Typical Color Research Articles

Microplastic diversity increases the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in soil.

The impact of microplastics on antibiotic resistance has attracted widespread attention. However, previous studies primarily focused on the effects of individual microplastics. In reality, diverse microplastic types accumulate in soil, and it remains less well studied whether microplastic diversity (i.e., variations in color, shape or polymer type) can be an important driver of increased antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) abundance. Here, we employed microcosm studies to investigate the effects of microplastic diversity on soil ARG dynamics through metagenomic analysis. Additionally, we evaluated the associated potential health risks by profiling virulence factor genes (VFGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Our findings reveal that as microplastic diversity increases, there is a corresponding rise in the abundance of soil ARGs, VFGs and MGEs. We further identified microbial adaptive strategies involving genes (changed genetic diversity), community (increased specific microbes), and functions (enriched metabolic pathways) that correlate with increased ARG abundance and may thus contribute to ARG dissemination. Additional global change factors, including fungicide application and plant diversity reduction, also contributed to elevated ARG abundance. Our findings suggest that, in addition to considering contamination levels, it is crucial to monitor microplastic diversity in ecosystems due to their potential role in driving the dissemination of antibiotic resistance through multiple pathways.

A Methodological Approach to the Study of Retroreflective Pavements

Climate change, principally driven by human activities, has led to an increase in global temperature, which is predicted to continue rising in the coming years. This temperature increase is even more pronounced in urban areas due to the heat island effect. This phenomenon is highly influenced by the presence of paved streets made with bituminous mixtures, which are characterised by their high solar radiation absorption capacity. Bituminous mixtures retain and re-emit a large amount of heat that intensifies the urban heat island effect. The novelty of this work is to measure retroreflective properties of bituminous mixtures that present a highly textured surface. In this context, the aim of this study is to evaluate the retroreflectance of different bituminous mixtures for use as pavement surfaces, focusing on the influence of colour and different types of aggregates. For this, total and directional reflectance measurements were conducted to determine the retroreflectance of these mixtures, with the purpose of mitigating the heat island effect in urban environments without affecting users through reflected solar radiation. The results show the retroreflective capacity of the designed mixtures within the visible spectrum, especially those manufactured with light-coloured aggregates and synthetic binders pigmented with titanium dioxide. Thus, the retroreflectance of the lighter mixtures range from 37.9% at a 0° entrance angle to 68.9% at 60°, while the black mixtures exhibit values between 5.1% and 8.4%.

Epigenetic Regulation of Anthocyanin Biosynthesis in Betula pendula ‘Purple Rain’

Betula pendula ‘Purple Rain’ is characterized by its purple leaves and has ornamental applications. A green mutant line NL, which was mutated by line NZ of B. pendula ‘Purple Rain’ during tissue culture, shows green leaves instead of the typical purple color of B. pendula ‘Purple Rain’. This study quantified the leaf color traits of NL and a normal B. pendula ‘Purple Rain’ line NZ, and uncovered differentially expressed genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis pathway genes in NL through RNA-Seq analysis. Compared to NZ, reduced levels of six anthocyanins contained in NL were revealed via flavonoids-targeted metabolomics. Sequence mutations in transcription factors that could explain NL’s phenotype failed to be screened via whole-genome resequencing, suggesting an epigenetic basis for this variant. Therefore, a key gene, BpMYB113, was identified in NL via the combined analysis of small RNA sequencing, whole-genome methylation sequencing, and transcriptomics. In NL, this gene features a hyper CHH context methylation site and a lower transcription level compared to NZ, disrupting the expression of downstream genes in the phenylalanine metabolism pathway, and thereby reducing flavonoid biosynthesis. Our study elucidates an epigenetic mechanism underlying color variation in variegated trees, providing pivotal insights for the breeding and propagation of colored-leaf tree species.

Automated cardiac arrest detection using a photoplethysmography wristband: algorithm performance in relation to sex, skin color type and arm hair density

Abstract Background While survival from witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) has improved, this is not the case for unwitnessed cardiac arrest as the event goes unnoticed. Automated cardiac arrest detection and alerting through a wristband is considered a promising technique also facilitating early assistance for this large group. In the DETECT-1 study, a photoplethysmography(PPG) algorithm for circulatory arrest detection was developed in patients with induced circulatory arrest. However, patient characteristics, such as skin color and arm hair density, can influence the accuracy of the PPG signal. Thus, we performed further analyses to study the effect of patient characteristics on the algorithm’s performance. Purpose To assess the performance of the developed PPG algorithm for cardiac arrest detection in relation to sex, skin color type and arm hair density. Methods Patients who underwent short-lasting circulatory arrest induction during transcatheter aortic valve implantation, ventricular tachycardia ablation or subcutaneous ICD implantation wore a PPG wristband during the procedure. Continuous ECG and invasive blood pressure recordings served as reference standards. A PPG algorithm for circulatory arrest detection was developed. The algorithm’s performance was assessed in subgroups based on sex, skin color type (according to the Fitzpatrick scale), and arm hair density. The sensitivity for the detection of circulatory arrest and false positive alarms were compared between the different subgroups. Results In total, 151 patients were included in the current analysis. Analyzed data consisted of 159 hours of PPG data including 176 induced circulatory arrest events. The population consisted of 57 (38%) females and 94 (62%) males. The sensitivity for circulatory arrest detection was 100% in the female group vs. 98% in the male group (p=ns); false positive alarms occurred in 4 females and 9 males, resulting in a positive predictive value (PPV) of 94% and 92% (p=ns), respectively. Within the skin color subgroup analysis, 114 (75%) patients had skin color type I or II, and 37 (25%) patients had a skin color type III, IV, V or VI. There were no differences in sensitivity (p=ns) and PPV (p=ns) in the skin color subgroup (table 1). The population consisted of 106 (71%) patients with nil or sparse arm hair density, 43 (29%) patients with moderate or dense arm hair density, and 2 not reported. There were no differences in sensitivity (p=ns) and PPV (p=ns) within the arm hair density subgroup (table 1). Conclusions Automated cardiac arrest detection using a smartwatch is feasible and its accuracy is not affected by sex, skin color type or arm hair density in this study. Further study is needed to assess performance of the algorithm in a larger sample size and a more diverse study population. If proven to be effective, automated cardiac arrest detection has the potential to improve survival from OHCA.Sensitivity/PPV for arrest detection

Sources Affecting Microplastic Contamination in Mountain Lakes in Tatra National Park

The global atmospheric transport of microplastics (MPs) plays a crucial role in the contamination of remote, especially higher-elevation, environments. Precipitation is considered the main source of MP pollution. Meanwhile, plastic waste generated from, for example, tourism activities can be a local source of MP pollution. In this study, we specify which of the mentioned sources of MP, global or local, have a higher impact on the pollution level in the high-elevation oligotrophic lakes of Tatra National Park in Poland. Due to its unique natural value, it is listed by UNESCO as an international biosphere reserve and meets the criteria for Natura 2000 areas. We comprehensively analyzed the morphometric and anthropogenic features of 11 lakes in terms of the contamination level, color, shape, and polymer type of the MPs found in the surface waters. MP fibers were found to be present in all studied lakes, with contamination ranging from 25 to 179 items/m3. Polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and natural or semi-natural cellulose fibers—black or red in color with a length of 0.2–1.0 mm—predominated, which corresponds with other studies conducted on remote mountain ecosystems. We did not find any correlation of the number of MPs with local anthropogenic pressure characteristics. In turn, the significant correlation with lake area, coastline length, lake volume, and catchment area indicated airborne sources, including global transport of MPs to the lakes with reduced water outflow.

Study on Several Genus of The Solanaceae Family with Phenetic Approach Methods

This study aimed to determine the morphological diversity of several genera from the Solanaceae family through a morphological approach, and the morphological characters that influence their grouping. The sampling activity is located in Lumajang district. The plant parts studied consisted of 30 characters including stature, stems, leaves and flowers which were then analyzed descriptively and phenetically. Based on the results of the descriptive analysis, it was found that there was a diversity of morphological characteristics between several genera of the Solanaceae family, namely the Solanum, Capsicum, Physalis, Datura, Nicotiana, and Petunia genera. Based on the analysis used the phenetic method in the SPSS program, a dendrogram was produced showing two groups, namely the genus Nicotiana and Petunia and the other groups Solanum, Capsicum, Datura, and Physalis. Then it grouped again and separated and finally got the species. Based on the results of PCA (Principal Component Analysis), the characters that influence the grouping of several genera from the Solanaceae family include phyllotaxis characters, leaf margins, leaf width, leaf length, leaf texture, anther color, and flower type. The result implications a morphological character can be used for plant identification.

Imprints of interaction processes in the globular cluster system of NGC 3640

We present a wide-field study of the globular cluster systems (GCS) of the elliptical galaxy NGC 3640 and its companion NGC 3641, based on observations from Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph/Gemini using g’r’i’ filters. NGC 3640 is a shell galaxy which presents a complex morphology, which previous studies have indicated as the sign of a recent ‘dry’ merger, although whether its nearest neighbour could have influenced these substructures remains an open question. In this work, we trace the spatial distribution of the globular clusters (GCs) as well as their colour distribution, finding a potential bridge of red (metal-rich) GCs that connects NGC 3640 to its less massive companion, and signs that the blue (metal-poor) GCs were spatially disturbed by the event that created the shells. While NGC 3640 presents a typical bimodal colour distribution, the GCS attributed to NGC 3641 appears unimodal, with most GCs presenting an intermediate colour in comparison to those closer to its companion.

Weak Gravitational Lensing around Low Surface Brightness Galaxies in the DES Year 3 Data

We present galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements using a sample of low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) drawn from the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 (Y3) data as lenses. LSBGs are diffuse galaxies with a surface brightness dimmer than the ambient night sky. These dark-matter-dominated objects are intriguing due to potentially unusual formation channels that lead to their diffuse stellar component. Given the faintness of LSBGs, using standard observational techniques to characterize their total masses proves challenging. Weak gravitational lensing, which is less sensitive to the stellar component of galaxies, could be a promising avenue to estimate the masses of LSBGs. Our LSBG sample consists of 23,790 galaxies separated into red and blue color types at g−i≥0.60 and g−i<0.60, respectively. Combined with the DES Y3 shear catalog, we measure the tangential shear around these LSBGs and find signal-to-noise ratios of 6.67 for the red sample, 2.17 for the blue sample, and 5.30 for the full sample. We use the clustering redshifts method to obtain redshift distributions for the red and blue LSBG samples. Assuming all red LSBGs are satellites, we fit a simple model to the measurements and estimate the host halo mass of these LSBGs to be . We place a 95% upper bound on the subhalo mass at . By contrast, we assume the blue LSBGs are centrals, and place a 95% upper bound on the halo mass at log(Mhost/M⊙)<11.84. We find that the stellar-to-halo mass ratio of the LSBG samples is consistent with that of the general galaxy population. This work illustrates the viability of using weak gravitational lensing to constrain the halo masses of LSBGs.

Coloring in the world of others: color use in visual orientalism, 1890–1920

This study investigates the impact of media on color sense: our ability to see different colors and use them to interpret the world. Specifically, we examine the role of color in the cultural construction of the Orient—an ‘imagined geography’ used to justify colonial domination—in two turn-of-the-twentieth-century types of color(ed) photographs: photochromes, where a printer added color, and autochromes, where colors were captured during exposure. While most research on visual Orientalism has focused on content, we use machine learning methods to study the most important formal element of visual Orientalism: color. After using K-means clustering to extract sixteen dominant colors from each photograph in our dataset, we train three different random forest classification algorithms to make a distinction between (A) the two color media (B) photochromes of the Orient and the Occident; and (C) autochromes of the Orient and the Occident. Subsequently, we apply Shapley Additive Explanations, an explainable AI method, to interpret the output of the classifiers. This allows us to examine how specific features (colors) impacted the classifiers’ predictions. While the algorithm can easily separate photochromes from autochromes (0.95) and Oriental from Occidental photochromes (0.93), it struggles with the same task in the autochrome collection (0.68). These findings support three interconnected conclusions: (1) color sense became mediated in the late nineteenth century, (2) in photochromes, the presence and absence of specific colors was a vital aspect of visual Orientalism, (3) the autochrome, where color was derived from light, provided a more objective picture of countries in the near and middle East than the photochrome.

Integrating color histogram analysis and convolutional neural networks for skin lesion classification

The color of skin lesions is a crucial diagnostic feature for identifying malignant melanoma and other skin diseases. Typical colors associated with melanocytic lesions include tan, brown, black, red, white, and blue-gray. This study introduces a novel feature: the number of colors present in lesions, which can indicate the severity of skin diseases and help distinguish melanomas from benign lesions. We propose a color histogram analysis, a traditional image processing technique, to analyze the pixels of skin lesions from three publicly available datasets: PH2, ISIC2016, and Med-Node, which include dermoscopic and non-dermoscopic images. While the PH2 dataset contains ground truth about skin lesion colors, the ISIC2016 and Med-Node datasets lack such annotations; our algorithm establishes this ground truth using the color histogram analysis based on the PH2 dataset. We then design and train a 19-layer Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with different skip connections of residual blocks to classify lesions into three categories based on the number of colors present. The DeepDream algorithm is utilized to visualize the learned features of different layers, and multiple configurations of the proposed CNN are tested, achieving the highest weighted F1-score of 75.00 % on the test set. LIME is subsequently applied to identify the most important features influencing the model's decision-making. The findings demonstrate that the number of colors in lesions is a significant feature for describing skin conditions. The proposed CNN, particularly with three skip connections, shows strong potential for clinical application in diagnosing melanoma, supporting its use alongside traditional diagnostic methods.

Microplastics contamination in three species of marine fish harvested by coastal land trawl in Banda Aceh City and Aceh Besar Regency waters, Indonesia

<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;line-height:150%;">Banda Aceh City and Aceh Besar Regency are two of the areas experiencing rapid population growth and increased waste production, including plastics. The areas are directly adjacent to the coast, and the generated plastic waste has the potential to pollute the sea and fish. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze microplastics contamination in three species of marine fish caught in the coastal areas of Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar. The sampling was carried out for 3 months from January to March 2024 at three locations, namely Gampong Jawa (Station 1), Alue Naga (Station 2), and Krueng Raya (Station 3). The fish samples were ponyfish (</span><em><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;line-height:150%;">Leiognathus equulus</span></em><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;line-height:150%;">), rabbitfish (</span><em><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;line-height:150%;">Siganus canaliculatus</span></em><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;line-height:150%;">), and sardine fish (</span><em><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;line-height:150%;">Sardinella gibbosa</span></em><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;line-height:150%;">). The results showed that there were four forms of microplastics, namely fibers, fragments, films, and pellets, with seven types of colors, including black, brown, clear, blue, red, yellow, and green. The dominant shape and color were fragment and black, respectively. In ponyfish, the highest and lowest number of microplastic particles were found in samples caught in Alue Naga waters (4.51 particles/fish) and Krueng Raya waters (2.80 particles/fish). Meanwhile, rabbitfish had the highest and lowest abundance in Alue Naga waters (3.60 particles/fish) and Gampong Jawa waters (2.83 particles/fish), respectively. The highest and lowest abundance of sardine fish was found in Gampong Jawa waters (3.77 particles/fish) and Krueng Raya waters (1.50 particles/fish), respectively. In general, ponny fish had a higher abundance of microplastics than the other two species, and microplastics were highest in fish from the Alue Naga station based on location. According to Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) test on flesh samples of the species, three types of polymers were detected, namely latex, nylon, and polypropylene. In this context, the species analyzed were contaminated with microplastics and unsafe for consumption.</span></p><p> </p>

Nanosecond pulsed laser coloring of the CrMnFeCoNi high entropy alloy

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) possess great potential for applications in the aerospace and military fields due to their excellent performance. Surface coloring can endow HEAs diverse functions. However, achieving a multi-color surface with minimal surface damage and cost remains a significant challenge. In this study, surface coloring of the CrMnFeCoNi HEA was attempted by nanosecond pulsed laser irradiation in air, and the multi-color surface was achieved. The evolution of surface color and morphology with laser parameters was analyzed. Then, five typical colors were selected, and the corresponding morphologies and chemical compositions were characterized by various techniques. The results showed that the change in oxide layer thickness as well as the formation of chromium-rich β-spinel and Cr (VI) compounds induced noticeable changes in surface color. Accordingly, complex surface patterns with various stable colors were prepared on the HEA surface, demonstrating the potential application of nanosecond pulsed laser coloring of HEAs.

Existence of Synthetic Dyes in Foodstuffs: A Retrospective Study of Food Safety Concerns

Background: The use of additives, especially food colors, has attracted the attention of food industries. The purpose of this study is to retrospectively investigate the use of food colors in food products offered in Urmia, Iran. Methods: In this study, 451 samples of different types of food were collected from Urmia (April 2019-February 2022). To identify the color type, the Thin Layer Chromatography method was used. The samples included a confections (dry sweets), saffron noghl, saffron halva (a type of confectionery originating from Persia and widely spread throughout the Middle East), saffron-flavored rice and chicken, fruit ice cream, traditional saffron-flavored ice cream, fruit drinks, and saffron solutions. These products were produced from establishments engaged in the production and distribution of food and confections, restaurants, halva manufacturing workshops, traditional ice cream production workshops, and coffeehouses. Statistical analysis of data was done using SPSS software (IBM SPSS statistic 16, USA). Results: Within the group of synthetic dyes analyzed, quinoline yellow, sunset yellow, carmoisine, and tartarazine were identified as the most commonly used synthetic colorants in the examined food products. Findings also showed that rice and saffron chicken samples had the highest average frequency of tartarazine used among the studied food groups (41.66±1.88%). The highest mean frequency of yellow quinoline consumption was also observed in samples of saffron halva (57.27±3.86%), various types of dry sweets (55.50±0.7%), and saffron noghl (52.50±3.53%). Sunset yellow had a low frequency in all groups except saffron ice cream and fruit drinks (p=0.086). The findings showed that the highest average frequency of carmoisine synthetic color consumption was related to saffron ice cream (25±1.41%) and fruit drinks (23.80±2.54%) among the studied food groups. Conclusion: The findings indicated that approximately 30% of the tested samples, except fruit drinks, contained synthetic colorants.

Attribute annotation and bias evaluation in visual datasets for autonomous driving

This paper addresses the often overlooked issue of fairness in the autonomous driving domain, particularly in vision-based perception and prediction systems, which play a pivotal role in the overall functioning of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). We focus our analysis on biases present in some of the most commonly used visual datasets for training person and vehicle detection systems. We introduce an annotation methodology and a specialised annotation tool, both designed to annotate protected attributes of agents in visual datasets. We validate our methodology through an inter-rater agreement analysis and provide the distribution of attributes across all datasets. These include annotations for the attributes age, sex, skin tone, group, and means of transport for more than 90K people, as well as vehicle type, colour, and car type for over 50K vehicles. Generally, diversity is very low for most attributes, with some groups, such as children, wheelchair users, or personal mobility vehicle users, being extremely underrepresented in the analysed datasets. The study contributes significantly to efforts to consider fairness in the evaluation of perception and prediction systems for AVs. This paper follows reproducibility principles. The annotation tool, scripts and the annotated attributes can be accessed publicly at https://github.com/ec-jrc/humaint_annotator.

Comparison of the difference in the anti-inflammatory activity of two different color types of Farfarae Flos based on in vitro, in vivo experiments and untargeted metabolomics.

Due to its remarkable anti-inflammatory pharmacological activity, Farfarae Flos has gained extensive usage in the treatment of various inflammatory diseases such as bronchitis, pneumonia, prostatitis and colitis. And Farfarae Flos come in two color types depending on the color of the flowers: yellowish-white (YW), and purplish-red (PR). However, the difference in anti-inflammatory activity and metabolic profiles between the two flower colors remains unexplored. This study aims to explore the difference in the anti-inflammatory potential between YW and PR variants of Farfarae Flos and unravel the mechanisms responsible for the observed differences in anti-inflammatory activity through an integrated approach encompassing untargeted metabolomics and in vivo/vitro experimental studies. Initially, we verified the contrasting effects of YW and PR on the inhibition of the inflammatory factors interleukin-6 (IL-6) and nitric oxide (NO) by utilizing an in vitro RAW 264.7 cell inflammation model. Subsequently, a comprehensive evaluation of the systemic inhibitory capacity of YW and PR on IL-6, Interleukin-10 (IL-10), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) was conducted using a validated whole-body mouse model, followed by the analysis of inflammatory factors and histological examination of collected serum, liver, and spleen after 7days. Furthermore, non-targeted metabolomics profiling was employed to analyze the metabolite profiles of Farfarae Flos with different colors, and quantitative analysis was conducted to identify differential metabolites between YW and PR. The correlation between the anti-inflammatory activities of differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) and Farfarae Flos was investigated, resulting in the identification of 48 compounds exhibiting significant anti-inflammatory activity. Additionally, KEGG pathway enrichment analysis was performed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Our findings demonstrate that both YW and PR possess anti-inflammatory abilities, with PR exhibiting significantly superior efficacy. The integration of in vivo/vitro experiments and non-targeted metabolomics confirmed the exceptional anti-inflammatory potential of PR and solidified its classification as the "purplish-red better" of Farfarae Flos. This study provides valuable insights into the breeding and medical transformation of Farfarae Flos varieties, along with a scientific basis for the establishment of quality standards and the development of new drugs utilizing Farfarae Flos.

Occurrence, characteristics and distribution of microplastics in commercial marine fishes of the Bay of Bengal

The study aimed to assess and characterize microplastics (MPs) in muscles, guts, and gills of six commercially important marine fish from the Bay of Bengal. FTIR was utilized to identify MP's polymer compositions. A total 7085 MPs identified, where tuna exhibited the highest count and Bombay duck had the lowest. MPs abundance (MPs/g) was ranged from 1.56 ± 0.39 to 7.16 ± 1.36 in muscles, 1.91 ± 0.32 to 4.46 ± 0.75 in guts, and 2.36 ± 0.24 to 6.53 ± 1.58 in gills. The predominant MPs were 1–5 mm size (33.33–62.78 %), white/transparent color (18.45–54.63 %), filament shapes (75.00–94.71), and fiber types (73.21–94.71 %). FTIR revealed MPs 58.89 % polyethylene, 21.67 % polypropylene, 17.22 % polyester, and 2.22 % non-plastic compositions. Cluster analysis grouped two species with 50 % similarity, while PCA indicated significant variations among principal components (14–69.4 %) highlighting the dominance of fiber, particles, and 0.5–1.0 mm MPs in the fish tissues. The prevalence of MPs in seafood underscores measures to safeguard both the marine ecosystem and human health.

Complex microplastics significantly influence the assembly process of lake bacterial communities

Environmental microplastics (MPs) vary in abundance, shape, size, color, and polymer type in freshwater ecosystems, yet their impact on bacterial community assembly in natural lakes is unclear. Here, we examined MPs and bacterial compositions in water and sediments of Taihu Lake, China, to reveal the influence of complex MPs on the bacterial community assembly. The results showed that the complexity index of MPs significantly influenced the turnover and nestedness components of bacterial communities. In the colder season, MP complexity was significantly correlated with the turnover componentin sediments (R2 = 0.19, P < 0.0001), with turnover increasing as MP complexity increased. Conversely, under warmer season, MP complexity was significantly correlated with turnover and nestedness components. Additionally, the interaction effect of environmental and MP factors affected almost all components of beta diversity, particularly in cold water and sediment, with impacts on nestedness of 0.17 and 0.12, respectively, and should thus not be ignored. Our findings indicate for the first time that complex MPs significantly influence the assembly of bacterial communities in lake systems. The impact varies across seasons and future warming may exacerbate this effect, rendering it more uncertain and complex.

Development of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS)/natural fiber composite filaments for innovative 3D and 4D printing

AbstractFruit wastes from the agro‐industry may be used in the preparation of polymer/natural fiber composites. In the current scenario, there is a growing need for sustainable materials that can reduce environmental impact while maintaining or enhancing material properties. One promising approach is the incorporation of natural fibers derived from fruit waste into polymers, which aligns with the global push toward eco‐friendly and circular economy solutions. This work was aimed at the development of filaments of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS)/natural fiber composites for 3D and 4D printing. The fibers used were banana (BAN) peel, orange (ORG) peel, cinnamon (CIN), and neem (NEEM) leaf fibers. The rheological, mechanical, and shape memory properties of the ABS/BAN and ABS/ORG composites were compared with those of the ABS/CIN and ABS/NEEM composites. A slight decrease in viscosity was observed with the addition of the natural fibers to ABS. The ABS/ORG composites showed the highest mechanical properties and good adhesion between the printed layers. The particulate eco‐friendly natural fibers can also be used as pigments, where different types of colors can be obtained. The ABS/natural fiber composites can be processed at the same processing conditions as ABS. The incorporation of natural fibers significantly increased the shape memory result. The use of ABS/natural fiber composites proved to be feasible for preparing the filaments and 3D/4D printing of objects.Highlights The properties of 3D/4D‐printed ABS/natural fiber composites were investigated. Banana and orange peel, cinnamon, and neem leaf fibers were used. Filaments of ABS/natural fiber composites were successfully obtained. The addition of the fibers to ABS decreased the viscosity and increased shape memory. Among the composites, ABS/orange peel showed the highest mechanical properties.

A novel color-aided system for diagnosis of early gastric cancer using magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging.

The Pink Zone Pattern (PP) sign is a typical color alteration of early gastric cancer (EGC) under magnifying endoscopic narrow-band imaging (ME-NBI). By integrating the color changes (PP sign) with the "vessel plus surface (VS)" classification system, we developed an innovative diagnostic system for EGC and named it "Pink Microsurface Microvascular (PSV)" system. Here, we aimed to elucidate the diagnostic performance of the PSV system for EGC. We conducted a single-center prospective clinical study (before-after design) consisting of 2 cross-sectional studies at 2 separate periods. In the before phase, 184 suspected lesions were evaluated using the VS system under ME-NBI; in the after phase, 183 suspected lesions were evaluated using the PSV system. We compared the diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) between the VS group and the PSV group. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of the VS system for EGC were 84.6%, 87.0%, 83.6%, 67.8%, and 94.2%, respectively, and those for the PSV system were 93.0%, 92.0%, 93.4%, 85.2%, and 96.6%, respectively. The accuracy, specificity, and PPV of the PSV system were superior to those of the VS system. However, the sensitivity and NPV did not significantly differ between the VS system and the PSV system. The VS system was inconclusive for 22 lesions (12.0%) and the PSV system was inconclusive for 11 lesions (6.0%). The PSV system could identify more suspicious lesions than the VS system. We propose a new PSV diagnostic system by combining the VS system and the PP sign. Compared with the VS system, the PSV system could identify more suspected lesions and improve the diagnostic performance of EGC.

PENDAMPINGAN DAN PENGEMBANGAN PRODUK LELE UNTUK MENINGKATKAN UMKM DI DESA GANDARIA

Gandaria Village, located in Mekar Baru District, Tangerang Regency, is famous for its micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the culinary sector, especially catfish crackers and processed catfish. However, MSMEs in this village face obstacles in terms of product identity, especially related to logos and packaging that are not attractive, which hinders them from communicating their product messages effectively to consumers. This non-profit program aims to increase MSMEs' understanding and awareness of the importance of attractive packaging as part of product branding. The methods used include observation, interviews, mentoring and development of logo and packaging designs, making permits, MOU, NIB, and creating websites and e-commerce accounts on Shopee. The process begins with a needs analysis regarding the type of material, shape, packaging color, and logo design. The purpose of this program is to increase MSMEs income through the use of new, attractive packaging and logos so that their products have an appeal and identity that distinguishes them from similar products in other areas.