Metastases are complications of primary tumors due to prolonged cancer survival and have become an important issue for oncological patients and the most frequent cause of death and disability. Bone metastases occur at a later stage of cancer disease, and the spine is the most frequent site. To date, the aim of the treatment of metastases remains to be the control of disease and provide a satisfactory quality of life. The decision making of treatment is influenced by several factors such as the status of the primary disease, the number of metastases, site involvement, and the performance status of the patients. For this reason, the treatment of metastases is challenging and undergoes constant development. Therefore, alternative techniques with respect to surgery, which is the first option but not always practicable, and radiochemotherapy are attractive. Lately, electrochemotherapy has emerged as an innovative method for treating various primary and metastatic solid tumors, showing promising outcomes in terms of inducing tumor tissue necrosis and alleviating symptoms. This technique uses electric pulses to increase the uptake of chemotherapy by tumor cells. Despite the initial enthusiasm and good results in the treatment of bone tumors, relatively few papers have described its use in spine metastases. Therefore, we conducted a systemic review of this intriguing topic while also reporting our experience in the use of electrochemotherapy for the treatment of spine metastases. Full article

Considering that Einstein’s relation between the diffusion coefficient and the drift mobility of free randomly moving charge carriers in homogeneous materials including metals is always valid, it is shown that the effective electric force acting on free electrons in metal depends on the ratio between the kinetic free electron energy at the Fermi surface to the classical particle energy 3 kT/2. The electrical resistivity of elemental metals dependence on very low temperatures has the quadratic term, which has been explained by electron–electron scattering. In this paper, it is shown that the quadratic term of the electrical resistivity at low temperatures is caused by scattering of the free randomly moving electrons by electronic defects due to linear effective free electron scattering cross-section dependence on temperature, but not by electron–electron scattering. Full article

The increasing urbanization trend, projected to reach 70% of the global population residing in cities by 2050, underscores the pivotal role of cities in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015) and combating climate change. Nonetheless, the 2023 report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) reveals an alarming gap in achieving SDG 11 “Sustainable cities and communities” by 2030. This gap highlights the urgent need for transformative shifts in urban policies and investments to prevent cities from becoming centers of global disparities, including socio-economic inequalities, digital divide, and spatial fragmentation, particularly in marginal areas. Marginal areas suffer indeed from conditions of sub-optimality in planning capacity, valuable decision-making, and project implementation. The inadequate planning, management, and governance of marginal areas, coupled with suboptimal investments, can severely compromise their socioeconomic condition. Planning efforts frequently fall short in achieving long-term sustainability goals due to localized and short-sighted decision-making processes, particularly evident in marginal areas. It is crucial, though, to support their public administrations in the achievement of the SDG 11 targets and in their responsive participation in the calls for the allocation of public funding. In this paper, we provide a theoretical and methodological approach to evaluate urban regeneration projects in marginal areas. In detail, we develop an A’WOT approach, which combines a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis to the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), to rank alternative urban development projects. Full article

Breast cancer is the most common neoplasm worldwide. Viral infections are involved with carcinogenesis, especially those caused by oncogenic Human Papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes. Despite the detection of HPV in breast carcinomas, the virus’s activity against this type of cancer remains controversial. HPV infection promotes remodeling of the host’s immune response, resulting in an immunosuppressive profile. This study assessed the individual role of HPV oncogenes in the cell line MDA-MB-231 transfected with the E5, E6, and E7 oncogenes and co-cultured with peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Immunophenotyping was conducted to evaluate immune system modulation. There was an increase in CD4⁺ T cell numbers when compared with non-transfected and transfected MDA-MB-231, especially in the Treg profile. Pro-inflammatory intracellular cytokines, such as IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-17, were impaired by transfected cells, and a decrease in the cytolytic activity of the CD8⁺ and CD56⁺ lymphocytes was observed in the presence of HPV oncogenes, mainly with E6 and E7. The E6 and E7 oncogenes decrease monocyte expression, activating the expected M1 profile. In the monocytes found, a pro-inflammatory role was observed according to the cytokines released in the supernatant. In conclusion, the MDA-MB-231 cell lineage transfected with HPV oncogenes can downregulate the number and function of lymphocytes and monocytes. Full article

Accounting information systems (AIS) are primarily designed to convert financial data into usable financial and management information. Their effectiveness or success, which shows the extent to which the requirements of their users are satisfied, is an essential factor in decision making. Previous research has found that user satisfaction is a particularly widely utilized and indicative measure of information system (IS) success. In this setting, the success or failure of an AIS is a crucial issue for all companies since a particular IS cannot be appropriate for everyone, especially in the case of accounting software that has to satisfy the requirements of its users. Furthermore, given the hotel industry’s information-intensive and competitive character, the AIS user satisfaction of hotel financial and accounting executives can be vital to their performance and the hotel’s operational efficiency. The aim of this research is to investigate a number of factors that influence AIS user satisfaction in the post-implementation period in the case of the Greek hotel industry. The findings of our empirical study show that system quality, information quality, system use, service quality, firm’s size, years of system use, information technology integration, and organic structure have a positive effect on user satisfaction with AIS. On the contrary, statistical analysis shows that users’ level of education is negatively correlated with AIS user satisfaction. Finally, the current research findings contribute theoretically to the IS and accounting literature, and they also shine a light on the managerial implications for IS developers, hotel managers, and financial executives. Full article

Being motivated has positive influences on task performance. However, motivation could result from various motives that affect different parts of the brain. Analyzing the motivation effect from all affected areas requires a high number of EEG electrodes, resulting in high cost, inflexibility, and burden to users. In various real-world applications, only the motivation effect is required for performance evaluation regardless of the motive. Analyzing the relationships between the motivation-affected brain areas associated with the task’s performance could limit the required electrodes. This study introduced a method to identify the cognitive motivation effect with a reduced number of EEG electrodes. The temporal association rule mining (TARM) concept was used to analyze the relationships between attention and memorization brain areas under the effect of motivation from the cognitive motivation task. For accuracy improvement, the artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm was applied with the central limit theorem (CLT) concept to optimize the TARM parameters. From the results, our method can identify the motivation effect with only FCz and P3 electrodes, with 74.5% classification accuracy on average with individual tests. Full article

Increasing the ultraviolet radiation (UV) level, particularly UV-B due to damage to the stratospheric ozone layer by human activities, has huge negative effects on plant and animal metabolism. As a widely grown cool-season forage grass and turfgrass in the world, perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) is UV-B-sensitive. To study the effects of miR164, a highly conserved microRNA in plants, on perennial ryegrass under UV stress, both OsmiR164a overexpression (OE164) and target mimicry (MIM164) transgenic perennial ryegrass plants were generated using agrobacterium-mediated transformation, and UV-B treatment (~600 μw cm⁻²) of 7 days was imposed. Morphological and physiological analysis showed that the miR164 gene affected perennial ryegrass UV tolerance negatively, demonstrated by the more scorching leaves, higher leaf electrolyte leakage, and lower relative water content in OE164 than the WT and MIM164 plants after UV stress. The increased UV sensitivity could be partially due to the reduction in antioxidative capacity and the accumulation of anthocyanins. This study indicated the potential of targeting miR164 and/or its targeted genes for the genetic manipulation of UV responses in forage grasses/turfgrasses; further research to reveal the molecular mechanism underlying how miR164 affects plant UV responses is needed. Full article

Artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM), an increasingly prevalent activity in South America, generates mercury-contaminated tailings that are often disposed of in the environment, leading to the introduction of mercury into ecosystems and the food web, where it bioaccumulates. Therefore, studying the geochemical processes involved in the desorption and dissolution of mercury in these tailings is essential for critical risk evaluations in the short and long term. For this purpose, sequential extraction procedures (SEPs) can be useful because they help to identify the phases to which Hg is associated, although they also have limitations such as a lack of selectivity and specificity. In this work, we propose a modified four-step SEP: exchangeable mercury (F1), oxidizable mercury (F2), mercury bound to Fe oxides (F3), and strongly bound mercury (F4). To test this adapted sequential extraction method, we evaluated the Hg contamination in mercury-contaminated tailings of the Amazon basin. The results revealed a total mercury concentration of 103 ± 16 mg·kg⁻¹ in the tailings, with a significant portion in F1 (28% of the total), where Hg was bioavailable. The large Hg concentration in F3 (36%) suggested that Fe oxides likely contribute to mercury retention. Together, the SEP results emphasize the urgent need for improved surveillance of gold mining activities and responsible tailings management practices to mitigate environmental contamination and safeguard the health of the Amazon ecosystem. Full article

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the conversion of images into audio descriptions. This is a field that lies at the intersection of Computer Vision (CV) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), and it involves various tasks, including creating textual descriptions of images and converting them directly into auditory representations. Another aspect of this field is the synthesis of natural speech from text. This has significant potential to improve accessibility, user experience, and the applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In this article, we reviewed a wide range of image-to-audio conversion techniques. Various aspects of image captioning, speech synthesis, and direct image-to-speech conversion have been explored, from fundamental encoder–decoder architectures to more advanced methods such as transformers and adversarial learning. Although the focus of this review is on synthesizing audio descriptions from visual data, the reverse task of creating visual content from natural language descriptions is also covered. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the techniques and methodologies used in these fields and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The study emphasizes the importance of various datasets, such as MS COCO, LibriTTS, and VizWiz Captions, which play a critical role in training models, evaluating them, promoting inclusivity, and solving real-world problems. The implications for the future suggest the potential of generating more natural and contextualized audio descriptions, whereas direct image-to-speech tasks provide opportunities for intuitive auditory representations of visual content. Full article

Water scarcity is a global problem. Deficit irrigation (DI) reduces evapotranspiration, improving water efficiency in agriculture. Reference evapotranspiration ${(ET}_0)$ is an important factor in determining DI. ${ET}_0$ forecasting predicts field water consumption and enables proactive irrigation decisions, offering guidance for water resource management. However, implementation of ${ET}_0$ forecasting faces challenges due to complex calculations and extensive meteorological data requirements. This project aims to develop a machine learning system for ${ET}_0$ forecasting. The project involves studying ${ET}_0$ methods and identifying required meteorological parameters. Historical meteorological data and weather forecasts were obtained from meteorological websites and analyzed for accuracy after preprocessing. A machine learning-based model was created to forecast reference crop evapotranspiration. The model’s input parameters were selected through path analysis before it was optimized using Bayesian optimization to reduce overfitting and improve accuracy. Three forecasting models were developed: one based on historical meteorological data, one based on weather forecasts, and one that corrects the weather forecasts. All three models achieved good accuracy, with root mean square errors ranging from 0.52 to 0.81 mm/day. Among them, the model based on weather forecast had the highest accuracy; the RMSE six days before the forecast period was between 0.52 and 0.75 mm/day, and the RMSE on the seventh day of the forecast period was 1.12 mm/day. In summary, this project has established a mathematical model of ${ET}_0$ prediction based on machine learning, which can achieve more accurate predictions for within a few days. Full article

The aim of this research was to optimize the production process of fermented gluten-free quinoa bread. To this end, the effect of different hydrocolloids on the technological, fermentative, and nutritional properties of quinoa-based gluten-free doughs and breads was evaluated. For this purpose, 3% of four different hydrocolloids (sodium alginate, k-carrageenan, xanthan gum, and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)) were used in gluten-free doughs composed of 50% quinoa flour, 20% rice flour, and 30% potato starch. The rheological and fermentative properties of the doughs were evaluated, as well as the chemical composition, specific volume, crust and crumb color, and alveolar structure profile of gluten-free breads. The results highlighted the differences in dough rheology during mixing and fermentation of the doughs. In particular, HPMC showed a good gas retention (93%) during the fermentation of quinoa dough by registering the highest maximum dough development height (Hm). The gluten-free quinoa breads obtained were characterized by significantly different quality parameters (p < 0.05). The use of 3% HPMC resulted in breads with the lowest baking loss, the highest volume, and the most open crumb structure. Full article

Precise medical image segmentation of regions of interest (ROIs) is crucial for accurate disease diagnosis and progression assessment. However, acquiring high-quality annotated data at the pixel level poses a significant challenge due to the resource-intensive nature of this process. This scarcity of high-quality annotated data results in few-shot scenarios, which are highly prevalent in clinical applications. To address this obstacle, this paper introduces Agent-Guided SAM (AGSAM), an innovative approach that transforms the Segment Anything Model (SAM) into a fully automated segmentation method by automating prompt generation. Capitalizing on the pre-trained feature extraction and decoding capabilities of SAM-Med2D, AGSAM circumvents the need for manual prompt engineering, ensuring adaptability across diverse segmentation methods. Furthermore, the proposed feature augmentation convolution module (FACM) enhances model accuracy by promoting stable feature representations. Experimental evaluations demonstrate AGSAM’s consistent superiority over other methods across various metrics. These findings highlight AGSAM’s efficacy in tackling the challenges associated with limited annotated data while achieving high-quality medical image segmentation. Full article

Berries have been gaining in popularity among consumers and producers due to their natural bioactive compounds that have beneficial effects on human health. This review aimed to identify effective techniques for the extraction of bioactive compounds from berries, consolidate the findings of recent studies using various extraction technologies, and provide a global perspective on the research trends in this field. These extraction techniques include pulsed electric field, ultrasound-assisted extraction, pressurized liquid extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, and supercritical CO₂ extraction. The solid waste generated during the industrial berry juice production process is assumed to be a less expensive source of raw materials for the natural extraction of bioactive compounds. The main aim of modern techniques is to produce more of the desired compound and find a method to extract bioactive compounds from berries without the use of hazardous solvents. These include flavonoids, phenols, anthocyanins, and antioxidants. Regarding the characterization of the bioactive compounds that are isolated from berries, aspects such as scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance were reviewed. Full article

Background: The majority of research on the relationship between anorexia nervosa (AN) and trauma has been cross-sectional and quantitative. This study aimed to qualitatively explore how this relationship may shift over time. Methods: A community sample of nine women with a lived experience of AN and trauma were interviewed three times over ten years (1997–2007). Thematic analysis and narrative emplotment were utilised to construct themes both within and across interview transcripts. Results: AN was found to function as a way of coping with trauma (Theme 1), and also became a traumatic experience in and of itself (Theme 2). Longitudinal shifts were identified where the women moved away from AN as a way of coping to loosen the stronghold it had over their lives. Conclusions: This study illuminated how the women’s relationship with AN shifted over time, including the functions and meanings ascribed to AN, and the resilience of women to exit critical stages of AN and achieve meaningful change in their lives over the long term. A further novel finding was that the coping function AN served in early years of life shifted over time as they navigated additional traumas in adulthood and new and diverse ways of coping. Full article

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in childhood. Initial treatment generally includes surgery, irradiation, and chemotherapy. Approximately 20–30% of patients will experience a recurrence, which portends a very poor prognosis. The current standard of care for evaluation for relapse includes radiographic surveillance with magnetic resonance imaging at regular intervals. The presence of circulating tumor DNA in the cerebrospinal fluid has been demonstrated to be a predictor of a higher risk of progression in a research setting for patients with medulloblastoma treated on a prospective single institution clinical trial. We have previously published and clinically validated a liquid-biopsy-based genetic assay utilizing low-pass whole genome sequencing to detect copy number alterations in circulating tumor DNA. Here, we present two teenage patients with posterior fossa medulloblastoma with recurrent disease who have been monitored with serial liquid biopsies showing tumor evolution over time, demonstrating the clinical utility of these approaches. Full article

The Taurus Mountains in the Mediterranean Coastal Basin, considered a biodiversity hotspot, have a rich biodiversity in the Western Palearctic. The number of marble quarries in the Taurus Mountains has dramatically expanded over the past ten years. The objectives of this study are to (i) determine the impacts of quarrying on wildlife and (ii) determine the potential impacts of quarrying on the future of Taurus. A total of 57,547 photos and video images were analyzed on 5447 photo-trap days in two areas, the marble quarries and the control areas. Using 97 randomly selected marble quarries, the area they cover and their annual growth rates were determined. The most commonly seen animals were the wolf (Canis lupus), fox (Vulpes vulpes), lynx (Lynx lynx), and wild boar (Sus scrofa) in the control area, and the jackal (Canis aureus) and hare (Lepus europaeus) in the marble quarries (p < 0.001). Additionally, we found a significant positive correlation between the distance from the geographical center of the marble quarries and the number of dates of wolf, fox and wild boar sightings, with a significant negative correlation for hares (p < 0.05). A positive correlation was found between the area of marble quarries and the duration of operation (R = 0.89, p < 0.00). The waste from quarries, which makes up 79.7% of the total land used for this purpose, is the greatest cause of habitat degradation. According to calculations, even if no new marble quarries are built as of right now, 7.14% of the Taurus Mountains may have disappeared by the year 2027, and by the year 2032, 8.25% of the Taurus ecosystems may have disappeared completely. The Taurus Mountains, a center of Western Palearctic biodiversity, are being threatened by marble quarries. This study advances our knowledge of how marble quarries may affect wildlife. New strategies must be developed as soon as possible to protect the Taurus Mountains, the hotspot of the Mediterranean basin. Full article

The application of ecological techniques by farmers is important for ensuring the environmentally sustainable advancement of the grain sector. Based on micro-level survey data from 921 Chinese wheat growers in the Hebei and Henan provinces, this study employed an endogenous switching probit model and counterfactual analysis to investigate the impact and mechanisms of digital information utilization on ecological production technology adoption. The results indicated that 43.87% of sample wheat farmers had a low level of adoption of ecological techniques. The utilization of digital information significantly promoted farmers’ adoption. If farmers who currently used digital information were to opt-out, the probability of their high adoption would decrease by 11.26%. The utilization of digital information significantly enhanced the adoption of ecological technologies through three mediating factors: technological cognition, production monitoring, and market channels. Therefore, it is imperative to encourage farmers to broaden their social networks and enhance their perception of the importance of digital information. Additionally, it is essential to promote the industrialization and scale operation of wheat production, direct policy subsidies towards new types of management entities, and ensure the accuracy of the supply of digital information for green production through multiple channels. Therefore, it is imperative to expand farmers’ social networks and leverage rural communities to increase their perceived importance of digital information. Governments should increase subsidies and promote the scale and industrialization of wheat production. Moreover, the accuracy of digital information supply for sustainable production should be promoted through digital learning platforms, production monitoring systems, and e-commerce networks. Full article

Conducting precise evaluations and predictions of the environmental conditions for plant growth in green spaces is crucial for ensuring their health and sustainability. Yet, assessing the health of urban greenery and the plant growth environment represents a significant and complex challenge within the fields of urban planning and environmental management. This complexity arises from two main challenges: the limitations in acquiring high-density, high-precision data, and the difficulties traditional methods face in capturing and modeling the complex nonlinear relationships between environmental factors and plant growth. In light of the superior spatial interpolation capabilities of CEDGAN (conditional encoder–decoder generative adversarial neural network), notwithstanding its comparative lack of robustness across different subjects, and the excellent ability of FCNN (fully connected neural network) to fit multiple nonlinear equation models, we have developed two models based on these network structures. One model performs high-precision spatial attribute interpolation for urban green spaces, and the other predicts and evaluates the environmental conditions for plant growth within these areas. Our research has demonstrated that, following training with various samples, the CEDGAN network exhibits satisfactory performance in interpolating soil pH values, with an average pixel error below 0.03. This accuracy in predicting both spatial distribution and feature aspects improves with the increase in sample size and the number of controlled sampling points, offering an advanced method for high-precision spatial attribute interpolation in the planning and routine management of urban green spaces. Similarly, FCNN has shown commendable performance in predicting and evaluating plant growth environments, with prediction errors generally less than 0.1. Comparing different network structures, models with fewer hidden layers and nodes yielded superior training outcomes. Full article

Despite advancements in algorithms concerning the management of cardiogenic shock, current guidelines still lack the adequate integration of mechanical circulatory support devices. In recent years, more and more devices have been developed to provide circulatory with or without respiratory support, when conservative treatment with inotropic agents and vasopressors has failed. Mechanical circulatory support can be contemplated for patients with severe, refractory, or acute-coronary-syndrome-related cardiogenic shock. Through this narrative review, we delve into the differences among the types of currently used devices by presenting their notable advantages and inconveniences. We address the technical issues emerging while choosing the best possible device, temporarily as a bridge to another treatment plan or as a destination therapy, in the optimal timing for each type of patient. We also highlight the diverse implantation and removal techniques to avoid major complications such as bleeding and limb ischemia. Ultimately, we hope to shed some light in the gaps of evidence and the importance of conducting further organized studies around the topic of mechanical circulatory support when dealing with such a high mortality rate. Full article

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are crucial in various fields including Health Care Monitoring, Battlefield Surveillance, and Smart Agriculture. However, WSNs are susceptible to malicious attacks due to the massive quantity of sensors within them. Hence, there is a demand for a trust evaluation framework within WSNs to function as a secure system, to identify and isolate malicious or faulty sensor nodes. This information can be leveraged by neighboring nodes, to prevent collaboration in tasks like data aggregation and forwarding. While numerous trust frameworks have been suggested in the literature to assess trust scores and examine the reliability of sensors through direct and indirect communications, implementing these trust evaluation criteria is challenging due to the intricate nature of the trust evaluation process and the limited availability of datasets. This research conducts a novel comparative analysis of three trust management models: “Lightweight Trust Management based on Bayesian and Entropy (LTMBE)”, “Beta-based Trust and Reputation Evaluation System (BTRES)”, and “Lightweight and Dependable Trust System (LDTS)”. To assess the practicality of these trust management models, we compare and examine their performance in multiple scenarios. Additionally, we assess and compare how well the trust management approaches perform in response to two significant cyber-attacks. Based on the experimental comparative analysis, it can be inferred that the LTMBE model is optimal for WSN applications emphasizing high energy efficiency, while the BTRES model is most suitable for WSN applications prioritizing critical security measures. The conducted empirical comparative analysis can act as a benchmark for upcoming research on trust evaluation frameworks for WSNs. Full article

Ernst Faber’s 34 years of literary missionary works reveal his commitment to refining his approach to indigenizing Christianity in China. Employing three linguistic and cultural adaptation strategies—translation and commentary of the Bible, examination and analysis of missionary practical outcomes in Western society, and the revision and reinterpretation of Chinese classics incorporating Christian insights—Faber adapted his methods gradually into China’s specific conditions, indicating a prolonged path of indigenization. Despite expressing appreciation for Chinese culture, a critical examination reveals the preservation of his cultural biases and an unwavering commitment to Christianity as a means of purifying and enriching the spirit of the Chinese people. Rooted in the political context of his time and confidence in European historical world missions, Faber’s indigenization strategy in his Chinese literary works represents an interplay of cultural adaptation and resistance. Full article