Excavations at the Infantas complex in Chillón Valley, Perú, revealed a U-shaped monumental centre with a central mound, clay staircase and columned atrium. Aligned with structures from the Rímac and Lurín valleys, these complexes anchored ritual-political power, serving as hubs for ideological integration and territorial organisation in early Andean societies.

Rotorcraft engines are highly complex, nonlinear thermodynamic systems operating under varying environmental and flight conditions. Simulating their dynamics is crucial for design, fault diagnostics and deterioration control, requiring robust control systems to estimate performance throughout the flight envelope. Numerical simulations provide accurate assessments in both steady and unsteady scenarios through physics-based and mathematical models, although their development is challenging due to the engine’s complex physics and strong dependencies on environmental conditions. In this context, data-driven machine-learning techniques have gained significant interest for their ability to capture nonlinear dynamics and enable online performance estimation with competitive accuracy. This work explores different neural network architectures to model the turboshaft engine of Leonardo’s AW189P4 prototype, aiming to predict engine torque. The models are trained on a large database of real flight tests, covering a variety of operational manoeuvers under different conditions, thus offering a comprehensive performance representation. Additionally, sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics (SINDy) is applied to derive a low-dimensional model from the available data, capturing the relationship between fuel flow and engine torque. The resulting model highlights SINDy’s ability to recover underlying engine physics and suggests its potential for further investigations into engine complexity. The paper details the development and prediction results of each model, demonstrating that data-driven approaches can exploit a broader range of parameters compared to standard transfer function-based methods, enabling the use of trained schemes to simulate nonlinear effects in different engines and helicopters.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) does not have system-wide standardized policies or procedures for ultraviolet-C (UV-C) use. Qualitative researchers performed content analysis of VAV UV-C guidance documents. We observed that lack of specificity and uniformity across guidance documents is a potential barrier to UV-C implementation and future quality control.

This paper presents the design and experimental validation of a robust flight control strategy for quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) based on the Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity-Based Control (IDA-PBC) methodology. The proposed approach is specifically tailored to the Parrot Bebop 2, a commercial UAV. The IDA-PBC control law is derived using the Hamiltonian model of the UAV dynamics obtained from experimental data to represent the dynamics of all six degrees of freedom, including translational and rotational motions. The control strategy was validated through numerical simulations and experimental tests conducted in an indoor flight setup using MATLAB, Robot Operating System, and an OptiTrack motion capture system. Numerical and experimental results demonstrate that the controller effectively tracks desired flight trajectories, ensuring stable and robust performance.

Brittle stars undergo remarkable morphological changes during their transition to adulthood, extending beyond metamorphosis. Members of the genus Ophioderma exhibit particularly noteworthy morphological changes between the juvenile and adult stages. These growth changes have been a persistent source of misidentification in Ophioderma, even leading to the misclassification of juveniles to a different genus. In this study, the growth changes of three common eastern Pacific Ophioderma species were characterised: Ophioderma aija, Ophioderma occultum, and Ophioderma panamense. Their growth series, ranging from 2.5 to 26.7 mm disc diameter, were analysed by combining morphology, morphometrics, and DNA barcoding. Three size groups within the species were identified. In general, the morphological changes shown by the three species were highly similar and occurred at comparable sizes, allowing a pattern to be identified and reconstructed. However, differences between the species were observed throughout the series in quantitative (arm length, dorsal arm plates, number of arm spines) and qualitative (radial shields, colouration) characters. This work represents one of the few available contributions on the growth changes of Ophiuroidea from the eastern Pacific and so far in the genus Ophioderma.

The United States Department of Defense is planning a massive military build-up on Guahan (Guam) that threatens to change the entire make-up of the island. Guahan, nestled at the southern-most tip of the Marianas Archipelago in the Micronesian region of Oceania, is a mere 212 square miles in area, barely bigger than a dot in most world maps. The island is similarly small in the consciousness of most American and Japanese taxpayers, who will be funding the military expansion. Guahan, however, has a large and rich history. While the island and her people remained in relative isolation from the Western world for over 3,500 years from the earliest indications of settlement, its strategic location as a crossroad between East and West has resulted in colonization by successive maritime powers over the last six centuries.

This investigation examines the dynamic response of an accelerating turbulent pipe flow using direct numerical simulation data sets. A low/high-pass Fourier filter is used to investigate the contribution and time dependence of the large-scale motions (LSM) and the small-scale motions (SSM) into the transient Reynolds shear stress. Additionally, it analyses how the LSM and SSM influence the mean wall shear stress using the Fukagata–Iwamoto–Kasagi identity. The results reveal that turbulence is frozen during the early flow excursion. During the pretransition stage, energy growth of the LSM and a subtle decay in the SSM is observed, suggesting a laminarescent trend of SSM. The transition period exhibits rapid energy growth in the SSM energy spectrum at the near-wall region, implying a shift in the dominant contribution from LSM to SSM to the frictional drag. The core-relaxation stage shows a quasisteady behaviour in large- and small-scale turbulence at the near-wall region and progressive growth of small- and large-scale turbulence within the wake region. The wall-normal gradient of the Reynolds shear stress premultiplied energy cospectra was analysed to understand how LSM and SSM influence the mean momentum balance across the different transient stages. A relevant observation is the creation of a momentum sink produced at the buffer region in large- and very large-scale (VLSM) wavelengths during the pretransition. This sink region annihilates a momentum source located in the VLSM spectrum and at the onset of the logarithmic region of the net-force spectra. This region is a source term in steady wall-bounded turbulence.

The wide adoption of occupational shoulder exoskeletons in industrial settings remains limited. Passive exoskeletons were proved effective in a limited amount of application scenarios, such as (quasi-)static overhead handling tasks. Quasi-active devices, albeit representing an improved version of their passive predecessors, do not allow full modulation of the amount of assistance delivered to the user, lacking versatility and adaptability in assisting various dynamic tasks. Active occupational shoulder exoskeletons could overcome these limitations by controlling the shape of the delivered torque profile according to the task they aim to assist. However, most existing active devices lack compactness and wearability. This prevents their implementation in working environments. In this work, we present a new active shoulder exoskeleton, named Active Exo4Work (AE4W). It features a new flexible shaft-driven remote actuation unit that allows the positioning of the motors close to the wearer’s center of mass while it maintains a kinematic structure that is compatible with the biological motion of the shoulder joint. in vitro and in vivo experiments have been conducted to investigate the performance of AE4W. Experimental results show that the exoskeleton is kinematically compatible with the user’s workspace since it does not constrain the natural range of motion of the shoulder joint. Moreover, this device can effectively provide different types of assistance while the user executes various dynamic tasks, without altering perceived comfort.

The Mountain West Clinical and Translational Infrastructure Network Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core has fostered academic-community engagement since 2018. States historically receiving lower levels of NIH funding are characterized by significantly higher proportions of rural and remote populations, as well as uniquely elevated percentages of Native American/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander populations compared to most other states. This case study highlights the Core’s efforts in advancing community-engaged research. Key initiatives included forming a CEO Core Steering Committee to recruit interdisciplinary investigators, establishing regional community advisory boards to identify research priorities, and creating a Resource Library and Training Portal for stakeholders. The Core also collaborated with other Cores to provide training, mentorship, and funding for community-engaged research. Despite these achievements, geographical and cultural diversity presented engagement challenges. Regular meetings between investigators and stakeholders ensured bidirectional communication and aligned goals. The Core transformed transactional engagement into meaningful collaboration, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary teams who understand community needs. Future goals include training academic teams, clinical providers, and community members, empowering early-stage investigators to share findings with partners, leveraging health records for research, and developing strategies to protect investigators’ time.

Sarcopenic obesity is associated with higher risk of falls, hospitalizations, mortality, and a wide range of poor health outcomes(1). However, its relationship with multimorbidity is less explored. This study aimed to investigate the association between sarcopenic obesity and multimorbidity across sexes.

In this cross-sectional analysis of the UK Biobank, we included 171,448 participants (53.1% women, mean age 55 years). Sarcopenic obesity, defined according to the EWGSOP2 classification(2), was analysed as the outcome. Multimorbidity was the predictor, determined by self-reported chronic conditions and categorized into none, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5+ diseases. Poisson regression with robust error was used to estimate the risk ratio and its 95% confidence intervals (RR, 95%CI). Analyses were adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors.

The prevalence of sarcopenic obesity increased with the number of chronic diseases in both men and women but varied significantly by sex (p-interaction= 0.030). Compared to individuals without chronic diseases, those with 5+ diseases exhibited prevalences of 55.7% in men and 51.2% in women. The prevalence of sarcopenic obesity increased by 94% (95% CI: 1.89, 2.00) for each additional chronic disease in women and 117% (95% CI: 2.09, 2.25) in men. Relative to those with no chronic conditions, individuals with 5+ diseases had 41.5 and 68.7-times higher prevalence of sarcopenic obesity in women and men, respectively.

Our findings showed a robust association between sarcopenic obesity and multimorbidity, which varies by sex, further studies is needed to examine the predictive utility of using multimorbidity to identify sarcopenia.

There is strong evidence that low muscle strength and muscle mass are associated with an increased the risk of mortality and morbidity.⟨1⟩ Muscle mass and strength progressively decline from around the fourth decade⟨2⟩, a process known as sarcopenia, for which there is no effective pharmacological treatment.⟨3⟩ Current literature indicates that resistance exercise and/or supplementation with n-3 fatty acids can be beneficial for muscle strength and mass in older adults.⟨4⟩ However, the sample sizes in these studies are relatively small and are restricted to only resistance exercise. The relationship between dietary n-3 fatty acid intake, rather than supplements, and general physical activity, rather than resistance exercise, and muscle strength and mass remain unknown. The aim of the current study, therefore, was to investigate the associations of n-3 fatty acid intake with handgrip strength and muscle mass indices in older adults. A secondary aim was to investigate whether these associations differed by physical activity status.

Analyses included 53,994 participants from the UK biobank study (25,773 men and 28,221 women). Participants were aged 60 years or older with complete data for outcome, predictor and covariate variables. Multivariable linear regression analyses were performed to explore the associations between n-3 fatty acid intake and grip strength index (kg/m²) and muscle mass index (kg/m²) in three separate models. All analysis were performed stratified by sex and physical activity status (active/inactive). Model 1 was adjusted for age, ethnicity, deprivation index and month of assessment. Model 2 was also adjusted for total energy intake and model 3 was also adjusted for multimorbidity count.

In model 3 there were positive associations between n-3 fatty acid intake and grip strength index in women with a 0.03 kg/m² (95% CI 0.00 to 0.06 kg/m²) higher grip strength index seen in those who were active and a 0.04 kg/m² (95% CI 0.00 to 0.08 kg/m²) higher grip strength index in those who were inactive for each additional gram of n-3 fatty consumed per day, with no associations in active (p = 0.355) or inactive (p = 0.186) men. In model 3, no association between n-3 fatty acid and muscle mass index were seen in men who were active (p = 0.981) or inactive (p = 0.331) and in women who were active (p = 0.843) or inactive (p = 0.058).

Although n-3 fatty acid intake was significantly associated with grip strength index in older women, regardless of their activity status, the magnitude of this association was very small and unlikely to be clinically relevant. Additionally, n-3 fatty acid was not associated with muscle mass index. Therefore, manipulation of n-3 fatty acid intake within the normal dietary range is unlikely to be an effective strategy to prevent and/or treat sarcopenia and n-3 fatty acid supplements are likely required.

Evidence is scarce in terms of tracking the progress of implementation of mental healthcare plans and policies (MHPPs) in Europe, we aimed to map and analyze the content of MHPPs across the WHO European region.

We collected data from the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2011, 2017 and 2020 to map the development of MHPPs in the region. We contacted 53 key informants from each country in the European region to triangulate the data from WHO Mental Health Atlases and to obtain access to the national mental health plans and policies. We analyzed the content of MHPPs against the four major objectives of the WHO Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan, and we also focused on the specificity and measurability of their targets.

The number and proportion of countries which have their own MHPPs has increased from 30 (52%) to 43 (91%) between 2011 and 2020. MHPPs are generally in line with the WHO policy, aiming to strengthen care in the community, expand mental health promotion and illness prevention activities, improve quality of care, increase intersectoral collaboration, build workforce and system capacity, and improve adherence to human rights. However, specific, and measurable targets as well as a description of concrete steps, responsibilities and funding sources are mostly missing. They often contain very little information systems, evidence and research, and mostly lack information on evaluating the implementation of MHPPs.

Progress has been made in terms of the development of MHPPs in the WHO Europe. However, MHPPs are often lacking operationalization and appropriate data collection for evaluation. This is then reflected in missing evaluation plans, which in turn leads to lessons not being learned. To enhance the potential for knowledge generation and demonstration of impact, MHPPs should be more specific and contain measurable targets with allocated responsibilities and funding as well as evaluation plans.