Search Results (550)

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer management in winter wheat production faces challenges from volatilization losses and sub-optimal application strategies. This is particularly problematic in the Southern Great Plains, where environmental conditions during top-dressing periods favor N losses. This study evaluated the effects of a fertilizer placement method, enhanced-efficiency fertilizers, and application timing on grain yield and protein concentration (GPC) across six site-years in Oklahoma (2016–2018). Treatments included broadcast applications of untreated urea and SuperU^® (urease/nitrification inhibitor-treated urea). These were compared with subsurface placement using single-disc and double-disc drilling systems, applied at 67 kg N ha⁻¹ during January, February, or March. Subsurface placement increased the grain yield by 324–391 kg ha⁻¹ compared to broadcast applications at sites with favorable soil conditions. However, responses varied significantly across environments. Enhanced-efficiency fertilizers showed limited advantages over untreated urea. Benefits were most pronounced during February applications under conditions favoring volatilization losses. Application timing effects were more consistent for GPC than for the yield. Later applications (February–March) increased GPC by 0.8–1.2% compared to January applications. Treatment efficacy was strongly influenced by soil pH, equipment performance, and post-application environmental conditions. This indicates that N management benefits are highly site-specific. These findings demonstrate that subsurface placement can improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) under appropriate conditions. However, success depends on matching application strategies to local soil and environmental factors rather than adopting universal recommendations. Full article

In the present scenario, coherent states of a quantum harmonic oscillator are generalized with positive Fox H auxiliary functions. The novel generalized coherent states provide canonical coherent states and Mittag-Leffler or Wright generalized coherent states, as particular cases, and resolve the identity operator, over the Fock space, with a weight function that is the product of a Fox H function and a Wright generalized hypergeometric function. The novel generalized coherent states, or the corresponding truncated generalized coherent states, are characterized by anomalous statistics for large values of the number of excitations: the corresponding decay laws exhibit, for determined values of the involved parameters, various behaviors that depart from exponential and inverse-power-law decays, or their product. The analysis of the Mandel Q factor shows that, for small values of the label, the statistics of the number of excitations becomes super-Poissonian, or sub-Poissonian, by simply choosing sufficiently large values of one of the involved parameters. The time evolution of a generalized coherent state interacting with a thermal reservoir and the purity are analyzed. Full article

This paper investigates the well-posedness of the inverse problem for the time-fractional Burgers equation, which aims to reconstruct initial conditions from terminal observations. Such equations are crucial for the modeling of hydrodynamic phenomena with memory effects. The inverse problem involves inferring initial conditions from terminal observation data, and such problems are typically ill-posed. A framework based on optimal control theory is proposed, addressing the ill-posedness via $H^1$ regularization. Three substantial results are achieved: (1) a rigorous mathematical framework transforming the ill-posed inverse problem into a well-posed optimization problem with proven existence of solutions; (2) theoretical guarantee of solution uniqueness when the regularization parameter is $\alpha >0$ and the stability is of order O($\delta$) with respect to observation noise ($\delta$); and (3) the discovery of a “super-stability” phenomenon in numerical experiments, where the actual stability index (0.046) significantly outperforms theoretical expectations (1.0). Finally, the theoretical framework is validated through comprehensive numerical experiments, demonstrating the accuracy and practical effectiveness of the proposed optimal control approach for the reconstruction of hydrodynamic initial conditions. Full article

Microbial contamination is a global concern with impacts on a variety of industries ranging from marine to biomedical applications. Recent research on hydrophilic polymer-based coatings is focused on combining antifouling polymers with nanomaterials to enhance mechanical, optical, and stimuli-responsive properties, yielding colour changing, self-healing, and super hydrophilic materials. This study combines the hydrophilic and antifouling properties of vitamin B5 analogous methacrylamide (B5AMA)-based polymers with stimuli-responsive anthocyanin-dye-loaded cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) to develop antifouling materials with colour changing capabilities upon bacterial contamination. Poly(B5AMA)-grafted CNCs were prepared through surface-initiated photoiniferter reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (SP-RAFT) polymerization and characterized through proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR), transmission electron microscopy (SEM/TEM), and X-ray photon spectroscopy (XPS) to confirm the formation of surface-grafted polymer chains. The bare CNCs and poly(B5AMA)-grafted CNCs were loaded with anthocyanin dye and evaluated for pH-dependent colour changing capabilities. Interestingly, anthocyanin-loaded CNCs demonstrated vibrant colour changes in both solution and dried film form upon bacterial contamination; however, limited colour changing capabilities of the composites, specifically in dried film form, were attributed to the enhanced dispersibility and antifouling capabilities of the polymer-coated CNCs. Full article

Single-image super-resolution refers to the reconstruction of a high-resolution image from a single low-resolution observation. Although recent deep learning-based methods have demonstrated notable success on simulated datasets—with low-resolution images obtained by degrading and downsampling high-resolution ones—they frequently fail to generalize to real-world settings, such as document scans, which are affected by complex degradations and semantic variability. In this study, we introduce a task-driven, multi-task learning framework for training a super-resolution network specifically optimized for optical character recognition tasks. We propose to incorporate auxiliary loss functions derived from high-level vision tasks, including text detection using the connectionist text proposal network (CTPN), text recognition via a convolutional recurrent neural network (CRNN), keypoints localization using Key.Net, and hue consistency. To balance these diverse objectives, we employ a dynamic weight averaging (DWA) mechanism, which adaptively adjusts the relative importance of each loss term based on its convergence behavior. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that the proposed approach improves text detection, measured with intersection over union, by 1.09% for simulated and 1.94% for real-world datasets containing scanned documents, while preserving overall image fidelity. These improvements are statistically significant as confirmed by the Kruskal–Wallis H test and the post hoc Dunn test with Benjamini–Hochberg p-value correction. Our findings highlight the value of multi-objective optimization in super-resolution models for bridging the gap between simulated training regimes and practical deployment in real-world scenarios. Full article

Chronic ethanol use can lead to alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM), while the impact on the molecular and cellular aspects of the myocardium is unclear. Accordingly, male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to an ethanol-containing diet for 16 weeks and compared with a control group that was fed an isocaloric diet. Histological measurements from H&E slides revealed no significant differences in cell size. A proteomic approach revealed that alcohol exposure leads to enhanced mitochondrial lipid metabolism, and electron microscopy revealed impairments in mitochondrial morphology/density. Cardiac myosin purified from the hearts of ethanol-exposed animals demonstrated a 15% reduction in high-salt ATPase activity, with no significant changes in the in vitro motility and low-salt ATPase or formation of the super-relaxed (SRX) state. A protein carbonyl assay indicated a 20% increase in carbonyl incorporation, suggesting that alcohol may impact cardiac myosin through oxidative stress mechanisms. In vitro oxidation of healthy cardiac myosin revealed a dramatic decline in ATPase activity and in vitro motility, demonstrating a link between myosin protein oxidation and myosin mechanochemistry. Collectively, this study suggests alcohol-induced metabolic remodeling may be the initial insult that eventually leads to defects in the contractile machinery in the myocardium of ACM hearts. Full article

The present study analyzes the global ionospheric response to the intense geomagnetic storm of 10–11 October 2024 (SYM—H minimum of −346 nT), using observations from COSMIC—2 and Swarm satellites, GNSS TEC, and Digisondes. Significant uplift of the F-region was observed across both Hemispheres on the dayside, primarily driven by equatorward thermospheric winds and prompt penetration electric fields (PPEFs). However, this uplift did not correspond with increases in foF2 due to enhanced molecular nitrogen-promoting recombination in sunlit regions and the F2 peak rising beyond the COSMIC—2 detection range. In contrast, in the Southern Hemisphere nightside ionosphere exhibited pronounced Ne depletion and low hmF2 values, attributed to G-conditions and thermospheric composition changes caused by storm-time circulation. Strong vertical plasma drifts exceeding 100 m/s were observed during both the main and recovery phases, particularly over Ascension Island, driven initially by southward IMF—Bz-induced PPEFs and later by disturbance dynamo electric fields (DDEFs) as IMF—Bz turned northward. Swarm data revealed a poleward expansion of the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA), with more pronounced effects in the Southern Hemisphere due to seasonal and longitudinal variations in ionospheric conductivity. Additionally, the storm excited Large-Scale Travelling Ionospheric Disturbances (LSTIDs), triggered by thermospheric perturbations and electrodynamic drivers, including PPEFs and DDEFs. These disturbances, along with enhanced westward thermospheric wind and altered zonal electric fields, modulated ionospheric irregularity intensity and distribution. The emergence of anti-Sq current systems further disrupted quiet-time electrodynamics, promoting global LSTID activity. Furthermore, storm-induced equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) were observed over Southeast Asia, initiated by enhanced PPEFs during the main phase and suppressed during recovery, consistent with super EPB development mechanisms. Full article

Helicobacter pylori, which colonizes the human gastric mucosa, uses a cluster of polar, sheathed flagella to swim across the mucous layer of the stomach. The function and biogenesis of the H. pylori flagellar sheath are poorly understood. Cardiolipin is a phospholipid that accumulates in regions of the membrane that have negative curvature, such as the cell pole, cell septum, and flagellar sheath. The final step in cardiolipin biosynthesis is catalyzed by cardiolipin synthase. H. pylori has at least two cardiolipin synthases, one of which is cardiolipin synthase C (ClsC). Bioinformatic analysis revealed that homologs of H. pylori ClsC are restricted to Helicobacter species that have sheathed flagella and the ClsC homologs are predicted lipoproteins. Fluorescence microscopy revealed that a ClsC super-folder green fluorescent protein localized to the cell pole and cell septum in H. pylori G27. Comparing the proteomes of isolated sheathed flagella from the H. pylori B128 wild type and a clsC::cat mutant, we identified five proteins that were absent in the mutant flagellum preparations. One of the proteins was FaaA, an autotransporter that localizes to the flagellar sheath. These findings suggest that the localization of FaaA and possibly other proteins to the flagellar sheath is dependent on ClsC. Full article

Due to climate change, the electric vehicle (EV) industry is rapidly growing and drawing researchers interest. Driving conditions like mountainous roads, slick surfaces, and rough terrains illuminate the vehicles inherent nonlinearities. Under such scenarios, the behavior of power sources (fuel cell, battery, and super-capacitor), power processing units (converters), and power consuming units (traction motors) deviates from nominal operation. The increasing demand for FCHEVs necessitates control systems capable of handling nonlinear dynamics, while ensuring robust, precise energy distribution among fuel cells, batteries, and super-capacitors. This paper presents a DSMC strategy enhanced with Robust Uniform Exact Differentiators for FCHEV energy management. To optimally tune DSMC parameters, reduce chattering, and address the limitations of conventional methods, a hybrid metaheuristic framework is proposed. This framework integrates moth flame optimization (MFO) with the gravitational search algorithm (GSA) and Fractal Heritage Evolution, implemented through three spiral-based variants: MFOGSAPSO-A (Archimedean), MFOGSAPSO-H (Hyperbolic), and MFOGSAPSO-L (Logarithmic). Control laws are optimized using the Integral of Time-weighted Absolute Error (ITAE) criterion. Among the variants, MFOGSAPSO-L shows the best overall performance with the lowest ITAE for the fuel cell (56.38), battery (57.48), super-capacitor (62.83), and DC bus voltage (4741.60). MFOGSAPSO-A offers the most accurate transient response with minimum RMSE and MAE FC (0.005712, 0.000602), battery (0.004879, 0.000488), SC (0.002145, 0.000623), DC voltage (0.232815, 0.058991), and speed (0.030990, 0.010998)—outperforming MFOGSAPSO, GSA, and PSO. MFOGSAPSO-L further reduces the ITAE for fuel cell tracking by up to 29% over GSA and improves control smoothness. PSO performs moderately but lags under transient conditions. Simulation results conducted under EUDC validate the effectiveness of the MFOGSAPSO-based DSMC framework, confirming its superior tracking, faster convergence, and stable voltage control under transients making it a robust and high-performance solution for FCHEV. Full article

With the large-scale integration of photovoltaic power plants—comprising power electronic devices—into power systems, electromagnetic transient simulation has become a key tool for ensuring power system security and stability. The accuracy of photovoltaic unit controller parameters is crucial for the reliability of such simulations. However, as the issue of sub/super-synchronous oscillations becomes increasingly prominent, existing parameter identification methods are primarily based on high/low voltage ride-through characteristics. This limits the applicability of the identification results to specific scenarios and lacks targeted simulation and parameter identification research for sub/super-synchronous oscillations. To address this gap, this study proposes a mathematical model tailored for sub/super-synchronous oscillations and performs sensitivity analysis of converter control parameters to identify dominant parameters across different frequency bands. A frequency-segmented parameter identification method is introduced, capable of fast convergence without relying on a specific optimization algorithm. Finally, the proposed method’s identification results are compared with actual values, voltage ride-through-based identification, particle swarm optimization results, and results under uncertain conditions. It was found that, compared with traditional identification methods, the proposed method reduced the maximum identification error from 7.67% to 4.3% and the identification time from 2 h to 1 h. The maximum identification error of other intelligent algorithms was 5%, with a difference of less than 1% compared to the proposed method. The identified parameters were applied under conditions of strong irradiation (1000 W/m²), weak irradiation (300 W/m²), rapidly varying oscillation frequency, and constant oscillation frequency, and the output characteristics were all close to those of the original parameters. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method have been validated, along with its broad applicability to different intelligent algorithms and its robustness under uncertain conditions such as environmental variations and grid frequency fluctuations. Full article

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in natural and sustainable cosmetic ingredients, particularly those derived from Amazonian plant oils. The present research focuses on the creation of a prototype cosmetic emulsion from two Amazonian oils, morete oil (Mauritia flexuosa L.f.) and ungurahua oil (Oenocarpus bataua Mart). The aim of the study was to develop a conceptual design of the process for making cosmetic emulsion using Amazonian oils. The methodology consisted of observational data collection, definition of unit operations and equipment, and process simulation. The design was simulated using SuperPro Designer V10.0. Experimental data, unit operations, equipment, and operation time confirmed the feasibility of a conceptual process design for scaling up. In the conceptual design, an operation time of 4.25 h was estimated, which would allow the production of two or more batches per day, depending on the demand, and the initial investment was expected to be recovered within 6.24 years. This study highlights the potential application of Amazonian oils in the cosmetic industry, promoting financially viable, natural, and ecologic products. Future research should analyze extraction yields, alternative strategies for efficient scale-up, and the long-term stability of emulsions under different storage conditions. Full article

Analyzing network connectivity is important for evaluating the robustness, efficiency, and overall performance of various architectural designs. By examining the intricate interactions among nodes and their connections, researchers can determine a network’s resilience to failures, its capacity to support efficient information flow, and its adaptability to dynamic conditions. These insights are critical across multiple domains—such as telecommunications, computer science, biology, and social networks—where optimizing connectivity can significantly enhance functionality and reliability. In the literature, there are many variations of connectivity to measure network resilience and fault tolerance. In this survey, we focus on connectivity, tightly super connectivity, and h-extra connectivity within DVcube networks—a compound architecture combining disk-ring and hypercube-like topologies. Additionally, we identify several open problems to encourage further exploration in future research. Full article

Status epilepticus (SE) is a neurological emergency. Current evidence dictates a step-by-step approach with a first line of therapy consisting of benzodiazepines (BDZs). In many situations, the currently approved approach does not terminate a BDZ-resistant SE. This happens in Stage 1 Plus, a framework designed by the author to recognize cases of probable benzodiazepine-resistant status epilepticus even before treatment initiation. These cases include Prolonged SE (SE lasting > 10 min), the absence of prominent motor phenomena, and acute etiology (primary central nervous system etiologies most of all). BDZ-refractory SE cases (Stage 1 Plus) might require a different approach, one targeting the unresponsive GABA signaling state mediated by NMDA/AMPA receptors, such as combined polytherapy with Ketamine from the start. These considerations stem from the receptor trafficking hypotheses: in prolonged seizure activity and primary central nervous system etiologies, GABA receptors get internalized and move away from synapses, and therefore, SE becomes resistant to BDZ. A rational polytherapy that might restore the unresponsiveness to BDZ in SE should include NMDA antagonists, such as Ketamine. Ketamine has proven effective in many experimental models of status epilepticus, and much evidence is gathering supporting its use in humans, especially in refractory and super-refractory SE. We lack studies evaluating combined polytherapy in SE, especially in the early phases. The author suggests here that Ketamine should be used along with first-line BDZ in the early SE stage falling in the category of Stage 1 Plus and as a first-line anesthetic infusion drug in refractory SE, especially in cases progressing from Stage 1 Plus, eventually adding continuous midazolam/propofol infusion in later phases. This systematic review’s objective is to summarize the presently available evidence of the early use of combined polytherapy that includes Ketamine, along with the currently available evidence of Ketamine use in early, established, and refractory SE. Nine studies were included. Boluses of Ketamine and Midazolam are effective in pediatric convulsive Stage 1 Plus SE. The results show that earlier Ketamine administration (especially within 12 h of SE onset) was significantly associated with improved seizure control, with a more favorable safety profile than Midazolam in refractory SE. Notably, a dosage of less than 0.9 mg/kg/h proves ineffective in terminating SE. Ketamine has the advantage of preventing intubation, possibly shortening the length of stay in the intensive care unit. Full article

Major intrinsic proteins (MIPs) are a super family of proteins that mediate the bidirectional concentration-dependent flux of water in particularly small solutes in fraction and some metalloids across the cell membrane. This article reports the genome-wide study of pepper genes encoding MIPs and their expression analysis. Using a bioinformatics homology search, 48 CAMIPs were identified on the genome of pepper. A total of 48 MIPs were further divided in sub classes as 22 CATIPs, 15 CAPIPs, 10 CANIPs, and 1 CASIP. The 48 Pepper MIP encoding genes were mapped on the 12 pepper chromosomes. CAMIP synteny analysis exhibited 17 duplicated genes, and these were clustered into eight tandem duplicated regions on pepper chromosomes. The tissue-specific expression of MIPs based on RNA-Seq showed certain CANIPs, CATIPs, and CAPIPs were highly expressed in roots, while some CATIPs and CASIPs were expressed in stem as well. As(III), at 0.5 and 1 mM, was applied to pepper plants, where 1 mM significantly reduced leaf chlorophyll content, leaf nitrogen content, and root length. To see which CAMIPs participate in As(III) transport, we tested the response of genes encoding MIPs to As(III) through qRT-PCR. As(III) uptake was observed in both shoot and root samples treated with 0.5 mM and 1 mM As(III) for 12 h and 24 h because of MIPs’ quantitative response through qRT-PCR. Most of the MIPs were down-regulated in response to both levels of As(III); besides CANIPs, there were CATIPs and CAPIPs up-regulated in response to higher concentrations of As(III) in the roots and shoot, which suggests the involvement of CAMIPs in the uptake as well as detoxification mechanism in pepper against As(III). Unlike prokaryotes, plant MIPs have diverse selectivity for arsenite and other solutes. Our study provides important insights into the arsenite uptake and detoxification, offering a foundation for further functional and stress-tolerance studies. Full article

Solar desalination is widely regarded as an effective way to solve freshwater scarcity. However, the balance between the costs of micro-nanostructures, thermal regulation, and the durability of interface evaporators must all be considered. In this study, a super-hydrophobic copper foam with hierarchical micro-nanostructures exhibited temperatures greater than 66 °C under solar illumination of 1 kW·m⁻². Significantly, the modified copper foam acting as a solar interface evaporator had a water harvesting efficiency of 1.76 kg·m⁻²·h⁻¹, resulting from its good photothermal conversion and porous skeleton. Further, the anti-deicing, self-cleaning, and anti-abrasion tests were carried out to demonstrate its durability. The whole fabrication of the as-prepared CF was only involved in mechanical extrusion and spray-coating, which is suitable for large-scale production. This work endows the interface evaporator with super-hydrophobicity, photo-thermal conversion, anti-icing, and mechanical stability, all of which are highly demanded in multi-scenario solar desalination. Full article