Hamid Raza, Mukkram Ali Tahir, Noor Us Sabah
et al.
Forage crops that contain elevated levels of metals are a serious hygiene and safety concern because they act as the main route through which these elements enter the food chain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential health risks associated with cadmium contamination in the food chain by applying different assessment indices, focusing on commonly consumed forage crops grown at contaminated sites near District Khushab, Pakistan. Across the winter and summer seasons of 2023–24, a total of water (n = 100), forage (n = 240), soil (n = 240), ruminant blood (n = 100), and milk (n = 100) samples were obtained from two separate locations: Jauharabad (S_1) and Noorpur Thal (S_2) and tested to measure cadmium content with an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Cadmium concentrations averaged 0.09–0.58 mg kg⁻¹ in soil, 0.04–1.02 mg kg⁻¹ in forage, 0.21–1.25 mg L⁻¹ in water, 0.17–2.98 mg L⁻¹ in cow blood, 0.68–4.68 mg L⁻¹ in buffalo blood, 0.24–1.25 mg L⁻¹ in cow milk, and 0.15–0.96 mg L⁻¹ in buffalo milk. A very strong and statistically significant positive correlation was found between water at site S_1 and soil at site S_2 during the winter season. A highly significant strong positive correlation was observed between sites S_1 and S_2 for the crop T. alexandrium during the winter season. In contrast, P. glaucum showed a strong and significant negative correlation in the summer, while no significant effect of cadmium was detected in Z. mays during the same season. In animals, cadmium levels were highest in blood and lowest in milk. All calculated risk indices including BCF, EF, Eri, HRI, and THQ exceeded 1, highlighting potential health hazards for consumers at both sites across both seasons. Regular monitoring of cadmium and other heavy metals in soil, water, and fodder, along with strict enforcement of regulations on industrial waste disposal and wastewater irrigation, is essential to minimize environmental and health risks. Farmers should be guided to use clean water, adopt low metal accumulating forages, and avoid grazing livestock on contaminated pastures. Promoting soil remediation practices and collaboration among agencies, researchers, and farmers will help reduce metal transfer through the food chain and protect both animal and human health.
Yuri Eduardo Souza Andrade, Jean Marcel Sousa Lira, Rodolfo Soares de Almeida
et al.
O plantio de essências florestais exóticas é uma alternativa econômica viável para pequenas e médias propriedades rurais. No entanto, a atividade ainda é pouco difundida devido às incertezas quanto à viabilidade econômica. Este estudo analisou a viabilidade econômica do plantio de mogno africano na região do Campo das Vertentes, Minas Gerais (MG). Utilizou-se um plantio misto de Khaya grandifoliola e Khaya senegalensis, implantado em outubro de 2020, em uma área de 2,1 hectares, com espaçamento de 3x2 m e três ciclos de desbaste aos 5, 10 e 15 anos, além de corte raso no vigésimo ano. Os indicadores financeiros analisados foram: custo por hectare, valor presente líquido (VPL), taxa interna de retorno (TIR), custo médio de produção (CMP), valor anual equivalente (VAE), e a relação benefício/custo (B/C), acompanhados por uma análise de sensibilidade. Os resultados indicaram que o plantio de mogno africano é economicamente viável. A análise de sensibilidade mostrou que as variáveis "taxa de juros" e "preço de comercialização da madeira" impactam significativamente a viabilidade, enquanto o custo de preparo da área teve uma influência mínima. Portanto, o plantio de mogno africano se apresenta como uma alternativa promissora para investimentos rurais na região.
Mariana Andrades Fiorini Monteiro Novo, Vania dos Santos Nunes-Nogueira, Lucas Oliveira Cantadori
et al.
Introdução: O bortezomibe é uma das medicações mais utilizadas no tratamento do mieloma múltiplo (MM). Objetivo: Realizar um estudo de macrocusteio do uso do bortezomibe no tratamento do MM na perspectiva do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). Métodos: Foram considerados os custos diretos relacionados a aquisição do bortezomibe. A partir dos dados do Departamento de Informática do Sistema Único de Saúde (DATASUS) foram calculadas a incidência anual de casos de MM e a estimativa de pacientes em tratamento. O custo do bortezomibe foi obtido no Banco de Preços de Saúde (BPS). O custo aproximado por paciente foi comparado ao valor reembolsado pela Autorização de Procedimento Ambulatorial (APAC). Foram consideradas duas possibilidades de tratamento: 9 ciclos, utilizados para pacientes candidatos ao transplante autólogo de células-tronco hematopoiéticas (TACTH) (30% da população), e 12 ciclos utilizados para pacientes não candidatos ao TACTH (70%). Resultados: Considerando 1,3mg/m² e 1,5mg/m², e um desperdício de dose de 10%, o custo por paciente em 9 ciclos foi de R$17.678,30 e R$18.023,64, respectivamente. Para 12 ciclos o custo foi R$23.569,94 para dose de 1,3mg/m² e R$24.030,39 para dose de 1,5mg/m². De acordo com o valor da APAC atual, que é de R$ 5.224,65, o valor total pago pelo tratamento de 9 ciclos é de R$ 47.021,85 e para 12 ciclos é de R$62.695,80. Discussão e Conclusão: O custo médio do tratamento com bortezomibe por paciente foi de R$22.100,59, e o valor reembolsado pela APAC R$57.993,62. Entretanto, enfatiza-se que foram computados apenas os custos diretos da aquisição do bortezomibe.
Pharmacy and materia medica, Pharmaceutical industry
Drought stress significantly inhibits the growth of Astragalus mongholicus, leading to reduced biomass, decreased photosynthetic efficiency, and exacerbated oxidative damage. In our study, the accumulation of saponins and flavonoids in Astragalus roots markedly increased under moderate drought stress. These secondary metabolites further reshaped the rhizosphere microbial community structure, significantly increasing its diversity and interaction network complexity. Notably, drought stress enriched beneficial bacterial genera such as Rhizobium and Pseudomonas in the rhizosphere soil. Combined with the isolation of culturable microorganisms and the co-occurrence network of the rhizosphere bacterial community, we constructed a 13-strain synthetic community (SynCom) and simplified it to 7 strains. Compared with the noninoculated control, under moderate drought stress, inoculation with the simplified SynCom significantly increased plant growth, increasing the aboveground fresh weight by 50.10 %, dry weight by 55.29 %, and underground fresh weight by 76.40 %. Similarly, plants treated with the synthetic community presented significant increases in aboveground fresh weight and dry weight compared with those of the noninoculated control, with increases of 46.98 % and 61.54 %, respectively. Moreover, inoculation with the simplified community significantly reduced the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and improved the catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) activities and leaf photosynthetic parameters (Fv/Fm and Y(II)) of Astragalus. Our findings provide new insight into improving the yield and quality of Astragalus and highlight the potential of synthetic rhizosphere microbial communities for assisting plants in coping with abiotic stress.
Abstract In recent years, microneedle (MN) and biosensor technologies have emerged as innovative solutions for non-invasive drug delivery and real-time disease diagnostics. Microneedles offer numerous advantages, including minimal pain, targeted delivery, improved bioavailability, and enhanced patient compliance. Various types—solid, hollow, dissolving, coated, and hydrogel microneedles—are designed to address specific therapeutic needs, each with unique drug release mechanisms. Advanced fabrication techniques such as 3D printing, laser ablation, photolithography, and micro-stereolithography allow for precise design and scalability. Biosensors, composed of bioreceptors and transducers, detect and quantify biological signals with high sensitivity and specificity. These devices are classified based on bioreceptors (enzymes, antibodies, cells), transduction mechanisms (electrochemical, optical, acoustic), and detection principles (mechanical, electronic). The integration of microneedles with biosensors enables continuous, real-time monitoring of biomarkers for chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease, and renal dysfunction. Several microneedle-based biosensing devices have been developed for glucose, urea, cholesterol, nitric oxide, and carcinoembryonic antigen detection. Powering these biosensors effectively remains crucial. Emerging technologies such as triboelectric, piezoelectric, thermoelectric nanogenerators, and biological fuel cells offer promising self-powered solutions. Moreover, the future scope includes integration with artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and biodegradable materials for personalized and sustainable healthcare. This review highlights the synergistic potential of microneedles and biosensors in diagnostics and therapeutics, emphasizing their role in transforming point-of-care medicine and wearable health monitoring. Graphical abstract
Therapeutics. Pharmacology, Pharmacy and materia medica
Elias Maritan, Evangelos Anastasiou, Vasilis Psiroukis
et al.
Spraying pesticides with uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) in European viticulture is currently only allowed when there are no viable alternatives or if it provides environmental and human health benefits. Using Greece as a case study, this analysis investigated the agroecological performance of UAV spraying in comparison with land-based pesticide application. A multi-objective linear programming model assessed farmer preferences for spraying pesticides with ground equipment or a UAV. Farmers concerned with non-economic goals preferred UAV targeted pesticide application, while production-orientated farmers favoured ground spraying. Depending on disease pressure, UAV spraying generated annual savings of €278–377 ha-1 on a flat vineyard compared to a trailed vine sprayer and €367–538 ha-1 on a steep-slope vineyard compared to a backpack sprayer. However, the estimated costs of custom-hiring UAVs in Greece made UAV spraying less profitable except in conditions of simultaneous extreme labour scarcity and high disease pressure on the steep-slope vineyard. UAV aerial broadcast had an environmental impact comparable to ground spraying, but UAV spot-spraying mitigated ecotoxicological risks of pesticide use by 46–50 %. Both UAV spraying methods substantially reduced human exposure to pesticides. In current regulation, UAV aerial broadcast would only be allowed in steep-slope viticulture if seasonal labour was unavailable. UAV spot-spraying could be permitted on both vineyards, but it would be economically feasible if hiring fees were €43–49 ha-1. The study concludes with recommendations to promote UAV spraying adoption among European farmers thereby contributing to the EU objectives to halve pesticide use and risk while potentially resolving labour availability challenges on abandonment-prone vineyards.
Real-time automation in agriculture shows great potential in perennial trees and vegetables allowing site-specific management by means of machine vision, and real-time processing. A lack of clarity still remains on the actual effectiveness, scalability, and limitations of such technologies in field conditions. This study critically examines the recent advancements in real-time applications in horticultural crops that are controlled using sensing systems for automating several cultivation tasks including (i) crop protection (ii) fertilization (iii) weeding (iv) harvesting and (v) crop load management. These tasks are individually evaluated, while identifying technological gaps and future research directions. Specifically, this study assesses real-time decision-making challenges and evaluates their impact in terms of processing time, resource efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and decision accuracy. The results revealed that real-time applications can increase precision and operational efficiency, while the need for improved communication and interoperability between the sensing systems and implements was highlighted. However, the effectiveness is often influenced by the sensor accuracy, the plant structure, and adaptability to crop systems. Further development of real-time applications in perennial trees and vegetables should be explored by producing artificial intelligence decision models based on plant information and multi-modal sensor systems.
We describe a curious structure of the special orthogonal, special unitary, and symplectic groups that has not been observed, namely, they can be expressed as matrix products of their corresponding Grassmannians realized as involution matrices. We will show that $\operatorname{SO}(n)$ is a product of two real Grassmannians, $\operatorname{SU}(n)$ a product of four complex Grassmannians, and $\operatorname{Sp}(2n, \mathbb{R})$ or $\operatorname{Sp}(2n, \mathbb{C})$ a product of four symplectic Grassmannians over $\mathbb{R}$ or $\mathbb{C}$ respectively.
Drought is a gradual and persistent hazard resulting from below-average precipitation, which poses a threat to various economic sectors and human life as a whole. This external and insurable risk predominantly affects agriculture and water resource management projects, causing a ripple effect across related sectors and operations. The objective of this study was to analyse drought risk in the Victoria State of Australia using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) to monitor and characterize drought occurrences, with the aim of safeguarding and enhancing agricultural and water resource management initiatives. The SPI methodology was employed, computing four temporal scales (SPI-3, 6, 12, and 24) for assessing both agricultural and hydrological drought. The findings indicate a consistent pattern across most stations, revealing significant declines in SPI values on various time scales, suggesting an escalation in drought severity in the near future. Although there is some optimism for agriculture and related projects in the region, caution is warranted due to the decreasing trends observed in SPI-3 and 6. On the other hand, SPI-12 and 24 clearly demonstrate that severe droughts have already affected all stations, with the potential for even more severe episodes in the future. Consequently, it is imperative for the government and relevant stakeholders to exercise extreme caution in water usage, as irresponsible or excessive consumption could have adverse effects on water-intensive projects and activities in the area.
Uri Zamir, Joshua H. Baraban, Peter Fjodorow
et al.
Meeting the demands of sustainable energy economy requires diagnostics of the chemical processes surrounding future fuels and contemporary combustion applications. Pioneered in 1970, Intracavity Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (ICAS) has evolved to be a powerful instrument in the toolbox of combustion diagnostics. It owes its ultra-high sensitivity to the enhancement of the effective absorption pathlength by placing the absorber inside the cavity of a broadband laser. In this review we introduce the complementary strengths of ICAS to other methods: ultra-high sensitivity to narrowband absorption alongside the immunity to broadband losses, multiplexed detection and (µs-scale)-temporal resolution. We outline the basic concepts and features of ICAS, focusing on the laser dynamics regime where an absorbing sample in the laser resonator yields the well-known Lambert-Beer law. We chart the progress made over the years in visible (dye-jet laser) and near infrared (fiber laser) ICAS speciation in flames, by highlighting case studies where species like long considered ''hard-to detect'' 1CH2 and HCO radicals, along with O-atoms, C2, NH2, HNO, CN, and HCN were measured, as well as thermometry and speciation applications demonstrated in shock tubes, flow-cells and flames based on (stationary or time-resolved) measurements of multicomponent spectral matrices containing lines of CH4, C2H2, CO2, CO, OH and H2O. We highlight the contributions of ICAS in gas-phase nanomaterial synthesis, exemplified in prototypical iron-doped flames and discuss prospective applications in spray-flame pyrolysis and metal-powder combustion. Finally, we present advances in the development of lasing media based on Cr2+ and Fe2+-doped chalcogenide crystals and fluoride crystals doped with trivalent lanthanides, that meet the (ICAS-specific) requirement associated with the necessity to have a gain media lasing directly in the desired wavelength range, and therefore to expand this technique into the important mid-infrared and ultraviolet spectral ranges.
Fuel, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
The European Union Emission Trading System is a prominent market-based mechanism to reduce emissions. While the theory is well understood, we are the first to study the whole cap-and-trade mechanism as a financial market. Analyzing the universe of transactions in 2005-2020 (more than one million records of granular transaction data), we show that this market features significant inefficiencies undermining its goals. First, about 40% of firms never trade in a given year. Second, many firms only trade during surrendering months, when compliance is immediate and prices are predictably high. Third, a number of operators engage in speculative trading, exploiting private information.
In recent years, the upstream of Large Language Models (LLM) has also encouraged the computer vision community to work on substantial multimodal datasets and train models on a scale in a self-/semi-supervised manner, resulting in Vision Foundation Models (VFM), as, e.g., Contrastive Language-Image Pre-training (CLIP). The models generalize well and perform outstandingly on everyday objects or scenes, even on downstream tasks, tasks the model has not been trained on, while the application in specialized domains, as in an industrial context, is still an open research question. Here, fine-tuning the models or transfer learning on domain-specific data is unavoidable when objecting to adequate performance. In this work, we, on the one hand, introduce a pipeline to generate the Industrial Language-Image Dataset (ILID) based on web-crawled data; on the other hand, we demonstrate effective self-supervised transfer learning and discussing downstream tasks after training on the cheaply acquired ILID, which does not necessitate human labeling or intervention. With the proposed approach, we contribute by transferring approaches from state-of-the-art research around foundation models, transfer learning strategies, and applications to the industrial domain.
Thomas Rosenstatter, Christian Schäfer, Olaf Saßnick
et al.
As Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things continue to advance, industrial control systems are increasingly adopting IT solutions, including communication standards and protocols. As these systems become more decentralized and interconnected, a critical need for enhanced security measures arises. Threat modeling is traditionally performed in structured brainstorming sessions involving domain and security experts. Such sessions, however, often fail to provide an exhaustive identification of assets and interfaces due to the lack of a systematic approach. This is a major issue, as it leads to poor threat modeling, resulting in insufficient mitigation strategies and, lastly, a flawed security architecture. We propose a method for the analysis of assets in industrial systems, with special focus on physical threats. Inspired by the ISO/OSI reference model, a systematic approach is introduced to help identify and classify asset interfaces. This results in an enriched system model of the asset, offering a comprehensive overview visually represented as an interface tree, thereby laying the foundation for subsequent threat modeling steps. To demonstrate the proposed method, the results of its application to a programmable logic controller (PLC) are presented. In support of this, a study involving a group of 12 security experts was conducted. Additionally, the study offers valuable insights into the experts' general perspectives and workflows on threat modeling.
Abstract Thanks to the high power/energy densities together with lower cost, potassium ion hybrid capacitors (PIHCs) have broad application prospects. Nevertheless, the significant volume changes during K+ intercalation/deintercalation together with the misfit between anode as well as cathode limit their further development. Herein, hierarchically porous nitrogen-doped carbon (N-HPC) is fabricated and used as two electrodes materials for PIHCs. The three-dimensional hierarchical porous structure and large interlayer distance of N-HPC afford enough space to alleviate the volume expansion of potassium. Furthermore, the suitable N doping enables additional active sites towards K+ storage and improves electrical conductivity of electrodes. Hence, the constructed PIHCs assembled with dual N-HPC electrodes deliver a high energy density of 103.5 Wh kg‒1 at 1000.0 W kg‒1. Meanwhile, the PIHCs devices also display superior cycling stability, achieving a capacity retention rate of 70.2% after 10,000 cycles at 1.0 A g‒1. Graphical Abstract Hierarchically porous nitrogen-doped carbon (N-HPC) is fabricated and used as two electrode materials for PIHCs. The three-dimensional porous structure of N-HPC, the larger inter-layer distance, and the synergy of N-doped introduction of more active sites make it have good magnification properties. At the same time, the assembled PIHCs cycle of 10000 laps has an excellent cycle retention rate.
Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade, Renewable energy sources
Let $(G,H,σ)$ be a symmetric pair and $\mathfrak{g}=\mathfrak{m}\oplus\mathfrak{h}$ the canonical decomposition of the Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ of $G$. We denote by ${\nabla}^0$ the canonical affine connection on the symmetric space $G/H$. A torsion-free $G$-invariant affine connection on $G/H$ is called special if it has the same curvature as ${\nabla}^0$. A special product on $\mathfrak{m}$ is a commutative, associative, and ${\operatorname{Ad}}(H)$-invariant product. We show a one-to-one correspondence between the set of special affine connections on $G/H$ and the set of special products on $\mathfrak{m}$. We introduce a subclass of symmetric pairs called strongly semi-simple for which we prove that the canonical affine connection on $G/H$ is the only special affine connection, and we give many examples. We study a subclass of commutative, associative algebra, allowing us to give examples of symmetric spaces with special affine connections. Finally, we compute the holonomy Lie algebra of special affine connections.
I propose a new terminology, international trade strength, which is defined as the ratio of a country's total international trade to its GDP. This parameter represents a country's ability to generate international trade by utilizing its GDP. This figure is equivalent to GDP per capita, which represents a country's ability to use its population to generate GDP. Trade strength varies by country. The intriguing question is, what distribution function does the trade strength fulfill? In this paper, a theoretical foundation for predicting the distribution of trade strength and the rate of change of trade strength were developed. These two quantities were found to satisfy the Pareto distribution function. The equations were confirmed using data from the World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) and the World Bank by comparing the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) to five types of distribution functions (exponential, lognormal, gamma, Pareto, and Weibull). I also discovered that the fitting Pareto power parameter is fairly close to the theoretical parameter. In addition, a formula for forecasting a country's total international trade in the following years was also developed.
This paper includes the classification, in a simple Lie algebra, of the singularities of Slodowy slices between special nilpotent orbits that are adjacent in the partial order on nilpotent orbits. The irreducible components of most singularities are (up to normalization) either a simple surface singularity or the closure of a minimal special nilpotent orbit in a smaller rank Lie algebra. Besides those cases, there are some exceptional cases that arise as certain quotients of the closure of a minimal orbit in types $A_2$ and $D_n$. We also consider the action on the slice of the fundamental group of the smaller orbit. With this action, we observe that under Lusztig-Spaltenstein duality, in most cases, a simple surface singularity is interchanged with the closure of a minimal special orbit of Langlands dual type (or a cover of it with action). This empirical observation generalizes an observation of Kraft and Procesi in type $A_n$, where all nilpotent orbits are special. We also resolve a conjecture of Lusztig that concerns the intersection cohomology of slices between special nilpotent orbits.
Abstract The active distribution network (ADN) can provide the reactive power ancillary service (RPAS) to improve the operations of the transmission network operations (such as voltage control and network loss reduction) as distribution generation grows. In this context, an RPAS market is required to motivate the ADN to provide the RPAS to the transmission network since the transmission system operator (TSO) and the distribution system operator (DSO) are different entities. Hence, to obtain the TSO–DSO coordination in the RPAS market, this study proposes a two‐stage market framework on the basis of the successive clearing of the energy and RPAS markets. Additionally, a distributed market‐clearing mechanism based on an alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is adopted to guarantee TSO's and DSO's information privacy. Furthermore, a binary expansion (BE) method is used to linearise the non‐convex bilinear terms in the market‐clearing model. The effectiveness of the proposed RPAS market framework and distributed market‐clearing mechanism is validated using two different test systems with different system scales.
Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
Massadeh Rafeef K., El-Elimat Tamam, Al-Gharaibeh Mohammad
et al.
The alkaloid-rich fraction obtained by fractionation of the crude methanolic extract of the leaves of wild tobacco tree Nicotiana glauca Graham (Solanaceae) was analyzed using UPLC-MS and GC-MS. Anabasine, a piperidine alkaloid, was identified as the major constituent with approximately 60 % (m/m) of the alkaloid-rich fraction. In addition to anabasine, six secondary metabolites were identified using high-resolution UPLC-MS. Anabasine was quantified in the leaves to be 1 mg g−1 dry plant material. The GC-MS analysis revealed five compounds with anabasine as the major component, while nicotine was not detected. Moreover, GC-MS was used for the analysis of the volatile oil that was obtained by hydro-distillation from the leaves of N. glauca. The volatile plant oil was found to be rich in oxygenated sesquiterpenes (e.g., β-bisabolol) and carboxylic acids and esters (e.g., ethyl linoleate and hexadecanoic acid), whereas anabasine was not detected.