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Fermion dark matter (FDM) production is investigated via photonphoton collision and the cross section of the FDM production is calculated in detail. Our results are evaluated at different values of the dark matter scale  and the light FDM mass.

Funder: Biomedical Research Centre, Funder: European Regional Development Fund, Funder: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Funder: Pomeranian Medical University, Funder: Pomorski Uniwersytet Medyczny W Szczecinie, Funder: Cancer Council NSW, Funder: Cancer Institute NSW, Funder: Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Funder: The BC Cancer Foundation, Funder: University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, Funder: Breast Cancer Now, Funder: Cancer Council Tasmania, Funder: Clinical Academic Reserve, Funder: ELAN Funds of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Funder: Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, Funder: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Funder: National Institute for Health and Care Research, Funder: Ovarian Cancer Australia, Funder: Queensland Cancer Fund, Funder: Cancer Council New South Wales, Funder: Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation, Funder: German Cancer Research Center, Funder: Institute of Cancer Research, Funder: Mayo Foundation, Funder: Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance, Funder: Peter MacCallum Foundation, Funder: University of Cambridge, Funder: Cancer Foundation of Western Australia, Funder: VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation, Funder: Cancer Council Victoria, Funder: NHS, Funder: UK National Institute for Health Research, Funder: Cancer Council South Australia, Funder: Oak Foundation, Funder: Sydney West Translational Cancer Research Centre, Our objective was to test whether p53 expression status is associated with survival for women diagnosed with the most common ovarian carcinoma histotypes (high-grade serous carcinoma [HGSC], endometrioid carcinoma [EC], and clear cell carcinoma [CCC]) using a large multi-institutional cohort from the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis (OTTA) consortium. p53 expression was assessed on 6,678 cases represented on tissue microarrays from 25 participating OTTA study sites using a previously validated immunohistochemical (IHC) assay as a surrogate for the presence and functional effect of TP53 mutations. Three abnormal expression patterns (overexpression, complete absence, and cytoplasmic) and the normal (wild type) pattern were recorded. Survival analyses were performed by histotype. The frequency of abnormal p53 expression was 93.4% (4,630/4,957) in HGSC compared to 11.9% (116/973) in EC and 11.5% (86/748) in CCC. In HGSC, there were no differences in overall survival across the abnormal p53 expression patterns. However, in EC and CCC, abnormal p53 expression was associated with an increased risk of death for women diagnosed with EC in multivariate analysis compared to normal p53 as the reference (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.18, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.36-3.47, p = 0.0011) and with CCC (HR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.11-2.22, p = 0.012). Abnormal p53 was also associated with shorter overall survival in The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage I/II EC and CCC. Our study provides further evidence that functional groups of TP53 mutations assessed by abnormal surrogate p53 IHC patterns are not associated with survival in HGSC. In contrast, we validate that abnormal p53 IHC is a strong independent prognostic marker for EC and demonstrate for the first time an independent prognostic association of abnormal p53 IHC with overall survival in patients with CCC.

The number of patients in need of critical care increased sharply in Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic putting increased pressure on the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, which was designated as a centre for treatment. In order to meet the new demand for critical care, the hospital introduced a prototype wearable system to monitor the vital signs of COVID patients. We describe how the introduction of the wearables was supported by a group of implementation scientists using an action learning approach. The support of a dedicated implementation team facilitated the implementation process and enabled significant advances in a limited time. We found that while the devices addressed a significant demand for remote monitoring, they also created new types of work. The burden of this work was not shared equally and significant thought was needed to find ways of optimising the use of the system, leading to altered workflows and staff training. We conclude that with the right support and planning however, well designed wearables offer promising opportunities for managing critically ill patients.

Our objective was to test whether p53 expression status is associated with survival for women diagnosed with the most common ovarian carcinoma histotypes (high-grade serous [HGSC], endometrioid [EC] and clear cell carcinomas [CCC]) using a large multi-institutional cohort from the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis (OTTA) consortium. p53 expression was assessed on 6678 cases represented on tissue microarrays from 25 participating OTTA study sites using a previously validated immunohistochemical (IHC) assay as a surrogate for the presence and functional effect of TP53 mutations. Three abnormal expression patterns (overexpression, complete absence, cytoplasmic) and the normal (wild type) pattern were recorded. Survival analyses were performed by histotype. The frequency of abnormal p53 expression was 93% (4630/4957) in HGSC compared to 11.9% (116/973) in EC and 11.5% (86/748) in CCC. In HGSC, there were no differences in overall survival across the abnormal p53 expression patterns. However, in EC and CCC abnormal p53 expression was associated with an increased risk of death for women diagnosed with EC in multivariate analysis compared to normal p53 as the reference (HR=2.18, 95% CI 1.36-3.47, p=0.0011) as well as with CCC (HR=1.57, 95% CI 1.11-2.22, p=0.012). Abnormal p53 was also associated with shorter overall survival in FIGO stage I/II EC and CCC. Our study provides further evidence that functional groups of TP53 mutations assessed by abnormal surrogate p53 IHC patterns are not associated with survival in HGSC. In contrast, we validate that abnormal p53 IHC is a strong independent prognostic marker for EC and demonstrate for the first time an independent prognostic association of abnormal p53 IHC with overall survival in patients with CCC., CRUK

Metal sulfides (MS) and mixed metal sulfides (MTMS) have been considered potential candidates over their metal oxide/mixed metal oxide counterparts in recent years. Herein, one MTMS, i.e., NiCo2S4, was combined with 2D MS MoS2 through a single-step solvothermal process with different morphologies (sheet-like and rod-like) for supercapacitor applications. The resulting electrode exhibited excellent coulombic efficiency, high specific capacitance, superior energy density, and, most importantly, ultra-high cycling stability. In particular, the electrode delivered a capacitance of 2594 F g−1 at 0.8 A g−1 after 45,000 charge/discharge cycles with a remarkable stability of 192%. Moreover, the corresponding hybrid supercapacitor device displayed an impressive coulombic efficiency of 123% after 20,000 cycles and 118% after 45,000 cycles. In addition, the device also exhibited a decent energy density of 31.9 Wh kg−1 and good cycling stability of 102% over 15,000 cycles.

BACKGROUND: Cyclin E1 (CCNE1) is a potential predictive marker and therapeutic target in tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC). Smaller studies have revealed unfavorable associations for CCNE1 amplification and CCNE1 overexpression with survival, but to date no large-scale, histotype-specific validation has been performed. The hypothesis was that high-level amplification of CCNE1 and CCNE1 overexpression, as well as a combination of the two, are linked to shorter overall survival in HGSC. METHODS: Within the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis consortium, amplification status and protein level in 3029 HGSC cases and mRNA expression in 2419 samples were investigated. RESULTS: High-level amplification (>8 copies by chromogenic in situ hybridization) was found in 8.6% of HGSC and overexpression (>60% with at least 5% demonstrating strong intensity by immunohistochemistry) was found in 22.4%. CCNE1 high-level amplification and overexpression both were linked to shorter overall survival in multivariate survival analysis adjusted for age and stage, with hazard stratification by study (hazard ratio [HR], 1.26; 95% CI, 1.08-1.47, p = .034, and HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.05-1.32, p = .015, respectively). This was also true for cases with combined high-level amplification/overexpression (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.09-1.47, p = .033). CCNE1 mRNA expression was not associated with overall survival (HR, 1.00 per 1-SD increase; 95% CI, 0.94-1.06; p = .58). CCNE1 high-level amplification is mutually exclusive with the presence of germline BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants and shows an inverse association to RB1 loss. CONCLUSION: This study provides large-scale validation that CCNE1 high-level amplification is associated with shorter survival, supporting its utility as a prognostic biomarker in HGSC.

Funder: Funder: Calgary Laboratory Services (research support fund) Grant reference number: RS19-612, Funder: Funder: National Cancer Institute: National Institutes of Health Grant reference number: R01CA172404, BACKGROUND: Recently, we showed a >60% difference in 5-year survival for patients with tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) when stratified by a 101-gene mRNA expression prognostic signature. Given the varied patient outcomes, this study aimed to translate prognostic mRNA markers into protein expression assays by immunohistochemistry and validate their survival association in HGSC. METHODS: Two prognostic genes, FOXJ1 and GMNN, were selected based on high-quality antibodies, correlation with protein expression and variation in immunohistochemical scores in a preliminary cohort (n = 134 and n = 80, respectively). Six thousand four hundred and thirty-four (FOXJ1) and 5470 (GMNN) formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded ovarian neoplasms (4634 and 4185 HGSC, respectively) represented on tissue microarrays from the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis consortium underwent immunohistochemical staining and scoring, then univariate and multivariate survival analysis. RESULTS: Consistent with mRNA, FOXJ1 protein expression exhibited a linear, increasing association with improved overall survival in HGSC patients. Women with >50% expression had the most favourable outcomes (HR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.67-0.91, p < 0.0001). GMNN protein expression was not significantly associated with overall HSGC patient survival. However, HGSCs with >35% GMNN expression showed a trend for better outcomes, though this was not significant. CONCLUSION: We provide foundational evidence for the prognostic value of FOXJ1 in HGSC, validating the prior mRNA-based prognostic association by immunohistochemistry.

Coastal sediments in the Mong Cai area were collected and analyzed for grain size, heavy metals, total organic carbon, and isotopes (

Background Known risk alleles for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) account for approximately 40% of the heritability for EOC. Copy number variants (CNVs) have not been investigated as EOC risk alleles in a large population cohort. Methods Single nucleotide polymorphism array data from 13 071 EOC cases and 17 306 controls of White European ancestry were used to identify CNVs associated with EOC risk using a rare admixture maximum likelihood test for gene burden and a by-probe ratio test. We performed enrichment analysis of CNVs at known EOC risk loci and functional biofeatures in ovarian cancer–related cell types. Results We identified statistically significant risk associations with CNVs at known EOC risk genes; BRCA1 (PEOC = 1.60E-21; OREOC = 8.24), RAD51C (Phigh-grade serous ovarian cancer [HGSOC] = 5.5E-4; odds ratio [OR]HGSOC = 5.74 del), and BRCA2 (PHGSOC = 7.0E-4; ORHGSOC = 3.31 deletion). Four suggestive associations (P Conclusions CNVs in BRCA1 have been previously reported in smaller studies, but their observed frequency in this large population-based cohort, along with the CNVs observed at BRCA2 and RAD51C gene loci in EOC cases, suggests that these CNVs are potentially pathogenic and may contribute to the spectrum of disease-causing mutations in these genes. CNVs are likely to occur in a wider set of susceptibility regions, with potential implications for clinical genetic testing and disease prevention.

BackgroundKnown risk alleles for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) account for approximately 40% of the heritability for EOC. Copy number variants (CNVs) have not been investigated as EOC risk alleles in a large population cohort.MethodsSingle nucleotide polymorphism array data from 13 071 EOC cases and 17 306 controls of White European ancestry were used to identify CNVs associated with EOC risk using a rare admixture maximum likelihood test for gene burden and a by-probe ratio test. We performed enrichment analysis of CNVs at known EOC risk loci and functional biofeatures in ovarian cancer-related cell types.ResultsWe identified statistically significant risk associations with CNVs at known EOC risk genes; BRCA1 (PEOC = 1.60E-21; OREOC = 8.24), RAD51C (Phigh-grade serous ovarian cancer [HGSOC] = 5.5E-4; odds ratio [OR]HGSOC = 5.74 del), and BRCA2 (PHGSOC = 7.0E-4; ORHGSOC = 3.31 deletion). Four suggestive associations (P

The biodegradability of organic carbon in aquatic ecosystems has been broadly attributed to a variety of interacting physical, chemical and biological factors and processes. The Red River is the se...

The sliding mode control is well-known as a useful control technique that can be applied in several real-world applications. However, a straightforward and efficient process of tuning the gains of a sliding mode controller remains a challenging but interesting topic. In this paper, a mathematical method for the sliding mode controller gain tuning is investigated. Firstly, we obtain relations between the gains and the natural and damping ratio of the closed-loop system. Secondly, the time constant of the system's actuators and the system response performance criteria, including settling time and delay time, are taken into consideration to determine the gains. In addition, appropriate gain ranges, which ensure that the system performance is met and the actuators work properly, are derived. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the gain tuning process of a sliding mode altitude controller for an actual quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicle. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of this method.

Nowadays, quadcopters are used widely in different applications, but their flight time is limited during operation. In this paper, a precision landing method based on a Kalman filter is proposed for an autonomous indoor persistent drone system that aims to increase the flight time of quadcopters. First, a local positioning system is used for tracking performance. Second, instead of using this local positioning system during the landing phase, a multi-ranger sensor is proposed to increase the accuracy of horizontal errors. Next, based on the relative position provided by the multi-ranger sensor, a Kalman filter technique is applied to estimate the relative velocity of the system, which is then applied to control the position of the quadcopter during the landing phase. Finally, a charging state machine law is proposed to charge the battery of three quadcopters sequentially. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed concept based on a multi-ranger sensor can enhance the accuracy of the landing phase in comparison with the conventional method.

This work aims to calculate the scalar unparticle ( ) U0 production in pair with photon and Z boson at + −  collision in unparticle physics perspective. The work shows that + −  collision process involving scalar unparticles with dimension 2 dU  via the photon or Z boson exchange has been only done for schannel while via muon ( ) − exchange it has been done for t and u-channel. The cross-sections of the production of U0 in the   + − collider when the   + − , beams are unpolarized in unparticle physics were calculated in detail. The obvious dependence of differential cross-section (DCS) on the scattering angle ( )  and the cross-section (CS) on the center of mass-energy ( ) s which is the available range of energy at the future high energy frontier muon collider in the Muon Accelerator Program (MAP) were evaluated respectively.

In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated the glioma classification by incorporating molecular biology parameters, including low-grade glioma (LGG). In the new scheme, LGGs have three molecular subtypes: isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutated 1p/19q-codeleted, IDH-mutated 1p/19q-noncodeleted, and IDH-wild type 1p/19q-noncodeleted entities. This work proposes a model prediction of LGG molecular subtypes using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MR images were segmented and converted into radiomics features, thereby providing predictive information about the brain tumor classification. With 726 raw features obtained from the feature extraction procedure, we developed a hybrid machine learning-based radiomics by incorporating a genetic algorithm and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) classifier, to ascertain 12 optimal features for tumor classification. To resolve imbalanced data, the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) was applied in our study. The XGBoost algorithm outperformed the other algorithms on the training dataset by an accuracy value of 0.885. We continued evaluating the XGBoost model, then achieved an overall accuracy of 0.6905 for the three-subtype classification of LGGs on an external validation dataset. Our model is among just a few to have resolved the three-subtype LGG classification challenge with high accuracy compared with previous studies performing similar work.

A true discrepancy between the effect of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) on cardiovascular (CV) outcomes remains unclear. This study performed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) using genetic instruments that exclusively predict SBP, DBP or both to dissect the independent effect of SBP and DBP on a range of CV outcomes. Genetic predisposition to higher SBP and DBP was associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation (AF), chronic kidney disease (CKD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Genetically proxied SBP exclusively was associated with CAD (OR 1.18, 95% CI: 1.03–1.36, per 10 mmHg), stroke (1.44[1.28–1.62]), ischemic stroke (1.49[1.30–1.69]), HF (1.41[1.20–1.65]), AF (1.28[1.15–1.43]), and T2DM (1.2[1.13–1.46]). Genetically proxied DBP exclusively was associated with stroke (1.21[1.06–1.37], per 5 mmHg), ischemic stroke (1.24[1.09–1.41]), stroke small-vessel (1.35[1.10–1.65]) and CAD (1.19[1.00–1.41]). Multivariable MR using exclusive SBP and DBP instruments showed the predominant effect of SBP on CAD (1.23[1.05–1.44], per 10 mmHg), stroke (1.39[1.20–1.60]), ischemic stroke (1.44[1.25–1.67]), HF (1.42[1.18–1.71]), AF (1.26[1.10–1.43]) and T2DM (1.31[1.14–1.52]). The discrepancy between effects of SBP and DBP on outcomes warrants further studies on underpinning mechanisms which may be amenable to therapeutic targeting.

Mangroves are complex and dynamic ecosystems that are highly dependent on diverse microbial activities. In this study, laboratory experiments and field studies for fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) decay rates are carried out for the first time in the Xuan Thuy Mangrove Forest Reserve of Vietnam. Results show that there are significant differences in bacterial diversity in the water of mangrove areas that have been deforested compared to those which have been planted. The highest mean total coliform (TC) and Escherichia coli (EC) values were found in the natural mangroves (3,807±2,922 and 964±1133 CFU 100 ml−1, respectively). The results indicated that the source of contamination and seasonal changes affect the abundance of fecal bacteria. These results were exceeding by far the safety guidelines for individual, non-commercial water supplies in most of the samples. In the planted mangrove sampling sites, the highest mean Fecal streptococci (FS) values of 1,520±1,652 CFU 100 ml−1 were found. Microbial die-off rates were calculated over 5 days, and observed to be systematically higher for TC than for EC.

A trajectory tracking control for quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based on a nonlinear robust backstepping algorithm and extended state/disturbance observer (ESDO) is presented in this paper. To obtain robust attitude stabilization and superior performance of three-dimension position tracking control, the construction of the proposed algorithm can be separated into three parts. First, a mathematical model of UAV negatively influenced by exogenous disturbances is established. Following, an extended state/disturbance observer using a general second-order model is designed to approximate undesirable influences of perturbations on the UAVs dynamics. Finally, a nonlinear robust controller is constructed by an integration of the nominal backstepping technique with ESDO to enhance the performance of attitude and position control mode. Robust stability of the closed-loop disturbed system is obtained and guaranteed through the Lyapunov theorem without precise knowledge of the upper bound condition of perturbations. Lastly, a numerical simulation is carried out and compared with other previous controllers to demonstrate the great advantage and effectiveness of the proposed control method.

The Mong Cai area is located on the border between Vietnam and China, with the Ka Long River forming a natural border. Coastal sediments were collected and analyzed for grain size, heavy metal content, total organic carbon, and isotopes (210Pb, 226Ra, δ15N, δ13C) to assess sediment quality.Fine sand was common in surface sediment, with abundant very fine sand in core C1; in core C2, very coarse silt and coarse silt were dominant. The sedimentation rate at C1 ranged between 0.08 and 1.62 cm/year while that at C2 ranged between 0.07 and 0.51 cm/year. The total organic carbon was highest in C2 next to the surface and lowest in C1, with content levels of 1.81%, 0.40% and 0.31%, respectively. δ13C in surface sediments ranged from − 27.43 to -17.02‰ and averaged − 24.13‰; δ15N ranged from 3.12 to 6.05‰, with an average of 4.96‰; and δ13C and δ15N in the sediment reflected the source of the organic matter mix from the marine and terrigenous sediments.The sediments’ heavy metal contents were lower than ISQGs, with the exception that As in C1 and C2 was higher than the ISQG. The heavy metal distribution was highly concentrated in the Ka Long estuary with low concentration in Ha Coi Bay. The concentration in C1 showed a decline over time, while the Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Co, Ni, and Mn contents in C2 increased over time between 1996 and 2019. In terms of heavy metal pollution indexes, Igeo showed C1 and C2 to be unpolluted to moderately polluted with As, with Li and Pb in C2; EF was moderately enriched with As; CF was moderately contaminated (Pb, Cd, Fe, Mo, and Li) in C2 and in C1 (Cd, As, Li) and considerably contaminated (As) in C2. ER of As showed a moderate potential ecological risk in C2. CD ranged from moderate degree contamination to considerable degree contamination (C1, C2). RI had low ecological risks.

This paper introduces a robust adaptive sliding mode control to solve a finite-time stability of the uncertain nonlinear systems with multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO). The proposed algorithm guarantees a strict robustness and fast convergence of the system trajectories to zero in a finite time under the negative effects of uncertainties and/or external disturbances. The fundamental methodology is based on an improved modification of the super-twisting sliding technique to alleviate an undesirable influence of the chattering phenomenon. In addition, a nonlinear adaptive law is constructed to ensure a strict stability of the control system even without prior awareness of the upper bounds of uncertainties and disturbances. A general stability of the closed-loop disturbed MIMO nonlinear system is achieved by the Lyapunov theorem. Lastly, the proposed algorithm is applied to stabilize the typical chaotic behaviors of Duffing – Holmes system and Lorenz system. The advantages and effectiveness of the proposed method are clearly demonstrated through the results of numerical simulations compared with other existent methods.

In this article, a sliding mode control based on neural networks is proposed for attitude and altitude system of quadcopter under external disturbances. First, the dynamic model of the quadcopter is considered under external disturbances. Sliding mode controllers are then integrated with neural network algorithm to achieve the time-varying sliding surface; their coefficients in sliding surface are adjusted through backpropagation law. The disturbance observer is also combined with sliding mode controllers to estimate and handle the external disturbances. Finally, the Lyapunov theory is applied to validate the stability of suggested control method. The performance of proposed sliding mode control has been evaluated using a numerical simulation. The results show that the attitude and altitude controller based on suggested algorithm has a better tracking performance and disturbance rejection.

Blood pressure is regulated by a complex neurohumoral system including the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, natriuretic peptides, endothelial pathways, the sympathetic nervous system, and the immune system. This review charts the evolution of our understanding of the genomic basis of hypertension at increasing resolution over the last 5 decades from monogenic causes to polygenic associations, spanning ∼30 monogenic rare variants and1500 single nucleotide variants. Unexpected early wins from blood pressure genomics include deepening of our understanding of the complex causation of hypertension; refinement of causal estimates bidirectionally between blood pressure, risk factors, and outcomes through Mendelian randomization; risk stratification using polygenic risk scores; and opportunities for precision medicine and drug repurposing.

The sedimentary environment characteristics in Mong Cai coastal area were assessed through pH, Eh, grain sizes, 226Ra, 210Pb, S‰, DO parameters. Mong Cai coastal area is mostly influenced by Ka Long river system that makes changes in the salinity, pH of water, pH and Eh of sediment, grain sizes, and sedimentation rates in the coastal area. There were six sediment types in the coastal area which were coarse sand, medium sand, fine sand, very fine sand, very coarse silt, and coarse silt. Fine sand was common in surface sediments; very fine sand was dominant in sediment core at Ka Long river mount; coarse silt and very coarse silt were common in sediment core at Mui Ngoc. The average sedimentation rate at the Ka Long river mouth (0.72 cm/year) was higher than that at the Mui Ngoc (0.27 cm/year). The sedimentary environment was divided into 3 groups, the first group was marine characteristics higher than the terrigenous characteristic, the second group was terrigenous characteristics higher than marine characteristics, and the third group was marine characteristics. In sediment cores showed 3 stages. In stage 1, distribution fine sand, very fine sand, and very coarse silt, from 52 to 80 cm at the Ka Long river mouth and from 40 to 52 cm at the Mui Ngoc. In stage 2, distribution of very coarse silt, coarse silt, from 38 to 52 cm (1947 - 1877) at Ka Long river mouth with sedimentation rate from 0.08 to 0.31 cm/year, at the Mui Ngoc from 12 to 40 cm (1944 (12 -14 cm)) with sedimentation rate of 0.09 cm/year. In stage 3, distribution very coarse silt, very fine sand, fine sand, from 0 to 38 cm (1919 - 1961) at the Ka Long river mouth with sedimentation rate of 0.34 - 1.62 cm/year, at the Mui Ngoc from 0 to 12 cm (2019 – 1966) with sedimentation rate of 0.07 - 0.51 cm/year.

Recently, the Asian rivers have faced the strong reduction of riverine total suspended solids (TSS) flux due to numerous dam/reservoir impoundment. The Red river system is a typical example of the Southeast Asian rivers that has been strongly impacted by reservoir impoundment in both China and Vietnam, especially in the recent period. It is known that the reduction in total suspended solids may lead to the decrease of some associated elements, including nutrients (N, P, Si) which may affect coastal ecosystems. In this paper, we establish the empirical relationship between total suspended solids and total phosphorus concentrations in water environment of the Red river in its downstream section from Hanoi city to the Ba Lat estuary based on the sampling campaigns conducted in the dry and wet seasons in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The results show a clear relationship with significant coefficient between total suspended solids and total phosphorus in the downstream Red river. It is expressed by a simple equation y = 0.0226x0.3867 where x and y stand for total suspended solids and total phosphorus concentrations (mg/l) respectively with the r2 value of 0.757. This equation enables a reasonable prediction of total phosphorus concentrations of the downstream Red river when the observed data of total suspended solids concentrations are available. Thus, this work opens up the way for further studies on the calculation of the total phosphorus over longer timescales using daily available total suspended solids values.

A method employing 137Cs sorption to copper hexacyanoferrate (Cu2[Fe(CN)6])-coated fibers for determining 137Cs activity in seawater is presented in this paper. The Cu2[Fe(CN)6]-coated fibers were packed into a PVC cartridge and used to treat 300 L of seawater, exhibiting a 137Cs sorption efficiency of above 99%. The Cu2[Fe(CN)6]-fiber samples containing 137Cs were subsequently dried and placed into a 500 mL Marinelli beaker to determine the activity concentrations by gamma spectrometry. This method was applied to seawater of the Phuoc Dinh and Vinh Hai coastal areas in Ninh Thuan province, Vietnam. The activity concentrations of 137Cs in the surveyed areas ranged from 1.14 to 1.44 Bq/m3. The activities of 137Cs in the seawater samples of this work were compared with those observed in seawater on the coasts of Vietnam and other countries along the South China Sea.

The deposition velocities of Be-7, K-40, Th-232, U-238 and Pb-210 radionuclides from the atmosphere at Ninh Thuan and Dong Nai monitoring stations of Vietnam were investigated. The deposition velocity was calculated based on it’s specific radioactivity in aerosols and deposition density in fallout samples. The data of the deposition velocities of radionuclides from the atmosphere are needed as input data for the models to simulate atmospheric radioactive dispersion and assess the public dose around nuclear facilities. The radioactivity of Be-7, K-40, Th-232, U-238 and Pb-210 nuclides in aerosols and fallout samples were analyzed by using a low level background gamma spectrometer equipped with HPGe detector of high resolution. The results show that the deposition velocities of Be-7, K-40, Th-232, U-238 and Pb-210 nuclides from the air are in ranges of 0.04÷1.71; 1.84÷27.46; 1.46÷23.63; 0.80÷26.13 and 0.06÷1.53 (cm/s), with average values of 0.55; 13.81; 8.22; 8.12 and 0.58 (cm/s), respectively. The deposition velocities of the radionuclides in the survey areas are comparable with those found in tropical and subtropical regions and these results could be served as the database of the World radioactive transport parameters.

Nowadays, with the increasing popularity of quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicles in several real-world applications, achieving a fully autonomous quadcopter flight has become an imperative topic investigated in many studies. One of the most pressing issues in such a topic is the precision landing task, which always is devastatingly influenced by the ground effect and external disturbances. In this paper, we present an autonomous quadcopter landing algorithm allowing the vehicle to land robustly and precisely onto a heaving platform. Firstly, a robust control algorithm addressing the altitude flight under the ground effect and external disturbances is derived. We strictly prove the closed-loop system stability by using the Lyapunov theory. Secondly, a landing target state estimator is proposed to provide state estimations of the moving landing target. In addition, we propose a landing procedure to ensure the landing task is achieved safely and reliably. Finally, we use a DJI-F450 drone equipped with an infrared sensor and a laser ranging sensor as the experimental quadcopter platform and conduct experiments to evaluate the performance of our new algorithm in real flight conditions. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

In this paper, we introduce a novel extended sliding mode control algorithm for a class of uncertain nonlinear system through a lumped disturbance estimator. The fundamental concept of this approach is to use multiple proportional-integral sliding surfaces to estimate the lumped disturbances generated by arbitrary matched/mismatched uncertainties. Following, an effectively extended sliding mode controller integrated with the estimated values is designed through the proposed series of sliding-surfaces to deal with the control problem of an uncertain nonlinear engineering model. The stability of both closed-loop control system and lumped disturbance estimator is achieved by Lyapunov theorem. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through simulation results of an illustrative example.

Clinical genetics; Genetic markers; Risk factors Genética clínica; Marcadores genéticos; Factores de riesgo Genètica clínica; Marcadors genètics; Factors de risc Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) have the potential to improve risk stratification. Joint estimation of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) effects in models could improve predictive performance over standard approaches of PRS construction. Here, we implemented computationally efficient, penalized, logistic regression models (lasso, elastic net, stepwise) to individual level genotype data and a Bayesian framework with continuous shrinkage, “select and shrink for summary statistics” (S4), to summary level data for epithelial non-mucinous ovarian cancer risk prediction. We developed the models in a dataset consisting of 23,564 non-mucinous EOC cases and 40,138 controls participating in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) and validated the best models in three populations of different ancestries: prospective data from 198,101 women of European ancestries; 7,669 women of East Asian ancestries; 1,072 women of African ancestries, and in 18,915 BRCA1 and 12,337 BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers of European ancestries. In the external validation data, the model with the strongest association for non-mucinous EOC risk derived from the OCAC model development data was the S4 model (27,240 SNPs) with odds ratios (OR) of 1.38 (95% CI: 1.28–1.48, AUC: 0.588) per unit standard deviation, in women of European ancestries; 1.14 (95% CI: 1.08–1.19, AUC: 0.538) in women of East Asian ancestries; 1.38 (95% CI: 1.21–1.58, AUC: 0.593) in women of African ancestries; hazard ratios of 1.36 (95% CI: 1.29–1.43, AUC: 0.592) in BRCA1 pathogenic variant carriers and 1.49 (95% CI: 1.35–1.64, AUC: 0.624) in BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers. Incorporation of the S4 PRS in risk prediction models for ovarian cancer may have clinical utility in ovarian cancer prevention programs.

In this paper, we introduce an adaptive sliding mode control (SMC) to deal with a finite-time convergence problem of a multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO) system in the presence of uncertainties and/or external disturbances. The proposed controller is constructed by using the super-twisting sliding mode technique to eliminate a negative effect of the chattering phenomenon on the system. Additionally, an adaptive law is designed to guarantee a rapid adaptation and robust stability of the closed-loop system even without knowledge of the upper bound conditions of uncertainties/perturbations. The stability of a control system is investigated by the Lyapunov theorem. A great efficiency of the proposed algorithm is proven through a numerical simulation of a chaotic system.

The water balance in six selected crops (mung beans, tomatoes, maize, cassava, yam, and sweet potatoes) was determined at the field block scale in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta for two agricultural growing areas. A novel approach for the calculation of water balance was employed, which combined the reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo), derived from four methods, namely, Penman-Monteith, Blaney-Criddle, Thornthwaite, and Turc. The equation of Penman-Monteith is generally considered to be the most representative to calculate the ETo value. The reference crop evapotranspiration for some crops was calculated. The daily ETo ranges from 1.8 to 7.5 mm, while a monthly ETo ranges from 3.5 to 5.0 mm. The calculations of the water balances show that irrigation is necessary for crops grown on raised beds crops during the dry season. The results show a promising approach for evaluating the water regime to satisfy crop water requirements.

A novel fractional-order model (FOM) of a high-speed super-cavitating vehicle (HSSV) with the nature of memory is proposed and investigated in this paper. This FOM can describe the behavior of the HSSV superior to the integer-order model by the memory effects of fractional-order derivatives. The fractional order plays the role of the advection delay, which is ignored in most of the prior studies. This new model takes into account the effect of advection delay while preserving the nonlinearity of the mathematical equations. It allows the analysis of nonlinear equations describing the vehicle with ease when eliminating the delay term in its equations. By using the fractional order to avoid the approximation of the delay term, the proposed FOM can also preserve the nature of the time delay. The numerical simulations have been carried out to study the behavior of the proposed model through the transient responses and bifurcation diagrams concerning the fractional-order and vehicle speed. The bifurcation diagrams provide useful information for a better control and design of new supper super-cavitating vehicles. The similar behaviors between the proposed model and prior ones validate the FOM while some discrepancies suggest that more appropriate controllers should be designed based on this new model.

The number of grains per panicle is an important yield-related trait in cereals which depends in part on panicle branching complexity. One component of this complexity is the number of secondary branches per panicle. Previously, a GWAS site associated with secondary branch and spikelet numbers per panicle in rice was identified. Here we combined gene capture, bi-parental genetic population analysis, expression profiling and transgenic approaches in order to investigate the functional significance of a cluster of 6 ANK and ANK-TPR genes within the QTL. Four of the ANK and ANK-TPR genes present a differential expression associated with panicle secondary branch number in contrasted accessions. These differential expression patterns correlate in the different alleles of these genes with specific deletions of potential cis-regulatory sequences in their promoters. Two of these genes were confirmed through functional analysis as playing a role in the control of panicle architecture. Our findings indicate that secondary branching diversity in the rice panicle is governed in part by differentially expressed genes within this cluster encoding ANK and ANK-TPR domain proteins that may act as positive or negative regulators of panicle meristem’s identity transition from indeterminate to determinate state., Author summary Grain yield is one of the most important indexes in rice breeding, which is controlled in part by panicle branching complexity. A new QTL with co-location of spikelet number (SpN) and secondary branch number (SBN) traits was identified by genome-wide association study in a Vietnamese rice landrace panel. A set of four Ankyrin and Tetratricopeptide repeat domain-encoding genes was identified from this QTL based on their difference of expression levels between two contrasted haplotypes for the SpN and SBN traits. The differential expression is correlated with deletions in the promoter regions of these genes. Two of the genes act as negative regulators of the panicle meristem’s identity transition from indeterminate to determinate state while the other two act as positive regulators of this meristem fate transition. Based on the different phenotypes between overexpressed and mutant plants, two of these genes were confirmed as playing a role in the control of panicle architecture. These findings can be directly used to assist selection for grain yield improvement.

The Red river system is a typical example of Southeast Asian rivers that is strongly impacted by human and climatic conditions, especially in the recent period. In this paper, we aim to investigate the longitudinal variation of the water quality of the Red river, in the section from Hanoi city to the Ba Lat estuary. The sampling campaigns were conducted in the dry seasons in 2017 and 2018. The monitoring results showed that the average concentrations of nutrients (NO2-, NO3-, NH4+, PO43-) were still lower than the allowed values of the Vietnamese standard limits for surface water quality (QCVN 08:2015/BTNMT, column A1) whereas the average concentrations of Cl- and TSS exceeded the allowed values of the QCVN 08:2015/BTNMT, column A1 4.6 and 2.3 times, respectively. NO3- and dissolved silica (DSi) concentrations showed a significant variation from the Hanoi site to the Ba Lat site (6.62 mg/l to 1.19 mg/l for NO3- and 5.21 mg/l to 2.14 mg/l for DSi) whereas SO42-, NO2- and Cl- increased markedly in this longitudinal section, especially from the point SH6 where the salinity started to increase. Based on the three different methods for classification of trophic levels and on the different variables observed during the dry seasons in 2017–2018, the nutrient concentrations of the Red river water tended to slightly increase from the site Hanoi (SH1) to the site SH5 at Nam Dinh, indicating the increase of nutrient external input along the river whereas it tended to decrease from the site SH6 (at mesotrophic/eutrophic level) to the last observed site SH9 (at oligotrophic/mesotrophic level) at the sea due to the dilution of seawater. Seawater in dry season could affect directly the river downstream about 35 km far from the sea. The results may be a guide for planning of water use including agricultural irrigation in the Red river estuary.

In this paper, a fault-tolerant control method is proposed for a hexacopter under uncertainties. The proposed method is based on adaptive-sliding-mode control (ASMC) and a control allocation scheme. First, a mathematical model of the hexacopter is employed with model uncertainties. Next, the control allocation strategy is combined with ASMC to handle actuator faults, which can distribute the virtual control signal to redundant actuators. A modified fault-tolerant control is proposed to overcome this virtual input saturation. Finally, the system stability is validated using the Lyapunov theory. The performance of the proposed method is compared with that of normal ASMC. The simulation results show that the suggested strategy can realize quicker compensation under faulty conditions.

The red alga Kappaphycus striatus was cultivated at Camranh Bay of Vietnam. For a 30 day cultivation period, the alga showed the higher growth rates (4.1–5.8% day−1) and lectin contents (747–906 μg g−1 dry alga) from October 2014 to April 2015 and in September 2015, while lower growth rates (2.5–3.1% day−1) and lectin contents (63–324 μg g−1 dry alga) were found from May to August 2015. The bands of 28,000 Da of algal crude extracts from October 2014 to April 2015 and from August to September 2015 were detected for lectin by SDS-PAGE, whereas these bands were not recorded from May to July 2015. The carrageenan quality was determined for a 60-day cultivation period; the carrageenan yield and gel strength showed little variation with the higher values (28.1–28.7% and 855–935 g cm−2, respectively) obtained from November 2014 to March 2015 and lower ones (25.1–26.7% and 555–758 g cm−2, respectively) from April to September 2015. The data on moisture content (33.5–36.8%), clean anhydrous algal/salt ratio (0.92–1.07), and carrageenan yield obtained in this study fulfilled those of standards for carrageenophytes. This study shows that the red alga K. striatus can be grown in the tropical waters of the Camranh Bay during the northeast monsoon and a part of the southwest monsoon as a source not only of carrageenan, but also of valuable lectins for application.

A nonlinear disturbance-estimator (NDE) based robust control for nth order system with matched and mismatched uncertainties is presented in this paper. The essential concept of this method is to use the series of sliding manifolds to estimate the effects of total uncertainties on channels of a single input and single output (SISO) model. Next, a robust controller is constructed by a combination of the estimated value and proposed sliding manifolds to highly enhance the tracking control of a closed-loop system. An overall stability of the control system is achieved by Lyapunov theorem. The effectiveness of proposed method is demonstrated through an illustrative example.

Background:Cryptococcal meningitis has high mortality. Flucytosine is a key treatment but is expensive and rarely available. The anticancer agent tamoxifen has synergistic anti-cryptococcal activity with amphotericin in vitro. It is off-patent, cheap, and widely available. We performed a trial to determine its therapeutic potential.Methods:Open label randomized controlled trial. Participants received standard care – amphotericin combined with fluconazole for the first 2 weeks – or standard care plus tamoxifen 300 mg/day. The primary end point was Early Fungicidal Activity (EFA) – the rate of yeast clearance from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Trial registration https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03112031.Results:Fifty patients were enrolled (median age 34 years, 35 male). Tamoxifen had no effect on EFA (−0.48log10 colony-forming units/mL/CSF control arm versus −0.49 tamoxifen arm, difference −0.005log10CFU/ml/day, 95% CI: −0.16, 0.15, p=0.95). Tamoxifen caused QTc prolongation.Conclusions:High-dose tamoxifen does not increase the clearance rate of Cryptococcus from CSF. Novel, affordable therapies are needed.Funding:The trial was funded through the Wellcome Trust Asia Programme Vietnam Core Grant 106680 and a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellowship to JND grant number WT097147MA.

This article proposes an adaptive perturbation estimator (APE) founded on a dynamic sliding control (DSC) for a quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The presented controller is used to significantly remove the negative influences of uncertainties/perturbations to enhance the stabilization control performance of a UAV. First, an APE is introduced to approximate the unknown perturbations. Second, a DSC is developed by applying the conventional Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) function integrated with the Super-Twisting sliding algorithm and the approximated values to reimburse for the bad influences of disturbances on the system and remove the chattering phenomenon. The overall stability of the control system is proven by the Lyapunov theorem. The advantages and effectiveness of the proposed controller is confirmed through a simulation executed and compared with the previous controllers.

Underwater vehicles (UVs) are subjected to various environmental disturbances due to ocean currents, propulsion systems, and un-modeled disturbances. In practice, it is very challenging to design a control system to maintain UVs stayed at the desired static position permanently under these conditions. Therefore, in this study, a nonlinear dynamics and robust positioning control of the over-actuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) under the effects of ocean current and model uncertainties are presented. First, a motion equation of the over-actuated AUV under the effects of ocean current disturbances is established, and a trajectory generation of the over-actuated AUV heading angle is constructed based on the line of sight (LOS) algorithm. Second, a dynamic positioning (DP) control system based on motion control and an allocation control is proposed. For this, motion control of the over-actuated AUV based on the dynamic sliding mode control (DSMC) theory is adopted to improve the system robustness under the effects of the ocean current and model uncertainties. In addition, the stability of the system is proved based on Lyapunov criteria. Then, using the generalized forces generated from the motion control module, two different methods for optimal allocation control module: the least square (LS) method and quadratic programming (QP) method are developed to distribute a proper thrust to each thruster of the over-actuated AUV. Simulation studies are conducted to examine the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed DP controller. The results show that the proposed DP controller using the QP algorithm provides higher stability with smaller steady-state error and stronger robustness.

A new distributed formation modeling and control method for a group of unmanned aerial vehicles with directed and switching inter-communication topologies is presented in this paper. The formation dynamics model is obtained based on the well-known mass-spring system model by considering each agent as a mass-point and the position relations between the agents as springs which can induce formations forces. In addition, we define a new term so-called formation equilibrium state to describe the formation’s state in a sense of formation force. From analyzing the formation equilibrium states, we derive a distributed formation control law to ensure the formation pattern is achieved and the formation shape is maintained. Several numerical simulations were carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

This paper introduces an effective dynamic sliding mode control based on a nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO) for a quadrotor. The proposed algorithm is used to supply a fast adaptation and strictly robust stability for attitude control of the vehicle. First, a NDO is used to approximate the external disturbance. Second, an effective dynamic sliding mode controller (SMC) is designed by using the estimated values of disturbances to compensate for the effect of these perturbations. The stability of a control system is proven by Lyapunov theory. A numerical simulation was performed and compared to existing methods to demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.