Additive Manufacturing(AM) has revolutionized the production industry by offering design freedom with shorter lead times and reduced material wastage. However, the damage tolerance of AM parts is a significant concern due to their microstructural and geometric complexities, which affect their mechanical performance. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the manufacturing parameters affecting the damage tolerance of components produced by AM specifically selective laser melting(SLM). Detailed discussions are presented on the effects of manufacturing attributes on the microstructure, defects, and mechanical characteristics of AM parts. Depending on these aspects, basic concepts are studied and critically explained specifically for AM materials. The basic criterion for damage-tolerant component design, the criterion for fatigue and fracture properties, and the effect of the defects on fatigue life are critically presented. In addition, the effect of different types of gradation on the crack growth behavior of AM samples processed by SLM is also investigated in depth. There is currently a lack of a specific review study in the literature that establishes a connection between process attributes and metallographic properties, and their impact on the damage behavior of additively manufactured parts. This gap in research highlights the need for a comprehensive review to bridge this knowledge deficit and provide valuable insights for understanding the relationships between manufacturing processes, material characteristics, and the structural integrity of additively manufactured components. This review concludes by addressing the challenges and opportunities in designing and qualifying AM parts for damage tolerance.

A document by Peng Chang. Click on the document to view its contents.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is rare in children, accounting for 2-3% of pediatric leukemias. We present a case of a 10-year-old with acute appendicitis leading to the incidental discovery of CML. Due to concerns about leukostasis and tumor lysis syndrome, immediate surgical intervention was deferred in favor of medical management with antibiotics and hydroxyurea, followed by appendectomy once the leukocytosis improved. This case highlights the successful use of medical management as a bridge to surgery, providing novel insights into management of co-occurring appendicitis and CML in pediatric patients.

Bioelectronic medicine is a discipline that uses various electronic devices and technologies to diagnose, treat, and monitor life systems and diseases. We briefly outline the discovery process of common electrophysiological signals in the human body and focus on various electrical stimulation technologies. We discuss their applications in the nervous system, cancer treatment, tissue regeneration and repair, and cardiovascular system treatment. These applications often combine electrical stimulation with nanomaterials. With continuous technological development, various bioelectronic devices can be used for independent therapeutic intervention or adjunct treatment, and their applications are increasing. In addition, the development of bioelectronic medicine has benefited from artificial intelligence methods based on machine learning. We further discuss the huge potential of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence and big data analysis technologies in rehabilitation treatment and the expansion of bioelectronic medicine applications. We also discuss the limitations of each technology and future prospects.

This article is a research article focused on studying the wearing of bushing connections within shafts, particularly in flash gas compressors. The article aims to identify various factors contributing to malfunctions that hinder the smooth operation of these compressors. The methodology involves a comprehensive study of the bushing connections and proposes new compositions of materials for compressor bushings. These new materials would replace bronze, potentially by incorporating nonferrous elements into bronze alloys. This alteration aims to enhance the wear resistance of the bushings against friction, ultimately improving the efficiency and longevity of the compressor's operation. This research could have significant implications for the field, potentially leading to advancements in compressor technology and improved performance in various industrial applications.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.), due to its tropical and sub-tropical origin, is adversely affected by low temperatures below 15°C, restricting growth and yield. During the seedling and vegetative stage, cold stress causes curled leaves, fewer tillers, retarded growth, chlorosis, and necrosis. Due to the significance of this trait, exploring the wealth of genetic resources from a wider pool of germplasm to identify new sources of tolerance will be a crucial step. Toward this goal, we performed a genome-wide association study on a novel diversity panel of 238 rice accessions using the C7AIR SNP array. The experiment was conducted in controlled growth conditions, and rice accessions were evaluated for seven traits and four indices, which were recorded at three different time points, i.e., prior to cold treatment, after cold treatment and post recovery phase. A total of 77 significant GWAS-QTLs were identified for 21 cold tolerance and related traits of interest. Out of these, 34 were detected after cold stress, and 43 were detected during the post recovery phase. A total of 42 QTL regions were significant at FDR<0.001 and -log10(P-values) > 5. In addition, 31 novel GWAS-QTLs, three co-located GWAS-QTL hotspots, and eight co-located two GWAS-QTLs were also identified. The results of this study may help in further elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying cold tolerance as well as aid in developing climate-smart rice varieties for chilling stress conditions.

We consider a degenerate/singular wave equation in one dimension, with drift and in presence of a leading operator which is not in divergence form. We impose a homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition where the degeneracy occurs and a boundary damping at the other endpoint. We provide some conditions for the uniform exponential decay of solutions for the associated Cauchy problem.

Introduction: Despite constant improvements, incontinence is one of the most relevant and quality-of-life-reducing side effects of radical prostatectomy (RP) and, in addition to patient-specific factors such as age, the experience of the surgeon/center and the surgical technique used play an important role. Aim of the study was to present current real-world data on incontinence after RP from one of the largest German rehabilitation centers in 2022 and to compare it to the results from the same institution in 2016. Material and Methods: Retrospective, unicentric, univariate analysis of data from 1394 men after RP in 2022 at admission and discharge. Incontinence defined as ≥1 pad/day was evaluated by quantitative measuring all day incontinence under a defined graduation and compared to the results of 2016. Results: Median age for both cohorts was 66 years with minor differences in preoperative PSA levels. Despite different surgical approaches, no significant change in postoperative incontinence rates in 2016 and 2022 were noted at discharge (76.9 vs. 77.9%, p=0.56). A notable increase in patients with Gleason score 3+4 and a shift towards robotic surgery were observed in 2022. While nerve sparing led to a significant improvement in continence (p < 0.01), lymphadenectomy and T-stage were not related to any significant increase in incontinence rates. Comparing age groups within the cohort, patients >69 years exhibited the highest risk of postoperative incontinence and least likelihood of regaining continence during rehabilitation (p < 0.01). Men treated at a certified prostate cancer center had significantly (p<0.01) lower incontinence rates. Conclusion: Our study shows little improvement in short term post-operative incontinence rates after radical prostatectomy in Germany in the last six years and known risk factors for post-operative incontinence like age, nerve-sparing surgery and level of experience were reproduced in our analyses. We conclude to carefully select patients for RP and to strongly advice treatment at certified centers.

Hymenopteran queens are collectively highly fecund, often long-lived individuals that undergo dramatic physiological changes after they mate and establish a nest. However, the degree to which these changes are conserved among species with different life histories is not well-defined. We conducted a comparative proteomic study investigating differences between reproductive stages (virgins, mated, and established queens) of Apis mellifera, Bombus impatiens, B. terrestris, and Lasius niger. We identified conserved upregulation of proteins involved in anatomical and system development as queens transition to establishing a nest in all species except B. terrestris. We also identified conserved patterns of vitellogenin, vitellogenin receptor, and immune responsive protein (IRP)30, all of which are proteins typically associated with oviposition. However, expression patterns of other immune proteins, heat-shock proteins (HSPs), detoxification enzymes, and antioxidant enzymes were more dissimilar, with some species exhibiting similar trends and coregulation through reproductive stages, while others exhibited variable or opposite patterns. These conserved and unique profiles likely in part reflect similarities and differences in selective pressure on reproductive stages of each species and may indicate differing abilities to respond to emergent pathogens or environmental change.

Background: Intravenous (IV) Sildenafil form may be given intermittently or continuously. This study evaluated if IV continuous sildenafil titration is well tolerated and looked at adverse events and outcomes when used for management of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Methods: Retrospective study (January 1, 2016 - March 31, 2019). Patients ≤18 years of age on IV continuous sildenafil with diagnosis of secondary PH. Change in dose (mg/kg/hr.) and frequency of dose change were collected. Heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation immediately following the change of dose and echocardiographic data were collected. Primary objective evaluated tolerability. Secondary outcomes: describe titration regimens and clinical outcomes. Clinical characteristics were summarized with descriptive statistics. Continuous variables were reported with medians and categorical variables with frequencies and percentages. Results: The median age and weight were 156 (5-890) days and 4.2 (1.9-12.1) kg, respectively. Median initial and maximum doses of continuous IV sildenafil were 1 mg/k/day (0.4-2.5) and 4 mg/k/day (2-4). The median (range) time of continuous IV sildenafil titration was every 8 (5.7-89.3) hours. Median number of times IV continuous sildenafil was upward titrated was 5 (2-8) times. Hemodynamically important adverse events noted was decrease in blood pressure in 3 subjects (23.1%). A decrease in the estimated right ventricular pressure was noted in 9/11 subjects (81%) Conclusion: According to these data, continuous IV sildenafil appears to be tolerated, but may be associated with hypotension. Further studies are necessary to compare intermittent to continuous IV sildenafil therapy.

Objective: To determine the impact and best management sequence between adenotonsillectomy (AT) and rapid maxillary expansion (RME) on the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and minimum oxygen saturation (MinSaO 2) in non-obese pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients presenting relatively normal sagittal and vertical craniofacial features. Study Design/Methods: Thirty-two children with a mean age of 8.8 years, with a graded III/IV tonsillar hypertrophy and maxillary constriction, participated in a cross-over randomized controlled trial. As the first intervention, one group underwent AT while the other underwent RME. After six months, interventions were switched in those groups, but only to participants with an AHI > 1 after the first intervention. Polysomnography (PSG) was conducted before (T 0), six months after the first (T 1) and the second (T 2) intervention. The influence of sex, adenotonsillar hypertrophy degree, initial AHI and MinSaO 2 severity, and intervention sequence were evaluated using linear regression analysis. Intra- and inter-group comparisons for AHI and MinSaO 2 were performed using ANOVA and Tukey´s test. Results: The initial AHI severity and intervention sequence (AT first) explained 94.9% of AHI improvement. AT caused more significant AHI improvements than RME. The initial MinSaO 2 severity accounted for 83.1% of MinSaO 2 improvement changes. Most AHI reductions and MinSaO 2 improvements were due to AT than RME. In most cases, RME had a marginal effect on AHI and MinSaO 2 when adjusted for confounders. Conclusions: Initial AHI severity and AT as the first intervention accounted for most of the AHI improvement. The initial MinSaO 2 severity alone accounted for the most changes in MinSaO 2 increase.

The temperature dependence of maximal population growth rate (rm) is key to predicting ectotherm responses to climatic change. Matrix projection models (MPMs) are used to calculate rm because they can incorporate variation and inherent time-delays in underlying life-history traits. However, MPM calculations can be laborious and do not reflect time’s continuous nature. Ordinary differential equation-based models (ODEMs) offer a relatively tractable alternative, but it is largely unknown whether ODEM-based calculations and MPM broadly agree when environmental variation affects temperature–dependent rm by introducing time-delays and altering juvenile survival trajectories. We investigate differences in predicted temperature-dependent rm from an ODEM with that calculated from MPMs using temperature– and resource-dependent life-history trait data for the mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti. We show that discrete- and continuous-time calculations of temperature-dependent rm can vary with resource availability and are sensitive to juvenile survival characterisations, suggesting ODEMs can provide comparable temperature–dependent rm calculations unless resources are constraining.

Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are the most prevalent illnesses among people of all ages. Influenza viruses, known for frequent genomic changes, require close genetic monitoring to track new strains and evaluate vaccine efficacy. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and variations of seasonal H3N2 influenza among ARI patients at tertiary care hospital in Pondicherry, Southern India, from August 2022 to March 2023 and seasonal trends of H3N2 from 2019 to 2023. We collected 7099 throat swab samples and performed real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using a magnetic bead-based extraction method. RT-PCR confirmed influenza A and subtype H3N2 presence. Samples with a cyclic threshold (CT) value of ≤ 27 were sequenced. H3N2 peaked from July to November in 2019 and from September to November in 2021. In 2022, peaks shifted to post-November, extending into February-March 2023, with minimal cases in September-October 2022. The study found larger spikes in early 2023, with influenza A being predominant in 13.4% of samples. H3N2 dominated from January to March 2023, while H1N1 was more common earlier. Mutations, both common and novel, were identified. This study highlights the importance of ongoing surveillance and monitoring of H3N2 to guide public health interventions and vaccine development.

The immunological pathways that cause Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome after SARS-CoV-2 infection in children (MIS-C) remain under investigation. The aim of this study was to prospectively compare the T-cell cytokine expression profile between children with convalescent COVID-19 or MIS-C. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from unvaccinated children with acute MIS-C (MIS-C_A) before immunosuppression, convalescent MIS-C (one month after syndrome onset, MIS-C_C), convalescent COVID-19 (one month after hospitalization) and healthy, unvaccinated controls. Intracellular expression of IL-4, IL-2, IL-17, IFN-γ, TNF-α and Granzyme B, post SARS-CoV-2-Spike antigenic mix stimulation of T cell subsets was analyzed by 13-colour Flow Cytometry. Twenty children (4 MIS-C_A, 4 MIS-C_C, 8 post-COVID-19, and 4 controls) with median age (IQR): 11.5(7.25-14) years were included in the study. From the comparison of the flow cytometry analysis of the 14 markers of MIS-C_A with the other 3 groups (MIS-C_C, post-COVID-19 and controls), statistically significant differences were identified for: 1. CD4 +IL-17 +/million CD3 +: 293.0 (256.4-870.9) vs 50.7 (8.4-140.5); P-value:0.03, vs 96.7 (89.2-135.4); P-value:0.03 and vs 8.7 (0.0-82.4); P-value:0.03, respectively, 2. CD8 +IL-17 +/million CD3 +: 335.2 (225.8-429.9) vs 78.0 (31.9-128.9) vs 84.1(0.0-204.6) vs 33.2 (0.0-114.6); P-value:0.05, respectively 3. CD8 +IFN-γ +/million CD3 +: 162.2 (91.6-273.4) vs 41.5 (0.0-77.4); P-value:0.03 vs 30.3(0.0-92.8); P-value:0.08, respectively. In children presenting with MIS-C one month after COVID-19 infection, T cells were found to be polarized towards IL-17 and IFN-γ production compared to those with uncomplicated convalescent COVID-19, a finding that could provide possible immunological biomarkers for MIS-C detection.

Many college students are interested in a career as a psychotherapist. With more recent attention directed towards mental health needs and less stigma in seeking professional services, there may be an even greater level of interest among college students wishing to become psychotherapists. Graduate training and career options in psychotherapy can be remarkably confusing since there are many diverse pathways to licensure as a psychotherapist. There is an alphabet soup of options that include pursuing a PhD, PsyD, MFT, LPC, MSW, among others? Students, and their advisors, need simple guidelines to best figure out which pathway is best for individual students. This article hopes to introduce several critical questions and issues to consider to help students more easily find the path that will suit them best.

Context: Profiling developers is challenging since many factors, such as their skills, experience, development environment, and behaviors, may influence a detailed analysis and the delivery of coherent interpretations. Objective: We aim at profiling software developers by mining their software development process. To do so, we performed a controlled experiment where, in the realm of a Python programming contest, a group of developers had the same well-defined set of requirements specifications and a well-defined sprint schedule. Events were collected from the PyCharm IDE, and from the Mooshak automatic jury where subjects checked in their code. Method: We used n-gram language models and text mining to characterize developers’ profiles, and process mining algorithms to discover their overall workflows and extract the correspondent metrics for further evaluation. Additionally, we evaluated a textual abstraction of software process smells and assessed their results. Results: Findings show that we can clearly characterize with a coherent rationale most developers, and distinguish the top performers from the ones with more challenging behaviors. This approach may lead ultimately to the creation of a standard catalog of software development process smells and their correspondent textual abstractions, which is fundamentally useful in conjunction with Large Language Models. Conclusions: The profile of a developer provides a software project manager with a clue for the selection of appropriate tasks he/she should be assigned. With the increasing usage of low and no-code platforms, where coding is automatically generated from an upper abstraction layer, mining developers’ actions in the development platforms is a promising approach to early detect not only behaviors but also assess project complexity and model effort. Results are promising, however, further testing is needed to support this approach. If this reveals useful, large language models can be trained specifically to address the finding of process development patterns within teams and organizations.

A computational fluid dynamics study was carried out on the atomization characteristics of a certain type of dual-orifice nozzles centrifugal nozzle. The reliability of the numerical simulation was verified by using the simulation of two-phase flow with Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) and combining the results of experimental studies on nozzle atomization. Ultimately, the atomization characteristics of the two-way centrifugal nozzle under different working conditions were obtained. The results showed that: when the sub fuel road worked alone, with the increased fuel pressure, the momentum ratio of the liquid increased; the atomization cone angle was affected by the fuel supply pressure at low supply pressure, and after the increased pressure affected by the structure of the nozzle, the size of the atomization cone angle tended to increase first and then decrease. When dual fuel roads worked at the same time, the main fuel road produced a convergence of fuel from the droplets to the fuel sheet. The change of the atomization field was less affected by the sub fuel road and mainly by the main fuel road whose fluid conditions determined the entire atomization field of the change of the physical parameters. When the fuel supply pressure was lower, the liquid film surface produced a kind of surface wave that varied along the sinusoidal direction of the liquid film surface. At this time, the dominant liquid fragmentation was the Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability. When the fuel supply pressure was higher, the liquid column fragmentation was dominated by the Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instability.

Introduction: The problem of detecting people at ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR) remains an issue. Thus, screening tools have received increased attention. We assessed the performance of the Prodromal Questionaire-16 (PQ-16) and the Perceptual and Cognitive Aberrations scale (PCA) to screen for UHR in the general population of Sao Paulo. Methods: Individuals aged 18-35 years (n=6500) were interviewed with the PQ-16 and the PCA. Those with a combined score>10 on the PQ-16+BS were called for assessment with the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS). 75 individuals were deemed as UHR and 99 as healthy comparison; 44 randomly selected individuals (PQ-16+PCA scores<10) joined as further controls. All participants had no DSM-5 diagnosis. Scores of the PCA, PQ-16 (total score and distress index), and their combinations were analyzed. Results: All the proposed scorings significantly distinguished between UHR and control subjects. PQ-16 scoring showed the best performance (AUC=0.711), followed by the PQ-16+PCA combination (AUC=0.700). PQ-16 distress index had the worst performance. Conclusions: Data provides further evidence for the use of the PQ-16 as an effective screening instrument to search for UHR states in the general population. This can help UHR identification, reduce delays in care, while minimizing the risk of false positives.

The results of mathematical modeling of trophic relationships between individual components of ecological communities significantly depend on the features of the functional response of predators (consumers). For this reason, the adequacy of the results of modeling ecological processes is largely determined by the choice of a mathematical function that describes the functional response. The choice of the type of such a function is the subject of intense discussion. In particular, the problem of predator interference and the associated choice between two types of functions describing the functional response in mathematical modeling of population dynamics are widely discussed. It is the choice between predator-dependent and prey-dependent functions. Here we present the results of comparing a wide range of the functions describing the functional response, which are used in modeling trophic interactions, with the functional response that is characteristic of interactions between phytoplankton and zooplankton populations in the ecosystem of the Naroch Lakes (Belarus). We apply the knowledge-and-data-driven, or KDD, approach, which allows us to use the results of the monitoring of the Naroch Lakes ecosystem, to identify the time-dependent functional response in each of the reservoirs of this ecosystem. The KDD approach provides for direct input of monitoring data into the mathematical description of population dynamics. As a result, we show that predator-dependent functional responses best match the environmental processes in the ecosystem of the Naroch Lakes.

With triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) introduced in 2012, they have emerged in the fields of flexible wearable electronics, portable energy, Internet of Things (IoT), and biomedicine by virtue of their lightweight, high-energy conversion, low cost, and material selectivity. However, as the application areas of TENGs increase, ambient humidity and human movement generate sweat and moisture that can lead to a decrease in output, so exploring how TENGs operate in high humidity environments is critical to their long-term development. In this paper, different strategies are introduced to enhance TENGs in high humidity environments, such as encapsulation, construction of hydrophobic/superhydrophobic surfaces, and hydrogen bonding enhancement, and discuss the applications of humidity-resistant TENGs in fields such as self-powered sensors, energy harvesters, and motions, etc. Finally, we explore the future directions and routes for the development of humidity-resistant TENGs.

Trait-based ecology has changed the way plant ecologists study community-level processes, among other advances through the description of the plant economics spectrum, resulting from the consistent correla-tion across spatial scales of functional traits related to resource investment. Between species, these trait correlations have revealed trade-offs in the way available resources are allocated in a given set of environ-mental conditions, and that these trade-offs impact community assembly rules and ecosystem processes. Within species however, uncertainties remain around the importance of intraspecific trait variation (ITV), and its potential upward repercussions on higher-order processes. As a matter of fact, ITV has been observed to impact species distribution and the biotic interactions within species. With rapidly changing climatic conditions, ITV might help in determining species response to adverse conditions, and to infer an ecosystem’s tolerance to these conditions. Coastal wetlands are at the forefront of climate change, with short environmental gradients of inundation frequency and salinity that are bound to shift in the following decades. In an ex situ experiment mimicking estuarine constraints of salinity and inunda-tion frequency, we have observed substantial shifts in intra-specific growth and resource allocation strate-gies of isolated plant individuals without competition. Across the two interacting stress gradients, the plant species’ traits related to resource acquisition correlated to reveal the acquisition – conservation strat-egies of the plant economic spectrum. Each of the three species displayed distinctive ITV, highlighting the importance of individual variability, that should be taken into account when studying community-level responses to stress gradients.

The Astrobees are free-flying robots that operate inside the International Space Station (ISS) and were launched to the ISS in 2019. Since then they have successfully performed hundreds of activities in space supporting almost two dozen separate research projects. The robots were designed to overcome multiple challenges unique to the ISS environment, including safety, upgradeability and maintainability, limited mass and computation, and unique localization challenges from lack of gravity and a constantly changing environment. This article provides an overview of Astrobee, from hardware and software design to deployment results and activities.

Self-assembly into complex supramolecular arrangements, played a crucial role in the evolution of life. Metal ions are fundamental elements for the maintenance of living systems to control for example the electrochemical environment. It was proposed, that the association of large, poorly solvated ions (radius about 0.2 nm) – known as chaotropes – in water could be a first step towards the origin of life. However, the role of the chaotropic effect in self-assembling life was never demonstrated experimentally. Here, we present a photoredox-responsive inorganic-organic hybrid system, based on a highly chaotropic polyoxometalate (radius about 0.5 nm) and an oligomeric propylene glycol, as a model for prebiotic self-assembly. Indeed, the assembly-disassembly of this system synchronizes with day/night cycle. Therefore, these supramolecular aggregates adapt to environmental conditions and subsequently display properties characteristic of emerging life. The availability of metalate- or thiometalate-ion species ( i.e. WO 4 2- and WS 4 2-), forming polyoxometalates or polythiometalates under acidic conditions, and oligomeric organic biomolecules (oligonucleotides or oligopeptides) in the prebiotic ocean suggests that a similar scenario may have taken place in early life evolution. Our findings show how the chaotropic effect could have played a role for the origin of life on earth.

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) considered a key strategy for reducing the emissions of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from power generation plants, can be achieved by three main technologies: oxy-fuel combustion, pre-combustion, and post-combustion capture. Post-combustion carbon capture (PCC), where CO2 is removed after the fuel burning, is a crucial solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas power plants (NGPPs). However, high costs and energy penalties associated with PCC technologies hinder their widespread adoption. Recent advancements in hybrid PCC configurations have shown promise in improving efficiency and reducing costs. In effect, six PCC hybrid configurations below were identified as feasible process routes: