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This study addresses the global shift towards renewable energy due to the increasing demand driven by socioeconomic development. With finite fossil energy sources, there's a growing interest in oceanic renewable energy, estimated at 76 million MW. The Amazon, with its significant potential, particularly from predictable tidal currents in estuaries, stands out. The Inner Continental Shelf of Amapá, influenced by factors like water discharge (5,7 × 1012 m3.year− 1) and trade winds (speed: 5–10 m.s− 1) as well as Meso and Macrotidal, is a notable region. The paper focuses on hydrodynamic simulations considering different tidal scenarios and aims to assess the energy potential of tidal currents. Using the SisBaHiA two-dimensional hydrodynamic model, the study evaluates power density in key areas. The spring-neap cycle simulations identify promising zones in the Varador channel—upper section (tidal current velocity of 1,53 m.s− 1– 1.835 W.m− 2) and lower section (tidal current velocity of 1,12 m.s− 1 – 720,03 W.m-2). Notably, the upper Varador channel near the Inferno ¨igarapé¨ (Maraca Island) exhibits greater energy density, highlighting its potential in both spring and neap cycles. This research contributes valuable insights into the renewable energy potential of tidal currents in the Amapá region, supporting sustainable energy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses density functional theory calculations to study the impact of pressure on the structural, elastic, and thermodynamic properties of CaRh2P2 and BaRh2P2 compounds. The equilibrium structural parameters closely match the experimental values. CaRh2P2 shows a greater reduction in lattice parameter "a" under pressure, while BaRh2P2 shows the opposite trend. The single-crystal elastic constants calculated for both compounds meet the criteria for mechanical stability under varying pressures up to 18 GPa. The study extends to polycrystalline elastic properties, including bulk modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, and related properties, under pressures up to 18 GPa. The Pugh ratio, Cauchy pressure, and Poisson's ratio indicate the ductile behavior of the title compounds. BaRh2P2 exhibits superconducting characteristics, unlike CaRh2P2, confirmed by interlayer PP bond length calculations. Debye's quasi-harmonic model explores the temperature dependencies of various properties, with results that align well with elastic constant data, thus validating the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sepsis is a leading cause of death and serious illness that requires early recognition and therapeutic management to improve survival. The quick-SOFA score helps in its recognition, but its diagnostic performance is insufficient. To develop a score that can rapidly identify a community acquired septic situation at risk of clinical complications in patients consulting the emergency department (ED). Methods: We conducted a monocentric, prospective cohort study in the emergency department of a university hospital between March 2016 and August 2018 (NCT03280992). All patients admitted to the emergency department for a suspicion of a community-acquired infection were included. Predictor variables of progression to septic shock or death within the first 90 days were selected using backward stepwise multivariable logistic regression to develop a clinical score. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to determine the discriminating power of the area under the curve (AUC). We also determined the threshold of our score that optimized the performance required for a sepsis-worsening score. We have compared our score with the NEWS-2 and qSOFA scores. Results: Among the 21,826 patients admitted to the ED, 796 patients were suspected of having community-acquired infection and 461 met the sepsis criteria; therefore, these patients were included in the analysis. The median [interquartile range] age was 72 [54–84] years, 248 (54%) were males, and 244 (53%) had respiratory symptoms. The clinical score ranged from 0 to 90 and included 8 variables with an area under the ROC curve of 0.85 (confidence interval [CI] 95% 0.81–0.89). A cut-off of 26 yields a sensitivity of 88% (CI 95% 0.79–0.93), a specificity of 62% (CI 95% 57–67), and a negative predictive value of 95% (CI 95% 91–97). The area under the ROC curve for our score was 0.85 (95% CI, 0.81–0.89) versus 0.73 (95% CI, 0.68–0.78) for qSOFA and 0.66 (95% CI, 0.60–0.72) for NEWS-2. Conclusions: Our study provides an accurate clinical score for identifying septic patients consulting the ED early at risk of worsening disease. This score could be implemented at admission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of 4-hydroxy-6-methyl-3-(1-(4-(aryl/methyl)thiazol-2-yl)-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-2H-pyran-2-ones 3a–h have been synthesized from aryl/methyl halomethylketones and a key pyrazole intermediate 1 using a convenient one-pot synthesis method. All compounds were characterized by NMR and MS, and the structure of three of them (3a, 3b and 3f) was resolved by X-ray diffraction. These heteroatom-rich thiazole compounds were then evaluated as inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis InhA, a key enzyme involved in the type II fatty acid biosynthesis pathway of the mycobacterium. Although inhibitory activities were found to be rather weak, molecular docking studies were also been carried out to understand a possible mode of interaction with key residues in the enzyme's active site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current work investigated the interaction of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) with glycine, tyrosine, methionine and phenylalanine. (ZnO)12 cage-like cluster was modeled using the density functional theory to determine the adsorption energy, the preferred sites for adsorption of amino acids, and the electronic structure of the formed complexes. The findings suggest that pure amino acids interact with (ZnO)12 via a chemisorption process. The thermodynamic parameters computed showed that the complexation is an exothermic process and enthalpy-driven. The oxygen atoms in the carboxyl groups of the four studied amino acids are involved in the adsorption process. PHE_Zn12O12 exhibits the highest adsorption energy (− 207.50 kJ/mol) due to its interaction with the Zn12O12 nanocluster through two different adsorption sites. The electronic and sensing properties were examined by analyzing the HOMO and LUMO energies and the HOMO–LUMO energy gap (|ΔEg|). The sensitivity of Zn12O12 nanocluster toward the studied amino acids was examined by comparing the percentage variation of the gap after the adsorption, which can reach the value of 38%, suggesting the potential of Zn12O12 nanocluster as a promising sensor for the detection of amino acids. Interaction region indicator (IRI) analysis was performed for a visual understanding of the different interactions occurring between the amino acids and the Zn12O12 nanocluster. The results of this study can shed some light on the possible application of ZnO-based nanobiosensors for detecting protein tyrosine/tryptophan nitration as an early symptom of several serious chronic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explores the challenges EFL teachers are facing in ESP teaching contexts. The methodology consists of a review of fifty-five (55) studies. Based on the findings, we argue that the way ESP teachers are recruited and trained without regarding the excessive expectations they must meet, renders their mission quite impossible. This situation undermines the quality of students’ learning as well as the career and the well-being of ESP teachers. Nonetheless, EFL teachers can initiate changes to restructure their ESP work environment in order to make their mission more feasible and conducive to better students and teachers’ experiences and satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feature Selection (FS) for Sentiment Analysis (SA) becomes a complex problem because of the large-sized learning datasets. However, to reduce the data dimensionality, researchers have focused on FS using swarm intelligence approaches that reflect the best classification performance. Crocodiles Hunting Strategy (CHS), a novel swarm-based meta-heuristic that simulates the crocodiles' hunting behaviour, has demonstrated excellent optimization results. Hence, in this work, two FS algorithms, i.e., Binary CHS (BCHS) and Improved BCHS (IBCHS) based on original CHS were applied for FS in the SA field. In IBCHS, the opposition-based learning technique is applied in the initialization and displacement phases to enhance the search space exploration ability of the IBCHS. The two proposed approaches were evaluated using six well-known corpora in the SA area (Semeval-2016, Semeval-2017, Sanders, Stanford, PMD, and MRD). The obtained result showed that IBCHS outperformed BCHS regarding search capability and convergence speed. The comparison results of IBCHS to several recent state-of-the-art approaches show that IBCHS surpassed other approaches in almost all used corpora. The comprehensive results reveal that the use of OBL in BCHS greatly impacts the performance of BCHS by enhancing the diversity of the population and the exploitation ability, which improves the convergence of the IBCHS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The textile industry produces persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that pose significant risks to ecosystems because of their toxic and hazardous nature. Consequently, there is an urgent requirement for the development of effective techniques to treat the effluents and remove these compounds. This work studied the viability of the Electro-Fenton (EF) process as a potential alternative for treating textile wastewater contaminated with POPs. A batch electrochemical reactor, equipped with a platinum grid cathode and stainless-steel sacrificial anode, was utilized to eliminate Red Bemacid (RB) dye. The study investigated the impact of four key operational parameters: (i) stirring speed (rpm), (ii) oxygen flow rate (L/min), (iii) supporting electrolyte concentration [Na2SO4] (mg/L), and (iv) current intensity (A), as well as their interactions on RB removal. To perform this, Central Composite Experimental Design (CCD) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) were employed. Under optimized EF conditions for RB removal (stirring speed = 205.09 rpm, oxygen flow rate = 0.20 L/min, current intensity = 0.306 A, and supporting electrolyte concentration = 0.09 M), the EF process demonstrated exceptional removal efficiency, achieving approximately 94.51% removal of RB. The obtained results showed that the kinetic data of RB removal were in good agreement with the Behnajady- Modirshahla-Ghanbery (BMG) model. The CCD analysis revealed that the main effect of the current intensity had a significant impact on RB removal, as well as the interaction of all paired variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thin-layer olive pomace vacuum drying behavior was experimentally investigated for 3 gauge pressures; -130, -200, -250 mbar, and for various sample thicknesses 5, 10 and 15 mm. Nine thin layer mathematical models were used to fit olive cake vacuum drying. Olive pomace vacuum drying took place in the falling rate period at all pressures and for all thicknesses, no constant rate period was observed. Among the selected models, the Diffusion Approach was found to be the most appropriate model better describing the olive pomace drying behavior. The drying rate is correlated to the depression under the thin layer and its thickness. ANOVA-Pareto variance analysis showed the predominance of gauge pressure over layer thickness on drying time and drying rate. The diffusivity coefficient increased linearly over the depression range, from 3.37657E-09 to 4.03063E-06 m²/s, as obtained using Fick's second law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to the difficulty of system modeling, every physical system faces actuator saturation, making the real control different from the controller output (desired control input). When this occurs, the controller output does not regulate the system properly and errors occur as a result of incorrect updating. This is known as the windup phenomenon. In the event that the controller is configured to override actuator saturation, it can lead to a failure in the controller's performance, such as large overshoots, high response time, and even system instability in the worst case. Therefore, in this paper, a new robust model-free controller method is proposed. It is a combination of four nonlinear control techniques, namely model-free controller, fractional-order sliding mode controller, fractional integral–proportional (PI) controller, and anti-windup compensator, which gives rise to the new model-free controller algorithm called hybrid fractional-order intelligent PI fractional sliding mode controller with an anti-windup compensator termed (MF-FOiPI-FOSMC-AW). However, to illustrate the effectiveness of the new proposed MF-FOiPI-FOSMC-AW method, simulation and experimental results compared to classical PI and iPI controllers (with and without an anti-windup compensator) on a hydraulic system are presented in the presence or absence of external disturbances for different types of references. Finally, simulation is conducted through an experimental comparison of the proposed approach with other strategies such as the classical anti-windup PI controller and the anti-windup intelligent PI controller, which is carried out for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ionic liquids (ILs) are a class of compounds with unique properties that make them highly valuable in various industrial and chemical processes, but their toxicity poses significant challenges for widespread use. This study investigates the prediction of the toxicity of ILs through quantitative structure–toxicity relationship (QSTR) modeling using a support vector machine (SVM) model enhanced with various optimization algorithms. A dataset comprising 304 ILs with toxicity measured in the leukemia rat cell line (IPC-81) and an additional 14 external validation points was employed. The model uses 13 molecular descriptors. Three optimization algorithms were constructed and evaluated: dragonfly algorithm (DA), moth–flame optimization (MFO), and gray wolf optimizer (GWO). Among them, the DA-optimized SVM model demonstrated superior predictive performance with a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.9871, a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.9742, a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.1787, and a mean squared error (MSE) of 0.0625. Additionally, the arithmetic residuals in K-groups analysis (ARKA) method was applied to reduce the dimensionality of the dataset and identify activity cliffs, areas where small changes in molecular structure result in significant shifts in toxicity. However, the DA-SVM model using the original 13 descriptors provided superior predictive accuracy compared to the ARKA-based model. The high predictive accuracy of the DA-optimized SVM model underscores its potential as a robust tool for QSTR modeling and for assessing the toxicity of ionic liquids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: 2D Ruddlesden‐Popper (RP) perovskites (R‐NH3)2An−1BnX3n+1 with tailorable photovoltaic features of low toxicity, reduced dimensionality, and defect tolerance hold promise to overcome the main constraints of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). A systematic investigation of the structural and electronic properties of pure and mixed (R‐NH3)2Pb1−xGexI4 systems was performed with and without spin‐orbit coupling (SOC), by using density functional theory (DFT). The organic spacer cations (R‐NH3+)2 of methylammonium (MA‐CH3NH3+) and Phenylethyl ammonium (PEA‐C6H5[CH2]2NH3+) with x = 0.0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0, resulted in the compositionally modified 32‐permutations by systematically substituting the inorganic cations. Short‐range ordering has categorized all studied compositions of (R‐NH3)2Pb0.50Ge0.50I4 into column and battenberg schemes depending on the Ge defect site. The competing effects of octahedral tilting and lattice distortion with bandgap bowing and SOC, across Pb‐Ge compositional systems, provide a systematic strategy to tune bandgaps. By controlling the cations' composition, these mixed 2D‐perovskites outlined the strategy to achieve the desired bandgap and band positions. A rational design approach of low dimensional perovskites was adopted to tune the electronic properties through the spacer and inorganic cation engineering. Our findings expose the scope of monolayer‐based systems as an ideal choice of absorber for the bottom sub‐cell in all‐perovskites 2D‐3D tandem solar cell, harvesting light from visible (2.4 eV) up to infrared (1.2 eV) in the solar spectrum with features of defect tolerance, quantum and dielectric confinement, low bandgap, low effective masses, and high mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A growing body of evidence reports that agitation and encephalopathy are frequent in critically ill Covid-19 patients. We aimed to assess agitation's incidence and risk factors in critically ill ARDS patients with Covid-19. For that purpose, we compared SARS-CoV-2 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients with a population of influenza ARDS patients, given that the influenza virus is also known for its neurotropism and ability to induce encephalopathy. Methods: We included all the patients with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 infection and ARDS admitted to our medical intensive care unit (ICU) between March 10th, 2020 and April 16th, 2021, and all the patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza infection and ARDS admitted to our ICU between April 10th, 2006 and February 8th, 2020. Clinical and biological data were prospectively collected and retrospectively analyzed. We also recorded previously known factors associated with agitation (ICU length of stay, length of invasive ventilation, SOFA score and SAPS II at admission, sedative and opioids consumption, time to defecation). Agitation was defined as a day with Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale greater than 0 after exclusion of other causes of delirium and pain. We compared the prevalence of agitation among Covid-19 patients during their ICU stay and in those with influenza patients. Results: We included 241 patients (median age 62 years [53–70], 158 males (65.5%)), including 146 patients with Covid-19 and 95 patients with Influenza. One hundred eleven (46.1%) patients had agitation during their ICU stay. Patients with Covid-19 had significantly more agitation than patients with influenza (respectively 80 patients (54.8%) and 31 patients (32.6%), p < 0.01). After matching with a propensity score, Covid-19 patients remained more agitated than influenza patients (49 (51.6% vs 32 (33.7%), p = 0.006). Agitation remained independently associated with mortality after adjustment for other factors (HR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.37–2.49, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Agitation in ARDS Covid-19 patients was more frequent than in ARDS influenza patients and was not associated with common risk factors, such as severity of illness or sedation. Systemic hyperinflammation might be responsible for these neurological manifestations, but there is no specific management to our knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the existence and multiplicity of ρ-concave positive solutions for a p-Laplacian boundary value problem of two-sided fractional differential equations involving generalized-Caputo fractional derivatives. Using Guo–Krasnoselskii fixed point theorem and under some additional assumptions, we prove some important results and obtain the existence of at least three solutions. To establish the results, Green functions are used to transform the considered two-sided generalized Katugampola and Caputo fractional derivatives. Finally, applications with illustrative examples are presented to show the validity and correctness of the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, dissimilar tungsten inert gas welding of AA6061-T6 to AA5086-H32 has been conducted using pulsed and alternating welding current. Microstructure examination revealed that the extent of the heat-affected zone in pulsed weld joint is narrower than the one obtained by alternating current. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy analysis showed that, regardless the welding process, both alloys contained Fe-rich intermetallic precipitates in base metal and heat-affected zone. Besides, only β-phase is detected in 6061, while Al3Mg2 was found in 5086 alloy. The electrochemical behavior of each zone of the weldments is evaluated in ASTMG69 media according to two setups where the open circuit potential is affected; a second setup is used to check the results. The polarization curves of base metal and heat-affected zone of both alloys overlap each other, and the entire curves exhibit a cathodic plateau with constant current density, while the lowest resistance polarization was obtained in weld zone of both assemblies. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy micrographs of the exposed surface suggest that all welding regions suffer from localized corrosion where the intermetallic precipitates act as nucleation sites for corrosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores artificial intelligent training schemes based on multilayer perceptron, considering back propagation and genetic algorithm (GA). The hybrid scheme is compared with the traditional support vector machine approach in the literature to analyze both fault and normal scenarios of a centrifugal pump. A comparative analysis of the performance of the variables was carried out using both schemes. The study used features extracted for three decomposition levels based on wavelet packet transform. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the extracted features, two mother wavelets were investigated. The salient part of this work is the optimization of the hidden layers numbers using GA. Furthermore, this optimization process was extended to the multilayer perceptron neurons. The evaluation of the model system performance used for the study shows better response of the extracted features, and hidden layers variables including the selected neurons. Moreover, the applied training algorithm used in the work was able to enhance the classifications obtained considering the hybrid artificial intelligent scheme been proposed. This work has achieved a number of contributions like GA‐based selection of hidden layers and neuron, applied in neural network of centrifugal pump condition classification. Furthermore, a hybrid training method combining GA and back propagation (BP) algorithms has been applied for condition classification of a centrifugal pump. The obtained results have shown the good ability of the proposed methods and algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-COVID syndrome (PCS) is a poorly known entity. An underlying chronic, low-grade inflammation (LGI) has been theorized as a pathophysiological mechanism. Available data on biomarkers in PCS show conflicting results. Our aim was to know whether subjects with PCS present higher levels of inflammatory markers, after a mild COVID-19. Analytical cross-sectional study. Cases of mild COVID-19 in a community setting were included. We collected epidemiological data (age, sex, BMI, smoking, comorbidities), variables of the acute COVID-19 (duration, symptoms), and data at 3 months after the acute phase (symptoms and laboratory test). Serum C-reactive protein (CRP), neutrophil and lymphocyte counts, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lactate dehydrogenase, ferritin, fibrinogen, and D-dimer levels were analysed. LGI was defined as CRP >0.3 and <1.0 mg/dL. A subject was classified as PCS + if presented signs and symptoms >12 weeks after an infection consistent with COVID-19. Five composite indices (C1–C5) were developed, combining the upper ranges of biomarkers distributions. Multivariate analyses were performed. We analysed 121 mild COVID-19 cases (mean age = 45.7 years, 56.2% women). Among the acute symptoms, women presented a higher frequency of fatigue (54.4% vs 30.2%; p =.008). PCS affected 35.8% of women and 20.8% of men (p =.07), and the most reported symptoms were fatigue (42.8%), anosmia (40%), ageusia (22.8%), dyspnea (17.1%) and myalgia (11.4%). Neutrophil count, NLR, CRP and fibrinogen showed the best correlations with PCS and were selected to develop the indices. In women PCS+, C1, C3 and C4 indices were more frequently met, while in men PCS+, C2, C5 and CRP were in the range of LGI. Anosmia, ageusia and fatigue were related to higher neutrophil counts, with sex differences. Fibrinogen levels were higher in persistent myalgia (510 ± 82 mg/dL vs 394 ± 87; p =.013). In multivariable analysis, a woman with a neutrophil count above the median, or with fibrinogen level or NLR in the highest tertile, had a 4–5-fold increased risk of prevalent PCS. A man with CRP in the range of LGI, or fibrinogen level or a neutrophil count in the highest tertile, had a 10–17-fold increased risk of prevalent PCS. The data obtained in the present cross-sectional study seems to demonstrate a consistent association between PCS and upper ranges of the neutrophil count, NLR, fibrinogen, and CRP in the LGI range. Furthermore, composite indices appear useful in detecting relationships between slight elevations of biomarkers and PCS, and our study identifies relevant sex differences in symptoms and markers regarding the PCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background : le rituximab est un anticorps monoclonal anti-CD20 pouvant induire une neutropénie retardée ; phénomène largement décrit lors de son utilisation au cours d'hémopathies malignes, bien moins dans les maladies auto-immunes, notamment au cours d'une hémophilie acquise (HAA). Objectifs : l'objectif principal de cette étude était de décrire la prévalence et les paramètres cliniques des neutropénies retardées au rituximab dans une cohorte de patients atteints d'hémophilie A acquise (HAA) et de la comparer à une cohorte de patients atteints de maladies auto-immunes. Nous avons conduit une étude observationnelle rétrospective bicentrique, portant sur une population de patients atteints d'HAA (n = 118) hospitalisés dans des services de médecine interne et immunologie clinique, à partir de leur base de données informatique sur une période de 2011 à 2022. Vingt-trois patients (19,5 %) atteints d'HAA ont présenté une neutropénie retardée dont 20 patients (87 %) d'entre eux ayant été traités par rituximab et 3 patients (13 %) par cyclophosphamide. La prévalence de neutropénie retardée était significativement plus élevée chez les patients ayant reçu un traitement par rituximab (73,9 %) par rapport à un autre traitement (26,1 %, p < 0,001). Le délai médian d'apparition de la neutropénie était de 55 jours (IQR : 44,0–70,0) après la première administration du traitement. La durée médiane de l'épisode était de 6 jours (IQR : 5,0–6,5). Pour 14 d'entre eux (60,9 %), l'épisode de neutropénie s'est compliqué d'une infection. Il était retrouvé une différence statistiquement significative concernant le taux de FVIII au diagnostic, plus faible chez les patients ayant présenté une neutropénie retardée (1,9 % FVIII [0,5–4] versus 4,0 [0,5–7] p = 0,088), ainsi qu'une différence statistiquement significative concernant le titre médian d'anticorps dirigés contre le FVIII au diagnostic, plus élevé chez les patients ayant présenté une neutropénie (25 UB/mL [8–94] et 8,25 UB/mL [3,7–21] respectivement, p = 0,008). Dans la cohorte de patients atteints de maladies auto-immunes, trois patients (6,1 %) ont présenté une neutropénie retardée après administration de rituximab. La cohorte de patients atteints d'HAA était significativement plus âgée (p < 0,001) avec une prédominance d'hommes (p = 0,035) comparativement à la cohorte de patients atteints de maladies auto-immunes. Les patients atteints d'HAA ont présenté plus de neutropénie retardée au rituximab que la cohorte de patients atteints de maladies auto-immunes. Ils présentaient un taux de FVIII au diagnostic plus bas et un titre d'anticorps anti-FVIII plus élevé. Les infections au cours des épisodes de neutropénie ne sont pas rare, ce qui pourrait conduire le clinicien à plus de prudence dans le recours au rituximab dans cette population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional butter is widely used in pastoral populations in Algeria, thanks to its nutritional value. Several studies have investigated traditional butter produced in Algeria, our study is a contribution to its improvement and valorisation through the phenotypic identification and characterization of lactic acid bacteria responsible for the fermentation of this product. The samples were collected in the regions of Relizane, Oran, Sidi Bel-Abbes and Tindouf. Physicochemical tests make it possible to specify the quality of traditional butter; the pH is 4.5 ± 0.02 to 5.31 ± 0.2, the fat content is 73 ± 0.2 to 83 ± 0.1%, the acid index is 28.05 ± 0.2 to 44.88 ± 0.2 mg KOH.g-1 and the saponification index is 131.85 ± 0.2 to 359.10 ± 0.2 mg KOHg.-1. The microbiological analysis results show that the lactic microflora isolated from butter consists mainly of different genera; Lactobacillus 49%, Lactococcus 20%, Leuconostoc 15%, Enterococcus 11% and Pediococcus 5%. Species identification is based on classical phenotypic characterization; Lb. plantarum 7 isolates (26%), Lb. casei subsp. casei 6 isolates (22%), Lb. casei subsp. rhamnosus and Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus 5 isolates (19%), Lb. delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii 4 isolates (14%), Lc. lactis subsp. cremoris 6 isolates (55%), Lc. lactis subsp. lactis 5 isolates (45%), Ln. mesenteroides subsp. dextranicum 5 isolates (62%), Ln. mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides 3 isolates (38%), E. faecalis 4 isolates (67%), E. faecium 2 isolates (33%), P. acidilactici3 isolates (100%). They have considerable biotechnological characteristics which allow the constitution of specific starters in the manufacture of Algerian traditional butter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this work is to propose a new method based on the ANFIS system and PSO algorithm to conceive a model for estimating the solubility of solid drugs in supercritical CO2 (sc-CO2). The high nonlinear process was modeled by the neuro-fuzzy approach (NFS). The PSO algorithm was used for two purposes: replacing the standard backpropagation in training the NFS and optimizing the process. The validation strategy has been carried out using a linear regression analysis of the predicted versus experimental outputs. The ANFIS approach is compared to the ANN in terms of accuracy. Statistical analysis of the predictability of the optimized model trained with a PSO algorithm (ANFIS-PSO) shows a better agreement with the reference data than the ANN method. Furthermore, the comparison in terms of the AARD deviation (%) between the predicted results, the results predicted by the density-based models, and a set of equations of state demonstrates that the ANFIS-PSO model correlates far better with the solubility of the solid drugs in scCO2. A control strategy was also developed for the first time in the field of phase equilibrium by using the neuro-fuzzy inverse approach (ANFISi) to estimate pure component properties from the solubility data without passing through the GCM methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a proposed system of fractional boundary value problems is investigated concerning its unbounded solutions' existence for a class of nonlinear fractional q-difference equations in the context of the Riemann–Liouville fractional q-derivative on an infinite interval. The system's solution is formulated with the help of Green's function. A compactness criterion is established in a special space. All the obtained results of uniqueness and existence are investigated with the help of fixed-point theorems. Some essential examples are illustrated to support our main outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Real time PCR is increasingly used for the diagnosis of invasive bacterial infections • Real time PCR was implemented in three North African countries for surveillance • Quality assurance schemes were also implemented • The results suggest the predominance of Neisseria meningitidis group B We implemented a project named MENINGSTOP in three countries of North Africa (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia). The main objective was to use real-time PCR to detect, identify and type the three main agents (Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae) responsible for invasive bacterial infections (IBI). The protocol of WHO and US CDC for real-time PCR was used to detect and type the three bacterial agents in clinical samples. We also designated two quality exercises using an external interlaboratory study and cross-testing of 10% of randomly selected samples. Among the 752 samples tested, 18% were positive for one of the three agents. N. meningitidis was the most frequent globally reaching 9% of all samples (7% to 17% range) followed by S. pneumoniae 8% of all samples (6% to 15%). Group B meningococci was the most frequent (74% of all positive samples for meningococci and ranging from 50% to 90%). Quality assurance showed >85% correlation scores. Real-time PCR can help improving epidemiological surveillance. Data confirm the prevalence of meningococci B. Our project adds a reliable tool to enhance surveillance and to help decision making in vaccination strategies against IBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine existence and uniqueness of solutions for nonlinear Langevin equation involving Riesz-Caputo fractional derivatives, with a class of anti-periodic boundary conditions. By applying a variety of fixed point theorems as Banach, Schaefer and Krasnoselskii fixed point theorems. Three examples are given to illustrate main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the implementation of selective harmonic elimination (SHE) in a five‐level inverter structure using artificial neural networks (ANNs). SHE is an effective low‐frequency modulation technique to eliminate selected harmonics and control multilevel converters. The use of ANN‐SHE requires the calculation of the optimum values of switching angles via the solving system of nonlinear equations for the total harmonic distortion (THD) reduction, where the nonlinear equations are founded by the complex Fourier series analysis of the inverter output voltage. The procured switching angle values are directly implemented by a multilayer perceptron (MLP) algorithm without a lookup table. The ANN model is obtained by training the neural network (NN), taking the modulation index (M) as an input and approximating switching angles as an output. A thorough analysis was carried out to show the programming steps of the proposed ANN‐based SHE using Matlab/Simulink environment. A realized inverter prototype steered by the proposed ANN‐based SHE was tested with various modulation indexes on a real‐time mode using a digital signal processor (DSP) C2000 Delfino–TMS320F28379D‐embedded board. A comparison between the simulation results and the experimental data is presented. The obtained results illustrate that the experimental results match the simulation closely, and the ANN model provides a fast and precise estimate of the switching angles for each value of the modulation index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Les syndromes hyperéosinophilies (SHE) sont définis par une hyperéosinophilie (HE) sanguine ≥ 1500/mm3 et/ou tissulaire d'évolution chronique (> 6 mois) associée à des dommages tissulaires (en rapport avec la toxicité des éosinophiles. Il s'agit d'une entité hétérogène qui comprend les SHE clonaux (néoplasiques), dont la leucémie chronique à éosinophiles, et les SHE réactionnels secondaires causés le plus souvent par une infection parasitaire ou une prise médicamenteuse, plus rarement par une maladie inflammatoire ou néoplasique, ou des SHE d'origine inexpliqués. Le pic de fréquence des SHE est entre 30 et 50 ans, toutefois elle peut survenir également chez les personnes âgées. La myocardite à éosinophiles constitue 40 % des SHE. Elle est considérée comme une « urgence éosinophilique », diagnostique et thérapeutique. Il s'agit d'une patiente âgée de 79 ans, qui a comme antécédents une Hypertension artérielle sous amlodipine, un diabète type 2 sous insuline, avec une dyslipidémie sous statines. Elle a été hospitalisée au service de dermatologie pour une toxidermie médicamenteuse type DRESS syndrome suite à la prise d'anti-inflammatoires stéroïdiens pour des gonalgies chroniques ; une hyperéosinophilie a été objectivée à 9313/mm3. La patiente a reçu un traitement symptomatique à base de Méthylprednisone en IV avec relais par du prednisone oral ; tous les médicaments ont été arrêtés avec bonne évolution clinique et régression de la cytolyse hépatique. L'exploration cardiaque est revenue sans anomalies. La Biopsie ostéomédullaire a objectivé 20 % d'infiltration à éosinophiles sans myéloprolifération. Devant la persistance de l'hyperéosinophilie sanguine (5600/mm3), la patiente a été hospitalisée au service de médecine interne et de gériatrie deux mois plus tard pour exploration étiologique de l'HE. Elle a présenté au cours de son hospitalisation des douleurs abdominales aiguës. L'électrocardiogramme (ECG) a montré un sus-décalage du segment ST avec une onde Q de nécrose. La coronarographie s'est révélée sans anomalies. L'Echographie transthroracique (ETT) a objectivé une hypokinésie globale, une fraction d'éjection (FE) du VG à 25 %, avec un aspect évoquant une myocardite à éosinophiles. La patiente est décédée 12 h après suite à un arrêt cardiaque brutal. La myocardite à éosinophiles constitue une urgence éosinophilique pouvant être fatale. D'où l'intérêt d'un diagnostic et d'un traitement rapides ; surtout chez la population gériatrique caractérisée par l'atypie clinique sémiologique, et la polypathologie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As described in a few case reports [[3], [7]], hvKp infections are most frequently responsible for invasive infections with multiorgan involvement complicated by septic shock. Contrast-enhanced brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed numerous round lesions suggestive of abscesses and ophthalmic lesions compatible with an endophthalmia (Fig. [Extracted from the article]

In this work, we consider a generalized quantum fractional Sturm–Liouville–Langevin difference problem with terminal boundary conditions. The relevant results rely on Mönch's fixed point theorem along with a theoretical method by terms of Kuratowski measure of noncompactness (MNC) and the Banach contraction principle (BCP). Furthermore, two dynamical notions of Ulam–Hyers (UH) and generalized Ulam–Hyers (GUH) stability are addressed for solutions of the supposed Sturm–Liouville–Langevin quantum boundary value problem (q-FBVP). Two examples are presented to show the validity and also the effectiveness of theoretical results. In the last part of the paper, we conclude our exposition with some final remarks and observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Phase change materials (PCMs) have been extensively used for thermal storage systems in buildings. To enhance the building's thermal and energy performance, PCMs can be embedded into envelope systems to reduce the cooling and heating demand. A PCM's melting temperature close to the thermal comfort range (20°C‐26°C) can potentially be an attractive solution. In this work, the thermal and energy performance of a building in Saharan climate, specifically Ghardaïa in Algeria, was modeled using the TRNSYS‐18 simulation package. A newly developed module (Type‐285) was compiled for this version to evaluate different PCMs integration approaches in building envelope. Integration techniques have been evaluated based on three performance indicators, namely, monthly and annual energy savings, mean air temperature, and the daily average temperature fluctuation. When considering the conventional PCMs integration within the building envelope, a reduction of 36.4% in annual energy consumption was achieved. The study indicated that when PCMs are carefully integrated based on orientations and seasons, a reduction of 50.71% in annual energy consumption is possible, an additional 14.34% to the conventional PCMs integration. In addition, PCMs provided an enhanced thermal performance and a significant reduction in indoor temperatures that ranged between 2.36°C to 4°C. The study proposes an improved PCMs integration approach which can be possibly implemented if movable PCMs panels are used instead of the conventional static PCMs panels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The urinary tract stone disease is a common problem. Dual energy CT with advanced post processing techniques gives anatomical information as size, site of the stone as well as its chemical composition which alter the clinical management. Objective: This study was aimed at studying the role of dual energy computed tomography in characterization of renal stones. Patients and methods: This study was carried out at the private radiology center throughout the period from January 2020 to January 2021 included 48 patients with renal stones. In this study, renal stones were more common in men (66.7 %) than in women (30.3%). The age of our selected patients ranged from 24 to 55 years with a mean of 42 years. The most affected age group was from 24-44 years (24 cases) represented 50% of the cases. Results: The average age of the studied group was (42.1±7.6), the most common presentation symptoms was loin pain (75.0%) followed by hematuria (18.8 %) then nausea& vomiting (4.2%) and fever (2.0%).Dual energy CT had 88.9% ability to truly detect uric from non-uric acid stones with (97.9%) accuracy, (100.0%) ability to exclude non uric stones (specificity), (100.0%) predictive value positive and (97.5%) predictive value negative with (50.0%) prevalence and (35.0%) likelihood positive ratio. Conclusion: It could be concluded that dual energy CT has been shown to be effective for characterizing chemical composition of the urinary stones, dual energy CT not well established enough to be used in clinical practice, but it will replace helical non contrast CT as the standard imaging modality for urinary calculi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acinetobacter baumannii is a feared pathogen in the burn center due to its opportunistic nature and its multidrug resistance. Our purpose was to study the incidence density of Acinetobacter baumannii colonization and infection and to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of the strains isolated in patients hospitalized in the Trauma and Burn Center Burn Unit in Tunisia. Our retrospective study included 1517 non-repetitive strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, between January 2012 and September 2020, with an average rate of 12.2% of the service's bacterial ecology. The incidence density of Acinetobacter baumannii colonization and infection was 13.7? days of in-patient stay and 14.1? days of in-patient stay, respectively. A positive and statistically significant correlation between Acinetobacter baumannii colonization and infection (rs=0,7; p=0.005) was noted in our study. The colonization strains were mainly isolated from central catheters (71.2%) and skin swab samples (22.9%). Infections were dominated by bacteremia (47.6%) and respiratory tract infections (25.4%). Bacteremia was microbiologically documented in 53% of cases. The most common source of bacteremia was central catheters (60.8%), skin (22.2%) and respiratory tract (15.5%). The rates of resistance inAcinetobacter baumannii to the antimicrobial agents tested were high: ceftazidime (85.2%), pipéracillin-tazobactam (95.6%), imipenem (95.3%), amikacine (91.1%), ciprofloxacin (93.5%), rifampicin (36.4%) and cotrimoxazole (88.1%). The resistance of colistin was noted in 1.8% of cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work is to study a class of boundary value problem including a fractional order differential equation involving the Caputo-Hadamard fractional derivative. Sufficient conditions will be presented to guarantee the existence and uniqueness of solution of this fractional boundary value problem. The boundary conditions introduced in this work are of quite general nature and reduce to many special cases by fixing the parameters involved in the conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) technique provides a suitable tool to predict the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of Gemini surfactants from their structure descriptors. In this study, a comparative work was conducted to model the CMC property of 211 diverse Gemini surfactants based on their structural characteristics using linear and non-linear quantitative structure-property relationship models. Least squares model (OLS) and partial least squares (PLS) against k-nearest neighbours regression model (KNN), artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector regression (SVR) have been developed to model the CMC. Molecular descriptors were calculated and screened to remove unsuitable descriptors and improve the learning. Results indicate that the improved performance of support vector regression when the hyper-parameters are optimized using Dragonfly algorithm (SVR-DA) was highly capable of predicting the pCMC (-log CMC) values with an average absolute relative deviation (AARD) of 0.666 and coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.9971 for the global dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the existence and uniqueness of the solutions to impulsive coupled system of fractional differential equations with Caputo-Hadamard are investigated. Furthermore, Ulam's type stability of the proposed coupled system is studied. The approach is based on a Perov type fixed point theorem for contractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents data analysis on the electricity generation mix during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The main objective was to assess the percentage changes in energy supply (total energy generation, electricity generation from fossil fuels – coal and natural gas; renewables – solar PV, wind, Biomass, Hydro; and nuclear), energy demand (actual loads), and greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 emissions) during the COVID-19 lockdown and their impact on energy transition. The goal is to use energy data and facts during the COVID-19 pandemic to show the importance and the role of the development of clean energy systems in speeding up and fostering energy transition ((Decarbonization, Digitalization, and Decentralization). The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global health and economic crisis. Energy industry and energy transition play an important role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and during economic recovery. The introduction starts with some facts on the energy and CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 lockdowns. A statistical analysis is used in this study to assess the electricity generation mix during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The data clearly shows a decline of both energy consumption (up to 10%) and greenhouse gas emissions (up to 20%). Electricity generation from renewables was the highest compared to fossil fuels (coal and natural gas) and nuclear fuel during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns for the European Countries. Electricity generation from coal, natural gas and nuclear plants decreased by up to 35, 25, and 20% and the share of renewable increased by up to 9%.during COVID-19 lockdowns compared to 2019. The results obtained in the course of this study visibly show the importance of the development of clean energy systems for energy transition and how crucial these clean energy technologies are crucial during a global health and economic crisis. A triple helix model (collaboration between the government, industry and academia) for innovation is needed in this pandemic crisis to overcome the challenges and to shape the future of the energy sector. The new opportunities and challenges for the energy transition due to impacts of COVID-19 are presented in detail in this paper. The post-COVID-19 energy sector should be different from the conventional centralized and fossil fuel-based systems. The future energy systems will be cleaner, sustainable, intelligent, self-reliant, reliable, flexible, and affordable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparative study of two artificial intelligent systems, namely; Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and support vector machine (SVM), to classify six fault conditions and the normal (nonfaulty) condition of a centrifugal pump. A hybrid training method for MLP is proposed for this work based on the combination of Back Propagation (BP) and Genetic Algorithm (GA). The two training algorithms are tested and compared separately as well. Features are extracted using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), both approximations, details, and two mother wavelets were used to investigate their effectiveness on feature extraction. GA is also used to optimize the number of hidden layers and neurons of MLP. In this study, the feature extraction, GA‐based hidden layers, neurons selection, training algorithm, and classification performance, based on the strengths and weaknesses of each method, are discussed. From the results obtained, it is observed that the DWT with both MLP‐BP and SVM produces better classification rates and performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have demonstrated that exposure to environmental factors can cause epigenetic modifications to germ cells, particularly sperm, to promote epigenetic and transcriptome changes in the embryo. These germ cell and embryo cell epigenetic alterations are associated with phenotypic changes in offspring. Epigenetic inheritance requires epigenetic changes (i.e. epimutations) in germ cells that promote epigenetic and gene expression changes in embryos. The objective of this perspective is to examine the evidence that germ cell epigenome modifications are associated with embryo cell epigenetic and transcriptome changes that affect the subsequent development of all developing somatic cells to promote phenotype change. Various epigenetic changes in sperm, including changes to histone methylation, histone retention, non-coding RNA expression and DNA methylation, have been associated with alterations in embryo cell epigenetics and gene expression. Few studies have investigated this link for oocytes. The studies reviewed herein support the idea that environmentally induced epigenetic changes in germ cells affect alterations in embryo cell epigenetics and transcriptomes that have an important role in the epigenetic inheritance of pathology and phenotypic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of pathology and phenotypic variation has been demonstrated in all organisms investigated from plants to humans. This non-genetic form of inheritance is mediated through epigenetic alterations in the sperm and/or egg to subsequent generations. Although the combined regulation of differential DNA methylated regions (DMR), non-coding RNA (ncRNA), and differential histone retention (DHR) have been shown to occur, the integration of these different epigenetic processes remains to be elucidated. The current study was designed to examine the integration of the different epigenetic processes. Results: A rat model of transiently exposed F0 generation gestating females to the agricultural fungicide vinclozolin or pesticide DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was used to acquire the sperm from adult males in the subsequent F1 generation offspring, F2 generation grand offspring, and F3 generation great-grand offspring. The F1 generation sperm ncRNA had substantial overlap with the F1, F2 and F3 generation DMRs, suggesting a potential role for RNA-directed DNA methylation. The DMRs also had significant overlap with the DHRs, suggesting potential DNA methylation-directed histone retention. In addition, a high percentage of DMRs induced in the F1 generation sperm were maintained in subsequent generations. Conclusions: Many of the DMRs, ncRNA, and DHRs were colocalized to the same chromosomal location regions. Observations suggest an integration of DMRs, ncRNA, and DHRs in part involve RNA-directed DNA methylation and DNA methylation-directed histone retention in epigenetic transgenerational inheritance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the structural and optoelectronic parameters of the ternary bialkali acetylides A2MC2 (A = Li, Na, K) and (M = Te, Pd, Pt) with trigonal structures are investigated. The study is conducted by using the first-principles pseudo-potential planewave technique, which is based on the Density Functional Theory (DFT) and integrated in the CASTEP software. A special attention is paid to the Tellurium based compounds, since they are less studied. A satisfactory agreement is reported between our results of the structural parameters and those of the literature. Predictions are performed to determine the values of the band gaps and optical parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Jet fuel hydrocarbons promote epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease. • Sperm epimutation biomarkers identified for transgenerational puberty, kidney, obesity disease. • Disease specific epigenetic biomarkers identified with negligible overlap. Jet fuel hydrocarbons is the generic name for aviation fuels used in gas-turbine engine powered aircraft. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion created the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, and the second largest oil spill in human history with over 800 million liters of hydrocarbons released into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of 3 months. Due to the widespread use of jet fuel hydrocarbons, this compound mixture has been recognized as the single largest chemical exposure for military personnel. Previous animal studies have demonstrated the ability of jet fuel (JP-8) exposure to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease susceptibility in subsequent generations. The diseases observed include late puberty, kidney, obesity and multiple disease pathologies. The current study is distinct and was designed to identify potential sperm DNA methylation biomarkers for specific transgenerational diseases. Observations show disease specific differential DNA methylation regions (DMRs) called epimutations in the transgenerational F3 generation great-grand-offspring male rats ancestrally exposed to jet fuel. The potential epigenetic DMR biomarkers were identified for late puberty, kidney, obesity, and multiple diseases, and found to be predominantly disease specific. These disease specific DMRs have associated genes that were previously shown to be linked with each of these specific diseases. Therefore, the germline (i.e. sperm) has environmentally induced ancestrally derived epimutations that have the potential to transgenerationally transmit disease susceptibilities to subsequent generations. Epigenetic biomarkers for specific diseases could be developed as medical diagnostics to facilitate clinical management of disease, and allow preventative medicine therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling, verifying, and validating are essential steps in order to build systems and software that do what designers expect. If formal verification, and especially model-checking, is a popular method for proving the correctness of properties, its efficiency depends on the accuracy of the used models and the quality of abstractions. As a consequence, applying verification techniques on large-scale complex software like video games is hard without strong assumptions and simplifications. Simulation models are generally more accurate than verification models, but it is often harder to verify them. Combined formalisms that take the benefits of both model-checking and discrete-event simulation represent a good deal between both of these families, although strong engineering expertise remains necessary to define the relevant tests and scenarios. This paper proposes an approach to build this kind of formalism through the example of DEv-PROMELA, which is built by combining Discrete-event System Specification formalism and PROMELA language. Then, it shows how combined formalisms can be used for modeling, verifying, and validating complex software like video games by using both formal-based and simulation-based verification and validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous environmental toxicants have been shown to induce the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease and phenotypic variation. Alterations in the germline epigenome are necessary to transmit transgenerational phenotypes. In previous studies, the pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and the agricultural fungicide vinclozolin were shown to promote the transgenerational inheritance of sperm differential DNA methylation regions, non-coding RNAs and histone retention, which are termed epimutations. These epimutations are able to mediate this epigenetic inheritance of disease and phenotypic variation. The current study was designed to investigate the developmental origins of the transgenerational differential histone retention sites (called DHRs) during gametogenesis of the sperm. Vinclozolin and DDT were independently used to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of these DHRs. Male control lineage, DDT lineage and vinclozolin lineage F3 generation rats were used to isolate round spermatids, caput epididymal spermatozoa, and caudal sperm. The DHRs distinguishing the control versus DDT lineage or vinclozolin lineage samples were determined at these three developmental stages. DHRs and a reproducible core of histone H3 retention sites were observed using an H3 chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing (ChIP-Seq) analysis in each of the germ cell populations. The chromosomal locations and genomic features of the DHRs were analyzed. A cascade of epigenetic histone retention site alterations was found to be initiated in the round spermatids and then further modified during epididymal sperm maturation. Observations show that in addition to alterations in sperm DNA methylation and ncRNA expression previously identified, the induction of differential histone retention sites (DHRs) in the later stages of spermatogenesis also occurs. This novel component of epigenetic programming during spermatogenesis can be environmentally altered and transmitted to subsequent generations through epigenetic transgenerational inheritance. • Environmental induction of new transgenerational sperm histone retention sites. • Identification of a developmental cascade of histone retention. • Potential role of novel sperm histone retention in epigenetic inheritance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of an Internet-of-Things (IoT) ecosystem, this paper discusses two necessary stages for managing federations of things. The first stage defines things in terms of duties and non-functional properties that define the quality of these duties. And, the second stage uses these properties to assign appropriate things to future federations. Specialized into ad hoc and planned, federations are expected to satisfy needs and requirements of real-life situations like traffic control that arise at run-time. A set of experiments using a mix of real and simulated datasets, demonstrate the technical doability of thing assignment to federations and are presented in the paper, as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Lens mounting with six contacts glue pad produce the optimum configuration in opto-mechanical assembly. • Non-linear properties of glue pad affect the Von-Mises stresses distributions. • High number of glue contact caused a bigger problem of lens distortion. Optomechanical systems are very complex requiring a high degree of accuracy. The carrier structure of an optical system is required to maintain the position of the optical components with respect to each other within the design tolerances. The most common loads on optical systems are self-weight, due to gravity orientations, and temperature ranges, due to exposure to rapidly changing temperatures from very cold to very hot and during launch. The fixing should ensure mechanical stability and thus accurate positioning in various gravity orientations. In order to ensure reliability during a space flight mission, the optomechanical engineer must understand the requirements of the space flight environment as well as the physics of failure of the optical components themselves; this can minimize the risks of on-orbit failure. This paper focuses on the optomechanical optimal design lens mounting using glue pads bonding. The main idea of this research study is to obtain an optimal choice of the position of the glue to fix the lenses on the barrel in such a way that we obtain a configuration of the optical assembly performance with less stress. In this paper, an investigation was performed using several methods including (thermo-elastic analysis, the margin of safety and lens distortion analysis). The results show that the position with six contacts glue pads is the best configuration compared to other configurations. This solution can be very helpful for decision-makers and optical engineers during the development phases of space optomechanical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of industrial robots in the machining field represents a large saving in cost and time, given their advantages in terms of high flexibility in a large workspace and the complex machining operations that they can perform compared to a CNC machine tool. However, machining robots are significantly less rigid than machine tools, and present more variability in their dynamic behavior within their workspaces than CNC machine tools. Their considerable lack of rigidity is still a major restriction for precision tasks, and attaining the precision required of a machining robot remains a challenging issue. Thus, a modal parameters analysis of machining robots under real machining conditions, is crucial for a reliable evaluation of its dynamic behavior. Robot configurations can then be adapted to ensure stability conditions along the machining trajectory. The main innovation of this paper is the modal parameter monitoring of a machining robot, in machining conditions, as regards its position and wrist configuration within its workspace, for a more accurate and reliable control of its dynamic behavior. Modal parameters are identified during machining operations using the transmissibility function–based (TFB) method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance potentially impacts disease etiology, phenotypic variation, and evolution. An increasing number of environmental factors from nutrition to toxicants have been shown to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease. Previous observations have demonstrated that the agricultural fungicide vinclozolin and pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) induce transgenerational sperm epimutations involving DNA methylation, ncRNA, and histone modifications or retention. These two environmental toxicants were used to investigate the impacts of parent-of-origin outcross on the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease. Male and female rats were collected from a paternal outcross (POC) or a maternal outcross (MOC) F4 generation control and exposure lineages for pathology and epigenetic analysis. This model allows the parental allelic transmission of disease and epimutations to be investigated. There was increased pathology incidence in the MOC F4 generation male prostate, kidney, obesity, and multiple diseases through a maternal allelic transmission. The POC F4 generation female offspring had increased pathology incidence for kidney, obesity and multiple types of diseases through the paternal allelic transmission. Some disease such as testis or ovarian pathology appear to be transmitted through the combined actions of both male and female alleles. Analysis of the F4 generation sperm epigenomes identified differential DNA methylated regions (DMRs) in a genome-wide analysis. Observations demonstrate that DDT and vinclozolin have the potential to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease and sperm epimutations to the outcross F4 generation in a sex specific and exposure specific manner. The parent-of-origin allelic transmission observed appears similar to the process involved with imprinted-like genes. • Parent-of-origin allelic transmission of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance phenomenon. • Transgenerational parent-of-origin allelic transmission of pathology. • Transgenerational parent-of-origin allelic transmission of sperm epimutations. • Optimal epigenetic transgenerational inheritance phenotypes requires both maternal and paternal allelic contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling, simulation, and optimization methods are used in the present study to design grid-tied and off-grid solar PV systems for super-efficient electrical appliances for residential buildings. The principal objective of this study is to design a renewable energy system to serve the electric load of super-efficient appliances with high penetration of renewable resources and low greenhouse gas emissions and cost of energy. Hourly calculations using optimization method are used to study the daily and yearly performance and the cost of the renewable energy systems. A comparison between the performance of the grid-tied and off-grid solar PV systems using conventional and super-efficient appliances in Dubai is presented. The comparison includes the total power production from the solar PV system, the power purchased from the grid, the extra power sold to the utility grid, the power used to meet the electrical load of the appliances, the excess power, the renewable fraction, the greenhouse gas emissions, and the levelized cost of energy. The results of the simulation show that the integration of super-efficient appliances powered with the grid-tied solar power system is a good option to control the energy consumption of the residential buildings and to reduce the cost of electricity and greenhouse gas emissions: low building energy consumption (reduction by half of the electrical power consumption: from 62.91 to 30.78 kWh/day using super-efficient appliances); all the electrical power demand for the building is met without shortage; the power systems produce low excess power (0.29–1.82%) compared to the off-grid power system; all the extra power from the solar PV is sold back to the grid to reduce the cost of energy, high renewable fraction (68% of the total energy served to the load is produced from solar PV), low-cost of electricity (12% reduction of the cost of energy compared to the utility grid), and low greenhouse gas emissions (45–51% reductions of the CO2, NOX, and SO2 emissions compared to the conventional electrical appliances). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]