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Chiral active fluids can exhibit odd viscosity, a property that breaks the time-reversal and parity symmetries. Here, we examine the hydrodynamic flows of a rigid disk moving in a compressible 2D fluid layer with odd viscosity, supported by a thin lubrication layer of a conventional fluid. Using the 2D Green's function in Fourier space, we derive an exact analytical solution for the flow around a disk of arbitrary size, as well as its resistance matrix. The resulting resistance coefficients break the Onsager reciprocity, but satisfy the Onsager–Casimir reciprocity to any order in odd viscosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mitochondrial biogenesis (MB) induction has recently emerged as potential therapeutic approaches in kidney pathology and the mitochondria-targeted therapies should be investigated to improve treatment of animals with kidney diseases. This study aimed to investigate the effects of MB induction with sildenafil citrate on the cGMP/NO pathway, glomerular filtration, and reduction of kidney damage and fibrosis (TGF-β/SMAD pathway) in cats with acute on chronic kidney disease (ACKD). Thirty-three cats were divided into the non-azotemic (healthy) group (n:8) and the ACKD group (n:25), comprising different breeds, sexes, and ages. Sildenafil citrate was administered to the non-azotemic and ACKD groups (2.5 mg/kg, PO, q12 hours) for 30 days. Serum and urine NO, MDA, NGAL, KIM-1, TGF-β1, IL-18, FGF 23, PGC-1α and cGMP concentrations were measured. Results: Serum cGMP concentrations increased (P < 0.05) in the non-azotemic group during the 2nd (median 475.99 pmol/mL) and 3rd (median 405.01 pmol/mL) weeks of the study, whereas serum cGMP concentrations decreased in the ACKD group during the 4th(median 188.52 pmol/mL) week compared to the non-azotemic group (P < 0.05). No difference was observed in serum biomarker concentrations except NO, which increased in the 4th week (P < 0.05). The urinary concentrations of NO, MDA, PGC-1α, TGF-β1, NGAL, KIM-1, IL-18, and FGF 23 in the ACKD group were found to be higher compared to those in the non-azotemic group from the 1st to the 4th week (P < 0.05). In the ACKD group, the urine PGC-1α concentration in the 2nd (median 6.10 ng/mL) week was lower compared to that in the 0 and 1st (median 7.65 and 7.21 ng/mL, respectively) week, and the NO concentration in the 3rd (median 28.94 µmol/mL) week was lower than that in the 0th (median 37.43 µmol/mL) week (P < 0.05). Conclusions: While sildenafil citrate has been determined to induce a low level of MB and to have a beneficial effect on glomerular filtration, it is observed to be ineffective in mitigating renal damage and fibrosis via the TGF-β/SMAD pathway in cats with ACKD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamics at low Reynolds numbers experiences recent revival in the fields of biophysics and active matter. While in bulk isotropic fluids it is exhaustively studied, this is less so in anisotropic fluids and in confined situations. Here, we combine the latter two by studying the rotation of a disk-like inclusion in a uniaxially anisotropic, globally oriented, incompressible two-dimensional fluid film. In terms of a perturbative expansion in parameters that quantify anisotropies in viscosity and in additional linear friction with a supporting substrate or other type of confinement, we derive analytical expressions for the resulting hydrodynamic flow and pressure fields as well as for the resistance and mobility coefficients of the rotating disk. It turns out that, in contrast to translational motion, the solutions remain well-behaved also in the absence of the additional linear friction. Comparison with results from finite-element simulations shows very good agreement with those from our analytical calculations. Besides applications to describe technological systems, for instance, in the area of microfluidics and thin cells of aligned nematic liquid crystals, our solutions are important for quantitative theoretical approaches to fluid membranes and thin films in general featuring a preferred direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interdisciplinary learning improves cognitive skills and increases motivation for learning and teaching in higher education. Interdisciplinary education, which requires the collaboration of different disciplines, contributes to the development of students by integrating disciplinary knowledge and providing a multidimensional perspective. Thus, interdisciplinary education has become an alternative approach to discipline-centered education in higher education. Interdisciplinary learning is necessary for postmodern life because it eliminates the limitations of disciplinary education. The complex nature of the problems posed by postmodern life requires the collaboration of many disciplines. Current political, economic, social, religious, and legal issues are too complex to be solved from the perspective of a single discipline. Discipline-centered education may not be sufficient to provide solutions to current problems or to equip students with problem-solving skills. For this reason, this study reveals that interdisciplinary learning, which is increasing in higher education, can also be applied to higher religious education. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the outcomes of interdisciplinary learning in higher religious education through a sample training. In the academic year 2023/2024, an interdisciplinary training was conducted on the common problems of theology and other disciplines, and the results were revealed through the views of 16 participants. The research was conducted as a case study by using the qualitative research method, and the research data were coded under four themes: (1) need for interdisciplinary learning in higher religious education, (2) disciplines associated with higher religious education, (3) outcomes of interdisciplinary learning, and (4) suggestions for interdisciplinary education. According to the research findings, the participants believe that courses in higher religious education have interdisciplinary content, that interdisciplinary education is necessary in higher religious education, and that interdisciplinary learning contributes to personal and professional development. It is recommended that studies be carried out using alternative approaches to improve higher religious education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the benefits of nature-based education for children and reveals how to create nature-based learning environments for preschool children with physical disabilities in religious education. The study was conducted using the systematic literature review. It analyzes related studies and reveals the principles of the nature-based learning environments according to the learning outcomes of early childhood religious education. At the end of the research, it is concluded that natural elements are beneficial both for the social, cognitive, and affective development of children and that activities conducted in learning environments with natural materials can be used effectively in faith and moral education of children. It is proposed that arrangements should be made to allow access, active participation, contact with nature, and the use of natural materials according to the physical disability of the children in the learning environments to be designed for children with disabilities. The arrangements are associated with target behaviors in the curriculum of early childhood religious education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Copper-Silver (Cu-Ag) thermodynamic database was assessed by employing the Calculation of Phase Diagram (CALPHAD) method with a critical analysis of the latest experimental data. The maximum solubility of copper in the crystalline silver-rich phase was found to be a 0.095-mole fraction. The maximum silver solubility in the solid copper-rich phase was calculated as a 0.046-mole fraction. Random mixing theory was used to model the Gibbs energies of the solid face-centered cubic and liquid phases. The most recent experimental values for copper activity and mixing enthalpy data were considered in the optimization process. A characteristic eutectic Cu-Ag phase diagram with a eutectic temperature of 1052.3 Kelvin was calculated from the optimized database. The thermodynamic properties obtained from the current assessment and calculated phase diagram were found to be more consistent with recent experimental data than previous optimizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Toxocariasis and coccidiosis are common parasitic diseases affecting both farm animals and various species. While clinicians frequently diagnose these diseases in calves, mixed infections of toxocariasis and coccidiosis are exceptionally rare. Methods: A 44-day-old Anatolian black breed calf, presenting with tonic-clonic convulsions and abdominal pain, underwent laboratory and ultrasonographic examinations. Results: The laboratory findings indicated leukocytosis and hyperlactatemia in the calf. Ultrasonographic examination demonstrated intestinal dilatation and decreased motility. Stool analysis confirmed the presence of both toxocariasis and coccidiosis. Treatment with albendazole and toltrazuril led to the calf's recovery without complications. Conclusions: This case report represents the first documented instance detailing laboratory and ultrasound findings, as well as the treatment outcomes, of a calf concurrently afflicted with toxocariasis and coccidiosis. The successful treatment with albendazole and toltrazuril suggests potential therapeutic efficacy against mixed infections of these parasitic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nation refers to a group of people who have similarities within themselves and the same values to which they are attached, and who differ from other groups in this respect. The phenomenon of nation, to which individuals or groups are affiliated, reveals the membership of individuals with the concept of national identity with the unity of language, religion, race and history. National identity is a collective identity assumed by the individual and society at the level of their attachment to the national culture and each element of that culture. It is a supreme attribution that transforms uniqueness into unity and elevates personal identity to the collective spirit with the emphasis on partnership and belonging. Nations recognize and sustain their existence through the national identity that they will give to their members. For this purpose, every nation uses education as a tool and benefits from the effective power of education in forming of a national identity. Courses such as literature, history and citizenship are among that serve this cause. Moreover, religious education refers to one of the fundamental dynamics that forms the national identity. This is because religion is one of the dominant elements among the root values in which national identity is formed. Among other values, religion has the highest power of influence due to its divine origin. Islam draws attention to the elements that make up nations because it itself points out the differences in race, color and language, and presents this diversity in creation as evidence of Allah’s power. Each Muslim nation represents and lives Islam in different ways. The Islamic culture produced by each nation has created Islamic civilization. For this reason, racial diversity in Islam is a divine wisdom. No race or nation has superiority or greatness over any other. The national conservatism of a racist nature cannot be justified by Islam, and such a tendency harms Islam itself with its extremism. We need to develop a national identity that does not lead to extremism or seeking superiority. Since national identity is a personal and social issue, it is frequently addressed in scientific research studies with its linguistic, historical, social, and religious dimensions. This study draws attention to the importance and function of religious education in forming of national identities due to the increasing severity of internal and external interventions that undermine national identity. The research was carried out using the method of document analysis and sought to answer the question of why religious education is necessary in the construction of national identity. It aims to reveal the function of religious education in children and young people’s process of acquiring national identity to make Turkish Islamic identity prominent. The study argues for the necessity of religious education in forming of a national identity based on the effective role of religion in the development of national feelings and understanding. The study reveals that religion is one of the strongest elements of national culture, that the diversity of language, race and color that make up different nations is of divine origin and that this diversity should be a religious reference in the construction of national identity. At the end of the research, it was suggested that the contribution of religious education to the development of national feelings and thoughts should be discussed with different methods [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Displaced abomasum (DA) is one of the most important metabolic disorders of dairy cattle. In DA, ischaemic damage may occur as a result of impaired perfusion due to abomasal displacement, which may result in gastrointestinal mucosal damage. Objective: Investigation of gastrointestinal tissue damage in cattle with right displacement of the abomasum (RDA) and left displacement of the abomasum (LDA) using intestinal‐related biomarkers. Methods: Forty‐eight DA (24 LDA, 24 RDA) and 15 healthy Holstein dairy cows were enrolled between March 2021 and July 2022. Serum biomarkers including gamma‐enteric smooth muscle actin (ACTG‐2), liver‐fatty acid binding proteins (L‐FABP), platelet activating factor (PAF), trefoil factor‐3 (TFF‐3), leptin, claudin‐3 and interleukin‐8 (IL‐8) concentrations were measured from venous blood samples. Results: L‐FABP concentrations in the LDA group and TFF‐3 concentrations in the RDA group were lower than in the control group. The leptin concentration of the RDA group was higher than that of the other groups. There was a negative correlation between lactate, leptin and IL‐8 concentrations. There was a negative correlation between lactate and TFF‐3, whereas leptin and lactate were positively correlated. Leptin was the more reliable biomarker for discriminating between RDA and LDA cases. Conclusion: Changes in serum L‐FABP, TFF‐3 and leptin concentrations in cattle with DA may reflect acute intestinal injury and the subsequent repair phase. However, these biomarkers had poor diagnostic performance in discriminating between healthy and cattle with DA, while leptin emerged as the most useful marker in differentiating LDA from RDA cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privacy education is mostly offered by parents as it isn't included in formal education. The competence of parents in privacy education needs to be discussed in the framework of religious education. Although the matter of privacy is partially included in the content of education offered to parents within the non-formal education, parents need a specific education about it. The need for parent education is a problem of religious education. This study aims to reveal the need for parent education about privacy. The study searches the views of the adults on the privacy education. The research consists of 21 participants selected by maximum variation sampling method. Among the quantitative research methods, the interview method was applied in the study and the data was analyzed by the content analysis method. The results of the research reveal that parents need for education about privacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between nano- or micro-sized particles and cell membranes is of crucial importance in many biological and biomedical applications such as drug and gene delivery to cells and tissues. During their cellular uptake, the particles can pass through cell membranes via passive endocytosis or by active penetration to reach a target cellular compartment or organelle. In this manuscript, we develop a simple model to describe the interaction of a self-driven spherical particle (moving through an effective constant active force) with a minimal membrane system, allowing for both penetration and trapping. We numerically calculate the state diagram of this system, the membrane shape, and its dynamics. In this context, we show that the active particle may either get trapped near the membrane or penetrate through it, where the membrane can either be permanently destroyed or recover its initial shape by self-healing. Additionally, we systematically derive a continuum description allowing us to accurately predict most of our results analytically. This analytical theory helps in identifying the generic aspects of our model, suggesting that most of its ingredients should apply to a broad range of membranes, from simple model systems composed of magnetic microparticles to lipid bilayers. Our results might be useful to predict the mechanical properties of synthetic minimal membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study aimed to evaluate hypoxic acute kidney injury in premature calves with respiratory distress syndrome using kidney-specific biomarkers. Ten-term healthy calves and 70 premature calves with respiratory distress syndrome were included in the study. At admission and 72 h, arterial blood gas analysis to evaluate hypoxia and serum blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, phosphorus, cystatin-C, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, uromodulin, and liver-type fatty acid-binding protein concentrations were measured for evaluation of kidney functions. Acute renal failure developed in 38.5% of premature calves with respiratory distress syndrome. The mortality risk in premature calves with acute renal failure was four times higher than in those without acute kidney injury. In addition, serum cystatin-C and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin concentrations were significantly higher in calves with acute kidney injury than those without. In conclusion, it causes acute renal failure in premature calves with respiratory distress syndrome. Cystatin-C and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin were found to be useful markers of hypoxic-acute kidney injury in premature calves with respiratory distress syndrome. The purpose of the present study was to establish the development of acute kidney injury (AKI) and evaluate the usefulness of kidney-specific biomarkers in diagnosing AKI in premature calves with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Ten-term healthy and 70 premature calves with RDS were enrolled. Clinical examination, blood gases, and chemical analysis were performed at admission and 72 h. Serum concentrations of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cre), phosphorus (P), cystatin-C (Cys-C), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), uromodulin (UMOD), and liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) were measured to evaluate kidney injury. Our findings showed that 38.5% of the premature calves with RDS developed AKI. The RDS-AKI group had a 4-fold higher mortality risk than the RDS-non-AKI group. Cys-C, with 90% and 89% specificity, and NGAL, with 100% sensitivity and 85% specificity, were the most reliable biomarkers to determine AKI in premature calves. The usefulness of any biomarker to predict mortality was not found to be convincing. In conclusion, AKI can develop as a consequence of hypoxia in premature calves and may increase the risk of mortality. In addition, serum Cys-C and NGAL concentrations may be useful in the diagnosis of AKI in premature calves with RDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study theoretically and numerically, the coupling and rotational hydrodynamic interactions between spherical particles near a planar elastic membrane that exhibits resistance toward shear and bending. Using a combination of the multipole expansion and Faxén’s theorems, we express the frequency-dependent hydrodynamic mobility functions as a power series of the ratio of the particle radius to the distance from the membrane for the self mobilities and as a power series of the ratio of the radius to the interparticle distance for the pair mobilities. In the quasi-steady limit of zero frequency, we find that the shear- and bending-related contributions to the particle mobilities may have additive or suppressive effects depending on the membrane properties in addition to the geometric configuration of the interacting particles relative to the confining membrane. To elucidate the effect and role of the change of sign observed in the particle self mobilities and pair mobilities, we consider an example involving a torque-free doublet of counterrotating particles near an elastic membrane. We find that the induced rotation rate of the doublet around its center of mass may differ in magnitude and direction depending on the membrane shear and bending properties. Near a membrane of only energetic resistance toward shear deformation, such as that of a certain type of elastic capsules, the doublet undergoes rotation of the same sense as observed near a no-slip wall. Near a membrane of only energetic resistance toward bending, such as that of a fluid vesicle, we find a reversed sense of rotation. Our analytical predictions are supplemented and compared with fully resolved boundary integral simulations where very good agreement is obtained over the whole range of applied frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain development in early childhood is of critical importance in the lifelong education process due to the high number of neurons and the high potential to form interneuron connections. The human brain, which has never been so active and productive in any period of life, makes it meaningful and necessary to benefit from this natural equipment with an educational view. In the early childhood period, when the foundations of religious education are laid, it is necessary to prepare the education program by taking into account the child’s neural development and selecting teaching materials and methods that will appeal to children’s senses. In this case, attention is drawn to the importance of educational activities that enable the child to gain a large number of experiences. Early childhood religious education is designed in a way that gives the child multiple experiences in line with the data of educational sciences. It is believed that the richness of stimuli offered to the child in this period contributes to her/his cognitive, emotional and psychomotor development. However, the contribution of the richness of stimuli in early childhood religious education to the cognitive development of the child is not sufficiently discussed in terms of its suitability for brain development or neural structure. For this reason, the aim of our study is to establish the neuroscientific basis of the richness of stimuli that should be presented in accordance with the child's brain development in early childhood religious education. Early childhood religious education should be designed in a way that allows the child to have different experiences, based on the fact that religious development is not independent of other developmental areas. The tendency to believe in God in the child's nature proves the religious education that should be given in the first years of life. The child is innately ready to understand and accept religion and has an interest and inclination to believe in Allah. Therefore, religion should be one of the matters of the child's life from an early age, and religious content should be included in educational activities. During this period, the number of neurons in the child's brain and the potential to form synaptic connections between neurons is quite high. In order to benefit from this neural capacity at the highest level, the child needs a learning environment equipped with rich stimulus. The adaptability and flexibility of the brain to new learning, which is expressed by the concept of neuroplasticity, reaches its highest level in early childhood. Since neuroplasticity occurs mostly in areas of the brain related to vision, hearing, motor and language skills, it has been revealed that stimuli that activates these regions of the brain in early childhood religious education support its synaptic bond development. Firstly, it is possible to use music as a means of entertainment and learning in early childhood religious education because early children enjoy singing songs as well as hymns and poems. The melodic presentation of the text facilitates the memorization of suras and praying and makes it funny. The educational aims achieved by enjoyable activities enable the brain to form bonds that associate these actions with entertainment. Secondly, synapse formation is quite high when expo)sed to visual stimuli in the early childhood period. For this reason, it is necessary to enrich the visualization for early childhood. Consequently, the more visual stimuli are included in religious education, the more synapse formation will increase. Thirdly, motor activities positively affect neuroplasticity, creating new connections between neurons which can even be used for cognitive activities. Finally, religious curiosity in early childhood guides adults about the content and timing of religious stimuli to be presented in this period. With the religious curiosity that appears from the age of 3-4, children ask questions about religious concepts and show interest in religious activities. Therefore, every new information presented to the child's curiosity ensures the formation of new synapses in his/her brain. As a result of the research, the activities such as stories/parables, drama/games, songs/rhythms, physical activities, nature trips, visits to religious places, etc., in early religious education contribute to the brain development of early children. It has been revealed that the activities provide the opportunity for effective and permanent learning by supporting the neural development of the child. It is recommended to carry out more comprehensive studies in which the neuron activity in the early child's brain can be observed during religious learning with the help of magnetic brain imaging devices in the discipline of religious education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical value of selected biomarkers for evaluation of systemic inflammatory response and pulmonary inflammation and damage pattern in calves with different pneumonia forms. ANIMALS 16 calves with fibrinous pneumonia (FP group; infected with Mannheimia haemolytica or Pasteurella multocida), 12 calves with caseonecrotic pneumonia (CNP group; infected with Mycoplasma bovis), and 10 healthy calves (C group) based on results of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) examination. PROCEDURES Blood and BALF samples were collected. Annexin-A2 (Anx-A2), endothelin-1 (ET-1), calgranulin B (S100A9), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-17A (IL-17A), haptoglobin (Hp), lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), and albumin (Alb) concentrations and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities were measured and compared across groups. RESULTS Serum concentrations of Anx-A2, S100A9, TGF-β1, TNF-α, IL-17A, Hp, and LBP and activities of LDH and ALP were higher and Alb concentrations were lower for the pneumonia groups versus C group. BALF concentration ratios of S100A9:Alb, LBP:Alb, LDH:Alb, and ALP:Alb were higher for the pneumonia groups versus C group (P<.05). BALF concentration ratios of Anx-A2:Alb, TGF-β1:Alb, and IL-17A:Alb were higher for the FP group versus other groups (P<.05). CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that serum Anx-A2, S100A9, TGF-β1, TNF-α, IL-17A, Hp, LBP, and Alb concentrations were useful in determining the systemic inflammatory response and that BALF concentration ratios of S100A9:Alb, TGF-β1:Alb, LBP:Alb, and ALP:Alb were useful biomarkers in determining pulmonary inflammation and damage. Measurements of BALF concentration ratios of Anx-A2:Alb, TGF-β1:Alb, and IL-17A:Alb could be beneficial to defining fibrinous characterization of pulmonary inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) as a Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC), using Peltier cooling modules for power generation was analyzed by the Cross-Entropy method. When comparing conventional solar electric generators with this system, we have the advantage that it is compact and lightweight and can be easily assembled and used as low-cost power generation equipment. For this system, we perform I(V) measurements and use fit models to accurately extract the model parameters. This is all in a standalone, robust, and simultaneous fit of three equations, through the global optimization method called Cross-Entropy. This is a robust method that had never been applied to extract parameters in a thermoelectric generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an analytical calculation of the hydrodynamic interaction between two spherical particles near an elastic interface such as a cell membrane. The theory predicts the frequency dependent selfand pair-mobilities accounting for the finite particle size up to the 5th order in the ratio between particle diameter and wall distance as well as between diameter and interparticle distance.We find that particle motion towards a membrane with pure bending resistance always leads to mutual repulsion similar as in the well-known case of a hard-wall. In the vicinity of a membrane with shearing resistance, however, we observe an attractive interaction in a certain parameter range which is in contrast to the behavior near a hard wall. This attraction might facilitate surface chemical reactions. Furthermore, we show that there exists a frequency range in which the pair-mobility for perpendicular motion exceeds its bulk value, leading to short-lived superdiffusive behavior. Using the analytical particle mobilities we compute collective and relative diffusion coefficients. The appropriateness of the approximations in our analytical results is demonstrated by corresponding boundary integral simulations which are in excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the biomarkers specific to lung endothelial and epithelial damage in the determination of lung injury and its severity in calves with perinatal asphyxia and to evaluate their prognostic importance among survivors and non-survivor calves. Ten healthy calves and 20 calves with perinatal asphyxia were enrolled in the study. Clinical examination and laboratory analysis were performed at admission. Serum concentrations of soluble advanced glycation end-product receptor (sRAGE), soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin), clara cell secretory protein (CC16), and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) were measured to assess lung injury. Venous pH, sO 2 , HCO 3 , and BE of calves with perinatal asphyxia were significantly lower than the healthy calves. sRAGE, sE-selectin, pCO 2 , and lactate were significantly high in calves with asphyxia. ROC analysis showed that sRAGE, sE-selectin, pCO 2 , lactate, and respiratory rate were higher while HCO 3 and BE were lower in the nonsurvivor calves than survivors. In conclusion, serum sRAGE and sE-selectin concentrations highlight the utility of these biomarkers in determining lung injury in calves with asphyxia. Also, pH, pCO 2 , lactate, HCO 3 , BE, and respiratory rate along with serum sRAGE and sE-selectin were useful indicators in the prediction of mortality. • Respiratory distress syndrome in calves with asphyxia is one of the most important causes of mortality. • Venous pH, pCO 2 , sO 2 , lactate, HCO 3 and BE parameters are useful in the evaluation of lung functions in asphyxiated calves. • sRAGE at 2.03 ng/mL and sE-selectin at 2.71 ng/mL cut-off values are beneficial prognostic markers in calves with asphyxia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the history of mankind, humans have always desired to share their experience and knowledge with the current and later generations, and also to guide them to goodness. Advices emerged from this desire, sometimes presented in a direct verbal form, and sometimes it took a literary form by being written in an artistic way. These works turned into one of the most common literary genres in Turkish literature, and were created in poetic, prosaic and poetic-prosaic forms. As the poem makes it easier to learn and memorize, the poetic form was used commonly. These works named as poetic nasihat-name aimed to educate the society in moral, religious and social matters. Authors benefited from the educational aspect of legends and stories in their works, and decorated them with the verses of Koran, the sayings of Prophet Mohammed, the apothegms, the proverbs, and the idioms. The poetic nasihat-names had significant educational value, containing advices on many subjects on pedagogy, character and religious education. Nasihat-names have been the common interests of literature and education disciplines. In this study, the educational analysis of Teʾdīb-nāme, which is a poetic nasihat-name, is presented. The author of the work is Kesfi, one of the 16th century poets. In this period, a few poets used the pen name of Kesfi. However, the author of Teʾdīb-nāme differs from the others as he had a son named "Ata". Ata is the instrumental person in the emergence of Teʾdīb-nāme. Because it was written for Ata, as he requested his father to write a book containing advices from the age 10 to 100. This situation clearly shows that Teʾdīb-nāme is a work written by a father to educate his son. Therefore, Teʾdīb-nāme reveals educational and philosophical understanding of Kesfi. In this study analysing Teʾdīb-nāme in educational way, the author Kesfi's life, his literary character and his works are presented and Te'dib-name is introduced by its general characteristics. During the content analysis of the work, a master thesis named Kesfi Teʾdīb-nāme written by Sibel Üst at Atatürk University, Social Sciences Institute in 2006 was benefited from. The original copy of the work recorded by the number 271 ASL, in the Atatürk University Seyfettin Özege Library, Agah Sırrı Levend Collection, was consulted for some words difficult to pronounce. The study consist of three sections: the educational view of Kesfi, his language of education and the content of Teʾdīb-nāme. The educational view of the author is classified and discussed as Belief and Sense-Based Education, Need-Based Education and Lifelong Education. Kesfi's language of education is analysed in terms of his addressing style to his son, characteristics of his language and expression, and also educational elements in the content. The content of Teʾdīb-nāme covers a lifelong education, and advices are presented in periods of five or ten years. Thus, in accordance with the work, the relevant advices are categorized as Last Childhood, Puberty, First Adulthood, Middle Adulthood and Late Adulthood, and examined according to their developmental periods. Teʾdīb-nāme, conforming to Islamic educational view in both pedagogical and andragogical aspects, aims to educate members of the society in spite of addressing only the author's son. The work reveals many advices about religious life as well as familial and social life. While discussing the content, it has been realized that the educational matters of that period are similar to current ones. The advices in the work, as a guidebook making the individual happier both in this world and the hereafter, have the features illuminating the current educational understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a method for the end effector motion control of a spatial three-link robot having elastic second and third links including measurement noises. In the derivation of equations of motion, not to face with complex equations of motion, each link is modeled as though the links are not connected and the restrictions on the links due to connecting them by joints are written as constraint equations. After that the Lagrange multipliers are eliminated and the constraint equations at the acceleration level are substituted into the equations of motion to reduce the number of equations. To handle the non-minimum phase property, the equations of motion of the elastic manipulator are divided as the equations corresponding to a pseudostatic equilibrium and the equations of the deviations from them. Definition of the pseudostatic equilibrium used in this study can be given as a hypothetical state in which the end effector velocity and the end effector acceleration possess their reference values while the elastic deflections are instantly constant. The advantages of this control method are that the elastic deflections and the control inputs required for the pseudostatic equilibrium are obtained by an algebraic method and the feedback stabilization control inputs for the deviation equations are determined without linearizing the dynamic equations. The required measurements are obtained from the strain gauges on the links, the encoders placed on the joints and the position sensors attached to the end effector. For each sensor, a low pass filter is used. Simulations are made with low and high values of crossover frequencies to show the positive and negative effects of filtering on the responses of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Approaches to the evaluation of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in premature calves by using lung‐specific epithelial and endothelial biomarkers are needed. Objective: To investigate the evaluation of PAH in premature calves with and without respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) by using lung‐specific epithelial and endothelial biomarkers and determine the prognostic value of these markers in premature calves. Animals: Fifty premature calves with RDS, 20 non‐RDS premature calves, and 10 healthy term calves. Methods: Hypoxia, hypercapnia, and tachypnea were considered criteria for RDS. Arterial blood gases (PaO2, PaCO2, oxygen saturation [SO2], base excess [BE], and serum lactate concentration) were measured to assess hypoxia. Serum concentrations of lung‐specific growth differentiation factor‐15 (GDF‐15), asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), endothelin‐1 (ET‐1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and surfactant protein D (SP‐D) were measured to assess PAH. Results: Arterial blood pH, PaO2, SO2, and BE of premature calves with RDS were significantly lower and PaCO2 and lactate concentrations higher compared to non‐RDS premature and healthy calves. The ADMA and SP‐D concentrations of premature calves with RDS were lower and serum ET‐1 concentrations higher than those of non‐RDS premature and healthy calves. No statistical differences for GDF‐15 and VEGF were found among groups. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Significant increases in serum ET‐1 concentrations and decreases in ADMA and SP‐D concentrations highlight the utility of these markers in the diagnosis of PAH in premature calves with RDS. Also, we found that ET‐1 was a reliable diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for PAH and predicting mortality in premature calves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geometric confinements play an important role in many physical and biological processes and significantly affect the rheology and behavior of colloidal suspensions at low Reynolds numbers. On the basis of the linear Stokes equations, we investigate theoretically and computationally the viscous azimuthal flow induced by the slow rotation of a small spherical particle located in the vicinity of a rigid no-slip disk or inside a gap between two coaxially positioned rigid no-slip disks of the same radius. We formulate the solution of the hydrodynamic problem as a mixed-boundary-value problem in the whole fluid domain, which we subsequently transform into a system of dual integral equations. Near a stationary disk, we show that the resulting integral equation can be reduced into an elementary Abel integral equation that admits a unique analytical solution. Between two coaxially positioned stationary disks, we demonstrate that the flow problem can be transformed into a system of two Fredholm integral equations of the first kind. The latter are solved by means of numerical approaches. Using our solution, we further investigate the effect of the disks on the slow rotational motion of a colloidal particle and provide expressions of the hydrodynamic mobility as a function of the system geometry. We compare our results with corresponding finite-element simulations and observe very good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the large reduction in fossil fuel reservoirs, the consequent cost increase of deepwater extraction, and the emission of pollutants, there is a constant search for alternative ways to obtain clean energy at a lower cost. Among those sources, we focus on the energy produced by thermoelectric materials. In this work, we present a new system for the characterization of thermoelectric generation devices. Such a system performs measurements of electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity in a single setup. With this, it is possible to reduce the systematic errors in the figure of merit $ZT$ and the cost of the equipment. Our equipment, together with the developed software, presented excellent results and analyses, and with that, it proves to be a robust alternative for the characterization of commercial thermoelectric devices, and of laboratory thin film thermoelectric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As compared to the well explored problem of how to steer a macroscopic agent, like an airplane or a moon lander, to optimally reach a target, optimal navigation strategies for microswimmers experiencing hydrodynamic interactions with walls and obstacles are far-less understood. Here, we systematically explore this problem and show that the characteristic microswimmer-flow-field crucially influences the navigation strategy required to reach a target in the fastest way. The resulting optimal trajectories can have remarkable and non-intuitive shapes, which qualitatively differ from those of dry active particles or motile macroagents. Our results provide insights into the role of hydrodynamics and fluctuations on optimal navigation at the microscale, and suggest that microorganisms might have survival advantages when strategically controlling their distance to remote walls. While control theory for optimal navigation is relevant across scales, from aeronautics to targeted drug delivery, the role of thermal fluctuations and hydrodynamic interactions with interfaces, walls and obstacles at the microscale remains an open question. Here, the authors explore optimal microswimming in the presence of walls or obstacles, and study how hydrodynamic microswimmer-wall interactions impact on optimal microswimming strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering a software defined network, distributed controller architecture uses multiple controllers in which each controller manages a part of the network. The load imbalance problem in this architecture causes a large number of switch migrations resulting in a significant increase in switch migration cost and average network response time along with a decrease in throughput. Although recent studies have addressed these issues, access to optimal response time had been achieved with high cost of switch migration and sometimes with reduction of throughput using their methods. Therefore, the load balance in the present study is managed by a variable threshold based on the controllers' workload. In other words, migration is done by selecting optimal switch and controller so that the switch will be selected with the lowest traffic generation rate which could return the source controller to its steady state. Using the suggested method, a destination controller is selected based on some important parameters such as CPU utilization, rate of incoming packets and the number of hops between switch and controller. The TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) algorithm is used to select the best controller based on the above-mentioned criteria and the AHP (analytic hierarchy process) algorithm is employed for determining the ratio of each criterion. The proposed method considerably outperforms other methods by achieving about 6 and 78% improvement in throughput and the number of switch migration in our implementation, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a cosmological analysis based on the properties of X-ray selected clusters of galaxies from the CODEX survey which have been spectroscopically followed up within the SPIDERS programme as part of the sixteenth data release (DR16) of SDSS-IV. The cosmological sub-sample contains a total of 691 clusters over an area of 5350 deg2 with newly measured optical properties provided by a reanalysis of the CODEX source catalogue using redMaPPer and the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys (DR8). Optical richness is used as a proxy for the cluster mass, and the combination of X-ray, optical, and spectroscopic information ensures that only confirmed virialized systems are considered. Clusters are binned in observed redshift, |$\tilde{z} \in \left[0.1, 0.6 \right)$| and optical richness, |$\tilde{\lambda } \in \left[25, 148 \right)$| and the number of clusters in each bin is modelled as a function of cosmological and richness–mass scaling relation parameters. A high-purity sub-sample of 691 clusters is used in the analysis and best-fitting cosmological parameters are found to be |$\Omega _{m_{0}}=0.34^{+0.09}_{-0.05}$| and |$\sigma _8=0.73^{+0.03}_{-0.03}$|⁠. The redshift evolution of the self-calibrated richness–mass relation is poorly constrained due to the systematic uncertainties associated with the X-ray component of the selection function (which assumes a fixed X-ray luminosity–mass relation with h  = 0.7 and |$\Omega _{m_{0}}=0.30$|⁠). Repeating the analysis with the assumption of no redshift evolution is found to improve the consistency between both cosmological and scaling relation parameters with respect to recent galaxy cluster analyses in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between obesity and adipokines and also to determine subclinical myocardial injury by cardiac biomarkers. Twenty-five healthy obese (HO) and 15 healthy normal weight (HN) mixed breed dogs were enrolled in the study. Blood sampling and cardiologic examination were performed in all dogs in order to exclude any diseases. The HO group had higher levels of triglycerides (P<0.005), glucose (P<0.025), and lower levels of creatinine (P<0.010) compared to HN dogs. HO dogs had higher serum leptin (P<0.001) but lower adiponectin concentrations (P<0.009) than HN dogs. Systolic blood pressure (P<0.004) and serum concentration of cardiac troponin T was significantly higher in HO dogs compared to HN dogs (P<0.038). There was no statistical significance in concentrations of blood urea nitrogen, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, albumin, total protein, cholesterol, cardiac troponin I, and N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide between HO and HN dogs. The bivariate analysis revealed that triglyceride, leptin and systolic blood pressure had positive (r=0.45, P<0.01; r=0.78, P<0.001; r=0.46, P<0.05, respectively) and adiponectin had negative correlation with body condition score (r=-0.39, P<0.05). Cardiac troponin T had a positive correlation with systolic blood pressure (r=0.56, P<0.01). The findings indicate that unfavorable metabolic and lipid changes in obese dogs and systemic hypertension have harmful effects on the myocardium. Elevation of serum cardiac troponin T in obese dogs compared to healthy dogs could represent a probable subclinical myocardial damage in obese dogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Behçet's disease (BD) is an auto-immune vasculitis, characterized by episodic inflammation of multiple organs. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is used as a marker of inflammation in several diseases nowadays. While nitric oxide (NO) seem to be involved in BD pathogenicity. Our study aims to investigate the NLR as an inflammatory marker of BD activity as well as to evaluate the relationship between the NO production and NLR in Algerian BD patients with different clinical manifestations before and under colchicine + corticosteroid treatment. Methods: For this purpose, we evaluated the NLR as the ratio of neutrophil count to lymphocyte count in naïve and treated active BD patients with different clinical manifestations and in inactive ones. Furthermore, we assessed NO production by the Griess' method in the same patients. Additionally, we evaluated in vivo interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) levels using ELISA. Results and discussion: Our results indicate that the NLR and nitrite levels were higher in naïve active BD patients. Interestingly, this high ratio and NO production differed according to the clinical manifestations and was associated with an increased risk of mucocutaneous and vascular involvement. Importantly, in treated BD patients NLR was higher in active patients especially in those with mucocutaneous involvement while increased nitrites levels were regardless of the clinical manifestations studied. Both NLR and NO production decreased in these treated active patients. In addition, IL-4 production differed according to the clinical manifestations studied contrary to the IFN-γ production. Conclusion: Collectively our results suggest that the NLR is a potential marker of BD activity in Algerian patients, predicting the disease severity. Moreover, the positive relationship between the NLR and NO production is related to an increased risk of mucocutaneous lesions and vascular involvement. Thus, the application of these two accessible tools could be benefit for the clinical prognosis and treatment of BD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guiding active microswimmers by external fields to requested target locations is a promising strategy to realize complex transport on the microscale. For this purpose, one possibility consists of attaching the microswimmers to orientable passive components. Accordingly, we analyze theoretically, using a minimal model, the dynamics of a microswimmer when rigidly attached to a (significantly larger) microplatelet, here represented by a thin circular disk. In this way, we first determine the flow field in the whole space induced by a Stokeslet that is located above the center of a spatially fixed rigid disk of no-slip surface conditions. Finally, we determine and analyze possible trajectories of the overall composite. To this end, the platelet is additionally endowed with a permanent magnetic moment, which allows us to steer the motion of the whole composite by a homogeneous external magnetic field. As previous experimental studies suggest, related setups may be helpful to guide sperm cells to requested targets or for the purpose of coordinated drug delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Behçet disease (BD) is a chronic multisystem disease. It stands at the crossroads between the auto-immunity and auto-inflammatory disorders. Our study aims to evaluate corticosteroids therapy effects on serum immunoglobulin isotypes and anti-phospholipid auto-anti-body production in Algerian BD patients with different clinical manifestations. Methods: We evaluated serum immunoglobulin isotypes and anti-phospholipid (anti-cardiolipin, anti-β2glycoprotein I, anti-prothrombin) auto-anti-body production using Turbidimetric or Luminex platform assays. Our study was conducted in naïve active BD patients and in corticosteroid-treated patients with different clinical manifestations. Results and discussion: Our results indicate that IgM, IgG, and IgA levels were higher in naïve active patients. The increase in sera isotypes did not differ according to the clinical manifestation, except for IgA production, which was associated with an increased risk of mucocutaneous and ocular involvement. Interestingly, in corticosteroid-treated active patients, no difference was reported between each clinical subgroup. Furthermore,anti-cardiolipin, anti-β2glycoprotein I and anti-prothrombin auto-anti-body levels were elevated in naïve active patients. Contrary to anti-prothrombin, high anti-cardiolipin and anti-β2glycoprotein I, production differed according to the clinical manifestations and was associated with an increased risk of mucocutaneous and ocular involvement. Importantly, corticosteroid therapy significantly reduced these immune markers regardless of the clinical manifestations. Conclusion: Our results suggest that high IgA production could be a risk marker of uveitis in naïve active patients. Moreover, concomitant high anti-cardiolipin, anti-β2glycoprotein I and anti-prothrombin production is related to an increased risk of mucocutaneous lesions, ocular and vascular involvement. Collectively, our data indicate the importance of evaluating the corticosteroid effect on immune responses associated with BD to ensure an adequate investigation of each related clinical manifestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. We aimed to determine the prevalence of specific auto-antibodies to celiac disease (CD) in Moroccan type 1 diabetic (T1D) patients and compare the clinical and biological characteristics of seropositive and seronegative cases. Patients and Methods. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 276 T1D patients including 109 adults and 167 pediatric cases. The screening for CD was performed by an Elisa IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody (tTGA) testing, combined with IgA quantification by nephelometry. Positive-IgA-tTGA cases were secondly tested for anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) using an immunofluorescence technique, and the IgA deficiency cases were screened for IgG-tTGA. Patients with low positive tTGA titers underwent HLA-DQ2/DQ8 typing. Sociodemographic and clinical data of the patients were collected using a hetero-administered questionnaire. The comparison of clinical and biological data between seropositive and seronegative diabetics was done using independent T, Mann–Whitney U, chi-squared, and Fisher tests, which were considered significant if p value <0.05. Results. The prevalence of CD-specific auto-antibodies was estimated to be 9.1% (IC = 95%), with 25 positive cases in tTGA and EMA testing. Eight cases displayed low titers of IgA-tTGA, among which 4 were positive for HLA-DQ2, 1 for HLA-DQ8, and 1 for both DQ2 and DQ8. The other 2 cases had a biopsy-proven CD. Compared to seronegative patients, seropositive cases had a higher percentage of associated autoimmune disorders (16% vs. 2.4%, p=0.008), with a significant lower height Z-scores (median: −0.90 (−3.93 to 0.95) vs. −0.51 (−4.54 to 2.18), p=0.029) and a higher HbA1c level (median: 11.30% (7.31 to 16.00) vs. 9.30% (4.40 to17.31), p=0.022). Conclusion. The current study gave evidence of a high prevalence of CD specific auto-antibodies in T1D population. The co-existence of these two conditions was associated with a poor glycemic control, a lower height, and other autoimmune diseases. These findings may suggest the necessity of a systematic screening of CD in T1D patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid advent of biomedical and biotechnological innovations, a deep understanding of the nature of interaction between nanomaterials and cell membranes, tissues, and organs, has become increasingly important. Active penetration of nanoparticles through cell membranes is a fascinating phenomenon that may have important implications in various biomedical and clinical applications. Using a fully analytical theory supplemented by particle-based computer simulations, the penetration process of an active particle through a planar two-dimensional elastic membrane is studied. The membrane is modeled as a self-assembled sheet of particles, uniformly arranged on a square lattice. A coarse-grained model is introduced to describe the mutual interactions between the membrane particles. The active penetrating particle is assumed to interact sterically with the membrane particles. State diagrams are presented to fully characterize the system behavior as functions of the relevant control parameters governing the transition between different dynamical states. Three distinct scenarios are identified. These compromise trapping of the active particle, penetration through the membrane with subsequent self-healing, in addition to penetration with permanent disruption of the membrane. The latter scenario may be accompanied by a partial fragmentation of the membrane into bunches of isolated or clustered particles and creation of a hole of a size exceeding the interaction range of the membrane components. It is further demonstrated that the capability of penetration is strongly influenced by the size of the approaching particle relative to that of the membrane particles. Accordingly, active particles with larger size are more likely to remain trapped at the membrane for the same propulsion speed. Such behavior is in line with experimental observations. Our analytical theory is based on a combination of a perturbative expansion technique and a discrete-to-continuum formulation. It well describes the system behavior in the small-deformation regime. Particularly, the theory allows to determine the membrane displacement of the particles in the trapping state. Our approach might be helpful for the prediction of the transition threshold between the trapping and penetration in real-space experiments involving motile swimming bacteria or artificial active particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During this study, we characterized the seasonality's impact and environmental conditions on the yeast diversity from raw camel's milk collected in Algeria. The yeast counts were estimated to 3.55 × 102 CFU mL−1, with a maximum of 6.3 × 102 CFU mL−1. The yeasts were categorized phenotypically by API 20C AUX, MALDI-TOF and genetically by sequencing 26S rDNA and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2. The rDNA sequencing approaches revealed 12 species including unusual ones such as Trichosporon asahii, Pichia fermentans, Millerozyma farinosa, Pichia galeiformis, Candida tartarivorans and Pichia manshurica. The most dominant species were T. asahii (23%), P. fermentans (19%) and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (14%). The high occurrence and large diversity were registered in samples collected during the autumn season, in the semi-arid and arid highlands regions with 0.66 × 103 CFU mL−1 and 0.51 × 103 CFU mL−1, respectively. Interestingly, T. asahii, R. mucilaginosa, P. fermentans, C. parapsilosis and C. zeylanoides were detected during both spring and autumn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The negative environmental and economic impact, derived from the use of fossil fuels – oil, coal, gas, and other non-renewable sources of energy – has stimulated scientific research on clean and economically viable sources. Photovoltaics and wind power are intermittent sources which stimulates the quest for other energy sources. In this sense, a promising source of energy is made up of Thermoelectric Generators (TEGs), which have the property of converting thermal energy into electrical energy, through the well-known Seebeck Effect. A new methodology for the characterization of these devices is presented in this work. For a robust analysis of the measures, the extraction of parameters is done through the meta-heuristic Self-Adaptive differential evolution method. This is made possible by simultaneous fitting of three equations and five parameters in a consistent autonomous fashion. Besides a robust experimental setup which allows the generation and precise control of the temperature variable as electrical measurements, in a controlled environment, and a thorough statistical analysis is carried for eight TEGs, model SP-184827145 which gives the mean performance of the manufactured devices. The results obtained with low uncertainties indicates that this methodology is a reliable and low-cost option for the characterization of thermoelectric devices. [Display omitted] • A new methodology for the characterization of thermoelectric devices. • Extraction of parameters using the meta-heuristic Self-adaptive Differential Evolution method. • Characterization of thermoelectric devices in a controlled temperature gradient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-quadrature radio frequency (RF) excitation has been widely studied in the fields of RF shimming, local SAR estimation, and MR-EPT with the use of multi-channel transceiver arrays. These studies generally require the retrieval of the complex transmit field (), which can be accomplished by acquiring its magnitude and phase in different steps. Magnitude of the transmit field is acquired with the conventional methods which give accurate results for both quadrature and non-quadrature excitations. On the other hand, there is no straightforward method to acquire the absolute phase of the transmit field and generally approximations in MRI experiments are made in order to get it. However, many of these approximations fail in non-quadrature excitation and/or in ultra high fields. In this study, we propose a simple method to acquire the absolute transmit phase in non-quadrature excitation with an eight channel transceiver TEM array for 3 T. The proposed method requires the application of a single additional quadrature drive in order to get the receive phases of the individual channels of the transceiver coil. These receive phases are then subtracted from the transceive phase of the non-quadrature drive experiment to acquire its transmit phase. The developed ideas are tested in the framework of simulations and MRI experiments with the use of four different non-quadrature drive configurations. It has been observed that the simulated and experimentally acquired transmit phase distributions tend to have a strong consensus which supports the validity of the proposed method. Finally, the estimated transmit phase distribution of non-quadrature drive is used in the standard MR-EPT study to get the conductivity reconstructions in order for the validation of its eligibility in MR-EPT studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The thermodynamic stability of Cu 2 Se has been measured using the following galvanic cell over the range of 852 to 972 K. Pt , Cu s , Cu 2 O s / / 15 YSZ / / Cu 2 Se s , Cu 2 O s , Se s , C , Pt I The emf of cell I was measured to be E ± 0.79 mV = 326.58 + 0.153 T K By combining available Gibnbs energy data from literature, the Gibbs energy of formation of Cu 2 Se has been found to be (ΔG ο f Cu 2 Se ± 0.15 kJ mol − 1 = − 0.0295 T K − 63.02 The homogeneity range of β-Cu 2−x Se has been determined by coulometric titration at 900 K on the following cell Pt , Cu 2 − x Se s / / 15 YSZ / / Cu 2 O s , Cu s , Pt II The Cu mole fraction change between the selenium-rich and the copper-rich boundaries was measured as Δx = 0.012 at 900 K. Highlights • The Gibbs energy of formation of the Cu 2 Se compound was calculated as • ΔGο f (Cu 2 Se ± 0.15) (kJ mol−1) = −0.0295 T(K) − 63.02 • Thermodynamic stability of cuprous selenide is verified by emf between 852 and 972 K. • ΔHο f, 298 = −65.81 kJ mol−1 for Cu 2 Se was calculated from third law analysis. • At 900 K, the composition of the selenium rich boundary is calculated as Cu 1.9880 Se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inverse dynamics control is considered for flexible-joint parallel manipulators in order to obtain a good trajectory tracking performance in the case of modeling error and disturbances. It is known that, in the absence of modeling error and disturbance, inverse dynamics control leads to linear fourth-order error dynamics, which is asymptotically stable if the feedback gains are chosen to make the real part of the eigenvalues of the system negative. However, when there are modeling errors and disturbances, a linear time-varying error dynamics is obtained whose stability is not assured only by keeping the real parts of the frozen-time eigenvalues of the system negative. In this paper, the stability of such systems is investigated and it is proved that the linear time-varying system can be rendered stable by selecting the feedback gains such that the variation of the system becomes sufficiently slow. To illustrate the performance of the control method, deployment motion of a 3-RPR planar parallel manipulator subject to impact is simulated. For the impact model, the impulse-momentum and the coefficient of restitution equations for the system are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Otolith shape analysis is an efficient fish stock identification tool. However, most applications used left and right otoliths or only one of them arbitrarily chosen without testing for biases resulting from potential directional bilateral asymmetry (DA) in otolith shape, i.e. a unimodal population-level deviation form bilateral symmetry between right and left otolith shapes. In this study, 560 bogues (Boops boops) were sampled from 11 geographical locations from the Canary Islands to the Aegean Sea and elliptical Fourier descriptors were used to describe their otoliths' shape. First, a significant otolith DA was observed at the global scale with an average amplitude of 2.77%. However, at the scale of sampling locations, DA was not always significant and varied in amplitude and direction. Second, population structure was investigated using the shape of either right otoliths or left otoliths or both together. Analyses based on right otoliths or both otoliths together, suggested three stock units: a North-Western Mediterranean Sea stock, an Eastern Mediterranean Sea stock, and a Central-Eastern Atlantic Ocean and South-Western Mediterranean Sea stock. In contrast, no coherent geographical pattern was found based on left otoliths. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for potential otolith DA in otolith shape-based stock identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncovering miscoordination in a biological network is essential for the understanding of cellular malfunctions in cancer. Integrative analysis across multiple cellular levels may provide an opportunity to elucidate the miscoordination between the regulatory mechanisms in cancer cells. Here, we propose an integrative model for the identification of key players of the cancer-activated Multi-Type Interaction (MTI) gene network (KPOCN). To measure the functional associations between genes, using DNA copy number aberrations (CNAs) and gene expressions (GEs), we constructed three interacting weighted graphs: GEs affected by CNAs, CNAs by CNAs, and GEs by GEs. These three weighted graphs were mapped onto a single graph, in order to construct a MTI gene network by using their optimal combination. Finally, the effect of a single gene was determined by using the centrality and betweenness of node scores in the MTI network. We first tested KPOCN using simulated datasets, and afterward, we applied this model to the real breast cancer datasets. KPOCN was shown to identify successfully key regulators with their corresponding response variables (targets) when using the simulated data, and identified well-known breast cancer oncogenes. These results demonstrated that our model can be used for an efficient identification of key genes that affect cancer development. Source codes are available at http://gcancer.org/KPOCN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Behçet’s disease (BD) is a chronic multisystemic inflammatory disease with complex etiopathogenesis. Th1-proinflammatory cytokines seem to be involved in its pathogenesis. Our current study aims to evaluate interleukin-18 (IL-18) and nitric oxide (NO) involvement in the development of different clinical manifestations of BD as well as to investigate the corticosteroid therapy effect on this production in Algerian patients.Methods: For this purpose, we evaluated in vivo and ex vivo IL-18, interferon-γ (IFN-γ) levels using ELISA and NO production by the Griess’ method in naïve-active and corticosteroid-treated BD patients with different clinical manifestations. Additionally, we assessed CD40/CD40L expression by flow cytometrics assay in these groups of patients.Results and discussion: Our results indicate that IL-18 and nitrite levels were higher in naïve-active BD patients. Interestingly, this high production differed according to the clinical manifestations and was associated with an increased risk of mucocutaneous and vascular involvement. Concerning corticosteroid treated-active BD patients, no difference was observed in this production between each clinical subgroup. However, IFN-γ levels increased in all categories of active patients. Interestingly, corticosteroid therapy reduced significantly these inflammatory mediators regardless of the clinical manifestations studied. In addition, the CD40/CD40L expression differed according to the clinical presentations.Conclusion: Collectively, our results suggest that concomitant high production of IL-18 and NO in naïve-active BD patients is related to an increased risk of mucocutaneous lesions and vascular involvement. Moreover, the relationship between these two inflammatory markers could constitute a predictable tool of BD clinical presentations and an early factor of therapy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elastic confinements are an important component of many biological systems and dictate the transport properties of suspended particles under flow. In this paper, we review the Brownian motion of a particle moving in the vicinity of a living cell whose membrane is endowed with a resistance towards shear and bending. The analytical calculations proceed through the computation of the frequency-dependent mobility functions and the application of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Elastic interfaces endow the system with memory effects that lead to a long-lived anomalous subdiffusive regime of nearby particles. In the steady limit, the diffusional behavior approaches that near a no-slip hard wall. The analytical predictions are validated and supplemented with boundary-integral simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present an analytical calculation of the rotational mobility functions of a particle rotating on the centerline of an elastic cylindrical tube whose membrane exhibits resistance toward shearing and bending. We find that the correction to the particle rotational mobility about the cylinder axis depends solely on membrane shearing properties, while both shearing and bending manifest themselves for the rotational mobility about an axis perpendicular to the cylinder axis. In the quasi-steady limit of vanishing frequency, the particle rotational mobility nearby a no-slip rigid cylinder is recovered only if the membrane possesses a non-vanishing resistance toward shearing. We further show that for the asymmetric rotation along the cylinder radial axis a coupling between shearing and bending exists. Our analytical predictions are compared and validated with corresponding boundary integral simulations where a very good agreement is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elastic channels are an important component of many soft matter systems, in which hydrodynamic interactions with confining membranes determine the behavior of particles in flow. In this work, we derive analytical expressions for Green's functions associated with a point-force (Stokeslet) directed parallel or perpendicular to the axis of an elastic cylindrical channel exhibiting resistance against shear and bending. We then compute the leading order self- and pair mobility functions of particles on the cylinder axis, finding that the mobilities are primarily determined by membrane shear and that bending does not play a significant role. In the quasi-steady limit of vanishing frequency, the particle self- and pair mobilities near a no-slip hard cylinder are recovered only if the membrane possesses a non-vanishing shear rigidity. We further compute the membrane deformation, finding that deformation is generally more pronounced in the axial (radial) directions, for the motion along (perpendicular to) the cylinder centerline, respectively. Our analytical calculations for Green's functions in an elastic cylinder can serve as a fundamental building block for future studies and are verified by fully resolved boundary integral simulations where very good agreement is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Otolith-shape analysis was examined to determine its utility for biological stock identification of the bogueBoops boopsalong the Algerian coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The outlines of 179 sagittal otolith pairs from fish collected at three locations (Oran, Bejaia and Annaba) between 2013 and 2016 were digitised and analysed for shape variation by elliptical Fourier analysis. Potential confounding sources of variation (fish length, age and sex, and left or right otolith position) were examined and accounted for in the analyses before interpretation of spatial differences in distribution of the stock. Redundancy analysis showed a significant difference between the left and right otoliths. No difference was correlated with sex and age, but fish length and sampling location had a significant effect on otolith shape. Differences in otolith shape between fish from the three locations (a span of approximately 1 000 km) were not large enough to support the concept of separate biological stocks ofB. boopsalong the Algerian coast, as illustrated by the scatterplot of discriminant scores. This study emphasises the need to carefully evaluate the confounding effects of the otolith side (left or right) on the Fourier descriptors of otoliths before drawing conclusions about stock structure of the bogue on the basis of otolith-shape differences among samples of fish from different stocks or areas. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Silver nanoparticles were synthesized by the reduction of the silver nitrate (AgNO) using the latex copolymer in ethanol solution under microwave (MW) heating. The reaction parameters such as silver precursor concentration (from 0.005 to 0.1 g/l) and MW power (200-800 W) significantly affect the formation rate, shape, size and distribution of the silver nanoparticles. A significant reduction of irradiation time was observed when the MW energy is compared to conventional thermal reduction processes. The prepared silver nanoparticles show uniform and stable sizes from 5 to 11 nm, which can be stored at room temperature for approximately 12 months without any visible change. These peculiarities indicate that the latex copolymer is a good stabilizer for the silver nanoparticles. The optical properties, morphology, and crystalline structure of the silver-latex copolymer nanocomposites were characterized by the Ultraviolet-Visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The study of the TEM images at high magnifications identified the silver nanoparticles as face-centered cubic (fcc) structure with spherical and hexagonal shapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly stable and monodispersed silver nanoparticles with uniform morphology have been successfully prepared by microwave (MW) irradiation within a few seconds from the mixture of silver nitrate, ethanol and latex copolymer. The aqueous emulsion of latex copolymer acts as both reducing and stabilizing agent. To the best of our knowledge, it was the first time that the effect of MW irradiation time and latex concentration on the silver nanoparticle preparation and properties was analyzed. The formation of silver nanoparticles was confirmed by Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The UV-Vis spectra are marked by the characteristic surface plasmon absorption band in the range 410-420 nm. From TEM images, silver nanoparticles were observed to be spherical with sizes ranging from 4 to 10 nm. Electron diffraction patterns on selected area, indicated that the silver nanoparticles are crystalline with face centered cubic structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite many advantages, parallel manipulators are known to possess drive singularities where the control of one or more degrees of freedom is lost. Around these singular configurations, the required actuator forces grow unbounded. Previous efforts in the literature put forward singularity-consistent trajectory planning and singularityrobust modification of the dynamic equations as a solution to this problem. However, this previous method is applicable only for the open-loop operation of the manipulator, whereas initial configuration errors, external disturbances, and modeling errors should necessarily be taken into account in a closed-loop sense in real-life applications. With this aim, a switching inverse dynamics controller is proposed in this study for the trajectory tracking control of parallel manipulators as they pass through drive singular configurations. Simulations of the application of the developed controller result in good tracking performance, even in the presence of modeling errors, while the actuator efforts remain bounded and continuous in the neighborhood of the singularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the motion of a solid particle immersed in a Newtonian fluid and confined between two parallel elastic membranes possessing shear and bending rigidity. The hydrodynamic mobility depends on the frequency of the particle motion due to the elastic energy stored in the membrane. Unlike the single-membrane case, a coupling between shearing and bending exists. The commonly used approximation of superposing two single-membrane contributions is found to give reasonable results only for motions in the parallel direction, but not in the perpendicular direction. We also compute analytically the membrane deformation resulting from the motion of the particle, showing that the presence of the second membrane reduces deformation. Using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem we compute the Brownian motion of the particle, finding a long-lasting subdiffusive regime at intermediate time scales. We finally assess the accuracy of the employed point-particle approximation via boundary-integral simulations for a truly extended particle. They are found to be in excellent agreement with the analytical predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrodynamic flow field generated by self-propelled active particles and swimming microorganisms is strongly altered by the presence of nearby boundaries in a viscous flow. Using a simple model three-linked sphere swimmer, we show that the swimming trajectories near a no-slip wall reveal various scenarios of motion depending on the initial orientation and the distance separating the swimmer from the wall. We find that the swimmer can either be trapped by the wall, completely escape, or perform an oscillatory gliding motion at a constant mean height above the wall. Using a far-field approximation, we find that, at leading order, the wall-induced correction has a source-dipolar or quadrupolar flow structure where the translational and angular velocities of the swimmer decay as inverse third and fourth powers with distance from the wall, respectively. The resulting equations of motion for the trajectories and the relevant order parameters fully characterize the transition between the states and allow for an accurate description of the swimming behavior near a wall. We demonstrate that the transition between the trapping and oscillatory gliding states is first order discontinuous, whereas the transition between the trapping and escaping states is continuous, characterized by non-trivial scaling exponents of the order parameters. In order to model the circular motion of flagellated bacteria near solid interfaces, we further assume that the spheres can undergo rotational motion around the swimming axis. We show that the general three-dimensional motion can be mapped onto a quasi-two-dimensional representational model by an appropriate redefinition of the order parameters governing the transition between the swimming states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this preliminary case presentation, use of the minimally invasive cystoscopic pneumatic lithotripsy technique in the treatment of complete urethral obstruction in a dog has been described. The animal of the case comprised a 5-year old Chihuahua presenting with difficulty during urination and inability to urinate for the previous 2 days. Post-renal azotemia and hematuria was determined. Urethral stones causing complete urethral obstruction were visualized via cystoscopy, fragmented with a pneumatic lithotripter and the stone fragments were removed using the voiding urohydropulsion method. In conclusion, the pneumatic lithotripsy method was successfully used in the treatment of complete urethral obstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]