BACKGROUND: Despite improvements, survival rates for gastric cancer remain low, even in developed countries, confirming the role of primary and secondary prevention. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to demonstrate the role of additional suspension sutures on the esophagojejunal anastomosis (EJA) to strengthen the anastomosis, i.e., relieve the mechanical suture. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted from 2011 to 2022 at the Clinic for Surgery, University Clinical Center Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The experimental group consisted of patients placed with a suspension suture at the esophagojejunal anastomosis (EJA) site after total gastrectomy. The control group was patients without a suspension suture. The clinical and laboratory parameters available from the medical history were analyzed, X-ray passage, surgical complications, non-surgical complications, the length of hospitalization, the postoperative course, time of onset of postoperative complications, postoperative radiological follow-up and endoscopic postoperative follow-up were then analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 212 patients were included in the study: 87 in the experimental group with suspension sutures on the EJA and 125 in the control group without suspension sutures on the EJA. The two cohorts did not differ in other clinicopathologic parameters except perineural invasion, which was more prevalent in the control group. Patients in both groups were anemic and elevated values of C reactive protein (CRP) and decreased levels of proteins, albumin and globulin, with no significant difference between the two groups. The most common general complication was pleural effusion (28%), followed by pneumonia ( ∼ 22%). The most common complication in the experimental group was an intraabdominal abscess, while in the control group, it was a surgical wound infection. CONCLUSION: Our study did not show a statistically significant difference between the two analyzed EJA techniques created with a circular stapler, when it comes to postoperative course and outcome in patients with gastric cancer.

Background The optimal anesthetic strategy for endovascular therapy (EVT) in acute ischemic stroke is still under debate. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes of patients with isolated posterior cerebral artery (PCA) occlusion stroke undergoing EVT by anesthesia modality with conscious sedation (non-GA) versus general anesthesia (GA). Methods Patients from the Posterior CerebraL Artery Occlusion (PLATO) study were analyzed with regard to anesthetic strategy. GA was compared with non-GA using multivariable logistic regression and inverse probability of weighting treatment (IPTW) methods. The primary endpoint was the 90-day distribution of the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score. Secondary outcomes included functional independence or return to Rankin at day 90, and successful reperfusion, defined as expanded Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (eTICI) 2b to 3. Safety endpoints were symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage and mortality. Results Among 376 patients with isolated PCA occlusion stroke treated with EVT, 183 (49%) had GA. The treatment groups were comparable, although the GA group contained more patients with severe stroke and lower posterior circulation Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (pc-ASPECTS). On IPTW analysis, there was no difference between groups with regard to ordinal mRS shift analysis (common OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.53 to 1.51, P=0.67) or functional independence (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.50 to 1.39, P=0.49). There were greater odds for successful reperfusion with GA (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.17 to 2.47, P=0.01). Safety outcomes were comparable between groups. Conclusion In patients with isolated PCA occlusion undergoing EVT, patients treated with GA had higher reperfusion rates compared with non-GA. Both GA and non-GA strategies were safe and functional outcomes were similar.

The Lithium-Ion battery at the end of life represents a valuable source of secondary raw materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt etc. Deep discharging, as a part of battery recycling, is a time-consuming process in which the battery's thermal dependency on the discharge parameters and voltage recovery effect is manifested. Adjusting the discharging process adequately to address those two phenomena leads to a safety increase and discharging time decrease. This paper treats two aspects. It is observed the effect of the constant and variable discharging current along with the depth of the discharge in the form of discharge end voltage parameter on the maximal cell temperature reached during the process. The second aspect is the battery recovery voltage trend after the discharging process and its dependency on the same parameters. The impact of these parameters is demonstrated experimentally on two battery cell types.

In our recent attempt to explain flavor hierarchies [1], a gauged SU(2) flavor symmetry acting on left-handed fermions provides a ground to introduce three independent rank-one contributions to the Yukawa matrices: a renormalizable one for the third family, a mass-suppressed one for the second family, and an additional loop-suppressed factor for the first family. Here, we demonstrate how minimal quark-lepton unification à la Pati-Salam, relating down-quarks to charged leptons, can significantly improve this mechanism. We construct and thoroughly analyze a renormalizable model, performing a comprehensive one-loop matching calculation that reveals how all flavor hierarchies emerge from a single ratio of two scales. The first signatures may appear in the upcoming charged lepton flavor violation experiments.

Flavor deconstruction refers to non-universal gauge extensions where the original gauge symmetry is deconstructed into separate copies, one for each family. A hierarchical chain of symmetry breaking provides an attractive low-scale solution to the flavor puzzle, consistent with flavor-changing neutral currents and finite naturalness. Although successful in explaining the origin of flavor hierarchies in the quark and charged lepton sectors, existing models have struggled with the large and seemingly anarchic mixing observed in neutrino oscillations. This letter identifies conditions under which neutrino anarchy may arise from flavor deconstruction in generic models with right-handed neutrinos. When deconstruction is applied to carefully chosen subgroups of the extended gauge symmetry, hierarchies in the seesaw formula cancel out.

A fast-paced policy context is characteristic of energy and climate research, which strives to develop solutions to wicked problems such as climate change. Funding agencies in the European Union recognize the importance of linking research and policy in climate and energy research. This calls for an increased understanding of how stakeholder engagement can effectively be used to co-design research questions that include stakeholders' concerns. This paper reviews the current literature on stakeholder engagement, from which we create a set of criteria. These are used to critically assess recent and relevant papers on stakeholder engagement in climate and energy projects. We obtained the papers from a scoping review of stakeholder engagement through workshops in EU climate and energy research. With insights from the literature and current EU climate and energy projects, we developed a workshop programme for stakeholder engagement. This programme was applied to the European Climate and Energy Modelling Forum project, aiming to co-design the most pressing and urgent research questions according to European stakeholders. The outcomes include 82 co-designed and ranked research questions for nine specific climate and energy research themes. Findings from the scoping review indicate that papers rarely define the term 'stakeholder'. Additionally, the concepts of co-creation, co-design, and co-production are used interchangeably and often without definition. We propose that workshop planners use stakeholder identification and selection methods from the broader stakeholder engagement literature.

Building integrated microgrids and building integrated photovoltaic systems (BIPV) are emerging as a promising avenue for seamlessly integrating small scale renewable energy sources (RES) into the grid. Challenges arise as new ideas are being explored and implemented in this area, and one of them is maximizing self-consumption and self-sufficiency, for any energy policy, but especially while adhering to zero energy export (ZEE) policy restrictions. As a solution to enhance the utilization of BIPV system this paper proposes a load management (LM) technique. By combining on-grid photovoltaic (PV) system with controllable loads, this paper demonstrates how proactive LM can increase self-consumption and self-sufficiency factors, as well as mitigate PV produced energy dumping due to ZEE restrictions. A case study in the wood sector's industrial building illustrates the efficiency of this approach, showcasing reduced reliance on grid power during sunny periods and increased self-sufficiency through strategic load scheduling. Real-world data analysis validates the effectiveness of LM in aligning PV generation with building energy demands, offering insights into its potential for broader adoption in the renewable energy sector.

Building integrated microgrids (BIMs) present a promising step towards a more efficient, decentralized and sustainable power system. Many buildings already have various renewable energy sources (RES) integrated, but the next step is adding energy storage (ES) systems, or proactive loads such as electric vehicles (EVs) to an already established system. However, ensuring the resilience of the system to accept these new elements presents a challenge in terms of stability, efficiency, and operational capability. This paper focuses on size optimized BIM simulated on Typhoon Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) platform using real measured load and PV production data. A rule-based energy management system (EMS) is proposed and its effective-ness is analyzed through testing resilience of the system under consideration. Performance analysis is conducted by adding an EV and assessing system response in several scenarios of load and EV use profiles. Through Typhoon HIL simulations the power profiles of system elements are analyzed, leading to conclusions on BIM performance.

The consumers with building integrated photovoltaic (PV) systems have become prosumers, and their profit depends on network regulations, especially in the treatment of surplus electricity. Net-metering and feed-in tariff are the most common remuneration mechanisms for prosumers. Increasing the number of prosumers can cause various technical problems in the grid, therefore the distribution system operator sometimes imposes legal/regulatory and technical restrictions that are reflected in zero energy export. Integration of the energy storage systems can help with problems arising from these restrictions, but will make the initial investment significantly more expensive. This may negatively affect the profitability of investment. The main aim of this paper is analysis of different regulatory policies and their impact on building integrated PV system profitability. Two profitability metric factors were calculated for the purpose of better policy comparison. For the presented analysis, real data sets of a load demand and PV energy production were used. As an example, the integrated PV system installed at the Faculty of EE University of Sarajevo is analyzed.

A fast-paced policy context is characteristic of energy and climate research, which strives to develop solutions to wicked problems such as climate change. Funding agencies in the European Union recognize the importance of linking research and policy in climate and energy research. This calls for an increased understanding of how stakeholder engagement can effectively be used to co-design research questions that include stakeholders'concerns. This paper reviews the current literature on stakeholder engagement, from which we create a set of criteria. These are used to critically assess recent and relevant papers on stakeholder engagement in climate and energy projects. We obtained the papers from a scoping review of stakeholder engagement through workshops in EU climate and energy research. With insights from the literature and current EU climate and energy projects, we developed a workshop programme for stakeholder engagement. This programme was applied to the European Climate and Energy Modelling Forum project, aiming to co-design the most pressing and urgent research questions according to European stakeholders. The outcomes include 82 co-designed and ranked research questions for nine specific climate and energy research themes. Findings from the scoping review indicate that papers rarely define the term'stakeholder'. Additionally, the concepts of co-creation, co-design, and co-production are used interchangeably and often without definition. We propose that workshop planners use stakeholder identification and selection methods from the broader stakeholder engagement literature.

The International Transport Forum (ITF) predicts a significant increase in demand for transportation in the coming years, despite the shortage of drivers. To tackle this challenge, the Transport and Logistics (T&L) industry is increasingly relying on emerging technologies. While connected and autonomous driving offer promises of greater safety, efficiency, and environmental benefits, connected and autonomous driving face operational hurdles in complex environments. However, the existing limitations of autonomous vehicles, particularly in dense urban settings, highlight the need for complementary technologies, such as teleoperation. The European Horizon 2020 5G-Blueprint project aims to design and validate the technical architecture and business models for cross-border teleoperated transport, utilizing 5G technology. This study delves into the implementation of a real 5G Standalone (5G SA) network within a port environment, utilizing network slicing for teleoperation and Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) to enable real-time video processing at the network edge. Specifically focusing on Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) and enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) slices, we conduct a comprehensive evaluation of a real-world 5G SA network. Our assessment examines key performance parameters such as Round-Trip Time(RTT) latency, Packet Delivery Rate (PDR), Reference Signals Received Power (RSRP), and corrupted frame rates, emphasizing the crucial role of 5G network slicing and MEC in enhancing operational reliability and efficiency in teleoperated transport systems.

The Transport and Logistics (T&L) sector faces numerous challenges, including the search for qualified personnel, as well as improving driver safety and work-life balance. Teleoperation emerges as the technology able to address these challenges. Thanks to 5G connectivity and network slicing, operating vehicles remotely from a Teleoperation Center (ToC) is becoming a reality. The European project 5G-Blueprint, funded by the European Union, has demonstrated the feasibility of 5G-based teleoperation, even in a cross-border context. Despite the fact that 5G and network slicing enable reliable and low-latency transmission of video data from cameras installed on Teleoperated Vehicles (ToVs) to ToC, the perception of the surrounding environment is different for the teleoperator compared to the driver who is physically present in the vehicle. In this paper, we introduce a real-world system that showcases synergy among different teleoperation elements, including intelligent traffic lights (iTL) and Vulnerable Road Users (VRU), aimed at supporting teleoperation by improving remote driver’s situational awareness. This synergy enhances the environmental perception of the teleoperator, bridging the gap between their experience and that of an in-vehicle driver. First, we evaluate the performance of a real-world 5G network with network slicing, based on actual data and testing scenarios conducted in both industrial and urban areas with 5G Standalone (5G SA) coverage. Then we validate the 5G capabilities for enabling a real-world system that showcases synergy among different teleoperation elements.

The native integration of AI and ML algorithms in the next-generation mobile network architecture will allow for meeting the expectations of 6G. This aspect is targeted by the DAEMON project, which proposed a solution to natively manage Network Intelligence (NI) through novel architectural elements and procedures. In this paper, we discuss how NI solutions based on AI and ML can leverage NI native procedures implemented by the NI Orchestrator to improve their lifecycle management. We also discuss how the architectural procedures can be implemented in practice, using state-of-the-art software components.