Cooperative Events Research Articles

Copy number variation heterogeneity reveals biological inconsistency in hierarchical cancer classifications

Cancers are heterogeneous diseases with unifying features of abnormal and consuming cell growth, where the deregulation of normal cellular functions is initiated by the accumulation of genomic mutations in cells of - potentially - any organ. At diagnosis malignancies typically present with patterns of somatic genome variants on diverse levels of heterogeneity. Among the different types of genomic alterations, copy number variants (CNV) represent a distinct, near-ubiquitous class of structural variants. Cancer classifications are foundational for patient care and oncology research. Terminologies such as the National Cancer Institute Thesaurus provide large sets of hierarchical cancer classification vocabularies and promote data interoperability and ontology-driven computational analysis. To find out how categorical classifications correspond to genomic observations, we conducted a meta-analysis of inter-sample genomic heterogeneity for classification hierarchies on CNV profiles from 97,142 individual samples across 512 cancer entities, and evaluated recurring CNV signatures across diagnostic subsets. Our results highlight specific biological mechanisms across cancer entities with the potential for improvement of patient stratification and future enhancement of cancer classification systems and provide some indications for cooperative genomic events across distinct clinical entities.

Cooperative genomic lesions in HRAS-mutant cancers predict resistance to farnesyltransferase inhibitors.

In the clinical development of farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTIs) for HRAS-mutant tumors, responses varied by cancer type. Co-occurring mutations may affect responses. We aimed to uncover cooperative genetic events specific to HRAS-mutant tumors and to study their effect on sensitivity to FTIs. Using targeted sequencing data from the MSK-IMPACT and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Genomic Evidence Neoplasia Information Exchange databases, we identified comutations that were observed predominantly in HRAS-mutant versus KRAS-mutant or NRAS-mutant cancers. HRAS-mutant cancers had a higher frequency of coaltered mutations (48.8%) in the MAPK, PI3K, or RTK pathway genes, compared with KRAS-mutant (41.4%) and NRAS-mutant (38.4%) cancers (p < 0.05). Class 3 BRAF, NF1, PTEN, and PIK3CA mutations were more prevalent in HRAS-mutant lineages. To study the effects of comutations on sensitivity to FTIs, HrasG13R was transfected into "RASless" (Kraslox/lox/Hras-/-/Nras-/-/RERTert/ert) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), which sensitized nontransfected MEFs to tipifarnib. Comutation in the form of Pten or Nf1 deletion and Pik3caH1047R transduction led to resistance to tipifarnib in HrasG13R-transfected MEFs in the presence or absence of KrasWT, whereas BrafG466E transduction led to resistance to tipifarnib only in the presence of KrasWT. Combined treatment with tipifarnib and MEK inhibition sensitized cells to tipifarnib in all settings, including in MEFs with PI3K pathway comutations. HRAS-mutant tumors demonstrate lineage-dependent MAPK or PI3K pathway alterations, which confer resistance to tipifarnib. The combined use of FTIs and MEK inhibition is a promising strategy for HRAS-mutant tumors.

Multi-omic analysis of SDHB-deficient pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas identifies metastasis and treatment-related molecular profiles.

Hereditary SDHB-mutant pheochromocytomas (PC) and paragangliomas (PG) are rare tumours with a high propensity to metastasize although their clinical behaviour is unpredictable. To characterize the genomic landscape of these tumours and identify metastasis biomarkers, we performed multi-omic analysis on 94 tumours from 79 patients using seven molecular methods. Sympathetic (chromaffin cell) and parasympathetic (non-chromaffin cell) PCPG had distinct molecular profiles reflecting their cell-of-origin and biochemical profile. TERT and ATRX-alterations were associated with metastatic PCPG and these tumours had an increased mutation load, and distinct transcriptional and telomeric features. Most PCPG had quiet genomes with some rare co-operative driver events observed, including EPAS1/HIF-2α mutations. Two mechanisms of acquired resistance to DNA alkylating chemotherapies were also detected - MGMT overexpression and mismatch repair-deficiency causing hypermutation. Our comprehensive multi-omic analysis of SDHB-mutant PCPG therefore identified features of metastatic disease and treatment response, expanding our understanding of these rare neuroendocrine tumours.

Cu(II) binding to the λ6aJL2-R24G antibody light chain protein associated with light chain amyloidosis disease: The role of histidines

Light chain amyloidosis is a conformational disease caused by the abnormal proliferation and deposition of antibody light chains as amyloid fibers in organs and tissues. The effect of Cu(II) binding to the model recombinant protein 6aJL2-R24G was previously characterized in our group, and we found an acceleration of the aggregation kinetics of the protein. In this study, in order to confirm the Cu(II) binding sites, histidine variants of 6aJL2-R24G were prepared and the effects of their interaction with Cu(II) were analyzed by circular dichroism, fluorescence spectroscopy, isothermal calorimetry titrations, and molecular dynamics simulations. Confirming our earlier work, we found that His8 and His99 are the highest affinity Cu(II) binding sites, and that Cu(II) binding to both sites is a cooperative event.

Establishment and transfer management of veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in patients with difficult downtime during cardiopulmonary bypass surgery

To investigate the establishment method, coordination points and safe transport management strategy of vena-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) in patients with downtime difficulties during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). A observation study was conducted. The patients admitted to the department of critical care medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College (Yijishan Hospital) from January 2020 to October 2022 were enrolled. These patients could not be separated from CPB and received VA-ECMO-assisted CPB surgery. The clinical data of the patients were recorded, including the basic information of the patients, the data of VA-ECMO establishment and transport process, the clinical indicators before and after VA-ECMO installation, the operation data of VA-ECMO and clinical outcomes. The experience was summarized from the aspects of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) establishment, transport process, team cooperation, and adverse events during transport. The clinical indicators before and after ECMO operation were compared. According to whether ECMO was successfully weaned, the patients were divided into a successful weaning group and a failure weaning group, and the clinical data between the two groups were compared. Eighteen patients who underwent VA-ECMO-assisted CPB were enrolled, including 10 males and 8 females. The average age was (56.7±12.3) years old. Preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 0.46±0.10, and the main reasons for switching to VA-ECMO assistance included right ventricular systolic weakness in 6 cases, total cardiac systolic weakness in 5 cases, left ventricular systolic weakness in 4 cases, high pulmonary arterial pressure in 2 cases, and intractable ventricular fibrillation in 1 case. Among the 18 patients transferred from CPB to VA-ECMO, 10 cases were successfully weaned and 8 cases failed. In ICU, 8 cases survived, 5 cases died, and 5 cases gave up treatment and discharged. The average time for successful CPB to VA-ECMO establishment was (24.6±7.4) minutes, initial blood flow was (3.3±0.4) L/min, and transit time was (8.4±1.5) minutes. ECMO-assisted duration averaged (82.0±69.3) hours. Adverse events occurred in 9 patients during ECMO establishment and transfer. Post-ECMO onboarding for 4 hours, significant improvements were noted in blood lactic acid (Lac), pH value, mean arterial pressure (MAP), central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2) as compared with pre-ECMO onboarding [Lac (mmol/L): 10.5±7.0 vs. 15.2±6.8, pH value: 7.38±0.92 vs. 7.26±0.87, MAP (mmHg, 1 mmHg ≈ 0.133 kPa): 74.9±13.7 vs. 58.4±17.0, ScvO2: 0.678±0.065 vs. 0.611±0.061, all P < 0.01], and vasoactive-inotropic score (VIS) was also decreased (39.8±29.8 vs. 68.9±64.4, P < 0.01). Compared with successful weaning group, the patients in the failed weaning group exhibited higher pre-machine Lac (mmol/L: 18.8±7.8 vs. 12.3±4.3, P < 0.05), longer CPB time [minutes: 238.0 (208.8, 351.2) vs. 200.0 (185.8, 217.0), P < 0.05], and shorter ECMO-assisted time [hours: 19.5 (11.0, 58.8) vs. 94.5 (65.8, 179.8), P < 0.01]. However, there was no statistically significant difference in pre-machine pH value, ScvO2, MAP, VIS score, and initial blood flow and establishment time of ECMO between the two groups. VA-ECMO is an effective circulatory aid for CPB surgery that cannot be weaned after CPB. The establishment and transfer of CPB "bridge" to ECMO aid depends on multi-disciplinary treatment (MDT) cooperation. The success rate of ECMO weaning is related to the Lac and CPB duration. If it is not possible to detach from the CPB successfully, VA-ECMO should be initiated as early as possible.

Who cooperates with whom? The role of day-to-day partisan cooperation on affective polarization

Recent research has shown that partisan cooperation in the form of coalitional government in parliamentary democracies can mitigate partisans’ negative feelings toward opposing parties. However, little is known regarding the influence of informal cooperation beyond coalition arrangements on citizens’ affection towards the out-parties. To address this, I combine survey data from 11 Western Democracies with a measure of parties’ public relationships as reported by the media to examine the extent to which partisans’ affection towards opposing parties aligns with the changing portrayal of interactions between the parties as reported in the news. The findings demonstrate that voters’ affection towards opposing parties do indeed correspond with the actual pattern of interactions as depicted by the media. However, the reduction in the levels of affective polarization varies across individuals with different levels of political knowledge. This finding shows that affective polarization is also influenced by the short-term nature of cooperative or conflictual events beyond its policy-based or institutional underpinnings.

Epistemic competition in global governance: The case of pharmaceutical patents

AbstractExpert consensus helps policymakers solve complex problems by identifying and legitimizing policy solutions. Yet, persistent hesitation remains among policymakers regarding the technically adequate policy solution despite the existence and mobilization of epistemic communities. This paper contends that more attention should be given to studying the epistemic competition that may arise when multiple epistemic communities grapple with the same problem but have divergent understandings of its technical nature and its adequate policy solutions. Building on Science and Technology Studies and on the literature on polarization, this paper suggests that two social dynamics, namely the mobilization of resources and increased polarization, may complexify the technical disagreement among experts. In turn, these dynamics may lead to a deadlock in the debates, negatively impacting the institutional context where they take place. To illustrate this, this paper analyzes the case of the pharmaceutical innovation system, which has been prone to tensions between experts arguing for strong patent protection and experts arguing for greater flexibility to meet public health needs. This paper builds on a mixed method combining a social network analysis of experts invited to provide their expertise in the WHO‐WTO‐WIPO Trilateral Cooperation events and on semi‐structured interviews with 24 of these experts.

Федеральный государственный пожарный надзор: проблемы привлечения к административной ответственности физических лиц в связи с изменением законодательства

The article is devoted to the problems associated with bringing to administrative responsibility individuals (citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens and stateless persons) who do not belong to the category of controlled persons for violation of fire safety requirements. The analysis of legislative acts that are the basis for possible administrative impact by the state fire supervision authorities, including the wording of the norm of part 31 of Article 28.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation, which provides for the possibility of bringing to administrative responsibility only after conducting a control (supervisory) event in cooperation with a controlled person. The result of the conducted systematic analysis of regulatory legal acts was the conclusion that this norm does not apply to individuals who are not controlled persons under the law In order to unambiguously understand the norm of part 31 of Article 28.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation, the need for state control (supervision) bodies to fulfill their powers, including state fire supervision, the authors formulated proposals to amend the said Code and the Federal Law “On Fire Safety”.

The Challenge of Treating Relapsed Myeloid Leukemia in Children with Down Syndrome - a Targeted Analysis Using Patient-Derived Xenograft Models

Background. Myeloid leukemia occurs with a 150-fold increased incidence in children with Down syndrome (ML-DS) and is characterized by distinct disease mechanism and response to treatment. In the context of trisomy 21, somatic GATA1 mutations first initiate preleukemic transient abnormal myelopoiesis, a disorder of fetal liver hematopoiesis. Co-operating events, which target cohesin complex components, epigenetic modifiers or signal transducers including RAS pathway genes (Yoshida 2013, Labuhn M 2019), then drive transformation to ML-DS in 20% of infants with TAM, typically by age 4 years. Abnormal sonic hedgehog signaling was recently associated with trisomy 21 (Galati 2019). Its role in the development of ML-DS is unknown. Hypersensitivity of ML-DS blasts to chemotherapy with cytarabine and other agents accounts at least in part for the more favorable response of ML-DS compared to acute myeloid leukemia of children without DS. Contemporary treatment protocols for ML-DS achieve event-free and overall survival of approx. 89% and 90% at 5 years (Taub 2017). In marked contrast, patients who develop a relapse of ML-DS face a significantly lower probability of survival (EFS 20.9% and OS 22% at 3 years, Raghuram 2023), compared to children with relapsed AML who do not have DS, and appear to be resistant against conventional chemotherapy. Since the few survivors with a relapsed ML-DS are almost exclusively found among patients who first achieve a second remission and then undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, successful identification of agents with efficacy against the blasts of relapsed ML-DS is essential for survival. We tested if blasts of relapsed ML-DS had lost their sensitivity to cytarabine and whether new drugs could be identified that target pathways active in the blasts of ML-DS. Patients, Materials and Methods . We used patient-derived xenografts (PDX) of human ML-DS and relapsed ML-DS blasts in immunodeficient mice (NSG and NSG-W41) to determine in vivo responses to standard chemotherapeutic agents (cytarabine, vincristine) and novel approaches such as demethylating agents (azacytidine), inhibition of histone deacetylation (panobinostat), mTOR (rapamycin), PARP (olaparib), and sonic hedgehog signaling (glasdegib) alone or in combination (glasdegib + cytarabine; panobinostast + azacytidine). Injection of leukemic cells was performed intrafemorally. Endpoint was inhibition of leukemic engraftment compared to control recipients receiving vehicle only. Results.Responses of primary and relapsed ML-DS samples to drugs tested in PDX models showed marked heterogeneity. While some ML-DS samples showed resistance to cytarabine at the time of relapse this was not the universal cause of failure of primary treatment of ML-DS and some blasts of relapsed ML-DS retained sensitivity to cytarabine. Some primary and relapsed ML-DS blasts showed unexpected sensitivity to vincristine, a drug more commonly used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Despite intriguing rationales we observed no responses of primary and relapsed ML-DS blasts to the PARP inhibitor olaparib, mTOR inhibition by rapamycin and sonic hedgehog inhibition by glasdegib. Conclusions. Loss of hypersensitivity to cytarabine was not universal at the time of ML-DS relapse. Some agents not typically used to treat AML, such as vincristine, showed unexpected efficacy whereas others lacked responses despite a plausible mechanistic rationale. Patient-specific molecular mechanisms underlying relapsed ML-DS are likely to have an impact on drug sensitivity. They should be determined for all patients with relapsed ML-DS to assist identification of targets and selection of drugs in order to establish urgently needed but currently still lacking efficacious treatment for relapsed ML-DS.

High-throughput data and modeling reveal insights into the mechanisms of cooperative DNA-binding by transcription factor proteins.

Cooperative DNA-binding by transcription factor (TF) proteins is critical for eukaryotic gene regulation. In the human genome, many regulatory regions contain TF-binding sites in close proximity to each other, which can facilitate cooperative interactions. However, binding site proximity does not necessarily imply cooperative binding, as TFs can also bind independently to each of their neighboring target sites. Currently, the rules that drive cooperative TF binding are not well understood. In addition, it is oftentimes difficult to infer direct TF-TF cooperativity from existing DNA-binding data. Here, we show that in vitro binding assays using DNA libraries of a few thousand genomic sequences with putative cooperative TF-binding events can be used to develop accurate models of cooperativity and to gain insights into cooperative binding mechanisms. Using factors ETS1 and RUNX1 as our case study, we show that the distance and orientation between ETS1 sites are critical determinants of cooperative ETS1-ETS1 binding, while cooperative ETS1-RUNX1 interactions show more flexibility in distance and orientation and can be accurately predicted based on the affinity and sequence/shape features of the binding sites. The approach described here, combining custom experimental design with machine-learning modeling, can be easily applied to study the cooperative DNA-binding patterns of any TFs.

Cooperative acoustic emission locating with velocity tomography in true triaxial experiment

During true triaxial experiments, it is impractical to directly affix sensors to the rock sample, which consequently gives rise to a heterogeneous velocity structure extending from the source of acoustic emissions to the sensors. In pursuit of ascertaining the travel path of acoustic emission waves under anisotropic conditions and comprehending the evolution of wave velocity during triaxial loading, we conducted cooperative event localization in conjunction with velocity tomography. Initially, a numerical test was executed to validate the precision and stability of the employed fast-marching tomography method. Subsequently, true triaxial loading was applied to a granite rock specimen. The algorithm's accuracy was corroborated by the congruence between the final locating results and the observable crack positions. The tomography inversion results indicated that the wave velocity field remained relatively stable when the maximum principal stress was below 16 MPa, despite the occurrence of numerous acoustic emissions during this stage. The P-wave velocity exhibited a discernible upward trend with increasing maximum principal stress, particularly evident after reaching the 40 MPa threshold. Nevertheless, it's important to note that stress escalation does not invariably correspond to fracturing during the elastic deformation phase under confining pressure. The inversion method employed here enables the visualization of variable velocities and provides insight into the rock's deformation physics.

Different chromatin-scanning modes lead to targeting of compacted chromatin by pioneer factors FOXA1 and SOX2

Pioneer transcription factors interact with nucleosomes to scan silent, compact chromatin, enabling cooperative events that modulate gene activity. While at a subset of sites pioneer factors access chromatin by assisted loading with other transcription factors, the nucleosome-binding properties of pioneer factors enable them to initiate zygotic genome activation, embryonic development, and cellular reprogramming. To better understand nucleosome targeting invivo, we assess whether pioneer factors FoxA1 and Sox2 target stable or unstable nucleosomes and find that they target DNase-resistant, stable nucleosomes, whereas HNF4A, a non-nucleosome binding factor, targets open, DNase-sensitive chromatin. Despite FOXA1 and SOX2 targeting similar proportions of DNase-resistant chromatin, using single-molecule tracking, we find that FOXA1 uses lower nucleoplasmic diffusion and longer residence times while SOX2 uses higher nucleoplasmic diffusion and shorter residence times to scan compact chromatin, while HNF4 scans compact chromatin much less efficiently. Thus, pioneer factors target compact chromatin through distinct processes.

Incomplete recovery of gut microbiota in marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) during the depuration phase, after exposure to sulfamethazine/nanoplastics

The persistence of antibiotics and nanoplastics in aquatic environment poses a great threat to aquatic organisms. In our previous study, significant decreases of bacterial richness and changes of bacterial communities in the Oryzias melastigma gut after sulfamethazine (SMZ) and polystyrene nanoplastics (PS) exposure were observed. Here, the O. melastigma dietary exposed to SMZ (0.5 mg/g, LSMZ; 5 mg/g, HSMZ), PS (5 mg/g, PS) or PS + HSMZ were depurated for 21 days to assess the extent of which these effects were reversible. Our results revealed that most diversity indexes of bacterial microbiota in the O. melastigma gut from the treatment groups were insignificantly different from the control, suggesting a large recovery of bacterial richness. Although the sequence abundances of a few genera remained significantly changed, the proportion of dominant genus was recovered. Exposure to SMZ affected the complexity of the bacterial networks, and the cooperation and exchange events of positively associated bacteria were enhanced during this period. After depuration, increases in the complexity of networks and intense competitions among bacteria were observed, which was beneficial for the robustness of networks. However, the gut bacterial microbiota was less stable, and several functional pathways were dysregulated, relative to the control. In addition, higher occurrence of pathogenic bacteria was found in the PS + HSMZ group relative to the signal pollutant group after depuration, indicating a greater hazard for the mixture of PS and SMZ. Taken together, this study contributes to a better understanding of the recovery of bacterial microbiota in fish gut after individual and combined exposure to nanoplastics and antibiotics.

Emergence of Social Norms in Metanorms Game With High-Order Interaction Topology

In an autonomous system, rational agents aim to maximize their benefits. Rational agents gradually give up cooperation with others and only request services, which leads to the phenomenon of free-riding. This phenomenon generally exists in the real society and application system. Therefore, how to reduce the behavior, which is similar to free-riding, has become an important research topic. In addition, the traditional pairwise interaction network cannot truly reflect the interaction properties of cooperative events. Social norms provide an effective way to promote cooperation for autonomous systems. Axelrod's metanorm game model achieves the emergence of social norms by conducting punishment to connivance based on punishing defection. However, links in networks only allow for pairwise interactions. Therefore, we introduce hypergraphs, which are more suitable to reflect group interaction to model metanorm games. The establishment efforts of norms are examined on hypergraphs (uniform random hypergraph (URH), hyperdegree-heterogeneous random hypergraphs, and real-world hypergraphs). We show that the difference in group sizes affects norms emergence of agents and realize the establishment of social norms on URH. To a certain extent, the probability of being seen is positively correlated with agents' vengefulness and learning time and negatively correlated with boldness. However, the usage of the boldness and vengefulness learning (BV-learning) algorithm on HRHs cannot make norms emergence because leavers cannot participate in learning and the fixed learning step. Therefore, we propose the dynamic relevance BV-learning algorithm to overcome the aforementioned problems, so hub agents and leavers can jointly establish better social norms. We also verify the evolution process of agents' cooperation rate by BV-learning and the dynamic relevance BV-learning, respectively, which demonstrate that the establishment of social norms can indeed promote agents' cooperation. Finally, in order to illustrate the universality of the dynamic relevance BV-learning clearly, we study norms establishment on real-world hypergraphs by and compare it with BV-learning. It can be found that the dynamic relevance BV-learning can effectively establish social norms on real-world hypergraphs.

Monovalent Ionic Atmosphere Modulates the Selection of Suboptimal RNA Sequences by Splicing Factors’ RNA Recognition Motifs

The U2AF2 splicing factor is involved in the RNA recognition of the pre-mRNA poly-pyrimidine signaling sequence. This protein contains two RRM domains connected by a flexible linker, which ensure the preferential selection of a poly-uridine sequence over a poly-cytosine one. In this work, all-atom simulations provide insights into the U2AF2 recognition mechanism and on the features underlying its selectivity. Our outcomes show that U2AF2's RNA recognition is driven by cooperative events modulated by RNA-protein and RNA-ion interactions. Stunningly, monovalent ions contribute to mediating the binding of the weakly binding polyC strand, thus contributing to the selection of suboptimal poly-pyrimidine tracts. This finding broadens our understanding of the diverse traits tuning splicing factors' selectivity and adaptability to precisely handle and process diverse pre-mRNA sequences.

170 Revisiting perceived needs of Arizona horse owners to update and focus cooperative extension horse educational programming and resource development directions

In 2021, a voluntary, anonymous online livestock/equine survey (originally distributed in 2015), was readministered using Qualtrics® software and disseminated to Arizona livestock/equine industry stakeholders through email listservs, social media, personal connections, and attendees of cooperative extension events. The goal was to compare the 2021 data from horse owners (118/237 overall responses) to the 2015 responses (280 horse owners/484 total respondents) to review, update and if necessary, change the focus of our educational programming to topics perceived to be of moderate to critical need by 2021 Arizona horse owners. Survey results from both years came from all 15 Arizona counties and grouped by number of horses owned (1–3, 4–6, 7–9, and ≥ 10). The 2 data sets were analyzed independently using Chi-Square contingency tests, with significance declared at (P < 0.05). In both 2015 and 2021, more respondents owning 1–3 horses used their horses for recreation only (P < 0.05), and more respondents owning ≥ 10 horses used them for business (P < 0.05). In 2015, preferences for methods of information delivery were significantly affected by the age of respondent, with ≥ 70 years choosing newsletters/emails and both 50–69 years and ≥ 70 years preferring hands-on field days (P < 0.05). Additionally, more 50–69year-old respondents wanted fact sheets (P < 0.05). In 2021, ≥ 70 year-old respondents were less receptive to virtual seminars (P < 0.05). Survey takers ranked each of 22 topics related to horse feeding, management, training, horse health, business planning, etc. by no, slight, moderate, or critical need. Highest ranking topics in both 2015 and 2021, (with > 60% of ratings ranging from moderate to critical need), included toxic plants, vaccination programs, training and behavior, hoof care, heat stress, utilizing AZ forage, and lameness. In 2015, more respondents owning ≥ 10 horses chose “no need” for horse training/management (P < 0.05) and heat stress (P < 0.05), but in 2021 the “no need” for heat stress education difference was no longer apparent. In 2015, owners with 1–3 horses did not perceive a critical need for heat stress education, but they did in 2021 (P < 0.05). Topics with the highest perceived need were similar in 2021 and 2015, allowing us to continue with our current programming areas and priorities, although we found the age of respondents affected their preferences for methods of information delivery, and we need to continue heat stress education for recreational horse stakeholders owning 1–3 horses.

Aliquots of MIL-140 and Graphene in Smart PNIPAM Mixed Hydrogels: A Nanoenvironment for a More Eco-Friendly Treatment of NaCl and Humic Acid Mixtures by Membrane Distillation.

The problem of water scarcity is already serious and risks becoming dramatic in terms of human health as well as environmental safety. Recovery of freshwater by means of eco-friendly technologies is an urgent matter. Membrane distillation (MD) is an accredited green operation for water purification, but a viable and sustainable solution to the problem needs to be concerned with every step of the process, including managed amounts of materials, membrane fabrication procedures, and cleaning practices. Once it is established that MD technology is sustainable, a good strategy would also be concerned with the choice of managing low amounts of functional materials for membrane manufacturing. These materials are to be rearranged in interfaces so as to generate nanoenvironments wherein local events, conceived to be crucial for the success and sustainability of the separation, can take place without endangering the ecosystem. In this work, discrete and random supramolecular complexes based on smart poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM) mixed hydrogels with aliquots of ZrO(O2C-C10H6-CO2) (MIL-140) and graphene have been produced on a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) sublayer and have been proven to enhance the performance of PVDF membranes for MD operations. Two-dimensional materials have been adhered to the membrane surface through combined wet solvent (WS) and layer-by-layer (LbL) spray deposition without requiring further subnanometer-scale size adjustment. The creation of a dual responsive nanoenvironment has enabled the cooperative events needed for water purification. According to the MD's rules, a permanent hydrophobic state of the hydrogels together with a great ability of 2D materials to assist water vapor diffusion through the membranes has been targeted. The chance to switch the density of charge at the membrane-aqueous solution interface has further allowed for the choice of greener and more efficient self-cleaning procedures with a full recovery of the permeation properties of the engineered membranes. The experimental evidence of this work confirms the suitability of the proposed approach to obtain distinct effects on a future production of reusable water from hypersaline streams under somewhat soft working conditions and in full respect to environmental sustainability.

Water-related conflict and cooperation events worldwide: A new dataset on historical and change trends with potential drivers

Despite strong interest and conflict research spanning multiple disciplines, connections between water flows and conflicts remain unclear, due to incomplete datasets on water-related conflict-cooperation events and poor understanding of socioeconomic and biophysical causes of such conflicts. The dataset on water-related conflict-cooperation events compiled in this study extends to 2019, updating previous datasets that covered only up to 2008, yielding important new insights on cooperation-conflict trends. Global and regional trends were analyzed using the new events dataset, together with changes in hydroclimatic variables and population density. The analysis revealed that water-related cooperation was far more common than conflicts across all regions, in both drier and wetter climates, indicating that abundance and lack of water can both promote cooperation. However, conflict events were more common in drier climates where water is scarcer. This cooperation-conflict balance shifted in the 2000s, with conflict events increasing, to outnumber cooperation events in 2017. The main shift occurred in Africa and Asia, where increased conflicts in Africa coincided with a prolonged period of below-average precipitation and severe drought, while the shift in Asia coincided with increased evapotranspiration caused by human activities and increased population density. Differences between regions were confirmed by event descriptions, with events in Africa relating to water access and farmer-herder conflicts, and events in Asia relating to irrigation and dam construction. These differences highlight the need for regional-scale analysis of water-related conflict-cooperation trends and pathways. With climate change and human activities expected to increase, the increasing trend in conflict events could persist, with water resources becoming a more frequent cause of future conflict. Identifying these complex cooperation-conflict changes is vital in determining future actions required to reduce conflict events and promote cooperation on water.

Multisource traffic incident reporting and evidence management in Internet of Vehicles using machine learning and blockchain

Intelligent transportation systems require efficient ways to manage traffic incidents like accidents and traffic rule violations. Secure logging of incident related data is important in case of accidents for forensic analysis, insurance, and legal settlements. Internet of vehicles can be enhanced using machine learning techniques to detect events automatically at the vehicle and road infrastructure level and blockchain can be used as a source for immutable evidence storage and management. The work proposes a framework addressing multiple challenges in traffic incident detection and evidence management like gathering of traffic event related evidence from multiple sources, addressing fault management in embedded vehicle on board units, resiliency from malicious event reporting and handling conflicting traffic incident event reports. The framework relies on a combination of cooperative event correlation and trust model to detect malicious and erroneous reporting of traffic incidents followed by Long Short term Memory (LSTM) and Bayesian model to resolve conflicting event reports. The events are correlated and verified before being transmitting onto the blockchain for evidence management and access control by various stakeholders. Analysis is presented highlighting the improvement in efficiency achieved by convergence of the multiple approaches proposed.

The Role Of Art Exhibitions In The Development Of Cultural Relations Between Uzbekistan And The European Union

The article analyzes the development of cultural cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the EuropeanUnion. The author analyzes on the basis of sources that the organization of various exhibitions, especially the Days of Culture, plays animportant role in these relations. At the same time, it has been shown on the basis of evidence that the participation and role ofmuseums in all cultural cooperation events is extremely high. Materials from the Central State Archive were also used effectively inthe article.