDP and trade liberalization have both positive and negative effects on Brazil's economy. We also discovered a bidirectional causality between trade openness and all the energies produced in Brazil. Separately, we observed that GDP, hydropower, and renewables have negative effects on the CO2 emissions model, while only emissions of pollution and trade openness have positive effects on the economic growth model. These results have important policy implications for the Brazilian economy that does not support appropriate long-term sustainable development strategies. Consequently, policymakers should consider implementing appropriate management capacity to encourage the use of renewable energy and to benefit from the positive effects of economic growth and environmental policies to control the pollution rate through the potential of available natural resources. Our findings are not motivated by discrepancies or sample selection and survive multiple specifications, allowing to observe the relationship with great accuracy. Some diagnostic tests have been applied to show that it is not misleading.

Comparative assessment of engine performance and emissions fueled with three different biodiesel generations

Emissions from biodiesel combustion depend on types of feedstocks. This study investigated physicochemical properties of biodiesels in three various feedstocks generations and the effect of them on emissions and performance of the unmodified engine. Methyl esters from Eruca sativa (ES) which has crops with short production cycle and drought-tolerant capacity, waste cooking oil (WCO) as an economic feedstock, and microalgae Chlorella vulgaris (MCV) which have high growth rate and productivity without farmland requirement, were produced by transesterification process with methanol and KOH catalyst. Physicochemical properties of these biodiesels were determined by GC-MS and FTIR analysis and evaluated with ASTM D6751 standard. FAME components profile illustrated the high value of oleic acid (C18:1) in ES and WCO and long-chain fatty acids (C18:2 and higher) in MCV. The engine tests results indicated that MCV biodiesel produced slightly lower power and higher BSFC compared with others. There was a slight increase in NOx for MCV biodiesel compared with pure diesel. Conversely, ES and WCO biodiesels had a reduction in NOx. On the other hand, MCV biodiesel resulted in the greatest reduction in CO and HC emissions. Based on the results, MCV blends had the lowest emissions and the best function among all feedstocks. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Production of type-B trichothecenes by Fusarium meridionale, F. graminearum, and F. austroamericanum in wheat plants and rice medium

Food security goes beyond food being available; the food needs to be free of contaminants. Trichothecenes mycotoxins, produced by Fusarium fungus, are. among the most frequently found contaminants of wheat. In this study, we evaluated the production of trichothecenes Deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3-AcDON), 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-AcDON), and nivalenol (NIV) by Fusarium meridionale, F. austroamericanum, and F. graminearum grown in wheat plants and rice medium. Fusarim meridionale was efficient only in the production of NIV (production range (pr) from 1340 to 2864 µg kg-1 in wheat plant), and F. austroamericanum in the production of 3-AcDON (pr from 50 to 192 µg kg-1 in wheat plant, and from 986 to 7045 µg kg-1 in rice medium) and DON (pr from 4076 to 13,701 µg kg-1 in wheat plant, and from 184 to 43,395 µg kg-1 in rice medium). Already, F. graminearum was efficient in the production of 3-AcDON only in rice medium (pr from 81 to 2342 µg kg-1), 15-AcDON in wheat plant (pr from 80 to 295 µg kg-1) and in rice medium (pr from 436 to 8597 µg kg-1), and DON also in wheat plant (pr from 7746 to 12,046 µg kg-1) and in rice medium (pr from 695 to 49,624 µg kg-1). The specificity of F. meridionale in the production of NIV but not the production of DON could generate a food security problem in regions where this species occurs and the amounts of NIV in grains and derivatives are not regulated in the food chain, as in Brazil.

Suitability of different precipitation data sources for hydrological analysis: a study from Western Ghats, India

For hydrological analysis, it is essential to have continuous and long-term precipitation data. However, the precipitation data from rain gauge stations are often insufficient and not continuous. At present, ground-based gridded data and satellite-based gridded data are often used as an alternative. However, these data sets have to be evaluated for their suitability in hydrological studies. The current study compared three different rainfall data sources with the observed station data for the Kallada River basin of Kerala, India. The ground-based gridded rainfall data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the high-resolution satellite product Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM 3B43, version 7), and the reanalysis data Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) are used in the analysis. The correlation coefficient, normalized root mean square error, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency, modified index of agreement, and volumetric efficiency are used as performance indicators. The performance indicator's weights are based on the entropy method. The multi-criteria decision-making techniques like compromise programming and Preference Ranking Organization Method (PROMETHEE II) are used for ranking the precipitation data sources. It is found that IMD ground-based gridded data is ranked 1 among the three data sets. The IMD ground-based gridded data are not homogeneous based on the absolute homogeneity test, even though they had the highest rank. The IMD gridded data are further corrected based on double mass curve analysis. The corrected data were analyzed using the precipitation concentration index (PCI) to assess the temporal variation in precipitation, and it was found that the location falls under a uniform distribution zone.