Resources and the environment are two eternal themes of social development. Nuclear energy, a green source with high energy density, can greatly alleviate the pressure of the energy crisis in today's society. To guarantee the long-term sufficient supply of nuclear fuel, mining seawater uranium is imperative. Meanwhile, the great threats of uranium to ecological security and human health make the removal of uranium from the environment urgent. To achieve these ends, a large number of materials with specific functions have been born as a result. Among them, amidoxime-based materials serve as one of the most promising candidates and are the main tool used for uranium extraction from aqueous systems owing to their special affinity for uranium. However, there is still huge room for improvement in amidoxime-based materials in terms of their economic efficiency and performance. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of amidoxime-based materials for uranium recovery and removal, including synthesis strategies, characterization and types of amidoxime-based materials, the factors that influence uranium extraction, and the binding mechanisms between amidoxime ligands and uranyl ions, as well as the cost drivers in applications. Meanwhile, the shortcomings of current research as well as future development directions and research hotspots are also pointed out. Based on the in-depth analysis of the currently available literature, a demand-oriented strategy for fabricating a new generation of amidoxime-based adsorbents was proposed, and means to enhance the adsorbent performance were discussed with regards to four aspects, including adsorption capacity, selectivity, kinetics and regenerability. This paper aims to provide guidance for the purposeful design of novel amidoxime-based materials, and to provide advice on circumventing unfavorable factors and solving the technical problems relating to uranium recovery and removal.
Abstract Ransomware is a special type of malware that can lock victims’ screen and/or encrypt their files to obtain ransoms, resulting in great damage to users. Mapping ransomware into families is useful for identifying the variants of a known ransomware sample and for reducing analysts’ workload. However, ransomware that can fingerprint the environment can evade the precious work of dynamic analysis. To the best of our knowledge, to overcome this shortcoming, we are the first to propose an approach based on static analysis to classifying ransomware. First, opcode sequences from ransomware samples are transformed into N-gram sequences. Then, Term frequency-Inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) is calculated for each N-gram to select feature N-grams so that these N-grams exhibit better discrimination between families. Finally, we treat the vectors composed of the TF values of the feature N-grams as the feature vectors and subsequently feed them to five machine-learning methods to perform ransomware classification. Six evaluation criteria are employed to validate the model. Thorough experiments performed using real datasets demonstrate that our approach can achieve the best Accuracy of 91.43%. Furthermore, the average F1-measure of the “wannacry” ransomware family is up to 99%, and the Accuracy of binary classification is up to 99.3%. The proposed method can detect and classify ransomware that can fingerprint the environment. In addition, we discover that different feature dimensions are required for achieving similar classifier performance with feature N-grams of diverse lengths.
Importance. The problem of the effectiveness of meaningful classes with students belonging to a special medical group is acute in the university environment. It is primarily related to the presence of various diseases in this category of students and the need to use universal wellness technology, which is correctly implemented among participants in special medical groups with different diagnoses and degrees of morbidity. The relevance of this study is related to the need to obtain experimental data on the dynamics of vital signs of students with disabilities during the implementation of technology for developing the health potential of the studied population. The purpose of the study is to determine the resource component dynamics of the health potential of students of a special medical group at the end of the formative stage of a pedagogical experiment that implements technology for developing the health potential of students with disabilities using oriental wellness techniques, aquagymnastics and various types of recreational walking.Materials and Methods. Scientific and methodological literature analysis; pedagogical observation; functional tests. The following calculated indicators are used: Endurance coefficient (EC) according to L.I. Myznikov; Circulatory efficiency coefficient (CEC); Circulatory efficiency index according to G.K. Khomyakov, L.G. Zucker; IR – Robinson index; Kerdo IR index. The study involved 34 students of Derzhavin Tambov State University, with health deviations.Results and Discussion. The technology effectiveness for developing the health potential of Derzhavin Tambov State University students with disabilities using oriental wellness techniques, aqua gymnastics and various types of recreational walking is confirmed by indicators indicating a decrease in the average values of heart rate, systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure, respectively, in each study group; based on the positive dynamics of the orthostatic test, the effect of physical education and wellness activities on improving functional reactivity quality of the hemodynamics’ regulatory mechanisms in the autonomic nervous system of students who participated in the experiment is reliably revealed.Conclusion. The results of the study allowed to obtain an experimental substantiation of the developed technology content, and the mathematical statistics methods – to statistically argue the application results of the technology for the health potential development of students with disabilities engaged in special medical groups.
This article discusses the importance of organizational and economic support as a key element of the crisis management system in enterprises operating in an unstable external environment and facing internal dysfunctions. Emphasis is placed on a comprehensive approach that includes organizational structures, financial mechanisms, regulatory frameworks, human resources, information and analytical systems, and technological tools. The role of an adaptive organizational structure is substantiated, providing flexibility in decision-making, delegation of authority, and coordination of crisis units. The significance of information and analytical systems, based on modern digital technologies (Big Data, ERP, Business Intelligence), is highlighted for the prompt identification of risks and making informed management decisions. Financial and economic instruments aimed at stabilizing cash flows, optimizing expenditures, and ensuring solvency are specifically highlighted, along with the importance of legal regulation governing anti-crisis measures in accordance with current legislation. The authors emphasize the critical role of competent and stress-resistant management personnel, for whom specialized training and the formation of anti-crisis teams with strategic vision are recommended. Special attention is given to internal communication as a factor in reducing uncertainty and maintaining team spirit in crisis situations. It is noted that an innovative approach, particularly digital transformation and the development of new business models, enhances the competitiveness of enterprises during crises. The article proposes a conceptual framework for the formation of a crisis management system based on the interaction of six key components of organizational and economic support: organizational, economic, regulatory-methodological, staffing, informational, and technological. The article emphasizes that such a system should be multi-level, adaptive, and integrative, capable of taking into account the specifics of the industry, types of threats, and internal reserves of the enterprise. At the practical level, the experience of Ukrainian companies «Nova Poshta», ATB-Market, Rozetka, and Ukrposhta, which successfully implemented all components of organizational and economic support during the pandemic and martial law, is analyzed. It is demonstrated that effective operation of crisis headquarters, optimization of financial resources, implementation of modern information systems, and support for personnel ensure continuity of operations, enhance client trust, and strengthen market positions. The comparative analysis confirms that a comprehensive approach to crisis management is universal and adaptable to different sectors.
This experimental study deals with the effect of the natural marine environment in the Adriatic Sea on the properties of the welded additively manufactured stainless steel AISI 316L. The welding of additively manufactured materials is of special interest to the maritime industry, which is seeking to introduce additive manufacturing technology in the repair and maintenance of ships and offshore installations. Three types of welded specimens were tested: a combination of two additively manufactured parts, a combination of additively manufactured and conventionally manufactured parts, and, for reference, a combination of two conventionally manufactured parts. The specimens were submerged below the sea for one, three, and six months. Once extracted, the specimens were tested for changes in mass, tensile strength, and surface morphology. The results show better behaviour of conventionally manufactured steel in the primary periods of exposure in terms of regaining tensile strength. EDS scans show the apparent influence of the sea, underlining the importance of conducting such experiments in the natural marine environment. The research highlights include exposure to the natural marine environment for prolonged periods and testing different additively and conventionally welded steel AISI 316L configurations.
Introduction: Word problem-solving skills require the correct and appropriate use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Individuals with specific learning disabilities (SLD) use these strategies less than their peers and experience significant difficulties employing the strategies they have in appropriate contexts and choosing the right strategy. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to determine the effect of Modified Conceptual Model-Based Problem-Solving (COMPS) on the word problem-solving skills of students with specific learning disabilities.Method: The study used the multiple probe design with probe trials across subjects, one of the single-subject research methods. Three students aged 10-11 years who were diagnosed with learning disabilities and studying in the fourth and fifth grades constituted the study subjects.Findings: The findings showed that Modified COMPS was effective in improving the performance of students with learning disabilities in comparison word problems including one-step addition or subtraction and the subjects maintained their performance two, four, and six weeks after the instruction was completed and could generalize this performance and the strategies they employed to the real classroom environment. Furthermore, the students could generalize the strategy they learned to part-whole, separating, and joining word problems including one-step addition or subtraction. The data obtained from the think-aloud protocols demonstrated that the cognitive and metacognitive strategies the students used before the instruction increased and diversified significantly for all problem types after the instruction. According to the social validity findings, the students, their teachers, and parents expressed positive opinions about the study.Discussion: The findings of the current study, which taught different cognitive and metacognitive strategies to students with learning disabilities, support and generalize the findings of the research conducted with students with special needs in the literature.
Christine Keller, Manuel Landstorfer, Jürgen Fuhrmann
et al.
A thermodynamically consistent model framework to describe ion transport in nanopores is presented. The continuum model unifies electro-diffusion and selective ion transport and extends the classical Poisson–Nernst–Planck (PNP) system for an idealized incompressible mixture by including finite ion size and solvation effects. Special emphasis is placed on the consistent modeling of the selectivity filter within the pore. It is treated as an embedded domain in which the constituents can change their chemical properties and mobility. Using this framework, we achieve good agreement with an experimentally observed current–voltage (IV) characteristic for an L-type selective calcium ion channel for a range of ion concentrations. In particular, we show that the model captures the experimentally observed anomalous mole fraction effect (AMFE). As a result, we find that calcium and sodium currents depend on the surface charge in the selectivity filter, the mobility of ions and the available space in the channel. Our results show that negative charges within the pore have a decisive influence on the selectivity of divalent over monovalent ions, supporting the view that AMFE can emerge from competition and binding effects in a multi-ion environment. Furthermore, the flexibility of the model allows its application in a wide range of channel types and environmental conditions, including both biological ion channels and synthetic nanopores, such as engineered membrane systems with selective ion transport.
The Maclaurin symmetric mean (MSM) operator is a classical mean type aggregation operator used in modern information fusion theory, which is suitable to aggregate numerical values. The prominent characteristic of the MSM operator is that it can capture the interrelationship among the multiinput arguments. In this paper, we extend MSM to Pythagorean fuzzy environment to propose the Pythagorean fuzzy Maclaurin symmetric mean and Pythagorean fuzzy weighted Maclaurin symmetric mean operators. Then, some desirable properties and special cases of these operators are discussed in detail. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed methods and deliver a comparative analysis.
Water treatment plants' effluents are hotspots of microplastics (MPs) and microfibres (MFs) released into the aquatic environment because they were not designed to capture these particles. Special attention should be given to MFs, since they mainly come from laundry and are related to one of the main MP shapes detected in water and wastewater treatment plants. In this sense, Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) could be a feasible solution for tackling MP and MF pollution, however, it is still premature to extract conclusions due to the limited number of studies on the degradation of these particles (specifically MFs) using AOPs. This review addresses the impacts of AOPs on MPs/MFs, focusing on their degradation efficiency, toxicity, and sustainability of the processes, among other aspects. The review points out that polyamide MFs can achieve mass loss >90% by photocatalytic system using TiO2. Also, the low oxidation of MPs (100 °C, reaction time ≥ 5 h, and initial pH ≤ 3, achieving MP weight loss up to 96 %. Despite these results, better operating conditions are still required for AOPs since the ones reported so far are not feasible for full-scale application. Additionally, ozonation in treatment plants has increased the fragmentation of MPs (including MFs), leading to a new generation of MPs. More attention is needed on toxicity effects of intermediates and methods of analysis employed for the analysis of MPs/MFs in wastewater effluent should be standardized so that studies can be compared effectively. Future research should focus on the sustainability of the AOP for MP removal in water treatment (power consumption, chemicals consumed and operational costs) for a better understanding of full-scale applicability of AOP adapted to MP treatment.
Abstract Since 2014, the Chinese government has initiatednew-type urbanization under the guidance of ‘the National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014–2020)’, which embarks on a significant transformation of the model of urbanization in post-reform China. To understand the origin and outputs of this policy, this article demonstrates the context of China’s new-type urbanization. The paper proposes a conceptual framework of new-type urbanization, which mainly includes four aspects: humanism, people-oriented urbanization; inclusivism, benefits sharing for urban and rural; sustainability, development without sacrifice of resources and environment; and harmonism, coordination. This is followed by an examination of the case of Anhui province, as a pilot province of China’s new-type urbanization. Anhui has performed a lot of related work to promote citizenization of peasant workers and has made great progress on the reform of the household registration system. The study found that despite a special emphasis on people-oriented urbanization, the pressures and costs of citizenization of peasant workers are growing fast, accompanied by rising housing prices in cities. This insight suggests there are benefits and costs of promoting China’s new-type urbanization. Despite the advantages of institutional innovation, the unexpected side effects such as rapid rising housing prices actually undermine the success of plan implementation.
F. V. van Eeuwijk, Daniela Bustos-Korts, Emilie J. Millet
et al.
New types of phenotyping tools generate large amounts of data on many aspects of plant physiology and morphology with high spatial and temporal resolution. These new phenotyping data are potentially useful to improve understanding and prediction of complex traits, like yield, that are characterized by strong environmental context dependencies, i.e., genotype by environment interactions. For an evaluation of the utility of new phenotyping information, we will look at how this information can be incorporated in different classes of genotype-to-phenotype (G2P) models. G2P models predict phenotypic traits as functions of genotypic and environmental inputs. In the last decade, access to high-density single nucleotide polymorphism markers (SNPs) and sequence information has boosted the development of a class of G2P models called genomic prediction models that predict phenotypes from genome wide marker profiles. The challenge now is to build G2P models that incorporate simultaneously extensive genomic information alongside with new phenotypic information. Beyond the modification of existing G2P models, new G2P paradigms are required. We present candidate G2P models for the integration of genomic and new phenotyping information and illustrate their use in examples. Special attention will be given to the modelling of genotype by environment interactions. The G2P models provide a framework for model based phenotyping and the evaluation of the utility of phenotyping information in the context of breeding programs.
Shyam Sudhakar Gomte, T. Agnihotri, Shivani Khopade
et al.
Abstract The pH-sensitive polymers have attained significant attention in the arena of targeted drug delivery (TDD) because of their exceptional capability to respond to alteration in pH in various physiological environments. This attribute aids pH-sensitive polymers to act as smart carriers for therapeutic agents, transporting them precisely to target locations while curtailing the release of drugs in off-targeted sites, thereby diminishing side effects. Many pH-responsive polymers in TDD have revealed promising results, with increased therapeutic efficacy and decreased toxic effects. Several pH-sensitive polymers, including, hydroxy-propyl-methyl cellulose, poly (methacrylic acid) (Eudragit series), poly (acrylic acid), and chitosan, have been broadly studied for their myriad applications in the management of various types of diseases. Additionally, the amalgamation of pH-sensitive polymers with, additive manufacturing techniques like 3D printing, has resulted in the progression of novel drug delivery systems that regulate drug release in a controlled manner. Herein, types of pH-sensitive polymers in TDD are systemically reviewed. We have briefly discussed the nanocarriers employed for the delivery of various pH-sensitive polymers in TDD. Finally, miscellaneous applications of pH-sensitive polymers are discussed thoroughly with special attention to the implication of 3D printing in pH-sensitive polymers. Graphical Abstract