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Controversy encompasses content that draws diverse perspectives, along with positive and negative feedback on a specific event, resulting in the formation of distinct user communities. we explore the explainability of controversy through the lens of SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) method, aiming to provide a fair assessment of the individual contributions of different text features of tweets to controversy detection. We conduct an analysis of topic discussions on Twitter from a community perspective, investigating the role of text in accurately classifying tweets into their respective communities. To achieve this, we introduce a SHAP-based pipeline designed to quantify the influence of impactful text features on the predictions of three tweet classifiers. Text content alone offers interesting controversy detection accuracy. It can contain predictive features for controversy detection. For instance, negative connotations, pejorative tendencies and positive qualifying adjectives tend to impact the controversy model detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the absence of a gold-standard diagnostic modality for cellulitis, sterile inflammatory disorders may be misdiagnosed as cellulitis. Objective: To determine the utility of skin biopsy and tissue culture for the diagnosis and management of patients admitted with a diagnosis of presumed cellulitis. Design: Pilot single-blind parallel group randomized controlled clinical trial in 56 patients with a primary diagnosis of presumed cellulitis. In the intervention group only, skin biopsy and tissue culture results were made available to the primary care team to guide diagnosis and management. Length of hospital stay and antibiotic use were evaluated as outcome measures. Results: Length of stay showed the greatest opportunity for further study as a primary outcome (intervention: 4, IQR (2–6) vs. control: 5 IQR (3–8) days; p = 0.124). Limitations: The COVID-19 pandemic placed limitations on participant enrollment and study duration; in addition, data was collected from a single medical center. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that length of stay and anti-pseudomonal antibiotic de-escalation are endpoints that may be influenced by biopsy and tissue culture results in presumed cellulitis patients; these outcomes warrant further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuing effects of climate change require farmers and growers to have greater understanding of how these changes affect crop production. However, while climatic data is generally available to help provide much of that understanding, it can often be in a form not easy to digest. The proposed Combined Location Online Weather Data (CLOWD) framework is an easy-to-use online platform for analysing recent and historical weather data of any location within Australia at the click of a map. CLOWD requires no programming skills and operates in any HTML5 web browser on PC and mobile devices. It enables comparison between current and previous growing seasons over a range of environmental parameters, and can create a plain-English PDF report for offline use, using natural language generation (NLG). This paper details the platform, the design decisions taken and outlines how farmers and growers can use CLOWD to better understand current growing conditions. Prototypes of CLOWD are now online for PCs and smartphones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 30 years, there are many publications in the literature due to global warming and climate change impacts exhibiting non-stationary behaviors in hydro-meteorology time series records especially in the forms of increasing or decreasing trends. The conventional trend analyzes cover the entire recording time with a single straight-line trend and slope. These methods do not provide information about up and down partial moving trends evolution at shorter durations along the entire record length. This paper proposes a dynamic methodology for identifying such evolutionary finite duration moving trend method (MTM) identifications and interpretations. The purpose of choosing MTM was to investigate the dynamic partial trend evolution over the recording period so that dry (decreasing trend) and wet (increasing trend) segments could be objectively identified and these trends could assist in water resources management in the study area. The moving trend analysis is like the classical moving average methodology with one important digression that instead of arithmetic averages and their horizontal line representations, a series of finite duration successive increasing and decreasing trends are identified over a given hydro-meteorology time series record. In general, partial moving trends of 10-year, 20-year, 30-year and 40-year occur above or below the overall trend and thus provide practical insight into the dynamic trend pattern with important implications. The moving trend methodology is applied to annual records of Danube River discharges, New Jersey state wise temperatures and precipitation time series from the City of Istanbul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the types and causes of complications following orbital fracture reconstruction and enhance clinicians' capacity to manage or prevent such complications. Methods: We conducted a retrospective case series analysis, retrospectively collecting and analyzing clinical data of patients with orbital fractures who received surgical treatment at the Affiliated Eye Hospital of Nanchang University from May 2012 to May 2022. Descriptive statistics were employed to document common postoperative complications, and we recorded complications persisting after a minimum 6-month follow-up period. Results: Among the 227 patients who underwent orbital fracture surgery, they were followed up for 6 to 36 months, and complications occurred in 15 cases, resulting in an incidence rate of 6.61%. These complications included implant material infections and rejections (4 cases), persistent diplopia (3 cases), intraorbital hematomas (2 cases), epiphora (2 cases), lower eyelid eversion or retraction (2 cases), and skin scars (2 cases). The primary cause of postoperative infection was chronic inflammation in the paranasal sinuses or closed cavities within the fracture area. Postoperative complications in orbital fractures were associated with various factors, including the timing of surgery, surgical approach, repair materials, surgical skills, and auxiliary techniques. Conclusion: Standardizing surgical techniques and implementing precise auxiliary technologies may reduce the incidence of complications and enhance the operation's success rate. Precis: This study systematically analyzed the complications and underlying causes of orbital fracture surgery. By mitigating these factors, it aims to decrease or manage surgical complications, thereby enhancing patients' treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series (thirty) of marble sculptures from the Archaeological Museum of Kavala, in North Greece, coming from Amphipolis and the greater area of East Macedonia, have been examined and analyzed in order to determine the provenance of their marble. A detailed in-situ examination with optical techniques was carried out, followed by sampling and laboratory analyses with the techniques of Stable Isotope Analysis (IRMS) for carbon and oxygen, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (EPR), selective petrography and optical microscopy. In addition, the results from a new quarry near Kavala (Chalkero) that was field-examined and analyzed isotopically are presented for the first time. The results from the sculptures show that the dominant origin of the marble for a lot of them is Thasos, both the dolomitic marble quarries at Vathy and Saliara and the calcitic ones from Aliki or Cape Fanari. A very interesting find was that the source of the marble for several sculptures of the Hellenistic and Roman periods was the Chalkero quarry. Paros marble is used for five sculptures, Penteli and Asia Minor are also represented among the thirty sculptures examined. The marble provenance results have largely contributed to the archaeological/art historical interpretation regarding workshops and sculptors and facilitated the dating of some sculptures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises the equivalent pier method for estimating the settlement of a pile group or a piled raft. Such an approach is very useful for preliminary estimates of settlement, and also for checking on the results of more refined analysis methods. Some suggestions for assessing the properties of the equivalent pier and the supporting soil are provided. A series of finite element analyses are presented in chart form for the settlement of a pier within a two-layer soil system. The accuracy of these analyses has been checked via comparison with some published closed form solutions for a uniform soil mass. Examples of the application of the equivalent pier method are presented for some published case histories to demonstrate that the method is capable of providing adequate preliminary settlement estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cosmic shear statistics, such as the two-point correlation function (2PCF), can be evaluated with the PDF-SYM method instead of the traditional weighted-sum approach. It makes use of the full PDF information of the shear estimators, and does not require weightings on the shear estimators, which can in principle introduce additional systematic biases. This work presents our constraints on S8 and Ωm from the shear-shear correlations using the PDF-SYM method. The data we use is from the z-band images of the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS), which covers about 10000 deg2 with more than 100 million galaxies. The shear catalog is produced by the Fourier_Quad method, and well tested on the real data itself with the field-distortion effect. Our main approach is called quasi-2D as we do use the photo-z information of each individual galaxy, but without dividing the galaxies into redshift bins. We mainly use galaxy pairs within the redshift interval between 0.2 and 1.3, and the angular range from 4.7 to 180 arcmin. Our analysis yields S8 = 0.762 ± 0.026 and Ωm = 0.234 ± 0.075, with the baryon effects and the intrinsic alignments included. The results are robust against redshift uncertainties. We check the consistency of our results by deriving the cosmological constraints from auto-correlations of γ1 and γ2 separately, and find that they are consistent with each other, but the constraints from the γ1 component are much weaker than that from γ2. It implies a much worse data quality of γ1, which is likely due to additional shear uncertainties caused by CCD electronics (according to the survey strategy of DECaLS). We also perform a pure 2D analysis, which gives S8 = 0.81−0.04+0.03 and Ωm = 0.25−0.05+0.06. Our findings demonstrate the potential of the PDF-SYM method for precision cosmology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acne vulgaris is a chronic, inflammatory skin disease which has been associated with metabolic syndrome and obesity. However, data on body composition in patients with acne vulgaris are scarce. Aim: We aimed to assess body composition in patients with acne vulgaris, compare the results with those of healthy individuals, and evaluate the relationship between body composition and acne severity. Methods: Between March 2023 and May 2023, body composition of patients with acne vulgaris and healthy individuals was prospectively evaluated using Tanita TBF-300 body composition analyzer. Results: This study included a total of 320 subjects, 160 patients with acne vulgaris and 160 healthy individuals. Body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage and fat mass were significantly higher in patients with acne vulgaris compared to healthy individuals (p < 0.001, each). BMI, body fat percentage and fat mass were significantly higher in female patients compared to healthy females (p < 0.001, each), higher in male patients compared to healthy males (p = 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). BMI (p = 0.006), fat free body mass (p < 0.001) and total body water (p < 0.001) were higher in male patients, while body fat percentage (p < 0.001) was higher in female patients. Patients with moderate to severe acne had higher BMI (p < 0.001), body fat percentage (p = 0.001) and fat mass (p < 0.001) than in those with mild acne. Conclusion: Since high body fat may indicate increased risk and severity of acne, body composition analysis may be useful in treating patients with acne and taking preventive measures against metabolic syndrome in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, electrochemical sensing electrode based on uniform poly(arginine)-modified carbon nanotube paste electrode (PAMCNTPE) is introduced for concurrent determination of caffeic acid and paracetamol. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to characterize the surface of the sensor. In addition, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) were used to investigate the performance of PAMCNTPE. The redox optimum current of caffeic acid was increased dramatically at the PAMCNTPE surface alongside bare carbon nanotube paste electrode (BCNTPE) and their overpotentials decreased. SEM images shows the morphological differences between bare and modified electrode which shows the evidence of modification. The effects of pH, polymerization cycle, and potential were investigated on the electrochemical redox response of caffeic acid based on response surface methodology. In addition, scan rate technique showed the process is adsorption controlled. Under the optimized conditions, linear response was obtained over the range of 10–200 μM, and also, detection limits were found to be 0.13 μM by DPV method on the surface of PAMCNTPE. The PAMCNTPE showed good stability, reproducibility, and repeatability as well as high recovery. The practical application of the PAMCNTPE was demonstrated by measuring the concentration of caffeic acid in apple juice as real sample. The proposed technique is simple, rapid, and cost-effective, serving as an important analytical tool for quality control in the pharmaceutical industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics are emerging as prominent pollutants across the globe. Oceans are becoming major sinks for these pollutants, and their presence is widespread in coastal regions, oceanic surface waters, water column, and sediments. Studies have revealed that microplastics cause serious threats to the marine ecosystem as well as human beings. In the past few years, many research efforts have focused on studying different aspects relating to microplastic pollution of the oceans. This review summarizes sources, migration routes, and ill effects of marine microplastic pollution along with various conventional as well as advanced methods for microplastics analysis and control. However, various knowledge gaps in detection and analysis require attention in order to understand the sources and transport of microplastics, which is critical to deploying mitigation strategies at appropriate locations. Advanced removal methods and an integrated approach are necessary, including government policies and stringent regulations to control the release of plastics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foundational-cum-descriptive study aims to document Rangri vowel realizations acoustically. The Rangri is a member of the Indo-Aryan language family. Ranghar Muhajir of Pakistani Punjab and some parts of Sindh speak Rangri-a zero-resource dialect of Haryanvi. Analyzing native Rangri speakers' vowels phonetically is the purpose of the current investigation. Native speakers of Rangri recorded their voice samples. Information about the acoustic realizations of Rangri vowels produced by native Rangri speakers is the primary goal of the study. A few words in IPA transcription—[sɪr, mi:, hʊɳ, ʤeɳ, bʰɜːɽ, ʧɔːl, kæy, kʌdʰ, ɡuːɳ, and roʤ]—have ten vowel sounds incorporated in them, reflecting their production and perception in Rangri speech. The vowel sounds: /ɪ/, /i: /, /e/, /o/, /u: /, /ʊ/, /ɜː/, /ɔː/, /æ/, /ʌ/ were recognized as monophthongs. The current investigation identifies 180 voice samples total-10 vowels × 6 speakers × 3 repetitions. A high-quality Android smartphone was used for each recording, thus there was almost no background noise. The four parameters that were included for the analysis were F0, F1, F2, and duration. Pitch is measured with F0, tongue height with F1, vowel back-ness with F2, and vowel length with duration. The recorded voice samples were analyzed using Praat Speech Recognition software. With the exception of six native speakers, this study adds to our knowledge of the phonetic characteristics of Rangri and exposes the intricacies of this distinctive dialect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mathematical model of the problem of calculating the weight coefficients of a binary neural network is presented. It is proved that in the case of step functions of neuron activation, this model is a system of linear inequalities, which is inconsistent for most practical problems. A method for analyzing the system of inequalities is proposed, which allows calculating the values of the weight coefficients and synthesizing the structure of the neural network, thus ensuring the absolute accuracy of the output signals. The algorithm and an example of implementing the proposed method are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to develop a CT-based method for quantifying tracheal shape and evaluating its ability to distinguish between cases with or without tracheal invasion in patients with thyroid carcinoma. Methods: A total of 116 quantitative shape features, including 56 geometric moments and 60 bounding shape features, were defined. The tracheal lumen was semi-automatically defined with a CT threshold of less than − 500 HU. Three contiguous slices with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd smallest trachea lumen areas were contiguously selected, and the appropriate number of slices to be included was determined. Fifty-six patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) invading the trachea and 22 patients with DTC but without invasion were retrospectively included. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to select the representative shape features and determine the optimal threshold. Results: 23.3%, 25.9%, and 24.1% of the features displayed an area under the ROC curve (AUC) ≥ 0.800 when derived from 1, 2, and 3 slices, respectively. Calculating feature values from two slices with the 1st and 2nd smallest tracheal lumen area were considered appropriate. Six final features, including 3 geometric moments and 3 bounding shape features, were selected to determine the tracheal invasion status of DTC and displayed AUCs of 0.875–0.918, accuracies of 0.821–0.891, sensitivities of 0.813–0.893, and specificities of 0.818–0.932, outperforming the visual evaluation results. Conclusions: Geometric moments and bounding shape features can quantify the tracheal shape and are reliable for identifying DTC tracheal invasion. The selected features quantified the extent of tracheal deformity in DTC patients with and without tracheal invasion. Clinical relevance statement: Six geometric features provide a non-invasive, semi-automated evaluation of the tracheal invasion status of thyroid cancer. Key Points: • A novel method for quantifying tracheal shape using 56 geometric moments and 60 bounding shape features was developed. • Six features identify tracheal invasion by thyroid carcinoma. • The selected features quantified the extent of tracheal deformity in differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients with and without tracheal invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, pollution levels have increased to dangerous levels in several Indian cities. These levels are posing a severe threat to human's health. Using the data from Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the current work focuses on highlighting the primary air pollutants in various regions such as Visakhapatnam (VSK), Hyderabad (HYD), Amaravati (AMV), and Tirupati (TPTY). Data from the Zoo Park area were used to study the location of HYD. Sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX), particulate matter with particles less than 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5), particulate matter with particles less than 10 µm in diameter (PM10), and ozone (O3) are the air pollutants used for analysis in this work. An attempt was made to research the meteorological factors that contribute to the rising levels of air pollution between 2019 and 2022. Wind speed (WS), temperature (TEMP), relative humidity (RHUM), rainfall (RF), and solar radiation (SR) are the meteorological variables used in the analysis. The prediction of PM2.5 and PM10 was done using artificial neural network (NN) method. The NN method's outcomes show strong correlation in the forecasting of air pollution across four locations. The VSK station exhibited a high correlation of 91.29%, whereas TPTY station had a low correlation of 82.1%, based on CPCB PM2.5 observation and NN technique. The VSK station revealed a high correlation of 90.30%, whereas TPTY station had a low correlation of 81.61%, based on CPCB PM10 observation and NN technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music is ubiquitous in our everyday lives, and lyrics play an integral role when we listen to music. The complex relationships between lyrical content, its temporal evolution over the last decades, and genre-specific variations, however, are yet to be fully understood. In this work, we investigate the dynamics of English lyrics of Western, popular music over five decades and five genres, using a wide set of lyrics descriptors, including lyrical complexity, structure, emotion, and popularity. We find that pop music lyrics have become simpler and easier to comprehend over time: not only does the lexical complexity of lyrics decrease (for instance, captured by vocabulary richness or readability of lyrics), but we also observe that the structural complexity (for instance, the repetitiveness of lyrics) has decreased. In addition, we confirm previous analyses showing that the emotion described by lyrics has become more negative and that lyrics have become more personal over the last five decades. Finally, a comparison of lyrics view counts and listening counts shows that when it comes to the listeners' interest in lyrics, for instance, rock fans mostly enjoy lyrics from older songs; country fans are more interested in new songs' lyrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although oil and gas enterprises have specific technical and regulatory characteristics, the Running Lean concept, based on hypothesis testing and continual adaptation of business models, proves an effective means of optimizing and improving their performance. Adaptation of the Running Lean concept for oil and gas enterprises relies on collaboration with experts who understand their specific circumstances. It is important to track regulatory changes and to take account of relevant geopolitical factors. The present work assesses the prospects for developing business models at Russian oil and gas enterprises on the basis of the Running Lean concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze first- and second-order rogue waves of the equations in the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) hierarchy. A physical phenomenon may be described by an individual equation or by a combination of them. We focus on localized (in 2D) formations. Then we can find the 'volumes' of these rogue waves and classify the formations as rogue or 'semi-rogue' waves. In other cases, there can be a rogue-type central structure connected to 'soliton tails,' and, in these cases, the standard 'volume' may be infinite, and a 'modified volume' can be introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Hip resurfacing (HR) was introduced as a potential alternative to total hip arthroplasty (THA), indicated predominantly for younger, high demand patients. The modern metal-on-metal implant was popularized in the 1990s and early 2000s and promised greater wear resistance. However, its popularity waned due to increased rates of complications related to metal toxicity including pseudo-tumors as well as the recall of many resurfacing implants. The purpose of this study was to conduct a bibliometric analysis and investigate the current trends in hip resurfacing literature. Methods: Using the keywords "hip resurfacing," publications between 2012 and 2022 were identified on Web of Science Core Collection of Clarivate Analytics. Results were screened for relevance by three independent reviewers using title, abstract, and full text. The retrieved data were evaluated by the bibliometric method. Included articles were imported into CiteSpace 5.7.R1, 64-bit (Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA), VOSviewer 1.6.15 (Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands), and the Online Analysis Platform of Literature Metrology to identify trends in publication. Results: Search terms yielded 1200 results and 724 were included in final analysis. A steady decrease of publications was noted over the past decade with less than 40 articles published in 2020 and 2021. The Journal of Hip Arthroplasty (92), Hip International (74), and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (54) published the most articles. Authors from the United States and the United Kingdom published the most studies. High-frequency keywords in co-occurrence and co-cited cluster analysis were metal-on-metal, metal ions, wear, pseudo-tumor, and revision, demonstrating that long-term concerns have been the focus of most recent studies. Conclusion: In conclusion, our bibliometric analysis allowed novel exploration and identification of the current research trends, contributions, and the distribution of publications exploring HR. The understanding of HR and the poor long-term outcomes of some resurfacing implants has improved significantly over the past decade, with the most recent focus on failure rates and long-term complications from metal debris. However, the breadth of literature has steadily declined in the past decade, and ultimately demonstrates the decline of scientific interest and focus on novel areas in hip resurfacing and a potential reached consensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus here is on a thin solid body passing through a channel flow and interacting with the flow. Unsteady two-dimensional interactive properties from modelling, analysis and computation are presented along with comparisons. These include the effects of a finite dilation or constriction, as the body travels through, and the effects of a continuing expansion of the vessel. Finite-time clashing of the body with the channel walls is investigated as well as the means to avoid clashing. Sustained oscillations are found to be possible. Wake properties behind the body are obtained, and broad agreement in trends between full-system and reduced-system responses is found for increased body mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While microplastic analysis in aquatic systems is rather well standardized, the determination of microplastics in terrestrial samples has been less explored. Here, we review methods for microplastic analysis, with focus on sampling location and design, soil quantity, sampling depth and equipment, and sample handling and preservation. We found that the random sampling design can be used to collect a representative sample. Stainless steel shovels or soil augers were the most common tools for collecting topsoil, from 0 to 30 cm. Deep soil samples, of more than 100 cm depth, can only be obtained using a core drill. The number of soil samples collected in the field depends on the available budget and instruments for microplastic analysis. For example, if a micro-Fourier transform infrared microscope is used for analysis, soil samples as small as 15.0 g per point can be collected. Once the soils are collected, they can be stored in non-plastic containers, e.g., aluminum bags, to reduce contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes are three of the most common foodborne pathogens found in pork. SERS technology enables the rapid acquisition of molecular information by harnessing the synergistic effect of Raman scattering and enhanced substrate surface plasmonics. However, because of the similar chemical composition between bacteria and between pathogens and pork, it is difficult to discriminate pork contaminated with different pathogens. In view of this problem, Raman spectra of three bacteria, bacteria mixtures, and fresh pork contaminated with three pathogens were obtained by using Au @Ag NPs as the enhancement substrate. After data pretreatment, Raman characteristics of pathogens were analyzed by the PCA. PLS-DA and SVM-DA classifiers were employed to discriminate the feature data. To reduce the impact of sample variations on the modeling results, the influence of three data standardization methods, SNV, max-normalization, and area-normalization, on the predictive ability of the models was discussed. The predicted results demonstrated that SVM-DA, combining with SNV, achieved superior discrimination for bacteria mixtures. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of prediction validation were all above 0.93. When PLS-DA was combined with normalization techniques, better results were obtained for discriminating pork contaminated with different bacteria. In the predictive discriminant analysis, the classification accuracy reached 0.85. This work not only achieved rapid discrimination of biological cells in complex environments but also improved the accuracy of the classification model, providing a feasible idea for the analysis of pork contaminated with microorganism based on SERS by incorporating stoichiometric methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of purple glazed pottery in fifteenth-century England represented a major change in the character of domestic material culture. These wares typically evolved from the orange bodied, green glazed pottery of the later medieval period and were produced by a number of centres. This paper examines the technological advancements made by potters working at West Cowick (East Yorkshire) as they navigated the transition from green to purple glazed Humber wares. While it well known that recipes and firing regimes can be manipulated by potters to modify and enhance their colour pallet, the change exacted by West Cowick’s potters has been overlooked, dismissed by archaeologists as the result of over-firing. Through a range of analytical techniques (thin section petrology, scanning electron microscopy microstructural analysis, chemical characterisation of fabric and glaze by portable X-ray fluorescence analysis and scanning electron microscope–energy dispersive spectroscopy), we reconstruct the glazing practices employed by these potters, revealing innovative artisans, skilled in controlling glaze recipes and firing regimes, and able to effect major intentional changes in their product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SolidWorks Simulation software is used to analyze the stress state of one-sided butt welds that contain a convex element and a gap (incomplete fusion) at the root of the seam. Convexity of the weld seam intensifies the stress concentration due to the gap and increases the maximum stress in the weld. To minimize the stress in the weld, its convexity must be completely eliminated, and a groove of depth equal to the gap height must be made along the whole seam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the patterns of changes in the productivity of agricultural land in different growing areas in the zone of influence of State Protective Forest Belts (SPFB) is relevant due to the need to assess the future crop yield in fields with differences in geomorphological, soil, and climatic conditions in the research area. The object was to study the sowing of winter grain crops in fields mixed within the influence of State Protective Forest Belts. Materials and methods involved a research methodology based on the geoinformation analysis of the results of the decryption of actual satellite images, both to identify the distribution of cultivated fields located in the zone of influence of SPFB, and the state of crops on them. At the same time, the soil zonality of the research area was taken into account in view of the considerable length of forest strips. The assessment of the condition of winter grain crops as they move away from the planting was carried out using the NDVI vegetation index calculated from the high-resolution spectral channels of satellite images. Results and conclusions: based on the results of the research, a database of spatial data of the processed fields has been compiled. The grouping of fields was carried out both according to the similarity of the conditions of the places of cultivation of crops and by agricultural crops. Their placement and geomorphological parameters have been established. With the use of geoinformation technologies for groups of fields using statistical processing tools, the average values of the width and area of the selected zones of influence, as well as terrain parameters, were determined. During geoinformation mapping, data on the state of crops at the end of May were obtained based on the change in the NDVI index by field groupings in the zone of SPFB impact. These data are the basis for the forecast of crop yields, taking into account the spatial location of fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Due to the increasing usage of plastic, microplastics or plastic particles with a length of 1 to 5 mm are omnipresent in the environment, including freshwater, agricultural soil and seas. The majority of plastic trash is made up of microplastic debris, which has lately started to threaten ecosystems. This calls for immediate management and analysis to ensure the traceability of microplastics in the environment. The polymeric variety, irregular shape and microscopic size of microplastics make it difficult to quantify their presence in the environment. In this review, the analytical techniques for evaluating microplastics are discussed. The techniques included Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, laser diffraction particle, thermal analysis, scanning electron microscope, pyrolysis gas chromatography, dynamic light scattering, and atmospheric solid analysis probe (ASAP) paired with quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS). Short conclusion: The purpose of the present review is to give a summary of the most efficient cutting-edge techniques for more accurate and precise microplastic examination in the environmental samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the risk of reoperation following autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) of the knee utilizing third-generation ACI products in a time-to-event analysis and report on the associated patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) in case of reoperation. Methods: Patients undergoing ACI were included from a longitudinal database. Patient age, sex, body mass index (BMI), number of previous surgeries, lesion localization, lesion size, symptom duration, as well as time and type of reoperation was extracted. A cox proportional-hazards model was applied to investigate the influence of baseline variables on risk of reoperation. Reoperation was defined as any type of subsequent ipsilateral knee surgery, excluding hardware removal. The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) was utilized to compare PROM between patients with and without reoperation. Results: A total of 2039 patients were included with 1359 (66.7%) having a minimum follow-up of 24 months. There were overall 243 reoperations (prevalence 17.9%). Minor arthroscopic procedures (n = 96, 39.5%) and revision cartilage repair procedures (n = 78, 32.1%) were the most common reoperations. Nineteen patients (0.9%) reported conversion arthroplasty at 17.7 (10.4) months after ACI. Female sex (HR 1.5, 95% CI [1.2, 2.0], p = 0.002) and the presence of 1–2 previous surgeries (HR 1.5, 95% CI [1.1, 2.0], p = 0.010), or more than 2 previous surgeries (HR 1.9, 95% CI [1.2, 2.9], p = 0.004) were significantly associated with increased risk of reoperation following ACI. Significantly less patients surpassed the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in the reoperation group at 24 months regarding the KOOS subscores pain (OR 1.6, 95% CI [1.1, 2.2]), quality of life (OR 2.2, 95% CI [1.6, 3.2]), symptoms (OR 2.0 [1.4, 2.9]), and sports (OR 2.0 [1.4, 2.8]). Conclusion: Female patients and individuals with a history of previous surgeries face an elevated risk of requiring reoperation after undergoing ACI, which is associated with failure to attain clinically relevant improvements. A thorough evaluation of the indications for ACI is paramount, particularly when patients have a history of previous surgeries. Level of evidence: Level III. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Doñana's landscape is a mosaic of different types of transitions at different spatial and temporal scales. Among them, stationary transitions are relatively stable over time, while directional transitions involve the unidirectional movement of boundaries. The fiftieth anniversary of the Doñana National Park (SW Spain) provided a framework to test the transformation of a biotic transition from stationary to directional. Objectives: This study aimed to examine landscape changes along a stationary groundwater-dependent transition, the processes responsible for them, and the consequences for the biotic transition. Methods: Through detailed photointerpretation, nine land use/land cover categories were mapped at four dates (1971, 1984, 2002, 2019) on a ca. 2 square km plot, and then changes analysed at three levels (interval, category, and transition) using Intensity Analysis. Potential causes including precipitation, groundwater levels, local management and changes in the surroundings were examined to understand the changes. Results: Juniper woodland, spontaneous pines and mixed shrub categories showed the greatest gains and were most active. In the third interval (2002–19) largest transitions from pond-grassland to several terrestrial categories and the dead of heathlands indicate the encroachment of xeric communities into hygrophytic ones. Observed changes seem to be due to succession, forestry management and extrinsic drivers such groundwater overexploitation in the surroundings of the protected area. Conclusions: The long-term study of this stationary transition shows the weakening of the factors that controlled its establishment, the loss of its constituent habitats due to groundwater withdrawal, and its conversion into a directional transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying water use efficiency, and the impact of stomata on CO2 uptake are pivotal in physiology and efforts to improve crop yields. Although tempting, relying on regression slopes from assimilation-stomatal conductance plots to estimate water use efficiency or stomatal control over assimilation is erroneous. Through numerical simulations, I substantiate this assertion. I propose the term 'instantaneous transpiration efficiency' for the assimilation-to-transpiration ratio to avoid confusion with 'intrinsic water use efficiency' which refers to the assimilation-to-stomatal conductance ratio, and recommend to compute both metrics for each gas exchange data point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus has been avowed world epidemic by the Organisation Mondiale de la Santé on March 11th 2020. Formerly, numerous investigators have endeavoured to envisage divergent periods of covid-19 malady and their possessions. Several have contemplate the temporal order of the events as primary factor which will contribute to the onset of infectious ailment including flu, influenza, etc. During this research analysis, total daily corroborated infested cases basedprognostication models for the time-series database of India for 30 days are estimated by applying extremely boosted neural network (XBNet). The main objective to introduce this XBNet model is to build an efficient and accurate time series deep learning model. Further, the performance of this model with previously developed time series models including logistic regression, facebook prophet, and sarimax is contrasted. To compare performance, numerous performance parameters like MAPE, RMSE, MAE, and MSE are employed to examine the consequence of model-fitting. This research also shows analysis of coronavirus cases based on three factors namely mortality rate, discharge rate, and the growth factor during different phases of lockdown. Also, projected the prediction of the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases for various time periods. This work presented the forecasts by applying the dataset that was attainable upto August 11th, 2021. The XBNet model showed a 99.27 percent precision accuracy and relatively less MSE, MAPE, RMSE, and MAE than other models. The results confirm superiority of the proposed approach over prevailing approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread to more than 200 countries worldwide, leading to more than 36 million confirmed cases as of October 10, 2020. As such, several machine learning models that can forecast the outbreak globally have been released. This work presents a review and brief analysis of the most important machine learning forecasting models against COVID-19. The work presented in this study possesses two parts. In the first section, a detailed scientometric analysis presents an influential tool for bibliometric analyses, which were performed on COVID-19 data from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. For the above-mentioned analysis, keywords and subject areas are addressed, while the classification of machine learning forecasting models, criteria evaluation, and comparison of solution approaches are discussed in the second section of the work. The conclusion and discussion are provided as the final sections of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3D image-guidance platforms have transformed spinal surgery by enhancing visualization, increasing precision, and improving patient outcomes. However, with high procurement, operational, and maintenance costs relative to the standard of care, the benefits of acquiring these platforms must be thoroughly assessed. This study aims to develop a model that weighs the cost of a typical 3D navigation platform against its clinical benefits to determine the facility case volume required to justify its purchase. Using Medtronic's StealthStation and O-Arm as a market example, we calculated the break-even case volume by dividing the cost of the platform by the difference in gross margins between 3D navigation and the standard of care. Total gross margins earned from first-time and revision surgeries were calculated based on each payer's reimbursement rate and covered case volume, as well as each technology's revision rate. Values reported in literature and by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services databases were plugged into the model to calculate variables. At a 0% reimbursement rate from private payers for revision surgeries, an annual case volume of 158 spinal surgeries would be required to justify the per-year 3D navigation cost; at 100% private payer reimbursement, 352 surgeries would be required. Given these volumes, 61% of all US inpatient facilities cannot justify 3D navigation at 0% reimbursement, and 86% cannot justify it at 100% reimbursement. Accordingly, greater pricing flexibility, such as per-procedure models, is required for 3D navigation systems to standardize clinical outcomes across medical centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of the results of experimental studies of bulk materials mixing process in a developed laboratory centrifuge having an adapter with alternating radial channels, nozzles and blades showed that the operating parameter of the device (rotation speed) has a significant effect on the pattern of distribution of the number of particles of each bulk component (in case of formation of rarefied component flows) along the height of the vertical trap. Particularly, with increase of the rotor speed by 1.67 times the maximum mass fraction of all particles of the descending rarefied flow shifts by one cell of the vertical trap. It was observed that for two types of mixtures (with 0.67 and 0.62 ratios of true densities of the substances of the key and transporting components) the conditions of their quality mixing are met. The obtained results may be useful for verification of stochastic models of formation of rarefied flows of particles of components being mixed using a rotating adapter with radial channels, nozzles and blades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IoT and Embedded devices grow at an exponential rate, however, without adequate security mechanisms in place. One of the key challenges in the cyber world is the security of these devices. One of the main reasons that these devices are active targets for large-scale cyber-attacks is a lack of security standards and thorough testing by manufacturers. Manufacturer-specific operating systems or firmware of various architectures and characteristics are typically included with these devices. However, due to a lack of security testing and/or late patching, the underlying firmware or operating systems are vulnerable to numerous types of vulnerabilities. Reverse engineering and in-depth research of the firmware is required to detect the vulnerabilities. In this paper, we've delved into various aspects of IoT and embedded devices. This includes a comprehensive survey on the architecture of firmware, techniques for firmware extraction, and state-of-the-art vulnerability analysis frameworks for the detection of vulnerabilities using various approaches like static, dynamic, and hybrid approaches. Furthermore, we've scrutinized the challenges of existing vulnerability analysis frameworks and proposed a novel framework to address these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According results of a theoretical analysis of the countercurrent column operation for the liquid phase catalytic exchange (LPCE) between hydrogen and water in a mode with independent flows of hydrogen and water, it is shown that there are temperature-dependent maximum values of the molar ratio of hydrogen and water flows, at which the separation performance of the column towards isotope mixtures of protium–tritium and protium–deuterium diminishes. Options for the operation of a chemical treatment column were experimentally studied provided that water vapor condensate is returned to the column from the output steam–gas flow or without it. The experimental results are consistent with the theoretical analysis performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Novichok" refers to a new group of nerve agents called the A-series agents. Their existence came to light in 2018 after incidents in the UK and again in 2020 in Russia. They are unique organophosphorus-based compounds developed during the Cold War in a program called Foliant in the USSR. This review is based on original chemical entities from Mirzayanov's memoirs published in 2008. Due to classified research, a considerable debate arose about their structures, and hence, various structural moieties were speculated. For this reason, the scientific literature is highly incomplete and, in some cases, contradictory. This review critically assesses the information published to date on this class of compounds. The scope of this work is to summarize all the available and relevant information, including the physicochemical properties, chemical synthesis, mechanism of action, toxicity, pharmacokinetics, and medical countermeasures used to date. The environmental stability of A-series agents, the lack of environmentally safe decontamination, their high toxicity, and the scarcity of information on post-contamination treatment pose a challenge for managing possible incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrete linear polytopic systems affected by random correlated stationary disturbances are considered. New numerical methods for estimating of the anisotropic norm of a polytopic system using linear matrix inequalities are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malus prunifolia polysaccharides have the important application prospect. Crude Malus prunifolia polysaccharides were extracted. The refined polysaccharides were obtained by protein removal and dialysis, and then purified by DEAE-52 anion exchange column and Sephadex G-100 column in turn to obtain the homogeneous polysaccharide. Results showed that the Malus prunifolia polysaccharide, with Mw of 6.9 × 104 Da and → 4)-α-d-Galp (1 → 4)-α-d-Glcp (1 → glycosidic bond, was a heterosaccharide composed of arabose, galactose, glucose, xylose and galacturonic acid. It showed that the Malus prunifolia polysaccharide and its derivatives had a high potential in scavenging DPPH radical, hydroxyl radical, superoxide anion and reducing ability. The results of activity in vivo showed that the results of antioxidant activity showed that the polysaccharide and its derivatives could significantly increase the activity of SOD in mice and significantly reduce the content of MDA in mouse liver tissue. This study provided the reference for further study and rational development of Malus prunifolia polysaccharides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to systematically assess body and facial aesthetic surgery before-and-after photography bias on Instagram. Methods: An Instagram search using the term "plastic surgeon" was conducted on October 2020. The top 11 plastic surgeons' accounts were selected, and the first 15 images were selected from these profiles pertaining to different anatomical locations. Each photo was analyzed by a blinded board-certified plastic surgeon utilizing a 5-domain clinical photography bias score. The domains covered: (1) photo quality; (2) photo background; (3) position; (4) exposure/coverage; (5) bias. Results: The search strategy identified a total of 161 sets of before and after. The most common anatomical site posted was the nose (n=47), followed by breasts (n=37). The most common angles posted were anterior–posterior view (n=61). The majority of images showed bias toward the post-operative image (70.8%). The main culprit with photo characteristics occurred due to there being a different post-operative background which was more flattering for the post-operative result (n=46, p=0.006) and a different view or angle, which again, flattered the post-operative image (n=36, p=0.02). Other factors that influenced the post-operative bias included photos of the patient covered with clothing (n=15, p=0.014) or standing (n=20, p=0.001), compared to a supine pre-operative image. Conclusion: Before-and-after photography conditions in aesthetic surgery is biased toward the post-operative result on Instagram. This observation was noticed across all surgical anatomical areas. Accounts photographer tends to misrepresent the photo background, view of angle, patients pose or position, or covering certain body parts. Level of Evidence IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work describes the convergence of the misalignment square norm (MSN) of the NLMS and LMS algorithms. It is shown that the MSN decrease is almost proportional to the mean square error (MSE). This allows obtaining simple expressions for the steady-state MSE. Also, it allows limiting the amount of time that the MSE takes large values and a curve that limits the MSE of LMS at any given time, independent of the input and background noise signals' properties. Finally, it is also shown that many complications in the analysis of the LMS and NLMS algorithms can come from variations in the input vector square norm. The proposed analysis becomes very simple for long filters or constant power signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of rapid chromatographic procedures is of utmost relevance to analytical laboratories since the modern pharmaceutical business is continually developing faster and more precise methods of drug discovery, development, distribution, and monitoring. Comprehensive two-dimensional (2D) chromatography is being developed as a tool to address challenges in the analysis of complex materials. Complex sample analyses may yield data that is challenging to quickly and accurately process. Here, chemometric analysis of data has shown to be the most fruitful and illuminating method. There are several applications for the determination of organic chemicals in samples with varying matrices. Gas/liquid chromatographic techniques are used for the bulk of organic chemical determinations. Therefore, it is crucial that these processes have minimal effects on the natural world. The collection and processing of samples, chromatographic separation, and final determination might all have less environmental impact if chromatographic methods were used. In both GC and LC, multidimensional separation methods may be used to improve the environmental friendliness of the analysis. The study describes 2D chromatographic techniques for GC-MS, 2D-LC, 2D-GC, 2D-CE, FTIR, and 2D-IR. Moreover, their advantages, challenges, and previous analytical data are also covered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies indicated that inhalation of smoke and toxic fumes is the most common form of domestic fire injury. In this article we examine the socio-demographic, contributory, and firefighting behaviour factors associated with accidental dwelling fire smoke / toxic fumes inhalation injuries. In particular, we examine age band, gender, occupancy level, deprivation, alcohol / drug consumption, and attempting to fight a domestic fire in the Merseyside area of North-West England covered by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service over the period 2011 to 2022. Smoke / toxic fumes inhalation injuries occurred more in single occupancy as opposed to multiple occupancy dwellings by a ratio of 2 to 1 over the period studied. The majority of the accidental dwelling fire smoke / toxic fumes inhalation injuries occurred in areas with the highest level of deprivation within the area studied. Alcohol / drug consumption was a contributory factor in roughly 14% of the smoke / toxic fumes inhalation injuries. Smoke / toxic fumes inhalation injuries sustained attempting to fight the fire constituted roughly 12% of the total number of smoke / toxic fumes inhalation injuries over the period studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors consider the main possibilities of using gas chromatography to study catalysts and catalytic processes. The development of sampling along with microcatalytic and pulsed means is shown in a historical context. Current promising areas of gas chromatographic studies and equipment for the effective separation of multicomponent mixtures of substances governed by the progress of complex catalytic reactions are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose an approach to solving two-dimensional linear and nonlinear boundary-value problems of statics for shallow shells based on the generalized method of finite integral transformations and Newton– Kantorovich–Raphson method of linearization. In the linear case, the application of the generalized method of finite integral transformations is reduced to the construction of two integral transformations with respect to different variables in the analyzed domain under the assumption that the kernels of one transformation are the transforms of the second transformation, and vice versa. To solve the obtained system of two one-dimensional problems, we use an iterative procedure, which is an analog of the Libman– Gauss–Seidel procedure in the linear algebra. In the nonlinear case, on the basis of a rational combination of the Newton–Kantorovich–Raphson linearization method and the generalized method of finite integral transformations, we construct a single iterative process that combines two types of iterations, namely, the procedure of linearization of the nonlinear problem (Newton–Kantorovich–Raphson method) and the procedure of solving of a separate linearized problem (Libman–Gauss–Seidel method). This process converges sufficiently rapidly (the number of iterations is within the limits of one order of magnitude) and gives a stationary solution of the input problem for a small number (3–5) of transforms (kernels) in the inverse transformation. We present examples of verification of the proposed approach and study the problem of stability of shallow shells under various conditions of fastening of the boundary contour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big ideas in science education are meant to be interpretive frameworks that empower student learning. Unfortunately, outside of the broad conception of scientific evaluation, there are few theoretical explanations of how this might happen. Therefore, we contribute one such explanation, an instructional concept called integrative analysis wherein students use a big idea to interconnect isolated scenarios and enrich their meanings. We illustrate the characteristics and value of integrative analysis within an empirical study of student learning in 9th-grade biology. The study focused on using energy transfer as a big idea for teaching cellular respiration. Fifty-nine students were randomly assigned to one of two instructional conditions. In the "analysis" condition, students processed a set of three manipulatives representing cellular respiration molecules; then, they abstracted the deep energy transfer structure of these manipulatives as a big idea. In the "recognition" condition, students processed the same molecule-manipulatives, but without energy interpretations. Instead, they constructed additional manipulatives using novel materials. Then, students in both conditions received an identical lesson where they used their knowledge of the manipulatives to learn about one cellular respiration process, glycolysis. Specifically, students processed a sequence of three texts describing glycolysis, annotating the texts with either their deep energy transfer structure (analysis condition) or their contextualized knowledge of the manipulatives (recognition condition). A posttest showed that in the analysis condition, this process was significantly integrative as evidenced by analysis students' advantage over recognition students in connecting glycolysis to novel phenomena and generating causal explanations about glycolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well-known that the satisfiability problem of feature diagrams (FDs) is computationally hard. This paper examines the complexities of the satisfiability problems of sixteen FD sublanguages, i.e., languages that only permit a subset of the syntactic modeling elements of general FDs. Previous work neglected a detailed examination of the complexities of the satisfiability problems of FD sublanguages, although results in this area could lead to the development of efficient satisfiability checking procedures for the FDs of specific sublanguages. This paper contributes to fill this gap by analyzing the complexities of the satisfiability problems of sixteen FD sublanguages that differ in whether they allow or-groups, xor-groups, excludes constraints, and requires constraints. The results of this paper show that the satisfiability problem is NP-complete for eight of these sublanguages, is solvable in linear time for two of these sublanguages, and is trivial for the remaining six sublanguages in the sense that every FD of these sublanguages is satisfiable. The results are extended to feature model sublanguages with complex cross-tree constraints by extending FD sublanguages that have satisfiability problems, which are solvable in polynomial time. The feature model sublanguages also have satisfiability problems that are solvable in polynomial time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the aerospace industry is improving competitive systems because of potential development in new aircraft demand, which are to be supplied on a unique manufacturing system while diminishing components changeover time and developing the total quality management program of the manufacturing system. It should be successfully using special jigs and fixtures in the production system. A specialized modular fixture includes standard components that can be applied to success flexibly and rapidly respond to engineering design characteristics. In our study, the purpose of the concept is to design and analyze flexible modular fixtures for aircraft fuselage panel assembly for the aerospace industry. The developed modular fixturing system can be easily adapted to other sectors such as automobiles or machinery due to its flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated design of a stirrup for cable manufacturers in the Republic of Mordovia is considered. Theoretical methods (analogy, classification, analysis, and literature analysis) and empirical methods (calculation, modeling) are used. The SolidWorks system permits analysis of the stress–strain state of composite components installed in equipment for cable production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper addresses the convergence of a first-order in time incremental projection scheme for the time-dependent incompressible Navier–Stokes equations to a weak solution. We prove the convergence of the approximate solutions obtained by a semi-discrete scheme and a fully discrete scheme using a staggered finite volume scheme on non uniform rectangular meshes. Some first a priori estimates on the approximate solutions yield their existence. Compactness arguments, relying on these estimates, together with some estimates on the translates of the discrete time derivatives, are then developed to obtain convergence (up to the extraction of a subsequence), when the time step tends to zero in the semi-discrete scheme and when the space and time steps tend to zero in the fully discrete scheme; the approximate solutions are thus shown to converge to a limit function which is then shown to be a weak solution to the continuous problem by passing to the limit in these schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is the most abundant brominated flame retardant and bisphenol A (BPA) is often identified as the metabolic product of TBBPA. Both of them are highly bioconcentrated and show serious biological toxicity. In this study, an analytical method was optimized to simultaneously determine TBBPA and BPA in plant samples. Moreover, the uptake and metabolism of TBBPA in maize were investigated through hydroponic exposure experiment. The whole analysis procedure included ultrasonic extraction, lipid removal, purification by solid-phase extraction cartridge, derivatization, and detection by GC/MS. Optimizations were conducted for each pretreatment step above. After improvement, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) was chosen as the extraction solvent; the lipid removal was conducted by repartition between organic solvent and alkaline solution. The best suitable pH condition is 2–2.5 for the inorganic solvent before used for further purification by HLB and silica column with the optimized elute solvent of acetone and mixtures of acetone and hexane (1:1), respectively. The recoveries of TBBPA and BPA spiked in maize samples were 69±4% and 66±4% with the relative standard deviation less than 5%, respectively, for the entire treatment procedure. Limits of detections were 4.10 ng/g and 0.13 ng/g for TBBPA and BPA in plant samples, respectively. In the hydroponic exposure experiment (100 μg/L, 15 d), the concentrations of TBBPA in maize cultivated in pH 5.8 and pH 7.0 Hoagland solutions were 1.45 and 0.89 μg/g in roots and 8.45 and 6.34 ng/g in stems, while they were all below the detection limit for leaves, respectively. The distribution of TBBPA in different tissues was as the following order: root>>stem>leaf, illustrating the accumulation in the root and the translocation to the stem. The uptake variations under different pH conditions were attributed to the change of TBBPA species, now that it shows greater hydrophobicity at lower pH condition as a kind of ionic organic contaminant. Monobromobisphenol A and dibromobisphenol A were identified as metabolisms products of TBBPA in maize. The efficiency and simplicity of the method that we proposed characterize its potential application as a screening tool for environmental monitoring and contribute to a comprehensive study of the environmental behavior of TBBPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]