Search Results (36,539)

In this work, we attempt to explain the phenomenon of sulfur corrosion of power boiler water walls under the conditions of large fluctuations in carbon monoxide concentrations. To assess the conditions required for corrosion formation, a criterion based on the chemical and flow field parameters of the flue gas is proposed. The formulated sulfur corrosion criterion is based on the mixture fraction variance and the turbulence time scale. Numerical modeling of coal combustion in a 250 MW power boiler is performed using ANSYS. Two cases of combustion in a boiler are analyzed, with the first simulating the boiler operated using classic high-swirl burners and the second one accounting for boiler operation with modified low-swirl burners. Calculations of pulverized coal combustion are performed using the standard k-$\epsilon$ turbulence model and the combustion described by the mixture fraction. The simulation results reveal that the low-swirl burner is characterized by higher values of the mixture fraction variance and a higher frequency of fluctuation of the velocity field, which is strongly related to an increased corrosion rate. The study outcomes show the validity of using the criterion of the mixture fraction variance and velocity field fluctuations to determine the areas at risk of sulfur corrosion. Full article

This article reviews all the major stages in the origins of life, from the emergence of matter in the initial Big Bang to the modern, civilized human being. On an immaterial level, it is proposed and explained how consciousness necessarily takes precedence over matter. Next, we explain how consciousness, with its ability to process information, selected the water molecule to breathe life into the periodic table of elements. We also explain why the notion of entropy allows us to evolve, “Die Entropie der Welt strebt einem Maximum zu” (second principle), and, therefore, takes precedence over the notion of energy, which, on the contrary, encourages us to preserve what we have, “Die Energie der Welt bleibt konstant” (first principle). This is followed by a discussion of the importance of quantum coherence and the need to rely on a second quantization formalism for a proper understanding of the physical–biochemical properties of water. Moreover, throughout the argument developed on the best and most fundamental things science has to offer, care is taken to link this knowledge to the great philosophies of the West (Greece), the East (China and India), and even to practices of a shamanic nature (Africa and America). Hence, finally, we propose reconsidering all musical practice within the framework of the diapason of water at a frequency of 429.62 Hz, as well as all therapeutic practice on the basis of seven clearly identified and established frameworks of thought. Full article

Na⁺-K⁺ ATPase is an integral component of cardiac sarcolemma and consists of three major subunits, namely the α-subunit with three isoforms (α₁, α₂, and α₃), β-subunit with two isoforms (β₁ and β₂) and γ-subunit (phospholemman). This enzyme has been demonstrated to transport three Na and two K ions to generate a trans-membrane gradient, maintain cation homeostasis in cardiomyocytes and participate in regulating contractile force development. Na⁺-K⁺ ATPase serves as a receptor for both exogenous and endogenous cardiotonic glycosides and steroids, and a signal transducer for modifying myocardial metabolism as well as cellular survival and death. In addition, Na⁺-K⁺ ATPase is regulated by different hormones through the phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of phospholemman, which is tightly bound to this enzyme. The activity of Na⁺-K⁺ ATPase has been reported to be increased, unaltered and depressed in failing hearts depending upon the type and stage of heart failure as well as the association/disassociation of phospholemman and binding with endogenous cardiotonic steroids, namely endogenous ouabain and marinobufagenin. Increased Na⁺-K⁺ ATPase activity in association with a depressed level of intracellular Na⁺ in failing hearts is considered to decrease intracellular Ca²⁺ and serve as an adaptive mechanism for maintaining cardiac function. The slight to moderate depression of Na⁺-K⁺ ATPase by cardiac glycosides in association with an increased level of Na⁺ in cardiomyocytes is known to produce beneficial effects in failing hearts. On the other hand, markedly reduced Na⁺-K⁺ ATPase activity associated with an increased level of intracellular Na⁺ in failing hearts has been demonstrated to result in an intracellular Ca²⁺ overload, the occurrence of cardiac arrhythmias and depression in cardiac function during the development of heart failure. Furthermore, the status of Na⁺-K⁺ ATPase activity in heart failure is determined by changes in isoform subunits of the enzyme, the development of oxidative stress, intracellular Ca²⁺-overload, protease activation, the activity of inflammatory cytokines and sarcolemmal lipid composition. Evidence has been presented to show that marked alterations in myocardial cations cannot be explained exclusively on the basis of sarcolemma alterations, as other Ca²⁺ channels, cation transporters and exchangers may be involved in this event. A marked reduction in Na⁺-K⁺ ATPase activity due to a shift in its isoform subunits in association with intracellular Ca²⁺-overload, cardiac energy depletion, increased membrane permeability, Ca²⁺-handling abnormalities and damage to myocardial ultrastructure appear to be involved in the progression of heart failure. Full article

Increasing environmental and economic pressures have led to numerous innovations in the logistics sector, including integrated people and freight transport (IPFT). Despite growing attention from practitioners and researchers, IPFT lacks extensive research coverage. This study aims to bridge this gap by presenting a general framework and making several key contributions. It identifies, researches, and explains relevant terminologies, such as cargo hitching, freight on transit (FoT), urban co-modality, crowd-shipping (CS), occasional drivers (OD), crowdsourced delivery among friends, and share-a-ride, illustrating the interaction of IPFT with different systems like the sharing economy and co-modality. Furthermore, it classifies IPFT-related studies at strategic, tactical, and operational decision levels, detailing those that address uncertainty. The study also analyzes the opportunities and challenges associated with IPFT, highlighting social, economic, and environmental benefits and examining challenges from a PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal) perspective. Additionally, it discusses practical applications of IPFT and offers recommendations for future research and development, aiming to guide practitioners and researchers in addressing existing challenges and leveraging opportunities. This comprehensive framework aims to significantly advance the understanding and implementation of IPFT in the logistics sector. Full article

Loneliness among young adults is a growing concern worldwide, posing serious health risks. While the human ecological framework explains how various factors such as socio-demographic, social, and built environment characteristics can affect this feeling, still, relatively little is known about the effect of built environment characteristics on the feelings of loneliness that young people experience in their daily life activities. This research investigates the relationship between built environment characteristics and emotional state loneliness in young adults (aged 18–25) during their daily activities. Leveraging the Experience Sampling Method, we collected data from 43 participants for 393 personal experiences during daily activities across different environmental settings. The findings of a mixed-effects regression model reveal that built environment features significantly impact emotional state loneliness. Notably, activity location accessibility, social company during activities, and walking activities all contribute to reducing loneliness. These findings can inform urban planners and municipalities to implement interventions that support youngsters’ activities and positive experiences to enhance well-being and alleviate feelings of loneliness in young adults. Specific recommendations regarding the built environment are (1) to create spaces that are accessible, (2) create spaces that are especially accessible by foot, and (3) provide housing with shared facilities for young adults rather than apartments/studios. Full article

Sucrose is a desirable component of processed soybean foods and animal feed, and thus, its content is used as an important characteristic for assessing the quality of soybean seeds. However, few studies have focused on the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with sucrose regulation in soybean seeds. This study aims to measure the sucrose content of 1014 soybean accessions and identify genes related to high sucrose levels using QTL analysis. Colorimetric analysis based on the enzymatic reaction of invertase (INV) and glucose oxidase (GOD) was employed to test the germplasms. A total of six high-sucrose genetic resources (IT186230, IT195321, IT263138, IT263276, IT263286, and IT276521) and two low-sucrose genetic resources (IT025668 and IT274054) were identified. Two F_2:3 populations, IT186230 × IT025668 and Ilmi × IT186230, were then established from these germplasms. QTL analysis identified four QTLs (qSUC6.1, qSUC11.1, qSUC15.1, and qSUC17.1), explaining 7.3–27.6% of the phenotypic variation in the sugar content. Twenty candidate genes were found at the four QTLs. Notably, Glyma.17G152300, located in the qSUC17.1 QTL region, exhibited a 17-fold higher gene expression in the high-sucrose germplasm IT186230 compared to the control germplasm Ilmi, confirming its role as a major gene regulating the sucrose content in soybean. These results may assist in marker-assisted selection for breeding programs that aim to develop soybean lines with a higher sucrose content. Full article

Soil salinization, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, is one of the major abiotic stresses that affect plant growth. To mediate and boost plant tolerance against this abiotic stress, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) symbiosis is commonly thought to be an effective tool. So, the main purpose of this study was to estimate the role of AMF (applied as a consortium of Claroideoglomus etunicatum, Funneliformis mosseae, Rhizophagus fasciculatum, and R. intraradices species) symbiosis in mitigating deleterious salt stress effects on the growth parameters (shoot length (SL), root length (RL), shoot dry weight (SDW), root dry weight (RDW), root surface area (RSA), total root length (TRL), root volume (RV), root diameter (RD), number of nodes and leaves) of Cenchrus ciliaris L. plants through improved accumulations of photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll _a, chlorophyll _b, total chlorophyll), proline and phenolic compounds. The results of this experiment revealed that the roots of C. ciliaris plants were colonized by AMF under all the applied salinity levels (0, 75, 150, 225, and 300 mM NaCl). However, the rate of colonization was negatively affected by increasing salinity as depicted by the varied colonization structures (mycelium, vesicles, arbuscules and spores) which were highest under non-saline conditions. This association of AMF induced an increase in the growth parameters of the plant which were reduced by salinity stress. The improved shoot/root indices are likely due to enhanced photosynthetic activities as the AMF-treated plants showed increased accumulation of pigments (chlorophyll _a, chlorophyll _b and total chlorophyll), under saline as well as non-saline conditions, compared to non-AMF (N-AMF) plants. Furthermore, the AMF-treated plants also exhibited enhanced accumulation of proline and phenolic compounds. These accumulated metabolites act as protective measures under salinity stress, hence explaining the improved photosynthetic and growth parameters of the plants. These results suggest that AMF could be a good tool for the restoration of salt-affected habitats. However, more research is needed to check the true efficacy of different AMF inoculants under field conditions. Full article

The growth of government (GoG) has garnered significant attention among scholars and practitioners across disciplines such as economics, political science, and public management. Despite the optimism surrounding this concept, its future trajectory in the twenty-first century remains uncertain. Extant literature explaining the rationales for organizational growth in the public sector is inconclusive which pertains mostly to the absence of an appropriate methodological approach. Therefore, this research underscores the need for a comprehensive framework to examine the determinants of the growth. Particularly, the burgeoning literature on new public management (NPM) as well as behavioural public administration provides huge potentials to examine the role of the interplay of organizational structure and learning orientation in exacting the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on the growth of government on GoG. The conceptual framework was guided by the hermeneutic approach that focuses on interpreting texts or phenomena by understanding the contextual elements to uncover deeper meaning and insights. It does so by drawing upon different streams of literature including entrepreneurial orientation, learning orientation, organizational structure, and the growth of government. In order to operationalize the framework, a succinct set of propositions is proposed. The proposed conceptual framework along with suggested research propositions will potentially guide future research to further extend the growth of government literature. Full article

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia worldwide. The etiopathogenesis of this disease remains unknown. Currently, several hypotheses attempt to explain its cause, with the most well-studied being the cholinergic, beta-amyloid (Aβ), and Tau hypotheses. Lately, there has been increasing interest in the role of immunological factors and other proteins such as alpha-synuclein (α-syn) and transactive response DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP-43). Recent studies emphasize the role of tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) in the spread of pathological proteins within the brains of AD patients. TNTs are small membrane protrusions composed of F-actin that connect non-adjacent cells. Conditions such as pathogen infections, oxidative stress, inflammation, and misfolded protein accumulation lead to the formation of TNTs. These structures have been shown to transport pathological proteins such as Aβ, Tau, α-syn, and TDP-43 between central nervous system (CNS) cells, as confirmed by in vitro studies. Besides their role in spreading pathology, TNTs may also have protective functions. Neurons burdened with α-syn can transfer protein aggregates to glial cells and receive healthy mitochondria, thereby reducing cellular stress associated with α-syn accumulation. Current AD treatments focus on alleviating symptoms, and clinical trials with Aβ-lowering drugs have proven ineffective. Therefore, intensifying research on TNTs could bring scientists closer to a better understanding of AD and the development of effective therapies. Full article

The fundamental period is one of the most important parameters for the design of new structures as well as for estimating the capacity of existing ones. Thus, to estimate it, various design codes and researchers have adopted several approximate analytical equations based on a number of key structural parameters. To this end, the present study introduces a novel methodology for deriving the analytical equations for the fundamental period of reinforced concrete structures. The methodology is based on machine learning explainability techniques, specifically the so-called SHapley Additive exPlanations values. These values are commonly employed as an explainability tool. However, in the proposed novel approach they are employed as a basis to fit analytical curves, which allows the resulting equations to be constructed sequentially and in an informed manner while controlling the balance between accuracy and complexity. An extended dataset consisting of 4026 data points is employed, on which a Gradient Boosting Machine model is fitted. The model achieves excellent accuracy, with a coefficient of determination $R^2\approx 0.99$, while the equations derived from the proposed formulation achieve an $R^2\approx 0.95$ and Mean Absolute Error $\approx 0.12$. This demonstrates the potential applicability of the proposed methodology in a wide array of similar engineering challenges. Full article

The introduction of the term “Metabolic Steatotic Liver Disease” (MASLD) underscores the critical role of metabolic dysfunction in the development and progression of chronic liver disease and emphasizes the need for strategies that address both liver disease and its metabolic comorbidities. In recent years, a liver-focused perspective has revealed that altered endocrine function of the fatty liver is a key contributor to the metabolic dysregulation observed in MASLD. Due to its secretory capacity, the liver’s increased production of proteins known as “hepatokines” has been linked to the development of insulin resistance, explaining why MASLD often precedes dysfunction in other organs and ultimately contributes to systemic metabolic disease. Among these hepatokines, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) and fetuin-A play central roles in regulating the metabolic abnormalities associated with MASLD, explaining why their dysregulated secretion in response to metabolic stress has been implicated in the metabolic abnormalities of MASLD. This review postulates why their modulation by GLP1-Ras may mediate the beneficial metabolic effects of these drugs, which have increased attention to their emerging role as pharmacotherapy for MASLD. By discussing the crosstalk between GLP1-Ras-FGF21-fetuin-A, this review hypothesizes that the possible modulation of fetuin-A by the novel GLP1-FGF21 dual agonist pharmacotherapy may contribute to the management of metabolic and liver diseases. Although research is needed to go into the details of this crosstalk, this topic may help researchers explore the mechanisms by which this type of pharmacotherapy may manage the metabolic dysfunction of MASLD. Full article

The Liverpool Jewish community was the earliest to be formed in the north of England (c1745) and for much of the 19th century, it was the largest UK Jewish community outside London. However, examination of this important minority community from a social, demographic, and genealogical perspective has been severely hampered by the lack of a unified source of information about Jewish individuals and families resident in the area during the 18th and 19th centuries. This paper describes how a searchable database of all Jewish persons with a documented connection with the Liverpool area, from the earliest times to 1881, has been produced as a resource for historical, demographic, sociological, and genealogical research. It explains how Jewish individuals were identified by a novel use of distinctive names, occupations, and birthplaces in the secular census and vital records and, in combination with extant records held within the Jewish community, have been used to produce a database of several thousand persons, linked into family groups. It concludes that the principal aim of the project has been achieved, and the approach could act as a template for other religion/ethnicity-based groups. Full article

The extent to which estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone influence mating behavior across the menstrual cycle is unclear. The Proactive and Responsive Mating Strategies Scales (PARMSS) were developed to separately examine two specific components of sexuality and were used here to test divergent hormonal associations. Preliminary psychometric data (N = 364 females) suggest that both scales consist of one factor and demonstrate strong psychometric properties (internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and construct and convergent validity). The PARMSS were used in a repeated-measures observational study to examine the relationships between changes in endogenous hormone levels and both proactive and responsive mating intentions with potential new short-term or long-term partners in healthy pre-menopausal participants (N = 38). At two points in their cycle, participants provided salivary hormone samples in the laboratory and reported the likelihood of engaging in proactive and responsive behaviors with men in photos and vignettes. Participants reported greater responsive than proactive intentions. Increases in estradiol and testosterone across the cycle were associated with increases in short-term mating intentions, particularly responsivity to potential short-term relationship partners. No associations were found for intentions that were proactive or that involved potential long-term partners or for progesterone. Changes in the three hormones explained changes in short-term responsive mating intentions (22% of the variance). The results suggest (a) cyclical changes in estradiol and testosterone are differentially associated with changes in responsive vs. proactive mating intentions and (b) context-dependent changes (i.e., short-term vs. long-term mating intentions and possibly relationship status). The findings require replication with larger and diverse samples. Full article

Disabled people are often excluded from employment, particularly in accessing waged employment. This exclusion persists despite enabling policies and legislature, indicating a need to address gaps in implementation. To improve policy implementation, it is crucial to better understand the gap between policy intention (what was planned) and effect (what happens), including reasons that widen this gap (what explains what happened). This study explores this in the context of Kenya and Bangladesh, drawing on key informant interviews and analysis of policies and programmes related to employment, social protection, and disability. Using the policy triangle framework, we analysed the policy context, process, actors, and content of relevant policies and programmes. The study identified key policy provisions on employment quota, social assistance, job placement services, tax incentives, and training opportunities, all of which were designed to promote employment for disabled people. However, implementation is limited in both countries, for reasons including ambiguity in policies, unavailability of data for monitoring, and lack of transparency among implementers. The data suggest that addressing these aspects would promote accountability among duty-bearers, advocacy power among rights-holders, and ultimately improve implementation and inclusion of disabled people in employment. Full article

As an important member of innate immunity, macrophages show remarkable plasticity and heterogeneity, and play an important role in immune regulation, tissue development, homeostasis of the internal environment and injury repair. However, the excessive activation of macrophages is closely related to the occurrence and development of many diseases. The prenylated flavonoid structure is one of the characteristic structures isolated from Sophora flavescens, with anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-allergy and other effects. In this study, the effects of (2R)-3β,7,4′-trihydroxy-5-methoxy-8-prenylflavanone (TMP), a prenylated dihydroflavonol, on the polarization and phagocytosis of macrophages were systematically studied. In LPS-induced M1-type macrophages, TMP dose-dependently inhibited the expression of COX-2, iNOS and the secretion of NO, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-18, showing an inhibitory effect on M1 polarization. Further experiments revealed that it was related to the inhibition of TLR4-related AKT/mTOR, MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways; in IL-4-induced M2-type macrophages, TMP down-regulated the expression of M2-related Arg1, IL-10, TGF-β, CD206 and CD163, as well as the phosphorylation levels of AKT1 and STAT6. For macrophages in a physiological state, it was very important for cells to return from a stress state to a phenotypic stability in the M0 state. These results indicated that TMP negatively regulated the M1/M2 polarization of macrophages, and made them tend to M0 homeostasis, which might provide new theoretical and data support for explaining the anti-inflammatory immunoregulatory activity of Sophora flavescens. Full article