Related Areas Research Articles

Taming the Selective C−H Bond Activation through 1,5‐Palladium Migration

Abstract“Through space” metal/hydrogen shift constitutes one of the efficient elementary step in organometallic chemistry to achieve selective remote C−H bond functionalization. Compared with the relatively extensive exploration on 1,4‐palladium migration, the processes on corresponding 1,5‐palladium translocation are far less explored. Based on our understanding on related research areas, we summarized the advances achieved in remote C−H bond activation through a key step of 1,5‐palladium migration in this minireview. The background, reaction scope, and more importantly, the mechanistic rationale of each transformation was discussed. We hope by reading through this minireview, one could get a general perspective on direct C−H bond activation via 1,5‐palladium/hydrogen shift, and could understand why such a process is less common when compared with the process going through 1,4‐palladium/hydrogen migration, and eventually could be inspired to develop practical ways for the synthesis of valuable molecules, which could not be prepared easily through other traditional approaches.

Structural and accessibility studies highlight the differential binding of clemizole to TRPC5 and TRPC6

Transient Receptor Potential Canonical 5 (T RP C5) and T RP C6 channels play critical physiological roles in various cell types. Their involvement in numerous disease progression mechanisms has led to extensive searches for their inhibitors. Although several potent T RP C inhibitors have been developed and the structure of their binding sites were mapped using cryo electron microscopy, a comprehensive understanding of the molecular interactions within the inhibitor binding site of T RP Cs remains elusive. This study aimed to decipher the structural determinants and molecular mechanisms contributing to the differential binding of clemizole to T RP C5 and T RP C6, with a particular focus on the accessibility of binding site residues. This information can help better understand what molecular features allow for selective binding, which is a key characteristic of clinically effective pharmacological agents. Using computational methodologies, we conducted an in-depth molecular docking analysis of clemizole with T RP C5 and T RP C6 channels. The protein structures were retrieved from publicly accessible protein databases. Discovery Studio 2020 Client Visualizer and Chimera software facilitated our in-silico mutation experiments and enabled us to identify the critical structural elements influencing clemizole binding. Our study reveals key molecular determinants at the clemizole binding site, specifically outlining the role of residues' Accessible Surface Area (ASA) and Relative Accessible Surface Area (RASA) in differential binding. We found that lower accessibility of T RP C6 binding site residues, compared to those in T RP C5, could account for the lower affinity binding of clemizole to T RP C6. This work illuminates the pivotal role of binding site residue accessibility in determining the affinity of clemizole to T RP C5 and T RP C6. A nuanced understanding of the distinct binding properties between these homologous proteins may pave the way for the development of more selective inhibitors, promising improved therapeutic efficacy and fewer off-target effects. By demystifying the structural and molecular subtleties of T RP C inhibitors, this research could significantly accelerate the drug discovery process, offering hope to patients afflicted with T RP C-related diseases.

Morphology of the epididymal duct of the domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus).

The study provides a general overview of the morphology of the epididymal duct in pigs. Four epididymides from two sexually mature boars were dissected into 32 segments and examined histologically. Duct lumen and wall thickness were measured and relative surface area of different components was assessed by Chalkley's random hit method. The epithelial lining was characterized at X1000. Lumen diameter and wall thickness of efferent ductules averaged 177 and 30 µm, respectively. Of the epididymal duct from caput to distal corpus the luminal diameter was 332 µm, with a narrower section in the proximal corpus. Wall thickness averaged 70 µm. In the cauda, luminal diameter and wall thickness increased to 717and 751 µm, respectively. The epithelial lining of the efferent ductules consists of a single layer of columnar cells with average height 21 µm. The lining of the epididymal duct consists of ciliated, pseudo-stratified columnar epithelium composed of "basal cells" and "principal cells." Particularly tall principal cells (96 µm) were found in the proximal caput. Height decreased to 40 µm at the distal cauda. Microvilli from principal cells were 14-17 µm long in the distal caput but decreased to 5 µm in the distal cauda. The epithelial lining was folded in the proximal caput and more so in the distal cauda. Secretory granules (epididymosomes) were present in small amounts in efferent ductules and epididymal duct; the largest quantities occurred in the distal cauda. Leukocytes were present throughout the duct, albeit in insignificant numbers. Chalkley's random hit method showed rapid spermatozoan transport through efferent ductules and proximal caput in large amounts of fluid. Sperm concentration increased due to fluid resorption in the proximal caput, was highest from caput flexure to proximal cauda and decreased at the caudal flexure, indicating secretory activity.

The Prediction of Cross-Regional Landslide Susceptibility Based on Pixel Transfer Learning

Considering the great time and labor consumption involved in conventional hazard assessment methods in compiling landslide inventory, the construction of a transferable landslide susceptibility prediction model is crucial. This study employs UAV images as data sources to interpret the typical alpine valley area of Beichuan County. Eight environmental factors including a digital elevation model (DEM) are extracted to establish a pixel-wise dataset, along with interpreted landslide data. Two landslide susceptibility models were built, each with a deep neural network (DNN) and a support vector machine (SVM) as the learner, and the DNN model was determined to have the best pre-training performance (accuracy = 88.6%, precision = 91.3%, recall = 94.8%, specificity = 87.8%, F1-score = 93.0%, and area under curve = 0.943), with higher parameters in comparison to the SVM model (accuracy = 77.1%, precision = 80.9%, recall = 87.8%, specificity = 73.9%, F1-score = 84.2%, and area under curve = 0.878). The susceptibility model of Beichuan County is then transferred to Mao County (which has no available dataset) to realize cross-regional landslide susceptibility prediction. The results suggest that the model predictions accomplish susceptibility zoning principles and that the DNN model can more precisely distinguish between high and very-high susceptibility areas in relation to the SVM model.

Researching Media and Democracy Researchers: Monitoring Capabilities in Poland

In this article, we look at the conditions of media and democracy discourses in Poland via the lenses of monitoring time-related capabilities. We are interested in how media–societal change in 2000–2020 has influenced the Polish researchers’ responses to deliver applied research and further foster hyper-knowledge sharing between policymakers, media industries, and academia. Through an in-depth investigation of Poland’s media researchers’ publications database (<em>N</em> = 1,000), we aim to examine the crucial interest areas considering the critical cultural junctures in three highly related areas: technology, politics, and society. The critical junctures theory review follows the mapping of changes in related scholarly analyses to uncover three sides of Polish scholarship monitoring capabilities alongside cultural conditions of researchers’ impact on democracy and the media. The overall hypothesis is that examining media and democracy in Poland reflects technological and political change, with the cultural research path dependencies in analyzing broader social context (see, for instance, a young democracy, illiberal turns and social polarization conditions, and so on). This corresponds to related tensions between the Western media’s theories and practices concerning democracy.

The hallmarks of aging as a conceptual framework for health and longevity research.

The inexorability of the aging process has sparked the curiosity of human beings since ancient times. However, despite this interest and the extraordinary scientific advances in the field, the complexity of the process has hampered its comprehension. In this context, The Hallmarks of Aging were defined in 2013 with the aim of establishing an organized, systematic and integrative view of this topic, which would serve as a conceptual framework for aging research. Ten years later and promoted by the progress in the area, an updated version included three new hallmarks while maintaining the original scope. The aim of this review is to determine to what extent The Hallmarks of Aging achieved the purpose that gave rise to them. For this aim, we have reviewed the literature citing any of the two versions of The Hallmarks of Aging and conclude that they have served as a conceptual framework not only for aging research but also for related areas of knowledge. Finally, this review discusses the new candidates to become part of the Hallmarks list, analyzing the evidence that supports whether they should or should not be incorporated.

ScabyNet, a user-friendly application for detecting common scab in potato tubers using deep learning and morphological traits

Common scab (CS) is a major bacterial disease causing lesions on potato tubers, degrading their appearance and reducing their market value. To accurately grade scab-infected potato tubers, this study introduces “ScabyNet”, an image processing approach combining color-morphology analysis with deep learning techniques. ScabyNet estimates tuber quality traits and accurately detects and quantifies CS severity levels from color images. It is presented as a standalone application with a graphical user interface comprising two main modules. One module identifies and separates tubers on images and estimates quality-related morphological features. In addition, it enables the extraction of tubers as standard tiles for the deep-learning module. The deep-learning module detects and quantifies the scab infection into five severity classes related to the relative infected area. The analysis was performed on a dataset of 7154 images of individual tiles collected from field and glasshouse experiments. Combining the two modules yields essential parameters for quality and disease inspection. The first module simplifies imaging by replacing the region proposal step of instance segmentation networks. Furthermore, the approach is an operational tool for an affordable phenotyping system that selects scab-resistant genotypes while maintaining their market standards.

Quantifying defects in graphene oxide structures

Oxidation of graphite and subsequent exfoliation leads to single layer graphene oxide (GO). One of the key structural features of GO is the presence of different kinds of defects that dictates their various physical and chemical properties. Molecular dynamics simulations with ReaxFF force fields have been widely used to generate realistic models of GO. In these simulations, the extent and distribution of the defects are varied by changing the initial oxygen (O)/carbon (C) ratio while the defect density is often measured by the total number of non-graphitic carbon (non-gC) atoms. Our calculations suggest that this parameter overestimates the defect densities at low O/C ratio. Herein, we employ the relative area of the defects as an alternative metric to gauge the defect density. Being exclusive to the defects and sensitive to the structural irregularities, this metric works well at both low and high defect densities. In another example, we consider the reduction of GO to reduced graphene oxide (rGO) for different O/C ratios, where the decrease in the number of non-gC atoms is associated with the formation of comparatively larger defects. Hence, it is unclear whether the extent of reduction in the defect density (if at all) should vary monotonically with the O/C ratio. The defect area, unlike the count of the non-gC atoms, mirrors this ambiguity and the change with respect to O/C ratio is not strictly monotonic. Additionally, we also investigate the dependence of the defect distribution and defect area on the size of the simulation cell.

Quantitative evaluation of the damage to RC buildings caused by the 2023 southeast Turkey earthquake sequence

Data from 15 earthquakes that occurred in 12 different countries are presented showing that, without better drift control, structures built with building codes allowing large seismic drifts are likely to keep leaving a wide wake of damage ranging from cracked partitions to building overturning. Following the earthquake sequence affecting southeast Turkey in 2023, a team led by Committee 133 of the American Concrete Institute surveyed nearly 250 reinforced concrete buildings in the area extending from Antakya to Malatya. Buildings ranging from 2 to 16 stories were surveyed to assess their damage and evaluate the robustness of their structures in relation to overall stiffness, as measured by the relative cross-sectional areas of structural walls and columns. The majority of the buildings were estimated to have been built in the past 10 years. Yet, the structures surveyed were observed to have amounts of structural walls and columns comparable with amounts reported after the Erzincan (1992), Duzce (1999), and Bingol (2003) Earthquakes in Turkey. These amounts are, on average, much smaller than the wall and column amounts used in Chile and Japan. Because of that lack of robustness and given the intensities of the motions reported from Antakya to Malatya (with 10 stations with peak ground velocity (PGV) of 100 cm/s or more), it is concluded that structures in this region experienced large drifts. Excessive drift (1) exposed a myriad of construction and detailing problems leading to severe structural damage and collapse, (2) induced overturning caused by p-delta for some buildings, and (3) caused widespread damage to brittle masonry partitions. The main lesson is simple: ductility is necessary but not sufficient. It is urgent that seismic drift limits are tightened in high-seismicity regions worldwide.

Schwannoma of the Nose at the Keystone Area in Relation to the Dorsal Nasal Nerve.

Schwannoma of the Nose at the Keystone Area in Relation to the Dorsal Nasal Nerve.

Improving bone defect healing using magnesium phosphate granules with tailored degradation characteristics

ObjectivesDental implant placement frequently requires preceding bone augmentation, for example, with hydroxyapatite (HA) or β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) granules. However, HA is degraded very slowly in vivo and for β-TCP inconsistent degradation profiles from too rapid to rather slow are reported. To shorten the healing time before implant placement, rapidly resorbing synthetic materials are of great interest. In this study, we investigated the potential of magnesium phosphates in granular form as bone replacement materials. MethodsSpherical granules of four different materials were prepared via an emulsion process and investigated in trabecular bone defects in sheep: struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O), K-struvite (MgKPO4·6H2O), farringtonite (Mg3(PO4)2) and β-TCP. ResultsAll materials except K-struvite exhibited promising support of bone regeneration, biomechanical properties and degradation. Struvite and β-TCP granules degraded at a similar rate, with a relative granules area of 29% and 30% of the defect area 4 months after implantation, respectively, whereas 18% was found for farringtonite. Only the K-struvite granules degraded too rapidly, with a relative granules area of 2% remaining, resulting in initial fibrous tissue formation and intermediate impairment of biomechanical properties. Significance:We demonstrated that the magnesium phosphates struvite and farringtonite have a comparable or even improved degradation behavior in vivo compared to β-TCP. This emphasizes that magnesium phosphates may be a promising alternative to established calcium phosphate bone substitute materials.

KÜRESEL İKLIM DEĞIŞIKLIĞI TEHDIDINE KARŞI ŞEHIR DIPLOMASISI: U20 VAKA ÇALIŞMASI

City diplomacy has turned to new searches in the 21st century to get results especially in the fight against global climate change, while it had a lower profile application area in international relations in the 20th century. The research question of this article, in the Age of Transboundary Crises, is to examine why cities need to be involved in solving global problems and their capacity to contribute in the U20 case study. This study aims to contribute to the international relations city diplomacy literature by examining Urban 20 (U20) with the case study method. The biggest difference of the 21st century from previous centuries is that the problems are transboundary and global, as in the examples of global warming and the Corona pandemic, and the motivation to act jointly takes priority because no international organization, state or other actors can solve these problems alone. In this article, brief information about city diplomacy and international local diplomacy organizations is given at first, and then, it is concluded that cooperation between cities can be beneficial in combating global problems with multi-layered stag hunt theory. It is also concluded that city diplomacy has a limited effect on international relations and does not have a legal sanction power.

Directive model of corporation management with the participation of the state in the sphere of the military-industry complex

The subject. The variety of existing models of management of commercial corporations at the current stage requires the­ir assessment, including in relation to certain areas of economic activity. This article examines the legal aspects of the principles of construction and content of a directive model of organization management using the example of corporations with state participation in the field of the military-industrial complex. The procedure for directive voting in the bodies of the corporation is analyzed.The purpose is to identify the determination and the essence of directive model of corporate management in the field of the military-industrial complex.Methodology of the research includes legal analysis of the Russian corporative legislation, directives of the Russian Government and judicial practice.The main results. The basics of regulatory regulation in this area of corporate relations are disclosed. Local regulations ensuring the formation of a directive model of corporate management are investigated. The review of competence of bodies of corporation with participation of public legal entities is given. Options are proposed for a legal assessment of the liability of persons who are members of the bodies of the corporations in question.General rule is proposed: in the case of voting in the bodies of a corporate organization, a representative of the state is released from responsibility if he acted on the basis of the issued directive (recommendation).Conclusions. The regularities of the development of corporate legislation on the issues under consideration and the influence of various factors on them are revealed.

Prediction of energy performance of residential buildings using regularised neural models

Human habitats are one of the major consumers of energy. Therefore, in the current age of increasing carbon dioxide footprints, analysing energy efficiency of a building is important and is the subject of the current study. Machine-learning-based artificial neural network (ANN) approaches are used in the current study to investigate building energy performance. Eight parameters – relative compactness, surface area, wall area, roof area, overall height and orientation of the building, as well as the glazing area and its distribution – are selected as the input parameters and heating and cooling loads (CLs) as the output parameters. The network prediction capability was checked by comparing the predictions of the ANN architecture with the benchmark test case. A well-trained and validated ANN is used to predict 96 conditions by varying glazing area and glazing area distribution. The ANN is found to capture the physics efficiently. This study revealed that there is a significant potential to improve the energy efficiency of a building and the maximum saving in the CL can be as high as 20.67% for a fraction of the glazing areas equal to 0.15 if the glazing area distribution is 32.5% in the north and 22.5% each in the east, south and west.

Multifactor optimization for induction welding of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites based on response surface methodology

AbstractInduction welding of thermoplastic (CFRP) composites is one of the most promising welding techniques due to its high efficiency, flexibility, and selectivity of the heat area. However, the nonuniformity of the temperature field in the welding area poses a challenge to welding quality. In this paper, a multifactor optimization method devoted to the quality and efficient bonding of carbon fiber‐reinforced polycarbonate (CF/PC) composites was presented. A transient three‐dimensional finite element model was developed and validated to analyze the heating characteristics during the welding process. The mapping relationship between process parameters—equilibrium temperature and relative effective area were established to optimize the weld quality applying the response surface method. The single lap shear experiment was carried out to evaluate the mechanical properties of the welded joints, focusing on micro appearances and welding defects. The results show that the optimal process parameters are a current of 100A and a coil distance from the surface of 3.6 mm. Under the process parameter, the effective welding area is 0.3823 with an error of 4.25%.Highlights The transient three‐dimensional finite element (FE) model was established. The evaluation indicators for welding quality were proposed. The multifactor optimization method for process parameters was developed. The mechanical property and welding defects of welded joints is evaluated.

ICT sector electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions – 2020 outcome

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector has gained much attention in the discussions on climate change, as it could impact global emissions both positively and negatively. The objective of the present study is to provide estimates for the 2020 use stage electricity consumption and ICT sector's total lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions divided in three main parts: user devices including internet-of-things, networks and data centers. The study builds on a high number of data sources including measured and reported data from 150 companies that is estimated to cover about 80% of network subscriptions, about 55% of data center electricity, and about 35% of upstream GHG emissions. To understand the development, the results are put into the perspective of earlier studies. In conclusion, the ICT sector used about 4% of the global electricity in the use stage and represented about 1.4% of the global GHG emissions in 2020. The use stage electricity consumption and the total GHG emissions have increased since 2015, but the impact per subscription has decreased. The user devices accounted for over half of all GHG emissions, with equal parts relating to use stage and other lifecycle stages. For networks and data centers, the use stage GHG emissions are dominating. The electricity consumption and GHG emissions are also estimated for the closely related areas Entertainment and Media (including e.g., TVs), paper media, and cryptocurrencies.

Percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation in children and adults with an age and gender-specific analysis.

There are limited studies with medium-term follow-up following percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation and no studies with a gender-specific analysis. To report clinical outcomes up to five years following percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation using the two most common balloon expandable valves in a mixed population of paediatric and adult patients with an age and gender-specific analysis. This was a single-centre retrospective observation study. Relevant data were obtained retrospectively from the case files. Age and gender- specific analysis was performed using SPSS. Totally, 58 patients (13 children, 45 adults) underwent percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation. Statistically significant reduction in median right ventricular outflow tract flow velocity following valve implantation was maintained for the whole five years in adults but not in children. There were no gender-specific differences despite the study being adequately powered. Independent of valve type used, there was significant reduction of the right ventricular outflow tract flow velocity in the immediate post valve implantation period (Edwards P = 0.001, Melody P = 0.013). There was a significant negative correlation between implanted valve Z-score and subsequent right ventricular outflow tract gradient during the first two years following valve implantation. Gender does not significantly affect valve function following percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation. It is important to consider patients' age and body surface area in relation to existing right ventricular outflow tract size during decisions for percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation.

Kai kurie legislatyvinės omisijos konstitucingumo kontrolės aspektai

The absence of the appropriate legislation in some areas of social relations or, in other words, the situation when certain social relations are not legally regulated, although there is a need to regulate them, implies the existence of a legal gap (lacuna legis). A legislative omission is a special legal gap because it is prohibited by Law, first of all, by supreme law – the Constitution. 
 The constitutional competence to investigate the constitutionality of legal gaps prohibited by Law was disclosed by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania at the beginning of the second 
 decade of its activity. The competence to declare the existence of legislative omissions was derived from the power of the Constitutional Court, stipulated in the Constitution, to administrate constitutional justice and to guarantee the supremacy of the Constitution, with a view to the better protection of the human rights and freedoms. It was argued that not only a particular legal regulation, but also the absence of it, when the necessity to establish such a legal regulation stems from the Constitution, can lead to the violation of the human rights and freedoms. 
 The article analyses the conception of the legislative omission in the jurisprudence of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court and the constitutional review institutions of some other states. It also discusses the reasons which determined the choice of the model of the constitutional review of legislative omissions in Lithuania. Finally, the article examines some cases of the review of the constitutionality of legal gaps in the jurisprudence of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court. The authors argue that the legislature has the duty under the Constitution to adopt a legal regulation not only in those cases where the Constitutional Court finds a legal omission and recognizes that the challenged legal act is non-compliant with the Constitution, but also in those cases where, in the official constitutional doctrine, the Constitutional Court formulates some constitutional requirements which presuppose the establishment of a missing legal regulation.

Mild Behavioral Impairment in Parkinson's Disease: An Updated Review on the Clinical, Genetic, Neuroanatomical, and Pathophysiological Aspects.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), including depression, anxiety, apathy, visual hallucinations, and impulse control disorders, are very common during the course of Parkinson's disease (PD), occurring even at the prodromal and premotor stages. Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) represents a recently described neurobehavioral syndrome, characterized by the emergence of persistent and impactful NPS in later life, reflecting arisk of dementia. Accumulating evidence suggests that MBI is highly prevalent in non-demented patients with PD, also being associated with an advanced disease stage, more severe motor deficits, as well as global and multiple-domain cognitive impairment. Neuroimaging studies have revealed that MBI in patients with PD may be related todistinct patterns of brain atrophy, altered neuronal connectivity, and distribution of dopamine transporter (DAT) depletion, shedding more light on its pathophysiological background. Genetic studies in PD patients have also shown that specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may be associated with MBI, paving the way for future research in this field. In this review, we summarize and critically discuss the emerging evidence on the frequency, associated clinical and genetic factors, as well as neuroanatomical and neurophysiological correlates of MBI in PD, aiming to elucidate the underlying pathophysiology and its potential role as an early "marker" of cognitive decline, particularly in this population. In addition, we aim to identify research gaps, and propose novel relative areas of interest that could aid in our better understanding of the relationship of this newly defined diagnostic entity with PD.

Towards the implementation of law n. 219/2017 on informed consent and advance directives for patients with psychiatric disorders and dementia. Physicians’ knowledge, attitudes and practices in four northern Italian health care facilities

BackgroundOn December 2017 the Italian Parliament approved law n. 219/2017 “Provisions for informed consent and advance directives” regarding challenging legal and bioethical issues related to healthcare decisions and end-of life choices. The law promotes the person’s autonomy as a right and provides for the centrality of the individual in every scenario of health care by mean of three tools: informed consent, shared care planning and advance directives. Few years after the approval of the law, we conducted a survey among physicians working in four health care facilities specific for the care of people suffering from psychiatric disorders, cognitive disorders and dementia located in the North of Italy aiming to investigate their perceived knowledge and training need, attitudes regarding law n. 219/2017 provisions, and practices of implementation of the law.MethodsA semi-structured questionnaire was developed on an online platform. The invitation to participate in the survey was sent by email to the potential participants. Information was collected by means of the online platform (Google Forms) which allows to export data in a spreadsheet (Windows Excel) to perform basic statistical analysis (frequency distributions, bar chart representation).ResultsTwenty-five out of sixty physicians participated in the survey. None of the respondents value their knowledge of the law as very good, 10 good, 13 neither poor nor good, 1 poor and 1 very poor. All the respondents want to learn more about the law (21 yes and 4 absolutely yes). The majority of respondents agrees with the content of the law as a whole (3 absolutely agree, 13 agree), and on each provision. The question on the clarity of the concept of capacity in the law received mixed answers and this impacted on the physicians’ opinion regarding the legitimacy in principle for our groups of patients to realize shared care planning and write advance directives. Thirteen physicians neither introduced the theme of shared care planning nor arranged for shared care planning and the main reason for this was that no patient was in a clinical situation to require it. When shared care planning is realized, a variability in terms of type and number of meetings, mode of tracking and communication is registered.ConclusionsOur survey results indicate a need for more clarity regarding the interpretation and implementation of the law in the patient groups under study. There are in particular two related areas that deserve further discussion: (1) the question of whether these patient groups are in principle legitimized by the law to realize shared care planning or write advance directives; (2) the notion of capacity required by the law and how this notion can be declined in real-life situations.