Motorcycle motion is largely influenced by the road geometry, which alters the allowable accelerations in longitudinal and lateral directions and influences the vertical wheel loads. Recently, a method for three-dimensional road reconstruction and its incorporation into transient and quasi-steady-state (QSS) minimum lap time simulations (MLTSs) has been proposed. The main purpose of this work is to demonstrate how significantly different results from a minimum lap time optimal control problem can be obtained when using inappropriate elevation data sources in the track reconstruction problem, and how the road model reconstructed using poor input data can lead to misleading conclusions when analyzing real vehicle and driver performances. Two road models derived from high- and low-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) are compared and their impact on the optimal maneuver of a racing motorcycle is examined. The essentials of track identification are presented, as well as vehicle positioning on the 3D road and the generalized QSS motorcycle model. Obtained 3D and 2D road models are analyzed in detail, on a case example of the Road Atlanta racetrack, and used in minimum lap time simulations, which are validated by the experimental data recorded on the Supersport motorcycle. The comparative analysis showed that great care should be taken when selecting the elevation dataset in the track reconstruction process, and that the 1 m resolution local DEMs seem to be sufficient to obtain MLTS results close to the measured ones. The example of using the 3D free-trajectory QSS minimum lap time problem to localize the track segments where real driver actions can be improved is also presented. The differences between simulation results on different road models of the same racetrack can be large and influence the interpretation of optimal maneuver. Full article

The use of color dyes in modern society presents a great challenge to the environment. Thus, extensive studies have been conducted in the last 30 years on the removal of color dyes from aqueous solutions such industrial wastewater. In this study, the removal of alizarin red S (ARS), an anionic dye, from solution by raw calcite (Cal) and heat-treated calcite (HCal) was conducted and compared under different physico-chemical conditions. Based on the isotherm study, the ARS removal capacities increased from 167 to 251 mmol/kg after the Cal was heated to 1000 °C for 3 h. The X-ray diffraction analyses showed no difference in the calcite phase between Cal and HCal after ARS sorption. Fourier-transform infrared results also showed no change in the calcite phase after ARS sorption, except a slightly increase in wavenumber from 713 to 727 cm⁻¹ for the OCO bending of HCal at high ARS sorption levels. SEM observations showed about the same particle size and morphology before and after ARS sorption. The TGA data showed the formation of CaO after Cal was heated, and CaO converted back into calcite after being in contact with water or ARS solution for 24 h and then being air-dried. Thus, the high ARS removal could be due to CaO produced after Cal being heated. The findings from this research proved that there is great potential in the use of calcite, a low-cost and readily available Earth material, after heat treatment for the removal of contaminants from water. Full article

Every year, new compounds contained in consumer products, such as detergents, paints, products for personal hygiene, and drugs for human and veterinary use, are identified in wastewater and are added to the list of molecules that need monitoring. These compounds are indicated with the term emerging contaminants (or Contaminants of Emerging Concern, CECs) since they are potentially dangerous for the environment and human health. To date, among the most widely used methodologies for the removal of CECs from the aquatic environment, adsorption processes play a role of primary importance, as they have proven to be characterized by high removal efficiency, low operating and management costs, and an absence of undesirable by-products. In this paper, the adsorption of ibuprofen (IBU), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug widely used for treating inflammation or pain, was performed for the first time using two different types of geopolymer-based materials, i.e., a metakaolin-based (GMK) and an organic–inorganic hybrid (GMK-S) geopolymer. The proposed adsorbing matrices are characterized by a low environmental footprint and have been easily obtained as powders or as highly porous filters by direct foaming operated directly into the adsorption column. Preliminary results demonstrated that these materials can be effectively used for the removal of ibuprofen from contaminated water (showing a concentration decrease of IBU up to about 29% in batch, while an IBU removal percentage of about 90% has been reached in continuous), thus suggesting their potential practical application. Full article

The Notch pathway is a key cancer driver and is important in tumor progression. Early research suggested that Notch activity was highly dependent on the expression of the intracellular cleaved domain of Notch-1 (NICD). However, recent insights into Notch signaling reveal the presence of Notch pathway signatures, which may vary depending on different cancer types and tumor microenvironments. Herein, we perform a comprehensive investigation of the Notch signaling pathway in adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) primary patient samples. Using gene arrays, we demonstrate that the Notch pathway is constitutively activated in ATL patient samples. Furthermore, the activation of Notch in ATL cells remains elevated irrespective of the presence of activating mutations in Notch itself or its repressor, FBXW7, and that ATL cells are dependent upon Notch-1 expression for proliferation and survival. We demonstrate that ATL cells exhibit the expression of pivotal Notch-related genes, including notch-1, hes1, c-myc, H19, and hes4, thereby defining a critical Notch signature associated with ATL disease. Finally, we demonstrate that lncRNA H19 is highly expressed in ATL patient samples and ATL cells and contributes to Notch signaling activation. Collectively, our results shed further light on the Notch pathway in ATL leukemia and reveal new therapeutic approaches to inhibit Notch activation in ATL cells. Full article

Breastfeeding is the most appropriate source of a newborn’s nutrition; among the plethora of its benefits, its modulation of circadian rhythmicity with melatonin as a potential neuroendocrine transducer has gained increasing interest. Transplacental transfer assures melatonin provision for the fetus, who is devoid of melatonin secretion. Even after birth, the neonatal pineal gland is not able to produce melatonin rhythmically for several months (with an even more prolonged deficiency following preterm birth). In this context, human breast milk constitutes the main natural source of melatonin: diurnal dynamic changes, an acrophase early after midnight, and changes in melatonin concentrations according to gestational age and during the different stages of lactation have been reported. Understudied thus far are the factors impacting on (changes in) melatonin content in human breast milk and their clinical significance in chronobiological adherence in the neonate: maternal as well as environmental aspects have to be investigated in more detail to guide nursing mothers in optimal feeding schedules which probably means a synchronized instead of mistimed feeding practice. This review aims to be thought-provoking regarding the critical role of melatonin in chrononutrition during breastfeeding, highlighting its potential in circadian entrainment and therefore optimizing (neuro)developmental outcomes in the neonatal setting. Full article

The present study aimed to determine the influence of organic amendments (OAs) on neutralizing the harmful effect of copper (Cu) on black mustard (Sinapis nigra L.). In a pot experiment, three levels of copper pollution were used: 200, 400, and 600 mg Cu kg⁻¹, against a control without Cu. The soil was amended with three types of OAs: pine bark (PB), peat moss (PM), and cattle manure (CM). Our research showed that plant condition depends on the Cu content in the soil. Increasing soil contamination significantly affected the plant yield, leaf greenness index, and dry matter content. The type of OA had no significant effect on the condition of black mustard (BM); however, each had a different effect on neutralizing the harmful effects of Cu. CM reduced Cu accumulation, PM showed no effect, while PB contributed to a significant increase in Cu content in BM plants. The chemical composition of BM depended on the Cu content in the soil. With increased soil contamination with Cu, the contents of N_tot, K, Mg, Ca, and Na in BM increased, while the content of P decreased. In terms of mitigating the harmful effects, CM was more beneficial than PM and PB. Among the analyzed OAs, CM, and PM contributed to Cu immobilization, while PB promoted Cu mobilization in contaminated soils. Full article

The taxonomic history, nomenclature and application of the oldest species names available for the common hybrids between Pilosella caespitosa and P. lactucella are reviewed. Elias Fries created a nomenclatural and bibliographical collision when he replaced a printed label of his exsiccata Herbarium normale with its second version, distributed at a later date, in which the protologue of Hieracium suecicum had appeared. In this protologue, the new species name was validly published with a mere reference to the original description of H. auricula var. majus, thus being based on the type of the latter. In a later fascicle of the same exsiccata, Fries excluded this synonym and distributed a different morphotype of H. suecicum, which caused taxonomic confusion and re-description of the same taxon under the name H. fennicum. The surviving original material of H. auricula var. majus is rejected, and its neotype is designated, making H. suecicum the correct name for the hybrids strictly intermediate between P. lactucella and P. caespitosa. Such hybrids constitute the most common hybridogenous taxon of Pilosella in Scandinavia, Finland and neighbouring Russia, with many synonyms described from this area and partly typified here. Another hybridogenous taxon of the same origin, more similar to P. lactucella and previously known as P. cochlearis, is correctly named P. stipitiflora comb. nov. The nomenclatural value and bibliographic complexity of exsiccata, a commonly underestimated kind of grey literature in taxonomic botany, are further highlighted. Full article

Knowledge about the thermodynamic equilibria of the P₂O₅-Na₂O and P₂O₅-MgO systems is very important for controlling the phosphorus content of steel materials in the process of steelmaking dephosphorization. The phase equilibrium and thermodynamic data of the P₂O₅-Na₂O and P₂O₅-MgO systems were critically evaluated and re-assessed by the CALPHAD (CAlculation of PHAse Diagram) approach. The liquid phase was described by the ionic two-sublattice model for the first time with the formulas (Na⁺¹)_P(O⁻², PO₃⁻¹, PO₄⁻³, PO_5/2)_Q and (Mg⁺²)_P(O⁻², PO₃⁻¹, PO₄⁻³, PO_5/2)_Q, respectively, and the selection of the species constituting the liquid phase was based on the structure of the phosphate melts. A new and improved self-consistent set of thermodynamic parameters for the P₂O₅-Na₂O and P₂O₅-MgO systems was finally obtained, and the calculated phase diagram and thermodynamic properties exhibited excellent agreement with the experimental data. The difference in the phase composition of invariant reactions from the experimentally determined values reported in the literature is less than 0.9 mol.%. The present thermodynamic modeling contributes to constructing a multicomponent oxide thermodynamic database in the process of steelmaking dephosphorization. Full article

Hydraulic structures are the key national infrastructures, whose safety and stability are crucial for socio-economic development. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology, as a high-precision deformation monitoring method, is of great significance for the safety and stability of hydraulic structures. However, the GNSS time series exhibits characteristics such as high nonlinearity, spatiotemporal correlation, and noise interference, making it difficult to model for prediction. The Neural Networks (CNN) model has strong feature extraction capabilities and translation invariance. However, it remains sensitive to changes in the scale and position of the target and requires large amounts of data. The Gated Recurrent Units (GRU) model could improve the training effectiveness by introducing gate mechanisms, but its ability to model long-term dependencies is limited. This study proposes a combined model, using CNN to extract spatial features and GRU to capture temporal information, to achieve an accurate prediction. The experiment shows that the proposed CNN-GRU model has a better performance, with an improvement of approximately 45%, demonstrating higher accuracy and reliability in predictions for GNSS deformation monitoring. This provides a new feasible solution for the safety monitoring and early warning of hydraulic structures. Full article

We developed and analyzed a novel non-sparking material based on CuAlBe for applications in potentially explosive environments. Using a master alloy of CuBe, an established material for anti-sparking tools used in oil fields, mines, or areas with potentially explosive gas accumulations, and pure Al, we used an Ar atmosphere induction furnace to obtain an alloy with ~10 wt% Al and ~2 wt% Be percentages and good chemical and structural homogeneity. The new material was tested in an explosive gaseous mixture (10% H₂ or 6.5% CH₄) under extremely strong wear for 16,000 cycles, and no hot sparks capable of igniting the environment were produced. The material was used in the form of hot-rolled plates obtained from melted ingots. The experimental results reflect the use of a suitable material for non-sparking tools. This material has good deformability during hot rolling, abnormal grain growth during deformation under heat treatment and special thermo-mechanical processing, and no high chemical composition variation. Additionally, there are slightly different corrosion resistance and mechanical properties between the melt and hot-rolled state of CuAlBe material. Through hot rolling, the material’s corrosion resistance increased, reducing the chances of generating sparks capable of causing explosions. Full article

To reduce the negative impact on the environment, architects, designers, and construction companies need to find and apply eco-friendly and sustainable building solutions. Due to its renewable nature and numerous advantages, timber has become an attractive substitute for steel and concrete in both residential and non-residential construction projects. However, timber application in the construction of grocery stores is a relatively new concept. The purpose of this research is to propose three alternative timber-based structural systems for a grocery store in Lithuania and to select the most efficient option based on multi-criteria decision-making methods. Three alternative glued laminated timber (glulam) structural systems—the glulam column and truss system, the glulam three-hinge frame system, and the glulam column and double-tapered beam system—were designed. The systems were evaluated against ten criteria, reflecting structural properties, cost efficiency, assembling complexity, and aesthetics. Multiple-criteria assessments by the COmplex PRoportional ASsessment (COPRAS) method and simple additive weighting (SAW) method revealed that the best-performing alternative is the glulam column and double-tapered beam system due to the lower cost of load-bearing structures, the smaller quantity of required steel details and fittings, and the highest maximum utility ratio according to serviceability limit states compared to other alternatives. Full article

Education, especially development education (DE), and a number of socially focused disciplines, including corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social marketing (SM), have long been targeted by policy makers for deriving advice on the ‘wisdom’ of levelling up differences and addressing sources of disadvantages at individual, group and/or regional levels. Additionally, the combined wisdom of such disciplines can also be a great source of advice to effectively address perennial universal problems. This paper is conceptual in nature with a multidisciplinary outlook. It contrasts DE, CSR and SM, with the view to deriving common grounds as well as strengths and areas for further development that can produce more comprehensive explanations and solutions to social problems. Such inclusive, more comprehensive explanations would help advise social-cause-focused workers, including researchers, learners and policy makers, about how each discipline can contribute to the resolution of multifaceted problems, the so-called ‘wicked problems’, that each discipline may not be fully equipped to address. The method of analysis used is an adjusted version of critical discourse analysis. It is used to explore the disciplines at four levels, namely definitional, philosophical, methodological and performance levels, thus giving a comprehensive view of each discipline’s nature, philosophical outlook, methodology and perceived efficacy in achieving its aims. The derived arguments also benefitted from comments provided by seven experienced representatives from the three disciplines. Overall, the outcomes suggest a relative maturity of critical ability in DE but also more effective and efficient methodological and evaluative perspectives in CSR and SM. Although the outcome of the analysis is open for debate, it nevertheless suggests several opportunities for mutual learning at all four levels. The paper suggests a novel integrated ‘supra-level’ framework that may help workers, in these three areas of knowledge, gain valuable insights from each of the three disciplines and highlight valuable opportunities for capitalising on their respective strengths. Full article

The normal growth and development of skeletal muscle is essential for the health of the body. The regulation of skeletal muscle by intestinal microorganisms and their metabolites has been continuously demonstrated. Acetate is the predominant short-chain fatty acids synthesized by gut microbiota through the fermentation of dietary fiber; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms governing the interaction between acetate and skeletal muscle during the rapid growth stage remains to be further elucidated. Herein, specific pathogen-free (SPF) mice, germ-free (GF) mice, and germ-free mice supplemented with sodium acetate (GS) were used to evaluate the effects of acetate on the skeletal muscle growth and development of young mice with gut microbiota deficiency. We found that the concentration of serum acetate, body mass gain, succinate dehydrogenase activity, and expression of the myogenesis maker gene of skeletal muscle in the GS group were higher than those in the GF group, following sodium acetate supplementation. Furthermore, the transcriptome analysis revealed that acetate activated the biological processes that regulate skeletal muscle growth and development in the GF group, which are otherwise inhibited due to a gut microbiota deficiency. The in vitro experiment showed that acetate up-regulated Gm16062 to promote skeletal muscle cell differentiation. Overall, our findings proved that acetate promotes skeletal muscle growth and development in young mice via increasing Gm16062 expression. Full article

Research interprets antisocial and illegal behavior among juveniles as an expression of needs, as a conscious action, or as an adherence to family, cultural, and social contexts. Professionals and researchers interested in the topic could benefit from reflections and insights on relapse prevention among justice-involved juveniles (JIJs). In light of these considerations, we investigated the criminal conduct of JIJs, identifying their background, individual characteristics, and the educational and rehabilitative programs of the 17 Italian youth detention centers from a sample of 234 JIJs (214 males and 20 females, 14–25 years old). The sample completed the following questionnaires: the high-risk situation checklist, deviant behavior questionnaire (DBQ), and the neighborhood perception questionnaire (NPQ). The study aims to provide a general overview of the justice-involved adolescents and young adults in Italian youth detention centers, focusing on perpetrator profiles, family systems and the quality of life in the Italian youth detention centers. To achieve our goals, we investigated their occupations and education, the perceived quality of life in their neighborhoods, the use of drugs, and the tendency to commit illegal or antisocial behaviors before incarceration. The study also explored the awareness related to the personal perception of the risk factors in relapse, with the aim of stimulating reflections on behavior and crime-related cognitions to promote relapse prevention. We discuss the main findings and future implications. Full article

This study aims to establish common fixed point theorems for a pair of compatible self-mappings within the framework of extended parametric $S_b$-metric spaces. To support our assertions, we provide corollaries and examples accompanied with graphical representations. Moreover, we leverage our principal outcome to guarantee the existence of a common solution to a system of integral equations. Full article

Ensuring precise prediction of the remaining useful life (RUL) for bearings in rolling machinery is crucial for preventing sudden machine failures and optimizing equipment maintenance strategies. Since the significant interference encountered in real industrial environments and the high complexity of the machining process, accurate and robust RUL prediction of rolling bearings is of tremendous research importance. Hence, a novel RUL prediction model called CNN-VAE-MBiLSTM is proposed in this paper by integrating advantages of convolutional neural network (CNN), variational autoencoder (VAE), and multiple bi-directional long short-term memory (MBiLSTM). The proposed approach includes a CNN-VAE model and a MBiLSTM model. The CNN-VAE model performs well for automatically extracting low-dimensional features from time–frequency spectrum of multi-axis signals, which simplifies the construction of features and minimizes the subjective bias of designers. Based on these features, the MBiLSTM model achieves a commendable performance in the prediction of RUL for bearings, which independently captures sequential characteristics of features in each axis and further obtains differences among multi-axis features. The performance of the proposed approach is validated through an industrial case, and the result indicates that it exhibits a higher accuracy and a better anti-noise capacity in RUL predictions than comparable methods. Full article

This paper investigates the impact-angle-control guidance problem for varying-speed flight vehicles with constrained acceleration. A learning-based bias proportional navigation guidance (L-BPN) law is proposed to achieve impact-angle-constrained impact by constructing a deep neural network (DNN) for nonlinear mapping between the impact angle and the bias term. During the process of dataset establishment, the impact of state variables is evaluated by sensitivity analysis to minimize the quantity of training data. This approach also effectively accelerates sample generation and improves the training efficiency. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed L-BPN law and demonstrate its advantages over the existing algorithms. Full article

In recent decades, skin cancer has emerged as a significant global health concern, demanding timely detection and effective therapeutic interventions. Automated image classification via computational algorithms holds substantial promise in significantly improving the efficacy of clinical diagnoses. This study is committed to mitigating the challenge of diagnostic accuracy in the classification of multiclass skin lesions. This endeavor is inherently formidable owing to the resemblances among various lesions and the constraints associated with extracting precise global and local image features within diverse dimensional spaces using conventional convolutional neural network methodologies. Consequently, this study introduces the SkinSwinViT methodology for skin lesion classification, a pioneering model grounded in the Swin Transformer framework featuring a global attention mechanism. Leveraging the inherent cross-window attention mechanism within the Swin Transformer architecture, the model adeptly captures local features and interdependencies within skin lesion images while additionally incorporating a global self-attention mechanism to discern overarching features and contextual information effectively. The evaluation of the model’s performance involved the ISIC2018 challenge dataset. Furthermore, data augmentation techniques augmented training dataset size and enhanced model performance. Experimental results highlight the superiority of the SkinSwinViT method, achieving notable metrics of accuracy, recall, precision, specificity, and F1 score at 97.88%, 97.55%, 97.83%, 99.36%, and 97.79%, respectively. Full article

Chitosan (CS) and two-dimensional nanomaterial (2D nanomaterials)-based scaffolds have received widespread attention in recent times in biomedical applications due to their excellent synergistic potential. CS has garnered much attention as a biomedical scaffold material either alone or in combination with some other material due to its favorable physiochemical properties. The emerging 2D nanomaterials, such as black phosphorus (BP), molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), etc., have taken huge steps towards varying biomedical applications. However, the implementation of a CS-2D nanomaterial-based scaffold for clinical applications remains challenging for different reasons such as toxicity, stability, etc. Here, we reviewed different types of CS scaffold materials and discussed their advantages in biomedical applications. In addition, a different CS nanostructure, instead of a scaffold, has been described. After that, the importance of 2D nanomaterials has been elaborated on in terms of physiochemical properties. In the next section, the biomedical applications of CS with different 2D nanomaterial scaffolds have been highlighted. Finally, we highlighted the existing challenges and future perspectives of using CS-2D nanomaterial scaffolds for biomedical applications. We hope that this review will encourage a more synergistic biomedical application of the CS-2D nanomaterial scaffolds and their utilization clinical applications. Full article

Background: This study aimed to investigate the antibacterial and cytotoxic potential of Phellodendron amurense Ruprecht (PAR) extract against Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) and explore the possibility of using PAR extract as an anticariogenic agent. Methods: Mixed extracts were prepared at 0, 1.25, 2.5, and 5 mg/mL concentrations, and an S. mutans-containing solution of 100 μL was inoculated into the medium. The survival rate of human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells was assessed to confirm stability. One-way ANOVA was performed to evaluate the antibacterial activity against S. mutans and the proliferation of HaCaT cells. Results: Higher concentrations of the PAR extract showed more growth inhibition of S. mutans over time, with the complete inactivation of S. mutans at 5 mg/mL. HaCaT cell density was reduced at a PAR extract concentration of 1.25 mg/mL, but IC50 was not observed, confirming that the concentration used did not affect the cytotoxicity and proliferation. Conclusions: Results showed that the PAR extract was excellent as a natural substance with anticariogenic effects that inhibited the growth of S. mutans and did not affect the cell viability, thus indicating the potential for clinical application. Full article

Fertilization has a significant impact on soil nutrients and microbiological properties, which, in turn, affect crop yield. However, the specific effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers on soil fertility and microbial characteristics in maize fields, as well as the key soil factors influencing changes in crop yield, remain largely unknown. A study was conducted over two years (2021–2022) to investigate the impact of various nitrogen fertilization rates and types on maize yield and soil properties in the Loess Plateau. Field experiments with five nitrogen levels (60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 kg N ha⁻¹) and two fertilizer types (chemical and organic) were conducted. The optimal yield was achieved with 150 kg N ha⁻¹, significantly surpassing that of other treatments by 4.5−45.7%. Compared with the organic fertilizers, the chemical fertilizers increased soil salt and catalase levels, with soil nitrate and ammonium content being higher at the jointing stage but lower at maturity. Organic fertilization improved soil potassium, organic matter, urease and phosphatase activities, and microbial populations. Yield correlated with several soil indicators, including salt content, nitrate, available potassium, and enzyme activities. Notably, soil nitrate also correlated with actinomyces quantity. A principal component analysis showed that the organic fertilizer was more beneficial to soil health than the chemical fertilizer. Consequently, this study recommends 150 kg N ha⁻¹ of organic fertilizer for sustainable maize farming and soil health in China’s northwest arid region, providing a theoretical framework for agricultural practices. Full article