bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Process-based evaluation of adsorbents: effect of CMS pellet size on N2-PSA performance
Authors: Marcinek A. , Guderian J.
Published: September 2023

The process-based evaluation of adsorbents is considered the most foolproof method with respect to a particular application, as it provides data about the separation effectiveness in authentic operating conditions. This paper presents empirically obtained performance results of the kinetically-controlled air separation on multiple carbon molecular sieves carried out in a twin-bed pressure swing adsorption unit. The effect of adsorbent pellet size on nitrogen productivity and air demand is studied at different product purity levels (10–10,000 ppm O2 of the residual oxygen concentration), operating temperatures (25–45 °C), and half-cycle times (35–70 s). The selected process conditions correspond to the majority of practical applications. Guidelines for the suitable particle size depending on the desired nitrogen purity are given.
Emotion Regulation, Parenting, and Psychopathology: A Systematic Review
Authors: Zitzmann Jana , Rombold-George Larissa , Rosenbach Charlotte , Renneberg Babette
Published: September 2023

The presence of a parental mental disorder can lead to adverse outcomes for children. Difficulties in emotion regulation are observed across a range of mental health problems and may play a crucial role in this context. Following PRISMA guidelines, we systematically searched Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, and Web of Science for studies examining the association between emotion regulation in parents with psychopathology at a clinical or subclinical level and their parenting. The protocol was registered with the PROSPERO international prospective register of systematic reviews (CRD42021224954; January 2021). A total of 23 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. Emotion regulation was predominantly assessed using self-report on the general ability (e.g., Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale). The assessment of parenting encompassed a broad range of aspects and operationalizations. Across psychopathology in parents, several aspects of difficulties in emotion regulation were associated with unfavorable emotion socialization, more negative parenting, and partially with less positive parenting. Slightly different effects were observed for posttraumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders. For parents with depressive disorders, specific emotion regulation strategies (suppression, reappraisal) seem to buffer against negative parenting. Since the majority of studies refer only to mothers, generalization to fathers is limited. Furthermore, conclusions are limited due to study heterogeneity and lack of prospective studies. Nevertheless, findings suggest that interventions should target the improvement of emotion regulation in parents with psychopathology.
Liquid Biopsy in Low-Grade Glioma: A Systematic Review and a Proposal for a Clinical Utility Score
Authors: Zanin Luca , Sachkova Alexandra , Panciani Pier Paolo , Rohde Veit , Fontanella Marco Maria , Schatlo Bawarjan
Published: September 2023

Liquid biopsy research on Low-Grade gliomas (LGG) has remained less conspicuous than that on other malignant brain tumors. Reliable serum markers would be precious for diagnosis, follow- up and treatment. We propose a clinical utility score (CUS) for biomarkers in LGG that mirrors their clinical usefulness. We conducted a PRISMA review. We examined each biomarker classifying them by CUS and Level of Evidence (LOE). We identified four classes of biomarkers: (1). Circulating protein—(a) vitronectin discriminates LGG from HGG (Sn:98%, Sp:91%, CUS: 3, LOE: III), (b) CTLA-4 discriminates LGG from HGG, (cutoff: 220.43 pg/ml, Sn: 82%, Sp: 78%, CUS:3, LOE:III), (c) pre-operative TGF b1 predict astrocytoma (cutoff: 2.52 ng/ml, Sn: 94.9%, Sp: 100%, CUS:3, LOE:VI). (2). micro-RNA (miR)—(a) miR-16 discriminates between WHO IV and WHO II and III groups (AUC = 0.98, CUS:3, LOE: III), (b) miR-454-3p is higher in HGG than in LGG (p = 0.013, CUS:3, LOE: III), (c) miR-210 expression is related to WHO grades (Sn 83.2%, Sp 94.3%, CUS: 3, LOE: III). (3). Circulating DNA—(a) IDH1R132H mutation detected in plasma by combined COLD and digital PCR (Sn: 60%, Sp: 100%, CUS: 3, LOE: III). 4. Exosomes—(a) SDC1 serum levels could discriminate GBM from LGG (Sn: 71%, Sp: 91%, CUS: 2C, LOE: VI). Our investigation showed that miRs appear to have the highest clinical utility. The LOE of the studies assessed is generally low. A combined approach between different biomarkers and traditional diagnostics may be considered.

Graphical Abstract

We identified four main classes of biomarkers produced by LGG. We examined each biomarker, classifying them by clinical utility score (CUS) and level of evidence (LOE). Micro-RNA (miRs) appears to have the highest CUS and LOE.
A new diatom-based multimetric index to assess lake ecological status
Authors: Tison-Rosebery J. , Boutry S. , Bertrin V. , Leboucher T. , Morin S.
Published: September 2023

Eutrophication impairs lake ecosystems at a global scale. In this context, as benthic microalgae are well-established warnings for a large range of stressors, particularly nutrient enrichment, the Water Framework Directive required the development of diatom-based methods to monitor lake eutrophication. Here, we present the diatom-based index we developed for French lakes, named IBDL (Indice Biologique Diatomées en Lacs). Data were collected in 93 lakes from 2015 to 2020. A challenge arose from the discontinuous pressure gradient of our dataset, especially the low number of nutrient-impacted lakes. To analyze the data we opted for the so-called “Threshold Indicator Taxa ANalysis” method, which makes it possible to determine a list of “alert taxa.” We obtained a multimetric index based on specific pressure gradients (Kjeldahl nitrogen, suspended matter, biological oxygen demand, and total phosphorous). Considering the European intercalibration process, the very good correlation between IBDL and the common metric (R2 from 0.52 to 0.87 according to the lake alkalinity type) makes us very confident in our ability to match future IBDL quality thresholds with European standards. The IBDL proved at last to be particularly relevant as it has a twofold interest: an excellent relationship with total phosphorus (R2 from 0.63 to 0.83 according to the lake alkalinity type) and a possible application to any lake metatype. Its complementarity with macrophyte-based indices moreover justifies the use of at least two primary producer components for lake ecological status classification.
An investigation of online and offline learning models for online Just-in-Time Software Defect Prediction
Authors: Cabral George G. , Minku Leandro L. , Oliveira Adriano L. I. , Pessoa Dinaldo A. , Tabassum Sadia
Published: September 2023

Just-in-Time Software Defect Prediction (JIT-SDP) operates in an online scenario where additional training data is received over time. Existing online JIT-SDP studies used online Oza ensemble learning methods with Hoeffding Trees as base learners to learn and update JIT-SDP models over time in this scenario. However, it is unknown how these approaches compare against offline learning approaches adapted to operate in online scenarios, and how the use of any other online or offline base learners would affect online JIT-SDP in terms of predictive performance and computational cost. We therefore propose a new approach called Batch Oversampling Rate Boosting (BORB) that is able to use offline base learners in an online JIT-SDP scenario. Based on 10 open source projects, we provide a comprehensive evaluation of BORB with 5 different base learners and the existing online approach Oversampling Rate Boosting with 4 different base learners, both in within-project and cross-project online JIT-SDP scenarios. The results show that offline learning can lead to better predictive performance than the top performing online learning approaches considered in our study, at a higher computational cost. Cross-project data was helpful to improve predictive performance both for offline and online learning, but especially for online learning.
Geo-environmental factors controlling groundwater hydrogeochemistry, salinization and quality in El Qaa plain coastal aquifer, Southwest Sinai, Egypt
Authors: Salman Salman A. , El-Anwar Esmat A. Abou , Aita Sami K. , Elnazer Ahmed A.
Published: September 2023

El Qaa plain is one of the promising areas for agriculture projects, owing to its soil and groundwater resources. So, 14 groundwater samples were collected, chemically analyzed, hydrochemical (ratios, models and plots) and GIS techniques were applied, to evaluate the factors governing this water chemistry and suitability for irrigation. The results indicated the expansion of the agricultural area 8 times in the last 2 decades. The water can be divided into two groups; (A) freshwater (TDS ≤ 1000) in the eastern part of the study area within the clastic weathered basement rocks part of the aquifer, and (B) saline water (TDS > 1000) in the western part within the carbonates and evaporites rich sediments and close to the Gulf of Suez. The deduced factors controlling groundwater chemistry were precipitation, evaporites dissolution, seawater intrusion and ion exchange process. The calculated sodium absorption ratio (SAR) was < 10 indicating the good quality of this water for irrigation without sodicity hazard. Water of Group (A) (electric conductivity < 2250µS/cm) can be used safely for irrigation without any impact of salinity on all types of soil and plants. Group (B) water (electric conductivity > 2250µS/cm) has salinity hazard and can be used for irrigation on well-permeable soils and salt-tolerant plants. The concentrations of the studied potentially toxic elements (PTEs) were within the permissible limit for irrigation. Expansion in agricultural activities has adverse impact on groundwater quality. So, eco-friendly fertilizers should be applied in this promising area with the application of hydrologic pumping advises to safe aquifer quality from the degradation.
Time frequency domain deep CNN for automatic background classification in speech signals
Authors: Yakkati Rakesh Reddy , Yeduri Sreenivasa Reddy , Tripathy Rajesh Kumar , Cenkeramaddi Linga Reddy
Published: September 2023

Many application areas, such as background identification, predictive maintenance in industrial applications, smart home applications, assisting deaf people with their daily activities and indexing and retrieval of content-based multimedia, etc., use automatic background classification using speech signals. It is challenging to predict the background environment accurately from speech signal information. Thus, a novel synchrosqueezed wavelet transform (SWT)-based deep learning (DL) approach is proposed in this paper for automatically classifying background information embedded in speech signals. Here, SWT is incorporated to obtain the time-frequency plot from the speech signals. These time-frequency signals are then fed to a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) to classify background information embedded in speech signals. The proposed DCNN model consists of three convolution layers, one batch-normalization layer, three max-pooling layers, one dropout layer, and one fully connected layer. The proposed method is tested using various background signals embedded in speech signals, such as airport, airplane, drone, street, babble, car, helicopter, exhibition, station, restaurant, and train sounds. According to the results, the proposed SWT-based DCNN approach has an overall classification accuracy of 97.96 (± 0.53)% to classify background information embedded in speech signals. Finally, the performance of the proposed approach is compared to the existing methods.
Effects of a peer advocacy intervention on cervical cancer screening among social network members: results of a randomized controlled trial in Uganda
Authors: Wagner Glenn J. , Matovu Joseph K. B. , Juncker Margrethe , Namisango Eve , Bouskill Kathryn , Nakami Sylvia , Beyeza-Kashesya Jolly , Luyirika Emmanuel , Bogart Laura M. , Green Harold D. , Wanyenze Rhoda K.
Published: September 2023

Cervical cancer (CC) is the most common cancer among women in Uganda, yet lifetime CC screening is as low as 5%. Training women who have screened for CC to engage in peer advocacy could increase uptake of CC screening in social networks. We conducted a randomized controlled trial of a peer-facilitated, manualized, 7-session group intervention to train women to engage in CC prevention advocacy. Forty women recently screened for CC (index participants) enrolled and were assigned to receive the intervention (n = 20) or wait-list control (n = 20). Each index was asked to recruit up to three female social network members (alters) who had not been screened for CC (n = 103 enrolled alters). All index and alter participants were assessed at baseline and month-6 follow-up. All but one (n = 39; 98%) index and 98 (95%) alter participants completed the month 6 assessment. In multivariate regression models controlling for baseline outcome measures and demographic covariates, intervention alters were more likely to have been screened for CC at month 6 [67% vs. 16%; adjusted OR (95% CI) = 12.13 (4.07, 36.16)], compared to control alters. Data also revealed significant increased engagement in CC prevention advocacy, among both index and alter participants in the intervention group at month 6, compared to the control group. The intervention was highly effective in increasing CC screening uptake among social network members, and engagement in CC prevention advocacy among not only intervention recipients, but also targets of advocacy, suggesting the potential for wide dissemination of CC knowledge.

Trial Registration. NIH Clinical Trial Registry NCT04960748 (clinicaltrials.gov).
Effects of Reaction Temperature and Time on Structural, Morphological and Optical Properties of Magnetite Quantum Dots Prepared by Solvothermal Method
Authors: Ajibade Peter A. , Mona Lijo P. , Songca Sandile P.
Published: September 2023

Magnetite quantum dots were synthesized by solvothermal method in a conventional reflux setup, in an inert environment, at different reaction temperatures and times. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns of the as-prepared iron oxide confirmed magnetite crystalline phases irrespective of the reaction conditions. TEM micrographs revealed that the iron oxides obtained at 200, 180 and 165 °C are spherical in shapes with mean particle sizes of 3.25, 3.3 and 3.90 nm respectively, showing an increase in particle size with decreasing temperature. TEM micrographs revealed that particles obtained at 6 and 3 h have a mean particle size of 3.25 nm while particles obtained at 4.5-h has a bigger mean particle size of 7.5 nm. The results show that irrespective of the synthetic parameters, the average particle sizes of the magnetite are in the range 3–8 nm and could be described as quantum dots. Optical absorption spectra of the as-prepared magnetite quantum dots exhibited maximum absorption in the range of 200–210 nm. Fe3O4-1, Fe3O4-2 and Fe3O4-3 synthesized at 200, 180 and 165 °C have energy band gaps of 5.49, 5.13 and 5.01 eV respectively, showing a decrease in band gap with decreasing temperature. Fe3O4-4 and Fe3O4-6 synthesized at 6 and 3 h have optical band gap of 5.44 eV while Fe3O4-5 synthesized at 4.5 h has a band gap of 3.75 eV. FTIR spectra confirmed the passivation of the surface of the as-prepared magnetite quantum dots by oleate.
Targeted adversarial attacks on wind power forecasts
Authors: Heinrich René , Scholz Christoph , Vogt Stephan , Lehna Malte
Published: September 2023

In recent years, researchers proposed a variety of deep learning models for wind power forecasting. These models predict the wind power generation of wind farms or entire regions more accurately than traditional machine learning algorithms or physical models. However, latest research has shown that deep learning models can often be manipulated by adversarial attacks. Since wind power forecasts are essential for the stability of modern power systems, it is important to protect them from this threat. In this work, we investigate the vulnerability of two different forecasting models to targeted, semi-targeted, and untargeted adversarial attacks. We consider a long short-term memory (LSTM) network for predicting the power generation of individual wind farms and a convolutional neural network (CNN) for forecasting the wind power generation throughout Germany. Moreover, we propose the Total Adversarial Robustness Score (TARS), an evaluation metric for quantifying the robustness of regression models to targeted and semi-targeted adversarial attacks. It assesses the impact of attacks on the model’s performance, as well as the extent to which the attacker’s goal was achieved, by assigning a score between 0 (very vulnerable) and 1 (very robust). In our experiments, the LSTM forecasting model was fairly robust and achieved a TARS value of over 0.78 for all adversarial attacks investigated. The CNN forecasting model only achieved TARS values below 0.10 when trained ordinarily, and was thus very vulnerable. Yet, its robustness could be significantly improved by adversarial training, which always resulted in a TARS above 0.46.
Weakly supervised human skin segmentation using guidance attention mechanisms
Authors: Hashemifard Kooshan , Climent-Perez Pau , Florez-Revuelta Francisco
Published: September 2023

Human skin segmentation is a crucial task in computer vision and biometric systems, yet it poses several challenges such as variability in skin colour, pose, and illumination. This paper presents a robust data-driven skin segmentation method for a single image that addresses these challenges through the integration of contextual information and efficient network design. In addition to robustness and accuracy, the integration into real-time systems requires a careful balance between computational power, speed, and performance. The proposed method incorporates two attention modules, Body Attention and Skin Attention, that utilize contextual information to improve segmentation results. These modules draw attention to the desired areas, focusing on the body boundaries and skin pixels, respectively. Additionally, an efficient network architecture is employed in the encoder part to minimize computational power while retaining high performance. To handle the issue of noisy labels in skin datasets, the proposed method uses a weakly supervised training strategy, relying on the Skin Attention module. The results of this study demonstrate that the proposed method is comparable to, or outperforms, state-of-the-art methods on benchmark datasets.
Optimal control of combined heat and power station operation
Authors: Kůdela J. , Suja J. , Šomplák R. , Pluskal J. , Hrabec D.
Published: September 2023

Combined heat and power stations have become one of the most utilized units of district heating systems. These stations usually contain several boilers for burning fossil fuels and renewable resources used for heating up steam, which can be used either for residential and commercial heating or electricity generation. To ensure efficiency, a boiler should either run continuously (for at least a given period) on a power output higher than a given threshold or switch off. The optimal control of the plant operations should combine an efficient setup for the turbine and boilers in operation, reflecting the demand for steam and the price of electricity, and a schedule that describes which boilers should be in operation at a given time. This paper proposes a method for optimal control of combined heat and power station operation for a given time horizon. The method is based on a two-level approach. The lower-level models correspond to finding the optimal setup of the combined heat and power station parameters for an hourly demand for different kinds of steam. The upper-level model corresponds to the optimal schedule of the operations of the individual boilers, which is planned for the entire time horizon. The lower-level model is modeled as a mixed-integer linear programming problem and is solved using parametric programming. A dynamic programming algorithm solves the upper-level model with a rolling horizon. The validity of the proposed method and its computational complexity for different granularity of the time horizon, different ranges of the parameters, varying demand for various kinds of steam, and varying electricity prices are investigated in a case study. The presented approach can be readily applied to other control problems with a similar structure.
Approximation of intra-particle reaction/diffusion effects of immobilized enzyme system following reverse Michaelis–Menten (rMM) mechanism: third degree polynomial and Akbari–Ganji methods
Authors: Abu-Reesh Ibrahim M.
Published: September 2023

Two approximate analytical expressions based on third degree polynomial and Akbari–Ganji’s method (AGM) were derived for the reaction/diffusion controlled kinetics of an immobilized enzyme ($$IE$$

IE

) systems. The approximation methods predict substrate concentration profile and effectiveness factor ($$\eta$$
η
) in a porous spherical particle. The reaction is assumed to follow reverse Michaelis–Menten ($$rMM$$

rMM

) kinetics. The approximate methods predictions were comparable to that of numerical solution (using the Matlab finite difference function, $$bvp4c$$

b
v
p
4
c

) at wide range of $${\phi }^{2}$$

ϕ

2

and $${y}_{o}$$

y
o

especially at low $${\phi }^{2}$$

ϕ

2

and high $${y}_{o}$$

y
o

(polynomial equation) and low $${\phi }^{2}$$

ϕ

2

and low $${y}_{o}$$

y
o

(AGM equation). Although the approximate solution was derived for $$rMM$$

rMM

kinetics, the results can be used to describe other important enzymatic reaction kinetics such as simple Michaelis–Menten ($$MM)$$

M
M
)

kinetics and $$MM$$

MM

with competitive product inhibition kinetics. A necessary design equation should be satisfied when using polynomial or AGM approximation for different enzyme kinetic equations. In this work, two examples of enzymatic reactions of industrial interest were studied, namely glucose-fructose isomerization follows $$rMM$$

rMM

kinetics and hydrolysis of lactose follows Michaelis–Menten ($$MM$$

MM

) equation with competitive product (galactose) inhibition. Predictions of the developed third degree polynomial and AGM approximation equations agree with that of numerical solution, the percentage relative error for the effectiveness factor was less than 11 in comparison with the numerical solution. Good agreement between approximate and numerical estimations demonstrates the validity of these approximation methods.
Leniency Inflation, Cartel Damages, and Criminalization
Authors: Marvão Catarina , Spagnolo Giancarlo
Published: September 2023

We revisit the pros and cons of introducing cartel criminalization in the EU. We document the recent EU “leniency inflation”, whereby leniency has been increasingly awarded to many (or all) cartel members, which softens the “courthouse race” effect. Coupled with the insufficient protection of leniency applicants from damages (2014 Damages Directive), it may have led to a decrease in leniency applications and cartel convictions. Given the current level of fines, criminalization may have to be introduced. We then explore US criminal sanctions (1990–2015) to highlight potential areas of concern for EU policymakers, of which recidivism appears to be a significant one.
Prevalence of atrial fibrillation and reasons for undertreatment with oral anticoagulants
Authors: Lilja Johan , Själander Anders , Själander Sara
Published: September 2023

Objectives

To investigate the prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF), the proportion of AF patients not receiving oral anticoagulation (OAC) and reasons for abstaining from OAC treatment.

Methods

A retrospective cross-sectional study of patients aged 18 years or older with an AF diagnosis on June 1st 2020 in Västernorrland County, Sweden. AF diagnosis was retrieved using the ICD10 code I.48, and medical records were reviewed for comorbidities and documented reasons to abstain OAC treatment.

Results

Of 197 274 residents in Västernorrland County, 4.7% (9 304/197 274) had a documented AF diagnosis. Of these, 19% (1 768/9 304) had no OAC treatment, including 4.2% (393/9 304) with no indication, 2.5% (233/9 304) with a questionable and 2.5% (231/9 304) with a documented clear contraindication for OAC. In total 9.8% (911/9 304) were not treated with OAC despite indication and no reasonable documented contraindication, thus 90.8% (8 447/9 304) of all AF-patients were eligible for OAC treatment. Common reasons for abstaining treatment without reasonable contraindication were present sinus rhythm in 13.7% (125/911), perceived not an OAC candidate in 10.6% (97/911) and anemia in the past in 4.3% (39/911).

Conclusions

In the population of Västernorrland County, a very high AF prevalence of 4.7% was found, of which just over 90% would theoretically benefit from OAC treatment. This is higher than previously reported and stresses the importance of stroke prevention in this large patient group.
Circular economy, bioeconomy, and sustainable development goals: a systematic literature review
Authors: Ferraz Diogo , Pyka Andreas
Published: September 2023

The circular economy (CE) and bioeconomy (BE) are recognized as potential solutions for achieving sustainable development, yet little research has examined their potential contribution to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this study, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of 649 articles published between 2007 and 2022, as well as a systematic literature review of 81 articles, to assess the extent to which the CE and BE communities have addressed the SDGs. Our analysis identified 10 research gaps including the limited number of empirical quantitative papers, particularly in the context of BE, and the underrepresentation of developing regions such as Latin America and Africa in the literature. Our main finding reveals that the CE community primarily focuses on SDG 12, Responsible Consumption and Production, followed by SDG 9, Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; SDG 7, Affordable and Clean Energy; and SDG 6, Clean Water and Sanitation. The BE community, on the other hand, focuses primarily on SDG 7, followed by SDG 9 and SDG 12. However, both communities lack attention to social SDGs such as quality education, poverty, and gender equality. We propose that a combination of CE and BE, known as circular bioeconomy, could help countries achieve all SDGs. Further research is needed to develop and implement circular bioeconomy policies that address these gaps and promote sustainable development. In this sense, our study identified an important research gap that needs more attention in the future.
Multiscale Asymptotic Analysis Reveals How Cell Growth and Subcellular Compartments Affect Tissue-Scale Hormone Transport
Authors: Kiradjiev K. B. , Band L. R.
Published: September 2023

Determining how cell-scale processes lead to tissue-scale patterns is key to understanding how hormones and morphogens are distributed within biological tissues and control developmental processes. In this article, we use multiscale asymptotic analysis to derive a continuum approximation for hormone transport in a long file of cells to determine how subcellular compartments and cell growth and division affect tissue-scale hormone transport. Focusing our study on plant tissues, we begin by presenting a discrete multicellular ODE model tracking the hormone concentration in each cell’s cytoplasm, subcellular vacuole, and surrounding apoplast, represented by separate compartments in the cell-file geometry. We allow the cells to grow at a rate that can depend both on space and time, accounting for both cytoplasmic and vacuolar expansion. Multiscale asymptotic analysis enables us to systematically derive the corresponding continuum model, obtaining an effective reaction–advection–diffusion equation and revealing how the effective diffusivity, effective advective velocity, and the effective sink term depend on the parameters in the cell-scale model. The continuum approximation reveals how subcellular compartments, such as vacuoles, can act as storage vessels, that significantly alter the effective properties of hormone transport, such as the effective diffusivity and the induced effective velocity. Furthermore, we show how cell growth and spatial variance across cell lengths affect the effective diffusivity and the induced effective velocity, and how these affect the tissue-scale hormone distribution. In particular, we find that cell growth naturally induces an effective velocity in the direction of growth, whereas spatial variance across cell lengths induces effective velocity due to the presence of an extra compartment, such as the apoplast and the vacuole, and variations in the relative sizes between the compartments across the file of cells. It is revealed that hormone transport is faster across cells of decreasing lengths than cells with increasing lengths. We also investigate the effect of cell division on transport dynamics, assuming that each cell divides as soon as it doubles in size, and find that increasing the time between successive cell divisions decreases the growth rate, which enhances the effect of cell division in slowing hormone transport. Motivated by recent experimental discoveries, we discuss particular applications for transport of gibberellic acid (GA), an important growth hormone, within the Arabidopsis root. The model reveals precisely how membrane proteins that mediate facilitated GA transport affect the effective tissue-scale transport. However, the results are general enough to be relevant to other plant hormones, or other substances that are transported in a similar way in any type of cells.
Derivation of Naïve Human Embryonic Stem Cells Using a CHK1 Inhibitor
Authors: Ware Carol B. , Jonlin Erica C. , Anderson Donovan J. , Cavanaugh Christopher , Hesson Jennifer , Sidhu Sonia , Cook Savannah , Villagomez-Olea Guillermo , Horwitz Marshall S. , Wang Yuliang , Mathieu Julie
Published: September 2023

Embryonic development is a continuum in vivo. Transcriptional analysis can separate established human embryonic stem cells (hESC) into at least four distinct developmental pluripotent stages, two naïve and two primed, early and late relative to the intact epiblast. In this study we primarily show that exposure of frozen human blastocysts to an inhibitor of checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1) upon thaw greatly enhances establishment of karyotypically normal late naïve hESC cultures. These late naïve cells are plastic and can be toggled back to early naïve and forward to early primed pluripotent stages. The early primed cells are transcriptionally equivalent to the post inner cell mass intermediate (PICMI) stage seen one day following transfer of human blastocysts into in vitro culture and are stable at an earlier stage than conventional primed hESC.

Graphical Abstract
Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Transcriptomics Revealed HCMV IE2-Related Microglia Responses in Alzheimer’s-Like Disease in Transgenic Mice
Authors: Liu Fengjun , Wang Zhifei , Niu Delei , Zhang Xianjuan , Nan Fulong , Jiang Shasha , Li Jun , Yu Meng , Yang Xiaoli , Zhang Shuyun , Zhou Xiaoqiong , Wang Hui , Zhang Xueming , Liu Wenxuan , Li Zonghui , Wang Yunyang , Wang Bin
Published: September 2023

Although multiple factors are known to concur with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the relationship between human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and AD-like disease is unclear. Here, we propose a hypothesis that HCMV immediate-early 2 (IE2) protein promotes microglia activation and thus leads to AD-like disease. We successfully constructed IE2 transgenic mice expressing IE2 in the hippocampus. Single-cell sequencing analysis revealed that IE2 promoted the activation of microglia and upregulated the expression of disease-associated microglia genes. Differentially expressed gene analysis and pathway enrichment revealed that IE2 upregulated immune and nervous system disease-related genes. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the expressions of both amyloid precursor protein (APP) and p-Tau were significantly upregulated in the brains of IE2 mice and were markers of AD. Taken together, these findings provide useful insights into AD-like disease activated by HCMV IE2.
Inhibiting the NLRP3 Inflammasome with MCC950 Alleviates Neurological Impairment in the Brain of EAE Mice
Authors: Hou Baohua , Yin Jun , Liu Shuyan , Guo Jincheng , Zhang Baobao , Zhang Zhenzhen , Yang Lanping , Tan Xiying , Long Yijiao , Feng Sijie , Zhou Jingchun , Wu Yifan , Wang Xueyang , Han Song , Wang Zhenhui , He Xiaohua
Published: September 2023

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that is characterized by demyelination and neuronal damage. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice are used to model the disease progression of MS and mirror MS-like pathology. Previous researches have confirmed that inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome significantly alleviated the severity of EAE mice and the demyelination of spinal cord, but its effect on neuronal damage and oligodendrocyte loss in the brain remains unclear. In this study, female C57BL/6 mice were immunized with MOG35–55 and PTX to establish experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model. MCC950, a selective NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor, was used to investigate the effect of NLRP3 inflammasome on the pathological changes and glial cell activation in the brain of EAE mice by immunohistochemistry. Our results demonstrated that MCC950 ameliorated the neuronal damage, demyelination, and oligodendrocyte loss in the brain of EAE mice. This protective effect of MCC950 may be attributed to its ability to suppress the activation of glial cells and prevents microglia polarization to M1 phenotype. Our work indicates that inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome has the therapeutic effects of neuroprotection through immunomodulation and is a promising therapeutic strategy for MS.
A biosemiotic interpretation of certain genital morphological structures in the spiders Dysdera erythrina and Dysdera crocata (Araneae: Dysderidae)
Authors: Schult Joachim , Preik Onno , Kirschner Stefan , Friedrich Frank
Published: September 2023

A biosemiotic approach to the interpretation of morphological data is apt to highlight morphological traits that have hitherto gone unnoticed for their crucial roles in intraspecific sign interpretation and communication processes. Examples of such traits include specific genital structures found in the haplogyne spidersDysdera erythrina(Walckenaer 1802) andDysdera crocata(Koch 1838). In bothD. erythrinaandD. crocata, the distal sclerite of the male bulb and the anterior diverticulum of the female endogyne exhibit a striking, previously unreported correspondence in size and shape, allowing for a precise match between these structures during copulation. InD. erythrina, the sclerite at the tip of the bulb and the anterior diverticulum are semi-circular in shape, whereas inD. crocatathey are rectangular. From the perspective of biosemiotics, which studies the production and interpretation of signs and codes in living systems, these structures are considered the morphological zones of an intraspecific sign interpretation process. This process constitutes one of the necessary prerequisites for sperm transfer and the achievement of fertilization. Therefore, these morphological elements deserve particular attention as they hold higher taxonomic value compared to morphological traits of the bulb for which a relevant role in mating and fertilization has not been proven. Thus, an approach to species delimitation based on biosemiotics, with its specific evaluation of morphological structures, provides new insights for the multidisciplinary endeavour of modern integrative taxonomy.
Alternative Eco-friendly Treatment of Hollow Cellulosic Fiber-Based Hybrid Composites for Remarkable Reactive Dyeing
Authors: Diab Hanan Abdelmohsen , Hakeim Osama A. , EL-Moursy Amal Mohamed
Published: September 2023

Egyptian Chorisia hollow fibers have been blended with cotton waste, polyester waste, and raw bamboo at various ratios and weft counts using open-end spinning. The blended fabrics of hybrid composites were subjected to atmospheric plasma, pectinase, and lipase enzyme treatments, as well as the substitution of all hazardous chemicals, as sustainable alternatives to traditional alkaline scouring. The impacts of the treatments on the hollow-based fabrics' hydrophilicity, surface morphology, and color performance have been discussed. Pretreatment is associated with considerable weight loss (~ 12%) and a wetting time of less than 5 s which represents adequate absorbency of the composite. The enzymatic treatment contributed to looser arrangement of the fibrils which indicates an effective elimination of lignin and hemicellulose. The crystalline sections were greatly influenced by enzymatic treatment, providing effective decrease of cellulose crystallinity by about 30–40% as revealed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. Compared to conventional scouring, bio-scouring discharges significantly less effluent. The treated composite using either enzyme or plasma pretreatment method produced about at least 300% higher color yield (K/S) and 100% enhanced dye fixation (% F) than the untreated fabric. The lipase pretreatment without subsequent to atmospheric plasma treatment could be enough to achieve the highest hydrophilicity and color performance level under the experimental conditions.
Entomological analysis for archeological reconstruction and conservation strategies design: the mummies of Cerreto di Spoleto (Central Italy)
Authors: Lunardini Agata , Carta Giuseppina , Costantini Lorenzo , Minozzi Simona , Giuffra Valentina , Giordani Giorgia , Vanin Stefano
Published: September 2023

Insects found in archeological contexts provide useful information for reconstructing past events. In the context of funerary archeology, insects may help in reconstructing funerary practices or rituals, and in the understanding of the taphonomic processes. Furthermore, studying these insects is fundamental for developing effective conservation strategies for cultural heritage. This article focuses on the entomological investigation of four mummies (nineteenth century) discovered in the church of Santa Maria Annunziata (Cerreto di Spoleto, Central Italy). The research aimed to verify and eventually support archeological hypotheses about the four bodies and to plan an effective conservation strategy. The predominant findings were Diptera puparia and adult Coleoptera. Alongside, common species typical of the hypogean burial, such asHydrotaea capensisand several mycetophilous (mold feeder) species were also collected. The presence of blowfly remains (Calliphoridae) would suggest that the bodies were exposed before burial.
Characterization of synthetic porous media images by using fractal and multifractal analysis
Authors: Pavón-Domínguez Pablo , Díaz-Jiménez Marina
Published: September 2023

Fractal and multifractal analysis of porous images allow the description of porous media through a scale-invariant understanding. There have been numerous works that have used these analysis techniques for the description of a great variety of real porous media. However, these studies are usually comparative, being difficult to discern the role played by the pore size and pore distribution in the results of fractal and multifractal analysis. This works develops an in-depth study of different synthetic porous media from a fractal and multifractal approach, in which both the pore size and its distribution in the medium are parameterized. Thus, a set of synthetic binary images have been generated obtaining deterministic and random structures with different fixed pore sizes and also with different rates of pore sizes. Lacunarity is also calculated in order to complete the aforementioned analysis. Results evinces that fractal dimension increases with pore size and that it is higher when the pore distribution obeys a random distribution versus a deterministic one. However, when the pore size is very large, fractal dimension is similar regardless of the pore distribution. From a multifractal approach, pore size is negatively correlated with the degree of multifractality. In fact, in images with mixtures of different pore sizes it is also found that the greater the ratio of small pores, the greater degree of multifractality. By contrast, when the ratio of large pores is relevant, the degree of multifractality also increases due to the merging of macro-pores.
Road Asset Management and the Vehicles of the Future: An Overview, Opportunities, and Challenges
Authors: Gomes Correia Matheus , Ferreira Adelino
Published: September 2023

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) have the potential to significantly impact transportation systems in terms of mobility, the environment, safety, and the economy. These vehicles rely on a range of sensors and cameras to detect road signs and lane markings, as well as to scan their surroundings, and they are connected to other vehicles and infrastructures. Previous research has highlighted the need for transport asset management processes to manage the intrinsic aspects of CAVs more effectively, with a view to improving performance, resource utilization, and budget planning. However, little literature was found with a deep discussion of how CAVs will impact asset management. In this article we offer an initial discussion on the impacts of CAVs on road asset management. To do so, we first provide a short introduction to CAVs, followed by an overview of road asset management. We then comprehensively discuss many asset management aspects that are affected by CAVs. Finally, future research opportunities, challenges, and important subjects are outlined.
Some thoughts and experiments on Bergman’s compact amalgamation problem
Authors: Joswig Michael , Kummer Mario , Thom Andreas , Yun Claudia He
Published: September 2023

We study the question whether copies of $$S^{1}$$

S
1

in $$\textrm{SU}(3)$$

SU
(
3
)

can be amalgamated in a compact group. This is the simplest instance of a fundamental open problem in the theory of compact groups raised by George Bergman in 1987. Considerable computational experiments suggest that the answer is positive in this case. We obtain a positive answer for a relaxed problem using theoretical considerations.
Anti-carcinoma and anti -microbial behavioral studies for octahedral synthesized Schiff base metal complexes
Authors: Abd El-Halim Hanan , El-Sayed Omnia Y. , Mohamed Gehad G.
Published: September 2023

2,2′-((1Z-1′Z) (1,3-diphenylpropane-1,3-diylidene) bis (azanylylidene)) dibenzoic acid (H2L) Schiff base ligand, derived from condensation reaction in a molar ratio 2:1 between anthranilic acid and dibenzoyl methane, respectively. Cr(III), Mn(II), Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes were obtained from 1:1 (ligand: metal salt) reaction. Elemental analyses, IR, 1H NMR, UV–Vis, ESR, mass spectra, conductivity, and magnetic susceptibility measurements as well as thermal (TG/DTG) analyses have been used to conclude the molecular structure of the prepared complexes. From the analytical and spectroscopic tools, the stoichiometry of the complexes was found to be of ML type with octahedral geometry. The conductivity values supported the electrolytic nature of Cr(III) and Fe(III) complexes and non- electrolytic nature of the remaining complexes. From IR studies, the involvement of two azomethine nitrogen atoms and two carboxylate oxygen has been proved as tetradendate binding sites of the ligand. Screening Schiff base and its complexes for their antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae and Bacillus subtilis as G + bacteria; Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli as G− bacteria) and fungi (Aspergillus fumigatus; Syncephalastrum racemosum; Geotricum candidum and Candida albicans) has been conducted by disk diffusion method. The Comparison between the antimicrobial activity of the metal complexes and the free ligand showed the advancement of the metal complexes. Unfortunately, no promising anti-tumor activity has been detected for the ligand and its metal complexes as they were evaluated against human cancer (MCF-7 cells viability).
Can ChatGPT Pass High School Exams on English Language Comprehension?
Authors: de Winter Joost C. F.
Published: September 2023

Launched in late November 2022, ChatGPT, a large language model chatbot, has garnered considerable attention. However, ongoing questions remain regarding its capabilities. In this study, ChatGPT was used to complete national high school exams in the Netherlands on the topic of English reading comprehension. In late December 2022, we submitted the exam questions through the ChatGPT web interface (GPT-3.5). According to official norms, ChatGPT achieved a mean grade of 7.3 on the Dutch scale of 1 to 10—comparable to the mean grade of all students who took the exam in the Netherlands, 6.99. However, ChatGPT occasionally required re-prompting to arrive at an explicit answer; without these nudges, the overall grade was 6.5. In March 2023, API access was made available, and a new version of ChatGPT, GPT-4, was released. We submitted the same exams to the API, and GPT-4 achieved a score of 8.3 without a need for re-prompting. Additionally, employing a bootstrapping method that incorporated randomness through ChatGPT’s ‘temperature’ parameter proved effective in self-identifying potentially incorrect answers. Finally, a re-assessment conducted with the GPT-4 model updated as of June 2023 showed no substantial change in the overall score. The present findings highlight significant opportunities but also raise concerns about the impact of ChatGPT and similar large language models on educational assessment.
Fractal hypersurfaces, affine Weyl groups, and wavelet sets
Authors: Massopust Peter
Published: September 2023

In this expository paper, we present some fundamental connections between iterated function systems, in particular those whose attractors are the graphs of multivariate real-valued fractal functions, and foldable figures, affine Weyl groups, and wavelet sets.
Plasma-Free Blood as a Potential Alternative to Whole Blood for Transcriptomic Analysis
Authors: Chen Qingwang , Guo Xiaorou , Wang Haiyan , Sun Shanyue , Jiang He , Zhang Peipei , Shang Erfei , Zhang Ruolan , Cao Zehui , Niu Quanne , Zhang Chao , Liu Yaqing , Shi Leming , Yu Ying , Hou Wanwan , Zheng Yuanting
Published: September 2023

RNA sequencing (RNAseq) technology has become increasingly important in precision medicine and clinical diagnostics, and emerged as a powerful tool for identifying protein-coding genes, performing differential gene analysis, and inferring immune cell composition. Human peripheral blood samples are widely used for RNAseq, providing valuable insights into individual biomolecular information. Blood samples can be classified as whole blood (WB), plasma, serum, and remaining sediment samples, including plasma-free blood (PFB) and serum-free blood (SFB) samples that are generally considered less useful byproducts during the processes of plasma and serum separation, respectively. However, the feasibility of using PFB and SFB samples for transcriptome analysis remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to assess the suitability of employing PFB or SFB samples as an alternative RNA source in transcriptomic analysis. We performed a comparative analysis of WB, PFB, and SFB samples for different applications. Our results revealed that PFB samples exhibit greater similarity to WB samples than SFB samples in terms of protein-coding gene expression patterns, detection of differentially expressed genes, and immunological characterizations, suggesting that PFB can serve as a viable alternative to WB for transcriptomic analysis. Our study contributes to the optimization of blood sample utilization and the advancement of precision medicine research.