University of Arkansas System

This paper investigates the existence of traveling waves in a diffusive SIR model with delay incorporated in the diffusion terms and a nonlinear incidence rate with delay. By employing a cross-iteration scheme and partial monotonicity conditions, we establish that the existence of quasi-upper and lower solutions, along with suitable super and sub-solutions, provides sufficient conditions for the existence of a traveling wavefront. This existence result is obtained via Schauder’s fixed-point theorem. Furthermore, given an appropriate basic reproduction number, the traveling wavefront transitions from the disease-free steady state to the endemic steady state. To illustrate our approach, we explicitly construct super- and sub-solutions for a specific model.

With rapid urbanization, lifestyle changes, and an aging population, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including hypertension and diabetes, pose significant public health challenges in Bangladesh and many other low- and middle-income countries. This study used machine learning (ML) approaches to develop predictive models for hypertension and diabetes among Bangladeshi adults. Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2022, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey, data were analyzed. Hypertension was defined as systolic/diastolic blood pressure 140/90 mmHg (or more) or taking any antihypertensive medication. Diabetes was defined as having fasting plasma glucose ≥7.0 mmol/L or using any glucose-lowering drugs. Potential predictors included age, sex, education, wealth quintile, overweight/obesity, rural-urban residence, and division of residence. Descriptive analysis was conducted, and six ML models were applied: artificial neural network (ANN), random forest, adaptive boosting (AdaBoost), gradient boosting, XGBoost, and support vector machine (SVM). Models' performance and feature importance were reported. We included 13,847 adults (females: 55%). Sensitivity was high across models (up to 0.96 and 0.90 for diabetes and hypertension, respectively). However, the overall specificity was low, particularly for diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes and hypertension was 16.3% and 20.5%, respectively. For diabetes, AdaBoost had the highest AUC (0.699), and SVM had the highest accuracy (0.836); for hypertension, AdaBoost had the greatest AUC (0.775) and accuracy (0.799). Hypertension was the most common diabetes predictor, while overweight/obesity was the most common predictor for hypertension, followed by age and diabetes. Wealth and sex were moderately influential, with education and geographic factors less so. Low specificity across models indicated challenges in identifying non-cases. This ML-driven analysis identified the bidirectional relationship of hypertension and diabetes along with several other predictors, including overweight/obesity, older age, and richer household wealth quintiles. Our findings underscore the need for integrated screening and lifestyle interventions targeting high-risk groups to mitigate future NCD burden.

Understanding the magnetic properties of rare-earth iron garnet ultrathin films subjected to a strain is of essence from both fundamental science and technological perspectives. In this work, we report on the results of a combined first-principles calculations and classical Monte Carlo simulations study of magnetic properties of gadolinium iron garnet thin-films subjected to a uniaxial strain. We employ first-principles calculations to compute the magnetic exchange coupling constants for thin films subjected to uniaxial strains including both compressive and tensile cases. The magnetic exchange coupling constants were then used to construct an effective magnetic Hamiltonian, which includes symmetry-breaking effects, and perform Monte Carlo simulations. Using the latter, we study the dependences of magnetic properties on temperature and strain in gadolinium iron garnet thin-film systems, subjected to a uniaxial strain. To further advance our understanding of the magnetic behavior, we also consider a simple analytical model, which is based on the N & eacute;el molecular field theory for ferrimagnetics and incorporates magnetic exchange coupling constants taken from the first-principles calculations. The case of uniaxial strains, considered in this work, is compared to the behavior of biaxially-strained thin films, studied in a previous work, and the theoretical results of this work are also compared with available experimental data on rare-earth iron garnets subjected to an external strain. The implications of the obtained results for use of layered rare-earth iron garnets-based materials for magnetic technologies are also discussed.

We performed a protein-docking study for eight DNA aptamers (SEQ1-SEQ8) against chicken Cluster of Differentiation 40 (chCD40), which were experimentally identified via SELEX in our previous study. In silico and molecular docking analyses were performed to predict and obtain the secondary and tertiary structures of the aptamers. Aptamers SEQ3 and SEQ4, which showed the best inhibitory effects, were selected and utilized to produce a DNA-based vaccine adjuvant using rolling circle amplification (RCA). These aptamers had been previously characterized via mass spectroscopy to determine their molecular weight and regions that could potentially interact with chCD40. In the present study, these results were corroborated and expanded. A series of free software methods, including Mfold v.1.0, 3dADN v.2.0, ClusPro v.2.0, Hdock v.1.0, and PLIP v.1.0, were used to determine the aptamers' secondary and tertiary structures and docking interactions, as well as the specific residues involved in the interactions and their distances. The structures were used to explain and thus understand their effect on the binding, selectivity, and stability of the aptamers. The main objective of the study was to determine whether these aptamers could be used as vaccine adjuvants against viral and bacterial pathogens, specifically chicken avian influenza. The docking results were in good agreement with the experimental and biological results. The procedure employed in this study could be an easy and effective tool for exploring the potential of the new technology of systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) in the preparation of aptamers to control viral and bacterial infections as well as diseases, such as cancer and Alzheimer's.

This paper examines institutional divergence between India and Pakistan using a comparative governance lens. By integrating Critical Macro-Finance (CMF) theory with a FAIR data workflow, we construct a replicable model of corporate governance quality across fragile democratic contexts. While headline indices such as Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) suggest convergence, our findings reveal persistent and widening institutional asymmetries-especially in judicial independence, rule of law, and regulatory coherence. Our contribution is threefold: (1) we offer new comparative insights into how postcolonial governance regimes evolve under democratic strain; (2) we empirically model divergence in state and market institutions between two formally similar but functionally distinct economies; and (3) we introduce a scalable, transparent approach to modeling institutional risk using open-source methods aligned with FAIR principles.