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0 | Tobacco Consumption and High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin I in the General Population: The HUNT Study | Background Cardiac troponins represent a sensitive index of subclinical myocardial injury and are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events in the general population. Despite positive associations with cardiovascular risk of both cardiac troponins and cigarette smoking, concentrations of cardiac troponin I measured by high-sensitivity assays (hs-cTnI) are paradoxically lower in current smokers than in never-smokers. The impact of smoking intensity and time from smoking cessation on hs-cTnI remains unknown. Methods and Results hs-cTnI concentrations were measured in 32028 subjects free from cardiovascular disease enrolled in the prospective, population-based HUNT (Trøndelag Health Study). Tobacco habits were self-reported and classified as never (n=14 559), former (n=14 248), and current (n=3221) smokers. Current smokers exhibited significantly lower concentrations of hs-cTnI than never-smokers (P<0.001). In adjusted models, both current smoking (-17.3%; 95% CI, -20.6 to -13.9%) and former smoking (-6.6%; 95% CI, -8.7 to -4.5%) were associated with significantly lower hs-cTnI concentrations. Among former smokers, higher smoking burden (>10 pack-years) were associated with lower concentrations of hs-cTnI. Time since smoking cessation was associated with increasing concentrations of hs-cTnI in a dose-dependent manner (P for trend<0.001), and subjects who quit smoking >30 years ago had concentrations of hs-cTnI comparable with those of never-smokers. Conclusions In the general population, both current and former cigarette smoking is associated with lower concentrations of hs-cTnI. In former smokers, there was a dose-response relationship between pack-years of smoking, and hs-cTnI. Time since smoking cessation was associated with increasing concentrations of hs-cTnI, indicating a continuum of hs-cTnI from current smoker to never-smokers. |
1 | Approaching towards sustainable supply chain under the spotlight of business intelligence | These two main objectives of this study are to present a theoretical model to explain how business intelligence capabilities influence the company's supply chain sustainability and to examine the relationships among different BI and CSCS dimensions. This study was conducted with the use of a standard BI questionnaire along with the United Nations CSCS questionnaire among 234 Iranian pharmaceutical companies, from which 188 were also surveyed. Smart pls3 and partial least squares methods were used for validity as well as reliability evaluation of the measurement model. According to the findings, BI significantly affects the sustainability of the pharmaceutical supply chain and some of its dimensions, including vision, scope, and internal aspects, thereby the hypothesis indicating the effect of BI on these dimensions was accepted. However, there was an insignificantly positive relationship between BI and the other dimensions of CSCS, including expectation, engagement, and goals; hence, the hypothesis indicating the effect of BI on these dimensions was rejected. If the policy of the board is to implement supply chain sustainability, BI can have a greater impact on the company. Otherwise, BI may be implemented with not much effect though it can be indirectly beneficial to these companies. No studies have been performed on direct examination of the relationship of BI and CSCS and their various dimensions with the use of an extensive survey among Iran's pharmaceutical companies. Also, this study reveals some facts about the sustainability of the pharmaceutical supply chain, BI, and relevant issues as significant obstacles against a sustainable supply chain and BI. This article also supports the UN questionnaire on supply chain sustainability and adopts it in the surveys. Furthermore, various social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were compared, and it was concluded that the data required for the pharmaceutical industry was more accessible from Twitter, in comparison to the other social networks. |
2 | Does globalization matter for ecological footprint in Turkey? Evidence from dual adjustment approach | The main aim of this paper is to explore the role of globalization on ecological footprint in Turkey while controlling energy consumption, economic growth, and trade openness. To achieve this objective, we employ dual adjustment approach. The main novelty of the dual adjustment approach is that the method offers another path to the cointegration analysis by relaxing the implicit assumption of the singular adjustment in cointegration analysis. The findings clearly reveal that (i) in the long run, globalization impacts ecological footprint positively and (ii) trade openness reduces ecological footprint in the short run, while ecological footprint is negatively affected by GDP growth in both the short and the long run. In terms of policy implications, this study suggests that in order to improve the environmental quality, Turkey should adopt such policies that encourage energy consumers to shift toward renewable energy. Moreover, the government should take necessary steps to diversify the overall energy mix toward renewable energy. |
3 | Myths and Misconceptions About University Student Volunteering: Development and Perpetuation | This paper examines myths and misconceptions about university student volunteering. Our study explored the experiences of students, host organisations and universities participating in volunteering in Australia, identify good practice, and discover barriers to success. A qualitative approach involved 60 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. Students were often seen as being energetic, having flexible time and having skills associated with their studies. Some organisations, however, viewed students as unreliable, hard to manage and requiring specific programs. Some hosts were viewed as not valuing student volunteers, or not having the capacity to supervise. These perceptions were found to be nuanced. Erroneous myths were seen to develop from a single event, later confirmed by a 'related' event; in scenarios with multiple players, motivations, and complexities. The potential for misconceptions to undermine the true value of student volunteering for all stakeholders is ameliorated when there is common understanding, clear expectation setting, and ongoing dialogue. |
4 | Antioxidant Status of Rat Liver Mitochondria under Conditions of Moderate Hypothermia of Different Duration | For evaluation of the contribution of the antioxidant system of mitochondria into the dynamics of changes in the prooxidant status, the content and activity of some of its components were studied under conditions of moderate hypothermia of varying duration. It was found that short-term hypothermia significantly increased superoxide dismutase activity and decreased the levels of low-molecular-weight antioxidants. Increasing the duration of hypothermia to 1 h led to suppression of activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, and glutathione peroxidase and a decrease in glutathione content. Further prolongation of hypothermia (to 3 h) was associated with a significant increase in superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities and normalization of the rate of glutathione reductase catalysis; the concentration of glutathione increased significantly. |
5 | Business transformation in an age of turbulence - Lessons learned from COVID-19 | The COVID-19 pandemic has caused global economic turmoil. Although many companies have suffered huge losses, some have flourished by changing their old ways of doing business. We investigate the business transformation process under drastic market changes and time pressure, with a focus on decision speed and structure in the decision & planning phase, the implementation structure and monitoring in the implementation phase, and reinforcement after the implementation. Through case studies in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, e-commerce, and finance, we explore how companies in specific contexts have dealt with the above-mentioned critical factors when transforming their business during the pandemic, whether the experienced transformation processes differ from theory, and if so, how. The examples of business transformations cover eight categories, including work from home, the use of augmented reality, internet of things, and business model redesign. Our findings reveal how these transformations are perceived and evaluated by companies one year into the pandemic. In addition, we show how decision speed, structure of the decision-making process, structure of the implementation process, and scale of the implementation impact the completion time of the transformations. Based on our results, we provide suggestions to companies for an effective business transformation in times of crisis. |
6 | Ameliorative effects of ribes rubrum oil against gastric ulcers caused by indomethacin in experimental models | The objective of this study was to assess the anti-inflammatory effects of ribes rubrum oil at three different doses (5, 10 and 15 ml/kg b.w/day) in adult male albino rats with indomethacin-induced stomach ulcers (IND). Forty rats (135 ± 5 g) categorized into 5 groups (n = 8), for 45 days. Group (1) normal control, thirty-two rats were gavaged IND as single oral dose (30 mg/Kg b.w) resulted in gastric ulcer, then distributed to four groups, group (2) IND-intoxicated control, Groups 3, 4 and 5 were administrated ribes rubrum oil at levels of (5, 10 & 15 ml/kg b.w) respectively. Administrated levels of ribes rubrum oil found to have remarkable elevation in food conversion efficiency in experimental rats, gastric juice pH, in compared to the drunken control group, gastric prostaglandin E2 and gastric cytochrome P450 reductase levels were lower. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines NO, TNF-, and IL-1 were dramatically reduced, which was related with an increase in blood hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), and red blood cells (RBCs)in ulcerogenic rats compared to intoxicated control. Data showed that, the main components of ribes rubrum oil are β-Pinene, γ-linolenic and Linalool oxide levels (25.9%, 23.10% and 10.5%, respectively) for their antioxidant activity. Findings showed that administrate ribes rubrum oil at dose 15 ml/kg followed by 10 ml/kg had the best results against ulcerogenic rats. In conclusion, the outcomes are consistent with the concept that ribes rubrum oil had a gastroprotective and antisecretory effects against gastric ulcer that may be attributed to the antioxidant properties of the oil that ameliorates the damage occur in gastric of rats. |
7 | Reconstruction and Exploratory Analysis of mTORC1 Signaling Pathway and Its Applications to Various Diseases Using Network-Based Approach | Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine-threonine kinase member of the cellular phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, which is involved in multiple biological functions by transcriptional and translational control. mTOR is a downstream mediator in the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and plays a critical role in cell survival. In cancer, this pathway can be activated by membrane receptors, including the HER (or ErbB) family of growth factor receptors, the insulin-like growth factor receptor, and the estrogen receptor. In the present work, we congregated an electronic network of mTORC1 built on an assembly of data using natural language processing, consisting of 470 edges (activations/interactions and/or inhibitions) and 206 nodes representing genes/proteins, using the Cytoscape 3.6.0 editor and its plugins for analysis. The experimental design included the extraction of gene expression data related to five distinct types of cancers, namely, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, hepatic cirrhosis, cervical cancer, glioblastoma, and anaplastic thyroid cancer from Gene Expression Omnibus (NCBI GEO) followed by pre-processing and normalization of the data using R & Bioconductor. ExprEssence plugin was used for network condensation to identify differentially expressed genes across the gene expression samples. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis was performed to find out the over-represented GO terms in the network. In addition, pathway enrichment and functional module analysis of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were also conducted. Our results indicated NOTCH1, NOTCH3, FLCN, SOD1, SOD2, NF1, and TLR4 as upregulated proteins in different cancer types highlighting their role in cancer progression. The MCODE analysis identified gene clusters for each cancer type with MYC, PCNA, PARP1, IDH1, FGF10, PTEN, and CCND1 as hub genes with high connectivity. MYC for cervical cancer, IDH1 for hepatic cirrhosis, MGMT for glioblastoma and CCND1 for anaplastic thyroid cancer were identified as genes with prognostic importance using survival analysis. |
8 | Distribution, sources and human risk of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in a receiving riverine environment of the Nanjing urban area, East China | In recent years, perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) have become ubiquitously distributed in water environments, especially in riverine waters receiving effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in urban areas. With rapid economic development, China has become the main market of manufacturing and consuming fluorinated products. While studies concerning PFAAs on dimension of urban water system are scarce. To elucidate the distribution patterns of PFAAs using multi-matrices, the effects of spatial-temporal factors on the partition behaviors of PFAAs were investigated in different riverine environments in the downtown area of Nanjing, East China. Predominated by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), sum PFAAs ( PFAAs) in the water phase were with concentrations of 0.8(similar to)274.6 ng/L, characteristically higher in the dry season and lower in the wet season. The composition profiles in sediments ( PFAAs 0.8-11.4 ng/g dry weight) differed from that in water, being with a larger proportion of longer-chain PFAAs. The main sources of PFAAs in water were identified as industrial discharge, uncontrolled sewage discharge or WWTP effluents, surface runoff and nonpoint sources. The discharge fluxes of EPFAAs from Nanjing City can reach at 916.5 g/d for the Qinhuai River and 134.1 g/d for WWTPs along the Yangtze River. Fish have been shown to accumulate PFAAs in various tissues, with bioaccumulation positively correlated with perfluoroalkyl chain length. The hazard indexes associated with consumption of river fish were estimated low for Nanjing local population. |
9 | Serum GDF-15 Predicts In-Hospital Mortality and Arrhythmic Risks in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction | This study aims to evaluate the association of serum growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) with in-hospital mortality and arrhythmic risks in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A total of 296 consecutive patients with AMI were enrolled in our hospital from Jan. 2018 to Dec. 2020. Serum GDF-15 levels were measured at baseline. The primary endpoint was in-hospital all-cause mortality, and the secondary endpoint was major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) during hospitalization, defined as a composite of cardiovascular death, heart failure, sustained ventricular arrhythmias (ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation), and bleeding. During hospitalization, patients with a higher GDF-15 level had significantly higher incidences of in-hospital mortality (7.4% vs 1.4%; P = .02) and MACEs (9.5% vs 20.9%, P < .01) than those with a lower GDF-15 level. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a higher GDF-15 level was significantly associated with increased risks of in-hospital mortality (OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.44-2.50; P < .01) and MACEs (OR = 2.19, 95% CI: 1.56-2.77; P < .01). In conclusion, GDF-15 was associated with the risks of in-hospital mortality and MACEs, indicating that it should be a prognostic biomarker for patients with AMI. |
10 | The Economic Perspective of Food Poverty and (In)security: An Analytical Approach to Measuring and Estimation in Italy | The UN Sustainable Development Goals have set clear targets on global poverty, hunger and malnutrition to be achieved by 2030, which have prompted academics and policymakers to identify useful strategies and drivers. Moreover, the COVID19 pandemic has exacerbated inequalities at national and sub-national levels thus hampering the achievement of these goals. On considering the multifaceted nature of poverty, a recent research strand focuses on food poverty and insecurity issues in terms of economic access to food and healthy diet consumption, with moderate and extreme food insecurity affecting almost 9% of the population in Europe and North America. This paper aims to analyse food poverty and insecurity at regional level in Italy. Using micro-data from the Italian Household Budget Survey carried out by ISTAT, an analytical approach was proposed to define and measure the different degree of food poverty and insecurity. Moreover, to obtain insights into whether food poverty and insecurity can afford population healthy nutrition, inequality of the distributions of food expenditure categories are estimated. The results provided us with information on other important aspects of the poverty. Indeed, in Italy individuals who are at-risk-of-food-poverty or food insecure amount to 22.3% of the entire population. Furthermore, the at-risk-of-food-poverty-rate varies at regional level from 14.6% (Umbria) to 29.6% (Abruzzo), with high levels of food consumption inequalities observed above all for vegetables, meat and fish. All these issues could help policy makers to define economic intervention policies aimed at reducing social exclusion and achieving more equitable and sustainable living conditions for the entire population. |
11 | Smart meter data-driven evaluation of operational demand response potential of residential air conditioning loads | Residential air conditioning loads (ACLs) are promising demand response (DR) resources with a certain flexibility and controllability that can enhance the operational flexibility and resource utilization of the power grid. The evaluation of DR potential is of great importance for estimating the power reduction, targeting appropriate DR customers, and obtaining constrained boundary for economic dispatch. To better reveal the multi-faceted factors and multi-uncertainties during DR, this paper present a novel definition and evaluation approach of operational DR potential from single customer to large-scale load centers. Aimed at resolving two main issues of evaluation: disaggregation of ACLs component and parameter estimation, an unsupervised load decomposition methodology considering load level difference and seasonal variation is proposed to disaggregate the whole-house energy consumption into ACLs and baseload components non-intrusively. Subsequently, based on the thermal dynamics model of ACLs, a segment analysis methodology is developed, including a constrained regression method for the static parameter estimation and a hybrid method for the dynamic parameter estimation. Data experiments based on ground truth data of residential customers in Austin, Texas, U.S., smart homes in Western Massachusetts and low voltage area in a developed city, Jiangsu province, China, validate the better performance of accuracy and robustness using the proposed methods. The proposed methods are further implemented to four application scenarios, including ACLs consumption behavior learning, operational DR potential analysis, customers targeting for different time-scale DR programs, and day ahead scheduling. These results also demonstrate that great difference in terms of ACLs usage patterns (a total of 19 patterns), DR potential (a maximum of 0.7 kW) results from different DR duration and operational conditions. The DR programs designers and load aggregators are suggested to consider the proposed 5 basic indicators to target customer and select participants in different DR scenarios. And the operational DR potential is more reliable and suitable to generate strategies for day ahead scheduling. |
12 | Modelling environmental degradation in South Africa: the effects of energy consumption, democracy, and globalization using innovation accounting tests | This study investigates the effects of energy consumption, democracy and globalization on environmental degradation in the context of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for South Africa between 1971 and 2014. To this end, the study applies the combined Bayer-Hanck cointegration test and the fully modified ordinary least squares (FM-OLS) estimation approach. The empirical results confirm the presence of cointegration among the variables, and thus validate the EKC hypothesis for South Africa. In addition, while energy consumption increases environmental degradation, the effect of democracy is positively insignificant. The finding also suggests that globalization condenses environmental degradation. The results of the long-run causal relationship divulge that economic growth, energy consumption, democracy and globalization Granger-cause environmental degradation. The results also find causality running from CO2 emissions, economic growth, democracy and globalization to energy consumption. In the short run, a causality is found running from globalization to CO2 emissions, energy consumption to CO2 emissions and globalization to energy consumption. In addition, economic growth is said to Granger-cause democracy while democracy Granger-causes CO2 emissions. These results are validated by the innovation accounting tests. |
13 | Energy Management Strategy in Dynamic Distribution Network Reconfiguration Considering Renewable Energy Resources and Storage | Penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs) and electrical energy storage (EES) systems in distribution systems is increasing, and it is crucial to investigate their impact on systems' operation scheme, reliability, and security. In this paper, expected energy not supplied (EENS) and voltage stability index (VSI) of distribution networks are investigated in dynamic balanced and unbalanced distribution network reconfiguration, including RESs and EES systems. Furthermore, due to the high investment cost of the EES systems, the number of charge and discharge is limited, and the state-of-health constraint is included in the underlying problem to prolong the lifetime of these facilities. The optimal charging/discharging scheme for EES systems and optimal distribution network topology are presented in order to optimize the operational costs, and reliability and security indices simultaneously. The proposed strategy is applied to a large-scale 119-bus distribution test network in order to show the economic justification of the proposed approach. |
14 | Axin2+ PDL Cells Directly Contribute to New Alveolar Bone Formation in Response to Orthodontic Tension Force | Wnt-β-catenin signaling plays a key role in orthodontic tooth movement (OTM), a common clinical practice for malocclusion correction. However, its targeted periodontal ligament (PDL) progenitor cells remain largely unclear. In this study, we first showed a synchronized increase in Wnt-β-catenin levels and Axin2+ PDL progenitor cell numbers during OTM using immunostaining of β-catenin in wild-type mice and X-gal staining in the Axin2-LacZ knock-in line. Next, we demonstrated time-dependent increases in Axin2+ PDL progenitors and their progeny cell numbers within PDL and alveolar bones during OTM using a one-time tamoxifen-induced Axin2 tracing line (Axin2CreERT2/+; R26RtdTomato/+). Coimmunostaining images displayed both early and late bone markers (such as RUNX2 and DMP1) in the Axin2Lin PDL cells. Conversely, ablation of Axin2+ PDL cells via one-time tamoxifen-induced diphtheria toxin subunit A (DTA) led to a drastic decrease in osteogenic activity (as reflected by alkaline phosphatase) in PDL and alveolar bone. There was also a decrease in new bone mass and a significant reduction in the mineral apposition rate on both the control side (to a moderate degree) and the OTM side (to a severe degree). Thus, we conclude that the Axin2+ PDL cells (the Wnt-targeted key cells) are highly sensitive to orthodontic tension force and play a critical role in OTM-induced PDL expansion and alveolar bone formation. Future drug development targeting the Axin2+ PDL progenitor cells may accelerate alveolar bone formation during orthodontic treatment. |
15 | Research on the incorporation of untreated flue gas desulfurization gypsum into magnesium oxysulfate cement | The growing concern of low-carbon economy and sustainable development has obliged the researchers to investigate green building materials through utilizing industrial by-products. In this study, the industrial waste material, flue gas desulfurization gypsum (FGDG), is incorporated into the magnesium oxysulfate cement (MOSC). The performance of FGDG-incorporated MOSC is evaluated by testing the setting time, compressive strength, density, water absorption, water resistance, volume stability and SO42- releasing. The hydration products are detected by X-ray diffraction, while microstructure is observed by optical microscope and scanning electron microscope. Increasing the proportion of FGDG retards the initial and final setting times of paste. Compressive strength for MOSC mixtures varies from 52.4 to 62.4 MPa at hydration age of 3 days. The water absorption and the release of SO42- increase when increasing the FGDG content. The FGDG-incorporated MOSC presents a superior water resistance and volume stability in contrast with the FGDG-free MOSC. The main hydration products of the paste are Mg(OH)(2) and 5 Mg(OH)(2)center dot MgSO4 center dot 7H(2)O (5.1.7) phase. The microstructure analysis is in agreement with the results of mechanical properties. Finally, the FGDG-incorporated MOSC is identified as a promising building material by the evaluation of economic and environmental sustainability. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
16 | Exploring indicators of circular economy adoption framework through a hybrid decision support approach | Circular economy (CE) focuses on a circular approach to energy and material resources, which provides economic, environmental and social benefits for manufacturing organisations. CE adoption in emerging economies facilitates in substantial economic growth through appropriate utilisation of energy and material resources across manufacturing industries. This study identifies CE indicators in the context of an emerging economy. The study further develops a framework for the adoption of CE and tests it through a hybrid Best Worst Method and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory approach. The framework is validated through an Indian manufacturing case organisation. While Best Worst Method computes the CE related indicator weights, Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory analyses the inter-relationship among indicators. Disparate CE related indicators, e.g. strategic, managerial, informational and technological, supply chain and organisational, influence the CE adoption in an emerging economy context. The findings reveal that the strategic and managerial indicators have the strongest influence on developing other indicators. The causal digraph and relationship diagram assist the practitioners in predicting the inter-relationship of indicators in CE adoption. The study outcomes will help the practitioners, policymakers and researchers to draw a framework for adoption of circular and green practices and usage of resources sustainably. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
17 | Artesunate induces substantial topological alterations in the SARS-CoV-2 Nsp1 protein structure | The need for novel antiviral treatments for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues with the widespread infections and fatalities throughout the world. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of the deadly disease, relies on the non-structural protein Nsp1 for multiplication within the host cells and disarms the host immune defences by various mechanisms. Herein, we investigated the potential of artemisinin and its derivatives as possible inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Nsp1 through various computational approaches. Molecular docking results show that artemisinin (CID68827) binds to Nsp1 with a binding energy of -6.53 kcal/mol and an inhibition constant of 16.43 µM. The top 3 derivatives Artesunate (CID6917864), Artemiside (CID53323323) and Artemisone (CID11531457) show binding energies of -7.92 kcal/mol, -7.46 kcal/mol and -7.36 kcal/mol respectively. Hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding with Val10, Arg11, and Gln50 helped to stabilize the protein-ligand complexes. The pharmacokinetic properties of these molecules show acceptable properties. The geometric parameters derived from large-scale MD simulation studies provided insights into the changes in the structural topology of Nsp1 upon binding of Artesunate. Thus, the findings of our research highlight the importance of artemisinin and its derivatives in the development of drugs to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Nsp1 protein. |
18 | Porous Ti3C2Tx MXene Membranes for Highly Efficient Salinity Gradient Energy Harvesting | Extracting osmotic energy through nanoporous membranes is an efficient way to harvest renewable and sustainable energy using the salinity gradient between seawater and river water. Despite recent advances of nanopore-based membranes, which have revitalized the prospect of blue energy, their energy conversion is hampered by nanomembrane issues such as high internal resistance or low selectivity. Herein, we report a lamellar-structured membrane made of nanoporous Ti3C2Tx MXene sheets, exhibiting simultaneous enhancement in permeability and ion selectivity beyond their inherent trade-off. The perforated nanopores formed by facile H2SO4 oxidation of the sheets act as a network of cation channels that interconnects interplanar nanocapillaries throughout the lamellar membrane. The constructed internal nanopores lower the energy barrier for cation passage, thereby boosting the preferential ion diffusion across the membrane. A maximum output power density of the nanoporous Ti3C2Tx MXene membranes reaches up to 17.5 W·m-2 under a 100-fold KCl gradient at neutral pH and room temperature, which is as high as by 38% compared to that of the pristine membrane. The membrane design strategy employing the nanoporous two-dimensional sheets provides a promising approach for ion exchange, osmotic energy extraction, and other nanofluidic applications. |
19 | A Novel, eco-friendly combined solar cooling and heating system, powered by hybrid Photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector for domestic application | Solar heating and cooling technologies can have a vital role to play in understanding the targets in energy security, economic development, and mitigating climate change. This study aimed to investigate the performance of the combined solar cooling/heating system using a Photovoltaic Thermal collector (PVT) for residential applications. The main advantage of using PVT is the conversion of the maximum amount of solar energy into electricity and thermal energy. In this work, water is used to cool the panel and, consequently, increase the efficiency. The cooling cycle comprises a hybrid ejector-compression refrigeration cycle with two evaporator temperatures. To reduce the effect of the global warming phenomenon, two different refrigerants with lower Global Warming Potential (GWP), such as R600a and R290, are used instead of R134a. The inlet water does not only gain heat from the PVT but also the collector output water is heated in a condenser and heater. The results indicate that increasing the water mass flow rate from 0.011 kg/s to 0.03 kg/s (39-108 Lit/h) at solar intensity (G) of 945 W/m(2) results in enhancing the overall efficiency of the PVT system from 66.7% to 75.8%. In terms of the highest Coefficient of performance (COP) and the lowest exergy destruction, R290 shows better performance comparing to the other refrigerants. In more details, using R290, instead of R134a, results in up to 7.5% enhancement in the COP of the cycle. The water mass flow rate is optimized at m(w)=0.013 kg/s to achieve the highest COP and the lowest exergy destruction. Also, it is reported that the temperature of the outlet water from the system varies between 31.72 degrees C to 46.73 degrees C during the day. Finally, it is revealed that using R290 for the refrigeration cycle and cooling the panel result in enhancing the COP of the cycle by 11.1%, increasing the temperature of the outlet water from the system by 9.17 degrees C and decreasing the refrigerant flow rate by 60.17%, in comparison with a system without panel cooling which uses R134a refrigerant. |
20 | Host phenotype and microbiome vary with infection status, parasite genotype, and parasite microbiome composition | A growing literature demonstrates the impact of helminths on their host gut microbiome. We investigated whether the stickleback host microbiome depends on ecoevolutionary variables by testing the impact of exposure to the cestode parasite Schistocephalus solidus with respect to infection success, host genotype, parasite genotype, and parasite microbiome composition. We observed constitutive differences in the microbiome of sticklebacks of different origin, and those differences increased when sticklebacks exposed to the parasite resisted infection. In contrast, the microbiome of successfully infected sticklebacks varied with parasite genotype. More specifically, we revealed that the association between microbiome and immune gene expression increased in infected individuals and varied with parasite genotype. In addition, we showed that S. solidus hosts a complex endomicrobiome and that bacterial abundance in the parasite correlates with expression of host immune genes. Within this comprehensive analysis we demonstrated that (i) parasites contribute to modulating the host microbiome through both successful and unsuccessful infection, (ii) when infection is successful, the host microbiome varies with parasite genotype due to genotype-dependent variation in parasite immunomodulation, and (iii) the parasite-associated microbiome is distinct from its host and impacts the host immune response to infection. |
21 | Systematic review on activity of liposomal encapsulated antioxidant, antibiotics, and antiviral agents | Reactive oxygen species (ROS) like superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radical, can be formed as normal products of aerobic metabolism. Overproduction or insufficient removal of ROS results in significant damage to cell structure and functions. Antioxidants applied directly and at relatively high concentrations to cellular systems are effective in protection against the damaging actions of ROS. Microorganisms including Gram-positive and negative bacteria, fungi, protozoa, algae, etc., can be disease causing microorganism. Antimicrobial agents have the capability to inhibitor destroy the microorganisms. The problems arising from the use of antioxidant and antimicrobial agents include poor solubility, instability during storage, low bioavailability, and difficulty to reach target organs with sufficient doses. Liposomal antimicrobial agent and liposomal antioxidants enhance the solubility, bioavailability, and stability of antimicrobial agent and antioxidants. |
22 | The Impact of Population Aging and Public Health Support on EU Labor Markets | Population aging and public health expenditure mainly dedicated to older dependent persons present major challenges for the European Union (EU) Member States, with profound implications for their economies and labor markets. Sustainable economic development relies on a well-balanced workforce of young and older people. As this balance shifts in favor of older people, productivity tends to suffer, on the one hand, and the older group demands more from health services, on the other hand. These requisites tend to manifest differently within developed and developing EU countries. This research aimed to assess population aging impacts on labor market coordinates (employment rate, labor productivity), in the framework of several health dimensions (namely, health government expenditure, hospital services, healthy life years, perceived health) and other economic and social factors. The analytical approach consisted of applying structural equation models, Gaussian graphical models, and macroeconometric models (robust regression and panel corrected standard errors) to EU panel data for the years 1995-2017. The results show significant dissimilarities between developed and developing EU countries, suggesting the need for specific policies and strategies for the labor market integration of older people, jointly with public health expenditure, with implications for EU labor market performance. |
23 | Peer-to-peer electricity trading in grid-connected residential communities with household distributed photovoltaic | With the rapid development of distributed electricity generation technologies such as solar photovoltaics, peer to-peer (P2P) electricity trading is attracting incremental attention due to the pursuit of decentralized energy autonomy and further economic benefits. The study presented in this paper aims to gain a better understanding of the community P2P electricity trading, including influence of trading strategies, determinants of trading quantity and price, and further factors affecting improvement in community energy welfare. The market mechanism is determined based on the discriminatory continuous double auction, followed by simulations of the trading process in well-designed cases. Results show that P2P trading price and quantity depend on variation of the supply-demand ratio during each trading period, by which in the absence of complex trading strategies and learning abilities, profits are able to be effectively and fairly allocated among participants. For a given community, the total profits that could be obtained from P2P electricity trading are influenced by many factors, and the key is to make those "ineffective supply" available in the P2P market again, through active energy management solutions on all residents rather than focusing only on prosumers' self-consumption in the past. The ensuing results make significant sense as regards better understanding both the benefits and limitations of P2P electricity trading in residential communities or other similar scenes, thus helping for guiding practical implementation. |
24 | Associations Between Atrial Arrhythmias and Brain Amyloid Deposition: The ARIC-PET Study | The aim of this study is to determine if there is an association between atrial arrhythmias and brain amyloid-β (Aβ), measured on florbetapir (FBP) PET. 346 nondemented participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study underwent FBP-PET, 185 also wore Zio® XT Patch. The associations between global cortical Aβ (> 1.2 standardized uptake value ratio) and history of atrial fibrillation, zio-defined atrial tachycardia and premature atrial contractions, each, were evaluated. Among nondemented community-dwelling older adults, we did not find an association between atrial arrhythmias and Aβ. Other brain pathology may underlie the association described between atrial arrhythmias and cognition. |
25 | An Efficient and Convenient Method for Isolation and Culturing of Neonatal Rat Cardiomyocytes | For isolation of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCM) the ventricular muscles of neonatal rats were treated with different digestive solutions: 0.06% trypsin (method I), 0.08% collagenase II (method II), 0.06% trypsin and 0.08% collagenase II for stepwise digestion (methods III and IV). After enzymatic dissociation of the tissue, the complete medium was added to stop this process. The cells suspensions obtained by methods I-III were collected and centrifuged. In contrast, the novel and improved method IV did not use centrifugation. Instead, various methods of adhesion were employed to separate non-myocardial cells. The isolation methods were compared by the quantity, survival rate, morphology, spontaneous pulsation rate, purity, and vitality of NRCM. These assessments showed that isolation method IV is a simple, efficient, and convenient way to obtain NRCM for culturing. |
26 | Piecewise Structural Equation Modeling of the Quantity Implicature in Child Language | We review an array of experimental methodological factors that either contribute to or detract from the measurement of pragmatic implicatures in child language. We carry out a truth value judgment task to measure children's interpretations of the Spanish existential quantifier algunos in implicature-consistent and implicature-inconsistent contexts. Independently, we take measures of children's inhibition, working memory, attention, approximate number ability, phrasal syntax, and lexicon. We model the interplay of these variables using a piecewise structural equation model (SEM), common in the life sciences, but not in the social and behavioral sciences. By 6 years of age, the children in our sample were not statistically different from adults in their interpretations. Syntax, lexicon, and inhibition significantly predict implicature generation, each accounting for unique variance. The approximate number system and inhibition significantly predict lexical development. The statistical power of the piecewise SEM components, with a sample of 64 children, is high, in comparison to a traditional, globally estimated SEM of the same data. |
27 | Beyond return of spontaneous circulation: update on post-cardiac arrest management in the intensive care unit | A well-functioning chain of survival is critical for good outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, a major public health concern in Singapore. While the percentage of survivors to hospital admission has increased over the years, the percentage of survivors to hospital discharge and the number of patients with good neurological recovery can be greatly improved. This underscores the urgent need to focus on 'post-cardiac arrest care', the fifth link in the chain of survival, to improve the outcomes of patients who are admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) after return of spontaneous circulation. This review builds on earlier recommendations of the Singapore National Targeted Temperature Management Workgroup in 2017 to provide a focused update on post-cardiac arrest management and a practical guide for physicians managing resuscitated patients with cardiac arrest in the ICU. |
28 | Potential innovation against Alzheimer's disorder: a tricomponent combination of natural antioxidants (vitamin E, quercetin, and basil oil) and the development of its intranasal delivery | Alzheimer's disorder (AD) is very difficult to manage and treat. The complexity of the brain, the blood-brain barrier influencing a multitude of parameters/biomarkers, as well as numerous other factors involved often contribute to the decline in the chances of treatment success. Development of the new drug moiety also takes time, being necessary to consider both its toxicity and related issues. As a strategic plan, a combined strategy is being developed and considered to address AD pathology using several approaches. A combination of vitamin E, quercetin, and basil oil in a nano-based formulation is designed to be administered nasally. The antioxidant present in these natural-based products helps to treat and alleviate AD if a synergistic approach is considered. The three active substances mentioned above are well known for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. The nanoformulation helps the co-delivery of the drug moiety to the brain through the intranasal route. In this review, a correlation and use of vitamin E, quercetin, and basil oil in a nano-based formulation is described as an effective way to treat AD. The intranasal administration of drugs is a promising approach for the treatment of neurodegenerative and mental disorders, as this route is non-invasive, enhances the bioavailability, allows a drug dose reduction, bypasses the blood-brain barrier, and reduces the systemic undesired effect. The use of natural products is generally considered to be just as safe; therefore, by using this combined approach, the level of toxicity can be minimized. |
29 | A mathematical model of the rat kidney. IV. Whole kidney response to hyperkalemia | The renal response to acute hyperkalemia is mediated by increased K+ secretion within the connecting tubule (CNT), flux that is modulated by tubular effects (e.g., aldosterone) in conjunction with increased luminal flow. There is ample evidence that peritubular K+ blunts Na+ reabsorption in the proximal tubule, thick ascending Henle limb, and distal convoluted tubule (DCT). Although any such reduction may augment CNT delivery, the relative contribution of each is uncertain. The kidney model of this laboratory was recently advanced with representation of the cortical labyrinth and medullary ray. Model tubules capture the impact of hyperkalemia to blunt Na+ reabsorption within each upstream segment. However, this forces the question of the extent to which increased Na+ delivery is transmitted past the macula densa and its tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) signal. Beyond increasing macula densa Na+ delivery, peritubular K+ is predicted to raise cytosolic Cl- and depolarize macula densa cells, which may also activate TGF. Thus, although the upstream reduction in Na+ transport may be larger, it appears that the DCT effect is critical to increasing CNT delivery. Beyond the flow effect, hyperkalemia reduces ammoniagenesis and reduced ammoniagenesis enhances K+ excretion. What this model provides is a possible mechanism. When cortical [Formula: see text] is taken up via peritubular Na+-K+([Formula: see text])-ATPase, it acidifies principal cells. Consequently, reduced ammoniagenesis increases principal cell pH, thereby increasing conductance of both the epithelial Na+ channel and renal outer medullary K+ channel, enhancing K+ excretion. In this model, the effect of aldosterone on principal cells, diminished DCT Na+ reabsorption, and reduced ammoniagenesis all provide relatively equal and additive contributions to renal K+ excretion.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Hyperkalemia blunts Na+ reabsorption along the nephron, and increased CNT Na+ delivery facilitates K+ secretion. The model suggests that tubuloglomerular feedback limits transmission of proximal effects past the macula densa, so that it is DCT transport that is critical. Hyperkalemia also reduces PCT ammoniagenesis, which enhances K+ excretion. The model suggests a mechanism, namely, that reduced cortical ammonia impacts CNT transport by raising cell pH and thus increasing both ENaC and ROMK conductance. |
30 | The novel HLA-B*35:501 allele, identified by sanger dideoxy nucleotide sequencing in a Chinese individual | HLA-B*35:501 differs from HLA-B*35:02:01:01 by three nucleotides in exon 2. |
31 | Molecular analysis of genes involved in chitin degradation from the chitinolytic bacterium Bacillus velezensis | Bacillus velezensis RB.IBE29 is a potent biocontrol agent with high chitinase activity isolated from the rhizosphere of black pepper cultivated in the Central Highlands, Vietnam. Genome sequences revealed that this species possesses some GH18 chitinases and AA10 protein(s); however, these enzymes have not been experimentally characterized. In this work, three genes were identified from the genomic DNA of this bacterium and cloned in Escherichia coli. Sequence analysis exhibited that the ORF of chiA consists of 1,203 bp and encodes deduced 45.46 kDa-chitinase A of 400 aa. The domain structure of chitinase A is composed of a CBM 50 domain at the N-terminus and a catalytic domain at the C-terminus. The ORF of chiB includes 1,263 bp and encodes deduced 47.59 kDa-chitinase B of 420 aa. Chitinase B consists of two CBM50 domains at the N-terminus and a catalytic domain at the C-terminus. The ORF of lpmo10 is 621 bp and encodes a deduced 22.44 kDa-AA10 protein, BvLPMO10 of 206 aa. BvLPMO10 contains a signal peptide and an AA10 catalytic domain. Chitinases A and B were grouped into subfamily A of family 18 chitinases. Amino acid sequences in their catalytic domains lack aromatic residues (Trp, Phe, Tyr) probably involved in processivity and substrate binding compared with well-known bacterial GH18 chitinases. chiB was successfully expressed in E. coli. Purified rBvChiB degraded insoluble chitin and was responsible for inhibition of fungal spore-germination and egg hatching of plant-parasitic nematode. This is the first report describing the analysis of the chitinase system from B. velezensis. |
32 | Occam's Razor and Managing Acute Thrombosis in the COVID-19 Era | The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly influenced the practice of medicine in Australia over the last 24 months. Recently, the development of several vaccines to COVID-19 has been accompanied by reports of an associated rare syndrome of thrombosis and thrombocytopaenia (VITTS). The possibility of this rare disorder confronts all clinicians who deal with acute thrombosis, particularly given the prevalence of patients who have recently been immunised. However, VITTS remains rare, and we believe unnecessary focus on its potential diagnosis may distract from other more common causes of acute thrombosis. We discuss this with reference to a recent case at our institution. |
33 | Phelypaeaboissierif.lutea (Orobanchaceae), a peculiar new form from Turkey and typification of the name of this species | The genus Phelypaea includes three holoparasite species with one of the most intense red flowers among all plants worldwide. So far, there are few references to other colour taxa of this genus. We describe a new yellow-coloured form, Phelypaeaboissierif.lutea, from Hakkari province in the Cilo Mountains of SE Turkey, found at an altitude of 2,470 m. In typical P.boissieri, here typified by us, the flowers are deeply red, and stems, calyx and scales are red to brown, or rarely pale-brown, whereas in the entire population of f.lutea the corolla, calyx, and scales are yellow to orange with black folds in the corolla, while only the stem is brownish. |
34 | Digestate management in polish farms as an element of the nutrient cycle | The work aims to examine and discuss the fertilizing properties of digestate (digested pulp) from three different agricultural biogas plants in terms of the substrates used. Based on the market prices of fertilizers, the economic value of the digestate has been assessed. For a selected biogas plant, the economic balance has been calculated, taking into account the income resulting from the sale of the digestate. The results obtained allow for stating that samples of digestate were rich in nitrogen (up to 6.58 g kg(-1)), and potassium (up to 16.3 g kg(-1)) in fresh matter (FM). The value of the digestate for installations was estimated in the range of 6.08-15.36 EUR.Mg-1. The analysis for one of the 1MW biogas plants shows that under current conditions of supporting systems, the daily income for a biogas plant is 1,414 EUR and the digestate produced is worth another 334.4 EUR. Its application, especially on fields adjacent to biogas plants, is part of the principle of nutrient recovery in the circular economy. (c) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
35 | The political economy of coal in Poland: Drivers and barriers for a shift away from fossil fuels | Poland is the largest hard coal and second largest lignite producer in the EU, generating around 80 percent of its electricity from coal. Resistance to a reduction in coal production and consumption comes from various actors, namely, coal corporations, unions, parts of civil society and the government - as well as their coalitions. Their opposition centres around the prospect of losing their business, past negative experiences with structural change, fears of rising energy prices and energy security concerns, as well as potential unemployment in regions almost entirely dependent on coal. This paper identifies key political and economic drivers and barriers of a reduction in coal production and consumption in Poland using the Triple Embeddedness Framework. Uneconomic coal mining, unavoidable energy infrastructure investments, rising air pollution levels and pressure from the European Union might provide new political momentum for a shift away from coal in line with international climate targets. However, results show that to achieve political feasibility, policies targeting a reduction in coal production and use need to be implemented jointly with social and structural policy measures, addressing a just transition for the affected regions in line with the vision of a 'European Green Deal'. |
36 | Coordinated wind-thermal-energy storage offering strategy in energy and spinning reserve markets using a multi-stage model | Renewable energy resources such as wind, either individually or integrated with other resources, are widely considered in different power system studies, especially self-scheduling and offering strategy problems. In the current paper, a three-stage stochastic multi-objective offering framework based on mixed-integer programming formulation for a wind-thermal-energy storage generation company in the energy and spinning reserve markets is proposed. The commitment decisions of dispatchable energy sources, the offering curves of the generation company in the energy and spinning reserve markets, and dealing with energy deviations in the balancing market are the decisions of the proposed three-stage offering strategy problem, respectively. In the suggested methodology, the participation model of the energy storage system in the spinning reserve market extends to both charging and discharging modes. The proposed framework concurrently maximizes generation company's expected profit and minimizes the expected emission of thermal units applying lexicographic optimization and hybrid augmented-weighted is an element of-constraint method. In this regard, the uncertainties associated with imbalance prices and wind power output as well as day-ahead energy and spinning reserve market prices are modeled via a set of scenarios. Eventually, two different strategies, i.e., a preference-based approach and emission trading pattern, are utilized to select the most favored solution among Pareto optimal solutions. Numerical results reveal that taking advantage of spinning reserve market alongside with energy market will substantially increase the profitability of the generation company. Also, the results disclose that spinning reserve market is more lucrative than the energy market for the energy storage system in the offering strategy structure. |
37 | Economics of energy and environmental efficiency: evidence from OECD countries | The purpose of this research is to determine the efficiency of energy usage and its role in carbon dioxide emissions (CI) and economic-environmental efficiency (EEE) for some countries Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economies. For environment quality assessment, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to assess the data cover the period from 2013 to 2017. In this study, primary energy consumption (PEC) and population are two basic inputs along with gross domestic product (GDP) and carbon dioxide emissions that are desirable and undesirable outputs, respectively. The practical outcomes illustrate that Brunei, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong are the most effective and efficient states for the 5 years periods (2013-2017) in terms of energy efficiency and to reduce emission of carbon dioxide. In addition, other states in the OECD region shows greater economic proficiency than environmental proficiency. Furthermore, the results shows that energy efficiency has strong bonding with carbon emissions; however there is a weaker association between economic environmental efficiency. Thus, the attainment of optimal level of energy efficiency could be more pivotal than economic efficiency to improve environmental efficiency in countries from the OECD region. |
38 | Total Knee Arthroplasty for Osteoarthritis in a Patient with Nail Patella Syndrome - A Case Report | Hereditary osteo-onychodysplasia (or nail patella syndrome) is a rare autosomal dominant disease defined by an association of severe characteristics, with a classic clinical tetrad of dysplasia of the fingernails, patellar hypoplasia or absence, presence of iliac horns, and deformities of the elbow, although renal, ocular and neurological involvement may also be present. The main orthopedic complaint of these patients is patellar instability associated with pain and functional limitation. Most of the literature regarding the treatment of NPS-related patellar problems, concerns pediatric population and there is no treatment algorithm defined for adult patients. NPS has a wide range of presentations in skeletally mature patients, and its severity is also very variable. The general practitioner should be familiar with NPS's clinical presentation spectrum, and the orthopedic surgeon with treatment options, in order to provide the most adequate treatment for each patient. Although there is no cure for NPS, several treatments have been useful in the symptomatic treatment of changes in the knees. We describe a rare clinical case of a 47-year-old female patient with NPS who underwent total knee arthroplasty for knee osteoarthritis. |
39 | Recent developments in the passive and hybrid thermal management techniques of lithium -ion batteries | The main obstacle in the transition from petrol/diesel vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs) is the performance of power battery. The widely used lithium-ion battery is highly sensitive to the temperature, which affects the performance, lifespan, and safety of the battery. Hence, the proper battery thermal management system (BTMS) is necessary with EVs. BTMS can reduce the negative influence of the temperature by decreasing the maximum battery temperature and temperature difference inside the battery. This article reviews various battery thermal management systems and categorized as active and passive systems. The major focus of the review is on passive BTMS using phase change material (PCM) and heat pipe. The results show that PCM and heat pipe based BTMS can provide better thermal management without any power consumption. Further, the hybrid BTMS with the combination of active/passive is presented, and the research results show that hybrid BTMS can provide better thermal management compared to single BTMS. The BTMS is statistically reviewed in terms of maximum battery temperature and temperature difference, and percentage improvement using BTMS is also provided. This article provides direction towards the development of practical and economic BTMS for with limited power consumption, volume, and weight constraints. |
40 | Reconsidering the function of the xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase family | Plants possess an outer cell layer called the cell wall. This matrix comprises various molecules, such as polysaccharides and proteins, and serves a wide array of physiologically important functions. This structure is not static but rather flexible in response to the environment. One of the factors responsible for this plasticity is the xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase (XTH) family, which cleaves and reconnects xyloglucan molecules. Since xyloglucan molecules have been hypothesised to tether cellulose microfibrils forming the main load-bearing network in the primary cell wall, XTHs have been thought to play a central role in cell wall loosening for plant cell expansion. However, multiple lines of recent evidence have questioned this classic model. Nevertheless, reverse genetic analyses have proven the biological importance of XTHs; therefore, a major challenge at present is to reconsider the role of XTHs in planta. Recent advances in analytical techniques have allowed for gathering rich information on the structure of the primary cell wall. Thus, the integration of accumulated knowledge in current XTH studies may offer a turning point for unveiling the precise functions of XTHs. In the present review, we redefine the biological function of the XTH family based on the recent architectural model of the cell wall. We highlight three key findings regarding this enzyme family: (1) XTHs are not strictly required for cell wall loosening during plant cell expansion but play vital roles in response to specific biotic or abiotic stresses; (2) in addition to their transglycosylase activity, the hydrolase activity of XTHs is involved in physiological benefits; and (3) XTHs can recognise a wide range of polysaccharides other than xyloglucans. |
41 | The effects of carbon disulfide driven functionalization on graphene oxide for enhanced Pb(II) adsorption: Investigation of adsorption mechanism | The surface properties of graphene oxide (GO) have been identified as the key effects on the adsorption of Pb(II) from aqueous solutions in this study. This study reveals the effect of the surface reactivity of GO via Carbon Disulfide (CS2) functionalization for Pb(II) adsorption. After successfully preparing CS2 functionalized GO (GOCS), the specific techniques were applied to investigate Pb(II) adsorption onto GOCS. Results indicated that the new sulfur-containing functional groups incorporated onto GOCS significantly enhanced Pb(II) adsorption capacity on GOCS than that of GO, achieving an improvement of 31% in maximum adsorption capacity increasing from 292.8 to 383.4 mg g(-1). The equilibrium adsorption capacity for GOCS was 280.2 mg g(-1) having an improvement of 83.2% over that of 152.97 mg g(-1) for GO at the same initial concentration of 150 mg L-1 under the optimal pH of 5.7. Moreover, the results of adsorption experiments showed an excellent fit to the Langmuir and Pseudo-Second-Order models indicating the monolayer and chemical adsorption, respectively. The mechanism for Pb(II) adsorption on GOCS was proposed as the coordination, electrostatic interactions, cation-pi interactions, and Lewis acidbase interactions. The regeneration study showed that GOCS had an appreciable reusability for Pb(II) adsorption with the adsorption capacity of 208.92 mg g(-1) after five regeneration cycles. In summary, GOCS has been proved to be a novel, useful, and potentially economic adsorbent for the high-efficiency removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solutions. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
42 | Nanoparticles for active combination radio mitigating agents of zinc coumarate and zinc caffeinate in a rat model | Zinc coumarate and zinc caffeinate nanoparticles (ZnCoNPs, ZnCaNPs) affect different biological processes. This study aimed to evaluate the mitigating action of ZnCoNPs in combination with ZnCaNPs against liver damage induced by gamma rays (γ-rays). Rats were exposed to 7 Gy of γ-rays and then injected intraperitoneally (i.p) with ZnCoNPs [2U/rat/day (5 mg/kg)] and ZnCaNPs [2U/rat/day (15 mg/kg)] for 7 consecutive days. The results showed that irradiated rats treated with ZnCoNPs (5 mg/kg/body weight) in combination with ZnCaNPs (15 mg/kg/body weight) for 7 days had a significant increases in body weight, antioxidant levels, T helper cell 4 (cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4)), and T cytotoxic cell 8 (cluster of differentiation 8 (CD8)), associated with a marked decrease in lipid peroxidation (LP), nitric oxide(NOx), total free radicals concentrate (TFRC), and DNA fragmentation. There were positive alterations in the morphological state, hematological parameters and the cell cycle phases. Additionally, the histopathological study demonstrated an improvement in the liver tissue of irradiated rats after treatment. Thus, ZnCoNPs and ZnCaNPs could be used as natural mitigating agents to reduce the hazards of ionizing radiation. |
43 | Relationships between Renewable Energy Consumption, Social Factors, and Health: A Panel Vector Auto Regression Analysis of a Cluster of 12 EU Countries | One of the key indicators of a population's well-being and the economic development of a country is represented by health, the main proxy for which is life expectancy at birth. Some factors, such as industrialization and modernization, have allowed this to improve considerably. On the other hand, along with high global population growth, the factor which may jeopardize human health the most is environmental degradation, which can be tackled through the transition to renewable energy. The main purpose of our study is to investigate the relationship between renewable energy consumption, social factors, and health, using a Panel Vector Auto Regression (PVAR) technique. We explore the link between some proxy variables for renewable energy consumption, government policy, general public awareness, the market, lobbying activity, the energy dependence on third countries, and health, spanning the period from 1990 to 2015, for a cluster of 12 European countries characterized by common features. Specifically, our analysis shows the importance of having a stringent policy for the development of renewable energy consumption and its influence over other social factors, rather than the existence of causal relationships between health and renewable energy consumption for the analyzed countries. This kind of analysis has a great potential for policy-makers. Further, a deeper understanding of these relationships can create a more e ffective decision-making process. |
44 | Potential and economic feasibility of wind energy in south West region of Algeria | The present research is focused on windfarm economic viability and wind power potential assessment by RETScreen and WAsP tools, respectively, for the South-West region of Algeria. This study considers the atlas development of wind characteristics analysis. Hourly mean wind data recorded during the years 2003 to 2008 by ONM "Office National de la Meteorologie" (the Algerian Meteorological Office), is used for the study. The mean wind speed, energy flux, the dominant wind direction, the frequency distribution, and the Weibull distribution scale and shape factors are determined and analyzed. Finally, RETScreen software is used to estimate the energy output and to conduct the economic feasibility of the wind farm in terms of Simple Payback Period (SPP), Internal Rate of Return, Annual Life Cycle Saving, Net Present Value, Year to Positive Cash Flow, Benefit-Cost ratio and cost of electricity production (COE). The economic analysis indicates that the project at Adrar region was economically viable with good energy production of 3146 MWh/yr and a Capacity Factor (CF) of 36%.The SPP was found to be around 3.9 years, and the COE of 3.25 US Cents/kWh was found lower than the wholesale price of electricity during the feed-in tariff period. |
45 | New insights into aging-associated characteristics of female subcutaneous adipose tissue through integrative analysis of multi-omics data | Aging could be critical in limiting the application of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) in tissue repair and reconstruction. However, no systematic study on the characteristics of SAT aging has been conducted. In this study, a scanning electronic microscope was used to detect the structural and compositional changes of SAT collected from nine females in three age groups. Multi-omics data of SAT from 37 females were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus database, and 1860 genes, 56 miRNAs, and 332 methylated genes were identified as being differentially expressed during aging among non-obese females. Using Weighted Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA), 1754 DEGs were defined as aging-associated genes for non-obese females, distributed among ten co-expression modules. Through Gene Ontology enrichment analysis and Gene Set enrichment analysis on those aging-associated DEGs, SAT aging was observed to be characterized by variations in immune and inflammatory states, mitochondria, lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, and regulation of vascular development. SUPV3L1, OGT, and ARPC1B were identified as conserved and core SAT-aging-related genes, as verified by RT-qPCR among 18 samples in different age groups. Multi-omics regulatory networks of core aging-associated biological processes of SAT were also constructed. Based on WGCNA, we performed differential co-expression analysis to unveil the differences in aging-related co-expression patterns between obese and non-obese females and determined that obesity could be an important accelerating factor in aging processes. Our work provides a landscape of SAT aging, which could be helpful for further research in fields such as repair and reconstruction as well as aging. |
46 | Peer-to-peer energy trading potential: An assessment for the residential sector under different technology and tariff availabilities | The increasing number of distributed renewable energy systems and smart-grid technologies, are transforming electricity grids and markets, allowing the growth of peer-to-peer (P2P) energy markets, where consumers and prosumers trade directly with each other. Policymakers are then faced with the task of assessing alternative ways to manage and organize the electricity grid and market. This work explores the potential of P2P energy trading under different available technologies and market paradigms, by analysing the economic benefits for residential consumers and prosumers, given different solar generation contexts and load flexibility levels. The model is applied to the Portuguese residential sector. Results show that with best techno-economic sizing solution for solar photovoltaic (PV), the greater economic gains come from flexibility, reaching a maximum of 28% for consumers and 55% for prosumers, in a P2P trading scenario. However, if we consider flexibility and a high-solar fraction PV sizing, the savings would reach 29% for consumers and 113% for prosumers. P2P economic benefits are found to depend on the type of participating agents involved, demand profile, PV surplus and monetization schemes, level of flexible equipment, which will greatly influence which trading strategies work best, meaning that each case study needs a tailored P2P trading scheme. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
47 | Keqinzhangia aquatica gen. et sp. nov. and Pseudocoronospora hainanense gen. et sp. nov., isolated from freshwater in southern China | During an investigation of the diversity of aquatic hyphomycetes from southern China, two interesting isolates were collected. These two isolates were cultured and sequenced, and a BLAST search of their LSU sequences against data in GenBank revealed that the closest related taxa were in the genus Microthyrium. Phylogenetic analyses, based on the combined sequence data from the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and large nuclear subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU), revealed that our isolates belong to the Microthyriaceae. Combined morphological characters allowed us to describe our isolates as two new genera and species in Microthyriaceae, named as: Keqinzhangia aquatica and Pseudocoronospora hainanense. The full descriptions, illustrations, and a phylogenetic tree showing the position of the two new genera were provided in this paper. |
48 | Day -ahead energy management and feeder reconfiguration for microgrids with CCHP and energy storage systems | Energy management featuring distribution feeder reconfiguration (DFR) and reactive power control, improves the technical and economic efficiency of microgrids. The present work proposes a framework that leverages scenarios to jointly manage the real and reactive power dispatches of the controllable generation resources as well as the topology of the distribution feeder. Multiple operation measures are optimized including the operation cost, real power loss, the voltage stability index (VSI), and the greenhouse gas emissions of the microgrid. Hybrid Big Bang- Big Crunch (HBB-BC) algorithm is used to solve the formulated optimization problem. Nondispatchable and dispatchable distributed generation units (DGs), as well as the battery and thermal energy storage systems (BESS and TESS), are considered as a hybrid energy system. Combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) units are considered as dispatchable DGs and wind and solar photovoltaic generations are considered as non-dispatchable DGs. The efficiency of the proposed model and solution algorithm is investigated using a 33-bus microgrid, and the simulation outcomes are discussed. |
49 | New species and records of Chapsa (Graphidaceae) in China | We studied the genus Chapsa in China based on morphological characteristics, chemical traits and molecular phylogenetic analysis. One species new to science (C.murioelongata M.Z. Dou & M. Li) and two records new to China were found (C.wolseleyana Weerakoon, Lumbsch & Lücking and C.niveocarpa Mangold). Chapsamurioelongata sp. nov. is characterised by its lobed thalline margin, orange discs with white pruina, clear hymenium, and submuriform and long ascospores. Chapsawolseleyana was recombined into Astrochapsa based on phenotypic traits. Sequences of this species are for the first time reported here and phylogenetic analyses of three loci (mtSSU, ITS and nuLSU) supported the position of this species within Chapsa. A key for the Chapsa species known in China is provided. |
50 | Renewable Energy in Final Energy Consumption and Income in the EU-28 Countries | The deployment of renewable energy sources (RES) is considered to be an important objective for the energy sector in the European Union (EU). The EU Directive adapted in 2009 fixed mandatory national targets for the use of renewable energy in transport as well as for the share of RES in the gross final energy consumption. Contrary to previous studies, this paper does not examine the link between the RES and economic growth but rather focuses on real gross domestic product (GDP) and the implementation of national renewable energy targets. We employ panel data models for the case of the EU-28 countries covering the period between 2007 and 2017 that yield a low and positive relationship between the impact of GDP per capita and the share of RES in the final consumption. Our results show that there is a significant causality only from real GDP per capita to the share of renewable energy in final consumption, marking the potential of developed countries to consume more RES. We list some groups of countries according to these variables using a cluster analysis approach. Starting from the proposed panel data models, we constructed the scenarios for the 2020 for various shares of RES and different EU Member States. Overall, it appears that more attention should be attributed to policy proposals in which funding opportunities would be dependent on the achievements of national targets and economic benefits should be given to countries with very good performance in achieving high shares of renewable energy in their final energy consumption. |
51 | Energy consumption and financial development indicators nexuses in Asian economies: a dynamic seemingly unrelated regression approach | In recent times, financial development and industrial progression accrue energy demand. Therefore, the present research is investigating the nexuses of energy consumption-financial development indicators for 32 Asian economies including the FDI, economic growth, and urban sprawl. The long-run marginal impacts and causal linkage are estimated through the dynamic seemingly unrelated regression and the heterogeneous causality respectively. The estimates infer that financial development indicators are deteriorating the energy consumption in the Asian region, while both FDI and urban sprawl accrue energy consumption. However, economy-wise estimates infer the heterogeneous impacts on energy consumption. Heterogenous causality infers a bidirectional causality among the financial development indicators and energy consumption. There is a need to devise the energy policies related to the financial sector for sustainable usage energy and a clean environment. |
52 | Analysis of asymmetries in the nexus among clean energy and environmental quality in Pakistan | This study examines the short-run and long-run asymmetric effects of clean energy consumption on carbon emission in Pakistan, over the annual time period 1975-2018, by using a non-linear ARDL approach. The findings of the study confirm the existence of asymmetries, in the nexus between the clean energy consumption and carbon emission in the short and long run. The findings of non-linear model confirm that carbon emission responded contrary to positive shocks of energy variables as compared with their negative shocks. Asymmetric findings recommend that positive and negative shocks of the alternative and nuclear energy and combustible and waste energy have affected differently. Although, short- and long-run results suggest an insignificant positive and negative relationship between electric power consumption and carbon emissions. Therefore, more taxation of non-renewable energy and clean energy supports are suggested for the Pakistan economy. We concluded that Pakistan has potential in clean energy which will improve environmental quality in the near future. |
53 | Typification of 14 names in the Dianthusvirgineus group (Caryophyllaceae) | The nomenclature of 14 taxa from Central and Southern Europe within the Dianthusvirgineus group is discussed. Dianthusaggericola Jord., D.collivagus Jord., D.consimilis Jord., D.orophilus Jord., D.saxicola Jord., D.juratensis Jord. are here lectotypified by specimens from the Jordan herbarium in LY, while D.godronianus Jord. by a specimen in P. Dianthussubacaulis Vill. is neotypified by a specimen collected on Mont Ventoux (S. France) and housed in MPU. For D.sylvestris Wulfen, a lectotype is here designated and its previous neotypification is discussed. Dianthuscaryophyllusvar.tenuifolius Moris, D.caryophyllusf.minor Moris and D.sylvestrisvar.garganicus Ten. are lectotypified by specimens housed in herbarium Moris (TO) and herbarium Tenore (K). Dianthusvirgineusvar.tergestinus Rchb. is lectotypified by a drawing from the Icones florae Germanicae & Helveticae, while D.contractusvar.evolutus Lojac. is neotypified by a specimen in P. For each taxon the currently accepted name is provided including new synonymies. The type indication is followed by nomenclatural and taxonomic notes, in which the original material found is commented and the reasons for the identification of the types are discussed. |
54 | The long-run and short-run influence of environmental pollution, energy consumption, and economic activities on health quality in emerging countries | This study investigates the effect of energy utilization, greenhouses gasses emissions, and economic activities on health risks such as mortality rate and incidence of respiratory diseases in emerging Asian economies. The study analyzes a panel data from 1995 to 2018 to examine the long-run and short-run influence of environmental pollution on health issues. The empirical findings highlight that greenhouse gasses emissions, fossil fuel consumption, and natural resources depletion in the region are key factors to increasing health risks in the long-run period, while the use of clean energy and improvement in per capita economic growth is helping to improve the health status of the households. In a short period, greenhouse gasses emission is the only significant factor responsible for the high mortality rate and occurrence of respiratory diseases in the emerging economies of Asia. According to the results, there is a need for government intervention programs to rescue the region from the negative effects of environmental pollution and the utilization of nonrenewable energy. In emerging Asian countries, the combustion of fossil fuels, environmental pollution, and limited access to clean energy are such factors responsible for high mortality rate and stimulating incidence of respiratory diseases in the individuals. The study suggests that alternative green energy can prove helpful to control greenhouse gasses emissions and to control health issues by improving environmental quality. The study further suggests that the use of clean energy from water, wind, and sunlight may prove helpful to meet the energy requirement at the domestic level and improve the health status of the individuals by reducing the incidence of respiratory diseases in emerging countries of Asia. |
55 | Pulsed electric field promotes the growth metabolism of aerobic denitrifying bacteria Pseudomonas putida W207-14 by improving cell membrane permeability | The purpose of this study was to explore the stimulation mechanism of low pulsed electric field (PEF) strength treatment to promote the growth metabolism of aerobic denitrifying bacteria Pseudomonas putida W207-14. The results indicated that compared with the control group, the strain W207-14 treated with PEF entered the logarithmic growth phase 5 h earlier, the growth time to reached the maximum cell optical density at 600 nm (OD600) of 1.935 ± 0.04 was only 24 h, which shortened by half. With the reduction of growth time, the metabolic rate of the strain increased significantly, in which the removal efficiency of COD, NO3--N and TN was 97.67 ± 1.12%, 90.34 ± 0.73% and 90.13 ± 0.10% in 24 h, respectively. The maximum nitrate removal rate increased from 3.49 mg/L/h to 7.53 mg/L/h. A large number of cells with simultaneous cell membrane damage and high physiological activity were observed by flow cytometry (FCM) in combination with fluorescence staining analysis, which confirmed the reversible electroporation on the cell membrane of strain W207-14 treated with PEF. Transcriptomic analysis indicated that PEF activated the highly significant differential expression of membrane porin (opdB, opdC, and oprB) and cytochrome oxidoreductase related genes (ccoP, ccoN, cioA and cioB) on the cell membrane, which promoted the transport of nutrients through the cell membrane and electron transfer during aerobic respiration and provided an explanation for the possible mechanism of PEF promoting the growth metabolism of strain W207-14 at the micro level. These results lay a foundation for the practical application of PEF enhanced aerobic denitrification technology. |
56 | Innovation, foreign direct investment (FDI), and the energy-pollution-growth nexus in OECD region: a simultaneous equation modeling approach | The paper proposes a new perspective in the environmental and resource economics literature by examining innovation (measured by R&D expenditures), FDI (measured by country-country technology transfer), and energy-environment-growth nexus. Using simultaneous equation modelling (SEMs), three econometric functions were formulated for production, energy consumption, and environmental pollution with GDP per capita, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions (CO(2)e) as dependent variables for twenty-four OECD economies for the period 1993 to 2014, respectively. The results failed to support the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in the OECD economies. At the same time, a two-way causality was observed between GDP per capita and energy consumption per capita, indicating that the pollution has not yet reached the maximum threshold. Moreover, the results unveiled that fossil-fuel consumption, innovation, and FDI were the primary sources of CO(2)e. The paper offers important implications for academics, policymakers, and identifies avenues for future research. |
57 | A systemic review for measuring circular economy with multi-criteria methods | Determining the circularity of a system through a criteria and indicators approach has been the focus of research in many branches of science. In this way, this work aims to review multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods employed for measuring circular economy (CE) indicators and CE aspects at different levels (micro, meso, and macro). For this purpose, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted in ISI Web of Science and Scopus databases. Further, the results summarized 22 MCDM techniques, 27 CE aspects, and 36 CE indicators The SLR provides a concept map highlighting the relation of the level of circularity implementation (subdivided into micro-, meso-, and macro-levels) and MCDM techniques and demonstrates the interaction between CE aspects and indicators. The review provides an outline as to how MCDM techniques can solve problems related to CE aspects and marks the relevance in the use of CE indicators to support circularity aspects and to construct criteria in the methodologies applied. |
58 | Are all real-world objects created equal? Estimating the "set-size" of the search target in visual working memory | Are all real-world objects created equal? Visual search difficulty increases with the number of targets and as target-related visual working memory (VWM) load increases. Our goal was to investigate the load imposed by individual real-world objects held in VWM in the context of search. Measures of visual clutter attempt to quantify real-world set-size in the context of scenes. We applied one of these measures, the number of proto-objects, to individual real-world objects and used contralateral delay activity (CDA) to measure the resulting VWM load. The current study presented a real-world object as a target cue, followed by a delay where CDA was measured. This was followed by a four-object search array. We compared CDA and later search performance from target cues containing a high or low number of proto-objects. High proto-object target cues resulted in greater CDA, longer search RTs, target dwell times, and reduced search guidance, relative to low proto-object targets. These findings demonstrate that targets with more proto-objects result in a higher VWM load and reduced search performance. This shows that the number of proto-objects contained within individual objects produce set-size like effects in VWM and suggests proto-objects may be a viable unit of measure of real-world VWM load. Importantly, this demonstrates that not all real-world objects are created equal. |
59 | Prehospital Manual Ventilation: An NAEMSP Position Statement and Resource Document | Manual ventilation using a self-inflating bag device paired with a facemask (bag-valve-mask, or BVM ventilation) or invasive airway (bag-valve-device, or BVD ventilation) is a fundamental airway management skill for all Emergency Medical Services (EMS) clinicians. Delivery of manual ventilations is challenging. Several strategies and adjunct technologies can increase the effectiveness of manual ventilation. NAEMSP recommends:All EMS clinicians must be proficient in bag-valve-mask ventilation.BVM ventilation should be performed using a two-person technique whenever feasible.EMS clinicians should use available techniques and adjuncts to achieve optimal mask seal, improve airway patency, optimize delivery of the correct rate, tidal volume, and pressure during manual ventilation, and allow continual assessment of manual ventilation effectiveness. |
60 | An autopsy case of amyloid angiopathy-related cerebellar hemorrhage | An 80-year-old man with dementia demonstrated cerebellar hemorrhage. Autopsy revealed pathology compatible with Alzheimer's disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). CAA was more prevalent in the occipital lobe than in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes; however, amyloid-β (Aβ)-containing senile plaques were less abundant in the occipital cortex than in the other cortices. In the cerebellum, abundant CAA-involved vessels were observed in the subarachnoid space and molecular layer and to a lesser extent in the Purkinje and granule layers. On consecutive sections, Aβ1-42 immunohistochemistry revealed senile plaques and CAA-involved vessels with strong immunoreactivity whereas Aβ1-40 immunohistochemistry identfied CAA-involved vessels with strong immunoreactivity and senile plaques with weak immunoreactivity in the cerebellar cortices. |
61 | Influence of circumferential annular grooving design of impeller on suspended fluid force of axial flow blood pump | Aiming at insufficient suspension force on the impeller when the hydraulic suspension axial flow blood pump is start at low speed, the impeller suspension stability is poor, and can't quickly enter the suspended working state. By establishing the mathematical model of the suspension force on the impeller, then the influence of the circumferential groove depth of the impeller on the suspension force is analyzed, and the annular groove depth on the impeller blade in the direction of fluid inlet and outlet was determined as (0.26, 0.02 mm). When the blood pump starts, there is an eccentricity between the impeller and the pump tube, the relationship between the suspension force and the speed of the impeller under different eccentricities is analyzed. Combined with the prototype experiment, the circumferential annular grooving design of the impeller can make the blood pump rotate at about 3500 rpm into the suspension state, when the impeller is at 8000 rpm, the impeller can basically achieve stable suspension at the eccentricity of 0.1 mm in the gravity direction, indicating that the reasonable circumferential annular grooving design of the impeller can effectively improve the suspension hydraulic force of the impeller and improve the stability of the hydraulic suspension axial flow blood pump. |
62 | Application of filter media surface hydrophobic modification to reduce bioclogging in the infiltration system | Bioclogging is a commonly encountered operational issue that lowers hydraulic conductivity and the overall performance of the infiltration systems. In this paper, a novel processing for alleviating bioclogging by filter media surface hydrophobic modification was presented. Two-dimensional porous media cells were used to observe the influence of hydrophobic modification on biofilm growth in the pore structure. Moreover, two continuous-flow columns packed with gravel, one of which half gravel was hydrophobically modified, were operated with artificial wastewater to verify the effect of hydrophobic modification on bioclogging alleviation. The results showed that the biofilm growth in the cell with hydrophobic modification was slow, and the biomass was less and liable to wipe off after hydrophobic treatment. Meanwhile, the hydraulic efficiency of the flow seepage field was also improved after hydrophobic treatment. The column tests results showed that the hydraulic conductivity of the filter bed with hydrophobic modification (Column B) decreased more slowly than that of another without hydrophobic modification (Column A). Column B had the hydraulic conductivity (k) of 0.66 cm/s in the final stage of the experiment, while the k of Column A was 0.14 cm/s. It verified that hydrophobic modification of partial filter media can alleviate the bioclogging problem of the infiltration systems to some extent. The results provide a new idea and potential technical support for solving bioclogging problem. |
63 | Application based multi-objective performance optimization of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell | An application-based multi-objective optimization approach is presented to acquire the best operation condition for a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell. The optimization is done for propulsion, power station, and portable applications, in which the recommended range for decision variables and importance level of the objective functions are taken into consideration for optimization to obtain more accurate and practical results. In the multi-objective optimization, from each important aspect of the performance, i.e., technical, economic, dimensional, and environmental aspects, one objective is selected. The effect of the maximum allowable (threshold) current density on both optimum decision variables and objective functions are also investigated to find the best value for that. The results reveal that increasing the maximum allowable current density leads to improvements in optimized values of all the objective functions. Moreover, the conducted sensitivity analyses determine that the best value for threshold current density for the propulsion and power station applications is 1.3 A cm (-2) and for the portable application is 1.5 A cm(-2). Furthermore, comparison of the results to the base case condition shows that values of the temperature, pressure, and voltage in power station are not affected by optimization, whereas substantial decrease in both propulsion and portable applications brings more level of safety. Similarly, objective functions, i.e., efficiency, levelized cost, size, and greenhouse emission are averagely improved by 9.93, 16.95, 37.13, and 7.77%, respectively. The proposed procedure helps to design and manufacture the high-performance proton-exchange membrane fuel cells based on the employed application and users' preference. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
64 | High-Altitude Erythrocytosis: Mechanisms of Adaptive and Maladaptive Responses | Erythrocytosis, or increased production of red blood cells, is one of the most well-documented physiological traits that varies within and among in high-altitude populations. Although a modest increase in blood O2-carrying capacity may be beneficial for life in highland environments, erythrocytosis can also become excessive and lead to maladaptive syndromes such as chronic mountain sickness (CMS). |
65 | Blockchain Based Sustainable Local Energy Trading Considering Home Energy Management and Demurrage Mechanism | With the increase in local energy generation from Renewable Energy Sources (RESs), the concept of decentralized peer-to-peer Local Energy Market (LEM) is becoming popular. In this paper, a blockchain-based LEM is investigated, where consumers and prosumers in a small community trade energy without the need for a third party. In the proposed model, a Home Energy Management (HEM) system and demurrage mechanism are introduced, which allow both the prosumers and consumers to optimize their energy consumption and to minimize electricity costs. This method also allows end-users to shift their load to off-peak hours and to use cheap energy from the LEM. The proposed solution shows how energy consumption and electricity cost are optimized using HEM and demurrage mechanism. It also provides economic benefits at both the community and end-user levels and provides sufficient energy to the LEM. The simulation results show that electricity cost is reduced up to 44.73% and 28.55% when the scheduling algorithm is applied using the Critical Peak Price (CPP) and Real-Time Price (RTP) schemes, respectively. Similarly, 65.15% and 35.09% of costs are reduced when CPP and RTP are applied with demurrage mechanism. Moreover, 51.80% and 44.37% electricity costs reduction is observed when CPP and RTP are used with both demurrage and scheduling algorithm. We also carried out security vulnerability analysis to ensure that our energy trading smart contract is secure and bug-free against the common vulnerabilities and attacks. |
66 | Does the modifying role of institutional quality remains homogeneous in GDP-CO2 emission nexus? New evidence from ARDL approach | This study presents a country-specific analysis for three developing countries (Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh) to determine the interaction effect of institutional quality and economic growth along with other control variables (foreign direct investment and renewable energy) on CO2 emissions. This research uses an auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) model for quarterly data ranging from 1996Q1 to 2016Q4. The findings show that the interaction cause of economic growth and institutional quality on CO2 emissions is not homogeneous in developing countries. In India and Bangladesh, the modifying role of institutional quality is evident to reducing CO2 emissions but in Pakistan, this interacting effect increases CO2 emissions. The findings confirm an inverted U-shaped EKC in Pakistan and Bangladesh but not significant in India. The independent role of GDP and institutional quality significantly reduces CO2 emissions in Pakistan and Bangladesh. |
67 | Stem Cell Mimicking Nanoencapsulation for Targeting Arthritis | Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are considered a promising regenerative therapy due to their ability to migrate toward damaged tissues. The homing ability of MSCs is unique compared with that of non-migrating cells and MSCs are considered promising therapeutic vectors for targeting major cells in many pathophysiological sites. MSCs have many advantages in the treatment of malignant diseases, particularly rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is a representative autoimmune disease that primarily affects joints, and secreted chemokines in the joints are well recognized by MSCs following their migration to the joints. Furthermore, MSCs can regulate the inflammatory process and repair damaged cells in the joints. However, the functionality and migration ability of MSCs injected in vivo still show insufficient. The targeting ability and migration efficiency of MSCs can be enhanced by genetic engineering or modification, eg, overexpressing chemokine receptors or migration-related genes, thus maximizing their therapeutic effect. However, there are concerns about genetic changes due to the increased probability of oncogenesis resulting from genome integration of the viral vector, and thus, clinical application is limited. Furthermore, it is suspected that administering MSCs can promote tumor growth and metastasis in xenograft and orthotopic models. For this reason, MSC mimicking nanoencapsulations are an alternative strategy that does not involve using MSCs or bioengineered MSCs. MSC mimicking nanoencapsulations consist of MSC membrane-coated nanoparticles, MSC-derived exosomes and artificial ectosomes, and MSC membrane-fused liposomes with natural or genetically engineered MSC membranes. MSC mimicking nanoencapsulations not only retain the targeting ability of MSCs but also have many advantages in terms of targeted drug delivery. Specifically, MSC mimicking nanoencapsulations are capable of encapsulating drugs with various components, including chemotherapeutic agents, nucleic acids, and proteins. Furthermore, there are fewer concerns over safety issues on MSC mimicking nanoencapsulations associated with mutagenesis even when using genetically engineered MSCs, because MSC mimicking nanoencapsulations use only the membrane fraction of MSCs. Genetic engineering is a promising route in clinical settings, where nano-encapsulated technology strategies are combined. In this review, the mechanism underlying MSC homing and the advantages of MSC mimicking nanoencapsulations are discussed. In addition, genetic engineering of MSCs and MSC mimicking nanoencapsulation is described as a promising strategy for the treatment of immune-related diseases. |
68 | Inside-out sustainability: The neglect of inner worlds | In the context of continuing ecosystem degradation and deepening socio-economic inequality, sustainability scientists must question the adequacy of current scholarship and practice. We argue that pre-occupation with external phenomena and collective social structures has led to the neglect of people's 'inner worlds'-their emotions, thoughts, identities and beliefs. These lie at the heart of actions for sustainability, and have powerful transformative capacity for system change. The condition of people's inner worlds ought to also be considered a dimension of sustainability itself. Compassion, empathy and generosity, for example, are personal characteristics that mark individual expressions of sustainability. Sustainability science must take inner life more seriously by considering how language shapes and is shaped by paradigms about the world, prioritising enquiry into how spirituality, contemplation and sustainability transformation relate, and encouraging scholars and practitioners to intentionally cultivate their inner worlds to strengthen inner resources necessary for addressing sustainability challenges. |
69 | Pragmatic sedation strategies to prevent secondary brain injury in low-resource settings | Traumatic brain injury is the alteration in brain function due to an external force. It is common and affects millions of people worldwide annually. The World Health Organization estimates that 90% of global deaths caused by injuries occur in low- and middle-income countries, with traumatic brain injury contributing up to half of these trauma-related deaths. Patients with traumatic brain injury in low- and middle-income countries have twice the odds of dying compared with their counterparts in high-income countries. Sedation is a key element of care in the management of traumatic brain injury, used for its neuroprotective effects and to prevent secondary brain injury. While sedatives have the potential to improve outcomes, they can be challenging to administer and have potentially dangerous complications. Sedation in low-resource settings should aim to be effective, safe, affordable and feasible. In this paper, we summarise the indications for sedation in traumatic brain injury, the choice of sedative drugs and the pragmatic management and monitoring of sedated traumatic brain injury patients in low-resource settings. |
70 | Imbalance of carbon embodied in South-South trade: Evidence from China-India trade | China and India are the countries with the largest increase in carbon emissions and one of the fastest growing economies in the world. A better understanding of the carbon emissions embodied in China-India trade can service to curb carbon emission in both countries. In this work, we investigated temporal change and driving forces of the carbon emissions embodied in China-India trade from 2000 to 2015 using the Multi-Regional Input-Output model and Structural Decomposition Analysis. The results showed China was a net exporter of embodied carbon and a net exporter of trade in China-India trade, which indicated that China increased its environmental costs while gaining economic benefits. And the imbalance in China's embodied carbon trade was far greater than the trade imbalance. The industrial structure of China's export of embodied carbon and India's export of embodied carbon were difference, although electricity and heavy manufacturing industries dominated the embodied carbon exports of China and India. The decomposition results showed the leading contributor to increase in the embodied carbon emissions of China and India was the increase in final demand, in which the effect of per capita demand was the main driving factor affecting the change of embodied carbon emissions. The carbon intensity coefficient effect was the driving factor in suppressing the increase in embodied carbon emissions in China and India. This research could enrich the study of carbon emission embodied in South-South trade. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |
71 | Co-designing a curriculum model for career education: perspectives from regional communities in Australia | The vocational experiences and skills of young adolescents could be infused into formal education by identifying career competencies to be taught within the academic curriculum. Such curriculum practices that embed educational and career pathways must also include the perspectives of students and the community, particularly those from marginalised groups. Drawing on data from 111 teachers, principals, carers and students, this paper presents research undertaken to co-design career education lesson plans within an infused model of the curriculum for early Middle Year students from regional, rural, and remote Australia. The lesson plans and activities were designed to allow for meaningful self-reflection and goal-setting that could be seamlessly infused into the formal curriculum and help embed early-stage career education. The paper concludes by projecting opportunities and challenges for seamless curriculum integration, while pertinent to the Australian context, can also be read with broader relevance to other educational systems and schools. |
72 | Atypical presentation of fistula dysfunction due to brachial arterial embolization mimicking stroke | Vascular access thrombosis is an important complication with great impact on access patency and, consequently, on a patient's quality of life and survival. We report the case of a 73-year-old woman with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis with a radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula on the right arm that was brought to the emergency department with decreased strength in her right arm, ipsilateral hypoesthesia and facial hemi-hypoesthesia. The patient was given a brain computed tomographic scan that did not confirm suspicion of stroke. On re-examination, the patient had new-onset pain at arteriovenous fistula level, and her right arm was cold and pale. The nephrology department was called for arteriovenous fistula evaluation. On physical examination, her forearm fistula had a decreased thrill and arm elevation exacerbated its paleness. A bedside ultrasound was performed for arteriovenous fistula assessment. Doppler ultrasound revealed: partial thrombosis at brachial bifurcation, a flow of 80-105 mL/min at brachial artery level and a radial artery with a damped waveform. Anastomosis and draining vein were permeable. In this case, the diagnosis of acute embolic brachial artery occlusion was made by a fast bedside ultrasound evaluation. The patient underwent thromboembolectomy with Fogarty technique, recovering fistula thrill, radial and cubital pulses. Thromboembolism of the fistula feeding artery is a rare cause of vascular access thrombosis and it is rarely mentioned in the literature. In this report, failure to recognize the upper limb ischemia would have led to delayed treatment, potentially resulting in the fistula's complete thrombosis and further limb ischemia. We highlight the importance of a diagnosis method like Doppler ultrasound, which allows for rapid evaluation at the patient's bedside. |
73 | Evaluating the effects of different processing methods on the nutritional composition of shrimp and the antioxidant activity of shrimp powder | Shrimp is a prevalent food in the Arabian Gulf that is known for its good sensory properties and high nutritional value. The aim of the present work was to assess the effects of diverse processing methods on the nutritional composition of shrimp and the antioxidant activity of shrimp powder. Shrimp (Penaeus semisulcatus) flesh was treated using four processes (salting, frying, grilling, and boiling), following which its macronutrient content, fatty acid profile, vitamins and mineral contents were measured. Also, the antioxidant activity of all shrimp powder extracts was assessed using the 2, 2 diphenyl 1 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), linoleic acid oxidation inhibition, and reducing power methods. The results revealed that the fresh and processed shrimp flesh had significant nutritional value and the fresh and treated shrimp powders have high antioxidant activity, but the cooking processes have significant effects on the nutritional value and antioxidant activity of shrimp flesh. These effects were greater significantly in grilled shrimp followed by boiled shrimp and then fried shrimp. It is concluded that the high nutritional value and antioxidant activity of shrimp flesh make it an important food for nutritional health promotion for the community. |
74 | Associations of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes and related risk factors in a cohort of women living with HIV in a Brazilian countryside city | The human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with cervical abnormalities. People living with HIV are more susceptible to HPV. Campos dos Goytacazes implemented the quadrivalent HPV vaccine (4vHPV) for women living with HIV (WLWH) in 2011, 4 years before the Brazilian public vaccination program. We aimed to characterize the genomic diversity and predictors of HPV infection in WLWH through a prospective cohort study. After the consent form was received, a questionnaire was applied and an endocervical sample was collected. For genotyping, a microarray HPV technique was performed. Two intervention moments were performed: T1, the initial moment, with collection and vaccination; T2 moment, 2 years after T1. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. The T1 moment cohort was formed by 146 women,107 belonging to Group 1(HPV-negative) and 39 to Group 2 (HPV-positive). The variables age, marital status, number of children, number of sexual partners, and CD4 count were protective against HPV. The variables number of sexual partners, marital status, and the number of children lost significance in multivariate analysis. Concerning T2 moment, 42 patients were followed with three positive cases. The use of 4vHPV is beneficial for this population and should also be recommended at an age from 26 to 45 years inside the public vaccination program. |
75 | Virtual Bronchoscopy-Guided Transbronchial Biopsy Simulation Using a Head-Mounted Display: A New Style of Flexible Bronchoscopy | Background/need. The increases in reference images and information during bronchoscopy using virtual bronchoscopic navigation (VBN) and fluoroscopy has potentially created the need for support using a head-mounted display (HMD) because bronchoscopists feel difficulty to see displays that are at a distance from them and turn their head and body in various directions. Methodology and device description. The binocular see-through Moverio BT-35E Smart Glasses can be connected via a high-definition multimedia interface and have a 720p high-definition display. We developed a system that converts fluoroscopic (live and reference), VBN, and bronchoscopic image signals through a converter and references them using the Moverio BT-35E. Preliminary results. We performed a virtual bronchoscopy-guided transbronchial biopsy simulation using the system. Four experienced pulmonologists performed a simulated bronchoscopy of 5 cases each with the Moverio BT-35E glasses, using bronchoscopy training model. For all procedures, the bronchoscope was advanced successfully into the target bronchus according to the VBN image. None of the operators reported eye or body fatigue during or after the procedure. Current status. This small-scale simulation study suggests the feasibility of using a HMD during bronchoscopy. For clinical use, it is necessary to evaluate the safety and usefulness of the system in larger clinical trials in the future. |
76 | Antiviral Properties of Streptomyces tuirus DBZ39 Mediated Gold Nanoparticles Against Bluetongue virus | <b>Background and Objective:</b> The proposed study involves the approach from the point of anti-viral activity of gold nanoparticles against the <i>Bluetongue virus</i>. Among viral diseases, Bluetongue is regarded as an economically scouring disease. Neither a vaccine nor an antiviral drug is available for the prevention or treatment of this disease. The antiviral activity of gold nanoparticles synthesized by a novel isolate of <i>Streptomyces tuirus</i> DBZ39 is the breakthrough of the study. <i>Streptomyces tuirus </i>DBZ39, a novel isolate obtained from alkaline soil was proved to be efficient actinomycetes, for the extracellular synthesis of gold nanoparticles. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> An upstream bioprocess was optimized and developed for the synthesis of controlled size gold nanoparticles with solitary mono dispersal pattern in aurum chloride solution. The characterization and confirmation of gold nanoparticles were illustrated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX) and Fourier Transmission Infrared Radiation Analysis (FTIR). <b>Results:</b> Biomass size of 3 g, substrate concentration of 1 mM, pH of 8.5 and temperature of 45°C were observed as optimum conditions for the synthesis of 15-24 nm size gold nanoparticles. The <i>Bluetongue virus</i> (BTV) which belongs to the genus Orbivirus in the family Reoviridae with 26 serotypes is an etiological agent of infectious and non-contagious Bluetongue disease of main sheep and several other domestic animals. <b>Conclusion:</b> Gold nanoparticles for the 1st time, at a higher concentration of 1:64 dilutions revealed a very promising and novel antiviral property against the <i>Bluetongue virus</i>. |
77 | Prevalence and Interpersonal Correlates of Internet Gaming Disorders among Chinese Adolescents | This study investigated the prevalence and interpersonal correlates of Internet gaming disorders (IGD) among Chinese adolescents. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in two cities (Shanghai and Xi'an) in China. A total of 2666 (Mean(age) = 12.77 +/- 0.75) year-one students from eight middle schools completed a self-reported questionnaire. It tested their levels of IGD, parental psychological control, negative interpersonal events (physical/verbal abuse by parents, verbal abuse by teachers, peer/online bullying), social support from parents/peers, and positive relationships with parents/peers. Results showed that 346 participants (13.0%) were classified as having IGD. Gender, city, single-parent family, family socio-economic status, and mother's education level were significantly associated with the risk of IGD. Logistic regression analyses with and without controlling for the significant background variables showed that the studied interpersonal variables were significantly associated with IGD, respectively. Forward stepwise logistic regression showed that the significant correlates of IGD included parental psychological control, physical/verbal abuse by parents, verbal abuse by teachers, and peer/online bullying. Results highlight the importance of addressing interpersonal risk factors to reduce adolescent IGD. Limitations and implications of this study are discussed. |
78 | Social hierarchies and social networks in humans | Across species, social hierarchies are often governed by dominance relations. In humans, where there are multiple culturally valued axes of distinction, social hierarchies can take a variety of forms and need not rest on dominance relations. Consequently, humans navigate multiple domains of status, i.e. relative standing. Importantly, while these hierarchies may be constructed from dyadic interactions, they are often more fundamentally guided by subjective peer evaluations and group perceptions. Researchers have typically focused on the distinct elements that shape individuals' relative standing, with some emphasizing individual-level attributes and others outlining emergent macro-level structural outcomes. Here, we synthesize work across the social sciences to suggest that the dynamic interplay between individual-level and meso-level properties of the social networks in which individuals are embedded are crucial for understanding the diverse processes of status differentiation across groups. More specifically, we observe that humans not only navigate multiple social hierarchies at any given time but also simultaneously operate within multiple, overlapping social networks. There are important dynamic feedbacks between social hierarchies and the characteristics of social networks, as the types of social relationships, their structural properties, and the relative position of individuals within them both influence and are influenced by status differentiation. 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'. |
79 | Enhancing purchase intention in circular economy: An empirical evidence of remanufactured automotive product in Thailand | Within spectrum of circular economy concept, remanufacturing is known as the key closed-loop supply chain strategy. Although academic research on remanufacturing has been increasingly conducted, the majority of prior research were conducted in the theme of best practices. A small number of studies started to address the demand for circular economy products as a challenge to the continuity of circular economy practices. Thus, this study focuses on the demand aspect of remanufacturing, especially in emerging economies where literature in this area of study is limited. This research was conducted with the objective to explore the key drivers to enhance consumer demand for remanufactured products, especially in emerging economy like Thailand, where socio-economic conditions are different from those in developed countries. Quantitative data collection method was employed with a survey of 200 vehicle owners in Bangkok. The extended theory of planned behavior was used as theoretical framework with the inclusion of marketing stimuli to analyze consumer behavior in purchasing remanufactured products. In addition, partial least square-structural equation modeling with the importance-performance map analysis was employed as the key statistical analysis technique. The findings indicate that attitude and subjective norm are positively correlated with consumers' purchase intention toward remanufactured products. Product and price stimulating factors are also determined to significantly enhance consumers' purchase intention with significant effect size via attitude. Results lead to practical implication that joint coordination between government agencies and industrial players is required for product and price improvement to enhance consumers' purchase intention for remanufactured products in emerging economy. |
80 | Renewable energy, urbanization, and ecological footprint in the Middle East and North Africa region | The countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have the greatest potential for renewable energy consumption in the world and is likely to be the most vulnerable to the horrendous effects of climate change. Unfortunately, only a few of the countries have tapped into this potential, as non-renewable energy still dominates the total energy mix of these countries. This study explores the effect of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on the environment in MENA countries from 1990 to 2016 by applying the Augmented Mean Group algorithm while accounting for urbanization, financial development, and economic growth. The panel result suggests that financial development, economic growth, and urbanization add to environmental degradation. Also, findings reveal that renewable energy does not contribute meaningfully to environmental quality, while non-renewable energy consumption significantly adds to environmental degradation. A uni-directional causality flows from urbanization, economic growth, and energy use to environmental degradation. One way to abate this damage is for countries in this region to embrace and promote the consumption of clean energy sources. |
81 | Modelling reverse supply chain through system dynamics for realizing the transition towards the circular economy: A case study on electric vehicle batteries | Circular economy (CE) is increasingly recognized as an issue of critical importance for companies, academics, practitioners, policymakers, and society as a whole. A successful transition from the current, linear economic model towards a resource-efficient circular economy model requires a shared understanding of the interplay among the building blocks of circular economy and the interaction among various decision factors. This research aims to explore these dynamics using environmental, societal, and economic aspects from a reverse supply chain perspective. This paper presents a model to represent the complex system of reverse logistics to recover post-used products at their end-of-life (EoL) stage. A system dynamics (SD) approach is used to model the dynamics of cost, revenue, and strategic and regulatory decisions. In addition, the interplay among the main pillars of circular economy research is explored through a case study of electric vehicle batteries (EVBs). Moreover, the main enablers and challenges for recovery of end-of-life batteries are presented. The findings show the importance of a shared understanding to achieve a successful transition towards a resource-efficient and circular economy model. Furthermore, reuse strategies such as remanufacturing and repurposing present a huge market potential for the recovery of electric vehicle batteries in the near future. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
82 | Design of fractional order PID controller for load frequency control system with communication delay | This work explores a frequency-domain approach to design a fractional order proportional-integral-derivative (FO-PID) controller cascaded with a first-order filter for the load frequency control (LFC) system with communication delay. The proposed method is based on suitable reference model development in the direct synthesis (DS) approach, followed by frequency response matching technique. The reference model is developed for robust control-loop performance using the stability-margin and time-domain specifications. The values of the fractional orders of the integral and derivative terms are obtained according to the dynamics of the nominal system. The proposed controllers have been designed for some LFC systems taken from the literature that have different dynamics with reheat, non-reheat and hydraulic turbines and performances with non-linearity like generation rate constraint (GRC), generation dead band (GDB) along with noise have been compared favorably with that of some controllers prevalent in the literature. The proposed controllers have been shown to work efficaciously for the decentralized multi-area IEEE 39-bus New England test system along with variable communication delay. To show the efficacy of the proposed controllers the load-disturbance responses along with the frequency and time domain performance indices have been evaluated for comparison. |
83 | An optimised grey buffer operator for forecasting the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China | In recent years, under a series of policy shocks, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China show the characteristics of trend mutation and non-smoothness. In order to forecast the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China, an optimised grey buffer operator is proposed by introducing accumulation and translation transformations. Meanwhile, a genetic algorithm is employed to ascertain its optimum parameters. Forecasting results indicate that the optimised buffer operator can significantly improve the adaptability of the grey model to the production and sales data of new energy vehicles in China, and exhibits much higher prediction accuracy than those of the classical buffer operator and grey model. Besides, the prediction results show that the production and sales of China's new energy vehicles will continue to grow from 2018 to 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 27.53% and 30.49%, respectively. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |
84 | Partial replacement of copper slag with treated crumb rubber aggregates in alkali-activated slag mortar | Copper slag (CS) is an industrial waste, which is generally disposed of in landfills, posing threats to the environment. Alternatively, it can be used as natural aggregate replacement in concrete/m ortar, however, it results in a significant increase in material density, production and handling cost. The use of crumb rubber in combination with CS can overcome these problems, but there was no prior study on effect of such combination on the properties of alkali activated mortars (AAMs). The primary aim of this study is to address the problem stated above by replacing CS with 5, 10, 15% (by volume) crumb rubber in alkaliactivated slag mortars. Furthermore, the effect of pre-treatm ent of crumb rubber aggregates with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution for 1 h and 2 4 h on workability, compressive strength, flexural strength, w ater absorption, thermal conductivity, and microstructural properties of mortar mixes was investigated. Based on the test results, the use of crumb rubber resulted in inferior workability and mechanical strength, but better thermal insulating capability as compared to the control mix. Alkali treatm ent promoted the rubber-binder bond and effectively enhanced the strength of mixes, especially at an early-age (up to 59%), however, alkali treatm ent for 2 4 h drastically reduced the workability of fresh mix. Thus, it is recommended to use 10% crumb rubber pre-soaked in NaOH solution for 1 h to achieve acceptable performance. Finally, the economic and ecological analysis results revealed that the produced m ortar is beneficial to the environment. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
85 | Prehospital Supraglottic Airways: An NAEMSP Position Statement and Resource Document | Supraglottic airway (SGA) devices provide effective conduits for oxygenation and ventilation and may offer protection from gastric aspiration. SGA devices are widely used by EMS clinicians as both rescue and primary airway management devices. While in common use for more than four decades, major developments in SGA education, science, and technology have influenced clinical strategies of SGA insertion and use in prehospital airway management for patients of all ages. NAEMSP recommends:SGAs have utility as a primary or secondary EMS airway intervention. EMS agencies should select SGA strategies that best suit available resources and local clinician skillset, as well as the nature of their clinical practice setting.EMS agencies that perform endotracheal intubation must also equip their clinicians with SGA devices and ensure adequate training and competence.In select situations, drug-assisted airway management may be used by properly credentialed EMS clinicians to facilitate SGA insertion.Confirmation of initial and continuous SGA placement using waveform capnography is strongly encouraged as a best practice.When it is functioning properly, EMS clinicians should refrain from converting an SGA to an endotracheal tube. The decision to convert an SGA to an endotracheal tube must consider the patient's condition, the effectiveness of SGA ventilations, and the clinical context and course of initial SGA insertionSGA training, competency, and clinical use must be continuously evaluated by EMS agencies using focused quality management programs. |
86 | Effect of the Lipid Fraction of Microalgae on Biochemical Parameters in Female C57BL/6 Mice | We studied the effect of microalgae of various systematic groups added to the ration on the biochemical parameters of blood serum and liver and kidney tissue in rats. It was found that microalgae had different effects on the levels of proteins, lipids, and sex hormones, activity of aminotransaminases, and filtration capacity of the kidneys. Microalgae also affected the biochemical parameters of the liver and kidney tissues. |
87 | Anthelmintic potency of Rumex crispus L. extracts against Caenorhabditis elegans and non-targeted identification of the bioactive compounds | Traditional healers and ethnoveterinary therapists use several medicinal plants, such as Rumex crispus L., to treat endoparasite infections. R. crispus has been established by researchers to be effective agasint a few parasitic worms. In this study, we evaluated the potency of R. crispus extracts on the model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans and the bioactive compounds of the extracts were also identified. The solvent extracts of R. crispus were tested against C. elegans for up to 72 h. The effect of the extracts on C. elegans was examined using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). LM and SEM analysis showed damage on the body wall, reduced body and slight modifications of the nematode organs. The lethality test reveals a significant reduction in the viability of the nematode with the water extract of leaf (LF-WAE), among others, having the strongest potency against the nematode, with 83% lethality. Anlysis done with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra reveals various characteristic vibration bands and fingerprint bands at 3400-600 cm-1, identifying phenols, organic acids, aromatics, amines, among others in the plant. The compounds were identified with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), under the categories of flavonoids, steroidal alkaloids and proanthocyanidin. In conclusion, this study confirmed that R. crispus has anthelmintic potential, using standardised C. elegans models as a tool and suggests that there could be novel compounds yet to be explored in the studied plant that could be of great benefit to livestock and humans. |
88 | The spatial effect of tourism economic development on regional ecological efficiency | The process of tourism economic development is accompanied by the consumption of energy and environment. It is of a big significance to measure the level of tourism economic development and regional eco-efficiency correctly to clarify the relationship between them, as it contributes to realizing the high-quality development of the tourism economy and the construction of "beautiful China". On the basis of the panel data of China's 30 provinces and cities from 2002 to 2016, the paper intends to evaluate the regional eco-efficiency and tourism economic development level by using the super-efficiency DEA model and the grey entropy weight method, and then construct spatial panel econometric model which is based on the previous data to deeply discuss the influence of tourism economy development on regional ecological efficiency and its spatial effect. The research shows that (1) regional ecological efficiency has significant spatial dependence and spatial aggregation characteristics. With the passing of time, this kind of positive spatial autocorrelation is gradually strengthened. (2) In the long-term development, tourism economic development and regional ecological efficiency show a more obvious "Kuznets curve" effect. (3) The "U"-curve relationship between urbanization, environmental regulation, and regional eco-efficiency was confirmed. (4) In the process of tourism economic transformation and development, industrial pollution control, environmental regulation, technological level, urbanization, and investment openness are the main factors that affect the improvement of ecological efficiency in the local region. (5) Tourism economic development and urbanization levels have different spatial spillover effects in different periods, while investment openness has obvious positive spillover effects. |
89 | Impact of foreign trade on energy efficiency in China's textile industry | Improving energy efficiency is important to ensure economic growth while conserving energy and reducing emissions. Based on the total factor energy efficiency of China's textile industry, this paper constructs a simultaneous equation model that includes the Tobit model, and empirically analyzes whether foreign trade affects energy efficiency in the textile industry as well as the mechanism of any such influence. The empirical results demonstrate positive feedback between foreign trade and energy efficiency in the textile industry, with imports impacting energy efficiency more than do exports. The foreign trade of textile industry is divided into import trade and export trade, which have different impacts on energy efficiency. Simultaneously, the results also confirm that R&D input, ownership structure and energy price significantly impact the energy efficiency of China's textile industry. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
90 | Circular RNA Plasmacytoma Variant Translocation 1 (CircPVT1) knockdown ameliorates hypoxia-induced bladder fibrosis by regulating the miR-203/Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 3 (SOCS3) signaling axis | The effects of circular RNAs (circRNAs) on bladder outlet obstruction (BOO)-induced hypertrophy and fibrogenesis in rats and hypoxia-induced bladder smooth muscle cell (BSMC) fibrosis remain unclear. This study aimed to determine the regulatory role of circRNAs in the phenotypic changes in BSMCs in BOO-induced rats.circRNAmicroarray and real-time PCR were used to explore differentiated expressed circRNAs. Bioinformatics analyses and dual-luciferase reporter were performed to identify the targets for circRNA PVT1 (circPVT1). BOO was performed to establish a bladder fibrosis animal model. The circPVT1 and suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) expression levels were upregulated (p = 0.0061 and 0.0328, respectively), whereas the microRNA-203a (miR-203) level was downregulated in rats with bladder remodeling (p=0.0085). Bioinformatics analyses and dual-luciferase reporter assay results confirmed that circPVT1 sponges miR-203 and that the latter targets the 3'-untranslated region of SOCS3. Additionally, circPVT1 knockdown alleviated BOO-induced bladder hypertrophy and fibrogenesis. Furthermore, hypoxia was induced in BSMCs to establish a cell model of bladder fibrosis. Hypoxia induction in BSMCs resulted in upregulated circPVT1 and SOCS3 levels (p = 0.0052) and downregulated miR-203 levels. Transfection with circPVT1 and SOCS3 shRNA ameliorated hypoxia-induced transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β1), TGFβR1, α-smooth muscle actin, fibrotic growth factor, extracellular matrix subtypes, BSMC proliferation, and apoptosis-associated cell injury, whereas co-transfection with miR-203 inhibitor counteracted the effect of circPVT1 shRNA on these phenotypes.These findings revealed a novel circRNA regulator of BOO-associated bladder wall remodeling and hypoxia-induced phenotypic changes in BMSCs by targeting the miR-203-SOCS3 signaling axis. |
91 | Reduction of acute gastric volvulus in a 3-year-old using a balloon-attached endoscope combined with gel immersion endoscopy | When performing endoscopic reduction in patients with gastric volvulus, it is important to maintain a low level of intragastric pressure and to fix the endoscope in the duodenum. Gel immersion endoscopy is a new method for securing the visual field by injecting clear gel. The balloon-attached endoscope makes it easier to fix the tip in the duodenum without mucosal damage. We report successful reduction of a mesenteroaxial gastric volvulus using an endoscope with a balloon in combination with gel immersion endoscopy. A 3-year-old Japanese male developed gastric volvulus. Since gastric decompression using a nasogastric tube failed to reduce the volvulus, endoscopic reduction was performed under general anesthesia. After aspiration of intragastric gas, clear gel was injected through the accessory channel which secured the visual field in the stomach even with residue while maintaining low intragastric pressure. After reaching the descending portion of the duodenum, the balloon attached to the tip of the endoscope was inflated and fixed in the duodenum. The volvulus was successfully reduced by pulling back the endoscope with clockwise torque. Acute mesenteroaxial gastric volvulus has the potential to cause ischemia and perforation which can be life-threatening, so most patients are treated with surgical intervention. Gel immersion endoscopy is safe and effective to secure the visual field, even in children. Endoscopic reduction may be a viable treatment option for reducing gastric volvulus in non-emergent patients. |
92 | The impact of macroeconomic and financial development on carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan: evidence with a novel dynamic simulated ARDL approach | This paper has empirically explored the impact of macroeconomic and financial development on CO(2)emissions by utilizing a novel dynamic simulated ARDL model for annual time series data from 1982 to 2018 for Pakistan. The results of a novel dynamic simulated ARDL disclosed that the growth of stock market, FDI, economic growth, and consumption of oil wield a positive impact on CO(2)emission, while domestic credit exerts a negative effect on CO(2)emission both in the short and the long run in Pakistan. The stock market development and domestic credit wield a significant influence on carbon dioxide emission in Pakistan both in the long and the short run. FDI exerts significant impact only in the long run, while economic growth and consumption of oil wield significant impact only in the short run on CO(2)emission in Pakistan. This study opens up new visions for the economy of Pakistan to sustain financial and economic growth by protecting environment from pollution through its efficient national environmental policy, fiscal policy, and monetary policy. |
93 | Low-dose oral isotretinoin for the treatment of adult patients with mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris: Systematic review and meta-analysis | Acne vulgaris is one of the most common dermatologic complaints. Recently, isotretinoin has been used as an off-label indication for the treatment of mild-to-moderate grades of acne not responding to conventional treatment. Its conventional recommended dose is 0.5-1.0 mg/kg per day to the cumulative dose of 120-150 mg/kg. To qualify the state of evidence and analyze the efficacy of the low-daily dose and the pulsed doses of isotretinoin in treating mild-to-moderate acne patients with regards to response and relapse rates. Systematic review and meta-analysis using an electronic literature search were performed. The 320 potentially relevant articles were included and reviewed. The level of evidence is moderate to low as conducted by the GRADE quality of evidence assessment. The pooled statistical estimate for response to treatment in the group comparing low-daily doses with conventional dose showed an overall benefit for conventional dose. On the other hand, pooled data from the group comparing the low-daily dose with the pulsed doses yielded an overall beneficial effect from using the low-daily dose compared with the pulsed doses on achieving the response. Given all of the available studies, the quality of evidence is low. It appears that conventional dose isotretinoin improves the odds of prolonged remission in adults with mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris compared to the low doses. |
94 | The Noctambuli: tales of sleepwalkers and secrets of the body in seventeenth-century England | Seventeenth-century readers were fascinated by marvellous tales of people known as the noctambuli who rose up in their sleep, performed daily chores and attempted dangerous feats, such as clambering onto rooftops. On account of their uncanny nature, commentators noted that sleepers could be mistaken for spectres or those who had been bewitched. Depictions of the noctamubli were also influenced by the Malleus Maleficarum, which had argued that they were acting under the influence of demons and would fall if their Christian name was called. Medical texts explained this behaviour in terms of the escape of hot vapours within the body, the powers of the imaginative faculty, and the impairment of common sense during sleep. While this explanation was widely accepted, in the 1650s it was challenged by alternative views from esoteric writings, which conceptualised the movements of sleepers in terms of mystical powers within the body. |
95 | Benign mixed Müllerian (duct) vaginal tumor in a 12-y-old goat | In human and veterinary medicine, mixed Müllerian tumors (MMTs) are rarely diagnosed neoplasms of the tubular female genital tract. Although there are case reports of malignant MMTs in various species, benign MMTs have only been described once in a macaque. Here we present a case of benign MMT in a 12-y-old goat, and review the literature on uterine, cervical, and vaginal neoplasia in goats. The doe was presented with vaginal discharge and was euthanized because of the high suspicion of intraabdominal neoplasia. On gross examination, an ulcerated vaginal mass was identified. Histologically, 2 distinct cell populations were present: smooth muscle cells that were well differentiated and positive for alpha-smooth muscle actin, and ciliated columnar epithelial cells that lined ductal structures and had no signs of malignancy. These findings led to the diagnosis of neoplasia of Müllerian origin. Benign MMT should be considered as a differential diagnosis for uterine and vaginal neoplasms in goats. |
96 | The risk of stent thrombosis of dual antithrombotic therapy for patients who require oral anticoagulant undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: insights of a meta-analysis of randomized trials | Recent meta-analyses investigating dual antithrombotic therapy (DAT) versus triple antithrombotic therapy (TAT) among patients who require oral anticoagulants especially with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) raised the concern of stent thrombosis (ST) and myocardial infarction (MI), however, these meta-analyses did not include all randomized trials who require oral anticoagulants. We aimed to investigate the efficacy of DAT versus TAT in these patients undergoing PCI. Our data showed the risk of ST was not significantly different in DAT vs. TAT (HR [95%CI]: 1.50 [0.97-2.34], p = .07; I2 = 0%) and MI (HR [95%CI]: 1.17 [0.95-1.45], p = .14; I2 = 0%). |
97 | Prediction of biogas production rate from anaerobic hybrid reactor by artificial neural network and nonlinear regressions models | In the present study, a three-layer artificial neural network (ANN) and nonlinear regression models were developed to predict the performance of biogas production from the anaerobic hybrid reactor (AHR). Firstly, the performance of an AHR which is filled with perlite (2.38-4.36 mm) at fill rates of 1/3, 1/4 and 1/5 for the treatment of synthetic wastewater was investigated at a loading rate of 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 kg COD m(-3) day with 12, 24, 36 and 48 h of hydraulic retention time (HRT) under mesophilic conditions (37 +/- 1 degrees C). In this study, experimental data were used to estimate the biogas production rate with models produced using both ANNs and nonlinear regression methods. Moreover, ten related variables, such as reactor fill ratio, influent pH, effluent pH, influent alkalinity, effluent alkalinity, organic loading rate, effluent chemical oxygen demand, effluent total suspended solids, effluent suspended solids and effluent volatile suspended solids, were selected as inputs of the model. Finally, ANN and nonlinear regression models describing the biogas production rate were developed. The R-2, IA, FA2, RMSE, MB for ANNs and nonlinear regression models were found to be 0.9852 and 0.9878, 0.9956 and 0.9945, 0.9973 and 0.9254, 217.4 and 332, 36 and 222, respectively. The statistical quality of ANNs and nonlinear regression models were found to be significant due to its high correlation between experimental and simulated biogas values. The ANN model generally showed greater potential in determining the relationship between input data and the biogas production rate according to statistical parameters (except R-2 and R). The results showed that the proposed ANNs and nonlinear regression models performed well in predicting the biogas production rate of AHR on behalf of avoiding economic and environmental sustainability problems. [GRAPHICS] . |
98 | The essential role of fungal peroxisomes in plant infection | Several filamentous fungi are ecologically and economically important plant pathogens that infect a broad variety of crops. They cause high annual yield losses and contaminate seeds and fruits with mycotoxins. Not only powerful infection structures and detrimental toxins, but also cell organelles, such as peroxisomes, play important roles in plant infection. In this review, we summarize recent research results that revealed novel peroxisomal functions of filamentous fungi and highlight the importance of peroxisomes for infection of host plants. Central for fungal virulence are two primary metabolic pathways, fatty acid β-oxidation and the glyoxylate cycle, both of which are required to produce energy, acetyl-CoA, and carbohydrates. These are ultimately needed for the synthesis of cell wall polymers and for turgor generation in infection structures. Most novel results stem from different routes of secondary metabolism and demonstrate that peroxisomes produce important precursors and house various enzymes needed for toxin production and melanization of appressoria. All these peroxisomal functions in fungal virulence might represent elegant targets for improved crop protection. |
99 | From physical to ultrasound examination in lymphedema: a novel dynamic approach | In daily practice, medical history and physical examination are commonly coupled with anthropometric measurements for the diagnosis and management of patients with lymphatic diseases. Herein, considering the current progress of ultrasound imaging in accurately assessing the superficial soft tissues of the human body; it is noteworthy that ultrasound examination has the potential to augment the diagnostic process. In this sense/report, briefly revisiting the most common clinical maneuvers described in the pertinent literature, the authors try to match them with possible (static and dynamic) sonographic assessment techniques to exemplify/propose an 'ultrasound-guided' physical examination for different tissues in the evaluation of lymphedema. |
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