Search results for: transition pathways

Authors: Ehsan Motamedian

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Finding all optimal flux distributions of a metabolic model is an important challenge in systems biology. In this paper, a new algorithm is introduced to identify all alternate optimal solutions of a large scale metabolic network. The algorithm reduces the model to decrease computations for finding optimal solutions. The algorithm was implemented on the Escherichia coli metabolic model to find all optimal solutions for lactate and acetate production. There were more optimal flux distributions when acetate production was optimized. The model was reduced from 1076 to 80 variable fluxes for lactate while it was reduced to 91 variable fluxes for acetate. These 11 more variable fluxes resulted in about three times more optimal flux distributions. Variable fluxes were from 12 various metabolic pathways and most of them belonged to nucleotide salvage and extra cellular transport pathways.

Keywords: flux variability, metabolic network, mixed-integer linear programming, multiple optimal solutions

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Authors: Yi Hu, Chun-Chi Lin, Shau-En Yeh, Shin Lee

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In this study, p–n heterojunctions with La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 (LSCO) and W-doped VO2 thin films were fabricated by the radio frequency (r.f.) magnetron sputtering technique and sol-gel process, respectively. The thickness of VO2 and LSCO thin films are about 40 nm and 400 nm, respectively. Good crystalline match between LSCO and VO2 films was observed from the SEM. The built-in voltages for the junction are about 1.1 V and 2.3 V for the sample in the metallic and insulating state, respectively. The sample can undergo the current induced MIT during applying field when the sample was heated at 40 and 50ºC. This is in agreement with the value obtained from the difference in the work functions of LSCO and VO2. The band structure of the heterojunction was proposed based on the results of analysis.

Keywords: hetrojection, Mott transition, switching , VO2

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Authors: Krishna Prasad Maity, Narendra Tanty, Ananya Patra, V. Prasad

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Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a well-known material for very good electrical, thermal conductivity and high tensile strength. Because of that, it’s widely used in many fields like nanotechnology, electronics, optics, etc. In last two decades, polyaniline (PANI) with CNT and functionalized CNT (fCNT) have been promising materials in application of gas sensing, electromagnetic shielding, electrode of capacitor etc. So, the study of electrical conductivity of PANI/CNT and PANI/fCNT is important to understand the charge transport and interaction between PANI and CNT in the composite. It is observed that a transition in magnetoresistance (MR) with lowering temperature, increasing magnetic field and decreasing CNT percentage in CNT/PANI composite. Functionalization of CNT prevent the nanotube aggregation, improves interfacial interaction, dispersion and stabilized in polymer matrix. However, it shortens the length, breaks C-C sp² bonds and enhances the disorder creating defects on the side walls. We have studied electrical resistivity and MR in PANI with CNT and fCNT composites for different weight percentages down to the temperature 4.2K and up to magnetic field 5T. Resistivity increases significantly in composite at low temperature due to functionalization of CNT compared to only CNT. Interestingly a transition from negative to positive magnetoresistance has been observed when the filler is changed from pure CNT to functionalized CNT after a certain percentage (10wt%) as the effect of more disorder in fCNT/PANI composite. The transition of MR has been explained on the basis of polaron-bipolaron model. The long-range Coulomb interaction between two polarons screened by disorder in the composite of fCNT/PANI, increases the effective on-site Coulomb repulsion energy to form bipolaron which leads to change the sign of MR from negative to positive.

Keywords: coulomb interaction, magnetoresistance transition, polyaniline composite, polaron-bipolaron

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Authors: Othmane Bouferroum, Malika Boudraa

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In this study, a dual exponential model for CV formant transition is derived from locus theory of speech perception. Then, an algorithm for automatic vowel and consonant’s target formant frequency detection is developed and tested on real speech. The results show that vowels and consonants are detected through transitions rather than their small stable portions. Also, vowel reduction is clearly observed in our data. These results are confirmed by the observations made in perceptual experiments in the literature.

Keywords: acoustic invariance, coarticulation, formant transition, locus equation

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Authors: Chinsuk Hong

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This paper investigates the characteristics of wall pressure fluctuations in naturally developing boundary layer flows on axisymmetric bodies experimentally. The axisymmetric body has a modified ellipsoidal blunt nose. Flush-mounted microphones are used to measure the wall pressure fluctuations in the boundary layer flow over the body. The measurements are performed in a low noise wind tunnel. It is found that the correlation between the flow regime and the characteristics of the pressure fluctuations is distinct. The process from small fluctuation in laminar flow to large fluctuation in turbulent flow is investigated. Tollmien-Schlichting wave (T-S wave) is found to generate and develop in transition. Because of the T-S wave, the wall pressure fluctuations in the transition region are higher than those in the turbulent boundary layer.

Keywords: wall pressure fluctuation, boundary layer flow, transition, turbulent flow, axisymmetric body, flow noise

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Authors: Mustafa Mabruk

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Groups such as Al-Shabaab have managed to radicalize many individuals abroad, including the first American citizen to ever be radicalized. Yet the pathways of radicalization for these foreign individuals are understudied. Moreover, current measures to prevent foreign radicalization are ineffective, with privacy, screening and profiling implications that render current counter-radicalization efforts counterproductive. Such measures exhibit strictness, political bias, and harshness. As confirmed by recent studies, such counter-radicalization issues exacerbate existing grievances and channel fresh recruits to Al-Shabaab. Addressing these challenges is paramount, requiring alternative strategies to effectively reduce radicalization without triggering further harm. The development of counter-narratives emerges as a potential measure with minimal risk of exacerbating grievances, yet the development of such counter-narratives necessitates a thorough understanding of the radicalization pathways of foreign individuals that are understudied. This study investigates the success of Al-Shabaab in recruiting individuals abroad by analyzing their propaganda in conjunction with analyzing identity-focused theories of radicalization, including Framing Theory and Social Identity Theory. Qualitative content analysis is used to analyze various propaganda material, including tweets, speeches, and webpages. The analysis reveals that issues of identity are of major significance in the radicalization patterns identified and that grievances of Muslims worldwide are used to exploit identity-related grievances. Based on these findings, the paper argues that such evidence enhances our understanding of potential deradicalization pathways and present counter-narratives based on Islamic scripture.

Keywords: counter-narratives, foreign radicalization, identity grievances, propaganda analysis

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Authors: Nahid H. Hajrah, Jamal S. M. Sabir, Neil Hall

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The jasmonic pathway is ubiquitous in plants and is crucial to plant development. It Is involved in fertility, ripening, and sex determination as well as in response to environmental stresses such as herbivory, pathogen drought or temperature shock. Essentially the jasmonic pathway acts to shut down growth in order to induce defence pathways. These pathways include the production of secondary metabolites which have evolved to defend against herbivores and pathogens but are of increasing interest due to their roll in medicine and biotechnology. Here we describe the transcriptional response of Rhazia stricta (a poisonous shrub widely used in traditional medicine) to jasmonic acid, in order to better characterize the genes involved in secondary metabolite production and its response to stress. We observe coordinated upregulation of flavonoid biosynthesis pathway leading to flavonols, flavones and anthocyanins but no similar coordination of the monoterpene indole alkaloid pathway.

Keywords: medicinal plants, Rhazia stricta, jasmonic acid, transcriptional analysis

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Authors: Minhee Son, Kyung Nam Kim

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This study explores the plan of the Korean and Japanese governments to transition into the hydrogen economy. Two motor companies, Hyundai Motor Company from Korea and Toyota from Japan, released the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle to monopolize the green energy automobile market. Although, they are the main countries which emit greenhouse gas, hydrogen energy can bring from a certain industry places, such as chemical plants and steel mills. Recent, the two countries have been focusing on the hydrogen industry including a fuel cell vehicle, a hydrogen station, a fuel cell plant, a residential fuel cell. The purpose of this paper is to find out the differences of the policies in the two countries to be hydrogen societies. We analyze the behavior of the public and private sectors in Korea and Japan about hydrogen energy and fuel cells for the transition of the hydrogen economy. Finally we show the similarities and differences of both countries in hydrogen fuel cells. And some cities have feature such as Hydrogen cities. Hydrogen energy can make impact environmental sustainability.

Keywords: fuel cell, hydrogen city, hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, hydrogen station, hydrogen energy

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Authors: S. Meziane, H. I. Faraoun, C. Esling

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Transition metal dichalcogenides have potential applications in power generation devices that convert waste heat into electric current by the so-called Seebeck and Hall effects thus providing an alternative energy technology to reduce the dependence on traditional fossil fuels. In this study, the thermoelectric properties of 1T and 2HTaX2 (X= S or Se) dichalcogenide superconductors have been computed using the semi-classical Boltzmann theory. Technologically, the task is to fabricate suitable materials with high efficiency. It is found that 2HTaS2 possesses the largest value of figure of merit ZT= 1.27 at 175 K. From a scientific point of view, we aim to model the underlying materials properties and in particular the transport phenomena as mediated by electrons and lattice vibrations responsible for superconductivity, Charge Density Waves (CDW) and metal/insulator transitions as function of temperature. The goal of the present work is to develop an understanding of the superconductivity of these selected materials using the transport properties at the fundamental level.

Keywords: Ab initio, High efficiency, Power generation devices, Transition metal dichalcogenides

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Authors: Ankita Shukla, Tiratha Raj Singh

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Colorectal cancer (CRC) imposes serious mortality burden worldwide and it has been increasing for past consecutive years. Continuous efforts have been made so far to diagnose the disease condition and to identify the root cause for it. In this study, we performed the pathway level as well as the differential gene expression studies for CRC. We analyzed the gene expression profile GSE24514 from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) along with the gene pathways involved in the CRC. This analysis helps us to understand the behavior of the genes that have shown differential expression through their targeted pathways. Pathway analysis for the targeted genes covers the wider area which therefore decreases the possibility to miss the significant ones. This will prove to be beneficial to expose the ones that have not been given attention so far. Through this analysis, we attempt to understand the various neighboring genes that have close relationship to the targeted one and thus proved to be significantly controlling the CRC. It is anticipated that the identified hub and neighboring genes will provide new directions to look at the pathway level differently and will be crucial for the regulatory processes of the disease.

Keywords: mismatch repair, microsatellite instability, carcinogenesis, morbidity

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Authors: Antoifi Abdoulhalik, Ashraf Ahmed

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The ever growing threat of saltwater intrusion has prompted the need to further advance the understanding of underlying processes related to SWI for effective water resource management. While research efforts have mainly been focused on steady state analysis, studies on the transience of saltwater intrusion mechanism remain very scarce and studies considering transient SWI in heterogeneous medium are, as per our knowledge, simply inexistent. This study provides for the first time a quantitative analysis of the effect of both inland and coastal water level changes on the transition zone under transient conditions in layered coastal aquifer. In all, two sets of four experiments were completed, including a homogeneous case, and four layered cases: case LH and case HL presented were two bi-layered scenarios where a low K layer was set at the top and the bottom, respectively; case HLH and case LHL presented two stratified aquifers with High K–Low K–High K and Low K–High K– Low K pattern, respectively. Experimental automated image analysis technique was used here to quantify the main SWI parameters under high spatial and temporal resolution. The findings of this study provide an invaluable insight on the underlying processes responsible of transition zone dynamics in coastal aquifers. The results show that in all the investigated cases, the width of the transition zone remains almost unchanged throughout the saltwater intrusion process regardless of where the boundary change occurs. However, the results demonstrate that the width of the transition zone considerably increases during the retreat, with largest amplitude observed in cases LH and LHL, where a low K was set at the top of the system. In all the scenarios, the amplitude of widening was slightly smaller when the retreat was prompted by instantaneous drop of the saltwater level than when caused by inland freshwater rise, despite equivalent absolute head change magnitude. The magnitude of head change significantly caused larger widening during the saltwater wedge retreat, while having no impact during the intrusion phase.

Keywords: freshwater-saltwater transition-zone dynamics, heterogeneous coastal aquifers, laboratory experiments, transience seawater intrusion

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Authors: Aly Ahmed, Aber Kay Obwona, Mokrzecka Martyna, Piotrowska Małgorzata, Richardson Stephen

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Frankfurt am Main, the fifth largest city in Germany, ranked at 15th place by the Global Financial Centers Index in 2014, and a finalist of European Green Capital, 214 is a crucial player in German Environmental Policy. Since 2012 the city Authorities have been working on implementing the plan, which assumed to reduce the energy consumption by 50%, and fully switch to renewable energy by the year 2050. To achieve this goal, the Municipality of Frankfurt has begun preparing the Master plan, which will be introduced to public by the end of 2015. A significant question when facing the starting of Master Plan public’s introduction was deciding which method should be used to increase the public engagement. In order to answer this question, the city and region authorities in the cooperation with Frankfurt’s Universities and Climate KIC, organized a two-week PhD scientific workshops, in which participated more than 30 students from numerous countries. The paper presented the outcome of the research and solution proposal of the winning team. Transitions theory tells, that to address challenges as complex as Climate Change and the Energiewende, using of new technologies and system to the public is not sufficient. Transition –by definition is a process, and in such a large scale (city and region transition) can be fulfilled only, when operates within a broad socio – technical system. Authors believe that only by close cooperation with city dwellers, as well as different stakeholders, the Transition in Frankfurt can be successful. The vital part is the strategy which will ensure the engagement, sense of ownership and broad support within Frankfurt society. Author proposal based therefore, on fostering the citizens engagement through a comprehensive, innovative communication strategy.

Keywords: city development, communication strategies, social transition, sustainability

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Authors: Diana Puigserver Cuerda, Jofre Herrero Ferran, José M. Carmona Perez

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In the transition zone between aquifers and basal aquitards, DNAPL-pools of chlorinated solvents are more recalcitrant than at other depths in the aquifer. Although degradation of carbon tetrachloride (CT) and chloroform (CF) occurs in this zone, this is a slow process, which is why an adequate remediation strategy is necessary. The working hypothesis of this study is that the biostimulation of the transition zone of an aquifer contaminated by CT and CF can be an effective remediation strategy. This hypothesis has been tested in a site on an unconfined aquifer in which the major contaminants were CT and CF of industrial origin and where the hydrochemical background was rich in other compounds that can hinder natural attenuation of chloromethanes. Field studies and five laboratory microcosm experiments were carried out at the level of groundwater and sediments to identify: i) the degradation processes of CT and CF; ii) the structure of microbial communities; and iii) the microorganisms implicated on this degradation. For this, concentration of contaminants and co-contaminants (nitrate and sulfate), Compound Specific Isotope Analysis, molecular techniques (Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis) and clone library analysis were used. The main results were: i) degradation processes of CT and CF occurred in groundwater and in the lesser conductive sediments; ii) sulfate-reducing conditions in the transition zone were high and similar to those in the source of contamination; iii) two microorganisms (Azospira suillum and a bacterium of the Clostridiales order) were identified in the transition zone at the field and lab experiments that were compatible with the role of carrying out the reductive dechlorination of CT, CF and their degradation products (dichloromethane and chloromethane); iv) these two microorganisms were present at the high starting concentrations of the microcosm experiments (similar to those in the source of DNAPL) and continued being present until the last day of the lactate biostimulation; and v) the lactate biostimulation gave rise to the fastest and highest degradation rates and promoted the elimination of other electron acceptors (e.g. nitrate and sulfate). All these results are evidence that lactate biostimulation can be effective in remediating the source and plume, especially in the transition zone, and highlight the environmental relevance of the treatment of contaminated transition zones in industrial contexts similar to that studied.

Keywords: Azospira suillum, lactate biostimulation of carbon tetrachloride and chloroform, reductive dechlorination, transition zone between aquifer and aquitard

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Authors: Xuri Tang, Ting Pan

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Metaphor institutionalization refers to the propagation of a metaphor that leads to its acceptance in speech community as a norm of the language. Such knowledge is important to both theoretical studies of metaphor and practical disciplines such as lexicography and language generation. This paper reports an empirical study of metaphor institutionalization of 14 Chinese metaphors. It first explores the pattern of metaphor institutionalization by fitting the logistic function (or S-shaped curve) to time series data of conventionality of the metaphors that are automatically obtained from a large-scale diachronic Chinese corpus. Then it reports a questionnaire-based survey on the propagation scale of each metaphor, which is measured by the average number of subjects that can easily understand the metaphorical expressions. The study provides two pieces of evidence supporting the hypothesis that metaphor institutionalization is a phrase transition: (1) the pattern of metaphor institutionalization is an S-shaped curve and (2) institutionalized metaphors generally do not propagate to the whole community but remain in equilibrium state. This conclusion helps distinguish metaphor institutionalization from topicalization and other types of semantic change.

Keywords: metaphor institutionalization, phase transition, propagation scale, s-shaped curve

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Authors: Mehrji Khosravan, Mostafa Fathali-Sianib, Davood Soudbar, Sasan Talebnezhad, Mohammad-Reza Ebrahimi

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The late transition metal catalyst of the end group of transition metals in the periodic table as Ni, Fe, Co, and Pd was grown up rapidly in polyolefin industries recently. These metals with suitable ligands exhibited special characteristic properties and appropriate activities in the production of polyolefins. The ligand 1,4-bis (2,6-diisopropyl phenyl) acenaphthene was synthesized by reaction of 2,6-diisopropyl aniline and acenaphthenequinone. The ligand was added to nickel (II) dibromide salt for synthesis the 1,4-bis (2,6 diisopropylphenyl) acenaphthene nickel (II) dibromide catalyst. The structure of the ligand characterized by IR technique. The catalyst then deposited on graphene and graphene oxide by vander walss-attachment for use in Ethylene slurry polymerization process in the presence of catalyst activator such as methylaluminoxane (MAO) in hexane solvent. The structure of the catalyst characterized by IR and TEM techniques and some of the polymers were characterized by DSC. The highest activity was achieved at 600 C for catalyst.

Keywords: α-diimine nickel (II) complex, graphene as supported catalyst, late transition metal, ethylene polymerization

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Authors: Mark Bezner, Shani Deri, Tom Trigano, Kfir Ben-Harush

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Intermediate filament (IF) proteins-based fibers are among the toughest fibers in nature, as was shown by native hagfish slime threads and by synthetic fibers that are based on type V IF-proteins, the nuclear lamins. It is assumed that their mechanical performance stems from two major factors: (1) the transition from elastic -helices to stiff-sheets during tensile load; and (2) the specific organization of the coiled-coil proteins into a hierarchical network of nano-filaments. Here, we investigated the interrelationship between these two factors by using wet-spun fibers based on C. elegans (Ce) lamin. We found that Ce-lamin fibers, whether assembled in aqueous or alcoholic solutions, had the same nonlinear mechanical behavior, with the elastic region ending at ~5%. The pattern of the transition was, however, different: the ratio between -helices and -sheets/random coils was relatively constant until a 20% strain for fibers assembled in an aqueous solution, whereas for fibers assembled in 70% ethanol, the transition ended at a 6% strain. This structural phenomenon in alcoholic solution probably occurred through the transition between compacted and extended conformation of the random coil, and not between -helix and -sheets, as cycle analyses had suggested. The different transition pattern can also be explained by the different higher order organization of Ce-lamins in aqueous or alcoholic solutions, as demonstrated by introducing a point mutation in conserved residue in Ce-lamin gene that alter the structure of the Ce-lamins’ nano-fibrils. In addition, biomimicking the layered structure of silk and hair fibers by coating the Ce-lamin fiber with a hydrophobic layer enhanced fiber toughness and lead to a reversible transition between -helix and the extended conformation. This work suggests that different hierarchical structures, which are formed by specific assembly conditions, lead to diverse secondary structure transitions patterns, which in turn affect the fibers’ mechanical properties.

Keywords: protein-based fibers, intermediate filaments (IF) assembly, toughness, structure-property relationships

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Authors: Asma Poursoroush

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Solid-supported lipid bilayers are often used as a simple model for studies of biological membranes. The presence of a solid substrate that interacts attractively with lipid head-groups is expected to affect the phase behavior of the supported bilayer. Molecular dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained model are thus performed to investigate the phase behavior of supported one-component lipid bilayer membranes. Our results show that the attraction of the lipid head groups to the substrate leads to a phase behavior that is different from that of a free standing lipid bilayer. In particular, we found that the phase behaviors of the two leaflets are decoupled in the presence of a substrate. The proximal leaflet undergoes a clear gel-to-fluid phase transition at a temperature lower than that of a free standing bilayer, and that decreases with increasing strength of the substrate-lipid attraction. The distal leaflet, however, undergoes a change from a homogeneous liquid phase at high temperatures to a heterogeneous state consisting of small liquid and gel domains, with the average size of the gel domains that increases with decreasing temperature. While the chain order parameter of the proximal leaflet clearly shows a gel-fluid phase transition, the chain order parameter of the distal leaflet does not exhibit a clear phase transition. The decoupling in the phase behavior of the two leaflets is due to a non-symmteric lipid distribution in the two leaflets resulting from the presence of the substrate.

Keywords: membrane, substrate, molecular dynamics, simulation

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Authors: M. Benhamida, Kh. Bouamama, P. Djemia

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We investigate by first-principles pseudo-potential calculations the composition dependence of lattice parameter, hardness and elastic properties of ternary disordered solid solutions Ti(1-x)Ta(x)N (1>=x>=0) with B1-rocksalt structure. Calculations use the coherent potential approximation with the exact muffin-tin orbitals (EMTO) and hardness formula for multicomponent covalent solid solution proposed. Bulk modulus B shows a nearly linear behaviour whereas not C44 and C’=(C11-C12)/2 that are not monotonous. Influences of vacancies on hardness of off-stoichiometric transition-metal nitrides TiN(1−x) and TaN(1−x) are also considered.

Keywords: transition metal nitride materials, elastic constants, hardness, EMTO

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Authors: Jayahar Sivasubramanian

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Understanding laminar-turbulent transition process in hyper-sonic boundary layers is crucial for designing viable high speed flight vehicles. The study of transition becomes particularly important in the high speed regime due to the effect of transition on aerodynamic performance and heat transfer. However, even after many years of research, the transition process in hyper-sonic boundary layers is still not understood. This lack of understanding of the physics of the transition process is a major impediment to the development of reliable transition prediction methods. Towards this end, spatial Direct Numerical Simulations are conducted to investigate the instability waves generated by a localized disturbance in a hyper-sonic flat plate boundary layer. In order to model a natural transition scenario, the boundary layer was forced by a short duration (localized) pulse through a hole on the surface of the flat plate. The pulse disturbance developed into a three-dimensional instability wave packet which consisted of a wide range of disturbance frequencies and wave numbers. First, the linear development of the wave packet was studied by forcing the flow with low amplitude (0.001% of the free-stream velocity). The dominant waves within the resulting wave packet were identified as two-dimensional second mode disturbance waves. Hence the wall-pressure disturbance spectrum exhibited a maximum at the span wise mode number k = 0. The spectrum broadened in downstream direction and the lower frequency first mode oblique waves were also identified in the spectrum. However, the peak amplitude remained at k = 0 which shifted to lower frequencies in the downstream direction. In order to investigate the nonlinear transition regime, the flow was forced with a higher amplitude disturbance (5% of the free-stream velocity). The developing wave packet grows linearly at first before reaching the nonlinear regime. The wall pressure disturbance spectrum confirmed that the wave packet developed linearly at first. The response of the flow to the high amplitude pulse disturbance indicated the presence of a fundamental resonance mechanism. Lower amplitude secondary peaks were also identified in the disturbance wave spectrum at approximately half the frequency of the high amplitude frequency band, which would be an indication of a sub-harmonic resonance mechanism. The disturbance spectrum indicates, however, that fundamental resonance is much stronger than sub-harmonic resonance.

Keywords: boundary layer, DNS, hyper sonic flow, instability waves, wave packet

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Authors: Chanya Inprasit, Ching-Liang Hsieh, Yi-Wen Lin

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Obesity (OB) is a hazardous global health problem that has been increasing in prevalence, more severely in last decade. It is the mainly resultant from the imbalance between food consumption and energy expenditure, which is concordant with a modern lifestyle, implying an increase in calories with poorer quality of food intake accompanied by a decrease in physical activities. Obesity does not concern the appearance only but is also a major factor contributing to poor physiology, psychology, society and economic issues. Moreover, OB induces low-grade inflammation in the body through the regulatory effect it enacts on the adipocyte function. Various alternative treatments were investigated for body weight control, including Acupoint Catgut Embedding (ACE). ACE is the implantation of absorbable catgut sutures at specific acupoints, displaying durable and potent stimulation and thereby reducing the treatment frequency. Our study utilized a mouse model to exclude any psychological factors of OB and ACE treatment. High-fat diet and body weight were measured once a week before subjects in ACE and Sham group received the ACE treatment or placebo treatment. We hypothesized that ACE can control body weight through the interaction of the TRPV1 pathways, as TRPV1 accordingly responds to inflammatory factors. The results of body weight variation show a significant decrease in body weight in ACE group compared with the baseline of control and Sham group. Meanwhile, converse results were explored in TRPV1 knockout mice, where a significant maintenance of normal body weight throughout the experiment period was observed. There was no significant difference in food consumption of each group. These finding indicated that TRPV1 pathways and its associated pathways may be involved in the maintenance of body weight, which can be controlled by ACE treatment of genetic manipulation.

Keywords: acupoint catgut embedding, obesity, hypothalamus, TRPV1

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Authors: Mo Zhou, Samantha Ashby, Lyn Ebert

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In China, the changes that men experience in the perinatal period are not well researched. Men are also at risk of maladaptation to parenthood. The aim of this research is to review current studies regarding changes that Chinese men experience during transitioning to parenthood. 5 databases were employed to search relevant papers. The search found 128 articles. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 35 articles were included in this integrative review. Results showed the changes that Chinese fathers experienced during the transition to parenthood can be divided into two aspects: family relationships and mental problems. During transition to parenthood, fathers usually experienced an increase in their disappointment with marital conflict resolution and decreased sexual intimacy with their partner. Mental health declined, with fathers often feeling depressed and/or anxious during this time. Some men were diagnosed with clinical depression. The predictors of these changes included three domains: personal background (age and income), family background (gender of infant, relationship status and unplanned child) and cultural background (‘doing the month’, Confucianism, policy, social support).

Keywords: China, men, fatherhood, life change, postpartum

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Authors: Sahar El Shair, Laura Greco, William Reay, Murray Cairns

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Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systematic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease that involves damages to joints and erosions to the associated bones and cartilage, resulting in reduced physical function and disability. RA is a multifactorial disorder influenced by heterogenous genetic and environmental factors. Whilst different medications have proven successful in reducing inflammation associated with RA, they often come with significant side effects and limited efficacy. To address this, the novel pharmagenic enrichment score (PES) algorithm was tested in self-reported RA patients from the UK Biobank (UKBB), which is a cohort of predominantly European ancestry, and identified individuals with a high genetic risk in clinically actionable biological pathways to identify novel opportunities for precision interventions and drug repurposing to treat RA. Methods and materials: Genetic association data for rheumatoid arthritis was derived from publicly available genome-wide association studies (GWAS) summary statistics (N=97173). The PES framework exploits competitive gene set enrichment to identify pathways that are associated with RA to explore novel treatment opportunities. This data is then integrated into WebGestalt, Drug Interaction database (DGIdb) and DrugBank databases to identify existing compounds with existing use or potential for repurposed use. The PES for each of these candidates was then profiled in individuals with RA in the UKBB (Ncases = 3,719, Ncontrols = 333,160). Results A total of 209 pathways with known drug targets after multiple testing correction were identified. Several pathways, including interferon gamma signaling and TID pathway (which relates to a chaperone that modulates interferon signaling), were significantly associated with self-reported RA in the UKBB when adjusting for age, sex, assessment centre month and location, RA polygenic risk and 10 principal components. These pathways have a major role in RA pathogenesis, including autoimmune attacks against certain citrullinated proteins, synovial inflammation, and bone loss. Encouragingly, many also relate to the mechanism of action of existing RA medications. The analyses also revealed statistically significant association between RA polygenic scores and self-reported RA with individual PES scorings, highlighting the potential utility of the PES algorithm in uncovering additional genetic insights that could aid in the identification of individuals at risk for RA and provide opportunities for more targeted interventions. Conclusions In this study, pharmacologically annotated genetic risk was explored through the PES framework to overcome inter-individual heterogeneity and enable precision drug repurposing in RA. The results showed a statistically significant association between RA polygenic scores and self-reported RA and individual PES scorings for 3,719 RA patients. Interestingly, several enriched PES pathways were targeted by already approved RA drugs. In addition, the analysis revealed genetically supported drug repurposing opportunities for future treatment of RA with a relatively safe profile.

Keywords: rheumatoid arthritis, precision medicine, drug repurposing, system biology, bioinformatics

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Authors: Iraklis Argyriou

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The transition to net-zero emission urban bus (ZEB) systems is receiving increased attention in research and policymaking throughout the globe. Most studies in this area tend to address techno-economic aspects and the perspectives of a narrow group of stakeholders, while they largely overlook analysis of current bus system dynamics. This offers limited insight into the types of ZEB governance challenges and opportunities that are encountered in real-world contexts, as well as into some of the immediate actions that need to be taken to set off the transition over the longer term. This research offers a multi-stakeholder perspective into both the technical and non-technical factors that influence ZEB transitions within a particular context, the UK. It does so by drawing from a recent transition visioning stakeholder workshop (June 2023) with key public, private and civic actors of the urban bus transportation system. Using NVivo software to qualitatively analyze the workshop discussions, the research examines the key technological and funding aspects, as well as the short-term actions (over the next five years), that need to be addressed for supporting the ZEB transition in UK cities. It finds that ZEB technology has reached a mature stage (i.e., high efficiency of batteries, motors and inverters), but important improvements can be pursued through greater control and integration of ZEB technological components and systems. In this regard, telemetry, predictive maintenance and adaptive control strategies pertinent to the performance and operation of ZEB vehicles have a key role to play in the techno-economic advancement of the transition. Yet, more pressing gaps were identified in the current ZEB funding regime. Whereas the UK central government supports greater ZEB adoption through a series of grants and subsidies, the scale of the funding and its fragmented nature do not match the needs for a UK-wide transition. Funding devolution arrangements (i.e., stable funding settlement deals between the central government and the devolved administrations/local authorities), as well as locally-driven schemes (i.e., congestion charging/workplace parking levy), could then enhance the financial prospects of the transition. As for short-term action, three areas were identified as critical: (1) the creation of whole value chains around the supply, use and recycling of ZEB components; (2) the ZEB retrofitting of existing fleets; and (3) integrated transportation that prioritizes buses as a first-choice, convenient and reliable mode while it simultaneously reduces car dependency in urban areas. Taken together, the findings point to the need for place-based transition approaches that create a viable techno-economic ecosystem for ZEB development but at the same time adopt a broader governance perspective beyond a ‘net-zero’ and ‘bus sectoral’ focus. As such, multi-actor collaborations and the coordination of wider resources and agency, both vertically across institutional scales and horizontally across transport, energy and urban planning, become fundamental features of comprehensive ZEB responses. The lessons from the UK case can inform a broader body of empirical contextual knowledge of ZEB transition governance within domestic political economies of public transportation.

Keywords: net-zero emission transition, stakeholders, transition governance, UK, urban bus transportation

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Authors: Rahul Agarwal, Ashutosh Singh

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Cervical cancer is one of the women related cancers which starts from the pre-cancerous cells and a fraction of women with pre-cancers of the cervix will develop cervical cancer. Cervical pre-cancers if treated in pre-invasive stage can prevent almost all true cervical squamous cell carcinoma. The present study investigates the genes and pathways that are involved in the progression of cervical cancer and are responsible in transition from pre-invasive stage to other advanced invasive stages. The study used GDS3292 microarray data to identify the stage specific genes in cervical cancer and further to generate the network of the significant genes. The microarray data GDS3292 consists of the expression profiling of 10 normal cervices, 7 HSILs and 21 SCCs samples. The study identifies 70 upregulated and 37 downregulated genes in HSIL stage while 95 upregulated and 60 downregulated genes in SCC stages. Biological process including cell communication, signal transduction are highly enriched in both HSIL and SCC stages of cervical cancer. Further, the ppi interaction of genes involved in HSIL and SCC stages helps in identifying the interacting partners. This work may lead to the identification of potential diagnostic biomarker which can be utilized for early stage detection.

Keywords: cervical cancer, HSIL, microarray, SCC

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Authors: M. Emmanouilidou

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is a disruptive technological paradigm that is at the center of the digital evolution by integrating physical and virtual worlds leading to the creation of extended interconnected ecosystems that are characterized as smart environments. The concept of the IoT has a broad range of applications in different industries including the healthcare sector. The Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT), a branch of the IoT, is expected to bring promising benefits to all involved stakeholders and accelerate the revolution of the healthcare sector through a transition towards preventive and personalized medicine. The socio-economic challenges that the healthcare sector is facing further emphasize the need for a radical transformation of healthcare systems in both developed and developing countries with the role of pervasive technological innovations, such as IoHT, recognized as key to counteract the relevant challenges. Besides the number of potential opportunities that IoHT presents, there are fundamental ethical concerns that need to be considered and addressed in relation to the application of IoHT. This paper contributes to the discussion of the emerging topic of IoHT by providing an overview of the role and potential of IoHT, highlighting the characteristics of the current and future healthcare landscape, reporting on the up-to-date status of IoHT in Europe and reflecting upon existing research in the ethics of IoHT by incorporating additional ethical dimensions that have been ignored which can provide pathways for future research in the field.

Keywords: ethics, Europe, healthcare, Internet of Things

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Authors: Edward Poluyi, Eghosa Morgan, Charles Poluyi, Chibuikem Ikwuegbuenyi, Grace Imaguezegie

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Background: Current epidemiological studies have examined the associations between moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their risks of developing neurodegenerative diseases. Concussion, also known as mild TBI (mTBI), is however quite distinct from moderate or severe TBIs. Only few studies in this burgeoning area have examined concussion—especially repetitive episodes—and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, no definite relationship has been established between them. Objectives : This review will discuss the available literature linking concussion and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Materials and Methods: Given the complexity of this subject, a realistic review methodology was selected which includes clarifying the scope and developing a theoretical framework, developing a search strategy, selection and appraisal, data extraction, and synthesis. A detailed literature matrix was set out in order to get relevant and recent findings on this topic. Results: Presently, there is no objective clinical test for the diagnosis of concussion because the features are less obvious on physical examination. Absence of an objective test in diagnosing concussion sometimes leads to skepticism when confirming the presence or absence of concussion. Intriguingly, several possible explanations have been proposed in the pathological mechanisms that lead to the development of some neurodegenerative disorders (such as ALS and AD) and concussion but the two major events are deposition of tau proteins (abnormal microtubule proteins) and neuroinflammation, which ranges from glutamate excitotoxicity pathways and inflammatory pathways (which leads to a rise in the metabolic demands of microglia cells and neurons), to mitochondrial function via the oxidative pathways.

Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, mild traumatic brain injury, neurodegeneration

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Authors: Steffany Anne Poblador, Ruben Jr. Tagare

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The Philippine Education System is now undergoing transition as a result of the implementation of Republic Act 10533, commonly referred to as the Enhanced Basic Education Act. Since its implementation in 2013, researchers have been examining the initial impact of this transition; however, investigations into the gains and drawbacks of the Philippine Senior High School Sports Track Program based on teachers’ assessment were scarcely adequate. As a result, this research used a Qualitative Phenomenology Research Design to elicit information on the gains and drawbacks faced by these instructors. Focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and extensive field observation were conducted with participants from selected schools in Cotabato Province. During the triangulation of the data, five (5) significant themes for gains and six (6) concerns from the research participants emerged. The findings were then used to provide recommendations for a more effective implementation of the Sports Track Program in the Philippine Senior High School program.

Keywords: teachers’ gains and drawbacks, Philippine K to 12 problems, K to 12 transition years, favorable experiences, phenomenology

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Authors: Farideh Halakou, Emel Sen, Attila Gursoy, Ozlem Keskin

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Protein–Protein Interactions (PPIs) mediate major biological processes in living cells. The study of PPIs as networks and analyze the network properties contribute to the identification of genes and proteins associated with diseases. In this study, we have created the sub-networks of brain and lung metastasis from primary tumor in breast cancer. To do so, we used seed genes known to cause metastasis, and produced their interactions through a network-topology based prioritization method named GUILDify. In order to have the experimental support for the sub-networks, we further curated them using STRING database. We proceeded by modeling structures for the interactions lacking complex forms in Protein Data Bank (PDB). The functional enrichment analysis shows that KEGG pathways associated with the immune system and infectious diseases, particularly the chemokine signaling pathway, are important for lung metastasis. On the other hand, pathways related to genetic information processing are more involved in brain metastasis. The structural analyses of the sub-networks vividly demonstrated their difference in terms of using specific interfaces in lung and brain metastasis. Furthermore, the topological analysis identified genes such as RPL5, MMP2, CCR5 and DPP4, which are already known to be associated with lung or brain metastasis. Additionally, we found 6 and 9 putative genes that are specific for lung and brain metastasis, respectively. Our analysis suggests that variations in genes and pathways contributing to these different breast metastasis types may arise due to change in tissue microenvironment. To show the benefits of using structural PPI networks instead of traditional node and edge presentation, we inspect two case studies showing the mutual exclusiveness of interactions and effects of mutations on protein conformation which lead to different signaling.

Keywords: breast cancer, metastasis, PPI networks, protein conformational changes

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Authors: V. Samulionis, J. Banys, A. Sánchez-Ferrer

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Inorganic nanoparticles are used for fabrication of various composites based on polymer materials because they exhibit a good homogeneity and solubility of the composite material. Multifunctional materials based on composites of a polymer containing inorganic nanotubes are expected to have a great impact on industrial applications in the future. An emerging family of such composites are polyurea elastomers with inorganic MoS2 nanotubes or MoSI nanowires. Polyurea elastomers are a new kind of materials with higher performance than polyurethanes. The improvement of mechanical, chemical and thermal properties is due to the presence of hydrogen bonds between the urea motives which can be erased at high temperature softening the elastomeric network. Such materials are the combination of amorphous polymers above glass transition and crosslinkers which keep the chains into a single macromolecule. Polyurea exhibits a phase separated structure with rigid urea domains (hard domains) embedded in a matrix of flexible polymer chains (soft domains). The elastic properties of polyurea can be tuned over a broad range by varying the molecular weight of the components, the relative amount of hard and soft domains, and concentration of nanoparticles. Ultrasonic methods as non-destructive techniques can be used for elastomer composites characterization. In this manner, we have studied the temperature dependencies of the longitudinal ultrasonic velocity and ultrasonic attenuation of these new polyurea elastomers and composites with inorganic nanoparticles. It was shown that in these polyurea elastomers large ultrasonic attenuation peak and corresponding velocity dispersion exists at 10 MHz frequency below room temperature and this behaviour is related to glass transition Tg of the soft segments in the polymer matrix. The relaxation parameters and Tg depend on the segmental molecular weight of the polymer chains between crosslinking points, the nature of the crosslinkers in the network and content of MoS2 nanotubes or MoSI nanowires. The increase of ultrasonic velocity in composites modified by nanoparticles has been observed, showing the reinforcement of the elastomer. In semicrystalline polyurea elastomer matrices, above glass transition, the first order phase transition from quasi-crystalline to the amorphous state has been observed. In this case, the sharp ultrasonic velocity and attenuation anomalies were observed near the transition temperature TC. Ultrasonic attenuation maximum related to glass transition was reduced in quasicrystalline polyureas indicating less influence of soft domains below TC. The first order phase transition in semicrystalline polyurea elastomer samples has large temperature hysteresis (> 10 K). The impact of inorganic MoS2 nanotubes resulted in the decrease of the first order phase transition temperature in semicrystalline composites.

Keywords: inorganic nanotubes, polyurea elastomer composites, ultrasonic velocity, ultrasonic attenuation

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Authors: Charalabos Antonatos, Mariza Panoutsopoulou, Georgios K. Georgakilas, Evangelos Evangelou, Yiannis Vasilopoulos

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The extended tissue damage and severe clinical outcomes of autoimmune diseases, accompanied by the high annual costs to the overall health care system, highlight the need for an efficient therapy. Increasing knowledge over the pathophysiology of specific chronic inflammatory diseases, namely Psoriasis (PsO), Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) consisting of Crohn’s disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC), and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), has provided insights into the underlying mechanisms that lead to the maintenance of the inflammation, such as Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-α). Hence, the anti-TNFα biological agents pose as an ideal therapeutic approach. Despite the efficacy of anti-TNFα agents, several clinical trials have shown that 20-40% of patients do not respond to treatment. Nowadays, high-throughput technologies have been recruited in order to elucidate the complex interactions in multifactorial phenotypes, with the most ubiquitous ones referring to transcriptome quantification analyses. In this context, a random effects meta-analysis of available gene expression cDNA microarray datasets was performed between responders and non-responders to anti-TNFα therapy in patients with IBD, PsO, and RA. Publicly available datasets were systematically searched from inception to 10th of November 2020 and selected for further analysis if they assessed the response to anti-TNFα therapy with clinical score indexes from inflamed biopsies. Specifically, 4 IBD (79 responders/72 non-responders), 3 PsO (40 responders/11 non-responders) and 2 RA (16 responders/6 non-responders) datasetswere selected. After the separate pre-processing of each dataset, 4 separate meta-analyses were conducted; three disease-specific and a single combined meta-analysis on the disease-specific results. The MetaVolcano R package (v.1.8.0) was utilized for a random-effects meta-analysis through theRestricted Maximum Likelihood (RELM) method. The top 1% of the most consistently perturbed genes in the included datasets was highlighted through the TopConfects approach while maintaining a 5% False Discovery Rate (FDR). Genes were considered as Differentialy Expressed (DEGs) as those with P ≤ 0.05, |log2(FC)| ≥ log2(1.25) and perturbed in at least 75% of the included datasets. Over-representation analysis was performed using Gene Ontology and Reactome Pathways for both up- and down-regulated genes in all 4 performed meta-analyses. Protein-Protein interaction networks were also incorporated in the subsequentanalyses with STRING v11.5 and Cytoscape v3.9. Disease-specific meta-analyses detected multiple distinct pro-inflammatory and immune-related down-regulated genes for each disease, such asNFKBIA, IL36, and IRAK1, respectively. Pathway analyses revealed unique and shared pathways between each disease, such as Neutrophil Degranulation and Signaling by Interleukins. The combined meta-analysis unveiled 436 DEGs, 86 out of which were up- and 350 down-regulated, confirming the aforementioned shared pathways and genes, as well as uncovering genes that participate in anti-inflammatory pathways, namely IL-10 signaling. The identification of key biological pathways and regulatory elements is imperative for the accurate prediction of the patient’s response to biological drugs. Meta-analysis of such gene expression data could aid the challenging approach to unravel the complex interactions implicated in the response to anti-TNFα therapy in patients with PsO, IBD, and RA, as well as distinguish gene clusters and pathways that are altered through this heterogeneous phenotype.

Keywords: anti-TNFα, autoimmune, meta-analysis, microarrays

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