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Deformation, fracture characteristics and damage constitutive model of soft coal under true triaxial complex stress paths

Understanding the mechanical properties and damage deterioration mechanisms of soft coal under true triaxial complex stress paths is crucial for predicting and evaluating the stability of the roof during roadway excavation in thick soft coal seams. This study examines the evolution of deformation strength, fracture characteristics, and acoustic emission patterns of soft coal under various initial stress levels and stress paths using true triaxial loading and unloading tests. The research reveals that soft coal undergoes rapid expansion deformation and ultimately fails along the unloading direction, which varies with different stress paths. The initial stress level and stress path significantly influence deformation and strength, conforming to the Mogi-Coulomb criterion. The fracture modes of the coal under different stress paths can be categorized into compressive-shear failure and compression-shear and tension composite failure. Furthermore, based on the experimental results, a damage constitutive model for soft coal is developed that integrates damage mechanics, Weibull statistical distribution theory, and the Mogi-Coulomb criterion to effectively measure microelement strength under true triaxial complex stress paths. Comparing the theoretical model with the experimental curves demonstrates that the proposed damage constitutive model can effectively reflect the deformation strength characteristics of soft coal under true triaxial complex stress paths. These findings offer a crucial theoretical foundation for enhancing methods to predict and evaluate the stability of roadway roofs in soft coal seams, potentially improving safety and efficiency in mining operations.

Quantitative assessment of Ni+ and He+ ion irradiation damage in a tungsten heavy alloy under the simulated nuclear fusion environment

Abstract A 90W-7Ni-3Fe (wt.%) tungsten heavy alloy has been sequentially Ni+ and He+ ion irradiated at 700 °C to simulate the high temperature irradiation environment of a fusion reactor interior. W/Ni–Fe-W dual-phase alloys have been proposed to serve as plasma facing materials and require detailed investigation of their behavior under fusion relevant conditions to assess their overall applicability. To evaluate material performance under five years of simulated fusion reactor service, microstructural characterization of the nanoscale defect distribution has been performed on both constituent phases, revealing peak swelling in the W phase of approximately 0.03%. The γ-phase (Ni–Fe-W) is found to swell approximately 0.68% under the same irradiation conditions, indicating significant cavity formation and growth. Additionally, a novel multi-projection imaging approach has been applied to determine the extent of damage segregation along the dual-phase W-to-γ interface and exposes that these interfaces act as sink sites for the accumulation of cavities. Interphase boundaries are noted to possess an 11.8% areal coverage of defects along the boundary plane, primarily on the γ-phase side of the boundary. The accumulation of cavities at these interphase boundaries is anticipated to adversely affect overall material toughness, and this work reveals a pressing need for mechanical property testing of irradiated W–Ni-Fe dual-phase alloys.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in the workplace in the Middle East and North Africa: A scoping review protocol

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the livelihoods of working men and women worldwide. The pandemic exacerbated already existing inequities, especially in sectors where women predominate, such as the healthcare, education, and hospitality sectors. Women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, a world outlier for low female labor force participation despite high female education levels, may have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on women’s livelihoods and health is critical to support and retain women in the labor force during external health shocks. However, until now there has been relatively little research on this topic in MENA. Therefore, this scoping review aims to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and wellbeing of women workers in low-and-middle-income countries in the MENA region. Methods The outcome of interest is COVID-19 related occupational health (COVID-19 infection related to workplace exposures and pandemic-related occupational stressors) and the impact on mental and physical health among women workers in LMIC in MENA. Academic databases, including APA PsycINFO, Arab World Research Source: Al-Masdar, Global Health, MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection will be searched. The study selection process will involve two independent reviewers and data extraction will involve summarizing key information from the included studies using a predefined charting table. The evidence will be analyzed descriptively, providing a comprehensive overview of the identified themes and patterns. Discussion It is anticipated that this review will facilitate a deeper understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working women in the MENA region. The findings may inform data-driven policies and targeted interventions that not only attract and retain women in the workforce but also enhance their health and well-being.

Risk assessment and mechanism of rock burst for deep soft coal roadways

Low-iridium device speeds progress towards green hydrogen

Exploring the socioeconomic determinants of dietary diversity in rural Bangladesh: A longitudinal study

Despite significant progress in food and nutrition security over the past few decades, Bangladesh continues to face challenges, especially in rural areas. This study investigates the relationship between socioeconomic determinants and household dietary diversity using three waves of nationally representative longitudinal data from the Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (2011/2012, 2015, and 2018/2019). Dietary diversity was measured using the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and the Food Variety Score (FVS), both indicators of dietary diversity and food security. We employed a Poisson fixed-effects regression model with robust standard errors to model the dietary diversity indicators, appropriate for the count nature of the data. The results show that households where the head is engaged in farming have, on average, a 1.4% higher HDDS and a 2.17% higher FVS compared to non-farming households. Households where the head has primary or lower education demonstrate a 2.11% increase in HDDS, while those with secondary or higher education experience a 2.05% increase compared to households with no formal education. Additionally, each extra household member increases FVS by 5.5%. Cultivable land, as well as access to essential resources like water and electricity, significantly affects dietary diversity. Economic factors, such as higher food and non-food expenditures per capita, also exhibit strong positive associations with dietary diversity. These findings emphasize the importance of socioeconomic factors and household dynamics in shaping dietary quality. Policy interventions should prioritize educational programs to enhance nutrition knowledge and promote sustainable agricultural practices to support farmers. Aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2 on zero hunger and SDG 3 on health and well-being, these insights contribute to ongoing efforts to improve food security and dietary diversity in rural communities.

Effects and mechanisms of social support on the adolescent athletes engagement

Using music as a mood regulator in everyday life is associated with unfavourable health and fitness outcomes in overweight adults

Individual traits and habits have shown to be associated with health and health behaviour. One such habit is how individuals use music. This study aimed to examine if using music as a mood regulator is related to risk factors of lifestyle diseases. Participants who joined the present Motivation Makes the Move! lifestyle intervention were overweight and sedentary adults (n = 76, ages 19–40). They answered questionnaires about physical activity and use of music. They also underwent a cardiopulmonary exercise test and their body composition was assessed. Additionally, the analyses’ robustness was tested through controlling for physical, sociodemographic and psychological health related factors. We observed that despite the participants’ self-reported commitment to regular physical activity, their fitness level was poor. Using music as a mood regulator was associated with lower cardiorespiratory fitness. Use of music was also positively linked to body fat percentage, although this finding did not remain significant after adjusting for age, educational level and experienced health. We urge future research to address the relationship between music use and risk factors of lifestyle diseases in a population sample.

Author Correction: Screen time exposure and executive functions in preschool children

Plasmodium and intestinal parasite infections among pregnant women at first antenatal care contact in northwest Ethiopia: A study of prevalence and associated risk factors

Background Parasitic infections in pregnancy are detrimental for both the mother and her fetus. Malaria and intestinal parasite infections among pregnant women at their first antenatal care contact (ANC1) could offer information on their burden in pregnancy, community-level transmission, and intervention coverage, which is vital for targeted interventions. However, data is scarce in Ethiopia. This study investigated Plasmodium and intestinal parasite infections along with their associated risk factors among pregnant women at their ANC1 in northwest Ethiopia. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 538 pregnant women attending ANC1 at selected health facilities in Jawi District, northwest Ethiopia, between November 2021 and July 2022. Plasmodium infection was diagnosed by light microscopy, rapid diagnostic tests, and multiplex real-time PCR. Whereas, intestinal parasite infections were examined microscopically using stool wet mount and Kato-Katz techniques. Predictors of Plasmodium and intestinal parasite infections were evaluated using logistic regression analysis. A P-value of < 0.05 was used to indicate statistical significance. Results Overall, 43.1% (95% CI: 38.9–47.4%) of women were infected with intestinal parasites, 19.1% (95% CI: 15.9–22.7%) had Plasmodium infections, and 11.7% (95% CI: 9.1–14.7%) were co-infected with Plasmodium and intestinal parasites. About 84.9% of malaria cases were asymptomatic, and 39.8% were sub-microscopic infections. Younger maternal age (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) =  2.01, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1, 3.65), primigravidity (AOR =  2.37, 95% CI: 1.43, 3.92), lack of insecticide-treated bed net use (AOR =  2.58, 95% CI: 1.26, 5.3), undernutrition (AOR =  1.89, 95% CI: 1.13, 3.15), and intestinal helminth infection (AOR =  2.09, 95% CI: 1.31, 3.36) were significant predictors of Plasmodium infection. Whereas, rural residency (AOR =  1.62, 95% 1.03, 2.57), habit of soil eating (AOR =  2.06, 95% CI: 1.1, 3.9), consuming raw vegetables and fruits (AOR =  1.59, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.3), and lack of latrine use (AOR =  1.66, 95% CI: 1.06, 2.6) were significantly associated with intestinal parasite infections in pregnancy. Conclusion High prevalences of Plasmodium and intestinal parasite infections were observed among pregnant women in northwest Ethiopia. These findings highlight the importance of strengthening prevention and control measures for parasitic infections and implementing malaria screening at ANC1, particularly for young and primigravid women.

Author Correction: Acute mesenteric ischaemia in the elderly - results of combined endovascular and surgical treatment. Primary study

Public attitudes to potential synthetic cells applications: Pragmatic support and ethical acceptance

Synthetic cells constructed bottom-up represent a novel direction in Synthetic Biology. It has the potential to deepen the scientific understanding of life and, in the longer run, to open up new pathways for medical and environmental applications. Mapping preliminary public attitudes towards emerging technologies is an important step to further societal discussion and stakeholder participation. We conducted a vignette survey with nationally representative samples from 13 European countries (Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and UK; N =  8,382) to explore public attitudes towards prospective synthetic cell technologies, such as anticancer therapy, CO 2 emissions conversion to biofuel, and industrial waste recycling. Using data-driven techniques, we built a decision tree model of the factors affecting participants’ attitudes and summarized the prevalent themes behind one’s motivation. Our findings suggest substantial public support for prospective synthetic cell applications in the societally beneficial fields, most notably in healthcare.

Kondo-like behavior in a mixed valent oxypnictide La3Cu4P4O2

Stress-mediating inflammatory cytokine profiling reveals unique patterns in malaria and typhoid fever patients

Malaria and typhoid fever pose significant health risks, leading to severe morbidity and mortality when inadequately treated. Understanding the role of stress-related inflammatory cytokines is crucial, as they mediate immune responses that affect pathogen clearance and recovery. This study investigated the cytokine profiles in patients with malaria and/or typhoid fever attending the Obala District Hospital in Yaoundé, Cameroon. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study measuring cortisol and inflammatory cytokines in blood samples from 55 infected patients and a control group of 15 healthy individuals using ELISA kits. We also evaluated psychological stress over the past 30 days using a 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) questionnaire to explore the link between stress and immune response. Psychological stress levels were notably higher in the typhoid fever group (18.20 ± 5.5) compared to the other groups, although these differences were statistically insignificant. Cortisol levels were significantly elevated (p < 0.001) across all patient groups compared to controls, with the typho-malaria group demonstrating a 2.5-fold increase. Notably, cytokine levels were elevated in patients with malaria and typhoid comorbidity, particularly IL-1β, IL-2, TNF-α, and IFN-γ. While IL-6 concentrations were significantly higher in malaria and typho-malaria co-infected patients, IL-10 levels were reduced in the typho-malaria group but remained elevated compared to controls. The TNF-α/IL-10 ratio was significantly higher in the co-infected group, suggesting a heightened inflammatory response. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between perceived stress scores and IL-2 (r = 0.365, p = 0.002), IFN-γ (r = 0.248, p = 0.03), and IL-6 (r = 0.412, p = 0.0001) in the typho-malaria group. Beyond IL-6, no significant correlations were observed between stress indices and the anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-4 (r = 0.204, p = 0.09) and IL-10 (r = 0.153, p = 0.20) among co-infected individuals. These results suggest that stress response may play a crucial role in shaping the inflammatory landscape during malaria and typhoid fever. Exposure to severe stressors may disrupt immune response and contribute to negative health outcomes. Understanding the immunopathogenesis of these diseases could potentially pave the way for the development of novel therapeutic strategies targeting the stress-cytokine axis.

Incorporation of CuO on the αFe2O3 nanoparticles as a heterogeneous catalyst for conversion of waste cooking oil into biodiesel

Predicting the unpredicted … brain response: A systematic review of the feature-related visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) and the experimental parameters that affect it

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, I consider aspects of experimental design that affect the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN)—an electrophysiological (neural) correlate of prediction error in vision that is typically largest between 150 ms and 300 ms in the event-related potential (ERP) at occipito-parietal regions on the scalp. I compiled data from 145 published studies investigating changes in a single property or feature of visual input. This review provides a concise summary of the vMMN literature on unexpected changes in features of visual input, outlining the most used (according to review) and optimal (following discussion on theoretical and practical implications) parameters of experiments investigating feature deviance for posterity as well as contemporary research. The data compiled was analysed to reveal meaningful relationships between aspects of experimental design and vMMN mean amplitude and peak latency. Results suggest that whether a control for adaptation is used, whether attention is towards vs. away from the stimulus of interest, and stimulus presentation time determines mean amplitude. Whether attention is towards vs. away from the stimulus of interest, the time between the stimulus of interest, deviant probability, and the number of standards separating deviants determines peak latency. There is also some indication that magnitude of deviance affects mean amplitude in studies exploring orientation deviance. This review and its findings elucidate potentially fruitful areas of future research.

A fast sand-dust video quality improvement method based on color correction and illumination compensation

Exploratory algorithms to devise multi-epitope subunit vaccine by examining HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein: An immunoinformatics and viroinformatics approach

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), a widespread pandemic and severe health issue, is triggered by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); there is no specific vaccine to cure this infection, and the situation is worsening. Therefore, this research sought to develop a vaccine with multiple epitopes against this infection targeting envelope glycoprotein (vital in host-cell interaction) through the immunoinformatics and viroinformatics approach. We identified one B-cell, eight MHC-I, and four MHC-II epitopes on its immunogen-assisted screening. In addition, these putative epitopes were conjoined concurrently using a specific linker (EAAAK, KK, GPGPG), including an adjuvant and a His-Tag at the N and C terminal, respectively, to augment its immune reaction. The final constructed entity consists of 284 amino acids; immunological evaluation demonstrated that the developed vaccine possesses antigenic features with a value of 0.6222, is non-allergenic, and has prospective physiochemical characteristics. The secondary and tertiary structures were anticipated, and their quality has been evaluated. Further, docking analysis between vaccines with TLR3 shows a strong molecular interaction with a -20.0 kcal/mol binding energy, and the stability was analysed through the MD simulation (100ns). Moreover, the designed vaccine expression and immune response were analysed, and a high vaccine expression level was found (pET28a (+)) and robust immune response followed by codon adaptation index value 0.94, 58.36% GC content, and the generation of IgM +  IgG, cytokines and interleukin. Based on overall investigation, the developed vaccine stimulates a robust immune response. Nevertheless, laboratory analysis is needed to confirm the protective potency of the vaccine.

Green HPLC technique development for the simultaneous determination of the potential combination of Mirabegron and Tamsulosin

Abstract Mirabegron and tamsulosin have recently been prescribed to men with overactive bladder for the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy. An efficient and environmentally friendly HPLC method was developed to accurately measure the levels of mirabegron and tamsulosin in both their pure form and in medication formulations. Full separation was achieved on an X-Bridge C18 column using a gradient elution of (The A mobile phase was a buffer solution containing 1 mL of trifluoroacetic acid and 3 mL of triethylamine in 1,000 milliliters of water, the pH of the solution was then adjusted to 3 using triethylamine and the B-mobile phase was acetonitrile). The chromatographic peaks were obtained at a wavelength of 220 nm. Mirabegron and tamsulosin were identified with retention time values of 2.4 min and 8.9 min, respectively. In the concentration ranges of 2.5–55 µg/mL for mirabegron and 5–110 µg/mL for tamsulosin, remarkable linearity was seen. The limits of detection for the two analytes were 0.28 and 0.55 µg/mL, respectively, and their R 2 values were 0.9999. The new HPLC method was evaluated for its environmental friendliness using the Analytical GREEness (AGREE) metric. Furthermore, the suggested technique was considered practicable based on the evaluation conducted using the Blue Applicability Grade Index (BAGI) assessment. Both evaluation methods were quite successful, yielding scores of 0.52 and 80, respectively. Compared to the TLC-reported method, HPLC is the preferred choice for the separation of the two analytes due to its sensitivity.

Association between prenatal exposure to maternal metal and trace elements and Streptococcus infection: A prospective birth cohort in the Japan Environment and Children’s Study

Background Streptococcus infection is a common and potentially severe bacterial infection which remains a global public health challenge, underscoring the necessity of investigating potential risk factors. Aims The present study aims to assess the association between metal and trace element exposure and Streptococcus infection using a prospective nationwide birth cohort, the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS). Methods The JECS obtained data from over 100,000 pregnancies through 15 Regional Centres across Japan. We assessed toxic metal and trace element levels among pregnant mothers and Streptococcus infection among their children, born between 2011 and 2014, at age three to four. Analysis was performed using univariable and multivariable logistic regressions, as well as Quantile g-computation. We also conducted quartile regressions to assess the effects of higher serum selenium levels and potential interactions between selenium and mercury. Results Among 74,434 infants and their mothers, univariable and multivariable regression analyses found that selenium and mercury each had an inverse association with Streptococcus infection incidence. Quantile g-computation analysis yielded results consistent with the primary regression analyses. Quartile regression suggested that serum selenium levels above the third quartile were inversely associated with later Streptococcus infection incidence, but no interaction between selenium and mercury was found. Conclusions These findings imply that maternal selenium exposure may have protective effects on Streptococcus infection among children. Further studies should explore the role of pediatric selenium in immune responses to infectious diseases, especially Streptococcus infection.