Optical-Microwave Sensor for Real-Time Measurement of Water Contamination in Oil Derivatives  

2023

This paper presents a novel microwave sensor using optical activation for measuring in real-time the water contamination in crude oil or its derivatives. The sensor is constructed from an end-coupled microstrip resonator that is interconnected to two pairs of identical fractal structures based on Moore curves. Electromagnetic (EM) interaction between the fractal curves is mitigated using a T-shaped microstrip-stub to enhance the performance of the sensor. The gap in one pair of fractal curves is loaded with light dependent resistors (LDR) and the other pair with microwave chip capacitors. The chip capacitors were used to increase the EM coupling between the fractal gaps to realize a high Q-…

Aminoquinolines: Fluorescent sensors to DNA – A minor groove probe. Experimental and in silico studies

2023

An aminoquinoline (AQ4) was developed and proven to be a new and efficient DNA minor groove fluorescent probe. The specificity for DNA minor groove was attested by comparing it with well-established DNA probes such as Hoechst stain, acridine orange, and ethidium bromide. AQ4 was similar to the Hoechst stain, a classic minor groove probe, and opposite to acridine orange and ethidium bromide, the typical intercalating probes. An advantage of AQ4 to the Hoechst stain was the higher fluorescent signal-to-noise ratio (+DNA/-DNA). The interaction with DNA leads to an exclusive fluorescent band centered at 590 nm. The red-shifted fluorescent band is associated with a new absorption band (490 nm), …

Modification of halloysite lumen with dopamine derivatives as filler for antibiofilm coating

2023

Hypothesis: Development of nanocomposite coating with antibiofilm properties is of fundamental importance to efficient fight biofilm formation preventing infections in biomedical area. In this context, halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), biocompatible and low-cost clay mineral, have been efficiently used as filler for different polymeric matrices affording several nanocomposites with appealing antimicrobial properties. The modification of HNTs surfaces represents a valuable strategy to improve the utilization of the clay for biological purposes. Experiments: Herein, the covalent modification of the HNTs lumen with properly designed dopamine derivatives with different perfluoroalkyl chain length is…

Essential oil of Sicilian Prangos ferulacea (L.) Lindl. and its major component, β−ocimen, affect contractility in rat small and large intestine

2023

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Prangos ferulacea (L.) Lindl is an Apiaceae plant, widely used in traditional medicine. Recently, chemical composition and biological activities of its essential oil (Prangroil) have been reported, but there are no studies on possible effects on intestinal contractility. Aims of the study: We investigated the effects of essential oil Sicilian Prangoil on the contractility of rat small (duodenum) and large (colon) intestine and the related action mechanism. Materials and methods: Responses to Prangoil and to its major component β-ocimen in intestinal segments were assessed in vitro as changes in isometric tension. Results: Prangoil, induced in duodenum, depend…

Multifunctional halloysite and hectorite catalysts for effective transformation of biomass to biodiesel

2023

Halloysite surface was modified with tetrabutylammonium iodide, and then the obtained nanomaterial was used as support for ZnO nanoparticles. After characterization, the nanomaterial was used as a catalyst for fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) production. The recyclability of the nanomaterial was also investigated, and the optimization of reaction conditions by the design of experiments approach was performed as well. In addition, the synthesized nanomaterial was tested as a catalyst for FAME production from a series of waste lipids affording biodiesel in moderate to good yields (35–95%), depending on the matrix. To fully exploit the feasibility of clay minerals as catalysts in biodiesel for…

Standard Vs Uniform Binary Search and Their Variants in Learned Static Indexing: The Case of the Searching on Sorted Data Benchmarking Software Platf…

2023

Learned Indexes are a novel approach to search in a sorted table. A model is used to predict an interval in which to search into and a Binary Search routine is used to finalize the search. They are quite effective. For the final stage, usually, the lower_bound routine of the Standard C++ library is used, although this is more of a natural choice rather than a requirement. However, recent studies, that do not use Machine Learning predictions, indicate that other implementations of Binary Search or variants, namely k-ary Search, are better suited to take advantage of the features offered by modern computer architectures. With the use of the Searching on Sorted Sets SOSD Learned Indexing bench…

The effects of COVID-19-era unemployment and business closures upon the physical and mental health of older Europeans : Mediation through financial c…

2023

COVID-19-era lockdown policies resulted in many older persons entering unemployment, facing financial difficulties and social restrictions, and experiencing declining health. Employing the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe's first COVID-19 module (summer 2020) (N = 11,231) and the Karlson-Holm-Breen method for decomposition of effects within non-linear probability models (logistic regression modelling), we examined associations of pandemic-era lost work with older Europeans' (50–80 years of age) self-assessed health, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, and mediation through households' difficulties making ends meet, loneliness, and curtailed face-to-face contact with …

Lipid-related thiamine deficiency cause mortality of river lampreys (Lampetra fluviatilis) during pre-spawning fasting

2023

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors River lampreys (Lampetra fluviatilis) were caught in the fall 2014 on entering the River Perhonjoki for spawning and kept at a hatchery until spawning in late spring 2015 to produce larvae for compensatory stockings. Since the lampreys died massively from early February onwards, they were investigated in March and May to clarify the cause of the deaths. The symptoms in lampreys resembled those of lipid-related thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency of salmonines, called the M74 syndrome in the Baltic Sea area. Because the lipid content of lampreys was known to be high, thiamine concentrations were analyzed in the liver and ovulated unfertilized eggs, and th…

Biochar and Forage Peanut improve pastures: Evidence from a field experiment in Brazil

2023

Pasturelands, often degraded, represent most of the converted lands globally. It is important to understand how different pasture management approaches can improve soil quality, increase feed production and farmer income. Here, the impact of different soil enhancers on soil quality and productivity of three cultivars of Brachiaria (Syn. Urochloa) forage grass is presented. Soil enhancers included: biochar - a carbon-rich product from biomass pyrolysis, moinha (local charcoal residue), traditional fertiliser containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, lime, and forage peanut (Arachis pintoi cv. Amarillo). Considering the total biomass produced over the experiment (sum of four harvests), t…

Controllers’ role in managerial sensemaking and information trust building in a business intelligence environment

2023

This study explores how an organization’s controllers (management accountants) give sense to the information provided by its business intelligence (BI) system, and thus shape the construction of information trust. A qualitative case study was conducted within a Finnish food manufacturing company, building on the notion of trust related to management accounting information and sensemaking theory. The study was informed through open-ended interviews and an examination of internal accounting and management reports. The authors found that the company used an integrated BI system that enabled the production of information in a timely and perceivably standardized manner. Controllers managed this …

Language, Law and Food

2023

The language of law has been traditionally characterized by an extreme technicism and the use of a specific jargon whose comprehension is considered a prerogative of legal professionals. The situation is gradually changing. There is a general trend to make law more understandable to non-lawyers and to the normal people in general. This implies the use of a different, more colloquial, kind of language, that could be more familiar to ordinary people. On the other side, food today is no longer what humans eat to calm hunger, but has become an object of research, elaborations, and contaminations, an expression of the different world cultures and a social phenomenon. The links between food and l…

Il piano di ristrutturazione soggetto ad omologazione

2023

Il Capitolo offre un'analisi della nuova disciplina del Piano di ristrutturazione soggetto ad omologazione come disciplinato dal D. lgs. 83/2022.

Occurrence of palladium and platinum in human scalp hair of adolescents living in urban and industrial sites

2023

Platinum group elements (PGEs) can be naturally found at very low concentrations in the Earth's crust. However, the increasing uses of PGEs in vehicle exhaust catalysts, in addition to some other applications (industry, jewelry, anticancer drugs) cause their anthropogenic emission and dispersion in the environment. The use of human hair samples analysis is considered a suitable biological indicator to assess human occupational and environmental exposure. It is an easily accessible material for individuals or population groups of non-invasive sampling. The aim of this study is a comparative analysis to investigate human hair content of Pd and Pt in adolescents, of both genders, residing near…

StartCards — A method for early-stage software startups

2023

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s) Context: Software startups are important drivers of economy on a global scale, and have become associated with innovation and high growth. However, the overwhelming majority of startups ends in failure. Many of these startup failures ultimately stem from software engineering issues, and requirements engineering (RE) ones in particular. Despite the emphasis placed on the importance of RE activities in the startup context, many startups continue to develop software without a clear market or customer, having never had meaningful contact with their would-be customer. Objective: We develop a method aimed at early-stage startups that is intended to help s…

Solvent-dependent hypsochromic shift in the imidazole based complex [Cu(µ2-SO4)(Im)4] and ameliorative effects on breast cancer-induced bone metastas…

2023

A sulfate-bridged complex [Cu(µ2-SO4)(Im)4] (1) was prepared and structurally characterized, where Im: imidazole. The X-ray structure analysis reveals that 1 crystallizes in the monoclinic system with space group C2/c. The octahedral coordination around the metal center is made up of four distinct imine nitrogen atoms in the equatorial plane, and two sulfate oxygen atoms occupying the axial sites. The covalent linkage between metals via the sulfate group, forming infinite 1D zigzag chains, ensures the entanglement of the structure. These chains, in turn, are further assembled into a 2D network through N-H...O hydrogen bonding. Thermal analyses underline the high thermal stability of our com…

Profiling in Algorithm-Based Decisions: An African Perspective

2023

The chapter explores the experience of algorithm-based decisions in Africa, and how non-African players are using artificial intelligence to enhance their presence in Africa. The chapter then looks at how some of the legal systems of Africa are adapting to deal with this phenomenon in the related jurisdictions.

Flexibility of grid interactive water heaters: The situation in the US

2023

Among different solutions to increase flexibility of electricity system, grid interactive water heaters (GIWHs) can make a large contribution, against a relatively low cost. They can advantageously be used within a single building, a local energy community or within an entire distribution grid, thanks to the very fast response time, low cost, highly distributed resource and widely demonstrated technology. In the near future, the flexibility potential of GIWHs will certainly increase, thanks to the advantageous flexibility programs that have been implementing in some area of the world, with the aim of coordinating several million of GIWHs with the electricity network. In this study, we asses…

Improving efficiency and discharge power of acid-base flow battery via a bi-objective optimisation

2023

Correlation between body size and longevity : New analysis and data covering six taxonomic classes of vertebrates

2023

Large bodied species are known to live longer than small bodied species. However, it is less clear whether the positive correlation varies across taxa. In this short communication, we combine data entries from literature and databases on body mass and maximum life span for 3722 species covering taxonomic Classes Chondrichthyes, Teleostei, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves, and Mammalia. We then analyse the log(maximum life span) – log(body mass) relationship using generalized linear model with nested random intercepts and slopes for Class/Order/Family. Our analyses generally demonstrate the positive longevity – body mass relationship but also reveal that slopes and intercepts differ slightly among a…

From entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems to the social economy ecosystem

2023

Despite the broad academic and political interest aroused by the ecosystem concept, little scientific attention has been paid to its social dimension and especially to the social economy enterprises ecosystems. This paper aims to conceptualize the latter by establishing its defining features and its goals, and to provide empirical evidence from two worldwide known social economy ecosystems, one in the Valencia region of Spain and the other in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. The results show that the balance between the economic objectives and the creation of social value and social innovation, collective social entrepreneurship and specific institutional components are key features of s…

A comprehensive assessment of energy efficiency of wastewater treatment plants: An efficiency analysis tree approach

2023

Producción Científica

African Law(s)

2023

The book presents a critical rethinking of the study of law in Africa from a comparative law perspective and proposes a new approach on how to consider law in Africa. It highlights the inadequacies of current Western theoretical perspectives in comparative law, especially for studying African law, arguing that they are too eurocentric to fully catch the peculiarities and characteristics of the African “lawscape”. The common thread of the present work is that of consider law in Africa from a different perspective. The aim of the proposed approach is to demonstrate that the African legal culture can be considered at the same level of the Western one, so that – being deeply rooted in the cultu…

Achievement emotions and arithmetic fluency : Development and parallel processes during the early school years

2023

This study investigated the developmental trajectories and interrelationships of mathematics-related achieve-ment emotions and arithmetic fluency from first to third grade, and the effects of these on third grade mathe-matics performance. Participants were 232 Norwegian students. Students' emotions and arithmetic fluency were measured four times and mathematics performance once. Applying latent growth curve modeling, developmental patterns of decreasing enjoyment and increasing boredom were observed over time. The mean level of enjoyment remained fairly high, and of both boredom and anxiety quite low. Individual differences were observed in both the initial levels and development of all emo…

In-flight recoil separators RITU and MARA and the standard detector setups

2023

In-flight recoil separators RITU and MARA at Jyväskylä Accelerator Laboratory are complementary devices to separate the fusion-evaporation residues from the primary beam and other reaction products. The nuclear-structure-research program at Jyväskylä utilizes these separators and the detector setups shared between the separators to identify weak reaction channels and extract nuclear-structure information via decay experiments and in-beam spectroscopic studies. For example the very weak N∼Z nuclei are studied in-beam by using 𝛽-decay tagging method (Tuike scintillator) enhanced with the mass selection (MARA) and charge particle-evaporation veto (JYTube). peerReviewed

An innovative Superconducting Recoil Separator for HIE-ISOLDE

2023

International audience; The ISOLDE Scientific Infrastructure at CERN offers a unique range of post-accelerated radioactive beams. The scientific program can be improved with the “Isolde Superconducting Recoil Separator” (ISRS), an innovative spectrometer able to deliver unprecedented (A, Z) resolution. In this paper we present an overview of the physics and ongoing technical developments.

Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy is Associated With Diabetic Kidney Disease and Cardiovascular Disease:The Silesia Diabetes-Heart Project

2023

Microvascular complications of diabetes seem to be clustered and put patients at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). This was a questionnaire-based study designed to screen for the presence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), defined as the score in the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) above 2, and to evaluate its association with other complication of diabetes, including CVD. There were 184 patients included into the study. The prevalence of DPN in the study group was 37.5%. The regression model analysis revealed that the presence of DPN was significantly associated with the presence of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) (P = 0.0034;) and patient's age (P…

Menopausal symptoms and cardiometabolic risk factors in middle-aged women : A cross-sectional and longitudinal study with 4-year follow-up

2023

Objective To study associations of menopausal symptoms with cardiometabolic risk factors. Study design A cross-sectional and longitudinal study of a representative population sample of 1393 women aged 47–55 years with a sub-sample of 298 followed for four years. The numbers of vasomotor, psychological, somatic or pain, and urogenital menopausal symptoms were ascertained at baseline through self-report. Their associations with cardiometabolic risk factors were studied using linear regression and linear mixed-effect models. Models were adjusted for age, menopausal status, body mass index, the use of hormonal preparations, education, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Main outcome measures Card…

Diagnostic Role of Combined Electrocochleography and Pure-Tone Audiometry Monitoring During Dehydrating Test in Ménière's Disease: A Case Series

2023

Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic role of combined electrocochleography and pure-tone audiometry monitoring during dehydrating test in Ménière's disease and consider its suitability as a diagnostic tool to differentiate those patients with unclear differential diagnosis and therefore identify those with clear endolymphatic hydrops responsive to dehydrating test. To study the efficacy of dehydrating therapy on vertiginous symptoms and hearing loss in patients with Ménière's disease. Study design: Prospective case series. Settings: University hospital, secondary referral center. Patients: Thirty patients, 20 women and 10 men, age range of 25 to 75 years, matching the criteria for definit…

Paediatric solid oral dosage forms for combination products: Improving in vitro swallowability of minitablets using binary mixtures with pellets

2023

There is a growing interest in determining and improving the acceptability of solid oral dosage forms (SODF) in paediatric populations. Combination products can be an interesting solution to combine two active pharmaceutical ingredients. This study shows that binary mixture of paediatric SODF could enhance formulation swallowability and palatability. Using the Paediatric Soft Robotic Tongue (PSRT) – an in vitro device inspired by the anatomy and physiology of 2-year-old children – we investigated the oral phase of swallowing of multi-particulate formulations, i.e., pellets (350 and 700 µm particles), minitablets (MTs, 1.8 mm), and their binary mixtures (BM), by measuring the oral swallowing…

Dried-fruit shell reuse in green construction and building materials

2023

Bio-architecture is a new way of designing and building in line with the European Green Deal and in light of the circular economy principles. This new green approach is guiding the entire construction life cycle toward eco-sustainability and environmental friendliness, from the beginning to the end of the building process. In addition to the use of environmentally-friendly and high-performance building and construction materials, it is necessary to use new technologies that can reduce the environmental footprint. This paper aims to examine the possible reuse of biological wastes of agricultural origin of the Mediterranean basin, whose massive production generates a number of problems for th…

Pattern Recovery in Penalized and Thresholded Estimation and its Geometry

2023

We consider the framework of penalized estimation where the penalty term is given by a real-valued polyhedral gauge, which encompasses methods such as LASSO (and many variants thereof such as the generalized LASSO), SLOPE, OSCAR, PACS and others. Each of these estimators can uncover a different structure or ``pattern'' of the unknown parameter vector. We define a general notion of patterns based on subdifferentials and formalize an approach to measure their complexity. For pattern recovery, we provide a minimal condition for a particular pattern to be detected by the procedure with positive probability, the so-called accessibility condition. Using our approach, we also introduce the stronge…

Facile preparation of CuBi2O4/TiO2 hetero-systems employed for simulated solar-light selective oxidation of 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol model compound

2023

The selective photocatalytic oxidation of organic substances is today considered one of the green techniques to synthesize important starting materials in different technological applications. This work reports an efficient, simple and cheap strategy for the synthesis of a new photocatalytic CuBi2O4-TiO2 (CBO/TiO2) heterosystem at room temperature. The prepared powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and electrochemical measurements. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by performing a probe reaction, namely the partial oxidation of 4-me…

Konstantīna Čakstes piemiņas plāksnes atklāšanas fotogrāfija

2023

Rakstā tiek skaidrota LU prof. Konstantīna Čakstes piemiņas tradīcijas uzsākšana LU, skaidrojot tā cēloņus (K. Čakstes kapavietas atklāšana), norisi (K. Čakstes piemiņas plāksnes atklāšana) un sekas (K. Čakstes piemiņas kopšana un tā labums LU Muzejam kā pētnieciskai atmiņu institūcija). Par raksta pamatu izvēlēta vēsturiska fotogrāfija, kurā attēlota K. Čakstes piemiņas plāksnes atklāšana, taču izmantots arī citu avotu un literatūras klāsts raksta sagatavošanā. Raksts sagatavots Latvijas valsts un LU 105 gadu jubileju ietvaros, kas mijas kopā ar pašreizējo starptautisko spriedzi - Krievijas-Ukrainas kara eskalāciju.

Les vulnérabilités étudiantes : quels effets sur les parcours ?

2023

Les vulnérabilités étudiantes sont cumulatives et multidimensionnelles. Elles ont un effet négatif sur les parcours d’études et la réussite au diplôme des étudiants concernés.

Combining QED and QCD transverse-momentum resummation for W and Z boson production at hadron colliders

2023

In this article, we consider the transverse momentum ($q_T$) distribution of $W$ and $Z$ bosons produced in hadronic collisions. We combine the $q_T$ resummation for QED and QCD radiation including the QED soft emissions from the $W$ boson in the final state. In particular, we perform the resummation of enhanced logarithmic contributions due to soft and collinear emissions at next-to-leading accuracy in QED, leading-order accuracy for mixed QED-QCD and next-to-next-to-leading accuracy in QCD. In the small-$q_T$ region we consistently include in our results the next-to-next-to-leading order (i.e.\ two loops) QCD corrections and the next-to-leading order (i.e.\ one loop) electroweak correctio…

Uterine cervical stenosis: from classification to advances in management. Overcoming the obstacles to access the uterine cavity

2023

Background: To date hysteroscopy is the gold standard technique for the evaluation and management of intrauterine pathologies. The cervical canal represents the access route to the uterine cavity. The presence of cervical stenosis often makes entry into the uterine cavity difficult and occasionally impossible. Cervical stenosis has a multifactorial etiology. It is the result of adhesion processes that can lead to the narrowing or total obliteration of the cervical canal. Purpose: In this review, we summarize the scientific evidence about cervical stenosis, aiming to identify the best strategy to overcome this challenging condition. Methods: The literature review followed the scale for the q…