From classical approaches to artificial intelligence, old and new tools for PDAC risk stratification and prediction

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is recognized as one of the most lethal malignancies, characterized by late-stage diagnosis and limited therapeutic options. Risk stratification has traditionally been performed using epidemiological studies and genetic analyses, through which key risk factors, including smoking, diabetes, chronic pancreatitis, and inherited predispositions, have been identified. However, the multifactorial nature of PDAC has often been insufficiently addressed by these methods, leading to limited precision in individualized risk assessments. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have been proposed as a transformative approach, allowing the integration of diverse datasets—spanning genetic, clinical, lifestyle, and imaging data into dynamic models capable of uncovering novel interactions and risk profiles. In this review, the evolution of PDAC risk stratification is explored, with classical epidemiological frameworks compared to AI-driven methodologies. Genetic insights, including genome-wide association studies and polygenic risk scores, are discussed, alongside AI models such as machine learning, radiomics, and deep learning. Strengths and limitations of these approaches are evaluated, with challenges in clinical translation, such as data scarcity, model interpretability, and external validation, addressed. Finally, future directions are proposed for combining classical and AI-driven methodologies to develop scalable, personalized predictive tools for PDAC, with the goal of improving early detection and patient outcomes

Rebuilding Antakya: Cultivating urban resilience through cultural identity and education for post-disaster reconstruction in Turkey

On February 6th, 2023, 11 cities around the southeast of Turkey were hit by a major earthquake with magnitude of 7.9 and 7.6, which resulted in mass destruction and loss of lives in many cities. Antakya, Hatay was one of those cities that lost more than 50 % of the built environment and a death toll of over 50,000. Previously known for its profound historical lineage, rich and diverse cultural heritage, and deep-rooted connection to its cultural identity, Antakya's reconstruction process holds a critical case not only for Turkey but also for the global discourse on urban resilience and post-disaster recovery strategies. Thus, in this study, we deep dive into an ongoing recovery process in Antakya, Turkey. The study's primary objective is to identify the key factors, constraints, opportunities, and challenges involved in reconstructing a city that can withstand future earthquakes. The data used in the study was gathered during fieldwork that was carried out in Hatay, Turkey, in June 2023. The methodology consists of total of 16 focus groups and in-depth interviews with stakeholders, including representatives of professional associations, local government agencies, and public institutions. Our results showed that re-opening educational services plays a crucial role in promoting recovery in Antakya. Furthermore, we examined the complex interplay between cultural ties to place, and urban resilience in the context of disaster recovery. We found that in Antakya, cultural identify may play a crucial role and would have a direct influence on its recovery. These findings hold significance for policymakers, urban planners, and disaster management professionals who must navigate the challenging terrain of post-disaster reconstruction while considering the cultural and emotional ties that bind residents to their cities. Ultimately, this research provides valuable insights into the intricacies of urban recovery and reconstruction processes and contributes to the growing body of knowledge on urban resilience and disaster recovery

Layer path updating algorithm based on Voronoi diagrams for material extrusion additive manufacturing

In Material Extrusion (MEX) types of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies, the continuity of the trajectories affects the surface quality of the artifacts manufactured and the time of fabrication. Continuous paths result in lower surface roughness values and lower fabrication times. AM machines employing MEX technologies have the flexibility to fill the interior of objects with regular or irregular patterns to serve various applications. Any of these infill patterns can be modelled with 3D Voronoi diagrams. Therefore, developing a continuous path planning algorithm based on Voronoi diagrams would increase the flexibility of the approach. Accompanied with an encryption method, the proposed approach can represent the motion trajectories of the extruder head in a compact manner, decreasing file sizes representing them. Based on the results of various test cases, the proposed approach improves surface quality, decreases fabrication time and the size of the manufacturing files

How Women and Men Should (Not) Be: Gender Rules and Their Alignment With Status Beliefs Across Nations

Gender rules, that is, prescriptive and proscriptive gender stereotypes, dictate how women and men should and should not be, and thereby perpetuate the gender hierarchy that privileges men over women. Across seven nations that span the continuum of gender equality, we investigated gender status norms by identifying the extent to which gender rules correspond with social status beliefs. As expected, in all investigated nations, participants (N = 4,327) believed that men should not show low-status traits reflecting weakness (e.g., weak, naive) but should show high-status traits reflecting agency (e.g., leadership ability, ambitious). Correlational analyses found that the more gender-equal a nation, the more men's agency prescriptions were aligned with high-status and their weakness proscriptions with low-status characteristics. Moreover, participants believed that women should not show high-status traits reflecting dominance (e.g., dominant, demanding) in the United States, Turkey, India, and Ghana-that is, in the relatively less gender-equal nations. Yet, no trait was proscribed for women in the relatively more gender-equal nations of Switzerland and Sweden. The status alignment of women's prescriptions and proscriptions did not relate to nations' achieved gender equality. We discuss how the alignment of men's gender rules with status beliefs represents a hidden barrier to achieving full gender equality

Search for heavy neutral resonances decaying to tau lepton pairs in proton-proton collisions at (Formula presented)

A search for heavy neutral gauge bosons ((Formula presented)) decaying into a pair of tau leptons is performed in proton-proton collisions at (Formula presented) at the CERN LHC. The data were collected with the CMS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of (Formula presented). The observations are found to be in agreement with the expectation from standard model processes. Limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of the (Formula presented) production cross section and its branching fraction to tau lepton pairs for a range of (Formula presented) boson masses. For a narrow resonance in the sequential standard model scenario, a (Formula presented) boson with a mass below 3.5 TeV is excluded. This is the most stringent limit to date from this type of search

Nurturing Preservice Mathematics Teachers' Reasoning about Measures of Central Tendency and Variability

This study aimed to examine the development of preservice mathematics teachers' reasoning about measures of central tendency and variability. To this end, a classroom teaching experiment enriched by four compelling learning activities was conducted with 14 preservice teachers. The activities in the teaching experiment were designed to promote classroom discussion and collaboration. The study's data comprised the video recordings of class sessions, field notes, and participants' artifacts. The findings revealed the ideas about statistical measures generated by the preservice teachers based on their communal reasoning in the classroom. When using appropriate statistical measures for the context, they made sense of the measures of central tendency as indicators of certainty in situations including uncertainty. In other words, they could integrate central tendency and variability measures rather than just focusing on them independently. This study has valuable implications for teacher education in developing preservice teachers' statistical reasoning on central tendency and variability measures

Study of WH production through vector boson scattering and extraction of the relative sign of the W and Z couplings to the Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at s=13TeV

A search for the production of a W boson and a Higgs boson through vector boson scattering (VBS) is presented, using CMS data from proton-proton collisions at s=13TeV collected from 2016 to 2018. The integrated luminosity of the data sample is 138fb−1. Selected events must be consistent with the presence of two jets originating from VBS, the leptonic decay of the W boson to an electron or muon, possibly also through an intermediate τ lepton, and a Higgs boson decaying into a pair of b quarks, reconstructed as either a single merged jet or two resolved jets. A measurement of the process as predicted by the standard model (SM) is performed alongside a study of beyond-the-SM (BSM) scenarios. The SM analysis sets an observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limit of 14.3 (9.9) on the ratio of the measured VBS WH cross section to that expected by the SM. The BSM analysis, conducted within the so-called κ framework, excludes all scenarios with λWZ<0 that are consistent with current measurements, where λWZ=κW/κZ and κW and κZ are the HWW and HZZ coupling modifiers, respectively. The significance of the exclusion is beyond 5 standard deviations, and it is consistent with the SM expectation of λWZ=1

Agrivoltaic system design for sugar beets and wheat in central Anatolia

Agrivoltaic systems, which integrate photovoltaic (PV) panels with the usage of agricultural land, emerge as a promising strategy by facilitating the simultaneous generation of renewable energy alongside the cultivation of various crops within the same area. This research is centered on the design and implementation of an agrivoltaic system that is specifically customized for the cultivation of wheat and sugar beet in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The primary objective of this research is to optimize the spatial arrangement of the PV panels to achieve a balance between the generation of energy and the productivity of the crops. Through a detailed assessment of shading effects and Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) levels, this investigation will endeavor to unravel the complex interplay between panel configuration and its consequential impacts on both plant growth and energy output. In this investigation, the shading impacts attributed to three distinct configurations—specifically, the conventional solar power plant (SPP), the intermittently arranged panel layout, and the intermittently arranged V-shaped panel configuration—were assessed, and their appropriateness for the cultivation of wheat and sugar beet was evaluated. The V-shaped design, which additionally facilitates rainwater collection, yielded an enhanced PPFD value across the three designated regions beneath the panels

Identification and source provenance of jadeite-bearing jade axes from Ulucak Höyük, Western Anatolia

The jades from Ulucak Höyük (İzmir, Turkey) are green-colored in hand specimen, and combined petrographic, XRD, and whole-rock analyses indicate that they mainly comprise jadeitic clinopyroxene, characterizing them as jadeite-bearing jades. Primitive mantle (PM)-normalized multi-element patterns reveal two distinct chemical groups. Both groups display depletion in Th and U; however, Group 1 shows a narrower elemental range and marked positive Pb anomaly. The second group, on the other hand, displays a wide elemental range in most elements and strong negative anomalies in Zr and Hf ([Nd/Zr]PM = 1.6–4.2; [Sm/Hf]PM = 1.8–3.5). Regarding REE systematics, both groups are characterized by weak positive slopes ([La/Yb]Ch = 1.7–5.3). However, whereas Group 1 shows coherent LREE-enriched trends, Group 2 displays flat- to LREE-enriched patterns with a wide range in Eu. When the geochemical features of Ulucak jades are compared with the high-pressure (HP) metamorphic rocks from Turkey and Greece, the similar multi-element patterns of Syros eclogites (Greece) to Group 2 Ulucak jades make Syros a possible source area for the Ulucak artefacts. On the other hand, the geochemical resemblance of the Sifnos jadeite-bearing gneisses to Group 1 Ulucak jades may raise the possibility of this island being another source for the Ulucak jades