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ABSTRACTThe global human population is exponentially increasing, which requires the production of quality food through efficient reproduction as well as sustainable production of livestock. Lack of knowledge and technology for assessing semen quality and predicting bull fertility is hindering advances in animal science and food animal production and causing millions of dollars of economic losses annually. The intent of this systemic review is to summarize methods from computational biology for analysis of gene, metabolite, and protein networks to identify potential markers that can be applied to improve livestock reproduction, with a focus on bull fertility. We provide examples of available gene, metabolic, and protein networks and computational biology methods to show how the interactions between genes, proteins, and metabolites together drive the complex process of spermatogenesis and regulate fertility in animals. We demonstrate the use of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and Ensembl for finding gene sequences, and then use them to create and understand gene, protein and metabolite networks for sperm associated factors to elucidate global cellular processes in sperm. This study highlights the value of mapping complex biological pathways among livestock and potential for conducting studies on promoting livestock improvement for global food security.

In the first-ever Undiagnosed Hackathon, nearly 100 experts from 28 countries combined advanced phenotyping and genomic techniques for 48 hours, ultimately providing diagnoses to 40% of the previously undiagnosed families. This inspiring model demonstrates the power of multidisciplinary collaboration and patient partnership in precision diagnostics.

This article proposes a control strategy based on the finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) for a single-stage buck–boost (SSBB) rectifier. The proposed FCS-MPC requires the reference of parallel inductor current in the SSBB, which can be generated by two steps. First, the dc output voltage error is applied to a proportional-integral (PI) controller, which generates the grid current reference. Then, the grid current error is applied to a proportional-resonant (PR) regulator, which generates the reference of the parallel inductor current. Finally, the control of parallel inductor current is achieved by the proposed method, which evaluates possible switching states. Considering the charging and discharging states of the parallel inductor, the number of switching states is reduced from six to three by eliminating the redundant options. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is investigated experimentally on the built prototype. The results are obtained to prove that the proposed control of the dc output voltage and grid current together with unity input power factor are achieved in steady-state and transients under load and grid voltage variations. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed controller is tested under parameter mismatch. The execution times of the proposed controller with six and reduced (three) switching states are compared in this article to further demonstrate the correctness of the proposed approach.

In peach cultivation, there is an increasing interest in breeding rootstock suitable for intensive planting and for use in calcareous and poor soils. This study was carried out to test the performance of some promising Prunusrootstocks for ‘Transvalia’ peach variety. A total of 16 rootstocks obtained by interspecies hybridization from different origins were used for ‘Transvalia’ peach variety. Rootstock diameter, scion diameter, sapling height, rootstock scion ratio, leaf chlorophyll contents and leaf plant nutrient contents were analyzed. Results showed that the level of the majority of macro- and micro-elements was found to be sufficient. Leaf chlorophyll contents of ‘Transvalia’ peach cultivar grafted on stronger rootstocks such as GN-22, FG-58 and NGF-14 were found to be the highest. It has been determined that FG-16 rootstock is 40% more dwarf in terms of seedling growth strength compared to GN-22 rootstock in the Mediterranean climate zone. There were significant differences between rootstocks in terms of scion leaf chylorphyll content (SPAD values). The highest leaf chlorophyll contents were found in ‘Transvalia’ peach variety grafted on GN-22 (48.22), FG-58 (47.75) and NGF-14 (47.14), which are strong rootstocks. No correlation was found between growth strength and leaf plant nutrients. However, it has been determined that strong growing rootstocks can give positive results in lower quality soils.

The purpose of this study was to determine the agro-morphological, physiological, and transcriptional characteristics of ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS)-mutagenized M3alfalfa (Medicago sativaL.) mutants grown for 24 days under water deficit conditions following the first cutting at the blooming bud stage. Drought stress generally reduced all agro-morphological parameters measured. Cutting stress significantly reduced total chlorophyll contents of all genotypes, with the exception of mutant X20. Significant changes occurred in the levels of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), lipid peroxidation (TBARS), glutathione reductase (GR), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and crude protein levels. Drought stress considerably elevated GR levels in irrigated control (C1) and unirrigated control (C2) plants. In contrast to the other genotypes studied, mutant X20’s crude protein level increased significantly after the first cutting under 24 days of water deficit conditions, compared to the level found before cutting. The expression profiles of Medicago truncatula Response to Desiccation 2(MtRD2) and Medicago sativaproline dehydrogenase (MsProDH) genes differed based on the plant genotype and duration of drought stress. Drought stress increased MsProDHgene expression in X20, X50, and C2 plants by 4.57, 14.8, and 20.65 times, respectively. The findings of the expression study indicated that the MtRD2gene may play a key role in stress reduction rather than drought stress per se. The results of this study revealed that cutting and drought are two independent stress variables that should be evaluated separately when evaluating genotype response to both irrigated and unirrigated growing environments in alfalfa.

This work discusses the need to enhance charge carrier collection to minimize halide segregation in wide band-gap (WBG) perovskites. Here, we systematically elucidate the impact of valence band maximum (VBM) offsets and energetic barriers formed at the hole transport layer (HTL)/perovskite interface on charge accumulation, its influence on halide segregation, and ultimately on perovskite solar cell (PSC) long-term photostability. To this end, we precisely tune the VBM-HTL energetic levels by employing blends of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs; MeO-2PACz and Br-2PACz) to fabricate customized HTLs for PSCs with three different WBG perovskite photoabsorbers (1.69, 1.81, and 2.00 eV), commonly used in various tandem configurations. We find that optimized energetic alignment at the SAM HTL/perovskite interface significantly enhances the long-term photostability of the WBG PSCs. Our results show that photostability of devices can be predicted when comparing HTL/perovskite interfaces using photoluminescence’s evolution and transient surface photovoltage spectroscopies of half-stacks (glass/metal oxide/HTL/perovskite) in correlation with halide segregation.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is viewed as a promising therapeutic agent against a variety of health ailments; however, its efficacy is limited by poor aqueous solubility. Amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) can enhance the solubility of therapeutics by distributing them throughout a polymer matrix. In consideration of ASD formulations with CBD, we investigate the interactions of CBD with various polymers: poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), poly(vinylpyrrolidone)/vinyl acetate (PVP/VA) copolymer, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose phthalate (HPMCP), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate (HPMCAS), and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). Both the experiment and molecular dynamics simulation reveal diverse mixing behavior among the set of polymers. Detailed structural and nanoscale interaction analyses suggest that positive deviations from ideal mixing behavior arise from the formation of stable polymer–CBD hydrogen bonds, whereas negative deviations are associated with disruptions to the polymer–polymer hydrogen bond network. Polymer–water interaction analyses indicate the significance of polymer hydrophobicity that can lead to poor dissolution of CBD. These results have implications for drug dissolution rates based on how CBD and water interact with each polymer. Furthermore, these insights may be used to guide ASD formulations for CBD or other small-molecule therapeutic agents.

The iodine transfer polymerization of vinylidene fluoride (or 1,1-difluoroethylene, VDF) controlled by 1-iodoperfluoroalkanes or 1,8-diiodoperfluoroctane led to oligo(VDF)s containing one or two iodine end-atom(s). Their deep characterizations utilizing size exclusion chromatography (SEC or GPC), 1H and 19F NMR and FT-IR spectroscopies, and matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) revealed low dispersities, indicating a pseudoliving nature of the reaction. In addition, Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) deeply facilitated the identification of various oligo(VDF) structures, especially RF(VDF)nI and side RF(VDF)nH oligomers. From the 19F NMR spectra, the signals assigned to the CF3and CF2I end groups are valuable labels to determine the number-average molar masses (Mn) of such VDF oligomers. The 19F NMR, FT-ICR MS, and MALDI-TOF MS data evidenced good agreement in terms of the VDF unit numbers and end groups, while their head to head and tail to tail VDF–VDF defect of chainings, calculated from NMR data, were quite low (4.0% and 1.2%, respectively). Although the controlled behavior of these iodine transfer polymerizations (ITPs) was not studied, the dispersities of the resulting oligo(VDF) species were rather narrow (1.16–1.52) for molar masses reaching up to 4300 g·mol–1. Their thermal characteristics, achieved by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), evidenced crystalline oligo(VDF)-I with increasing melting points (up to 169 °C) and increasing thermal stabilities (up to 365 °C under air) for Mnvalues ranging from 1300 to 4300 g·mol–1.

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused havoc around the globe since 2019 and is considered the largest global epidemic of the twentieth century. Although the first antiviral drug, Remdesivir, was initially introduced against COVID‑19, virtually no tangible therapeutic drugs exist to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. FDA-approved Paxlovid (Nirmatrelvir supplemented by Ritonavir) was recently announced as a promising drug against the SARS-CoV-2 major protease (Mpro). Here we report for the first time the remarkable inhibitory potentials of lead epigenetic-targeting drugs (epi-drugs) against SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Epi-drugs are promising compounds to be used in combination with cancer chemotherapeutics to regulate gene expression. The search for all known epi-drugs for the specific inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 Mprowas performed for the first time by consensus (three high-order program) molecular docking studies and end-state free energy calculations. Several epi-drugs were identified with highly comparable binding affinity to SARS-CoV-2 Mprocompared to Nirmatrelvir. In particular, potent histone methyltransferase inhibitor EPZ005687 and DNA methyltransferase inhibitor Guadecitabine were prominent as the most promising epi-drug inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Long Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations (200 ns each) and corresponding MM-GBSA calculations confirmed the stability of the EPZ005687-Mprocomplex with MM-GBSA binding free energy (ΔGbind) −48.2 kcal/mol (EPZ005687) compared to Nirmatrelvir (–44.7 kcal/mol). Taken together, the antiviral activities of the highlighted epi-drugs are reported beyond widespread use in combination with anti-cancer agents. The current findings therefore highlight as yet unexplored antiviral potential of epi-drugs suitable for use in patients struggling with chronic immunosuppressive disorders.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

This study aims to investigate the effect of the stop-hole configurations on dynamic cracks using the dual-horizon peridynamic approach (DHPD). The traditional PD formulations require uniform discretization for the solution domain. Therefore, to investigate the effect of the stop holes with traditional PD, more densely spaced points are used to represent the holes. If less densely spaced points are used in traditional PD, this may lead to unexpected crack initiations around the stop holes due to stress concentrations originating from the stair-step-like shapes. If non-uniform point spacing is used for representing the outer edge of the stop hole accurately in traditional PD, a ghost force problem may occur and the forces of the points in the bond may not interact in pairs. Moreover, the use of fine mesh causes high computational efforts. Therefore, the DHPD, which allows non-uniform point spacings unlike traditional PD, is employed for examining the characteristics of dynamic crack propagation in the presence of stop holes. Before stop-hole configurations are examined, the developed DHPD code is validated with the results of a reference solution belonging to the Kalthoff-Winkler test. After the validation process for the DHPD code is successfully completed, the crack paths in the stop hole configurations obtained by DHPD are compared with the experiments, and a good agreement between the test and PD simulation is achieved. Furthermore, the performances of the stop hole configurations are investigated by DHPD in terms of toughening effect on the brittle material. Besides, the effect of crack branching on dynamic crack retardation is also examined. The results of dynamic crack propagation simulated by DHPD are compared with the experimental observations and reference results. The results of DHPD are observed to be a good agreement with the experimental observations available in the existing literature.

A chaotic system is a mathematical model exhibiting random and unpredictable behavior. However, existing chaotic systems suffer from suboptimal parameters regarding chaotic indicators. In this study, a novel leader Pareto grey wolf optimizer (LP-GWO) is proposed for multiobjective (MO) design of 2D parametric hyperchaotic system (2D-PHS). The MO capability of LP-GWO is improved by integrating a LP solution within the Pareto optimal set. The effectiveness of LP-GWO is corroborated through a comparison with regular MO versions of grey wolf optimizer (GWO), artificial bee colony, particle swarm optimization, and differential evolution. Additionally, the validation extends to the exploration of LP-GWO’s performance across four variants of the 2D-PHS optimized by the compared algorithms. A 2D-PHS model with eight parameters is conceived and then optimized using LP-GWO by ensuring tradeoff between two objectives: Lyapunov exponent (LE) and Kolmogorov entropy (KE). A globally optimal design is chosen for freely improving the two objectives. The chaotic performance of 2D-PHS significantly outperforms existing systems in terms of precise chaos indicators. Therefore, the 2D-PHS has the best ergodicity and erraticity due to optimal parameters provided by LP-GWO.

Estimating 3D human texture from a single image is essential in graphics and vision. It requires learning a mapping function from input images of humans with diverse poses into the parametric (uv) space and reasonably hallucinating invisible parts. To achieve a high-quality 3D human texture estimation, we propose a framework that adaptively samples the input by a deformable convolution where offsets are learned via a deep neural network. Additionally, we describe a novel cycle consistency loss that improves view generalization. We further propose to train our framework with an uncertainty-based pixel-level image reconstruction loss, which enhances color fidelity. We compare our method against the state-of-the-art approaches and show significant qualitative and quantitative improvements.

Purpose: In patients with acromegaly, the long-term presence of elevated GH and IGF-1 levels is associated with an unfavorable cardiovascular risk profile. We aimed to assess the relationship of four-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiographic (4DSTE) measurements with growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) levels and the Framingham Cardiovascular Risk Score (FRS) in patients with acromegaly. Methods: A single-center, cross-sectional study was conducted. The study included 40 acromegaly and 32 age- and gender-matched controls. Anthropometric, biochemical, and echocardiographic assessments were performed. GDF-15 levels were measured using ELISA. Results: In the controlled acromegaly group, global longitudinal (GLS), circumferential (GCS), area (GAS), and radial (GRS) strain measurements identified by 4DSTE were lower than those of the controls (p< 0.05). Moreover, strain parameters were lower in active acromegaly patients than in controls, but the difference was not statistically significant. The GLS was negatively correlated with age, the estimated disease duration, and FRS. Serum GDF-15 levels showed no significant difference between the acromegaly and control groups. In patients with acromegaly, serum GDF-15 levels were positively correlated with age, waist-to-hip ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, FRS, fasting plasma glucose, and HbA1c, but not with strain parameters. The multiple regression analysis revealed that FRS was an independent factor associated with serum GDF-15 levels in patients with acromegaly and the overall cohort (p< 0.001). Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that while LVEF was within normal limits, global strain parameters (GLS, GCS, GAS, and GRS) measured by using a novel imaging technique, 4DSTE, were lower in patients with acromegaly, suggesting the presence of subclinical systolic dysfunction in patients with acromegaly. GDF-15 can be a potential predictor of cardiovascular risk in patients with acromegaly.

A noniterative and stable microwave non-resonant method is devised for accurate permittivity $\varepsilon _{r}$ extraction of solid samples without the need for information of reference plane and sample thickness $L $ . The method first evaluates reference plane transformation distances $L_{01}$ and $L_{02}$ and then calculates L using the location of first peaks (but not their values) of the magnitudes of forward and backward reflection scattering (S-) parameters in the time domain. Then, this information is used for noniterative and stable determination of $\varepsilon _{r}$ in the frequency domain. Accuracy and uncertainty analyses are performed to examine the performance of the method. Permittivities of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and polyethylene dielectric samples were measured by coaxial line (30 kHz–26.5 GHz) and free-space (8.2–12.4 GHz) measurements.

Die Hauptgefahr bei minimalinvasiven Bohrungen für die Gesundheit des Patienten ist eine thermische Verletzung von Nerven- oder Knochengewebe durch einen erhöhten Wärmeeintrag. Für die prozessparallele Ermittlung der Bohrgrundtemperatur wurde ein Bohrer mit integrierter Temperatursensorik entwickelt. Diese gemessene Temperatur steht jedoch in einem unbekannten Zusammenhang mit der realen Bohrgrundtemperatur, da Unsicherheiten die Messung beeinflussen. Um die Temperatur als verlässliche Entscheidungsgrundlage während der minimalinvasiven Bohrung verwenden zu können, müssen systematische Abweichungen der gemessenen Temperatur von der realen Temperatur bekannt sein. Zufällige Abweichungen und solche systematischen Abweichungen, die nicht korrigiert werden können, müssen in einer Messunsicherheitsbetrachtung zusammengefasst werden. Zur Bestimmung der Kalibrierkurve wird ein Messaufbau entworfen, um systematische Fehler der Temperaturmessung mit dem Bohrer kompensieren zu können. Die Ergebnisse der Unsicherheitsbetrachtung zeigen, dass die Unsicherheit mit steigender Temperatur steigt. Die Unsicherheit wird konservativ mit uT= 1 K abgeschätzt. Zur Beurteilung einer thermischen Schädigung des Gewebes wird der CEM43 herangezogen, dessen Güte jedoch in erheblichem Maß von der zugrundeliegenden Datenqualität abhängt. In einer Analyse des Einflusses der Messunsicherheit auf den CEM43 mit der Unsicherheitsfortpflanzung und Monte-Carlo-Methoden wird festgestellt, dass bereits geringe Unsicherheiten in der Temperaturmessung zu erheblichen Abweichungen des CEM43 führen. Der intraoperative Einsatz des CEM43 als Kennwert für eine thermische Gewebeschädigung ist deshalb nicht möglich.

Background:The literature on the use of inflammatory indexes for palliative care patients without malignancy is scarce.Aims:To determine which inflammatory indexes are associated with the mortality risks of non-malignant patients hospitalised and receiving palliative care.Methods:Discharged or deceased patients in a palliative care unit of a secondary care hospital were included. The laboratory values were obtained during the first 48 hours of hospitalisation.Findings:As a result of univariate Cox regression analysis, 14-day mortality rate was affected by lymphocyte ratio, neutrophil-to-albumin ratio (NAR), C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR), multi-inflammatory indexes (MII-1) and MII-2 (p<0.001, p=0.001, p=0.002, p=0.009 and p=0.003, respectively); NLR, CLR, NAR, CAR, MII-1 and MII-2 (respectively p=0.005, p<0.001, p<0.001, p<0.001, p=0.001 and p<0.001) affected 28-day mortality rate. Indexes that statistically significantly increased both 14-day and 28-day mortality rates independently of other variables were CLR, NAR, CAR, MII-1 and MII-2.Conclusion:High values in inflammatory indexes, including C-reactive protein and albumin increase the risk of 14-day and 28-day mortality rates in palliative care non-malignant patients.

ABSTRACTThe Transient Stability Constrained Optimal Power Flow (TSCOPF) has become an important tool for power systems today. TSCOPF is a nonlinear optimisation problem, making its solution difficult, especially for small power systems. This paper presents a new optimisation method that incorporates Fitness-Distance Balance (FDB) with the Artificial Ecosystem Optimisation (AEO) algorithm to improve the solution quality in multi-dimensional and nonlinear optimisation problems. The proposed method, named the Fitness-Distance Balance Artificial Ecosystem Optimisation (FDBAEO), also has the capacity to solve the TSCOPF problem efficiently. In order to evaluate the proposed algorithm, it was tested on IEEE CEC benchmarks and on an IEEE 30-bus test system for the TSCOPF problem. Simulation results were compared with the basic AEO algorithm and other current meta-heuristic methods reported in the literature. The results showed that the proposed method was more effective in converging at the global optimum point in solving the TSCOPF problem compared to the other algorithms. This situation indicates that the design changes made in the decomposition phase of the AEO were more suitable for simulating the operation of the algorithm in the real world. The FDBAEO has exhibited a promising performance in solving both single-objective optimisation and constrained real-world engineering design problems.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disease associated with functional impairment, activity limitation, participation restriction, and poor quality of life. Therefore, comprehensive assessment is important to determine how complex problems affect patients with OA.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disease associated with functional impairment, activity limitation, participation restriction, and poor quality of life. Therefore, comprehensive assessment is important to determine how complex problems affect patients with OA.

Purpose: This paper evaluates user performance in telesurgical tasks with the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK), comparing unilateral teleoperation, bilateral teleoperation with force sensors and sensorless force estimation. Methods: A four-channel teleoperation system with disturbance observers and sensorless force estimation with learning-based dynamic compensation was developed. Palpation experiments were conducted with 12 users who tried to locate tumors hidden in tissue phantoms with their fingers or through handheld or teleoperated laparoscopic instruments with visual, force sensor, or sensorless force estimation feedback. In a peg transfer experiment with 10 users, the contribution of sensorless haptic feedback with/without learning-based dynamic compensation was assessed using NASA TLX surveys, measured free motion speeds and forces, environment interaction forces as well as experiment completion times. Results: The first study showed a 30% increase in accuracy in detecting tumors with sensorless haptic feedback over visual feedback with only a 5–10% drop in accuracy when compared with sensor feedback or direct instrument contact. The second study showed that sensorless feedback can help reduce interaction forces due to incidental contacts by about 3 times compared with unilateral teleoperation. The cost is an increase in free motion forces and physical effort. We show that it is possible to improve this with dynamic compensation. Conclusion: We demonstrate the benefits of sensorless haptic feedback in teleoperated surgery systems, especially with dynamic compensation, and that it can improve surgical performance without hardware modifications.

ABSTRACTThe Transformer Rectifier Unit (TRU) in aircraft is DC power supplies. Three-phase AC power supplies are available as long as they work. DC power distribution, on the other hand, provides DC power directly to all DC users, providing input power to the emergency AC distribution system so that the static inverter can generate AC power. To the voltages produced by TRUs to be less oscillating and of higher quality, multi-pulse ones are studied and recommended for aircraft systems. In this study, Zener diode filtered multi-pulse rectifier, which can further reduce the oscillations in the output voltage, is recommended for aircraft. Three-phase half-wave rectifier design and analysis are presented to better demonstrate the effectiveness of Zener diode regulation in multi-pulse TRUs. First, the parts of the power system, which includes the rectifier circuit of a two-engine aircraft and fed by this rectifier, are given. The circuit structure and working order of the rectifier are given with mathematical explanations. In the application phase, low oscillating output voltages and currents are obtained by creating currents and voltages on the load for different Zener voltages. Conventional rectifiers and the proposed rectifier are tested on the same loads, and comparisons are done.

A neglected mechanism for pressure-responsive color change is demonstrated using cellulose acetate composites prepared by direct (solvent) immersion annealing (DIA), with different loadings of activated charcoal filler. Namely, compressive plastic deformation of the translucent cellulose acetate leads to a decrease in the optical path length and a concomitant increase in the visibility of the opaque contrasting filler. Composites bearing 1–7 wt% activated charcoal exhibited a linear relationship between applied pressure and resulting pressure mark brightness in the range of 12–56 MPa. Comparison of pressure mark patterns with cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy (SEM) supports the importance of the porous morphology arising from DIA for the tuning of the pressure indicator sensitivity. A simple ball drop test is used to illustrate the robustness and utility of these indicators in optical impact assessment.

Defects at the top and bottom interfaces of three-dimensional (3D) perovskite photoabsorbers diminish the performance and operational stability of perovskite solar cells owing to charge recombination, ion migration and electric-field inhomogeneities1–5. Here we demonstrate that long alkyl amine ligands can generate near-phase-pure 2D perovskites at the top and bottom 3D perovskite interfaces and effectively resolve these issues. At the rear-contact side, we find that the alkyl amine ligand strengthens the interactions with the substrate through acid–base reactions with the phosphonic acid group from the organic hole-transporting self-assembled monolayer molecule, thus regulating the 2D perovskite formation. With this, inverted perovskite solar cells with double-side 2D/3D heterojunctions achieved a power conversion efficiency of 25.6% (certified 25.0%), retaining 95% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 1,000 h of 1-sun illumination at 85 °C in air.

Introduction The estimated prevalence of hemorrhoidal disease (HD) worldwide ranges from 2.9% to 27.9%. Conservative, medical, non-operative, and surgical therapy approaches are applied in HD treatment. Milligan-Morgan (MM) hemorrhoidectomy which is the most well-known and frequently applied surgical treatment method, and Laser hemorrhoidoplasty (LH) are among the accepted treatment methods in Grade 2-3 HD treatment where medical treatment is insufficient.Purpose In this study, the early results of laser hemorrhoidoplasty and Milligan-Morgan hemorrhoidectomy techniques were compared.Material and Methods A randomized clinical trial. The study included ASA 1-3, total 85 patients aged 18-70 years old with symptomatic Grade 2 and Grade 3 hemorrhoidal disease whose symptoms persisted despite at least one month of medical treatment. Fifty-four patients were allocated to Group L, whereas 31 were allocated to Group M. Age, gender, weight, body mass index, preoperative symptoms, presence of additional disease, use of anticoagulant medication, and length of hospital stay of the patients included in the study were recorded. Rescue analgesic used was recorded. Postoperative VAS score and complications were recorded within 10 days. The total energy numbers applied to all packages were recorded.Results The incidence of minor perioperative hemorrhage was significantly lower in Group L compared to Group M (P= .035). The postoperative 3rd-hour VAS scores were statistically significantly lower in Group L compared to Group (P< .001). At the 3rd hour postoperatively, the need for rescue analgesia was statistically significantly higher in Group M compared to Group L. On the seventh postoperative day, Group M needed considerably more rescue analgesia compared to Group L (P< .001, P= 1.00, P= .035, respectively). The cut-off value of 571 J was calculated in Group L.Conclusion We believe that it is not an advantageous method compared to MM hemorrhoidectomy, both in terms of patient comfort and cost-effectiveness, since postoperative pain, which is shown as the most important advantage of LH over conventional hemorrhoidectomy methods in the literature, can be relieved with simple NSA-I rescue analgesia in patients undergoing MM. Trial Registration: 03.06.2021/21-63.

Flank wear of drilling tools in manufacturing is among the main factors affecting product quality and productivity. In this study, an AI-assisted digital shadow was created for the instant prediction of the drilling flank tool wear. The drilling data were collected simultaneously using an industrial edge device and a rotary dynamometer. Feature engineering was conducted on the collected data from devices in time and frequency domains. A recurrent neural network (RNN) based on bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) and bidirectional gated recurrent unit (Bi-GRU) architectures was implemented on specified tool wear regions dataset. The digital shadow was created using the industrial edge device and the predictive AI model to minimize costs by reducing the need for expensive multi-sensors, manufacturing downtime, and tool underuse or overuse in a smart manufacturing system. The proposed model predicts with high accuracy and computational time efficiency and can be integrated into digital twin systems.

AbstractThe American National Standards Institute/American Nuclear Society national standards 8.1 and 8.24 provide guidance on the requirements and recommendations for establishing confidence in the results of the computerized models used to support operation with fissionable materials. By design, the guidance is not prescriptive, leaving freedom to the analysts to determine how the various sources of uncertainties are to be statistically aggregated. Due to the involved use of statistics entangled with heuristic recipes, the resulting safety margins are often difficult to interpret. Also, these technical margins are augmented by additional administrative margins, which are required to ensure compliance with safety standards or regulations, eliminating the incentive to understand their differences. With the new resurgent wave of advanced nuclear systems, e.g., advanced reactors, fuel cycles, and fuel concepts, focused on economizing operation, there is a strong need to develop a clear understanding of the uncertainties and their consolidation methods to reduce them in manners that can be scientifically defended. In response, the current studies compare the analyses behind four notable methodologies for upper subcriticality limit estimation that have been documented in the nuclear criticality safety literature: the parametric, nonparametric, Whisper, and TSURFER methodologies. Specifically, the work offers a deep dive into the various assumptions of the noted methodologies, their adequacies, and their limitations to provide guidance on developing confidence for the emergent nuclear systems that are expected to be challenged by the scarcity of experimental data. To limit the scope, the current work focuses on the application of these methodologies to criticality safety experiments, where the goal is to calculate a bias, a bias uncertainty, and a tolerance limit for keffin support of determining an upper subcriticality limit for nuclear criticality safety.