Non-invasive blood glucose monitoring using PPG signals with various deep learning models and implementation using TinyML.

Accurate and continuous blood glucose monitoring is essential for effective diabetes management, yet traditional finger pricking methods are often inconvenient and painful. To address this issue, photoplethysmography (PPG) presents a promising non-invasive alternative for estimating blood glucose levels. In this study, we propose an innovative 1-second signal segmentation method and evaluate the performance of three advanced deep learning models using a novel dataset to estimate blood glucose levels from PPG signals.

Search for Fractionally Charged Particles with CUORE.

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is a detector array comprised by 988 5  cm×5  cm×5  cm TeO_{2} crystals held below 20 mK, primarily searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay in ^{130}Te. Unprecedented in size among cryogenic calorimetric experiments, CUORE provides a promising setting for the study of exotic throughgoing particles. Using the first tonne year of CUORE's exposure, we perform a search for hypothesized fractionally charged particles (FCPs), which are well-motivated by various standard model extensions and would have suppressed interactions with matter.

Does paced bottle-feeding improve the quality and outcome of bottle-feeding interactions?

Background: Responsive feeding is recommended and occurs when caregivers use infants' behavioral cues to guide the timing, pacing, and duration of feeding. Paced bottle-feeding is an approach designed to promote responsive bottle-feeding by mimicking the behavioral benefits of breastfeeding. This study evaluates the efficacy of paced bottle-feeding compared to typical bottle-feeding and breastfeeding for promoting responsive feeding and other markers of healthy feeding outcomes, such as slower feeding rates and lower likelihood of spitting up.

Addition of Carrot Pomace to Enhance the Physical, Sensory, and Functional Properties of Beef Patties.

The global challenge of food waste necessitates innovative solutions, such as incorporating carrot pomace, a nutrient-rich by-product of carrot juice production, into beef patties to enhance their nutritional and functional properties. This study evaluated beef patties with carrot pomace added at 0%, 1.0%, 3.

Flexibility of cutaneous evaporative water loss in response to hydration in pregnant Prairie Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis) and their neonates.

Viviparous snakes may be particularly vulnerable to predicted increases in drought due to the high hydric costs associated with embryonic development, gestation, and their reliance on limited free-standing bodies of water or rain events for hydration. Drought will have negative implications for viper populations if females become increasingly water-stressed and resorb developing embryos to conserve bodily water. We conducted a study to investigate the importance of drinking water in late-term pregnancy and its effect on cutaneous evaporative water loss (CEWL).

Semantic relatedness proactively benefits learning, memory, and interdependence across episodes.

Over the past century of memory research, the interplay between initial and later-learned information in determining long-term memory retention has been of central interest. A likely factor for determining whether initial and later memories interfere with or strengthen each other is semantic relatedness. Relatedness has been shown to boost initial memory and increase the interdependence between earlier and more recent experiences in memory.

Improving Student Outcomes with an Adaptable Molecular Cloning Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience.

The continuous advancement of molecular biology techniques requires that molecular biology curricula are regularly refined to effectively prepare students to enter the workforce with modern competencies. In particular, the emergence of Gibson Assembly, a highly customizable and adaptive molecular cloning technique, has advanced the landscape of molecular cloning in numerous research environments. Thus, we created a Gibson Assembly cloning module for deployment in a molecular biology laboratory course at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and evaluated student learning outcomes from the module.

Divergent effects of short-term and continuous anthropogenic noise exposure on Western Bluebird parental care behavior.

Sensory environments are rapidly changing due to increased human activity in urban and non-urban areas alike. For instance, natural and anthropogenic sounds can interfere with parent-offspring communication and mask cues reflective of predation risk, resulting in elevated vigilance at the cost of provisioning. Here we present data from two separate studies involving anthropogenic noise and nestling provisioning behavior in Western Bluebirds (): one in response to short-term (1 h) experimental noise playback and a second in the context of nests located along a gradient of exposure to continuous noise.

A mixed-methods community needs assessment of Santa Maria and Guadalupe, California.

Unlabelled: Santa Maria and Guadalupe are neighboring cities in northern Santa Barbara County that have a lower socioeconomic profile than the county overall, are >75% Latino, and have up to 32,000 residents who identify as Indigenous, primarily Mixtec-speaking people from southern Mexico. We conducted a mixed-methods community needs assessment to identify unique health challenges and barriers that Latinx and Mixtec individuals faced. From January to April 2021, targeted and general recruitment approaches were used to recruit a convenience sample of 159 participants (74% Latinx, 72% female, mean age 41.

A Hybrid Deep Learning Model for Enhanced Structural Damage Detection: Integrating ResNet50, GoogLeNet, and Attention Mechanisms.

Quick and accurate structural damage detection is essential for maintaining the safety and integrity of infrastructure, especially following natural disasters. Traditional methods of damage assessment, which rely on manual inspections, can be labor-intensive and subject to human error. This paper introduces a hybrid deep learning model that combines the capabilities of ResNet50 and GoogLeNet, further enhanced by a convolutional block attention module (CBAM), proposed to improve both the accuracy and performance in detecting structural damage.

Evaluation of Apparent Metabolizable Energy and Apparent Ileal Amino Acid Digestibility of Spirulina () in Broiler Chickens and Laying Hens.

Our study objective was to determine the apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and apparent ileal amino acid digestibility (AIAAD) of spirulina fed to broiler chickens and laying hens using the difference method. In both experiments, birds were either fed corn-soybean meal basal diets, containing no spirulina and formulated to provide the nutrient requirements of either broilers or layers, or fed test diets consisting of 25% spirulina and 75% of the appropriate basal diet. Titanium dioxide was added to all diets as an indigestible marker.

Microwave Mediated Acylation of Alcohols, Phenols and Thiophenols in Neat Acetic Anhydride.

A microwave-based method for the acylation of alcohols, phenols, and thiols has been developed without the need of a catalyst or base additives. The reaction is far more rapid than previously reported acylation methods, tolerates a wide variety of functional groups, and provides easy isolation of products in excellent yields without the need for chromatography. Most products can be isolated directly via evaporation under reduced pressure or by pouring the reaction mixture into water and filtering.

Nascent transcript O-MAP reveals the molecular architecture of a single-locus subnuclear compartment built by RBM20 and the RNA.

Eukaryotic nuclei adopt a highly compartmentalized architecture that influences nearly all genomic processes. Understanding how this architecture impacts gene expression has been hindered by a lack of tools for elucidating the molecular interactions at individual genomic loci. Here, we adapt oligonucleotide-mediated proximity-interactome mapping (O-MAP) to biochemically characterize discrete, micron-scale nuclear neighborhoods.

Validation of galvanomagnetic and thermomagnetic transport measurements using Standard Reference Material 3451.

In the "method of four coefficients," electrical resistivity (ρ), Seebeck coefficient (S), Hall coefficient (RH), and Nernst coefficient (Q) of a material are measured and typically fit or modeled with theoretical expressions based on Boltzmann transport theory to glean experimental insights into features of electronic structure and/or charge carrier scattering mechanisms in materials. Although well-defined and readily available reference materials exist for validating measurements of ρ and S, none currently exists for RH or Q. We show that measurements of all four transport coefficients-ρ, S, RH, and Q-can be validated using a single reference sample, namely, the low-temperature Seebeck coefficient Standard Reference Material® (SRM) 3451 (composition Bi2Te3+x) available from the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) without the need for inter-laboratory sample exchange.

Using the Design Thinking Approach for a University Health Promotion Program: A Pilot Study.

University wellness programs often employ health campaigns to promote awareness and engagement in health behaviors. However, with limited resources, it is challenging to develop and test health campaign materials in a timely manner. The Design Thinking Approach (DTA) provides a promising strategy for developing materials in a quicker, less expensive way compared to traditional methods.

Evolutionary origins of temporal discounting: Modeling how time and uncertainty constrain optimal decision-making strategies across taxa.

The propensity of humans and non-human animals to discount future returns for short-term benefits is well established. This contrasts with the ability of organisms to unfold complex developmental sequences over months or years efficiently. Research has focused on various descriptive and predictive parameters of 'temporal discounting' in behavior, and researchers have proposed models to explain temporal preference in terms of fitness-maximizing outcomes.

Substantial Mercury Releases and Local Deposition from Permafrost Peatland Wildfires in Southwestern Alaska.

Increasing wildfire activity at high northern latitudes has the potential to mobilize large amounts of terrestrial mercury (Hg). However, understanding implications for Hg cycling and ecosystems is hindered by sparse research on peatland wildfire Hg emissions. In this study, we used measurements of soil organic carbon (SOC) and Hg, burn depth, and environmental indices derived from satellite remote sensing to develop machine learning models for predicting Hg emissions from major wildfires in the permafrost peatland of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in southwestern Alaska.

Enhancing biodiversity: historical ecology and biogeography of the Santa Catalina Island ground squirrel, .

People have influenced Earth's biodiversity for millennia, including numerous introductions of domestic and wild species to islands. Here, we explore the origins and ecology of the Santa Catalina Island ground squirrel (SCIGS; ), one of only five endemic terrestrial mammals found on California's Santa Catalina Island. We synthesized all records of archaeological/palaeontological SCIGS, conducted radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis of the potentially earliest SCIGS remains and performed genetic analysis of modern SCIGS.

Establishing the green algae as a platform for recombinant protein production.

, a genetically close relative of the model green alga , shows significant potential as a host for recombinant protein expression. Because of the close genetic relationship between and , this species offers an additional reference point for advancing our understanding of photosynthetic organisms, and also provides a potential new candidate for biotechnological applications. This study investigates C.

Ontogenetic correlates, not direct adaptation, explain the evolution of stelar morphology.

The primary vascular system of plants (the stele) has attracted interest from paleobotanists, developmental biologists, systematists, and physiologists for nearly two centuries. Ferns, with their diverse stelar morphology, deep evolutionary history, and prominent fossil record, have been a major focus in studies of the stele. To explain the diversity of stelar morphology, past adaptive hypotheses have invoked biomechanics, hydraulics, and drought tolerance as key selection pressures in the evolution of stelar complexity; but, these hypotheses often isolate the stele from a whole-plant developmental context, ignoring potential covariation between vascular patterning and shoot morphology.

Agricultural plastic pollution reduces soil function even under best management practices.

Soil plastic contamination is considered a threat to environmental health and food security. Plastic films-which are widely used as soil mulches-are the largest single source of agricultural plastic pollution. Growing evidence indicates that high concentrations of plastic negatively affect critical soil functions.