Absence Of Energy Research Articles

Government Strategy in Reducing Stunting Rate for the People of North Labuhanbatu Regency towards Zero Stunting

This problem is one of the problems that has an impact on the development and improvement of the younger generation. The absence of energy and protein in a long enough period of time will cause inhibition of growth and development in infants. This research aims to find out the strategies implemented by the North Labuhanbatu Regency government in the process of reducing stunting rates and how to overcome them. This research uses a qualitative approach with descriptive research type. Research data was obtained from interviews and observations. The data analysis carried out was taken from several stunting cases that have occurred and looked at the social situation and conditions in the field. The results of this research show that there are still many cases of stunting occurring in North Labuhanbatu Regency, especially among toddlers, pregnant women, postpartum and breastfeeding mothers, prospective brides, and grooms. The main causes of stunting are nutritional, health and environmental disorders. This has become the concern of the North Labuhanbatu Regency government in the process of targeting a reduction in the stunting rate towards zero stunting by 2024. Apart from that, the government will carry out eight convergence actions to reduce stunting in each district/city.

Removal of cationic and anionic toxic pollutants from simulated solutions using Sterculia foetida pod (SFP): equilibrium isotherm, kinetics, and characterization

The present work explores the sorption performance of Sterculia foetida pod (SFP) for the removal of methylene blue (MB) and chromium (Cr6+) from simulated solutions separately. The material characteristics namely textural analysis (specific surface area: 2.45 m2/g), morphological behavior (heterogeneous morphology containing pores and cavities), functional analysis (COO– stretching, C–O–C stretching vibrations, and –OH stretching) and thermal behavior (279.4 °C) were examined by various analytical techniques namely BET, SEM, FTIR, and TGA. Using non-linear Langmuir isotherm analysis, the maximal sorption capacity of SFP for the removal of MB and Cr6+ was predicted to be 74.1 mg/g and 27.3 mg/g, respectively. The optimized condition for sorption of MB and Cr6+ onto SFP was: dosage: 0.07 mg/L, initial pH: 7 (MB), and 2 (Cr6+). Thermodynamic data analysis confirmed the endothermic, favorable, spontaneous, and physisorption nature of sorption. The SFP has shown significant regeneration capacity in the consecutive runs (MB: 92.5% removal till 5th trial; Cr6+: 97.6% removal till 3rd trial). Based on these findings, SFP is a promising low-cost and eco-friendly candidate for the removal of anionic and cationic toxic pollutants in the absence of energy and chemical expenditure. NOVELTY STATEMENT Sterculia foetida pod (SFP) explored for the removal of anionic and cationic toxic pollutants in the absence of energy and chemical expenditure. Mechanism for the interaction between toxic pollutants and SFP was predicted. Better sorption capacity (MB: 74.1 mg/g; Cr6+: 27.8 mg/g) and better regeneration capacity (MB: 92.5% for 5th trial; Cr6+: 97.6% for 3rd trial) was achieved. A feasible and spontaneous nature of sorption process toward the removal of MB and Cr6+ was demonstrated using thermodynamic relations.

Interaction of the periplasmic chaperone SurA with the inner membrane protein secretion (SEC) machinery.

Gram-negative bacteria are surrounded by two protein-rich membranes with a peptidoglycan layer sandwiched between them. Together they form the envelope (or cell wall), crucial for energy production, lipid biosynthesis, structural integrity, and for protection against physical and chemical environmental challenges. To achieve envelope biogenesis, periplasmic and outer-membrane proteins (OMPs) must be transported from the cytosol and through the inner-membrane, via the ubiquitous SecYEG protein-channel. Emergent proteins either fold in the periplasm or cross the peptidoglycan (PG) layer towards the outer-membrane for insertion through the β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM). Trafficking of hydrophobic proteins through the periplasm is particularly treacherous given the high protein density and the absence of energy (ATP or chemiosmotic potential). Numerous molecular chaperones assist in the prevention and recovery from aggregation, and of these SurA is known to interact with BAM, facilitating delivery to the outer-membrane. However, it is unclear how proteins emerging from the Sec-machinery are received and protected from aggregation and proteolysis prior to an interaction with SurA. Through biochemical analysis and electron microscopy we demonstrate the binding capabilities of the unoccupied and substrate-engaged SurA to the inner-membrane translocation machinery complex of SecYEG-SecDF-YidC - aka the holo-translocon (HTL). Supported by AlphaFold predictions, we suggest a role for periplasmic domains of SecDF in chaperone recruitment to the protein translocation exit site in SecYEG. We propose that this immediate interaction with the enlisted chaperone helps to prevent aggregation and degradation of nascent envelope proteins, facilitating their safe passage to the periplasm and outer-membrane.

Acute and repeated impact of sweeteners and sweetness enhancers in solid and semi-solid foods on appetite: protocol for a multicentre, cross-over, RCT in people with overweight/obesity – the SWEET Project

IntroductionIntake of free sugars in European countries is high and attempts to reduce sugar intake have been mostly ineffective. Non-nutritive sweeteners and sweetness enhancers (S&SEs) can maintain sweet taste in...

Triangle of Environment, Water and Energy: A Sociological Appraisal

Triangle of Environment, Water and Energy: A Sociological Appraisal

Heterogeneity of Green TFP in China’s Logistics Industry under Environmental Constraints

In the context of China’s supply-side structural reform and the concept of green development, we introduce the energy and environmental factors into the analytical framework of the total factor productivity (TFP) of the logistics industry and use the Global Malmquist–Luenberger index method to analyze the evolution trend and heterogeneity of green TFP in the logistics industry of 30 provinces (cities and districts) in China from 2003 to 2017. The results show that, firstly, the green TFP and traditional TFP of China’s logistics industry are both on the rise and the absence of energy and environmental factors will lead to the overestimation of TFP of the logistics industry. Whether it is green TFP or traditional TFP, the main source of its growth is technical progress. Secondly, there is obvious regional heterogeneity in green TFP of logistics industry. Under the three regional division standards, the average annual growth rate of green TFP is from high to low in the order of eastern, western, and central regions. Under the eight regional classification standards, the eastern coastal economic zone, the southern coastal zone, the northern coastal zone, the northeast region, the middle reaches of the Yellow River, the southwest region, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the northwest region are in order from high to low. Thirdly, there is obvious interprovincial heterogeneity in green TFP of the logistics industry. The highest growth rate of green TFP is in Zhejiang, followed by Jiangsu and Guangdong, and the slowest growth rate is in Chongqing. The technical progress of logistics industry in most provinces contributes more to the growth of green TFP. Fourthly, the differences of green TFP in the three regions of the east, center, and west are shrinking, which may be σ convergence, but the differences among the three regions are expanding. Compared with the existing literature, this paper applies the measurement framework of green TFP to China’s logistics industry and investigates the regional and provincial heterogeneity of green TFP in logistics industry. The conclusions are significant to understand and grasp the heterogeneity of green TFP growth in China’s logistics industry under environmental constraints and how to promote the development of green logistics in China.

Quantifying nonequilibrium thermodynamic operations in a multiterminal mesoscopic system

We investigate a multiterminal mesoscopic conductor in the quantum Hall regime, subject to temperature and voltage biases. The device can be considered as a nonequilibrium resource acting on a working substance. We previously showed that cooling and power production can occur in the absence of energy and particle currents from a nonequilibrium resource (calling this an N-demon). Here we allow energy or particle currents from the nonequilibrium resource and find that the device seemingly operates at a better efficiency than a Carnot engine. To overcome this problem, we define free-energy efficiencies which incorporate the fact that a nonequilibrium resource is consumed in addition to heat or power. These efficiencies are well behaved for equilibrium and nonequilibrium resources and have an upper bound imposed by the laws of thermodynamics. We optimize power production and cooling in experimentally relevant parameter regimes.

Catechol‐Based Molecular Memory Film for Redox Linked Bioelectronics

AbstractRedox is emerging as an alternative modality for bio‐device communication. In contrast to the more familiar ionic electrical modality: (i) redox involves the flow of electrons through oxidation–reduction reactions; (ii) the aqueous medium is an “insulator” to this electron flow since free electrons do not normally exist in water; and (iii) redox states are intrinsically digital (oxidized and reduced). By exploiting these unique features, a catechol‐based molecular memory film is reported. This memory is fabricated by electrochemically grafting catechol to a chitosan–agarose polysaccharide network to generate a redox‐active but non‐conducting matrix. The redox state of the grafted catechol moieties serves as the 2‐state memory. It is shown that these redox states: can be repeatedly switched by diffusible mediators (electron shuttles); can be easily read electrically or optically; are stable for at least 2 h in the absence of energy; are sensitive to biologically relevant oxidizing and reducing contexts; and can be switched enzymatically. This catechol‐based molecular memory film is a simple circuit element for redox linked bioelectronics.

Degradación in situ del pastizal Chilliwar Festuca dolichophylla una alternativa para alimentación animal

The objective was to evaluate the kinetics of degradation in the first compartment (C1) of llamas of the dry matter(DM) of forage F. dolichophylla harvested at 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 weeks of growth during two seasons (rainy and dry ).The degradation kinetics of crude protein (PC), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) wereevaluated only in the rainy season. In situ degradation was described by the equation of Orskov et al., (1980) D = a +b (1-exp-ct). A completely randomized block design with a 2 x 5 factorial arrangement was used for the MS. The rate (c) 3.24% h-1, intercept of the curve (a) 22.22%, and the degradation potential of MS (a + b) 91.32%, were notaffected (P> 0.05) by the time, age and interaction. However, the effective DM degradation (estimated with a flowrate of k = 2% h-1) was affected (P 0.05) by the age of growth. However, the potentialand effective degradation (k = 2% h-1) was influenced by the age of growth, ranging from 97.7 to 90.1%, 86.0 to80.8%, and from 72.4 to 71.9% from 3 to 15 weeks of increase. The effective degradation of PC, NDF and ADF wasaffected (P <0.05) by the age of growth, decreasing from 88.6 to 63%, 63.5 to 57.1%, and from 51.7 to 40.3% from3 to 15 weeks of growth. It is concluded that the accelerated degradation of the protein at early hours, and lowdegradation of cell walls causes an imbalance in the availability of protein and absence of energy.

Excessive Consumption of Sugar: an Insatiable Drive for Reward.

Eating behavior provides energy to ensure proper functioning of the organism. Reward aids in seeking foods that bring energy and pleasant taste, whose consumption is safe. As evidenced by the obesity "epidemic" which largely stems from overeating, reward becomes a detriment when palatable tastants are available in unlimited quantities. This review presents recent evidence on mechanisms underlying palatability-driven excessive consumption of sugar. Appetite for sugar is propelled by changes in the morphology and activity of the reward system reminiscent of addiction. Sugar intake also shifts the hunger-satiety continuum, facilitating initiation of consumption in the absence of energy needs and maintenance of feeding despite ingestion of large food loads that endanger homeostasis. Ingestion of excessive amounts of sugar relies on triggering mechanisms that promote addictive-like behaviors, and on overriding neuroendocrine signals that protect internal milieu.

Free Cooling of a Granular Gas of Rodlike Particles in Microgravity.

Granular gases as dilute ensembles of particles in random motion are at the basis of elementary structure-forming processes in the Universe, involved in many industrial and natural phenomena, and also excellent models to study fundamental statistical dynamics. The essential difference to molecular gases is the energy dissipation in particle collisions. Its most striking manifestation is the so-called granular cooling, the gradual loss of mechanical energy E(t) in the absence of external excitation. We report an experimental study of homogeneous cooling of three-dimensional granular gases in microgravity. The asymptotic scaling E(t)∝t^{-2} obtained by Haff's minimal model [J. Fluid Mech. 134, 401 (1983)JFLSA70022-112010.1017/S0022112083003419] proves to be robust, despite the violation of several of its central assumptions. The shape anisotropy of the grains influences the characteristic time of energy loss quantitatively but not qualitatively. We compare kinetic energies in the individual degrees of freedom and find a slight predominance of translational motions. In addition, we observe a preferred rod alignment in the flight direction, as known from active matter or animal flocks.

Erratum to: Proximity Effect on the Density of States and Majorana Bound States in a Thin Superconducting Ferromagnetic Nanowire

This article presents analysis on the identification of Majorana states in a model of a heterogeneous superconducting ferromagnetic nanowire. It is demonstrated the significant effect that the exchange field has on the energy of bound in-gap states and on the density of states (DOS) itself, which appear as a periodic dependence of the DOS on the magnitude of the field as well as the dislocation in energy of the Majorana state candidate, located at zero energy in absence of the exchange field. Furthermore, the proximity effect is demonstrated to have observable consequences in a superconductor even in the clean limit. The model is a unidimensional system of fermions subject to a p-wave order parameter. The quasiclassical method is employed through the Eilenberger equations resulting in explicit expressions for the DOS, readily testable experimentally.

Individual Differences in the Frequency-Following Response: Relation to Pitch Perception.

The scalp-recorded frequency-following response (FFR) is a measure of the auditory nervous system’s representation of periodic sound, and may serve as a marker of training-related enhancements, behavioural deficits, and clinical conditions. However, FFRs of healthy normal subjects show considerable variability that remains unexplained. We investigated whether the FFR representation of the frequency content of a complex tone is related to the perception of the pitch of the fundamental frequency. The strength of the fundamental frequency in the FFR of 39 people with normal hearing was assessed when they listened to complex tones that either included or lacked energy at the fundamental frequency. We found that the strength of the fundamental representation of the missing fundamental tone complex correlated significantly with people's general tendency to perceive the pitch of the tone as either matching the frequency of the spectral components that were present, or that of the missing fundamental. Although at a group level the fundamental representation in the FFR did not appear to be affected by the presence or absence of energy at the same frequency in the stimulus, the two conditions were statistically distinguishable for some subjects individually, indicating that the neural representation is not linearly dependent on the stimulus content. In a second experiment using a within-subjects paradigm, we showed that subjects can learn to reversibly select between either fundamental or spectral perception, and that this is accompanied both by changes to the fundamental representation in the FFR and to cortical-based gamma activity. These results suggest that both fundamental and spectral representations coexist, and are available for later auditory processing stages, the requirements of which may also influence their relative strength and thus modulate FFR variability. The data also highlight voluntary mode perception as a new paradigm with which to study top-down vs bottom-up mechanisms that support the emerging view of the FFR as the outcome of integrated processing in the entire auditory system.

Dynamics of Globally and Dissipatively Coupled Resonators

This work explores the dynamics of arrays of globally and dissipatively coupled resonators. These resonator arrays are shown to be capable of exhibiting seemingly new collective behaviors which are highly sensitive to the dispersion of the natural frequencies of the constituent resonators in the array, the intrinsic damping of the resonators in the array, and the magnitude of the global coupling coefficient that captures the strength of the dissipative coupling. These behaviors have been identified within the work as group attenuation, confined attenuation, and group resonance. Group and confined attenuation are associated with an absence of energy and are strongly dependent on the dispersion of the natural frequencies. In cases of moderate dissipative coupling, the effects of group and confined attenuation could be interpreted as frequency-dependent damping. In cases where the global coupling coefficient is large, group resonance is significant. This effect is synonymous with the resonances of the constituent resonators being shared and occurring at frequencies in between the isolated resonators' natural frequencies. Accordingly, one could view group resonance as the antithesis of localization, in that the localization of the modes of a conservatively coupled system with a finite dispersion of the constituent resonators' natural frequencies is most significant when the coupling is weak. The authors believe that collective behaviors, such as those described herein, have direct applicability in new single-input, single-output resonant mass sensors, and, with extension, a variety of other sensing and signal processing systems.

Energizing wireless sensor networks by energy harvesting systems: Scopes, challenges and approaches

As the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) technology has great advancement, small and smart WSN systems now can be used for more complicated and challenging applications. WSNs investigation has primarily believed the use of a convenient and inadequate energy source for empowering the sensors. A sensor becomes useless in the absence of energy and becomes unable to contribute to the utility of the network as a group. Therefore, extensive efforts have been used in finding energy-efficient networking protocols for increasing the life span of WSNs. However, there are promising WSN applications where the sensors are obligatory to work for a long time after their deployments. In these cases, batteries are tough or impractical to replace/recharge. Although, a little amount of power is required for these applications, the useable lifetime of WSNs is decreased by the gradual degradation of the batteries. With the motivation of raising the usable WSNs around us and to value a number of economic and environmental limitations, researchers are looking for new green and theoretically unlimited energy sources. Harvesting of energy from the ambient energy is the basement of these new sources. Energy harvesting devices efficiently and effectively capture, accumulate, store, condition, and manage this energy and supply it in a form that can be used to empower WSNs. This harvested energy can be an alternative energy source for adding-on a principal power source and thus increase the consistency of the whole WSN by preventing the disruption of power. A great deal of research has been reviewed and specific ranges of applications have been found. Though there are challenges to overcome, different researchers have taken different approaches to solve those. In this review, we have emphasized on different scopes, challenges, ideas and actions of energy harvesting for WSNs.

Structural, specific heat and magnetoresistive properties of Gd&lt;SUB align="right"&gt;0.7Ca&lt;SUB align="right"&gt;0.3MnO&lt;SUB align="right"&gt;3

Here, we report the structural, specific heat and magnetoresistive properties of orthorhombic perovskite structured Gd0.7Ca0.3MnO3, synthesised by modified sol-gel technique. X-ray diffraction along with the Rietveld refinement confirms the pure phase of the sample and the crystallite size comes out to be ~42 nm. Scanning electron micrograph shows the grain distribution having average particle size ~71 nm. Energy dispersive spectroscopy confirms the stoichiometry of the composition. The sample is also characterised by Raman spectroscopy for structural and phase confirmation. The functional group of Gd0.7Ca0.3MnO3 was also analysed from its Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum. The specific heat of the sample is measured in the temperature range of 2 to 300 K. Resistivity measurements with and without magnetic field was performed. The activation energy in absence of magnetic field is 0.162 eV which reduces to 0.154 eV in presence of 8 T magnetic field. The observed electrical behaviour is explained in terms of polaron hopping mechanism.

Integrating Binary Mask Estimation With MRF Priors of Cochleagram for Speech Separation

In present binary masking based speech separation systems, it is almost impossible to obtain the ideal binary mask (IBM). The error in IBM estimation usually results in energy absence in many speech-dominated time-frequency (T-F) units. It violates smooth evolution nature of the speech signal and creates great artefacts. Markov random field (MRF) is one of the promising approaches to model smooth evolution nature which has been extensively applied to image smoothing applications. In this letter, an MRF prior for modeling the spatial dependencies in audio cochleagram is introduced. With this prior model, we further smooth the binary mask based cochleagram and generalize binary mask to ratio mask via a Bayesian framework. Our algorithm is systematically evaluated and compared with other counterpart methods, and it yields substantially better performance, especially on suppressing artefacts.

Dairy consumption and cardiometabolic health: outcomes of a 12-month crossover trial

BackgroundA growing body of research suggests that regular consumption of dairy foods may counteract obesity and other components of the metabolic syndrome. However, human intervention trials are lacking. We aimed to determine the cardiometabolic health effects of increasing the consumption of reduced fat dairy foods in adults with habitually low dairy intakes in the absence of energy restriction.MethodsAn intervention trial was undertaken in 61 overweight or obese adults who were randomly assigned to a high dairy diet (HD, 4 serves of reduced fat dairy/day) or a low dairy control diet (LD, ≤1 serve/day) for 6 months then crossed over to the alternate diet for a further 6 months. A range of anthropometric and cardiometabolic parameters including body composition, metabolic rate, blood lipids, blood pressure and arterial compliance were assessed at the end of each diet phase.ResultsTotal energy intake was 1120 kJ/day higher during the HD phase, resulting in slight weight gain during this period. However, there were no significant differences between HD and LD in absolute measures of waist circumference, body weight, fat mass or any other cardiometabolic parameter.ConclusionRecommended intakes of reduced fat dairy products may be incorporated into the diet of overweight adults without adversely affecting markers of cardiometabolic health.Trial RegistrationThe trial was registered with the Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12608000538347) on 24th October, 2008.

Design and Simulation of a New Model for Treatment by NCT

In this investigation, neutron capture therapy (NCT) through high energy neutrons using Monte Carlo method has been studied. In this study a new method of NCT for a sample liver phantom has been defined, and interaction of 12 MeV neutrons with a multilayer spherical phantom is considered. In order to reach the desirable energy range of neutrons in accord with required energy in absence of eligible clinical neutron source for NCT, this model of phantom might be utilized. The neutron flux and the deposited dose in the all components and different layers of the mentioned phantom are computed by Monte Carlo simulation. The results of Monte Carlo method are compared with analytical method results so that by using a computer program in Turbo-Pascal programming, the deposited dose in the liver phantom has been computed.

Fragilidad y su asociación con mortalidad, hospitalizaciones y dependencia funcional en mexicanos de 60 años o más

Background and objectiveTo determine the association between frailty and mortality, dysfunctionality, falls and hospitalizations in the Mexican Health and Aging Study. Subjects and methodsProspective, population study in Mexico, that included subjects of 60 years and older who were evaluated for the variables of frailty during the year 2001 (first wave of the study) which included: difficulty to rise from a chair after being seated during long time, weight loss of 5 kilograms or more in the last two years, and absence of energy. Frail subjects were considered when they had at least two conditions. The robust group was considered when they had zero conditions. Pre-frail or intermediate were those with one condition. Mortality, hospitalizations, falls, and functional dependency were evaluated during 2003 (second wave of the study). Relative risk was calculated for each complication, as well as hazard ratio and odds ratio through Cox Regression Model (for mortality) and logistic regression (for the rest of the complications) respectively, adjusted for covariates. ResultsThe states of frailty and pre-frailty were independently associated with mortality, hazard ratio of 1.61 (CI 95% 1.01-2.55) and 1.94 (CI 95% 1.20-3.13), respectively. Only the state of frailty was independently associated with hospitalization and functional dependence, odds ratio of 1.53 (CI 95% 1.13-2.07) and 3.07 (CI 95% 1.76-5.34). There was no association between pre-frailty or frailty with falls. ConclusionFrailty is associated with an increase in the rate of mortality, hospitalizations and dependence in basic activities of daily life.