Full Information Research Articles

P-340 Endometrial microbiome - is every dysbiosis an inflammation?

Abstract Study question The endometrial microbiome, in addition to other parameters of inflammation (CD138 presence, NK bright fraction presence), may be a complementary marker of ongoing local inflammation. Summary answer Presented results of the microbiome in comparison with the CD 138 marker may indicate inflammation in the endometrium, which is caused by dysbiosis. What is known already The study of the microbiome and the assessment of its impact on female reproductive system on embryo implantation, pregnancy maintenance and the success of the in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure is an increasingly popular research topic. The protective role of Lactobacillus (other than L.iners) is known, and probably its low number may be related to the impossibility of embryo implantation. Dysfunctional mycobiome may be the cause of chronic inflammation of the endometrium, including endometriosis and recurrent implantation failures. Importantly, the dysbiotic profile of the endometrial microflora often does not cause any clinical symptoms. Study design, size, duration The clinical study included 182 women in child-bearing age, who were patients of the Gyncentrum Clinic (Poland), and who were qualified for the IVF procedure. In this group of patients, 201 samples combined were tested, obtaining 19 negative results due to the low quality of swabs, and the small amount of microbiota impossible to efficiently isolate. In the study, samples were analysed from January to December 2022 collection. Participants/materials, setting, methods To analyze the assumed parameters, patients treated at the Gyncentrum Clinic underwent a routine hysteroscopy procedure, during which endometrial swabs (determination of the molecular microbiome using the Next Generation Sequencing NGS method) and tissue fragments (determination of CD138 immunohistochemically and NK fractions by flow cytometry) were collected. Nucleic acids were isolated from the swabs for the preparation of libraries, based on the Illumina-16S Metagenomic Sequencing Library Preparation. Main results and the role of chance The microbiome study and other inflammation parameters in the group of our patients allowed us to observe some trends. Due to the microbiological endometrium profile, the patients were divided into 3 groups: 1) normal microflora (domination of Lactobacillus other than L.iners and/or Bifidobacterium;n =135), 2) moderate dysbiosis (presence of Lactobacillus and/or Bifidobacterium and/or L. iners-max. 50 % of all sample- and also other potentially harmful species e.g. Enterobacteriaceae group, Streptococcus group, Veilonella;n =28); 3) dysbiosis (with/without low number of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, strong dominance of harmful species listed above or L.iners dominance;n =19). We observed that in the group of endometrial dysbiosis patients, an increased CD138 index ( ⩾1/10 high power fields HPF) is more often noted - in the group of dysbiotic patients with CD138 = 0/10 HPF 7.21 %, in the group of dysbiotic patients with increased CD 138 15.49 %. We didn `t notice any trends comparing the results of CD138 to the NK bright fraction (CD56 + +/CD16-) tested in endometrial specimens, or the relationship of this fraction to the microbiome. Observed trend indicates a certain relationship in the presence of abnormal microflora and inflammation expressed by CD138, but it requires confirmation on a larger study group and obtain information about the success of pregnancy. Limitations, reasons for caution The conducted research require broader analysis on a larger group of patients. It is necessary to obtain full information about the success of pregnancy in all analyzed patients. Identification of taxa using the NGS method is not the same as the identification of microorganisms living in the studied microenvironment. Wider implications of the findings Presented results should be treated as a starting point for further analyses, important in the context of research based on infertility, focusing on relationships between the microbiome and the IVF effectiveness. It seems interesting to extend the molecular study of the microbiome to its other elements - viruses, fungi, protozoa. Trial registration number 161/KBL/OIL/2021 Study funding No Funding source Funding by hospital/clinic(s)

P-340 Endometrial microbiome - is every dysbiosis an inflammation?

Abstract Study question The endometrial microbiome, in addition to other parameters of inflammation (CD138 presence, NK bright fraction presence), may be a complementary marker of ongoing local inflammation. Summary answer Presented results of the microbiome in comparison with the CD 138 marker may indicate inflammation in the endometrium, which is caused by dysbiosis. What is known already The study of the microbiome and the assessment of its impact on female reproductive system on embryo implantation, pregnancy maintenance and the success of the in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure is an increasingly popular research topic. The protective role of Lactobacillus (other than L.iners) is known, and probably its low number may be related to the impossibility of embryo implantation. Dysfunctional mycobiome may be the cause of chronic inflammation of the endometrium, including endometriosis and recurrent implantation failures. Importantly, the dysbiotic profile of the endometrial microflora often does not cause any clinical symptoms. Study design, size, duration The clinical study included 182 women in child-bearing age, who were patients of the Gyncentrum Clinic (Poland), and who were qualified for the IVF procedure. In this group of patients, 201 samples combined were tested, obtaining 19 negative results due to the low quality of swabs, and the small amount of microbiota impossible to efficiently isolate. In the study, samples were analysed from January to December 2022 collection. Participants/materials, setting, methods To analyze the assumed parameters, patients treated at the Gyncentrum Clinic underwent a routine hysteroscopy procedure, during which endometrial swabs (determination of the molecular microbiome using the Next Generation Sequencing NGS method) and tissue fragments (determination of CD138 immunohistochemically and NK fractions by flow cytometry) were collected. Nucleic acids were isolated from the swabs for the preparation of libraries, based on the Illumina-16S Metagenomic Sequencing Library Preparation. Main results and the role of chance The microbiome study and other inflammation parameters in the group of our patients allowed us to observe some trends. Due to the microbiological endometrium profile, the patients were divided into 3 groups: 1) normal microflora (domination of Lactobacillus other than L.iners and/or Bifidobacterium; n = 135), 2) moderate dysbiosis (presence of Lactobacillus and/or Bifidobacterium and/or L. iners-max. 50% of all sample- and also other potentially harmful species e.g. Enterobacteriaceae group, Streptococcus group, Veilonella; n = 28); 3) dysbiosis (with/ without low number of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, strong dominance of harmful species listed above or L.iners dominance; n = 19). We observed that in the group of endometrial dysbiosis patients, an increased CD138 index (⩾1/10 high power fields HPF) is more often noted - in the group of dysbiotic patients with CD138 = 0/10 HPF 7.21%, in the group of dysbiotic patients with increased CD 138 15.49%. We didn`t notice any trends comparing the results of CD138 to the NK bright fraction (CD56 ++/CD16-) tested in endometrial specimens, or the relationship of this fraction to the microbiome. Observed trend indicates a certain relationship in the presence of abnormal microflora and inflammation expressed by CD138, but it requires confirmation on a larger study group and obtain information about the success of pregnancy. Limitations, reasons for caution The conducted research require broader analysis on a larger group of patients. It is necessary to obtain full information about the success of pregnancy in all analyzed patients. Identification of taxa using the NGS method is not the same as the identification of microorganisms living in the studied microenvironment. Wider implications of the findings Presented results should be treated as a starting point for further analyses, important in the context of research based on infertility, focusing on relationships between the microbiome and the IVF effectiveness. It seems interesting to extend the molecular study of the microbiome to its other elements - viruses, fungi, protozoa. Trial registration number 161/KBL/OIL/2021

Balance of confidentiality and tax transparency in legal regulation of automatic exchange of financial account information in the United States

The subjectof research, relevance. Exchange of information is an important measure of administrative cooperation between and among tax authorities aimed at the fight with tax evasion. Tax evasion is a problem that has gone beyond national borders, thus individual states can’t cope with it alone. In the light of this problem tax authorities develop new forms of administrative cooperation such as automatic exchange of information. While developing new forms, states should remember about the balance of private and public interest. In the context of automatic exchange of information this problem looks like a problem of finding a balance between confidentiality and tax transparency.The purpose.The article discusses the problem of finding a balance between confidentiality and tax transparency on the example of the United States. The choice of the United States may be explained by its national approach to such a balance that differs from the approach of other states that have implemented the Common Reporting Standard and Mandatory Disclosure Rules.The aimof the article is to show what peculiarities in national and international regulation in the United States influence their unique approach and what is the effect of this approach on the global system of automatic exchange of information and the rights of the US taxpayers.The methodological basis.The following scientific methods were used: comparative-legal, formal-juridical and historic-legal. The research was conducted in compliance with the principles of independence and verification of the results.The main results,scope of application. The conclusion of this article is that the balance of private and public interest in the context of automatic exchange of information is reached by the United States through confidentiality provisions exclusively. They use their national state legislation on beneficial ownership and the lack of reciprocity in intergovernmental agreements implementing FATCA to attract foreign investors (non-resident aliens) wishing to avoid reporting under the Common Reporting Standard. Meanwhile, the United States acquire full information on the financial accounts of their citizens and resident aliens who are beneficial owners of such accounts held in foreign financial institutions. Such a state of affairs is dangerous for the effectiveness of the global system of automatic exchange of information. Moreover, it impairs the rights of Accidental Americans who permanently reside in foreign states and have no connection with the United States except for their citizenship but still have reporting obligations before the US Internal Revenue Service.Conclusions.Automatic exchange of information should be developed in compliance with the principle of balance between tax transparency and confidentiality. States should follow one and the same approach to providing such a balance. At the same time the taxpayers’ rights, in particular the rights of Accidental Americans, should be protected and they can’t be outweighed by the need of administrative cooperation between or among tax authorities.

Edge-Guided Camouflaged Object Detection via Multi-Level Feature Integration.

Camouflaged object detection (COD) aims to segment those camouflaged objects that blend perfectly into their surroundings. Due to the low boundary contrast between camouflaged objects and their surroundings, their detection poses a significant challenge. Despite the numerous excellent camouflaged object detection methods developed in recent years, issues such as boundary refinement and multi-level feature extraction and fusion still need further exploration. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-level feature integration network (MFNet) for camouflaged object detection. Firstly, we design an edge guidance module (EGM) to improve the COD performance by providing additional boundary semantic information by combining high-level semantic information and low-level spatial details to model the edges of camouflaged objects. Additionally, we propose a multi-level feature integration module (MFIM), which leverages the fine local information of low-level features and the rich global information of high-level features in adjacent three-level features to provide a supplementary feature representation for the current-level features, effectively integrating the full context semantic information. Finally, we propose a context aggregation refinement module (CARM) to efficiently aggregate and refine the cross-level features to obtain clear prediction maps. Our extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets show that the MFNet model is an effective COD model and outperforms other state-of-the-art models in all four evaluation metrics (Sα, Eϕ, Fβw, and MAE).

Disentangling pharmacological and expectation effects in antidepressant discontinuation among patients with fully remitted major depressive disorder: study protocol of a randomized, open-hidden discontinuation trial

BackgroundAntidepressants are established as an evidence-based, guideline-recommended treatment for Major Depressive Disorder. Prescriptions have markedly increased in past decades, with a specific surge in maintenance prescribing. Patients often remain on antidepressants longer than clinically necessary. When attempting to stop, many patients experience adverse discontinuation symptoms. Discontinuation symptoms can be debilitating and hinder successful discontinuation. While discontinuation symptoms can result from pharmacological effects, evidence on nocebo-induced side effects of antidepressant use suggests that patients' expectations may also influence occurrence.MethodsTo disentangle pharmacological and expectation effects in antidepressant discontinuation, patients with fully remitted Major Depressive Disorder who fulfill German guideline recommendations to discontinue will either remain on or discontinue their antidepressant. Participants' expectations will be manipulated by varying verbal instructions using an open-hidden paradigm. Within the open trial arms, participants will receive full information about treatment, i.e., high expectation. Within the hidden trial arms, participants will be informed about a 50% chance of discontinuing versus remaining on their antidepressant, i.e., moderate expectation. A total of N = 196 participants will be randomly assigned to either of the four experimental groups: open discontinuation (OD; n = 49), hidden discontinuation (HD; n = 49), open continuation (OC; n = 49), or hidden continuation (HC; n = 49). Discontinuation symptom load during the 13-week experimental phase will be our primary outcome measure. Secondary outcome measures include discontinuation symptom load during the subsequent 39-week clinical observation phase, recurrence during the 13-week experimental period, recurrence over the course of the complete 52-week trial evaluated in a time-to-event analysis, and stress, anxiety, and participants’ attentional and emotional processing at 13 weeks post-baseline. Blood and saliva samples will be taken as objective markers of antidepressant blood serum level and stress. Optional rsfMRI measurements will be scheduled.DiscussionUntil today, no study has explored the interplay of pharmacological effects and patients’ expectations during antidepressant discontinuation. Disentangling their effects has important implications for understanding mechanisms underlying adverse discontinuation symptoms. Results can inform strategies to manage discontinuation symptoms and optimize expectations in order to help patients and physicians discontinue antidepressants more safely and effectively.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05191277), January 13, 2022.

Quality information gaps in housing listings: Do words mean the same as pictures?

The incomplete or defective information on the listed housing quality may impair the market clearing processes, may lead to the adverse selection and would have its reflection in the data needed to perform market analyses. To pinpoint the existing information gaps, this paper inspects the quality-related information disclosure strategies of agents who list apartments for sale or rent in online listing platforms. The first part of the empirical study compares the direct declarations of the listed housing quality with the quality indirectly signaled via photos attached to listings and shows that there extists a discrepancy between them. Combined with the high share of observations, for which the full information on quality is not being disclosed it contributes to the existence of informations gaps. The second part of the study answers, whether indirect textual quality signals (descriptions of apartments), processed with the use of Wordscores—a supervised machine learning algorithm are consistent with visual quality signals. It has been documented, that the sales listings’ quality signals have agreed in 63–90% of cases, depending on the model’s variant. For the rental market, the descriptive quality signals have matched the visual ones in 71–83% of cases. Moreover, it has been shown that among rental listings the consistency has been higher for listings posted by landlords, while for sales listings—by brokers. Finally, it may be argued that to fill the existing information gaps one may utilize the often-unused information conveyed via textual quality-signalling channel.

Chromosome-level genome assembly of Murraya paniculata sheds light on biosynthesis of floral volatiles

BackgroundMurraya paniculata (L.) Jack, commonly called orange jessamine in the family Rutaceae, is an important ornamental plant in tropical and subtropical regions which is famous for its strong fragrance. Although genome assemblies have been reported for many Rutaceae species, mainly in the genus Citrus, full genomic information has not been reported for M. paniculata, which is a prerequisite for in-depth genetic studies on Murraya and manipulation using genetic engineering techniques. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of M. paniculata and aim to provide insights on the molecular mechanisms of flower volatile biosynthesis.ResultsThe genome assembly with a contig N50 of 18.25 Mb consists of 9 pseudomolecules and has a total length of 216.86 Mb. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that M. paniculata diverged from the common ancestor approximately 25 million years ago and has not undergone any species-specific whole genome duplication events. Genome structural annotation and comparative genomics analysis revealed that there are obvious differences in transposon contents among the genomes of M. paniculata and Citrus species, especially in the upstream regions of genes. Research on the flower volatiles of M. paniculata and C. maxima at three flowering stages revealed significant differences in volatile composition with the flowers of C. maxima lacking benzaldehyde and phenylacetaldehyde. Notably, there are transposons inserted in the upstream region of the phenylacetaldehyde synthase (PAAS) genes Cg1g029630 and Cg1g029640 in C. maxima, but not in the upstream region of three PAAS genes Me2G_2379, Me2G_2381, and Me2G_2382 in M. paniculata. Our results indicated that compared to the low expression levels of PAAS genes in C. maxima, the higher expression levels of the three PAAS genes in M. paniculata are the main factor affecting the phenylacetaldehyde biosynthesis and causing the content difference of phenylacetaldehyde. The phenylacetaldehyde synthetic activities of the enzymes encoded by M. paniculata PAAS genes were validated by in vitro analyses.ConclusionsOur study provides useful genomic resources of M. paniculata for further research on Rutaceae plants, identifies new PAAS genes, and provides insights into how transposons contribute to variations in flower volatiles among Murraya and Citrus plants.

Improving the Performance of Quantum Cryptography by Using the Encryption of the Error Correction Data.

Security of quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols rely solely on quantum physics laws, namely, on the impossibility to distinguish between non-orthogonal quantum states with absolute certainty. Due to this, a potential eavesdropper cannot extract full information from the states stored in their quantum memory after an attack despite knowing all the information disclosed during classical post-processing stages of QKD. Here, we introduce the idea of encrypting classical communication related to error-correction in order to decrease the amount of information available to the eavesdropper and hence improve the performance of quantum key distribution protocols. We analyze the applicability of the method in the context of additional assumptions concerning the eavesdropper's quantum memory coherence time and discuss the similarity of our proposition and the quantum data locking (QDL) technique.

HLA Linked Regional Differences in Donor Selection: A 9-Year Study of the Swiss Registry

Introduction: The large HLA diversity in worldwide populations is a major challenge for matched unrelated haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) donor searches. The impact of regional diversity on the effective HSC donor selection has not been documented so far for national registries. Methods: The aim of the study was to analyse the 532 consecutive work-up (WU) requests received by Swiss Blood Stem Cells (SBSC), over a 9-year period (2011–2019) with respect to criteria including the geographical origin of the donors as derived from the postal codes, countries requesting SBSC donors, HLA-matching parameters, and patients’ HLA haplotype frequencies. Results: Highly matched donors (10/10) represented 73.5% of the WU, whereas 8–9/10 mismatched donors accounted for 24.0%. The remaining donors were 7–8/8 matched (1.7%) or had an unknown matching grade (0.8%). Among the 10/10 matched patient/donor pairs with full HLA-DPB1 typing information, the rate of 11–12/12 matched donors was 73.3%. Of the 532 WU requests, 47.6% were for patients of the four neighbouring countries and for national patients. The ratio of WU requests was directly proportional to the total number of donors registered in each region (Pearson’s r = 0.977). However, for two regions (lemanic and north-eastern areas of Switzerland (CH)), the proportion of selected donors was slightly above the min-max ratio of registered donors throughout the study period. The number of WU requests differed between countries when considering donors from the northern and southern parts of the country delineated by the alpine barrier. Conclusion: This study shows the value of the SBSC registry for both national and international patients. Two countries (USA and Germany) which operate the two worldwide largest registries (>19 million donors) requested 30% of SBSC registered donors, while the Swiss transplant centres accounted for 13% of the WU requests. When considering the geographic origin of SBSC donors, we observe a correlation of WU requests with the total number of registered donors in each subregion. This finding thus supports recruitment efforts throughout all regions. Interestingly, donors from three regions (lemanic area, Zurich and Ticino) are slightly over-represented, which is possibly related to higher HLA haplotypic diversity. A focus on planning recruitment in these regions might contribute to more successful donor searches.

The impact estimation of structural transformations and mesures fowards advancement carried out in “Azerikimya” PU on energy and feedstock resources of steam cracking unit

The article presents the detailed study and analysis of structural transformations and measures carried out at “Azerikimya” Production Union, as well as their impact on energy and feedstock resources of the steam cracking (pyrolysis) unit. As provided in the paper, the full information on the relation between technical and economic parameters of petrochemical products produced in the Republic of Azerbaijan and the performance of the steam cracker and the latter’s contribution to the yield of quality products builds upon in-depth studies and analyses. Besides, consideration is given to the necessity of structural transformations as a consequence of issues that occurred after the national petrochemical facilities had been incorporated into SOCAR. The article also highlights the importance of economic recovery in the industry that once secured an important place in the national economy, improving operational efficiencies of refining and petrochemical industries that run as a single process chain, building the state-of-the-art enterprise in line with the advanced global practice, as well as upgrading the management mechanism and structure in the petrochemical industry. It underscores the positive outcomes of the long-term national policy of sustainable development in the petrochemical industry, as well as a decisive role of an increasingly efficient future performance aimed at improving profitability and synergy across the company.

Distributed GNE Seeking under Global-Decision and Partial-Decision Information over Douglas-Rachford Splitting Method

This paper develops an algorithm for solving the generalized Nash equilibrium problem (GNEP) in non-cooperative games. The problem involves a set of players, each with a cost function that depends on their own decision as well as the decisions of other players. The goal is to find a decision vector that minimizes the cost for each player. Unlike most of the existing algorithms for GNEP, which require full information exchange among all players, this paper considers a more realistic scenario where players can only communicate with a subset of players through a connectivity graph. The proposed algorithm enables each player to estimate the decisions of other players and update their own and others’ estimates through local communication with their neighbors. By introducing a network Lagrangian function and applying the Douglas-Rachford splitting method (DR), the GNEP is reformulated as a zero-finding problem. It is shown that the DR method can find the generalized Nash equilibrium (GNE) of the original problem under some mild conditions.

The Prevalence of Microalbuminuria in Patients with Hypertension and Acute Ischemic Stroke

Objective: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the prevalence of microalbuminuria in hypertensive individuals who had recently suffered from an acute ischemic stroke. Study Design: Cross-sectional study Place and Duration: Department of Physiology, Sheikh Zayed Medical College, Rahim Yar Khan in the duration from July, 2022 to December, 2022. Methods: This study comprised 148 hypertension individuals of either sex who had suffered an ischemic stroke. Participants' full demographic information, including age, sex, BMI, and comorbidities, was recorded after obtaining informed written consent. Microalbuminuria was detected in a urine sample collected over the course of 24 hours using the Pyrogallol Red assay. Microalbuminuria was defined as a daily urinary albumin content of 30-300 mg. Association of Microalbuminuria was determined among all cases. SPSS 22.0 was used to analyze all data. Results: Among 148 cases, 87 (58.8%) were males and 61 (41.2%) were females. Patients mean age was 57.6±14.82 years and had mean BMI 25.9±7.48 kg/m2. Mean duration of HTN was 3.19±5.28 years. History of ischemic stroke was found in 14 (9.5%) cases, and family history of myocardial infarction found in 23 (15.5%) cases. Comorbidities were DM, CAD, Congestive heart failure, Atrial fibrillation and peripheral artery disease. We found Microalbuminuria in 68 (45.9%) cases. In 68 cases of microalbuminuria 38 cases had age >50 years, 19 cases were aged between 36-50 years and 11 cases were aged between 18-35 years. Conclusion: The high prevalence of microalbuminuria in hypertension patients with acute ischemic stroke led us to the conclusion that this marker can be used to reliably identify hypertensive individuals at high risk for ischemic stroke at a low cost. Keywords: Hypertension, Albuminuria, Ischemic stroke, Diabetes mellitus

Moving horizon estimation over relay channels: Dealing with packet losses

This paper is concerned with the moving horizon estimation problem for networked systems over relay channels. The relay channel under consideration is a wireless communication channel with a so-called relay node. Under the effects of relay node, the signal transmission between the plant and estimator is determined by a combination of three communication processes, namely the sensor-to-estimator, the sensor-to-relay and the relay-to-estimator communication processes. In order to characterize the impact of such kind of relay-channel-based communication, a three-terminal relay model is employed to describe the signal transmission behaviors between the plant and the estimator. Three Bernoulli-distributed white sequences are adopted to model the packet losses occurring in the communication processes. A full information estimation strategy is firstly developed in the sense of maximum a posteriori according to the system dynamics and transmission behaviors. Then, a moving horizon estimator is designed based on the derived full information estimation strategy. Furthermore, the solution of the proposed moving horizon estimation strategy is achieved by using the completing-the-square approach and, subsequently, sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee the mean-square ultimate boundedness of the resultant error dynamics of the state estimation. Two simulation examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of our developed estimation scheme.

The Role of Blockchain Technology in Promoting Traceability Systems in Agri-Food Production and Supply Chains.

Due to recurring food quality and safety issues, growing segments of consumers, especially in developed markets, and regulators in agri-food supply chains (AFSCs) require a fast and trustworthy system to retrieve necessary information on their food products. With the existing centralized traceability systems used in AFSCs, it is difficult to acquire full traceability information, and there are risks of information loss and data tampering. To address these challenges, research on the application of blockchain technology (BCT) for traceability systems in the agri-food sector is increasing, and startup companies have emerged in recent years. However, there have been only a limited number of reviews on the application of BCT in the agriculture sector, especially those that focus on the BCT-based traceability of agricultural goods. To bridge this knowledge gap, we reviewed 78 studies that integrated BCT into traceability systems in AFSCs and additional relevant papers, mapping out the main types of food traceability information. The findings indicated that the existing BCT-based traceability systems focus more on fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy, and milk. A BCT-based traceability system enables one to develop and implement a decentralized, immutable, transparent, and reliable system in which process automation facilitates the monitoring of real-time data and decision-making activities. We also mapped out the main traceability information, key information providers, and challenges and benefits of the BCT-based traceability systems in AFSCs. These helped to design, develop, and implement BCT-based traceability systems, which, in turn, will contribute to the transition to smart AFSC systems. This study comprehensively illustrated that implementing BCT-based traceability systems also has important, positive implications for improving AFSC management, e.g., reductions in food loss and food recall incidents and the achievement of the United Nations SDGs (1, 3, 5, 9, 12). This will contribute to existing knowledge and be useful for academicians, managers, and practitioners in AFSCs, as well as policymakers.

Soft X-ray scanning transmission microscopy as a selective probe of topical dermal drug delivery: The role of petrolatum and occlusion

Selective and label-free probing of drugs by scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) is applied along with hyperspectral imaging to probe topically applied drugs in human skin explants ex vivo. A comparison of data evaluation strategies is reported, which includes changes in optical density at selected photon energies in the O 1 s regime, linear combination modeling using reference spectra, as well as principal component and cluster analyses. It is shown that consistent results are obtained from linear combination modeling of reference spectra and changes in optical density. The dermal penetration of the anti-inflammatory drug rapamycin is investigated with high spatial resolution using a petrolatum-based formulation. For such well-known formulation the result of occlusion is investigated leading to drug uptake into corneocytes. Additional changes in drug penetration induced by weakening the skin barrier by the serine protease trypsin are also included. These results are discussed in comparison with the dermal penetration of other drug formulations. Finally, alternatives to present data acquisition strategies in STXM are discussed with respect to sub-sampling in combination with mathematical approaches, so that the full chemical and spatial information can be retrieved and radiation damage is minimized.

Integrated design of aerodynamic and anti-flutter performance of offshore wind turbine airfoil based on full information cooperative game method

Given the difficulty in balancing aerodynamic and anti-flutter performance when developing large offshore wind turbine blades, and the fact that traditional game algorithms can only obtain a single game solution, this paper proposes a full information cooperative game method based on the multi-objective game idea. The proposed method can obtain a series of game solution sets that are close to the Pareto frontier. The proposed method combined with the Hicks-Henne function is used to optimize the DU25 airfoil to improve its aerodynamic and anti-flutter performance. The results show that compared with the original airfoil, the lift-drag ratio of the airfoil is increased by 17.29% and the polar moment of inertia is increased by 13.99%. In addition, airfoils with a relative thickness of 23%–28% are redesigned using the proposed method combined with the class function/shape function transformation parameterization method, which offers an effective and novel idea for designing new airfoils and provides more safe, efficient, diverse airfoils for the designers of offshore wind turbine blades. The results also show that this method can be applied to many other problems in engineering design.

Stochastic Linear-Quadratic Optimal Control with Partial Observation

This paper studies a class of quadratic optimal control problems for partially observable linear dynamical systems. In contrast to the full information case, the control is required to be adapted to the filtration generated by the observation system, which in turn is influenced by the control. The variation method fails in this case due to the fact that the filtration is not fixed. To overcome the difficulty, we use the orthogonal decomposition of the state process to write the cost functional as the sum of two parts: one is a functional of the control and the filtering process and the other part is independent of the choice of the control. The first part possesses a mathematical structure similar to the full information problem. By completing the square, it is shown that the open-loop optimal control is given by a feedback representation via the filtering process. The optimal value is also obtained explicitly.

Stillbirth and early neonatal mortality rates may be underestimated using recall information: A comparison of demographic surveillance methodologies.

Child mortality and stillbirth rates (SBR) remain high in low-income countries but may be underestimated due to incomplete reporting of child deaths in retrospective pregnancy/birth histories. The aim of this study is to compare stillbirth and mortality estimates derived using two different methods: the method assuming full information and the prospective method. Bandim Health Project's Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) follows women of reproductive age and children under five through routine home visits every 1, 2 or 6 months. Between 2012 and 2020, we estimated and compared early neonatal (ENMR, <7 days), neonatal (NMR, <28 days), and infant mortality (IMR, <1 year) per 1000 live births and SBR per 1000 births. Risk time for children born to registered women was calculated from birth (the method assuming full information) versus date of first observation in the HDSS (the prospective method), either at birth (for pregnancy registration) or registration. Rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier estimator and compared in generalised linear models allowing for within-child correlation obtaining relative risks (RR). We registered and followed 29,413 infants (1380 deaths; 1459 stillbirths) prospectively. An additional 164 infant deaths and 129 stillbirths were registered retrospectively and included in the method assuming full information. The ENMR was 24.5 (95%CI: 22.6-26.4) for the method assuming full information and 25.8 (23.7-27.8) for the prospective method, RR = 0.96 (0.93-0.99). Differences were smaller for the NMRs and IMRs. For SBRs, the estimates were 53.5 (50.9-56.0) and 58.6 (55.7-61.5); RR = 0.91 (0.90-0.93). The difference between methods became more pronounced when the analysis was limited to areas visited every 6 months: RR for ENMR: 0.91 (0.86-0.96) and RR for SBR: 0.85 (0.83-0.87). Assuming full information underestimates SBR and ENMR. Accounting for omissions of stillbirths and early neonatal deaths may lead to more accurate estimates and improved ability to monitor mortality.

The extended Planetary Nebula Spectrograph (ePN.S) early-type galaxy survey: The specific angular momentum of ETGs

Context. Mass and angular momentum are key parameters of galaxies. Their coevolution establishes an empirical relation between the specific stellar angular momentum j* and the stellar mass M* that depends on morphology. Aims. For this work, we measured j* in a sample of 32 early-type galaxies (ETGs) from the ePN.S survey, using the full two-dimensional kinematic information. We present local λ profiles and projected j* profiles in apertures. We derived the distribution of these galaxies on the total j* − M* plane and determined the ratio between the stellar j* and the specific angular momentum of the host dark matter halo. Methods. We used integral-field-spectroscopic data in the central regions (one to two effective radii, Re) and planetary nebula (PN) kinematics in the outskirts (out to a mean 6Re). In the j* determination, we accounted for misaligned rotation and for the differences between light-weighted j* and mass-weighted j*, estimating also the effects of gradients in the mass-to-light ratio driven by variations in the initial mass function. We used simulated ETGs from the IllustrisTNG simulation TNG100 to correct for the limited radial coverage of the PN data and to account for projection effects on j*. Results. The radially extended, two-dimensional kinematic data show that the stellar halos of ETGs do not contain large stellar mass fractions of high j*. The j* profiles of fast-rotator ETGs are largely converged within the range of the data. For slow rotators, j* is still rising and is estimated to increase beyond 6Re by up to 40%, using simulated galaxies from TNG100. More than 60% of their stellar halo angular momentum is in misaligned rotation. We find that the ePN.S ETG sample displays the well-known correlation between j*, M*, and morphology: elliptical galaxies have systematically lower j* than similar mass S0 galaxies. However, fast and slow rotators lie on the same relation within errors with the slow rotators falling at the high M* end. A power-law fit to the mass-weighted j* − M* relation gives a slope of 0.55 ± 0.17 for the S0s and 0.76 ± 0.23 for the ellipticals, with normalization about four and nine times lower than spirals, respectively. The estimated retained fraction of angular momentum at 1010 ≤ M* ≤ 1010.5 M⊙ is ∼25% for S0s and &gt; 10% for ellipticals, and decreases by ∼1.5 orders of magnitude at M* ∼ 1012 M⊙. Conclusions. Our results show that ETGs have substantially lower j* than spiral galaxies with similar M*. Their j* must be lost during their evolution, and/or retained in the hot gas component and the satellite galaxies that have not yet merged with the central galaxy.

GaiaData Release 3

Context.Blue (BP) and Red (RP) Photometer low-resolution spectral data are one of the exciting new products inGaiaData Release 3 (GaiaDR3). These data have also been used to derive astrometry and integrated photometry inGaiaEarly Data Release 3 and astrophysical parameters and Solar System object reflectance spectra inGaiaDR3.Aims.In this paper, we give an overview of the processing techniques that allow raw satellite data of multiple transits per source to be converted into combined spectra calibrated to an internal reference system, resulting in low-resolution BP and RP mean spectra. We describe how we overcome challenges due to the complexity of the on-board instruments and to the various observation strategies. Furthermore, we show highlights from our scientific validation of the results. This work covers the internal calibration of BP/RP spectra to a self-consistent mean instrument, while the calibration of the BP/RP spectra to the absolute reference system of physical flux and wavelength is covered by one of the accompanyingGaiaDR3 papers.Methods.We calibrate about 65 billion individual transit spectra onto the same mean BP/RP instrument through a series of calibration steps, including background subtraction, calibration of the CCD geometry, and an iterative procedure for the calibration of CCD efficiency as well as variations of the line-spread function and dispersion across the focal plane and in time. The calibrated transit spectra are then combined for each source in terms of an expansion into continuous basis functions. We discuss the configuration of these basis functions.Results.Time-averaged mean spectra covering the optical to near-infrared wavelength range [330, 1050] nm are published for approximately 220 million objects. Most of these are brighter thanG = 17.65 but some BP/RP spectra are published for sources down toG = 21.43. Their signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) varies significantly over the wavelength range covered, and with magnitude and colour of the observed objects, with sources aroundG = 15 having a S/N above 100 in some wavelength ranges. The top-quality BP/RP spectra are achieved for sources with magnitudes 9 &lt; G &lt; 12, with S/N reaching 1000 in the central part of the RP wavelength range. Scientific validation suggests that the internal calibration was generally successful. However, there is some evidence for imperfect calibrations at the bright endG &lt; 11, where calibrated BP/RP spectra can exhibit systematic flux variations that exceed their estimated flux uncertainties. We also report that, due to long-range noise correlations, BP/RP spectra can exhibit wiggles when sampled in pseudo-wavelength.Conclusions.TheGaiaDR3 data products are the expansion coefficients and corresponding covariance matrices for BP and RP separately. Users are encouraged to work with the data in this format, with full covariance information showing that correlations between coefficients are typically very low. Documentation and instructions on how to access and use BP/RP spectral data from the archive are also provided.