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Abstract Background Dengue remains a major public health problem in the Philippines, particularly in urban areas of the National Capital Region. Thematic mapping using geographic information systems complemented by spatial analysis such as cluster analysis and hot spot detection can provide useful information to guide preventive measures and control strategies against dengue. Hence, this study was aimed to describe the spatiotemporal distribution of dengue incidence and identify dengue hot spots by barangay using reported cases from Quezon City, the Philippines from 2010 to 2017. Methods Reported dengue case data at barangay level from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2017 were obtained from the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit. The annual incidence rate of dengue from 2010 to 2017, expressed as the total number of dengue cases per 10,000 population in each year, was calculated for each barangay. Thematic mapping, global cluster analysis, and hot spot analysis were performed using ArcGIS 10.3.1. Results The number of reported dengue cases and their spatial distribution varied highly between years. Local clusters were evident during the study period. Eighteen barangays were identified as hot spots. Conclusions Considering the spatial heterogeneity and instability of hot spots in Quezon City across years, efforts towards the containment of dengue can be made more targeted, and efficient with the application of hot spot analysis in routine surveillance. This may be useful not only for the control of dengue but also for other diseases, and for public health planning, monitoring, and evaluation.

Abstract Background Identification of hot spots in protein–DNA binding interfaces is extremely important for understanding the underlying mechanisms of protein–DNA interactions and drug design. Since experimental methods for identifying hot spots are time-consuming and expensive, and most of the existing computational methods are based on traditional protein–DNA features to predict hot spots, unable to make full use of the effective information in the features. Results In this work, a method named WTL-PDH is proposed for hot spots prediction. To deal with the unbalanced dataset, we used the Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique to generate minority class samples to achieve the balance of dataset. First, we extracted the solvent accessible surface area features and structural features, and then processed the traditional features using discrete wavelet transform and wavelet packet transform to extract the wavelet energy information and wavelet entropy information, and obtained a total of 175 dimensional features. In order to obtain the best feature subset, we systematically evaluate these features in various feature selection strategies. Finally, light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) was used to establish the model. Conclusions Our method achieved good results on independent test set with AUC, MCC and F1 scores of 0.838, 0.533 and 0.750, respectively. WTL-PDH can achieve generally better performance in predicting hot spots when compared with state-of-the-art methods. The dataset and source code are available at https://github.com/chase2555/WTL-PDH .

Featured Application: Solar panel fire accident diagnosis, analysis, and prediction. Fires in photovoltaic modules are caused by hot spots, which are typically monitored by thermal images. This method helps visualize the hot spot, but it is affected by the environment (solar irradiance, wind, ambient temperature) and is not reproducible. Assessing the heat dissipation of the hot cell can be used for alternative assessment of the fire risk. This method was validated by comparing the value measured by the surface potential meter and the module potential measured directly by adding a bypass measurement circuit. The substantial reverse-bias voltage caused by mismatching or partial shading (depending on the operating conditions) leads to local heat consumption of the partially shaded solar cells and potentially causes fire. The fire risk can be assessed in the worst-case conditions (ex. 1380 W/m2 solar irradiance) by non-contact measurement of the reverse-bias voltage and calculating the heat dissipation and temperature rise. This work suggested that −13 V is the criterion and was close to the known value of reverse voltage for Si cells. The current technology inspects solar cells before assembly to the module, and there is no way of inspecting in the product test or detecting after degradation that can be covered by the proposed method in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "hotspot" refers to the sharp increase of reflectance occurring when incident (solar) and reflected (viewing) directions coincide in the backscatter direction. The accurate simulation of hotspot directional signatures is important for many remote sensing applications. The RossThick-LiSparse-Reciprocal (RTLSR) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) model is widely used in radiative transfer simulations, but it typically requires large values of numerical quadrature and Fourier expansion terms in order to represent the hotspot accurately. In this paper, we have developed an improved hotspot BRDF model that converges much faster, making it more practical for use in atmospheric radiative transfer simulations of top-of-atmosphere (TOA) hotspot signatures. Using the VLIDORT RT model, we found that reasonable TOA hotspot accuracy can be obtained with just 23 Fourier terms for clear atmospheres, and 63 Fourier terms for atmospheres with aerosol scattering. We carried out a number of hotspot signature simulations with VLIDORT to study to the impact of molecular and aerosol scattering on hotspot signatures. We confirmed that (1) atmospheric scattering tends to smooth out the hotspot signature at the TOA, but has no impact on hotspot width; and (2) the hotspot signature at the TOA in the near-infrared is larger than in the visible, and has an obvious increase with the solar zenith angle. As the hotspot amplitude at the TOA with aerosol scattering included is smaller than that with molecular scattering only, the amplitude of hotspot signature at the surface is likely underestimated in the previous analysis based on the POLDER measurements, where the atmospheric correction was based on a single-scatter Rayleigh-only calculation. We also draw attenuation to a scaling factor of 3/4 which has been applied to the Ross-Thick kernel with hotspot correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying and locating areas – hot spots – that present high concentration of observations in a high-dimensional data set is crucial in many data processing and analysis methods and techniques, since observations that belong to the same hot spot share information and behave in a similar way. A useful tool towards that aim is the reduction of the data dimensionality and the graphical representation of them. In the present paper, a new method to identify and locate hot spots is proposed, based on the Andrews curves. Simulations results demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, which is also applied to a high-dimensional data set, regarding caregiver distress related to symptoms of people with neurocognitive disorder and to the mental effects of the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experimental analysis of ignition responses of mildly impacted Ammonium Perchorate (AP) particles was performed based on an optimized drop‐weight system equipped with a High‐Speed Camera (HSC). The experimental results suggested that the jetting phenomena observed by HSC is the result of the energy released by gaseous products, which push the pulverized or melted particles to splash radially. In the process of complex stress stimulation, AP particles experienced four stages of compaction, solid phase transition, sputtering, and ignition. In addition, with the increase in temperature, AP particle sensitivity increased. At room temperature, AP particles are insensitive particles. When the temperature is 50 °C, the ignition threshold of AP particles is 40 cm. However, when the temperature increases to 100 °C, the ignition threshold is 35 cm. Finally, particle friction and rapid gas compression are the main reasons for the ignition of AP particles during impact loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated a low-cost, highly sensitive hybrid Ag-Cu substrate with enhanced absorption for the excitation laser beam via the nanosphere lithography technique. The hybrid Ag-Cu surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate consists of a Cu nanoarray covered with Ag nanoparticles. The geometry of the deposited Cu nanoarray is precisely determined through a self-assembly nanosphere etching process, resulting in optimized absorption for the excitation laser beam. Further Raman enhancement is achieved by incorporating plasmonic hotspots formed by dense Ag nanoparticles, grown by immersing the prepared Cu nanoarray in a silver nitrate solution. The structural design enables analytical enhancement factor of hybrid Ag-Cu SERS substrates of 1.13 × 105. The Ag-Cu SERS substrates exhibit a highly sensitive and reproducible SERS activity, with a low detection limit of 10−13 M for Rhodamine 6G detection and 10−9 M for 4,4′-Bipyridine. Our strategy could pave an effective and promising approach for SERS-based rapid detection in biosensors, environmental monitoring and food safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Urban Regeneration Act in 2013, central and local Korean governments have endeavored to regenerate deprived urban neighborhoods. This study analyzed how these efforts have changed the nature of neighborhood identity in Yanglim, Gwangju, Korea. The authors analyzed 62,386 Naver blog posts from 2013 to 2022, utilizing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique, Topic Modeling (i.e., Latent Dirichlet Allocation). Using trend analysis by topic, three phases were identified: (1) Phase 1: Flourishment (January 2013 to October 2016); (2) Phase 2: Maturation (November 2016 to February 2020); and (3) Phase 3: COVID-19 (March 2020 to October 2022). In the first phase, the collective actions between the local government and citizens to improve the declined neighborhood formed the Yanglim area's reputation as the "History and Cultural Village" and as "Penguin Village". The unique identity of the area in the second phase, along with gentrification issues, created a hot spot (e.g., cafés and restaurants), drawing the attention of tourists and locals. More recently, the Yanglim area has become a place for locals' daily activities with their loved ones, as tourist traffic greatly dropped off due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Until now, the Yanglim area has experienced a process of successful urban regeneration from flourishment to degentrification. AI techniques represent a novel application that can support policy makers and stakeholders in understanding citizens and taking further actions to create economically and socially sustainable neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diagnosing and identifying the ecological risks of cultivated land is a critical prerequisite for carrying out ecological restoration and ensuring ecological security of cultivated land. The influence factors of landscape ecological risk of cultivated land in Inner Mongolia were quantified by multi-dimensional perspective of “nature-society-landscape”, the comprehensive landscape ecological risk of cultivated land was evaluated using spatial principal component analysis(SPCA), and the weight of each impact factor was quantified; based on evaluation results, the spatial aggregation characteristics of ecological risks, which was later used to identify the key areas of ecological restoration, were identified, and the restoration countermeasure was put forward. The results show that ① the landscape ecological risk of cultivated land in Inner Mongolia is driven by multiple factors, cultivated landscape fragmentation, mining pollution, water resources stress and poor habitat quality are the major ecological risks. ② The ecological risk is lower at the region, where the distribution of cultivated land is concentrated and the cultivated land patches are large and unbroken, or along the river; conversely, the ecological risk is higher at the region, where the cultivated land is scattered and the cultivated land patches are small or at the edge of the large area patches. ③ There is a significant spatial aggregation of landscape ecological risks of cultivated land in Inner Mongolia with cold spot areas distributing at Nenjiang River Basin, Xiliaohe River Basin, Hetao Plain and Tumochuan Plain, while the hot spot areas distributing at the south of Inner Mongolia. The hot spot areas are diagnosed as the key ecological restoration zones, where ecological restoration projects, including remediating farmland fragmentation, constructing farmland ecological infrastructure, constructing water-saving irrigation infrastructure, and returning farmland to forest or grassland, are recommended; the cold spot areas are diagnosed as agricultural development zones, where is suggested to develop green agriculture and promote the combination of planting and farming; other areas are diagnosed as farmland conservation areas, where is recommended to strengthen the construction of farmland ecological infrastructure and expand the vegetation coverage in agricultural space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This area of the city is critical because its structure is an indispensable system, consisting of several units, and of all the various elements, which make their inconsistency an impression on the whole system and the whole of a city's structure. The survey of inequality and its funds is located in different geographical borders in recent years of the work of Harriet and politicians. The existence of inequality and various dimensions has not been judged by the topography of an important development. The aim of this inquiry into alien inequality or other interpretation of the distribution of space is to maintain an economic, social, and domestic involvement.Data and Method: The research method is descriptive-analytical and practical in terms of purpose. After theoretical investigations of population and housing census data for three consecutive periods (1385, 1390, 1395) and converting them into per capita and different ratios into indexes, to investigate the inequality situation, Also, the recognition of the spatial pattern of the expansion of inequality for the three extracted periods of the research implementation process based on these indicators and spatial statistics models, Spatial Statistics tools, Hot Spot Analysis and Moran's I spatial autocorrelation have been used in Arc/GIS software.Results: According to the numerical output, Moran's index is equal to 0.071892, 0.144981, 0.633505 for the years 1385, 1390, 1395, respectively, and since its value is positive and tends to one, and according to If the p-value is zero and the calculated Z value (its absolute value) is large, then it is within the confidence limit, and as a result, the data have spatial autocorrelation. Therefore, the distribution pattern of inequality is a cluster.Conclusion: In general, the result shows that the situation arises from a class distance, a duality in the city, and that the difference between the sexes in the time of the observation, and that it is necessary to keep a town management for themselves, at least of the necessary.

The invention of Chirped Pulse Amplification lasers along with the development of fast ignition methods have made fuels such as proton–boron-11 seem promising nuclear fusion energy sources because of their lack of high-energy neutrons and abundance of constituent isotopes. This paper investigates the transport of charged particles in proton–boron-11 fuel. In this study, the confinement parameter has been estimated as ρ R = 1 2 g/cm2 with the help of a proton driver in the fast ignition method for proton–boron-11 fuel pellets, with a ratio of boron-11 to proton = 0. 3. Subsequently, using the Li–Petrasso stopping-power model, the energy deposition coefficients of the accelerated proton-beam driver were calculated by the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration method with 1 MeV energy. The obtained results show that at a temperature of about 65 keV, the proton-beam driver with 1 MeV energy deposits about 85% of its energy in the hot spot area of 2.5 μ m depth from the surface of the fuel pellet to ignite the proton–boron-11 fuel pellet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein–protein interactions (PPIs) have vital roles in almost all cellular processes, although they are regarded as 'undruggable' therapeutic targets because of their large, flat, featureless interfaces. Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) shows advantages for the design of modulators to inhibit or stabilize PPIs, with two drugs approved and more than ten compounds in clinical trials. Fragments tend to bind at 'hot spots' of PPI interfaces, and the locations of different 'hot spots' provide directions for fragment evolution to discover more potent PPI modulators. Fragment hits with new mode of actions, including covalent fragments and fragments binding at allosteric sites, have become important sources of PPI modulators. Emerging technologies, such as cryo-electron microscopy, covalent tethering, and artificial intelligence, are accelerating the application of FBDD targeting PPIs. Protein–protein interactions (PPIs) have important roles in various cellular processes, but are commonly described as 'undruggable' therapeutic targets due to their large, flat, featureless interfaces. Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has achieved great success in modulating PPIs, with more than ten compounds in clinical trials. Here, we highlight the progress of FBDD in modulating PPIs for therapeutic development. Targeting hot spots that have essential roles in both fragment binding and PPIs provides a shortcut for the development of PPI modulators via FBDD. We highlight successful cases of cracking the 'undruggable' problems of PPIs using fragment-based approaches. We also introduce new technologies and future trends. Thus, we hope that this review will provide useful guidance for drug discovery targeting PPIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the aero-engine combustor liner, a phenomenon of overheating resembling a hot spot exists, accompanied by a preferential peeling of the YSZ thermal barrier coating that will negatively affect the service life of the component. The hot spot temperatures will affect the ineffectiveness of YSZ, so in this paper, the morphological and property changes of YSZ sintering is investigated experimentally, and a coupled analysis of the YSZ crack propagation mode under the hot spot is performed using ABAQUS. The results show that the pore fractal size D of YSZ increases by 15%. Inside the hot spot region, the coating has a shear stress of 75 MPa. By inserting cohesive units globally in the FEM to simulate the random crack initiation and propagation, unlike the thinning of YSZ layered peeling caused by uniform superheating, the hot spot will cause the crack initiation at the tip of the pores inside the coating and the oblique propagation, eventually forming an oblique crack connection through the pores. When the temperature gradient reaches 30 K/mm, the crack propagation is 40% greater than in a uniform temperature field; consequently, the YSZ in the hot spot boundary region with a greater temperature gradient results in more severe bulk peeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An actual scientific and practical task related to the sustainable development of the country’s energy sector is to forecast parameters and predict the conditions of operation of solar cells and solar batteries in regular and non-regular situations. It is emphasized that this makes it possible to provide solar energy with high efficiency indicators, in particular, the indicator of profitability on invested capital in the construction of solar panels. The main specific research method is regression analysis – to build a forecast model of the total amount of generated energy of solar panels in ground installations under variable conditions of operation. An analysis of the distribution of the output data of the model by the number of solar battery modules was carried out using the example of terrestrial solar installations. To obtain empirical data, 31 objects in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia oblasts, which have functioning solar batteries with different numbers of modules, were selected. This makes it possible to calculate the weighted average amount of generated energy during operation under variable conditions. 10 intervals of frequency values were separated with the largest range of values within the interval of 10,000–20,000 pieces of solar modules. A model of the dependence of the total amount of generated energy on the number of solar battery modules and the weighted average amount of generated energy was built based on regression analysis. It was determined that the influencing factor of the model «number of solar modules» has a positive influence on the resulting factor (productivity of solar panels), while the influencing factor «weighted average amount of generated energy» has a negative influence. However, the «number of solar modules» influence factor is more significant. The obtained results give grounds for asserting the possibility of their implementation in the energy sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dengue remains a major public health problem in the Philippines, particularly in urban areas of the National Capital Region. Thematic mapping using geographic information systems complemented by spatial analysis such as cluster analysis and hot spot detection can provide useful information to guide preventive measures and control strategies against dengue. Hence, this study was aimed to describe the spatiotemporal distribution of dengue incidence and identify dengue hot spots by barangay using reported cases from Quezon City, the Philippines from 2010 to 2017. Methods: Reported dengue case data at barangay level from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2017 were obtained from the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit. The annual incidence rate of dengue from 2010 to 2017, expressed as the total number of dengue cases per 10,000 population in each year, was calculated for each barangay. Thematic mapping, global cluster analysis, and hot spot analysis were performed using ArcGIS 10.3.1. Results: The number of reported dengue cases and their spatial distribution varied highly between years. Local clusters were evident during the study period. Eighteen barangays were identified as hot spots. Conclusions: Considering the spatial heterogeneity and instability of hot spots in Quezon City across years, efforts towards the containment of dengue can be made more targeted, and efficient with the application of hot spot analysis in routine surveillance. This may be useful not only for the control of dengue but also for other diseases, and for public health planning, monitoring, and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on molecular dynamics simulation, we find that hot spot in explosive is induced by inelastic impaction between void faces and develop a physical model to describe the temperature rising mechanism. A set of thermodynamic parameters for void collapse and hot spot is calculated. The hot spot relaxation time is proportional to square of hot spot size, and the plastic work is proportional to hot spot volume. A complete physical picture for hot spot formation is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper investigates the role of CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) principles in preventing crimes in urban hot spots. The questionnaire survey gathers the opinions of 400 participants randomly. Moreover, the study employs an observational study to analyze the actual condition of the areas. Analysis shows territorial reinforcement and surveillance most significantly impact crime prevention, while maintenance imposes the lowest impact in urban contexts. The findings imply that enhancing the cultural bases of the residents outweighs improving the physical appearance of the environment in preventing crimes. Overall, the findings offer practical suggestions for future planning of urban hot spots that contribute to environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Identification of hot spots in protein–DNA binding interfaces is extremely important for understanding the underlying mechanisms of protein–DNA interactions and drug design. Since experimental methods for identifying hot spots are time-consuming and expensive, and most of the existing computational methods are based on traditional protein–DNA features to predict hot spots, unable to make full use of the effective information in the features. Results: In this work, a method named WTL-PDH is proposed for hot spots prediction. To deal with the unbalanced dataset, we used the Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique to generate minority class samples to achieve the balance of dataset. First, we extracted the solvent accessible surface area features and structural features, and then processed the traditional features using discrete wavelet transform and wavelet packet transform to extract the wavelet energy information and wavelet entropy information, and obtained a total of 175 dimensional features. In order to obtain the best feature subset, we systematically evaluate these features in various feature selection strategies. Finally, light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) was used to establish the model. Conclusions: Our method achieved good results on independent test set with AUC, MCC and F1 scores of 0.838, 0.533 and 0.750, respectively. WTL-PDH can achieve generally better performance in predicting hot spots when compared with state-of-the-art methods. The dataset and source code are available at https://github.com/chase2555/WTL-PDH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated targeted gene integration (TI) has been used to generate recombinant mammalian cell lines with predictable transgene expression. Identifying genomic hot spots that render high and stable transgene expression and knock‐in (KI) efficiency is critical for fully implementing TI‐mediated cell line development (CLD); however, such identification is cumbersome. In this study, we developed an artificial KI construct that can be used as a hot spot at different genomic loci. The ubiquitous chromatin opening element (UCOE) was employed because of its ability to open chromatin and enable stable and site‐independent transgene expression. UCOE KI cassettes were randomly integrated into CHO‐K1 and HEK293T cells, followed by TI of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) onto the artificial UCOE KI site. The CHO‐K1 random pool harboring 5′2.2A2UCOE‐CMV displayed a significant increase in EGFP expression level and KI efficiency compared with that of the control without UCOE. In addition, 5′2.2A2UCOE‐CMV showed improved Cas9 accessibility in the HEK293T genome, leading to an increase in indel frequency and homology‐independent KI. Overall, this assessment revealed the potential of UCOE KI constructs as artificial integration sites in streamlining the screening of high‐production targeted integrants by mitigating the selection of genomic hot spots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Field test of cleaning robot's moving shadow on operating PV string. • Much larger power drop for landscape modules than portrait. • Larger power drop for full-cell modules than half-cut. • No cell hotspots created. • Bypass diode heated when module stopped, but not while moving. PV cleaning robots cast a shadow on the PV modules which they are cleaning, if used in daylight. The shadow affects the electrical characteristics (current and voltage) of the module string, and could potentially also create hot spots in modules' cells or bypass diodes. The severity of these effects depends on the layout of cells and bypass diodes and the module's orientation, among other factors. In this study we tested a commercial cleaning robot on strings of two kinds of PV modules with different cell formats, connected to a grid-tied inverter. It was found that the string power was greatly reduced when modules were in landscape orientation, but barely affected in portrait orientation. The robot shadow caused slightly greater power reduction for full-cell than half-cut modules. While the robot was in motion, no heating of cells or bypass diodes was observed, although diode heating did occur if the robot stopped on a module. For the worst case of full-cell landscape modules, a simplified estimate of the energy loss due to one robot pass was roughly equivalent to 0.16% of the string's daily energy production. The results suggest that if PV cleaning robots are used in daylight, the power loss from their shadow could be almost eliminated by installing modules in portrait orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of solar irradiation, wind and moisture on the thermal aging of underground power cables in electricity distribution networks cannot be included in the traditional Arrhenius model by means of any temperature rise or any derating factor. Such effects can be taken into account only if the Arrhenius model is coupled with a finite element method (FEM)-based steady-state thermal model and the Miner's cumulative damage law. Accordingly, this study aims to analyze the effect of an actual hot spot on the thermal lifespan of a 110 kV underground cable line using a FEM-based Arrhenius model and considering solar irradiation, wind velocity, and soil moisture content. The 110 kV underground line consists of cables with cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation. The considered parameters are logically changed within the frames of the most unfavorable summer conditions and the most common winter conditions. The FEM-based Arrhenius model used was developed for the purpose of thermal aging management of power cables by Klimenta JLj, Panić MV, Stojanović MS et al. in early 2022. The existing calculated and experimental data on XLPE insulation are used for the purposes of verification and validation of the model, respectively. Finally, the hot spot effect is quantified and analyzed for all the considered parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compression of fuel pellets in the degenerate state in inertial confinement fusion minimizes the energy required for compression. The increasing development of chirped pulse amplification lasers and the fast ignition method have made researchers to use advanced fuels such as deuterium-helium-3 and proton-boron-11. Proton-boron-11 is a promising source of nuclear fusion energy fuel due to its isotope abundance and purity. In this paper, the transport of charged particles is investigated in proton–11 degenerate fuel. In this study, the confinement parameter has been estimated as ρR = 20 g/cm2 with the help of a proton driver in the fast ignition method for the proton-boron-11 degenerate fuel pellet with the ratio of boron-11 to proton ε = 0.3 . The energy deposited coefficients of the accelerated proton beam driver, using the target normal sheath acceleration method with energy 1 MeV, have been calculated using the Li-Petrasso stopping power model. The results show that for the confinement parameter as ρR = 20 g/cm2, the temperature of the electrons falls below the Fermi temperature. Under these conditions, the proton driver with the optimal energy of 1 MeV at the ignition temperature of 550 eV penetrates the fuel pellet to a depth of 0.17 μm, it deposits approximately 65% of its energy in the ignition region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An outbreak occurred in Wanhua District of Taipei City. It was traced to a cluster infection originating from a teahouse. To prevent further large-scaled community spread, the Taipei City Government established the first community rapid test screening station. This report describes the station's strategy and performance and key factors that contributed to its operation. The project involves collaboration among various departments of Taipei City Government, including the health, environmental, police, transportation, and fire departments. The station provides rapid screening, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, and immediate isolation and follow-up medical services upon the detection of a positive case. These services are accessible to local residents and are intended to ease hospitals' burdens. In 36 days, a total of 8532 people were tested, and 419 confirmed cases were identified. Over the same period, the weekly number of positive cases in Wanhua District decreased from 356 to 40, and the PCR positive rate decreased from 21.7% to 1.2%. The policy of establishing rapid screening station, contact tracing and mask wearing policy are key strategies for interrupting chains of transmission of COVID-19. This intervention has become a model for preventing the spread of the epidemic and establishing community rapid screening stations in Taiwan.

Abstract Background Hot spots play an important role in protein binding analysis. The residue interaction network is a key point in hot spot prediction, and several graph theory-based methods have been proposed to detect hot spots. Although the existing methods can yield some interesting residues by network analysis, low recall has limited their abilities in finding more potential hot spots. Result In this study, we develop three graph theory-based methods to predict hot spots from only a single residue interaction network. We detect the important residues by finding subgraphs with high densities, i.e., high average degrees. Generally, a high degree implies a high binding possibility between protein chains, and thus a subgraph with high density usually relates to binding sites that have a high rate of hot spots. By evaluating the results on 67 complexes from the SKEMPI database, our methods clearly outperform existing graph theory-based methods on recall and F-score. In particular, our main method, Min-SDS, has an average recall of over 0.665 and an f2-score of over 0.364, while the recall and f2-score of the existing methods are less than 0.400 and 0.224, respectively. Conclusion The Min-SDS method performs best among all tested methods on the hot spot prediction problem, and all three of our methods provide useful approaches for analyzing bionetworks. In addition, the densest subgraph-based methods predict hot spots with only one residue interaction network, which is constructed from spatial atomic coordinate data to mitigate the shortage of data from wet-lab experiments.

Gallium-doped p-type passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells, which eliminate light-induced degradation (LID) and reduce the impact of light- and elevated-temperature-induced degradation (LeTID), have completely replaced boron-doped p-type PERC cells. However, in previous experiments, we found hot spots in the center of gallium-doped PERC solar cells. In this study, it was found that gallium-doped PERC cells had uneven resistivity, which caused hot spots brought about by the avalanche breakdown of PN junctions. There were significant hot spots in the center of the tested cells, with an average resistivity of 0.4–0.5 Ωcm and nonuniformity greater than 30%, or at an average resistivity of 0.5–0.6 Ωcm with nonuniformity greater than 40%. In this paper we describe and study in detail hot spots triggered by the uneven resistivity of gallium-doped cells and analyze the causes and related influencing factors, thereby providing guidance and a reference for the improvement of the performance and reliability of gallium-doped PERC solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of the settlement of Kampung Air is an environmental phenomenon that lacks response and support by most local authorities who consider it to be a parasite on an urban landscape. In addition, the irregular structure and organization of Kampung Air has added to the negative impression and has even become a burden to the local authorities from the management and administration aspects. The irregularity of the Kampung Air environment has invited various phenomena, especially cleanliness issues. Dispersing solid waste in the river estuary has contributed to a very significant low level of cleanliness. In examining the sustainability of cleanliness, the main issue that needs to be focused on is the location data that contributes to the phenomena. Therefore, the geospatial approach is applied in identifying solid waste dispersion data that has become a problem for local authorities in dealing with the garbage problem around Kampung Air. Three research objectives are focused; to identifying the land use and settlement pattern of Kampung Air in the form of a layout, mapping the riparian buffer zone as well as mapping the location of water village clusters that become hot spots or sources of garbage entering the river channel. Therefore, geospatial data from the three objectives are used as an analysis method to map the sustainability of cleanliness in the Kampung Air area at the estuary of Sg. Darau, Sg. Inanam and sg. Buat within the city boundary of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The renewable energy usage, especially the photovoltaic (PLTS), in Indonesia is considered as suboptimal. Of the national energy mix target of 23% in 2025, it is estimated that only 9% has been achieved. The hesitancy of PLTS adoption in Indonesia stems from its high initial investment cost. In addition, the benefits only start to manifest in the long term (from 8-10 years to 25 years). Therefore, the operation and maintenance of PLTS must be carried out in an appropriate manner, so that the benefit of the PLTS can last into its beneficial period. In this community service activity, PLTS operational and maintenance training has been carried out for personnel who manage the PLTS in Serut, Gedangsari, Gunung Kidul. PLTS personel who previously had minimal information about the operation and maintenance of PLTS with an average knowledge index of 2278 ± 803, increased significantly to 4356 ± 1417, after class-room lecture and hands-on tutorial. With good operation and proper maintenance, the PLTS installation in Serut, Gedangsari, Gunung Kidul is expected to function properly, to supply electricity for water pumps and lighting, and can be utilized into the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This area of the city is critical because its structure is an indispensable system, consisting of several units, and of all the various elements, which make their inconsistency an impression on the whole system and the whole of a city's structure. The survey of inequality and its funds is located in different geographical borders in recent years of the work of Harriet and politicians. The existence of inequality and various dimensions has not been judged by the topography of an important development. The aim of this inquiry into alien inequality or other interpretation of the distribution of space is to maintain an economic, social, and domestic involvement. Data and Method: The research method is descriptive-analytical and practical in terms of purpose. After theoretical investigations of population and housing census data for three consecutive periods (1385, 1390, 1395) and converting them into per capita and different ratios into indexes, to investigate the inequality situation, Also, the recognition of the spatial pattern of the expansion of inequality for the three extracted periods of the research implementation process based on these indicators and spatial statistics models, Spatial Statistics tools, Hot Spot Analysis and Moran's I spatial autocorrelation have been used in Arc/GIS software. Results: According to the numerical output, Moran's index is equal to 0.071892, 0.144981, 0.633505 for the years 1385, 1390, 1395, respectively, and since its value is positive and tends to one, and according to If the p-value is zero and the calculated Z value (its absolute value) is large, then it is within the confidence limit, and as a result, the data have spatial autocorrelation. Therefore, the distribution pattern of inequality is a cluster. Conclusion: In general, the result shows that the situation arises from a class distance, a duality in the city, and that the difference between the sexes in the time of the observation, and that it is necessary to keep a town management for themselves, at least of the necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AGIS method based on spatial autocorrelation analysis used to identification and ranking of thoron (220Rn)concentration. Spatial radiation patterns are analyzed using Moran's I statistic. Getis-Ord Gi* is utilized to locate clusters of high and low measurements and create a map of thoron hot spots. One hundred schools in the center of Najaf City were examined for thoron using CR-39 detectors (produced from Track Analysis Systems Ltd., UK) for this research. Average thoron levels were 2.99 Bq/m3, with a range of 9.00 Bq/m3 to 0.22 Bq/m3. The radiation levels found in this investigation were significantly lower than the UNSCEAR 2000 safety standards of 40 Bq/m3. Moran's, I have used it to analyze the clustering of districts across a research region and to measure the spatial distribution of data. Getis-Ord Gi* statistics were used to identify cold and hot spots within the research area. Thoron concentrations were shown to have insignificant spatially random distribution patterns, as demonstrated by Global Moran's I. (Moran's I =0.28, p-value=0.24). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

D -Pantothenic acid (D -PA) is an essential vitamin with wide applications. However, the biotechnological production of D -PA is still not competitive with the chemical synthesis in terms of production cost. Ketopantoate hydroxymethyltransferase is a crucial enzyme in the D -PA synthetic pathway in Escherichia coli encoded by the panB gene. Here a hot spots study was applied to a ketopantoate hydroxymethyltransferase from Corynebacterium glutamicum (Cg KPHMT) to relieve the product inhibitory effect and thus improve the D -PA production. Compared with the wild type, the double-site variant Cg KPHMT-K25A/E189S showed 1.8 times higher enzyme activity and 2.1 times higher catalytic efficiency, 1.88 and 3.32 times higher inhibitory constant of α-ketoisovalerate and D -PA, respectively. The D -PA yield using E. coli W3110 adopted the double-site variant was 41.17 g·L−1 within 48 h, a 9.80 g·L−1 increase. Structural analysis of K25A/E189S revealed the expansion of the entry channel and the change of the electric charge from negative to uncharged due to the substitution from glutamic acid to serine at site 189. Our study emphasized the positive roles of ketopantoate hydroxymethyltransferase in D -PA production and paved the way by analyzing critical enzymes in the synthetic pathway of E. coli to increase the D -PA yield. [Display omitted] • A double-site variant of KPHMT with improved properties was obtained by hot spot based-engineering. • The double-site variant K25A/E189S was increased by 2.8-fold and 2.1-fold to the wild-type in EA and Kcat. • The inhibitory effect of ketoisovalerate and D -PA on variant K25A/E189S was partially relieved. • The D -PA yield was increased by 9.80 g/L by mutagenesis of KPHMT in E. coli in a 5-L scale fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ride sharing is a service that enables users to share trips with others, conserving energy, decreasing emissions and reducing traffic congestion. Selecting a suitable partner for a user based on the their trip data is essential for the service, but it also leads to privacy disclosure, e.g., the user's location and trajectory. Many privacy-preserving solutions for ride sharing services have been proposed, which are based on cryptographic technology and provide accurate matching services. However, these encryption-based algorithms are very complicated and difficult to calculate. In hot spots, such as stations, airports and sport gymnasiums, a large number of users may apply for a ride sharing service in short space of time, which will place huge pressure on the service provider. Using traditional matching methods increases the matching time and leads to a less favorable user experience. To solve these problems, we model them, aiming to maximize the vehicle's carrying capacity and propose a lightweight privacy-preserving ride matching scheme for selecting feasible partners during busy periods with a large number of requests. To achieve this, we make use of the homomorphic encryption technique to hide location data and design a scheme to calculate the distances between users in road networks securely and efficiently. We employ a road network embedding technique to calculate the distance between users. Moreover, we use travel time instead of space distance, which makes matching more accurate. Further, with the encrypted itineraries of users, the service provider selects potential ride share partners according to the feasibility of time schedules. We use ciphertext packing to reduce overhead, improving the efficiency of ride matching. Finally, we evaluate our scheme with simulation and demonstrate that our scheme achieves an efficient and accurate matching service. It only takes a few seconds to complete the matching, and the matching accuracy is higher than 85 percent in most cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hot spot, which is a glowing orange local area, appears in RE Ba 2 Cu 3 O y (RE : rare earth) ceramic rods when a voltage exceeding a certain value is applied at room temperature. After a hot spot appears, the current changes according to the partial pressure of oxygen in the ambient atmosphere, acting as an oxygen sensor without the need for a heating system. In this study, the moisture resistance and oxygen-sensing characteristics of 5 mol% Nd 2 BaCuO 5 -added Nd 1+ x Ba 2− x Cu 3 O y (x = 0–0.8) rods were investigated by preparing ceramic rods via a solid-state reaction at 960 °C. The moisture resistance improved at x ≥ 0.4. In the case of x ≤ 0.4, the current increased as the voltage increased, reached its peak value, and subsequently decreased. Finally, the current increased monotonically with increasing voltage at x ≥ 0.6. Furthermore, the sensitivity to gas was not strongly affected by the changes in x. The characteristics are discussed from the viewpoint of the heat balance in the rod and lattice defects of the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose the tracing of the motion of a shearing hot spot near the Sgr A* source through a dynamical image reconstruction algorithm, StarWarps. Such a hot spot may form as the exhaust of magnetic reconnection in a current sheet near the black hole horizon. A hot spot that is ejected from the current sheet into an orbit in the accretion disk may shear and diffuse due to instabilities at its boundary during its orbit, resulting in a distinct signature. We subdivide the motion into two different phases: the first phase refers to the appearance of the hot spot modeled as a bright blob, followed by a subsequent shearing phase. We employ different observational array configurations, including EHT (2017, 2022) and the next-generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHTp1, ngEHT) arrays, with several new sites added, and make dynamical image reconstructions for each of them. Subsequently, we infer the hot spot angular image location in the first phase, followed by the axes ratio and the ellipse area in the second phase. We focus on the direct observability of the orbiting hot spot in the sub-mm wavelength. Our analysis demonstrates that for this particular simulation, the newly added dishes are better able to trace the first phase as well as part of the second phase before the flux is reduced substantially, compared to the EHT arrays. The algorithm used in this work can be easily extended to other types of dynamics, as well as different shearing timescales. More simulations are required to prove whether the current set of newly proposed sites are sufficient to resolve any motions near variable sources, such as Sgr A*. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non-uniform distribution of coal porosity has a considerable impact on coal spontaneous combustion (CSC) characteristics. In this study, a one-step global coal oxidation numerical model which took into account the thermal buoyancy and the generation and consumption of multi-component substances was established. The movement of the hot spot and the evolution characteristics of reactants during CSC were researched on. The results suggest that in the early stage of coal self-heating, the hot spots are generated in the high-porosity areas. As coal oxidation intensifies, the hot spots move to the air supply positions. Different coal porosity distributions result in different thermal runaway times, and the coal samples are prone to thermal runaway when the high-porosity areas are near the air supply positions. Resultantly, the movement path of the hot point becomes longer, leading to a larger reduction of average density. Meanwhile, the corresponding thermal runaway and the drastic change in oxygen mole fractions occur later, and the drastic change in thermal runaway is more likely to lag behind that in the oxygen mole fraction. Compared with the gradually changing porosity distribution, the abruptly changing porosity distribution tends to hinder the development of coal oxidation perpendicular to the sudden change cross-section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an innovative Decentralized Technical Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) concept, which is based on technical devices, such as sieves, sedimentation barriers, floating barriers and a magnetic module, which addresses, mainly, the fine matter. The SuDS is designed as a retrofit system so that no costly and time-consuming conversion measures are necessary. Due to the possibility of free configurability of individual modules in the three levels, road, gully and drain, a novel solution approach is presented, which is not available on the market, for a reduction in solids in general and microplastics in particular. The retention performance of selected modules and their combinations is demonstrated by means of bench tests according to the test procedure of the German Institute for Construction Engineering (DIBt) for the evaluation of decentralized treatment systems. Four different rain intensities, from light to medium up to heavy rain, are charged to the filter modules. Collected and fractionated road-deposited sediment (RDS) was selected as the test substance (10 kg). Additional tests with tyre powder, PE pellets, cigarette butts and candy wrappers helped to make clear the filter process of the particulate matter. The retention performance was determined by the mass balance between the defined dosage and at the outlet. For this purpose, the total volume flow of the effluent was passed over a stainless-steel sieve with a diameter of 600 mm and a mesh size of 20 µm. For the test substance, RDS retention rates up to 97% were measured. Very fine matter, particularly, was technically challenging to obtain; <63 µm up to 66% could be retained by the filter modules. Modules in the road space, such as porous asphalt or additional retention spaces, in the area of the curb as well as direct infiltration in the road drainage shaft are theoretically described and discussed. The outlook also addresses the potential of an intelligent network to reduce the input of pollution from urban stormwater runoff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to determine the limitations and application of life cycle analysis in the mining industry as well as recommendations for innovation programs and strategies in supporting environmental performance improvements that have an impact on the acquisition of “Proper emas”, the role of internal and external stakeholders as well as the relationship to the implementation of ISO 26000, especially the environment, governance and good operating practices and achievement of environmental SDGs indicators number 6,7 12 and 13.The data used in this study consists of primary data from coal mining companies receiving Proper Emas for 2019-2021, secondary data from sustainability reports, and annual reports of the companies studied. The research object was 4 (four) coal companies getting Proper Emas and sample was selected using a purposive sampling method in order to obtain 12 respondents were interviwed. This study uses descriptive qualitative analysis. The results of the study show that the scope limitations on coal mining use cradle to gate and are still limited to midpoint criteria covering only direct impacts such as carbon emissions produced, hot spots in the coal mining industry are material removal, especially the use of heavy equipment and the fuel used. The innovation program focuses on hot spots and has succeeded in significantly reducing carbon emissions. The role of internal stakeholders is the key to success in implementing environmental improvement strategies and successfully having an impact on the implementation of the core subject of ISO 26000 environment, good governance and operating practices, and the achievement of SDGs 6,7, 12, and 13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores "crime" as cultural and not simply an individual act. The aim is to contextualize a transgression as an outcome of a social "phenomenon" that happens in real-time, is reported in the newspaper and TV documentaries, and is adopted for analysis as a "crime fact story". Using a "discourse-based" frame analysis of the non-linear narrative characteristic of offender engagement discourse, I reorganize the narrator's experience. Secondly, in the narrative act of the "double function" of a narrator as a character, I reveal an "unreliable" stance when the narrator, like the transgressor, is the victim of the interpretations the actors make of their surroundings in the 1st story of crime. In reorganizing the narrator's experience, there are "microcontexts" which, as alternative storyworld, emulate the causes leading to the transgression left unnarrated in the 2nd "story of investigation". Consequently, a "perpetrator-culture" nexus is conceptualized in the dichotomy of social factors and criminal behaviour, which is a phenomenon and represented as antecedentless pronouns and inanimate nouns in the text, stylistically "repeated" for emphasis in the discourse. The paper emphasizes the need to consider the impact of factors that influence society and inform deviance within a context of "culture" that is of shared value and behaviour and situates an offence to the interpretations the actors cognitively make of their surroundings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated targeted gene integration (TI) has been used to generate recombinant mammalian cell lines with predictable transgene expression. Identifying genomic hot spots that render high and stable transgene expression and knock‐in (KI) efficiency is critical for fully implementing TI‐mediated cell line development (CLD); however, such identification is cumbersome. In this study, we developed an artificial KI construct that can be used as a hot spot at different genomic loci. The ubiquitous chromatin opening element (UCOE) was employed because of its ability to open chromatin and enable stable and site‐independent transgene expression. UCOE KI cassettes were randomly integrated into CHO‐K1 and HEK293T cells, followed by TI of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) onto the artificial UCOE KI site. The CHO‐K1 random pool harboring 5′2.2A2UCOE‐CMV displayed a significant increase in EGFP expression level and KI efficiency compared with that of the control without UCOE. In addition, 5′2.2A2UCOE‐CMV showed improved Cas9 accessibility in the HEK293T genome, leading to an increase in indel frequency and homology‐independent KI. Overall, this assessment revealed the potential of UCOE KI constructs as artificial integration sites in streamlining the screening of high‐production targeted integrants by mitigating the selection of genomic hot spots.

In this study, we first conducted laboratory experiments on the sensitivity of a newly developed bioaerosol sensor (BAS) suitable for in situ measurements. Then, we performed an in situ test in a shared student space at a university. Furthermore, the effectiveness of ventilation and air purification as a mitigation measure for a location with high concentrations of bioaerosol particles (hot spots) was verified. The experimental results show that the measured values for polystyrene latex are in good agreement with the predicted Mie theory value. They also show a good response to fluorescent particles. The in situ test showed that the BAS fluorescent system does not respond to non-fluorescent particles but only to fluorescent particles. During respiratory infection outbreaks, real-time detection at hot spots and a reduction in particulate matter, including bioaerosols, through ventilation and air purification equipment are effective. In this study, the BAS measurement results showed significant correlations not only with fluorescent particles but also with live bacteria. This does not prove that viruses can be measured in real time. If real-time measurements for viruses become available in the future, the findings of this study will be helpful in mitigating respiratory tract infections caused by viruses.

Many challenges remain in our understanding of the role that heterogeneities play in determining material responses, especially under extreme conditions. In this study, four defect distribution patterns were first built and shocked to quantitatively assess the effects of the spatial distribution of void defects on the hot spot formation and ignition of 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine crystals through reactive molecular dynamics simulations. A high correlation was found between void concentration and the hot-spot temperature, average temperature, and energy release rate of the defect distribution patterns, which is referred to as an overlapping effect. A higher dispersion degree of defects can result in a lower overlapping effect. A higher concentration of void defects leads to a higher shock-induced average system temperature, a higher increasing rate of temperature, and a higher energy release rate. Two hot spots could grow into a larger hot spot when they are closer (i.e., in a void pattern with a smaller dispersion degree), which is beneficial for the growth of chemical reactions and explosive ignition. Otherwise, they could be quenched due to their subsequent heat dissipation. For the shock-induced decomposition, a one-dimensional pattern of void defects exhibited the highest RDX decay rate and yielded reaction products the earliest compared with other patterns.

In this work, a defective commercial module with a rounded IV characteristic is analyzed in detail to identify the sources of its malfunction. The analysis of the module includes thermography images taken under diverse conditions, the IV response of the module obtained without any shadow, and shadowing one cell at a time, as recommended by the IEC 61215 Standard. Additionally, a direct measurement of the IV characteristic and resistance of single cells in the panel has been conducted to verify the isolation between the p and n areas. In parallel, theoretical cell and module behaviors are presented. In this frame, simulations show how cell mismatch can be the explanation to the rounded IV output of the solar panel under study. From the thermal images of the module, several localized hot spots related to failing cells have been revealed. During the present study, thermal breakdown is seen before avalanche breakdown in one of the cells, evidencing a hot spot. Not many papers have dealt with this problem, whereas we believe it is important to analyze the relationship between thermal breakdown and hot spotting in order to prevent it in the future, since hot spots are the main defects related to degradation of modern modules.

The heating performance of empty fruit bunch pellets (EFBPs) has been limited by its low energy density, high moisture, and ash content. Hence, microwave co-torrefaction (MCT) was performed with microwave heating unto waste oil mixed EFBP to produce high-energy biofuel. However, the non-homogeneous electromagnetic fields distribution in the microwave cavity results in an uneven heating behavior, producing the hot and cold spots. Hence, MCT coupled with helical lift was examined for its potential to improve heat distribution. The effect of temperature and types of waste oil on the proximate analysis and surface properties were studied. In comparison to the conventional torrefaction using a furnace (>30 min), MCT provided rapid heating (50–80°C·min−1) and a shorter process time (10 min). The use of helical lift with 2-dimensional movement – rotational (24 rpm·min−1) and vertical motion (5 cm·min−1) simultaneously, distributed microwave radiation uniformly for rapid heating. The proximate analysis demonstrated that the ash content was reduced from 8 to 3 wt%, and the highest fuel ratio of 2.0 was achieved. Additionally, the highly porous structure of EFBP biochar can act as an activated carbon precursor. MCT coupled with helical lift represents a promising approach to prevent hot spots during microwave heating.