Horizon problem remediation via deformed phase space

We investigate the effects of a special kind of dynamical deformation between the momenta of the scalar field of the Brans–Dicke theory and the scale factor of the FRW metric. This special choice of deformation includes linearly a deformation parameter. We trace the deformation footprints in the cosmological equations of motion when the BD coupling parameter goes to infinity. One class of the solutions gives a constant scale factor in the late time that confirms the previous result obtained via another approach in the literature. This effect can be interpreted as a quantum gravity footprint in the coarse grained explanation. The another class of the solutions removes the big bang singularity, and the accelerating expansion region has an infinite temporal range which overcomes the horizon problem. After this epoch, there is a graceful exiting by which the universe enters in the radiation dominated era.     

Synthesis,reactivity and preliminary biological activity of iron(0) complexes with cyclopentadienone and amino‐appended N‐heterocyclic carbene ligands

Neutral and cationic cyclopentadienone (CpO) N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) bis‐carbonyl iron(0) complexes bearing, appended to the NHC ligand, either a terminal amino group on the lateral chain, [Fe(η⁴‐CpO)(CO)₂(κC‐NHC(CH₂)_nNH₂)] with n = 2 ( 2a ) and 3 ( 2b ), or a cationic NMe₃⁺ fragment, [Fe(η⁴‐CpO)(CO)₂(κC‐NHC(CH₂)₂NMe₃)](I) ( 3 ), were prepared and characterized in terms of their structure, stability and reactivity. The photochemical properties of 2a and 2b were examined both in organic solvents and in water, revealing the photoactivated release of one CO ligand followed by the formation of the chelated complex [Fe(η⁴‐CpO)(CO)(κ²C,N‐NHC(CH₂)₂NH₂)] ( 4 ), whose molecular structure was confirmed by single crystal X‐ray diffraction studies. This metallacyclization occurs only in the case of 2a , with the ethylene spacer between NHC ring and NH₂ group in the lateral chain, allowing the formation of a stable 6‐membered ring. On the other hand, 2b undergoes decomposition upon irradiation. The reactivity in aqueous solutions revealed the chemical speciation of the complexes at different pH and especially under physiological conditions (phosphate buffer solution at pH 7.4 and 37 °C). The lack of data on the biological properties of iron(0) complexes prompted us to preliminarily investigate their cytotoxicity against model cancer cells (AsPC‐1 and HPAF‐II), along with a determination of their lipophilicity.     

Investigating the scope of pseudoproline assisted peptide cyclization

The cyclization of linear peptides from six to nine amino acids in length and containing between two and four pseudoproline turn inducers derived from serine or threonine was investigated to determine the effect of peptide length, amino acid composition and spacing between the pseudoproline residues on macrocyclization yield.     

Toward optimizing stream fusion in multistream recognition of speech

A multistream phoneme recognition framework is proposed based on forming streams from different spectrotemporal modulations of speech. Phoneme posterior probabilities were estimated from each stream separately and combined at the output level. A statistical model of the final estimated posterior probabilities is used to characterize the system performance. During the operation, the best fusion architecture is chosen automatically to maximize the similarity of output statistics to clean condition. Results on phoneme recognition from noisy speech indicate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Thermal coherence tomography using match filter binary phase coded diffusion waves

Energy transport in diffusion-wave fields is gradient-driven and therefore diffuse, yielding depth-integrated responses with poor axial resolution. Using matched-filter principles, we propose a methodology enabling these parabolic diffusion-wave energy fields to exhibit energy localization akin to propagating hyperbolic wave fields. This not only improves axial resolution but also allows for deconvolution of individual responses of superposed axially discrete sources, opening a new field of depth-resolved subsurface thermal coherence tomography using diffusion waves.     

Photo-induced CdS nanoparticles growth

A photochemical approach on the size control of CdS nanoparticles is presented. CdS nanoparticles were grown using the photo-induced reaction of sodium thiosulfate with Cadmium sulfate, in the absence of any surfactant. Particles of 5.5–11 nm were obtained by changing the illumination time. The dark growth of nanoparticles was negligible, however we found by optical scattering measurements that a ripening phenomenon occurs and the size of nanoparticles slightly increases with time.     

Measurement of the thermal conductivity of MWCNT-CuO/water hybrid nanofluid using artificial neural networks (ANNs)

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this paper, artificial neural networks (ANNs) are developed to predict the thermal conductivity ( $$k_{\text{nf}}$$ ) of multi-walled carbon...     

From Oncogenic Signaling Pathways to Single-Cell Sequencing of Immune Cells: Changing the Landscape of Cancer Immunotherapy

Over the past decade, there have been remarkable advances in understanding the signaling pathways involved in cancer development. It is well-established that cancer is caused by the dysregulation of cellular pathways involved in proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, cell metabolism, migration, cell polarity, and differentiation. Besides, growing evidence indicates that extracellular matrix signaling, cell surface proteoglycans, and angiogenesis can contribute to cancer development. Given the genetic instability and vast intra-tumoral heterogeneity revealed by the single-cell sequencing of tumoral cells, the current approaches cannot eliminate the mutating cancer cells. Besides, the polyclonal expansion of tumor-infiltrated lymphocytes in response to tumoral neoantigens cannot elicit anti-tumoral immune responses due to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Nevertheless, the data from the single-cell sequencing of immune cells can provide valuable insights regarding the expression of inhibitory immune checkpoints/related signaling factors in immune cells, which can be used to select immune checkpoint inhibitors and adjust their dosage. Indeed, the integration of the data obtained from the single-cell sequencing of immune cells with immune checkpoint inhibitors can increase the response rate of immune checkpoint inhibitors, decrease the immune-related adverse events, and facilitate tumoral cell elimination. This study aims to review key pathways involved in tumor development and shed light on single-cell sequencing. It also intends to address the shortcomings of immune checkpoint inhibitors, i.e., their varied response rates among cancer patients and increased risk of autoimmunity development, via applying the data from the single-cell sequencing of immune cells.     

Multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem with material ordering under bonus–penalty policies

This study emphasizes that project scheduling and material ordering (time and quantity of an order) must be considered simultaneously to minimize the total cost, as setting the material ordering decisions after the project scheduling phase leads to non-optimal solutions. Hence, this paper mathematically formulates the model for the multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling with material ordering (MRCPSMO) problem. In order to be more realistic, bonus and penalty policies are included for the project. The objective function of the model consists of four elements: the material holding cost, the material ordering cost, the bonus paid by the client and the cost of delay in the project completion. Since MRCPSMO is NP-hard, the paper proposes three hybrid meta-heuristic algorithms called PSO-GA, GA-GA and SA-GA to obtain near-optimal solutions. In addition, the design of experiments and Taguchi method is used to tune the algorithms’ parameters. The proposed algorithms consist of two components: an outside search, in which the algorithm searches for the best schedule and mode assignment, and the inside search, which determines the time and quantity of orders of the nonrenewable resources. First, a comparison is made for each individual component with the exact or best solutions available in the literature. Then, a set of standard PROGEN test problems is solved by the proposed hybrid algorithms under fixed CPU time. The results reveal that the PSO-GA algorithm outperforms both GA-GA and SA-GA algorithms and provides good solutions in a reasonable time.