bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fake News and Information Warfare
Authors: Guadagno Rosanna E. , Guttieri Karen
Published: December 2020

Fake news—false information passed off as factual—is an effective weapon in the information age. For instance, the Russian government perfected techniques used in its 2007 Estonian and 2008 Georgian cyber campaigns to support Donald Trump's successful candidacy in the 2016 United States presidential election. In this chapter, the authors examine fake news and Russia's cyberwarfare efforts across time as case studies of information warfare. The chapter identifies key terms and reviews extant political science and psychological research related to obtaining an understanding of psychological cyber warfare (“psywar”) through the proliferation of fake news. Specifically, the authors suggest that there are social, contextual, and individual factors that contribute to the spread and influence of fake news and review these factors in this chapter.
Saving Democracy
Authors: Niewiadomski Robert , Anderson Dennis
Published: December 2020

The recent rise of populism around the world, often accompanied by nationalism and isolationism, is a trend that presents a serious threat not only to liberal democracies but also to global peace and security. Populist forces have already shown their influence through the British referendum on membership withdrawal from the European Union and the election of Donald J. Trump as the U.S. President in 2016. These two events alone had ripple effects and were felt by the international community. The causes of populism are being currently revisited. It appears that socioeconomic and cultural aspects are key contributors. Even though the persistent existence of populist elements within societies comes from the very core of the democratic experiment, the current trend in social media technologies allowed demagogues to utilize viral deception on a considerable scale. The authors argue that social media technologies could be employed through e-participation to inhibit populism by bolstering civic empowerment, transparency, progressive inclusiveness, fact-based analysis, and informed decision making.
Trolls, Bots, and Whatnots
Authors: Klyueva Anna
Published: December 2020

Trolls and bots are often used to alter, disrupt, or even silence legitimate online conversations artificially. Disrupting and corrupting the online civic engagement process creates ethical challenges and undermines social and political structures. Trolls and bots often amplify spurious deceptive content as their activity artificially inflates support for an issue or a public figure, thus creating mass misperception. In addressing this concern, the chapter examines how trolls (humans) and bots (robots that exhibit human-like communication behavior) affect online engagement that perpetuates deception, misinformation, and fake news. In doing so, the chapter reviews the literature on online trolling and chatbots to present a list of research-based recommendations for identifying (deception detection) and reacting (deception suppression) to trolls and bots.
Fake News Detection Using Deep Learning
Authors: Konagala Varalakshmi , Bano Shahana
Published: December 2020

The engendering of uncertain data in ordinary access news sources, for example, news sites, web-based life channels, and online papers, have made it trying to recognize capable news sources, along these lines expanding the requirement for computational instruments ready to give into the unwavering quality of online substance. For instance, counterfeit news outlets were observed to be bound to utilize language that is abstract and enthusiastic. At the point when specialists are chipping away at building up an AI-based apparatus for identifying counterfeit news, there wasn't sufficient information to prepare their calculations; they did the main balanced thing. In this chapter, two novel datasets for the undertaking of phony news locations, covering distinctive news areas, distinguishing proof of phony substance in online news has been considered. N-gram model will distinguish phony substance consequently with an emphasis on phony audits and phony news. This was pursued by a lot of learning analyses to fabricate precise phony news identifiers and showed correctness of up to 80%.
Nexus Between Sectoral Shift and Stock Return
Authors: Hosen Mosharrof , Imran Mohammed , Chowdhury Mohammad Ashraful Ferdous
Published: December 2020

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of sectoral shift on the stock return of Bangladesh. This study employs auto-regressive distributive lag (ARDL) approach using the weekly data of various sectoral indices of Bangladesh over the period from May 1999 to September 2016. The findings tend to indicate that there has possible sectoral portfolio diversification in the market and ‘general product industry' is the most exogenous and profitable sector from the rest. This study is one of the first attempts of the sectoral analysis and its impact on the stock return with the reference to Bangladesh. Furthermore, this study can be a benchmark for the policymakers of emerging economies to find the impact of economic transformation in the stock returns of the equity markets.
Measurement of Total Quality Management of Private Universities
Authors: Purwati Astri Ayu , Yusrizal  , Chandra Teddy , Junaedi Achmad Tavip , Luthfi Muhammad , Hamzah  , Chandra Stefani
Published: December 2020

This research aims to examine the TQM application in education using SERVQUAL and the quality function deployment (QFD) based on the students' perspectives. Globalization in the current technological era requires every country to be able to face increasingly fierce competition. Indonesia ranked 41st below Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore out of 137 countries in 2017-2018 Global Competitiveness Index. Quality human resources are the only choice to win the competition. TQM can be used to produce the right quality standards to produce competent and competitive graduates. This study aims to discuss how the application of TQM in education uses SERVQUAL and also the quality function deployment (QFD) based on student perspectives. The results showed that the quality of technology is one of the important elements that are highly expected by students but have not been fulfilled by the university.
Research on IRP of Perishable Products Based on Mobile Data Sharing Environment
Authors: Wang Zelin , Wei Xiaoning , Pan Jiansheng
Published: December 2020

Inventory routing problem (IRP) has always been a hot issue. Due to its particularity, perishable products have high requirements for inventory and transportation. In order to reduce the losses of perishable goods and improve the storage efficiency of perishable goods, based on the general inventory path problem, this paper further has studied the IRP of perishable goods. In addition, in the process of product distribution and transportation, there are a lot of real-time product information generated dynamically. These real-time mobile data must be shared by the whole distribution network, which will also dynamically affect the efficiency of IRP research. On the basis of some assumptions, the mathematical model has been established with inventory and vehicle as constraints and the total cost of the system as the objective. In view of the particularity of perishable inventory path problem, this paper proposed an improved differential evolution algorithm (IDE) to improve the differential evolution algorithm from two aspects. Firstly, the population has been initialized by gridding and the greedy local optimization algorithm has been used to assist the differential evolution algorithm, with these measures to improve the convergence speed of the algorithm. Then, the accuracy of the algorithm is improved by the adaptive scaling factor, two evolution modes and changing the constraints of the problem. Then the improved algorithm has been used to solve the inventory path problem. The results of numerical experiments show that the algorithm is effective and feasible and can improve the accuracy and speed up the convergence of the algorithm.
Adversarial Reconstruction CNN for Illumination-Robust Frontal Face Image Recovery and Recognition
Authors: Yang Liping , Yang Bin , Gu Xiaohua
Published: December 2020

This article proposes an adversarial reconstruction convolution neural network (ARCNN) for non-uniform illumination frontal face image recovery and recognition. The proposed ARCNN includes a reconstruction network and a discriminative network. The authors employ GAN framework to learn the reconstruction network in an adversarial manner. This article integrates gradient loss and perceptual loss terms, which are able to preserve the detailed and spatial structure image information, into the overall reconstruction loss function to constraint the reconstruction procedure. Experiments are conducted on the typical illumination-sensitive dataset, extended YaleB dataset. The reconstructed results demonstrate that the proposed ARCNN approach can remove the illumination and shadow information and recover natural uniform illuminated face image from non-uniform illuminated ones. Face recognition results on the extended YaleB dataset demonstrate that the proposed ARCNN reconstruction procedure can also preserve the discriminative information of face image for classification task.
An AI Using Construction Grammar to Understand Text
Authors: Kiselev Denis
Published: December 2020

This paper describes an AI that uses construction grammar (CG)—a means of knowledge representation for deep understanding of text. The proposed improvements aim at more versatility of the text form and meaning knowledge structure, as well as for intelligent choosing among possible parses. Along with the improvements, computational CG techniques that form the implementation basis are explained. Evaluation experiments utilize a Winograd schema (WS)—a major test for AI—dataset and compare the implementation with state-of-the-art ones. Results have demonstrated that compared with such techniques as deep learning, the proposed CG approach has a higher potential for the task of anaphora resolution involving deep understanding of the natural language.
Supporting Real-Time Data Transmissions in Cognitive Radio Networks Using Queue Shifting Mechanism
Authors: Ramanjaneyulu B. Seetha , Annapurna K.
Published: December 2020

As cognitive radio networks are conceptualized to make use of the opportunistic spectrum access, the users of these networks may face problems in satisfying their quality of service (QoS) requirements. Some services of users like real-time audio and video which cannot tolerate inter-packet delays will be affected more due to this. The problem occurs due to the non-availability of channels to these applications at some instants. This problem can be addressed if the available channels are judiciously distributed among the competing users. One such mechanism that dynamically allocates the competing users to multiple queues, and shifting the users to higher-level queues as the time elapses is introduced in this work. This is found to help the users of cognitive radio networks to communicate reasonably well even when fewer channels are available for opportunistic use. Results are indicated in terms of blocking probabilities of real-time data. Markov chain-based analysis and discrete event simulation studies are carried out.
A Withdrawal Prediction Model of At-Risk Learners Based on Behavioural Indicators
Authors: Hlioui Fedia , Aloui Nadia , Gargouri Faiez
Published: December 2020

Nowadays, the virtual learning environment has become an ideal tool for professional self-development and bringing courses for various learner audiences across the world. There is currently an increasing interest in researching the topic of learner dropout and low completion in distance learning, with one of the main concerns being elevated rates of occurrence. Therefore, the early prediction of learner withdrawal has become a major challenge, as well as identifying the factors, which contribute to this increasingly occurring phenomenon. In that regard, this manuscript presents a framework for withdrawal prediction model for the data from The Open University, one of the largest distance learning institutions. For that purpose, we start by pre-processing the dataset and tackling the challenge of discretization process and unbalanced data. Secondly, this paper identifies the semantical issues of raw data by introducing new behavioural indicators. Finally, we reckon on machine learning algorithms for withdrawal prediction model to understand the lack of learners' commitment at an early stage.
Structure Evolution of La(OH)3 /Fe Composite during Ball Milling
Authors: Lalaoua Samira , Bouzabata Bouguerra , Alleg Safia , Djekoun Abedelmalik , Shmool David
Published: December 2020

Fe-10wt% La (OH)3 composite powders have been fabricated by ball milling, under argon atmosphere for milling periods of 0, 5 and 10 h, respectively. Changes in structural, morphological, thermal and magnetic properties of the powders during mechanical alloying and during subsequent annealing have been examined by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). XRD results: showed the formation of new phases (Fe and LaFeO3 perovskite) created through the ball milling. The results showed that the crystalline size of ball milled powders decreased with increasing the milling time. In fact, after 10 h of ball milling, La (OH)3 changes from nanostructure in amorphous structure. The magnetic measurements display a distinct saturation magnetization and coercivity.
Synthesis of Gold Nanorods by Using H2O2 as the Weak Reducer in a Binary Surfactant Mixture
Authors: Zhang Shu Ting , Liu Zhi Ang , Hu Ming Yue , Ma Sulan , Li Min , Liu Xiao Li
Published: December 2020

A new seed-mediated growth technique for synthesizing gold nanorods (NRs) by using H2O2 as the weak reducer in the presence of a binary surfactant mixture is reported. Gold NRs prepared at different amounts of H2O2 and the gold seeds solution were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and visible–near infrared spectroscopy. Gold NRs with tunable aspect ratio from 4.5 to 7 can be obtained and the corresponding longitudinal plasmonic wavelength of the produced gold NRs are tunable from 810 to 1140 nm. This method provides a new pathway for synthesis of gold NRs with a wide range of longitudinal plasmonic peaks, which have potential applications in optoelectronics and biomedicine.
Effect of Transition Metals on the Mechanical Properties of ZnO Thin Films, Prepared by Sol-Gel Method
Authors: Benzitouni Sara , Zaabat Mourad , Ebothé Jean , Mahdjoub Abdelhakim , Guemini Meriem
Published: December 2020

Undoped and transition metals (TM = Cr, Ni, Mn and Cd) doped zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were prepared by sol-gel dip-coating method on glass substrates at 300 °C. In this study, the effect of dopant material on the structural, morphological, optical, electrical and mechanical properties of ZnO thin films is investigated by using XRD, AFM, UV-Vis, Hall effect and nanoindentation techniques, respectively. Nanocrystalline films with a ZnO hexagonal wurtzite structure and two preferred orientations (002) and (103) were obtained. UV-Vis transmittance spectra showed that all the films are highly transparent in the visible region (> 80 %). Moreover, the optical band gap of the films decreased to 3.13 eV with an increasing orbital occupation number of 3d electrons. AFM-topography shows that the films are dense, smooth and uniform, except for the high roughness RMS =26.3 nm obtained for Cd-doped ZnO. Finally, the dopant material is found to have a significant effect on the mechanical behavior of ZnO as compared to the undoped material. For Ni and Cd dopants, analysis of load and unload data yields an increase in the hardness (8.96 ± 0.22 GPa) and Young’s modulus (122 ± 7.46 GPa) of ZnO as compared to Cr and Mn dopants. Therefore, Ni and Cd are the appropriate dopants for the design and application of ZnO-based nanoelectromechanical systems.
A Drain Current and Transconductance Analytical Model for Symmetric Double Gate Junctionless FENT
Authors: Bora N. , Deka N. , Subadar R.
Published: December 2020

This paper presents an analytical model of various electrical parameters for an ultra thin symmetric double gate (SDG) junctionless field effect nanowire transistor (JLFENT). The model works for all the regions of operation of the nanowire transistor without using any fitting parameter. The surface potential is derived based on the solutions of Poisson’s and current continuity equations by using appropriate boundary conditions. The Pao–Sah double integral was used to obtain the drain current, transconductance and drain conductance. The results obtained from analytical model are validated by comparing with GENIUS 3D TCAD simulations. The simplicity of the model makes it appropriate to be a SPICE compatible model.
Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in Italian Patients
Authors: Baiardo Redaelli Martina , Landoni Giovanni , Di Napoli Davide , Morselli Federica , Sartorelli Marianna , Sartini Chiara , Ruggeri Annalisa , Salonia Andrea , Dagna Lorenzo , Zangrillo Alberto
Published: December 2020

Background:

In the first wave of the novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infections, Italy experienced a heavy burden of hospital admissions for acute respiratory distress syndromes associated with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Early evidence suggested that females are less affected than males.

Objective:

This study aimed to assess the gender-related differences in presentation and severity among COVID-19 patients admitted to IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy.

Materials and Methods:

This prospective observational study included all patients admitted to the hospital between February 25 and April 19, 2020, with a positive real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for COVID-19. The following data were collected: date of admission, gender, age and details of intensive care unit admission and outcomes.

Results:

A total of 901 patients with COVID-19 were admitted to the hospital and provided consent for the study. Of these, 284 were female (31.5%). The percentage of admitted female patients significantly increased over time (25.9% of all admissions in the first half of the study period vs. 37.1% in the second half; P < 0.001). Females accounted for 14.4% of all COVID-19 intensive care unit admissions. There was no gender-based difference in the overall hospital mortality: 20.1% for females and 19.2% for males (P = 0.8).

Conclusions:

In our hospital, which was in the epicenter of the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, female patients were few, presented late and were less critical than male patients.
Chemical properties of an Oxisol affected by different land use and soil management systems
Authors: Ribeiro Júlio César , Almeida Ana Aparecida da Silva , Almeida Julio Cesar Raposo de , Gadioli João Luiz , Pereira Marcos Gervasio
Published: December 2020

Agricultural crop management practices that guarantee soil quality are necessary for the sustainability of agrosystems. The use of agroforestry systems to make food production viable with less loss of soil fertility is a possible alternative for sustainable agriculture. This work evaluated the chemical characteristics of an Oxisol in three systems of use and management: 1) peach for palm heart production; 2) peach palm for fruit and seed production; and 3) Urochloa decumbens pasture. In these areas, located at Fazenda Piloto of the Agricultural Sciences Department at the University of Taubaté - UNITAU, Taubaté-SP, Brazil, samples were collected at the depths 0-10cm, 10-20cm and 20-40cm. In these soil samples, levels of P, K, Ca, Mg, B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, pHCaCl2, H+Al, total organic carbon and organic carbon stock were determined. The sums of bases (SB), cation exchange capacity (CEC) and base saturation (BS) were calculated. The results were subjected to analysis of variance and the means were compared using the Tukey test at 5%. The results indicate that soil cultivated with peach palm for palm heart production showed better fertility compared to peach palm for fruit and seed production and pasture. The upper layers 0-10cm and 10-20cm are the most fertile, concentrating P, Ca e Mg, high CEC, SB and BS.
On a conjecture of Chen and Yui: Resultants and discriminants
Authors: Ye Dongxi
Published: December 2020

In [5], Chen and Yui conjectured that Gross–Zagier type formulas may also exist for Thompson series. In this work, we verify Chen and Yui’s conjecture for the cases for Thompson series$j_{p}(\tau )$for$\Gamma _{0}(p)$forpprime, and equivalently establish formulas for the prime decomposition of the resultants of two ring class polynomials associated to$j_{p}(\tau )$and imaginary quadratic fields and the prime decomposition of the discriminant of a ring class polynomial associated to$j_{p}(\tau )$and an imaginary quadratic field. Our method for tackling Chen and Yui’s conjecture on resultants can be used to give a different proof to a recent result of Yang and Yin. In addition, as an implication, we verify a conjecture recently raised by Yang, Yin, and Yu.
Establishment and Characterization of Eye Muscle Cell Line from Snow Trout, Schizothorax richardsonii (Gray, 1832), a Vulnerable Coldwater Fish, for In Vitro Studies
Authors: Kumar Murali Sanjeev , Soni Pankaj , Singh Neha , Kumar Ravindra , Srivastava Shreya , Mishra Akhilesh Kumar , Singh Vijay Kumar , Kushwaha Basdeo
Published: December 2020

Schizothorax richardsonii, commonly called snow trout is a vulnerable coldwater fish distributed in India and adjoining countries, is an important resource as food, ornamental and game fishery. A cell line, designated as SREM-1, has been established from the eye muscle of S. richardsonii using explant method and cultured in Leibovitz’s L-15 medium. The growth studies at 20-32°C temperatures and 5-20% of fetal bovine serum (FBS) concentrations revealed that SREM-1 cells exhibited optimal growth at 28°C in L-15 medium containing 20% FBS. Cell type was confirmed primarily as epithelial in nature by immuno-phenotyping assay and was sub-cultured for >55 times since its development. The origin of the cell line was confirmed by sequencing of cytochrome oxidase c subunit I and 16S rRNA genes. SREM-1 cell line is free from mycoplasma contamination and has been cryopreserved at different passage levels with revival efficiency of 70-80% after 6 months. The SREM-1 cell line was successfully transfected and also employed for evaluating in vitro cytotoxicity against a heavy metal, mercuric chloride. The newly established cell line of this vulnerable species would be useful as a model for aquatic toxicological and transfection studies.
transatlantic Movement of Domestic PIGEONS Columba livia domestica
Authors:   Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Santos Gabriel Silva , Vecchi Maurício Brandão , Alves Maria Alice Santos
Published: December 2020

Historically, Domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica Gmelin,1789) (Columbiformes, Columbidae) breeders use the species to promotes race competitions which over the time could select traits to increase the flight performance and spatial orientation capabilities. Although the species has remarkable navigational abilities, it is possible that these birds sometimes become disoriented pushing the individuals to fly off-course and over distances larger than usual. Here we report a Domestic Pigeon ringed in the Canary Islands (Spain) observed in the Abrolhos Archipelago, eastern Brazil, and compiled similar events (N = 5) in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean coast. Our results indicate that these events are largely unnoticed in the scientific literature as most of them were found in non-scientific newspaper and academic conferences, thus, untraceable from scientific databases as Scopus and Google Scholar. As domestic pigeons are possible intermediate hosts of diseases, we encourage the creation of a systematized database of this kind of movements of these birds, including the profile of these vagrants and the circumstances in which these events occur, which can be a basis to be used for scientists and decision makers.
PRECIPITATION DEFICITS AND HIGH TEMPERATURE INCREASE LEAF LITTERFALL IN OPEN RESTINGA VEGETATION, IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL
Authors:   Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Gripp Anderson da Rocha , Tavares Luísa Alícida Fernandes , Brito Leticia da Silva , Caliman Adriano , Dias André Tavares Corrêa , Mattos Eduardo Arcoverde de , Villela Dora Maria , Silva Ana Paula da , Esteves Francisco de Assis , Martins Rodrigo Lemes ,   Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte,   Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense,   Instituto Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Published: December 2020

Climate is an important driver of litterfall along different ecosystems. However, little is known about how climate affects litter production in plant communities of Restinga. The aim of this study is to characterize the temporal variation in leaf litter production in an Open Clusia Formation in Restinga de Jurubatiba National Park, from 2001 to 2018, and assess how local variability in litter production reflects the local climatic conditions and its variability. We tested the hypothesis that monthly leaf litterfall increases in dry months and in drier and warmer than average months; we also evaluated if annual leaf litterfall increases in wetter and warmer years following leaf production patterns, that increases in these conditions. We found that litterfall peaks in the drier months. This pattern is consistent for many tropical ecosystems, even evergreen ecosystems, and may have evolved as a strategy that result in reduced water stress by plants, during drier and warmer periods, or may simply be a stress symptom. However, we also found that decreases in monthly rainfall and increases in monthly ∆Temperature (temperature observed minus estimated based on 1970-2000 interval) stimulate leaf litter production. Hot and warmer than average years also seem to stimulate leaf litterfall. It suggests that annual leaf litterfall and leaf production are less affected by precipitation regimes than variations in temperature (or radiation, which is directly related to temperature). It may result from the fact that Clusia hilariana, the dominant species in this ecosystem which accounts to 80 % of leaf litterfall, is a CAM photosynthesis species, a characteristic commonly associated with avoidance of water stress by plants. Although leaf litterfall seems to be predominantly driven by climate at annual scale, only 15 % of its variation was associated to climate at seasonal scale, suggesting that local factors control litterfall at lower temporal scales in Open Clusia Formation.
REFUGIOS Y SITIOS DE PERCHA DE Saccopteryx bilineata Temminck, 1838 (Chiroptera : Emballonuridae) EN EL CARIBE COLOMBIANO
Authors:   Universidad de Córdoba, Chacón-Pacheco Julio Javier , Salcedo-Rivera Gerson , Madera Luis Camilo Ramos , Blanco-Narváez Andrés , Herazo-Callejas Sebastián , Ballesteros-Correa Jesús ,   Institución Educativa José María Córdoba,   Universidad de Sucre
Published: December 2020

Saccopteryx bilineata is a bat of wide geographical distribution in the Neotropics, but in Colombia there is very little information about its biology and roost ecology. This contribution presents a description of the shelters that S. bilineata uses in the Colombian Caribbean region, especially in areas of tropical dry forest. Although it has been documented that it shares shelters with many species of bats, this work presents the first record where S. bilineata shares refuge with Molossus molossus and the use as shelters or roosting sites of species of Brownea ariza, Caesalpinea coriaria and Ceiba pentandra. The high ecological plasticity of the species is ratified in terms of the use of available environments and shelters, as well as cohabiting with other bat species.
LARVAL STRATEGY OF TWO SPECIES OF SEED-FEEDING CHALCIDOIDEA PARALLELS THAT OF PARASITOID KOINOBIONTS
Authors:   Universidade de São Paulo, Jansen-González Sergio , Teixeira Simone Pádua , Pereira Rodrigo Augusto Santinelo ,   Universidad Nacional
Published: December 2020

The association between ontogenetic processes in plants and phytophagous insects is not traditionally considered in studies of insect-plant interactions. Angiosperm seeds impose important constraints on seed predators; the structural complexity of seeds and the progressive accumulation of resources throughout their development limit the time windows when resources can be retrieved by the predator. Some holometabolous insects deposit their eggs inside immature seeds, with the immature stages of both insect and plant cohabiting in a space with limited but potential resources. We studied the larval development of Megastigmus transvaalensis (Hussey, 1956) (Chalcidoidea: Megastigmidae) and Bephratelloides pomorum (F., 1804) (Chalcidoidea: Eurytomidae) and the seed development of their respective hosts, Schinus terebinthifolia (Raddi, 1820) (Anacardiaceae) and Annona crassiflora (Mart., 1841) (Annonaceae). Our results show that both M. transvaalensis and B. pomorum oviposit in immature fruits, whose protective tissues surrounding the seeds are softer. The first larval instar interferes little with the development of the seed, allowing both seed and plant embryo to continue growing. When the infested seed reaches the size of a mature, non-infested seed, the larva grows rapidly and consumes most of it. M. transvaalensis induces minor modifications in the endosperm cells, while B. pomorum does not induce any visual modifications. The strategy of allowing seed/plant embryo to continue growing shows similarities to the endoparasitic koinobiont strategy followed by some chalcid parasitoids, which keep their host alive while feeding upon it. Future studies should be expanded to other chalcid seed predators in order to understand the evolution of convergent patterns among seed-feeding insects and its evolution in relation to parasitoid strategies inside the group
DISTRIBUTION EXTENSION OF THE BLACK-HEADED SNAKE Tantilla boipiranga SAWAYA & SAZIMA, 2003 IN THE STATE OF MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL
Authors:   Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Tunes Pedro Henrique , França Arthur Toledo Ramos Costa , Mol Rafael Magalhães
Published: December 2020

Tantilla boipiranga is a rare vulnerable snake found in the Atlantic Forest, distributed in the phytophysiognomy of rocky grasslands (campos rupestres), in southeastern Brazil. Here, we update the known geographic range of the species to eight new localities in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, extending its distribution approximately 400 km northwards to the municipality of Almenara, from the previous northernmost record, and 703 km from the type locality.
The Artificial Intelligence and Design of Multibody Systems with Predicted Dynamic Behavior
Authors: Poliakov Vladimir
Published: December 2020

The problem of complicated dynamic system optimization is very difficult for human intellect. The design of these systems comprises typical tasks of artificial intelligence – big data analysis, decision making, etc. In this article, we applied artificial intelligence approach to optimize the properties of the multibody dynamic system. It is very important to study the whole carrying system of a high-speed railroad in its integrity because the elements of the system interact and influence each other simultaneously. The system should include the train of several cars, the track upper structure, and the bridges. It is possible to synthesize the optimal system with predicted behavior that meets various constraints on dynamic parameters and interaction between the elements of the system.
Big Data Classification for the Analysis MEL Scale Features Using KNN Parameterization
Authors: Osadchyy Volodymyr , Skuratovskii Ruslan V.
Published: December 2020

The role of human speech is intensified by the emotion it conveys. The parameterization of the vector obtained from the sentence divided into the containing emotional-informational part and the informational part is effectively applied. There are several characteristics and features of speech that differentiate it among utterances, i.e. various prosodic features like pitch, timbre, loudness and vocal tone which categorize speech into several emotions. They were supplemented by us with a new classification feature of speech, which consists in dividing a sentence into an emotionally loaded part of the sentence and a part that carries only informational load. Therefore, the sample speech is changed when it is subjected to various emotional environments. As the identification of the speaker’s emotional states can be done based on the Mel scale, MFCC is one such variant to study the emotional aspects of a speaker’s utterances. In this work, we implement a model to identify several emotional states from MFCC for two datasets, classify emotions for them on the basis of MFCC features and give the comparison of both. Overall, this work implements the classification model based on dataset minimization that is done by taking the mean of features for the improvement of the classification accuracy rate in different machine learning algorithms.
Determining Teachers’, Students’, and Parents’ Perceptions of Distance Education through Metaphors
Authors: Kaban Abdullatif
Published: December 2020

In this study, it was aimed to reveal the perceptions of teachers, students, and parents about the concept of “distance education” through metaphor. Phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. 34 teachers, 131 students, and 44 parents who participated in the study were asked to make a metaphor sentence for distance education by the online data collection tool. The data obtained were analyzed by content analysis and categories were constituted by classifying the metaphors according to their common characteristics. Metaphors of the participants towards distance education were gathered in the categories of “uselessness”, “education type”, “offering opportunity”, “virtuality”, “individuality”, “irreplaceable”, “obligation”, “usage”, and “school independence”. Participants mostly used metaphors of “face-to-face education”, “school”, “video”, “open education”, and “sun” for distance education. When the sentences of metaphors made were examined, it was determined that the participants had a negative perception towards distance education in general. To change this perception, it is recommended to provide teachers, students, and parents with a quality distance education experience.
Leales y vasallos. Españoles, mestizos e indígenas realistas de Huamanga durante la Independencia
Authors: Quichua David
Published: December 2020

El presente artículo estudia los sectores sociales que conformaron el bando realista en Huamanga, sus actividades económicas, razones de su identificación con la administración borbónica y las consecuencias económicas que sufrieron en la Independencia. Mediante la revisión de documentos regionales, nacionales e internacionales proponemos que el bando realista en Huamanga estaba conformado por españoles, mestizos e indígenas de diferentes condiciones económicas y responsabilidades administrativas. Dichos sectores sociales se identificaron y defendieron la bandera realista por conservar sus beneficios económicos, políticos y privilegios que les brindaba la administración virreinal.
Android Based Instant Messaging Tool Using
Firebase as Backend
Authors: Dr.Amita Goel and Nidhi Sengar Ashita, Vasudha Bahl
Published: December 2020

In today’s world, communication is very important and keeping this communication in real time is important
as our lives become faster. Internet communication is becoming more and more important these days. Online
communication allows users to communicate with other people in a fast and easy way. Keeping this in mind,
the communication app should be able to transfer files and messages instantly without or with little delay,
depending on the broadcast field. For such a system to work there must be a database that will update in
real time to store all the data transferred.Google Firebase is a service that provides real-time data server, as
well as many other features and Firebase enables us to develop applications that are easy to connect to.
In this paper, we propose a system that will be able to send text and text-based files such as photos, audio,
video, text online between two users on the network in real time.We use the Android and Google Firebase
operating system to manage contact back functionality, highlighting various features of the application and
service.
OCR Captcha Alternative for Visually Impaired
Users
Authors: Shivam Sehgal and Vandana Choudhary
Published: December 2020

The internet has been playing an increasingly important role in our daily life, with the availability of many
web services such as email and search engines. However, these are often threatened by attacks from
computer programs such as bots. To address this problem, CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing
Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) was developed to distinguish between computer programs and
human users. Although this mechanism offers good security and limits automatic registration to web
services, but many CAPTCHAs are not user friendly and sometimes can pose some challenge to the users,
especially visually impaired users. This paper provides an alternative OCR based captcha that can be used
by all the users (including visually impaired users). It would provide better user experience, easy to solve and
hard for a bot to crack.
Bioplastic from Cassava Starch
Authors: Sandhiya.S, Kousalya.N and Arun. P Logeshwaran.V, Sabarinath.K, Ishwarya.R
Published: December 2020

India generates nearly 26,000 a lot of plastics on a daily basis. These plastics pollute the water and soil.
The solid plastic wastes incinerated by the municipal agency pollute the air. Consistent with Central Pollution
panel 94% of the plastics are thermoplastics or recyclable materials like PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and
PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride)The purpose of bioplastic production is an alternate for synthetic plastic. The starch
may is a natural biopolymer. Cassava is employed to provide the bioplastic by using glycerol plasticizer.
Perform Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy ( FTIR) for functional groups present within the bioplastic
And analysis of degradation potential of developed bioplastic.
La jurisprudencia del TEDH en materia de trata de seres humanos y la necesidad de regresar a las categorías jurídicas de esclavitud, servidumbre y trabajo forzado
Authors: Mestre i Mestre Ruth M.
Published: December 2020

Este repaso a la jurisprudencia del Tribunal Europeo de derechos humanos en materia de trata en los últimos quince años señala con preocupación el abandono de las categorías de esclavitud, servidumbre y trabajo forzado y la omnipresencia de la trata; una categoría que deja en situación de desamparo a buena parte de sus víctimas. El artículo se detiene en tres casos paradigmáticos: caso Siliadin v. Francia (2005); Rantsev v. Rusia y Chipre (2010); y S.M v. Croacia (2020). El análisis es crítico con el concepto de trata  que utiliza el TEDH en su jurisprudencia e insiste en la necesidad de regresar al derecho internacional de los derechos humanos abandonando la categoría de trata y su uso perverso.
Pacientes empoderados, una nueva clave en la reumatología
Authors: By PANLAR Global Rheumatology
Published: December 2020

Una atención centrada en el paciente y un paciente con conocimiento y confianza son elementos fundamentales para lograr mejores resultados.
UMA ANÁLISE DA FORMAÇÃO DO CONSELHO MUNICIPAL DE JUVENTUDE DE JOÃO PESSOA/ PB
Authors: Oliveira Geziane do Nascimento
Published: December 2020

Analisa-se a formação do Conselho Municipal de Juventude da Cidade de João Pessoa/PB, configurando-o como um espaço estratégico de participação e controle social da juventude sobre as políticas públicas voltadas a esse segmento. O trabalho teve como objetivo perceber como se estabelecem as relações entre o poder público e a sociedade civil na elaboração, formação e implementação do conselho do município. Concentrou-se o estudo sobre os aspectos da formação e a implementação do conselho, que ocorreu em meados de 2012, bem como refletiu-se sobre a participação da sociedade civil, em destaque as organizações e movimentos juvenis em todo o processo de elaboração e construção do conselho. Como procedimentos metodológicos utilizou-se o levantamento de dados a partir de documentos e leis específicos que regem o conselho, e realizou-se entrevistas semiestruturadas com os membros do Conselho Municipal de Juventude (CMJ), cinco representantes do poder público e cinco da sociedade civil, a fim de perceber de que forma ocorrem a complexidade das relações estabelecidas entre eles, as potencialidades e fragilidades da participação da sociedade civil nesses espaços. Caracterizamos os resultados da investigação como uma proposta que visa à consolidação democrática da participação nas instâncias estatais, os conselhos apresentam muitos limites e desafios para que se estabeleça uma gestão realmente democrática. O CMJ de João Pessoa apresenta aspectos importantes sobre as formas participativas institucionalizadas que apontam desafios pertinentes à sociedade civil organizada, dentre esses, o de organizar-se e comprometer-se nos espaços deliberativos a fim de garantir políticas públicas intersetoriais para a juventude no município.
Unblocking Scholarly Writing–Part II: Minimizing Procrastination and Maximizing Mindset to Accomplish Publishing
Authors: Berna Jennifer
Published: December 2020

Abstract Procrastination can stall converting a completed dissertation into articles published in peer-reviewed journals. This descriptive article, second in a three-part series, briefly explores a behavior (procrastination) that can block writing goals. Procrastination, and its parallel perfectionism, often entails negative self-talk. Procrastination may result in short-term mood repair and emotional self-regulation by avoidant behavior. However, there are negative linked consequences for health and well-being beyond stymied writing efforts. Recommendations are offered to minimize self-limiting behaviors and shift to a growth mindset that contributes to accomplishing journal publication. Intended goals, such as the intent to publish in a peer-reviewed journal, are enhanced by compassionate self-review. Self-reflection that shifts one’s internal view toward a growth mindset includes forgiving oneself for stumbles along the dissertation pathway, noticing prior success in writing and revising a document, reframing tasks as achievable, and embracing positive emotions embedded in curiosity and personal initiative. Compassion toward oneself requires a personal commitment to meeting challenges with greater self-kindness and self-acceptance. Key Words: Growth mindset, journal publishing, procrastination, self-control
Suitability of Water for Drinking and Irrigation Use Using Water Quality Index and GIS
Authors:   Department of Agricultural Engineering, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari-396450, Gujarat, India, Shinde V. T. , Singh M. ,   Department of Agricultural Engineering, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari-396450, Gujarat, India, Nandgude S. B. ,   Department of SWCE, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri-413722, Maharashtra, India, Varshney N. ,   Department of Agricultural Statistics, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari-396450, Gujarat, India
Published: December 2020

The present study highlights techniques to identify suitability of water for drinking and irrigation uses. Twenty water samples from Dang district of Gujarat state were collected in pre-monsoon (PRM) and post-monsoon (POM) seasons and analyzed for different physico-chemical properties. The Water Quality Index varied from 37.83 to 121.68 in PRM season and from 40.09 to 152.83 in POM season. Surface water quality in the Dang district was good for drinking in 58.43 % and 64.43 % area in PRM and POM season, respectively. The US Salinity diagram showed that most of the water samples belong to the categories C2S1 and C2S2 (suitable class for irrigation) in both the seasons. Some samples falling in the category C3S2 are also acceptable for irrigation use in both the seasons.
Influence of Plastic Mulching on Soil Moisture, Nutrient and Microbial Biomass in Pineapple Cultivation on Undulating Hilly Areas of Nagaland
Authors:   ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Nagaland Centre, Jharnapani, Medziphema-797 106, Nagaland, India, Sangma Christy , Thirugnanavel A. ,   ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute, Amravati Road, Nagpur - 440033, Maharashtra, India, Sharma Ph. Romen ,   ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Nagaland Centre, Jharnapani, Medziphema-797 106, Nagaland, India, Rajesha G. ,   ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Nagaland Centre, Jharnapani, Medziphema-797 106, Nagaland, India, Deka B.C. ,   ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute (ATARI), Zone-VII, Umiam-793103, Meghalaya, India
Published: December 2020

The pineapple var. Kew was planted on black polythene film mulching with double hedgerow planting to find out the influence of mulches on soil and plant. The soil samples were collected twice (kharif and rabi) at two different depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm), and the pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, basal respiration and soil microbial biomass carbon were analysed. The data revealed that soil organic carbon and available N, P, and K content were slightly higher in the bottom hill than the top hill. The mulched field had higher nutrients than the non-mulched field. The fertility level varied slightly between the seasons. The biological parameters (microbial biomass carbon) were observed to be significantly higher (P≤0.05) in the bottom hill in both the seasons than the non-mulched field. The soil moisture content ranged from 5.9 % in March to 24.24 % August in the bottom hill (15-30 cm depth). The moisture content in the non-mulched field was lower than the mulched field.
Effectiveness of immobilized probiotics for complex therapy of novel coronavirus infection COVID-19 in hospital settings
Authors: Bomshteyn NG , Bolotov YuV , Kim IA , Trukhin DV
Published: December 2020

Taking into account the gut–lung microbiota axis, the new probiotic treatment methods for COVID-19 are currently being discussed. There are effective medicinal preparations of domestic manufacture in the Russian Federation, the immobilized probiotics. The study was aimed to determine the effectiveness of the mixed immobilized probiotic containing the immobilized B. bifidum and lactobacilli L. plantarum (100 million CFU per dose) or the simple immobilized probiotic containing the immobilized B. bifidum (500 million CFU per dose) in the complex therapy of patients with COVID-19. During the open-label, prospective, observational study 70 patients with confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 received complex treatment which included the immobilized probiotics. All patients were discharged from the hospital with imporoved health status, as well as with improved instrumental and laboratory indicators: body temperature returned to normal in all patients; shortness of breath, cough, feeling of chest tightening, myalgia and headache disappeared; the patients regained sense of smell and taste; the weakness decreased or disappeared (pathognomic symptom for COVID-19). The dynamics of clinical, laboratory and instrumental indicators reflecting the course of the novel coronavirus infection demonstrates the effectiveness of the used complex therapy. The immobilized probiotics may be recommended for the complex treatment of patients with COVID-19.