Search Results (18)

Landfalling typhoons are the dominant trigger of short-duration extreme rainfall along the Zhejiang coast. It is necessary to estimate the recurrence of future typhoon rainfall at the city scale under the global-warming scenarios. Using Super Typhoon Lekima (2019) as a representative high-impact event, this study develops an event-based assessment framework for Taizhou city by combining the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model simulation, pseudo-global-warming (PGW) perturbation experiments, and generalized extreme value analysis. The historical simulation is first evaluated against the China Meteorological Administration best track, storm intensity evolution, and station rainfall observations. Future counterparts of the same event are then generated using CMIP6-derived thermodynamic perturbations under SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5. Finally, scenario-dependent rainfall totals are projected onto a historical GEV curve to identify equivalent historical rainfall return periods. Results show that the WRF setup reproduces the main track, intensity tendency, and rainfall timing of Lekima with reasonable fidelity. The ensemble-mean cumulative rainfall over the Taizhou area increases from 204.75 mm in the historical simulation to 335.85, 366.72, 400.79, and 464.08 mm under the four SSPs, respectively. These increases translate into equivalent historical rainfall return periods of 47.40, 84.61, 164.28, and 604.05 years, compared with 5.24 years for the historical case. The results indicate that the moderate thermodynamic rainfall amplification produces a highly nonlinear escalation of event rarity based on historical frequency statistics. This implies that future typhoon rainfall should be interpreted using scenario-aware benchmarks within the historical reference framework. Full article

Background/Objectives: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is commonly performed for cholangiocarcinoma and often involves multiple procedures, potentially increasing the risk of post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP). However, PEP characteristics in cholangiocarcinoma patients remain unclear. This study aimed to assess the incidence and diagnostic procedure-specific risk factors for PEP in patients with cholangiocarcinoma. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 218 ERCP procedures for cholangiocarcinoma performed at our hospital between January 2017 and March 2022. The incidence of PEP, severe PEP, and fatal PEP was recorded. Risk factors for PEP were analyzed using multivariate analysis, and severe cases were further evaluated. Results: Among the 218 patients, 15 (6.9%) developed PEP, 4 (1.8%) had severe PEP, and 2 (0.9%) died. Multivariate analysis identified the pancreatic guidewire technique (PGW) (OR: 8.18; 95% CI: 2.52–26.53, p < 0.001) and intraductal ultrasonography (IDUS) (OR: 6.53; 95% CI: 2.01–21.25, p = 0.002) as significant risk factors. Both fatal cases involved naïve papilla and PGW and IDUS, with no pancreatic duct stent placement. Conclusions: ERCP for cholangiocarcinoma carries a clinically relevant risk of severe or fatal PEP. In particular, ERCP-specific diagnostic procedures required for cholangiocarcinoma may confer a disease-specific risk profile distinct from that of general ERCP. PGW and IDUS were identified as major risk factors, especially in patients with a naïve papilla, in whom prophylactic pancreatic duct stenting should be considered to reduce the risk of severe or fatal outcomes. Full article

In this study, we introduce the gamma power generalized Weibull (GPGW) distribution and investigate several of its main mathematical properties. The performance of the maximum likelihood estimators is evaluated through Monte Carlo simulations. The practical relevance of the proposed distribution is illustrated through an application to real bibliometric data, where the GPGW is used to model SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) indicators. In comparison with alternative models commonly employed for lifetime and positive data, the GPGW distribution exhibits strong competitive performance. In particular, in the real data application, it outperforms eleven competing distributions in terms of goodness of fit criteria, including the power generalized Weibull (PGW), the gamma-Nadarajah–Haghighi (GNH), and the exponentiated power generalized Weibull (EPGW) distributions. While inheriting several mathematical features of the EPGW distribution, such as expressions for moments, skewness, and kurtosis, the GPGW offers enhanced flexibility, making it a valuable modeling tool for lifetime data and heavy-tailed positive measurements. Full article

Background/Objectives: Difficult biliary cannulation during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) poses significant challenges and increases the risk of adverse events. Pancreatic guidewire (PGW)-assisted techniques offer potential solutions, but real-world comparative data are limited. Methods: This cohort study of prospectively collected data analyzed 234 ERCP cases from the Hungarian ERCP Registry, focusing on three PGW-assisted methods: transpancreatic sphincterotomy (TPS), double-guidewire technique (DGW), and prophylactic pancreatic stent-assisted cannulation (PPS-C). Results: TPS demonstrated the highest primary cannulation success rate (83.1%), significantly outperforming DGW (67.7%) and PPS-C (67.6%) (p < 0.001). With salvage methods, cannulation success was high across all groups. Post-ERCP pancreatitis rates were low (5.0% TPS, 5.6% DGW, 3.9% PPS-C), but prophylactic measures (pancreatic stents, indomethacin) were underutilized. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that TPS is a safe and effective alternative for difficult biliary cannulation in ERCP. Routine considerations of post-ERCP pancreatitis prophylaxis (prophylactic pancreatic stents and non-steroidal suppositories) are recommended in all PGW-assisted cannulations to minimize complications. Full article

This research aims to evaluate the efficacy of Mouromtseff’s numbers in assessing the thermal transfer performance of titanium oxide (TiO₂) nanosized dispersions in convective heat transfer through a pipe. New experimental coefficients of convective heat transfer, thermophysical and rheological characterisation are carried out for TiO₂-based nanodispersions in an aqueous propylene glycol 30 vol% mixture at various nanoadditive mass loadings (from 0.25 to 2.0 wt%). Different Mouromtseff’s number formulations, including the Dittus–Boelter and Simons expressions, were obtained from experimental data of thermophysical properties, enabling concise analyses on the prospective improvement of heat transfer in cooling and heating systems. The morphology, particle size, and crystallinity of the anatase TiO₂ nanopowder were confirmed, and the stability of the nanofluids with various surfactants was evaluated, with PSS at a 1:4 mass ratio being optimal. Slight increments in thermal conductivity (up to 1.5%) and density (up to 1.3%) with nanoparticle loading were observed, while isobaric heat capacity presents a decreasing trend (less than 13%). Dynamic viscosity increases with higher nanoadditive concentrations, 8.8% for the 2.0 wt% A-TiO₂/PG:W 30:70 + PSS 1:4 nanofluid. The employed Dittus–Boelter and Simons expressions correctly predict a worsening of the convective heat transfer, but the percentages diverge slightly from experimental data. Full article

Potential impacts of projected long-term climate change toward the end of the 21st century on rainfall and peak intensity of six super-typhoons in the western North Pacific (WNP) are assessed using a cloud-resolving model (CRM) and the pseudo-global warming (PGW) method, under two representative concentration pathway (RCP) emission scenarios of RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Linear long-term trends in June–October are calculated from 38 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) models from 1981–2000 to 2081–2100, with warmings of about 3 °C in sea surface temperature, 4 °C in air temperature in the lower troposphere, and increases of 20% in moisture in RCP8.5. The changes in RCP4.5 are about half the amounts. For each typhoon, three experiments are carried out: a control run (CTL) using analysis data as initial and boundary conditions (IC/BCs), and two future runs with the trend added to the IC/BCs, one for RCP4.5 and the other for RCP8.5, respectively. Their results are compared for potential impacts of climate change. In future scenarios, all six typhoons produce more rain rather consistently, by around 10% in RCP4.5 and 20% in RCP8.5 inside 200–250 km from the center, with increased variability toward larger radii. Such increases are tested to be highly significant and can be largely explained by the increased moisture and water vapor convergence in future scenarios. However, using this method, the results on peak intensity are mixed and inconsistent, with the majority of cases becoming somewhat weaker in future runs. It is believed that in the procedure to determine the best initial time for CTL, which yielded the strongest TC, often within a few hPa in minimum central sea-level pressure to the best track data, an advantage was introduced to the CTL unintentionally. Once the long-term trends were added in future runs, the environment of the storm was altered and became not as favorable for subsequent intensification. Thus, the PGW approach may have some bias in assessing the peak intensity of such super-typhoon cases, and caution should be practiced. Full article

This study investigated the grouted sleeve splices and corrugated duct splices between shear walls and footing. In this regard, three shear walls were experimentally tested. One wall was cast monolithically with the foundation (RCWS), whereas two walls were precast. One wall was connected to the foundation using splice sleeves (PGWS), and another with corrugated duct splices (PCWS). All the walls were tested under reverse cyclic loading and a constant axial load. It was observed that the performance of specimen PGWS was controlled by rocking, and a premature connection loss was observed at one of the grouted sleeve splices. The hysteretic performance of specimen PCWS was close to that of specimen RCWS, whereas extensive pinching was observed in the hysteretic response of specimen PGWS. The peak load, ductility, secant stiffness, and energy dissipation of specimens RCWS and PCWS were in good agreement, whereas the energy dissipated by specimen PGWS was considerably lower than the corresponding values of specimens RCWS and PCWS. Nonlinear fiber-based modeling in OpenSees was performed using SFI-MVLEM elements. The predicted hysteretic response of the OpenSees model was in close agreement with the experimental response. Full article

In Chinese cabbage breeding, hybrids have made a terrific contribution due to heterosis, the superior performance of offspring compared to their inbred parents. Since the development of new, top-performing hybrids requires a large scale of human and material resources, the prediction of hybrid performance is of utmost interest to plant breeders. In our research, leaf transcriptome data from eight parents were used to investigate if they might be employed as markers to predict hybrid performance and heterosis. In Chinese cabbage, heterosis of plant growth weight (PGW) and heterosis of head weight (HW) were more obvious than other traits. The number of differential expression genes (DEGs) between parents was related to the PGW, length of the biggest outer leaf (LOL), leaf head height (LHH), leaf head width (LHW), HW, leaf number of head (LNH) and plant height (PH) of hybrids, and up-regulated DEGs number was also associated with these traits. Euclidean and binary distances of parental gene expression levels were significantly correlated with the PGW, LOL, LHH, LHW, HW and PH of hybrids. Additionally, there was a significant correlation between the parental expression levels of multiple genes involved in the ribosomal metabolic pathway and hybrid observations and heterosis in PGW, with the BrRPL23A gene showing the highest correlation with the MPH of PGW(r = 0.75). Therefore, leaf transcriptome data can preliminarily predict the hybrid performance and select parents in Chinese cabbage. Full article

In this article, we investigate the various physical implications of quantum circuit complexity using the squeezed state formalism of Primordial Gravitational Waves (PGW). Recently, quantum information-theoretic concepts, such as entanglement entropy and complexity, have played a pivotal role in understanding the dynamics of quantum systems, even in diverse fields such as high-energy physics and cosmology. This paper is devoted to studying the quantum circuit complexity of PGW for various cosmological models, such as de Sitter, inflation, radiation, reheating, matter, bouncing, cyclic and black hole gas models, etc. We compute complexity measures using both Covariance and Nielsen’s wave function method for three different choices of quantum initial vacua: Motta-Allen, $\alpha$ and Bunch–Davies. Besides computing circuit complexity, we also compute the Von Neumann entanglement entropy. By making the comparison between complexity and entanglement entropy, we are able to probe various features regarding the dynamics of evolution for different cosmological models. Because entanglement entropy is independent of the squeezing angle, we are able to understand more details of the system using Nielsen’s measure of complexity, which is dependent on both squeezing parameter and angle. This implies that quantum complexity could indeed be a useful probe to study quantum features on a cosmological scale. Quantum complexity is also becoming a powerful technique to understand the chaotic behaviour and random fluctuations of quantum fields. Using the growth of complexity, we are able to compute the quantum Lyapunov exponent for various cosmological models and comment on its chaotic nature. Full article

ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized using lemon juice and zinc nitrate (1:1) through the green method. The structure of the biosynthesized ZnO nanoparticles was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The morphology and the size of ZnO nanoparticles were elucidated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The powder was highly dispersed and irregularly shaped and the size of the nanoparticles ranged from 28 to 270 nm, depending on the shape of the particles. Thermal conductivity of the biosynthesized ZnO PG/W mixture 40:60 (v/v) nanofluids was measured within the temperature range of 20–70 °C. Experimental results revealed a linear increase in thermal conductivity with the rise of temperature and volume fraction. The enhancement of this parameter with temperature was probably due to the different shapes of the former agglomerates. They were broken by the thermal energy in aggregates of different forms. A correlation of these structures with temperature was established. Finally, an empirical model was developed for predicting thermal conductivity with particle volume fraction and temperature. Full article

As an important genetic improvement technique in current production practice, heterosis is widely used to enhance the productive traits of hybrid progeny from their parents. Alternative splicing (AS) analysis can be used as a method for exploring the molecular manifestations of heterosis. In our research, 16 hybrids and their parents were utilized to analyze the heterosis performance and AS events. Statistics of plant gross weight (PGW) showed that these hybrids had prominent heterosis, with the mid-parent heterosis values (MPV) ranging from 15.69% to 233.98%. Through pairwise comparison among the female parent, male parent, and hybrid, there were 2980–3205 AS events in each combination, with intron retention being the most common type followed by alternate 3’ splice site, alternative 5’ splice site, skipped exon, and mutually exclusive exon.There were 263–409 differential AS genes (DASGs) between the female parent and the hybrid, and 234–425 DASGs between the male parent and the hybrid in cross combinations. The DASGs were significantly enriched in 33 metabolic pathways in 16 cross combinations, and DASGs of different cross combinations were enriched in different metabolic pathways. Moreover, 76 DASGs in the strong heterosis combinations were identified and significantly enriched in the metabolic pathways related to amino acid metabolism. Further analysis revealed that most of these DASGs in amino acid metabolism were expressed differently in strong heterosis combinations. In addition, the expression levels of BraA06g014310.3C and BraA03g041700.3C in amino acid metabolism significantly correlated with PGW. These results could provide an index for future studies of the genetic and molecular mechanism of heterosis in hybrids. Full article

In the Arabian Sea, southeast of the Arabian peninsula, an oceanic dipole, named the Ras Al Hadd (RAH) dipole, is formed each year, lying near the Ras Al Hadd cape. The RAH dipole is the association of a cyclonic eddy (CE) to the northeast, with an anticyclonic eddy (AE) to the southwest. This dipole intensifies in the summer monsoon and disappears during the winter monsoon. This dipole has been described previously, but mostly for its surface expression, and for short time intervals. Here, we describe the 3D structure of this dipole over the 2000–2015 period, by combining colocalized ARGO float profiler data (a total of 7552 profiles inside and outside the RAH dipole) with angular momentum eddy detection and tracking algorithm (AMEDA) surface data. We show first the different water masses in and near the RAH dipole. The presence of the Persian Gulf water (PGW) below 200 m depth is confirmed in both eddies. Arabian Sea high salinity water (ASHSW) is found exclusively in the AE; a layer of fresh and cold water is observed above 100 m depth in both eddies. By analyzing the potential density structures, we show that the CE has a surface-intensified structure while the AE is subsurface-intensified. The sea level anomaly shows a 0.04 m elevation above the AE and a 0.2 m depression over the CE. The CE has a faster geostrophic velocity, (vertical velocity, respectively) 0.6 m s⁻¹ than the AE, 0.15 m s⁻¹ (respectively, 3 m day⁻¹ for the CE and 0.6 m day⁻¹ for the AE). After presenting the vertical structure of the dipole, we show the dominance of the nonlinear Ekman pumping in the CE over the linear pumping affecting the dipole. As a consequence, we explain the CE’s longer lifetime by its intensity and shallowness, and by its sensitivity to the interaction with the atmosphere (in particular the wind stress) and with neighboring eddies. We examined the possible (co)existence of symmetric, barotropic, and baroclinic instabilities in both eddies. These instabilities coexist near the surface in both eddies. They are intensified for the CE, which suggests that the CE is unstable and the AE is rather stable or may need a long time to be unstable. Full article

The DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (DECIGO) is a space gravitational wave (GW) detector. DECIGO was originally designed to be sensitive enough to observe primordial GW background (PGW). However, due to the lowered upper limit of the PGW by the Planck observation, further improvement of the target sensitivity of DECIGO is required. In the previous studies, DECIGO’s parameters were optimized to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the PGW to quantum noise including the effect of diffraction loss. To simulate the SNR more realistically, we optimize DECIGO’s parameters considering the GWs from double white dwarfs (DWDs) and the thermal noise of test masses. We consider two cases of the cutoff frequency of GWs from DWDs. In addition, we consider two kinds of thermal noise: thermal noise in a residual gas and internal thermal noise. To investigate how the mirror geometry affects the sensitivity, we calculate it by changing the mirror mass, keeping the mirror thickness, and vice versa. As a result, we obtained the optimums for the parameters that maximize the SNR that depends on the mirror radius. This result shows that a thick mirror with a large radius gives a good SNR and enables us to optimize the design of DECIGO based on the feasibility study of the mirror size in the future. Full article

Dictyophora indusiata or Phallus indusiatus is widely used as not only traditional medicine, functional foods, but also, skin care agents. Biological activities of the fruiting body from D. indusiata were widely reported, while the studies on the application of immature bamboo mushroom extracts were limited especially in the wound healing effect. Wound healing process composed of 4 stages including hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodelling. This study divided the egg stage of bamboo mushroom into 3 parts: peel and green mixture (PGW), core (CW), and whole mushroom (WW). Then, aqueous extracts were investigated for their nucleotide sequencing, biological compound contents, and wound healing effect. The anti-inflammatory determination via the levels of cytokine releasing from macrophages, and the collagen stimulation activity on fibroblasts by matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) inhibitory activity were determined to serve for the wound healing process promotion in the stage 2–4 (wound inflammation, proliferation, and remodelling of the skin). All D. indusiata extracts showed good antioxidant potential, significantly anti-inflammatory activity in the decreasing of the nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-1 (IL-6), and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) secretion from macrophage cells (p < 0.05), and the effective collagen stimulation via MMP-2 inhibition. In particular, CW extract containing high content of catechin (68.761 ± 0.010 mg/g extract) which could significantly suppress NO secretion (0.06 ± 0.02 µmol/L) better than the standard anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac (0.12 ± 0.02 µmol/L) and their MMP-2 inhibition (41.33 ± 9.44%) was comparable to L-ascorbic acid (50.65 ± 2.53%). These findings support that CW of D. indusiata could be an essential natural active ingredient for skin wound healing pharmaceutical products. Full article

Grafting has been reported as a factor regulating the metabolome of a plant. Therefore, a comprehensive metabolic profile and comparative analysis of metabolites were conducted from fully mature fruit of pumpkin-grafted watermelon (PGW) and a self-rooted watermelon (SRW). Widely targeted LC-ESI-MS/MS metabolomics approach facilitated the simultaneous identification and quantification of 339 metabolites across PGW and SRW. Regardless of grafting, delta-aminolevulinic acid hydrochloride, sucrose, mannose-6-phosphate (carbohydrates), homocystine, 2-phenylglycine, s-adenosyl-L-homocysteine (amino acids and derivatives), malic, azelaic, H-butanoic acid ethyl ester-hexoside isomer 1, (organic acids), MAG (18:3) isomer1, LysoPC 16:0, LysoPC 18:2 2n isomer (lipids) p-coumaric acid, piperidine, and salicylic acid-o-glycoside (secondary metabolites) were among the dominant metabolite. Dulcitol, mono-, and disaccharide sugars were higher in PGW, while polysaccharides showed complex behavior. In PGW, most aromatic and nitrogen-rich amino acids accumulated greater than 1.5- and 1-fold, respectively. Intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), stress-related metabolites, vitamin B5, and several flavonoids were significantly more abundant in PGW. Most lipids were also significantly higher in grafted watermelon. This is the first report providing a comprehensive picture of watermelon metabolic profile and changes induced by grafting. Hence, the untargeted high-throughput LC-ESI-MS/MS metabolomics approach could be suitable to provide significant differences in metabolite contents between grafted and ungrafted plants. Full article