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Nick K. Jones1,2*, Lucy Rivett1,2*, Chris Workman3, Mark Ferris3, Ashley Shaw1, Cambridge COVID-19 Collaboration1,4, Paul J. Lehner1,4, Rob Howes5, Giles Wright3, Nicholas J. Matheson1,4,6¶, Michael P. Weekes1,7¶1 Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK2 Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory, Public Health England, Cambridge, UK3 Occupational Health and Wellbeing, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK4 Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK5 Cambridge COVID-19 Testing Centre and AstraZeneca, Anne Mclaren Building, Cambridge, UK6 NHS Blood and Transplant, Cambridge, UK7 Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK*Joint first authorship¶Joint last authorshipCorrespondence: mpw1001@cam.ac.ukThe UK has initiated mass COVID-19 immunisation, with healthcare workers (HCWs) given early priority because of the potential for workplace exposure and risk of onward transmission to patients. The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended maximising the number of people vaccinated with first doses at the expense of early booster vaccinations, based on single dose efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 disease.1-3At the time of writing, three COVID-19 vaccines have been granted emergency use authorisation in the UK, including the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech). A vital outstanding question is whether this vaccine prevents or promotes asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, rather than symptomatic COVID-19 disease, because sub-clinical infection following vaccination could continue to drive transmission. This is especially important because many UK HCWs have received this vaccine, and nosocomial COVID-19 infection has been a persistent problem.Through the implementation of a 24 h-turnaround PCR-based comprehensive HCW screening programme at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHNFT), we previously demonstrated the frequent presence of pauci- and asymptomatic infection amongst HCWs during the UK’s first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.4 Here, we evaluate the effect of first-dose BNT162b2 vaccination on test positivity rates and cycle threshold (Ct) values in the asymptomatic arm of our programme, which now offers weekly screening to all staff.Vaccination of HCWs at CUHNFT began on 8th December 2020, with mass vaccination from 8th January 2021. Here, we analyse data from the two weeks spanning 18thto 31st January 2021, during which: (a) the prevalence of COVID-19 amongst HCWs remained approximately constant; and (b) we screened comparable numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated HCWs. Over this period, 4,408 (week 1) and 4,411 (week 2) PCR tests were performed from individuals reporting well to work. We stratified HCWs <12 days or > 12 days post-vaccination because this was the point at which protection against symptomatic infection began to appear in phase III clinical trial.226/3,252 (0·80%) tests from unvaccinated HCWs were positive (Ct<36), compared to 13/3,535 (0·37%) from HCWs <12 days post-vaccination and 4/1,989 (0·20%) tests from HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination (p=0·023 and p=0·004, respectively; Fisher’s exact test, Figure). This suggests a four-fold decrease in the risk of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection amongst HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination, compared to unvaccinated HCWs, with an intermediate effect amongst HCWs <12 days post-vaccination.A marked reduction in infections was also seen when analyses were repeated with: (a) inclusion of HCWs testing positive through both the symptomatic and asymptomatic arms of the programme (56/3,282 (1·71%) unvaccinated vs 8/1,997 (0·40%) ≥12 days post-vaccination, 4·3-fold reduction, p=0·00001); (b) inclusion of PCR tests which were positive at the limit of detection (Ct>36, 42/3,268 (1·29%) vs 15/2,000 (0·75%), 1·7-fold reduction, p=0·075); and (c) extension of the period of analysis to include six weeks from December 28th to February 7th 2021 (113/14,083 (0·80%) vs 5/4,872 (0·10%), 7·8-fold reduction, p=1x10-9). In addition, the median Ct value of positive tests showed a non-significant trend towards increase between unvaccinated HCWs and HCWs > 12 days post-vaccination (23·3 to 30·3, Figure), suggesting that samples from vaccinated individuals had lower viral loads.We therefore provide real-world evidence for a high level of protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection after a single dose of BNT162b2 vaccine, at a time of predominant transmission of the UK COVID-19 variant of concern 202012/01 (lineage B.1.1.7), and amongst a population with a relatively low frequency of prior infection (7.2% antibody positive).5This work was funded by a Wellcome Senior Clinical Research Fellowship to MPW (108070/Z/15/Z), a Wellcome Principal Research Fellowship to PJL (210688/Z/18/Z), and an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship (MR/P008801/1) and NHSBT workpackage (WPA15-02) to NJM. Funding was also received from Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and the Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. We also acknowledge contributions from all staff at CUHNFT Occupational Health and Wellbeing and the Cambridge COVID-19 Testing Centre.

Scene flow tracks the three-dimensional (3D) motion of each point in adjacent point clouds. It provides fundamental 3D motion perception for autonomous driving and server robot. Although the Red Green Blue Depth (RGBD) camera or Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) capture discrete 3D points in space, the objects and motions usually are continuous in the macro world. That is, the objects keep themselves consistent as they flow from the current frame to the next frame. Based on this insight, the Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) is utilized to self-learn 3D scene flow with no need for ground truth. The fake point cloud of the second frame is synthesized from the predicted scene flow and the point cloud of the first frame. The adversarial training of the generator and discriminator is realized through synthesizing indistinguishable fake point cloud and discriminating the real point cloud and the synthesized fake point cloud. The experiments on Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute (KITTI) scene flow dataset show that our method realizes promising results without ground truth. Just as human, the proposed method can identify the similar local structures of two adjacent frames even without knowing the ground truth scene flow. Then, the local correspondence can be correctly estimated, and further the scene flow is correctly estimated.   Corresponding author(s) Email: wanghesheng@sjtu.edu.cn

Leukocyte differential test is a widely performed clinical procedure for screening infectious diseases. Existing hematology analyzers require labor-intensive work and a panel of expensive reagents. Here we report an artificial-intelligence enabled reagent-free imaging hematology analyzer (AIRFIHA) modality that can accurately classify subpopulations of leukocytes with minimal sample preparation. AIRFIHA is realized through training a two-step residual neural network using label-free images of isolated leukocytes acquired from a custom-built quantitative phase microscope. By leveraging the rich information contained in quantitative phase images, we not only achieved high accuracy in differentiating B and T lymphocytes, but also classified CD4 and CD8 cells, therefore outperforming the classification accuracy of most current hematology analyzers. We validated the performance of AIRFIHA in a randomly selected test set and cross-validated it across all blood donors. Owing to its easy operation, low cost, and accurate discerning capability of complex leukocyte subpopulations, we envision AIRFIHA is clinically translatable and can also be deployed in resource-limited settings, e.g., during pandemic situations for the rapid screening of infectious diseases.  Corresponding author(s) Email:    rjzhou@cuhk.edu.hk,  rishikesh.pandey@uconn.edu

Tam Hunt [1], Jonathan SchoolerUniversity of California Santa Barbara Synchronization, harmonization, vibrations, or simply resonance in its most general sense seems to have an integral relationship with consciousness itself. One of the possible “neural correlates of consciousness” in mammalian brains is a combination of gamma, beta and theta synchrony. More broadly, we see similar kinds of resonance patterns in living and non-living structures of many types. What clues can resonance provide about the nature of consciousness more generally? This paper provides an overview of resonating structures in the fields of neuroscience, biology and physics and attempts to coalesce these data into a solution to what we see as the “easy part” of the Hard Problem, which is generally known as the “combination problem” or the “binding problem.” The combination problem asks: how do micro-conscious entities combine into a higher-level macro-consciousness? The proposed solution in the context of mammalian consciousness suggests that a shared resonance is what allows different parts of the brain to achieve a phase transition in the speed and bandwidth of information flows between the constituent parts. This phase transition allows for richer varieties of consciousness to arise, with the character and content of that consciousness in each moment determined by the particular set of constituent neurons. We also offer more general insights into the ontology of consciousness and suggest that consciousness manifests as a relatively smooth continuum of increasing richness in all physical processes, distinguishing our view from emergentist materialism. We refer to this approach as a (general) resonance theory of consciousness and offer some responses to Chalmers’ questions about the different kinds of “combination problem.”  At the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat: the sound of cycles in sync…. [T]hese feats of synchrony occur spontaneously, almost as if nature has an eerie yearning for order. Steven Strogatz, Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos in the Universe, Nature and Daily Life (2003) If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.Nikola Tesla (1942) I.               Introduction Is there an “easy part” and a “hard part” to the Hard Problem of consciousness? In this paper, we suggest that there is. The harder part is arriving at a philosophical position with respect to the relationship of matter and mind. This paper is about the “easy part” of the Hard Problem but we address the “hard part” briefly in this introduction.  We have both arrived, after much deliberation, at the position of panpsychism or panexperientialism (all matter has at least some associated mind/experience and vice versa). This is the view that all things and processes have both mental and physical aspects. Matter and mind are two sides of the same coin.  Panpsychism is one of many possible approaches that addresses the “hard part” of the Hard Problem. We adopt this position for all the reasons various authors have listed (Chalmers 1996, Griffin 1997, Hunt 2011, Goff 2017). This first step is particularly powerful if we adopt the Whiteheadian version of panpsychism (Whitehead 1929).  Reaching a position on this fundamental question of how mind relates to matter must be based on a “weight of plausibility” approach, rather than on definitive evidence, because establishing definitive evidence with respect to the presence of mind/experience is difficult. We must generally rely on examining various “behavioral correlates of consciousness” in judging whether entities other than ourselves are conscious – even with respect to other humans—since the only consciousness we can know with certainty is our own. Positing that matter and mind are two sides of the same coin explains the problem of consciousness insofar as it avoids the problems of emergence because under this approach consciousness doesn’t emerge. Consciousness is, rather, always present, at some level, even in the simplest of processes, but it “complexifies” as matter complexifies, and vice versa. Consciousness starts very simple and becomes more complex and rich under the right conditions, which in our proposed framework rely on resonance mechanisms. Matter and mind are two sides of the coin. Neither is primary; they are coequal.  We acknowledge the challenges of adopting this perspective, but encourage readers to consider the many compelling reasons to consider it that are reviewed elsewhere (Chalmers 1996, Griffin 1998, Hunt 2011, Goff 2017, Schooler, Schooler, & Hunt, 2011; Schooler, 2015).  Taking a position on the overarching ontology is the first step in addressing the Hard Problem. But this leads to the related questions: at what level of organization does consciousness reside in any particular process? Is a rock conscious? A chair? An ant? A bacterium? Or are only the smaller constituents, such as atoms or molecules, of these entities conscious? And if there is some degree of consciousness even in atoms and molecules, as panpsychism suggests (albeit of a very rudimentary nature, an important point to remember), how do these micro-conscious entities combine into the higher-level and obvious consciousness we witness in entities like humans and other mammals?  This set of questions is known as the “combination problem,” another now-classic problem in the philosophy of mind, and is what we describe here as the “easy part” of the Hard Problem. Our characterization of this part of the problem as “easy”[2] is, of course, more than a little tongue in cheek. The authors have discussed frequently with each other what part of the Hard Problem should be labeled the easier part and which the harder part. Regardless of the labels we choose, however, this paper focuses on our suggested solution to the combination problem.  Various solutions to the combination problem have been proposed but none have gained widespread acceptance. This paper further elaborates a proposed solution to the combination problem that we first described in Hunt 2011 and Schooler, Hunt, and Schooler 2011. The proposed solution rests on the idea of resonance, a shared vibratory frequency, which can also be called synchrony or field coherence. We will generally use resonance and “sync,” short for synchrony, interchangeably in this paper. We describe the approach as a general resonance theory of consciousness or just “general resonance theory” (GRT). GRT is a field theory of consciousness wherein the various specific fields associated with matter and energy are the seat of conscious awareness.  A summary of our approach appears in Appendix 1.  All things in our universe are constantly in motion, in process. Even objects that appear to be stationary are in fact vibrating, oscillating, resonating, at specific frequencies. So all things are actually processes. Resonance is a specific type of motion, characterized by synchronized oscillation between two states.  An interesting phenomenon occurs when different vibrating processes come into proximity: they will often start vibrating together at the same frequency. They “sync up,” sometimes in ways that can seem mysterious, and allow for richer and faster information and energy flows (Figure 1 offers a schematic). Examining this phenomenon leads to potentially deep insights about the nature of consciousness in both the human/mammalian context but also at a deeper ontological level.

Cannabis sativa is an extraordinarily versatile species. Hemp and its cousin marijuana, both C. sativa, have been used for millennia as a source of fibre, oil and for medicinal, spiritual and recreational purposes. Because the consumption of Cannabis can have psychoactive effects, the plant has been widely banned throughout the last century. In the past decade, evidence of its medicinal properties did lead to the relaxation of legislation in many countries around the world. Consequently, the genetics and development of Cannabis as well as Cannabis-derived products are the subject of renewed attention.Here, we review the biology of C. sativa, including recent insights from taxonomy, morphology and genomics, with an emphasis on the genetics of cannabinoid synthesis. Because the female Cannabis flower is of special interest as the site of cannabinoid synthesis, we explore flower development, flowering time well as the species’ unique sex determination system in detail. Furthermore, we outline the tremendous medicinal, engineering, and environmental opportunities that Cannabis bears. Together, the picture emerges that our understanding of Cannabis biology currently progresses at an unusual speed. A future challenge will be to preserve the multi-purpose nature of Cannabis, and to harness its medicinal properties and sustainability advantages simultaneously.

Quantum chemistry must evolve if it wants to fully leverage the benefits of the internet age, where the world wide web offers a vast tapestry of tools that enable users to communicate and interact with complex data at the speed and convenience of a button press. The Open Chemistry project has developed an open source framework that offers an end-to-end solution for producing, sharing, and visualizing quantum chemical data interactively on the web using an array of modern tools and approaches. These tools build on some of the best open source community projects such as Jupyter for interactive online notebooks, coupled with 3D accelerated visualization, state-of-the-art computational chemistry codes including NWChem and Psi4 and emerging machine learning and data mining tools such as ChemML and ANI. They offer flexible formats to import and export data, along with approaches to compare computational and experimental data.

This paper responds to one by Graham Martin and colleagues, who offered a critique of my previous publications on masks for the lay public in the Covid-19 pandemic. I address their charges that my co-authors and I had misapplied the precautionary principle; drawn conclusions that were not supported by empirical research; and failed to take account of potential harms. But before that, I remind Martin et al that the evidence on mask wearing goes beyond the contested trials and observational studies they place centre stage. I set out some key findings from basic science, epidemiology, mathematical modelling, case studies and natural experiments, and use this rich and diverse body of evidence as the backdrop for my rebuttal of their narrowly-framed objections. I challenge my critics’ apparent assumption that a particular kind of systematic review should be valorised over narrative and real-world evidence, since stories are crucial to both our scientific understanding and our moral imagination. I conclude by thanking my academic adversaries for the intellectual sparring match, but exhort them to remember our professional accountability to a society in crisis. It is time to lay straw men to rest and engage, scientifically and morally, with the dreadful tragedy that is unfolding across the world.

This Supporting information includes interactive plots, videos, and data captured while performing evaluation and validation experiments for our paper. 

The construct of wellbeing has been criticised as a neoliberal construction of western individualism that ignores wider systemic issues including increasing burden of chronic disease, widening inequality, concerns over environmental degradation and anthropogenic climate change. While these criticisms overlook recent developments, there remains a need for biopsychosocial models that extend theoretical grounding beyond individual wellbeing, incorporating overlapping contextual issues relating to community and environment. Our first GENIAL model \cite{Kemp_2017} provided a more expansive view of pathways to longevity in the context of individual health and wellbeing, emphasising bidirectional links to positive social ties and the impact of sociocultural factors. In this paper, we build on these ideas and propose GENIAL 2.0, focusing on intersecting individual-community-environmental contributions to health and wellbeing, and laying an evidence-based, theoretical framework on which future research and innovative therapeutic innovations could be based. We suggest that our transdisciplinary model of wellbeing - focusing on individual, community and environmental contributions to personal wellbeing - will help to move the research field forward. In reconceptualising wellbeing, GENIAL 2.0 bridges the gap between psychological science and population health health systems, and presents opportunities for enhancing the health and wellbeing of people living with chronic conditions. Implications for future generations including the very survival of our species are discussed.  

Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield across global regions is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control and pollination services in adjacent crops using a global dataset of 529 sites. Flower strips, but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by 16% on average. However, effects on crop pollination and yield were more variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more effectively. These findings provide promising pathways to optimize floral plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and ecological intensification of agriculture in the future.

Researchers' ability to accurately screen fossil and subfossil specimens for preservation of DNA and protein sequences remains limited. Thermal exposure and geologic age are usable proxies for sequence preservation on a broad scale but are of nominal use for specimens of similar depositional environments. Cell and tissue biomolecular histology is thus proposed as a novel proxy for determining sequence preservation potential of ancient specimens with improved accuracy. Biomolecular histology as a proxy is hypothesized to elucidate why fossils/subfossils of some depositional environments preserve sequences while others do not and to facilitate selection of ancient specimens for use in molecular studies.

IntroductionConsistent with World Health Organization (WHO) advice [1], UK Infection Protection Control guidance recommends that healthcare workers (HCWs) caring for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) should use fluid resistant surgical masks type IIR (FRSMs) as respiratory protective equipment (RPE), unless aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) are being undertaken or are likely, when a filtering face piece 3 (FFP3) respirator should be used [2]. In a recent update, an FFP3 respirator is recommended if “an unacceptable risk of transmission remains following rigorous application of the hierarchy of control” [3]. Conversely, guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that HCWs caring for patients with COVID-19 should use an N95 or higher level respirator [4]. WHO guidance suggests that a respirator, such as FFP3, may be used for HCWs in the absence of AGPs if availability or cost is not an issue [1].A recent systematic review undertaken for PHE concluded that: “patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection who are breathing, talking or coughing generate both respiratory droplets and aerosols, but FRSM (and where required, eye protection) are considered to provide adequate staff protection” [5]. Nevertheless, FFP3 respirators are more effective in preventing aerosol transmission than FRSMs, and observational data suggests that they may improve protection for HCWs [6]. It has therefore been suggested that respirators should be considered as a means of affording the best available protection [7], and some organisations have decided to provide FFP3 (or equivalent) respirators to HCWs caring for COVID-19 patients, despite a lack of mandate from local or national guidelines [8].Data from the HCW testing programme at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHNFT) during the first wave of the UK severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic indicated a higher incidence of infection amongst HCWs caring for patients with COVID-19, compared with those who did not [9]. Subsequent studies have confirmed this observation [10, 11]. This disparity persisted at CUHNFT in December 2020, despite control measures consistent with PHE guidance and audits indicating good compliance. The CUHNFT infection control committee therefore implemented a change of RPE for staff on “red” (COVID-19) wards from FRSMs to FFP3 respirators. In this study, we analyse the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCWs before and after this transition.

Climate change is increasing the weather persistence in the mid-latitudes, prolonging both dry and wet spells compared to historic averages. These newly emerging environmental conditions destabilize plant communities, but the role of species interactions in this process is unknown. Here, we tested how direct and higher-order interactions (HOIs) between species may change in synthesized grassland communities along an experimental gradient of increasing persistence in precipitation regimes. Our results indicate that species interactions (including HOIs) are an important determinant of plant performance under increasing weather persistence. Out of the 12 most parsimonious models predicting species productivity, 75 % contained significant direct interactions and 92 % significant HOIs. Inclusion of direct interactions or HOIs respectively tripled or quadrupled the explained variance of target species biomass compared to null models only including the precipitation treatment. Drought dominated the plant responses, with longer droughts increasing direct competition but also HOI-driven facilitation. Despite these counteracting changes, drought intensified net competition. Grasses were generally more involved in competitive interactions whereas legumes had a stronger affinity for facilitative interactions. Under longer drought, species affinity for nutrient rich or wet environments resulted in more negative direct interactions or HOIs, respectively. We conclude that higher-order interactions, crucially depending on species identity, only partially stabilize community dynamics under increasing weather persistence.

Plants are cultivated and consumed all over the world. They are highly nutritious and are rich in vitamins, minerals etc. However, most plants are vulnerable to biotic and abiotic diseases, which limits the yield. So, it is essential to detect and handle these diseases at the earliest to get an ample amount of produce. Computers and digital devices make this process much more effortless than manual human intervention. The general template followed by researchers is first segmenting out the diseased lesions from the leaves and then applying machine learning classifiers to differentiate between the diseases. Our proposed solution involves classification followed by lesion isolation and quantification. The techniques are automatic and require no human intervention in the segmentation steps. Additionally, most of the classification work is done on specific plant and disease combinations like cherry powdery mildew, apple rust etc., which requires retraining the classifier in the case of the introduction of a new disease-leaf pair. We tried to solve this limitation by classifying the leaf images based on the disease type, not disease-leaf pairs, as most diseases have similar infection patterns in different plants. Our study included powdery mildew, rust, and bacterial spot diseases. A classification model has been developed which classifies whether a leaf is suffering from powdery mildew, rust, bacterial spot or is healthy. A remarkable accuracy of 99.09% was observed on the test dataset. Moreover, the detection techniques are robust to various lighting conditions, leaf color patterns and symptom patterns

Klebsiella variicola (K. variicola) is an emerging human pathogen, which poses a threat to public health. The horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of plasmids is an important driver for the emergence of multiple antibiotic-resistant K. variicola. The clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeats coupled with the CRISPR-associated genes (CRISPR/Cas) constitute an adaptive immune system in bacteria, which provide acquired immunity against HGT. However, the information about CRISPR/Cas system in K. variicola is still limited. In this study, a total of 487 genomes from NCBI database were used to analyze the characterization of CRISPR/Cas systems. 105 of the 487 genomes harbored at least one confirmed CRISPR array. Three types of CRISPR/Cas system, including types I-E, I-E*, and Ⅳ-A systems, were identified among 105 strains. The distribution of type I system was strongly associated with MLST, whereas type IV system was randomly distributed. Approximately one-third of spacer origins were homologous with plasmids or phages, indicating the role of CRISPR/Cas systems in controlling HGT. Moreover, spacers in K. variicola tended to target mobile genetic elements (MGEs) from Klebsiella pneumoniae, which provides new evidence for their interaction during evolution. Collectively, our results provide valuable insights into the role of CRISPR/Cas systems in K. variicola.

Porous ceramics are widely used for water filtering, improving heat transfer, supporting catalysts, vaporizing liquids, etc. Residential tiles used for water sealing are made from ceramic as well. Moisture infusion analysis based on Richard's equation is necessary to improve tile quality, and this analysis depends heavily on estimating the tile permeability. The current research demonstrates three techniques for calculating ceramic-tile permeability. The first technique is a theoretical model that requires information about the material's effective diameter and porosity that was obtained via scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The second suggested technique is known as mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). The pore size, density, pore volume, and porosity of the ceramic tiles, among other characteristics, are evaluated using mercury in this procedure. The experiment's pressure was varied from 0.1 to 60000 psi. These criteria were used to determine the tile's permeability. The last strategy addressed in this research is the falling-head permeameter (FHP) approach. This procedure involves inserting the specimen into a sealed transparent rectangular conduit. Water is then allowed to pass through it. The rate at which the water level in the duct recedes over time is associated with permeability. All the approaches yield permeability values that are in the same order-of-magnitude of 10-16 m 2 .

Land use intensification favours particular trophic groups which can induce architectural changes in food-webs. These changes can deeply impact ecosystem functioning, stability and robustness to extinctions. However, the imprint of land management intensity on food-web architecture has rarely been characterised across large spatial extent and various land uses. We investigated the influence of land management intensity on six facets of food-web architecture for 67,051 European tetrapod communities, and its dependency on land use and climate. We found that intensification promoted lower proportions of both apex and basal species, with more connected and less compartmentalized food-webs, and unexpectedly, favoured longer trophic chains in cities and decreased omnivory in mediterranean climates. By favouring mesopredators and undermining basal tetrapods, intensification might lead to new forestry and agricultural pest outbreaks. Our results support mesopredator regulation and apex predator protection where possible, but urban and mediterranean contexts might need alternative strategies.

This article presents a new model for valuing financial contracts subject to credit risk and collateralization. We study credit default swap (CDS) contract subject to counterparty risk. There are three credit risk factors in CDS. They are credit risks from the buyer, seller and reference entity. We show that default dependency has a significant impact on the value of CDS. We also show that a fully collateralized CDS is not equivalent to a risk-free one. In other words, full collateralization cannot eliminate counterparty risk completely in the CDS market.

Rationale: Industrial TNT contains substances other than 2-4-6-trinitrotoluene that are of primary interest for military applications. The degradation of industrial TNT by aging and by contact with steel surfaces, which represent real situations of use of the material, was investigated. There is practical knowledge about this degradation, but the literature lacks details of this process. Methods: Small steel samples used in military ammunition were covered with TNT and heated at 75 ºC for 30 days under vacuum. Some of the samples were previously painted with a red alkyd paint coating that protects the metallic surface. After aging, the TNT was scraped off the metal pieces and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results: The results showed in detail how the integrity of the TNT is maintained even under thermal stress and in contact with the steel surface. Although some changes were observed in the surface appearance of the TNT, all the analyses indicated the maintenance of the chemical integrity of the industrial TNT. The only change in composition identified is related to the contamination with degradation products of the alkyd paint coating and not with the degradation processes of the TNT itself. Conclusions: Our results indicated that although there are many TNT degradation processes reported in the literature, for cases involving thermal stress degradation of TNT in solid phase in contact with metal, these processes are irrelevant. Thus, it is possible to elucidate the safety of TNT when packaged in steel artifacts, which represent the majority of military ammunition.

Background Provide a brief overview of recent technological advances that can potentially give information for treatment of different kind of arrhythmias. Methods In this report, we describe the features of Omnipolar technology (OT) using high density mapping catheter and we report five different scenario in which this new tool can give some important information to understand arrhythmia’s substrate and guide the treatment. OT combine three unipolar and two bipolar signals and provides maximum voltage regardless of electrode-wavefront orientation, local wavefront activation direction and local measurements of wave speed: it allow to create a velocity map. Results OT has been used to study different types of supraventricular tachycardias. Regarding reentry tachycardias, velocity map has allowed the characterization and definition of the impulse velocity along the dual nodal pathway and the accessory pathways (AP). As regards atrial flutter, it has successfully allowed the definition of the slowest zone of the critical isthmus and radiofrequency (RF) delivery at that point resulted in termination of the arrhythmia. During mapping of the left atrium in sinus rhythm, the velocity map allowed the identification of the course of the Bachmann’s bundle, which could potentially play a role during the ablation of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). Conclusion OT and velocity map offer significant advantages in the management of challenging arrhythmias, and can potentially improve the efficacy of the treatment of some arrhythmias such as atrial flutter and AF.

Wearable electronics are expected to be light, durable, flexible, and comfortable. Many fibrous, planar and tridimensional structures have been designed to realize flexible devices that can sustain geometrical deformations, such as bending, twisting, folding, and stretching normally at ambient conditions. As a flexible electrode for batteries or other devices, it possess favorable mechanical strength and large specific capacity and preserve efficient ionic and electronic conductivity with a certain shape, structure and function. To fulfill flexible energy-storage devices, much effort has been devoted to design of structures and materials with mechanical characteristics. This review attempts to critically review the state‐of‐arts with respect to materials, and structural design of devices as well as applications of the wearable electronic products. Finally, discussion present regarding to limitations of current materials, fabrication techniques, devices concerning manufacturability and performance as well as scientific understanding that must be improved prior to their wide adoption.

The increase in fossil fuel consumption used in conventional vehicles has adversely affected the amount of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. Due to this negativity, many problems such as global warming, noise pollution and cost have emerged. In order to find solutions to these problems, many studies have been carried out to increase the energy storage capacity of Electric Vehicles (EV) since 1835. EVs produced as a result of these studies work more efficiently than traditional tools. However, the driving range problem and charging time are the biggest disadvantages of these vehicles. These disadvantages are a major obstacle for EVs to replace traditional tools. In this study, an experimental study was conducted on flywheel-battery in-vehicle topologies, which are recommended to be used to increase the range in EV and hybrid electric vehicles. In the application, two flywheels with the same rotor radius and different masses were used. Energy was produced from the generator through these flywheels. This energy was employed to charge the batteries. The stored energy and power amounts were investigated depending on the variation of the moment of inertia of both flywheels at the maximum and minimum levels. As a result of this examination, it has been determined which of the flywheels with the same rotor radius but different masses is more suitable for electric vehicles.

In China, 1100 ng/mL is used as the recommended threshold for imatinib Cssmin in therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) for metastatic recurrence/unresectable gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) patients. However, there are few studies on characteristics of imatinib Cssmin for adjuvant therapy after complete resection of GIST and neoadjuvant therapy. Consider individual differences of GIST patients, analysis of imatinib in patients with adjuvant and neoadjuvant treatment using a quantitative ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem massspectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was conducted in this study. This developed method showed good selectivity and reliability. 25 blood samples collected from October 2019 to October 2021 in 16 patients with adjuvant therapy and 9 patients with neoadjuvant therapy were determined. In the neoadjuvant treatment group, all patients initially received 400 mg/d imatinib. The range of the imatinib steady-state plasma concentration (Cssmin) was 1083-4722 ng/mL. In the adjuvant treatment group, the imatinib Cssmin was in the range of 584-2692 ng/mL after patients given at a dosage of 200, 300, 400 and 600 mg/d. There is no statistical difference in Cssmin between two groups after receiving 400 mg/d imatinib (p=0.402). Among all patients given 400 mg/d imatinib, the Cssmin was significantly correlated with gender (P=0.016).

With high biodiversity and a large demand for environmental restoration, China has become a global hotspot for the investigation and application of hyperaccumulator plants aiming to effectively decontaminate polluted soils. After harvesting, the abnormally high content of heavy metals (HMs) in the aboveground tissues of hyperaccumulators requires proper treatment in downstream processes to boost the economic potential and avoid secondary pollution. This paper covers the significance of phytoextraction research in the remediation of HM-contaminated soil in China. The technical trends and the major scientific advances for the eco-friendly valorization of HM-enriched hyperaccumulators are comprehensively reviewed. A systematic survey of the thermochemical and biological routes to upcycle the hyperaccumulator biomass is conducted by emphasizing the transformation strategies for green and valuable products, along with the safe recovery of HM streams. In addition, challenges and perspectives on the valorization of hyperaccumulators in the future are presented.