Explore the vast range of titles available.

The animal gut microbiota evolves quickly towards a complex community and plays crucial roles in its host’s health and development. Factors such as host genetics and environmental changes are regarded as important for controlling the dynamics of animal gut microbiota. Migratory animals are an important group for studying how these factors influence gut microbiota because they experience strong environmental perturbations during migration. The commercially important grey mullet, Mugil cephalus , is a cosmopolitan species complex that display reproductive migration behaviour. There are three cryptic species of M. cephalus fish distributed across the Northwest Pacific, and their spawning sites overlap in the Taiwan Strait. This extraordinary natural occurrence makes the grey mullet an ideal model organism for exploring the nature of wild animal-gut microbiota relationships and interactions. This study investigates the diversity and structure of the gut microbial community in three cryptic M. cephalus species using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Gut microbial compositions from adult and juvenile fish samples were analysed. Our results indicate that gut microbial communities within the grey mullet share a core microbiome dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria . However, the structures of gut microbial communities were more distinct between adult mullet groups than they were between juvenile ones. Intriguingly, we found that adult fish that migrate to different geographical tracts harbour gut microbiota similar to historical records of seawater microflora, along their respective migration routes. This observation provides new insights into the interaction between aquatic animal gut microbial communities and the environments along their hosts’ migratory routes, and thus warrants future study.

Vosoritide is a biologic analogue of C-type natriuretic peptide, a stimulator of endochondral ossification, which is disordered in achondroplasia. In this phase 2 dose-finding study and extension study involving children with achondroplasia, once-daily administration of vosoritide resulted in a sustained increase in the annualized growth velocity.

Despite current progress achieved in the surgical technique of radical prostatectomy, post-operative complications such as erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence persist at high incidence rates. In this paper, we present a methodology for functional intra-operative localization of the cavernous nerve (CN) network for nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy using near-infrared cyanine voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging, which visualizes membrane potential variations in the CN and its branches (CNB) in real time. As a proof-of-concept experiment, we demonstrate a functioning complex nerve network in response to electrical stimulation of the CN, which was clearly differentiated from surrounding tissues in an in vivo rat prostate model. Stimulation of an erection was confirmed by correlative intracavernosal pressure (ICP) monitoring. Within 10 minutes, we performed trans-fascial staining of the CN by direct VSD administration. Our findings suggest the applicability of VSD imaging for real-time, functional imaging guidance during nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy.

Dividend payouts erode equity capital and affect the relative value of claims on a bank. Through this channel, when banks have contingent claims on each other, one bank's capital policy affects the equity value and risk of default for other banks. When such externalities are strong, bank capital becomes a public good, whereby the private equilibrium features excessive dividends and inefficient recapitalization relative to the efficient policy that maximizes total banking sector equity. We relate these implications to the observed bank behaviour during the crisis of 2007–2009.

This paper presents a new power delivery architecture to bring AC distribution voltages to core levels for computing loads using only two conversion stages with new converter topologies to potentially replace the traditional four-stage structure in the development of new data centers. This paper also includes new converters as solutions to the proposed two stages. A new switched capacitor (SC)-based AC-DC converter is proposed for the first stage and demonstrated for an intermediate bus with 90 V–110 VAC to 48–60 VDC conversion and power factor correction. The second stage also includes an SC-based hybrid converter with multi-phase operation suitable for power delivery for core voltages of up to ~1 V with a high current density. This work also reports a new phase sequence for the second stage for an extended output voltage range. Individually, the first stage was measured at 96.1% peak efficiency for output currents ranging from 0 to 4.5 A, while the second stage achieved 90.7% peak efficiency with a load range of 0–220 A at 1V. The measured peak power densities were 73 W/in3 for the first stage and 2020 W/in3 for the second stage. In combination, the direct conversion from ~110 VAC to 1 VDC led to a peak efficiency of 84.1% at 50 A, and this setup has been tested with output currents of up to 160 A, where the efficiency was 73.5%.

Energy security and pollution are becoming critical issues in the context of climate change and the circular economy, calling for sustainable resources. Asteraceae species, commonly referred as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, are among the largest flowering plants with 23,000 species belonging to 1600 genera, and are a major source of biomass. Here we review botanical characteristics and applications of Asteraceae for bioenergy, remediation, nanotechnology, medicine, food and agriculture. Sunflower is the most used to produce bio-oils with a yearly production of 47 million tons. Sunflower is also used for phytoremediation of heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, uranium, and chromium. Artichoke, chicory, purple coneflower, and wormwood display medicinal potential with 27–103 bioactive compounds. Artemisia, calendula, and sunflower oil are precursors for cosmetic and perfume production. Asteraceae species exhibited high efficiencies of 90−96% for removal of remazol red, and reactive blue dyes. Asteraceae species are used for fabrication of nanoparticles, biochar, activated carbon and biocomposites.

In this study, a minimum-run resolution IV and central composite design have been developed to optimize tetracycline removal efficiency over mesoporous carbon derived from the metal-organic framework MIL-53 (Fe) as a self-sacrificial template. Firstly, minimum-run resolution IV, powered by the Design–Expert program, was used as an efficient and reliable screening study for investigating a set of seven factors, these were: tetracycline concentration (A: 5–15 mg/g), dose of mesoporous carbons (MPC) (B: 0.05–0.15 g/L), initial pH level (C: 2–10), contact time (D: 1–3 h), temperature (E: 20–40 °C), shaking speed (F: 150–250 rpm), and Na+ ionic strength (G: 10–90 mM) at both low (−1) and high (+1) levels, for investigation of the data ranges. The 20-trial model was analyzed and assessed by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) data, and diagnostic plots (e.g., the Pareto chart, and half-normal and normal probability plots). Based on minimum-run resolution IV, three factors, including tetracycline concentration (A), dose of MPC (B), and initial pH (C), were selected to carry out the optimization study using a central composite design. The proposed quadratic model was found to be statistically significant at the 95% confidence level due to a low P-value (<0.05), high R2 (0.9078), and the AP ratio (11.4), along with an abundance of diagnostic plots (3D response surfaces, Cook’s distance, Box-Cox, DFFITS, Leverage versus run, residuals versus runs, and actual versus predicted). Under response surface methodology-optimized conditions (e.g., tetracycline concentration of 1.9 mg/g, MPC dose of 0.15 g/L, and pH level of 3.9), the highest tetracycline removal efficiency via confirmation tests reached up to 98.0%–99.7%. Also, kinetic intraparticle diffusion and isotherm models were systematically studied to interpret how tetracycline molecules were absorbed on an MPC structure. In particular, the adsorption mechanisms including “electrostatic attraction” and “π–π interaction” were proposed.

This study investigates the herding behavior in the cryptocurrency market during the period of the Russia and Ukraine conflict using intraday cryptocurrency price data of the five largest cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization. The empirical results indicate an anti-herding behavior during the whole period of the conflict, especially after the conflict officially happens. The research contributes to the growing literature on herding behavior in the cryptocurrency market by using intraday data and examining the Russia–Ukraine conflict period.

This paper addresses critical limitations in the application of intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) for complex decision‐making problems under uncertainty. While IFSs offer a robust framework for modeling imprecision through membership, nonmembership, and hesitancy degrees, existing methodologies often simplify the multiplication of intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IFNs) to linear approximations, overlooking potential nonlinear interactions. Furthermore, a comprehensive signed distance measure for triangular IFNs (TIFNs) and a method for intuitionistic fuzzy nonlinear signed distance are largely absent from the literature. To bridge these gaps, this study develops novel equations for the multiplication of two IFNs, treating the result as a nonlinear IFN, thereby enhancing the precision of fuzzy arithmetic. The practical utility of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through an application involving sustainable business model innovations (SBMI) evaluation under ESG principles. The numerical example is provided, showcasing how the developed techniques can provide an accurate and nuanced assessment for complex multicriteria decision‐making problems.

Preferential flow reduces water residence times and allows rapid transport of pollutants such as organic contaminants. Thus, preferential flow is considered to reduce the influence of soil matrix-solute interactions during solute transport. While this claim may be true when rainfall directly follows solute application, forcing rapid chemical and physical disequilibrium, it has been perpetuated as a general feature of solute transport—regardless of the magnitude preferential flow. A small number of studies have alternatively shown that preferential transport of strongly sorbing solutes is reduced when solutes have time to diffuse and equilibrate within the soil matrix. Here we expand this inference by allowing solute sorption equilibrium to occur and exploring how physiochemical properties affect solute transport across a vast range of preferential flow. We applied deuterium-labeled rainfall to field plots containing manure spiked with eight common antibiotics with a range of affinity for the soil after 7 days of equilibration with the soil matrix and quantified preferential flow and solute transport using 48 soil pore water samplers spread along a hillslope. Based on > 700 measurements, our data showed that solute transport to lysimeters was similar—regardless of antibiotic affinity for soil—when preferential flow represented less than 15% of the total water flow. When preferential flow exceeded 15%, however, concentrations were higher for compounds with relatively low affinity for soil. We provide evidence that (1) bypassing water flow can select for compounds that are more easily released from the soil matrix, and (2) this phenomenon becomes more evident as the magnitude of preferential flow increases. We argue that considering the natural spectrum preferential flow as an explanatory variable to gauge the influence of soil matrix-solute interactions may improve parsimonious transport models.