An eHealth Coaching Solution to Improve Transitional Care of Seniors with Heart Failure: Long-Field Trial.

Heart failure is the leading reason for seniors being admitted to hospitals. Over half of the elderly individuals diagnosed with heart failure find themselves readmitted to hospitals within a span of six months. This recurrence is associated with inadequate adherence to medical treatment and recommendations, underscoring the necessity for support systems that aid seniors in better adhering to post-hospitalization instructions.

Influence of Submerged Arc Welding Current Intensity on the Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Pressure Vessel P355N Steel.

This article presents a study on the influence of the intensity of the welding current on the properties of the mechanical strain strength of welded joints made by using submerged arc welding technology. The influence of the welding current on the microstructure of the welded joints was also observed in different regions of the cross-section of the welding seam. Also subject to observation was the mode of influence of the welding current on the geometry and dimensions of the welding seams.

Whale Optimization for Cloud-Edge-Offloading Decision-Making for Smart Grid Services.

As IoT metering devices become increasingly prevalent, the smart energy grid encounters challenges associated with the transmission of large volumes of data affecting the latency of control services and the secure delivery of energy. Offloading computational work towards the edge is a viable option; however, effectively coordinating service execution on edge nodes presents significant challenges due to the vast search space making it difficult to identify optimal decisions within a limited timeframe. In this research paper, we utilize the whale optimization algorithm to decide and select the optimal edge nodes for executing services' computational tasks.

The Impact on Survival of Neoadjuvant Treatment Interruptions in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer Patients.

The standard oncologic treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer is long-course radio-chemotherapy followed by surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. This can result in a lengthy total treatment duration, sometimes up to one year from the diagnosis. Interruptions to neoadjuvant treatment can occur for a variety of reasons, forced or unforced.

Draft genome assemblies for two species of Escallonia (Escalloniales).

Objectives: Escallonia (Escalloniaceae) belongs to the Escalloniales, a diverse clade of flowering plants with unclear placement in the tree of life. Escallonia species show impressive morphological and ecological diversity and are widely distributed across three hotspots of biodiversity in the Neotropics. To shed light on the genomic substrate of this radiation and the phylogenetic placement of Escalloniales as well as to generate useful data for comparative evolutionary genomics across flowering plants, we produced and annotated draft genomes for two species of Escallonia.

Smart contracts and homomorphic encryption for private P2P energy trading and demand response on blockchain.

Blockchain technology offers great value in terms of decentralization, data integrity, transparency, and traceability, however the transactional data is public, and accessible raising concerns about violating privacy regulations. For example, in the peer-to-peer energy trading and demand response use cases, the data stored in blockchain may allow a third party to infer the load profiles or even identify the behind the meter assets. In this paper, we employ homomorphic techniques to encrypt the energy transactional data stored on the blockchain allowing the smart contracts functions responsible for implementing the business logic of the energy flexibility trading and settlement to perform computations on encrypted data.

Biofilms on Voice Prosthesis - Challenges and Therapeutic Insights.

After a total laryngectomy, voice rehabilitation is essential for a patient to successfully reintegrate into society. The implantation of a voice prosthesis (VP) is the gold standard to achieve this goal. Thus, the primary disadvantage of using VP is the fluid blockage and degradation caused by biofilm colonization, which requires frequent replacements, associated with a poor quality of life for the patient.

The Conditioning of Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Stage II and III Rectal Cancer Determined by Postoperative Pathological Characteristics in Romania.

The management of locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) suffered changes thanks to the development of improved surgical procedures, radiation delivery, and chemotherapy. Although treatment options improved individually, the optimal order is still debated. Neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy followed by total mesorectal excision (TME) has been the "golden standard" for locally advanced rectal cancer.

Flame-Resistant Poly(vinyl alcohol) Composites with Improved Ionic Conductivity.

Flame-resistant polymer composites were prepared based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a polymer matrix and a polyphosphonate as flame retardant. Oxalic acid was used as crosslinking agent. LiClO, BaTiO, and graphene oxide were also incorporated into PVA matrix to increase the ionic conductivity.

Privacy-Preserving Computation for Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading on a Public Blockchain.

To ensure the success of energy transition and achieve the target of reducing the carbon footprint of energy systems, the management of energy systems needs to be decentralized. Public blockchains offer favorable features to support energy sector democratization and reinforce citizens' trust, such as tamper-proof energy data registration and sharing, decentralization, transparency, and support for peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading. However, in blockchain-based P2P energy markets, transactional data are public and accessible, which raises privacy concerns related to prosumers' energy profiles while lacking scalability and featuring high transactional costs.

Organophosphorus Reinforced Poly(vinyl alcohol) Nanocomposites Doped with Silver-Loaded Zeolite L Nanoparticles as Sustainable Materials for Packaging Applications.

The sustainable development of innovative eco-friendly multifunctional nanocomposites, possessing superior characteristics, is a noteworthy topic. Novel semi-interpenetrated nanocomposite films based on poly(vinyl alcohol) covalently and thermally crosslinked with oxalic acid (OA), reinforced with a novel organophosphorus flame retardant (PFR-4) derived from co-polycondensation in solution reaction of equimolar amounts of co-monomers, namely, bis((6-oxido-6H-dibenz[c,e][1,2]oxaphosphorinyl)-(4-hydroxyaniline)-methylene)-1,4-phenylene, bisphenol S, and phenylphosphonic dichloride, in a molar ratio of 1:1:2, and additionally doped with silver-loaded zeolite L nanoparticles (ze-Ag), have been prepared by casting from solution technique. The morphology of the as prepared PVA-oxalic acid films and their semi-interpenetrated nanocomposites with PFR-4 and ze-Ag was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while the homogeneous distribution of the organophosphorus compound and nanoparticles within the nanocomposite films has been introspected by means of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX).

Thermal Properties and Flammability Characteristics of a Series of DGEBA-Based Thermosets Loaded with a Novel Bisphenol Containing DOPO and Phenylphosphonate Units.

Despite a recent sustained preoccupation for developing biobased epoxies with enhanced applicability, such products have not been widely accepted for industry because of their inferior characteristics compared to classic petroleum-based epoxy thermosets. Therefore, significant effort is being made to improve the flame retardance of the most commonly used epoxies, such as diglycidyl ether-based bisphenol A (DGEBA), bisphenol F (DGEBF), novalac epoxy, and others, while continuously avoiding the use of hazardous halogen-containing flame retardants. Herein, a phosphorus-containing bisphenol, bis(4-(((4-hydroxyphenyl)amino)(6-oxido-6H-dibenzo[c,e][1,2]oxaphosphinin-6-yl)methyl)phenyl) phenylphosphonate (BPH), was synthesized by reacting bis(4-formylphenyl)phenylphosphonate with 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde followed by the addition of 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO) to the resulting azomethine groups.

Effects of Phosphorus and Boron Compounds on Thermal Stability and Flame Retardancy Properties of Epoxy Composites.

While plastics are regarded as the most resourceful materials nowadays, ranging from countless utilities including protective or decorating coatings, to adhesives, packaging materials, electronic components, paintings, furniture, insulating composites, foams, building blocks and so on, their critical limitation is their advanced flammability, which in fire incidents can result in dramatic human fatalities and irreversible environmental damage. Herein, epoxy-based composites with improved flame-resistant characteristics have been prepared by incorporating two flame retardant additives into epoxy resin, namely 6-(hydroxy(phenyl)methyl)-6H-dibenzo[c,e][1,2]oxaphosphinine-6-oxide (PFR) and boric acid (HBO). The additional reaction of 9,10-dihydro-oxa-10-phosphophenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO) to the carbonyl group of benzaldehyde yielded PFR, which was then used to prepare epoxy composites having a phosphorus content ranging from 1.

Reference genome of the color polymorphic desert annual plant sandblossoms, Linanthus parryae.

Sandblossoms, Linanthus parryae is a widespread annual plant species found in washes and sandy open habitats across the Mojave Desert and Eastern Sierra Nevada of California. Studies in this species have played a central role in evolutionary biology, serving as the first test cases of the shifting balance theory of evolution, models of isolation by distance, and metrics to describe the genetic structure of natural populations. Despite the importance of L.

Emerging Sensors Techniques and Technologies for Intelligent Environments.

The trending techniques for managing indoor and outdoor intelligent environments rely heavily on data acquisition through a diversity of heterogeneous Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sensors [...

Phosphorylated Poly(vinyl alcohol) Electrospun Mats for Protective Equipment Applications.

The development of intelligent materials for protective equipment applications is still growing, with enormous potential to improve the safety of personnel functioning in specialized professions, such as firefighters. The design and production of such materials by the chemical modification of biodegradable semisynthetic polymers, accompanied by modern manufacturing techniques such as electrospinning, which may increase specific properties of the targeted material, continue to attract the interest of researchers. Phosphorus-modified poly(vinyl alcohol)s have been, thus, synthesized and utilized to prepare environmentally friendly electrospun mats.

Deep Learning, Mining, and Collaborative Clustering to Identify Flexible Daily Activities Patterns.

The monitoring of the daily life activities routine is beneficial, especially in old age. It can provide relevant information on the person's health state and wellbeing and can help identify deviations that signal care deterioration or incidents that require intervention. Existing approaches consider the daily routine as a rather strict sequence of activities which is not usually the case.

Magnetite Nanoparticles Functionalized with Therapeutic Agents for Enhanced ENT Antimicrobial Properties.

In the context of inefficient antibiotics, antibacterial alternatives are urgently needed to stop the increasing resistance rates in pathogens. This study reports the fabrication and characterization of four promising magnetite-based antibiotic delivery systems for ENT (ear, nose and throat) applications. Magnetite nanoparticles were functionalized with streptomycin and neomycin and some were entrapped in polymeric spheres.

Identifying and Monitoring the Daily Routine of Seniors Living at Home.

As the population in the Western world is rapidly aging, the remote monitoring solutions integrated into the living environment of seniors have the potential to reduce the care burden helping them to self-manage problems associated with old age. The daily routine is considered a useful tool for addressing age-related problems having additional benefits for seniors like reduced stress and anxiety, increased feeling of safety and security. In this paper, we propose a solution for identifying the daily routines of seniors using the monitored activities of daily living and for inferring deviations from the routines that may require caregivers' interventions.

PEG-Functionalized Magnetite Nanoparticles for Modulation of Microbial Biofilms on Voice Prosthesis.

This study reports the fabrication of nanostructured coatings based on magnetite, polyethyleneglycol, and biologically active molecule (polymyxin B-PM) for producing biofilm-resistant surfaces (voice prosthesis). Magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) have been synthesized and functionalized using a co-precipitation method and were further deposited into thin coatings using the matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) technique. The obtained nanoparticles and coatings were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis with differential scanning calorimetry (TGA-DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy with selected area electron diffraction (TEM-SAED), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and infrared microscopy (IRM).

Designing an eHealth Coaching Solution to Improve Transitional Care of Seniors' with Heart Failure: End-User Needs.

Based on scientific studies, heart failure is the principal cause of hospitalization among seniors. More than 50% of elderly with heart failure are readmitted to hospital within six months. Readmission is linked with poor compliance with medical treatment and recommendations, emphasizing the need for a tool to help seniors better comply with post-discharge measures.

Heating Homes with Servers: Workload Scheduling for Heat Reuse in Distributed Data Centers.

Data centers consume lots of energy to execute their computational workload and generate heat that is mostly wasted. In this paper, we address this problem by considering heat reuse in the case of a distributed data center that features IT equipment (i.e.

Poly(Vinyl Chloride) Spheres Coated with Graphene Oxide Sheets: From Synthesis to Optical Properties and Their Applications as Flame-Retardant Agents.

A new method to obtain poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) spheres, which consists of an interaction between commercial PVC grains and hexyl ethyl cellulose and lauroyl peroxide at a temperature of 60 °C, is reported. The addition of the graphene oxide (GO) sheets dispersed in dimethylformamide to the reaction mixture leads to the generation of composites made of PVC spheres coated with GO sheets. Scanning electron microscopy studies have demonstrated that this method allows for the transformation of PVC grains with sizes between 75 and 227 μm into spheres with sizes varying from 0.

Mixture of Graphene Oxide/Phosphoric Acid/Melamine as Coating for Improved Fire Protective Performance and Enhancement of Surface Electrical Properties on Wood Chipboard.

Looking for multifunctional materials, an assessment of the performances both as fire retardant and generator of electrically conductive surfaces for a three component mixture of graphene oxide, phosphoric acid and melamine applied on wood chipboard was performed. A simple approach was used to investigate the intumescent char formation and quantify the loss mass during vertical burning tests, in which the prepared samples were exposed for a certain time interval to a flame generated by an ethanol lamp in ambient conditions. Moreover, mass loss evolution and structural changes that occur during the burning process were more comprehensive investigated by differential thermal and thermogravimetric (DTA/TGA) techniques.