Search Results (485)

Background/Objectives: The ¹⁰³Pd/^103mRh in vivo generator represents a promising Auger electron-emitting system, in which both parent and daughter radionuclides emit predominantly Auger electrons with minimal accompanying radiation. This study investigates the release dynamics of daughter radionuclides from the ¹⁰³Pd/^103mRh in vivo generator and evaluates the underlying mechanisms governing bond rupture and daughter retention. Methods: Cyclotron irradiation of rhodium foils was performed in two separate batches, followed by radionuclide separation using conventional wet chemistry and a novel dry distillation technique. The purified ¹⁰³Pd radionuclide was used to radiolabel DOTA-TATE, phthalocyanine-TATE, and DOTA-TOC chelators. The resulting complexes were immobilized on Strata-X and Strata-C18 solid-phase extraction columns. Scheduled elution experiments were conducted to quantify the release of the ^103mRh daughter radionuclide. Results: The measured ^103mRh release rates were 9.8 ± 3.0% and 9.6 ± 2.7% from Strata-X columns with DOTA-TATE and phthalocyanine-TATE, respectively, and 10.5 ± 2.7% and 12.0 ± 0.5% from Strata-X and Strata-C18 columns, respectively, with DOTA-TOC. These values are significantly lower than the ~100% release predicted based on the reported Auger electron yield of 186%. One explanation for this difference could be potential inconsistencies in decay data that may require correction; this needs further investigation. The results further demonstrated that delocalized π-electrons, introduced via phthalocyanine-based chelation, did not mitigate daughter release. Conclusions: The low observed daughter nuclide release represents a favorable characteristic for the future clinical translation of the ¹⁰³Pd/^103mRh Auger emitter pair. The findings support the conclusion that Auger electron cascades, rather than nuclear recoil energy, dominate bond rupture processes. Full article

Soil fertility plays a crucial role in crop productivity, particularly in cocoa cultivation, which is highly dependent on soil quality that directly influences both productivity and sustainability. Understanding how to achieve and maintain soil fertility on cocoa farms is fundamental to sustaining higher yields. Cocoa production in Ghana and Togo remains low, at 350–600 kg/ha, compared to the potential yield of over 1–3 tons per hectare. Given the growing demand for cocoa and limited arable land, adequate soil nutrients are essential to optimise productivity. Soil fertility indices (SFIs) have been widely used as soil metrics by integrating multiple physical, chemical, and biological soil properties. In this study, standard analytical methods were employed to evaluate the SFI through laboratory analyses of 49 surface soil samples collected at a depth of 0–30 cm with an auger. Eleven soil chemical indicators were analysed: pH (water), organic matter (OM), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), available phosphorus (P), total nitrogen (N), cation exchange capacity (CEC), electrical conductivity (EC), and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C/N). Principal component analysis, followed by normalisation, was used to select a minimum dataset, which was then integrated into an additive SFI. Results indicated that N, Ca, Mg, CEC, and pH were within the optimal range for most surveyed locations (96%, 94%, 92%, 73%, and 63%, respectively), while OM and C/N were within the optimal range in approximately half of the study area. Available P, K, and C/N were highly deficient in 100%, 67%, and 96% of surveyed locations, respectively. Soil fertility varied significantly among locations (p = 0.007) and was generally low, ranging from 0.15 to 0.66. Only 20% of the soils in the study area were classified as adequately fertile for cocoa cultivation. Therefore, it is necessary to restore soil nutrient balance, especially the critically low levels of K and P, through appropriate management practices that improve fertility over time and help close the yield gap. Full article

Introduction: Motorized components on power wheelchairs (PWC) enable repositioning to pre-programmed positions (e.g., tilt, leg support, verticalization) to prevent prolonged static positions. Smart technologies can track positioning information and give feedback according to clinical recommendations and personal goals. This study aimed to explore users’ and clinicians’ perceptions of an intelligent dynamic seating (IDS) system prototype comprising a PWC with motorized multi-components connected to a web interface. Methods: A purposive sample of six PWC users and eight clinicians were recruited in this exploratory descriptive qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews included viewing a video of the IDS and images of the web interface. Interviews were transcribed, deductively coded, and thematically analyzed using a conceptual model for evaluating eHealth interventions. Results: Clinicians found the IDS system intuitive to use, customizable, relevant in terms of positioning and clinical recommendations, and timesaving. Powered wheelchair users perceived benefits that could motivate behavioural change, autonomy, health, and inclusion. Concerns related to familiarity with complex technology, funding, cognitive requirements, and technical and health risks were raised. Conclusion: The results inform improvements for the integration of the IDS in clinical practice to respond to the positioning needs of PWC users. Full article

This review summarizes the use of Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) for microchemical analysis of two different types of dielectric/(Al,Ga)N-based systems: (i) extrinsic dielectric PECVD SiO₂, ALD Al₂O₃, and ECR-CVD SiN_x films on Al_xGa_1−xN/GaN structures in the context of their application in microelectronic power devices and (ii) intrinsic Al₂O₃ films on AlN epitaxial layers grown by high-temperature oxidation for nanostructured technology of various gas/ion sensors. Particular attention is given to AES depth profiling across complete multilayer cross-sections, combining qualitative analysis of spectral line shape and intensity evolution as well as kinetic energy shifts with quantitative elemental depth distributions. This approach enables identification of chemical states and oxidation-related transformations at dielectric/semiconductor interfaces. Reported results demonstrate that AES provides micro- to nanometer-scale chemical information essential for distinguishing interfacial from the bulk properties. The capabilities and inherent limitations of AES depth profiling, including sputter-induced artifacts are also addressed, highlighting the role of optimized experimental conditions in reliable interface analysis. Full article

Non-invasive glucose monitoring remains a significant challenge in diabetes management, with existing approaches often limited by poor accuracy, high cost, or patient discomfort. Microwave-based biosensors offer a promising label-free alternative by exploiting the dielectric contrast between glucose and water. This paper presents a compact, dual-band concentric square-shaped split-ring resonator (SRR-type) biosensor fabricated on a low-cost FR-4 substrate for aqueous glucose detection. The sensor leverages electric field confinement in inter-ring gaps to transduce glucose-induced permittivity changes into measurable shifts in resonance frequency and reflection coefficient. Experimental results demonstrate a linear, monotonic response across the clinical range up to 250 mg/dL, with a frequency-domain sensitivity of 1.964 MHz/(mg/dL) and amplitude-domain sensitivity of 0.0332 dB/(mg/dL), achieving high coefficients of determination (R² = 0.9956 and 0.9927, respectively). The design achieves a normalized size of 0.137 λ_g², combining high sensitivity and compact size within a scalable platform. Operating in the UWB-adjacent band (2.76–3.25 GHz), the proposed biosensor provides a practical, reproducible, and PCB-compatible solution for next-generation label-free glucose monitoring. Full article

Background: In response to the growing emotional support needs of patients in oncology, peer support was introduced into clinical teams in Quebec, Canada, in 2018. These peers, called accompanying patients (APs), are former cancer patients who use their experiential knowledge to provide support to patients during their oncology journey. This paper aims to identify APs’ perceptions of the program by including a diversity of perspectives. We include inexperienced and experienced APs, APs in different facilities, and APs in different cancer programs. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study based on 12 semi-structured interviews of APs between June and August 2024 in Quebec, Canada. We explored four themes, building on the Practice Change Model for qualitative analysis: APs’ sources of motivation, influences and environmental factors, resources available for AP integration, and the program’s effects. Results: 12 APs from 5 facilities participated in an interview. All the APs, both experienced and inexperienced, were highly motivated to participate in the program. Their motivations included a desire to give back to society, to help people and to give meaning to their illness. Both experienced and inexperienced APs were confident in their ability to accompany others. They were aware of their responsibilities and its limits regarding their role as an AP. They pointed out the program’s positive impact on their own emotional well-being and that of the patients. The program also benefited the clinical team, by limiting unhelpful demands from patients and saving time for clinicians. However, experienced APs did not feel well integrated into the healthcare team. Conclusions: We concluded that APs are highly motivated to be in the program. They perceived a need for the program in the current health system. They noted its beneficial effects on patients, on themselves, and on the clinical team. However, more resources need to be directed toward integrating APs into healthcare teams. Full article

Auger decay of all levels of the double core-hole states $4d^{-2}$ of Xe²⁺, including collective Auger decay (CAD) pathways, is investigated using the relativistic distorted-wave approximation. Large-scale configuration interaction calculations were performed to obtain level-to-level Auger decay rates. In addition to the typical Auger decay final levels associated with the configurations of $4d^{-1}5s^{2}5p^4$, $4d^{-1}5s^{1}5p^5$, and $4d^{-1}5s^{0}5p^6$, evident contributions are identified from excited channels, leading to configurations such as $4d^{9}4f^{1}5s^{2}5p^3$, $4d^{9}5s^{2}5p^{3}5d^1$, $4d^{9}5s^{2}5p^{3}6s^1$, and $4d^{9}5s^{2}5p^{3}6p^1$. These contributions arise from strong electron correlation between the valence electronic orbitals and the $4d$ inner-shell orbital. The CAD rates and branching ratios (BRs) are determined for each double core-hole level with a minimum CAD BR of 1.28% and a maximum of 4.08% among all CAD channels. The configuration-averaged CAD BR is predicted to be 1.93%, which helps explain recent unexplained experimental findings. The inclusion of CAD processes enriches Auger electron spectroscopy, thereby extending potential applications of this important experimental tool in both fundamental and applied research. Full article

Inhibition of agonist-induced M₂ muscarinic receptor (M₂R) activation by functional anti-M₂R autoantibodies has been associated with cardiac parasympathetic dysfunction in patients with chronic Chagas disease (CD). This study explored the allosteric nature of that inhibitory effect by assessing the ability of serum IgG from patients with CD and dysautonomia (DCD IgG) to modulate the interaction between M₂R and β-arrestins in HEK 293T cells using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer. DCD IgG alone did not stimulate arrestin-2 or arrestin-3 recruitment. When cells were preincubated with DCD IgG and then treated with carbachol, arrestin-2 translocation decreased in a concentration-dependent manner, while arrestin-3 recruitment remained unaffected. Inhibition curve analysis showed a submaximal inhibitory effect (68.1 ± 2.4%) and a Hill slope less than −1 (−4.03 ± 0.39). Carbachol concentration–response assays after preincubation with DCD IgG revealed a noncompetitive inhibition of arrestin-2 recruitment, with no change in arrestin-3 translocation. Unlikely, simultaneous exposure to DCD IgG and carbachol potentiated agonist-induced Arr-2 recruitment. We conclude that anti-M₂R autoantibodies selectively inhibit agonist-induced arrestin-2 recruitment, acting as negative allosteric modulators of agonist efficacy. The direction of autoantibody-induced allosteric modulation depends on the timing of IgG application relative to the agonist and the duration of receptor exposure to autoantibodies. Full article

This study aimed to adapt and translate the Knowledge, Comfort, Approach and Attitude towards Sexuality Scale (KCAASS) for stroke rehabilitation clinicians who are Canadian French speakers and to determine its measurement properties. The KCAASS was adapted for stroke rehabilitation by three occupational therapists and translated into Canadian French using a back-translation process. After being pretested, the resulting KCAASS-Stroke-FrCan was disseminated to seven rehabilitation centers in Quebec, Canada. Exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach alphas, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), standard error of measurement (SEM), and minimal detectable change (MDC) were computed. 199 clinicians participated. Factor analysis revealed a four-factor solution. Internal consistency for the total score (α = 0.942) and subscales “Knowledge” (α = 0.834), “Comfort” (α = 0.966), and “Approach” (α = 0.836) were very good, and critical for “Attitude” (α = 0.628). Test–retest reliability was very good (0.81; p < 0.001) for the total score, good for “Knowledge” (0.69; p < 0.001) and “Comfort” (0.74; p < 0.001), very good for “Approach” (0.82; p < 0.001), and poor for “Attitude” (0.37; p = 0.003). SEM and MDC were presented. The KCAASS-Stroke-FrCan showed good measurement properties to assess stroke rehabilitation clinicians’ training needs and educational interventions. Full article

The purpose of the study is to investigate human physiological responses to construction noise exposure using deep learning, applying electroencephalography (EEG) and electro-dermal activity (EDA) sensors. Construction noise is a pervasive occupational stressor that affects physiological states and impairs cognitive performance. EEG sensors capture neural activity related to perception and attention, and EDA reflects autonomic arousal and stress. In this study, twenty-five participants were exposed to impulsive noise from pile drivers and tonal noise from earth augers at three intensity levels (40, 60, and 80 dB), while EEG and EDA signals were recorded simultaneously. Convolutional neural networks (CNN) were utilized for EEG and long short-term memory networks (LSTM) for EDA. The results depict that EEG-based models consistently outperformed EDA-based models, establishing EEG as the dominant modality. In addition, decision-level fusion enhanced robustness across evaluation metrics by employing complementary information from EDA sensors. Ablation analyses presented that model performance was sensitive to design choices, with medium EEG windows (6 s), medium EDA windows (5–10 s), smaller batch sizes, and moderate weight decay yielding the most stable results. Further, retraining with ablation-informed hyperparameters confirmed that this configuration improved overall accuracy and maintained stable generalization across folds. The outcome of this study demonstrates the potential of deep learning to capture multimodal physiological responses when subjected to construction noise and emphasizes the critical role of modality-specific design and systematic hyperparameter optimization in achieving reliable annoyance detection. Full article

The header platform of a combine harvester is subjected to severe abrasive and corrosive wear from rice stalks and environmental factors, which significantly limits its service life and operational efficiency. Accurately predicting the complex distribution of this wear over time and across the platform’s surface, however, remains a significant challenge. This paper, for the first time, systematically establishes a quantitative mapping relationship from “material motion trajectory” to “component wear profile” and introduces a novel method for time-sequence wear validation based on corrosion color gradients, providing a complete research paradigm to address this challenge. To this end, an analytical model based on rigid-body dynamics was first developed to predict the motion trajectory of a single rice stalk. Subsequently, a full-scale Discrete Element (DEM) model of the header platform–flexible rice stalk system was constructed. This model simulated the complex flow process of the rice population with high fidelity and was used to analyze the influence of key operating parameters (spiral auger rotational speed, cutting width) on wear distribution. Finally, real-world wear data were obtained through in situ mapping of a header platform after long-term service (1300 h) and multi-period (0–1600 h) image analysis. Through a three-way quantitative comparison among the theoretical trajectory, simulated trajectory, and the actual wear profile, the results indicate that the simulated and theoretical trajectories are in good agreement in terms of their macroscopic trends (Mean Squared Error, MSE, ranging from 0.4 to 6.2); the simulated and actual wear profiles exhibit an extremely high degree of geometric similarity, with the simulated wear area showing a 95.1% match to the actual measured area (Edit Distance: 0.14; Hamming Distance: 1). This research not only confirms that the flow trajectory of rice is the determining factor for the wear distribution on the header platform but, more importantly, the developed analytical and numerical methods offer a robust theoretical basis and effective predictive tools for optimizing the wear resistance and predicting the service life of the header platform, thereby demonstrating significant engineering value. Full article

This study examined the acute effects of polyphenol (PP)-rich fruit juice supplementation on the exercise capacity of healthy humans. Thirty-five healthy, sedentary volunteers participated in this randomized, controlled, crossover study. They performed a 6 min walk test two hours after consuming 200 mL of a PP-rich fruit juice (fruit juice) or a PP-poor control juice (apple), separated by a one-week washout. In addition to monitoring the heart rate during exercise, we determined the reactive hyperemia index (RHI), an indicator of vascular dilatation that contributes to exercise capacity. The distance walked during the 6 min test tended to be greater after the consumption of the PP-rich juice, compared to the PP-poor juice (588 ± 15 vs. 561 ± 14 m, respectively). The increase in heart rate was similar in both situations. The RHI increases were similar after both juices’ intake at 1 h, but after 2 h, the RHI increase was significant only after the PP-rich juice intake (from 6.78 ± 0.46 to 8.47 ± 0.47, p < 0.001). In conclusion, acute consumption of PP-rich juice increases vessel dilatation and tends to improve exercise capacity. These data support further studies to determine whether greater consumption of PP-rich fruit juices could improve exercise capacity in healthy subjects. Full article

Quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) have emerged as promising candidates for next-generation display technologies owing to their high color purity and external quantum efficiency. Despite rapid advancements in device performance, operational stability and long-term reliability remain critical challenges, particularly for cadmium-free and blue-emitting QLEDs. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the degradation mechanisms of QLEDs, emphasizing the relationship between environmental factors, such as moisture, oxygen, and thermal stress, and excitonic factors, including charge-injection imbalance, Auger recombination, and interface deterioration. We further highlight the role of nondestructive characterization techniques, including impedance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transient photoluminescence, transient electroluminescence, transient absorption, and electroabsorption spectroscopy, in probing real-time charge dynamics and material degradation. By integrating the insights from these operando analyses, this review offers a detailed perspective on the origins of device degradation and provides guidance for rational design strategies aimed at enhancing the operational stability and commercialization potential of QLEDs. Full article

Cu₂O solar cells are regarded as a promising emerging inorganic photovoltaic technology due to their power conversion efficiency (PCE) potential and material sustainability. While previous studies primarily focused on the band offset between n-type buffer layers and Cu₂O optical absorption, this work systematically investigated an ETL/buffer/p-Cu₂O/HTL heterojunction structure using SCAPS-1D simulations. Key design parameters, including bandgap (Eg) and electron affinity (χ) matching across layers, were optimized to minimize carrier transport barriers. Furthermore, the doping concentration and thickness of each functional layer (ETL: transparent conductive oxide; HTL: hole transport layer) were tailored to balance electron conductivity, parasitic absorption, and Auger recombination. Through this approach, a maximum PCE of 14.12% was achieved (V_oc = 1.51V, J_sc = 10.52 mA/cm², FF = 88.9%). The study also identified candidate materials for ETL (e.g., GaN, ZnO:Mg) and HTL (e.g., ZnTe, NiO_x), along with optimal thicknesses and doping ranges for the Cu₂O absorber. These findings provide critical guidance for advancing high-performance Cu₂O solar cells. Full article

The paper describes an installation and procedure for evaluating the velocity profile for the airflow produced by the fan of the cleaning unit of a New Holland wheat combine harvester. The velocity profile is based on measurements taken at 52 points spread over the entire surface of the top and bottom sieves, for different speeds of the fan, different positions of the wind boards and different opening positions of the sieves. The experimental data obtained were graphically represented using the Radial Basis Function (RBF) interpolation model and highlighted that the airflow generated by the fan at the upper screen level, in the longitudinal plane and, especially, in the transverse plane, is distributed unevenly, and depends on the fan rotor speed, the opening of the louvers of the two screens and the arrangement of the two deflectors. The correct adjustment of the cleaning unit and correct evaluation of the air velocity profile over the sieves result in the reduction in grain losses from the upper sieve due to grain flotation, reduction in the content of broken grains in the grain tank due to the reduction in the material flow from the tailing auger as well as reduction in the impurities content of the grain tank due to better separation of the material over the surface of the lower sieve. Full article