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Development and performance evaluation of sustainable false banana fiber reinforced composite fan blades
Abstract The use of textile fibre-reinforced composite materials for many alternative applications has significantly increased in the twenty-first century due to their lightweight nature and high strength-to-weight ratio. In this study, false banana fibres were used as reinforcement and unsaturated polyester resin as the matrix. The optimal ratio of fibre to matrix was established through an analysis of physico-mechanical parameters, including tensile, compressive, and flexural strengths, water absorption, and void fraction, utilising Design Expert software. Additionally, deformation, Von Mises stress, Von Mises strain, and velocity were analyzed using ANSYS simulation software. The composite exhibited water absorption of 1.5% over 24 to 48 h, a void fraction of 1.02%, a tensile strength of 33.15 MPa, a compressive strength of 29.69 MPa, and a bending or flexural strength of 28.85 MPa. Furthermore, the ANSYS results showed a maximum deformation of 0.60887 mm, a maximum equivalent elastic strain of 0.0018815, a minimum value of 1.0375 × 10 –10 , a maximum equivalent stress of 22.27 MPa, a minimum of 1.3877 × 10 –5 MPa, and a velocity streamline of 14.97 m/s at 21 rad/s. The simulated stresses were well below the material’s measured strength limits, indicating a safe design under the analysed conditions. The weight of the developed composite blade was 31% lower than that of a conventional aluminum blade.
Antioxidant potential and storage stability of sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) depending on the use of 1- methylcyclopropene in the innovative form of a sticker
Performance evaluation of stabilized clay using sodium lignosulphonate
Impact of virtual threads and garbage collection on energy efficiency of Java applications for battery powered IoT devices
Immunoproteomic insights into inflammatory diseases of the critically endangered black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis)
Abstract Black rhinoceros are critically endangered due to poaching in the wild (in situ). Globally, fewer than 200 animals are maintained as an ex situ insurance population. Unfortunately, the ex situ population faces major sustainability challenges from disease syndromes characterized by high inflammatory burdens and diverse manifestations of immunometabolic dysfunction, not known to be present among their wild counterparts. Overlapping ex situ disease phenotypes limit diagnostic specificity and highlight the need to define underlying disease mechanisms. In the present study, using a cohort of presumed clinically healthy and inflammatory black rhinoceros, we generated the first immunoproteomic profile of any endangered mammal species and identified 1,311 immune cell proteins. However, no significant differences were detected among clinical phenotypes. Therefore, we applied unsupervised machine learning approaches to detect molecular features suggestive of healthy versus inflammatory phenotypes. Forty-three proteins associated with inflammatory pathways were differentially expressed in a cohort of samples derived from both presumed healthy and inflammatory phenotypes. Results suggest subclinical disease may be relatively widespread ex situ, and that animals experience temporal fluctuations in inflammatory state over time. Findings implicate neutrophil degranulation and dysregulation of the oral-gut-liver axis as drivers of disease syndromes of ex situ black rhinoceros. The forty-three proteins associated with inflammatory pathways represent candidate inflammatory biomarkers to be assessed for clinical applications in future validation studies. Upon validation, these candidate biomarkers may guide management practices to strengthen long-term population sustainability.
Impact of mode hybridization on spin-wave profiles in bi-component magnonic crystals
Abstract The study investigates mode hybridisation in two-dimensional permalloy–cobalt magnonic crystals. Calculations were performed using the plane-wave method, with particular emphasis on the effects accompanying hybridisation. A distinctive feature revealed in this work is the exchange, between hybridising modes, of the excitation concentration coefficient in the constituent materials (e.g. in cobalt). This coefficient describes the fraction of spin-wave energy concentrated within one of the components of the composite. Its analysis enables the identification of hybridisation even when other manifestations—such as profile swapping or clear branch repulsion—are only weakly pronounced. We demonstrate cases in which the exchange of the concentration coefficient occurs between hybridising modes without the typical swapping of spin-wave profiles, or with only minimal repulsion between their branches in the frequency spectrum.
Standardizing oral microbiome sampling for qPCR: methodological and exploratory insights into nutritional status
Abstract Standardization of oral sample collection methods is essential for accurate and reproducible microbiota quantification. This methodological study aimed to evaluate different oral collection methods to identify the most consistent approach for bacterial quantification by qPCR using samples from adolescent individuals. In addition, to assess the biological applicability of the best method, an exploratory analysis compared bacterial profiles between eutrophic and overweight/obese adolescents and explored associations between bacterial abundance and body composition parameters. Samples of unstimulated saliva, cheek swabs, and biofilm were collected from the same individuals, and qPCR was used to quantify total bacteria (16 S rRNA gene), Bacillota , and Bacteroidota phyla. Unstimulated saliva produced the lowest variability in bacterial quantification compared with other methods ( p < 0.05). Moderate correlations were observed between saliva and biofilm, whereas saliva and cheek swab showed weak associations. Although bacterial copy numbers tended to be higher in overweight/obese individuals, these differences were not statistically significant. Correlation matrices suggested group-specific associations between bacterial taxa and body composition parameters, demonstrating the potential of saliva for microbiome assessment in studies of nutritional and metabolic health. This study validated unstimulated saliva as a reproducible, non-invasive, and cost-effective biofluid for oral microbiota quantification by qPCR. The method provides consistent results suitable for large-scale, translational, or point-of-care applications.
Social learning of emotion and its implication for memory: an ERP study
Abstract Social learning of emotional salience from surrounding social cues is particularly advantageous under conditions of uncertainty. Yet, the neural mechanisms underlying this process and its consolidation into long-term memory remain poorly understood. In this two-day EEG study, we examined whether emotional salience from social cues (facial expressions) transfers to perceptually uncertain target images, and whether such learned salience is preserved in memory even after the social cues are removed. On Day 1 (learning session), preregistered analyses provided no evidence for an automatic emotional salience transfer across trials under the task’s uniform perceptual uncertainty. Instead, exploratory ERP analyses indicated that the use of social cues depended on subjective perceptual uncertainty, indexed by participants’ classification accuracy of the target image. P1 amplitudes in the learning session reflected this modulation. On Day 2 (test session), recognition performance and ERPs revealed evidence for additive emotional salience effects. EPN amplitudes were enhanced for accurately classified positive target images previously paired with social cues. In contrast, LPC amplitudes were reduced for negative target images in the social cue condition, independent of classification accuracy. Together, these findings suggest that the influence of social cues is contingent on subjective uncertainty. When internal valence judgments were strong (positive images), social cues added to emotional salience; when internal valence judgments were weaker (negative images), participants relied more heavily on the social cue, resulting in weaker memory encoding. Protocol registration The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 08/11/2023. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/TYQ84 .
Tailoring electronic structure and magnetic anisotropy in spray-pyrolyzed NiFe2O4 thin films for spintronic applications
TYK2 mediates neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease brains with TDP-43 pathology
Abstract Neuroinflammation is a pathological feature of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and ALS. Cytoplasmic dsRNA (cdsRNA) triggers a type-I interferon response in human neural cells, leading to their death, and is found in neurons of C9ORF72 -ALS patients. Here, we report the spatial coincidence of cdsRNA and pTDP-43 inclusions in human postmortem tissue with Alzheimer’s disease pathology, and upregulated interferon response genes in affected regions. CdsRNA also accumulates in a human TDP-43 G298S iPSC cortical neuronal model. We use cryptic exon detection as a proxy for TDP-43 mislocalization and demonstrate that FDA-approved JAK inhibitors baricitinib and ruxolitinib, which block interferon signaling, show protective effects only in brains with elevated cryptic exon expression. A CRISPR screen reveals TYK2 as a top hit, and TYK2 knockdown and the selective TYK2 inhibitor deucravacitinib rescue cdsRNA-induced toxicity. We find parallel neuroinflammatory mechanisms, dependent on TYK2 - a potential disease-modifying target - for TDP-43-associated Alzheimer’s disease and C9ORF72 -ALS.
Increased hailstorms in cities through cell merger mechanism across North America and East Asia
Tropical cyclone rainfall extends inland
Joint control of precipitation and CO2 on global long-term patterns of plant nitrogen availability
An international multi-centre study to develop and validate federated learning-based prognostic models for anal cancer
Abstract Precision oncology relies on access to high-quality data for increasingly smaller patient subgroups. The international atomCAT consortium investigates the potential of federated learning to support this, using anal cancer as a rare cancer exemplar. Here, we show that federated multivariable Cox models trained across 14 centres (1428 patients) and externally validated in two additional centres (277 patients) achieve consistent calibration and discrimination during leave-one-centre-out and external validation (c-indices 0.68-0.79). Lower T stage, absence of nodal involvement, smaller tumour volume, female sex, younger age, and mitomycin- or cisplatin-based chemotherapy are associated with improved overall survival. Lower T stage, smaller tumour volume, and female sex are associated with improved locoregional control, while absence of nodal involvement and smaller tumour volume are associated with better freedom from distant metastases. These findings demonstrate that federated learning enables robust, privacy-preserving prognostic modelling for rare cancers using real-world data, supporting international collaboration without data sharing.
Photoinduced radical-mediated atomic dispersion of noble metal nanoparticles
Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of azahelicenes via cascade Pictet-Spengler reaction and dehydrogenative aromatization
Single-cell and spatial profiling reveal cDC2A-CXCL13+CD8+ T-epithelial cell crosstalk and cytotoxicity through TNFRSF9 in cutaneous and mucosal lichen planus
Decoding correlated errors in quantum LDPC codes
Turn-on luminescence from molecular rotor realignment in metal-organic framework thin films
Abstract Sub-unit motion within metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) offers unique opportunities for nanoscale sensing. However, achieving controlled partial rotation of bulky linkers remains a significant challenge. In this study, a 50-fold luminescence enhancement is observed from a MOF thin film when intra-pore solvent flow orients the linker chromophores. These MOF thin films can be prepared via a facile drop-casting method on various substrates. The MOFs structure consists of zinc-coordinated layers containing rotatable chromophores, separated by pillar molecules. Grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering analysis confirms the formation of highly oriented films. The deposition of a volatile organic compound, such as ethanol, triggers a significant enhancement in luminescence as the solvent nears complete evaporation. Photophysical characterization and quartz crystal microbalance measurements reveal that this phenomenon is driven by internal stress on the MOF’s pore level generated during the final stages of evaporation. This stress can result in a realignment of the MOF chromophores at the molecular scale. Consequently, this dynamic turn-on luminescence behavior establishes a foundation for nanoscale platforms capable of indicating solvent volatilization in real time.