bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Энергоэффективность: роль в сдерживании выбросов углекислого газа и определяющие факторы
Authors: Колпаков А.Ю.
Published: November 2020

В статье показана определяющая роль роста энергоэффективности сдерживания выбросов углекислого газа. Проведен регрессионный анализ, выводом из которого является высокая зависимость показателей энергоэффективности отраслей российской экономики от их инвестиционной активности и степени загрузки производственных мощностей. Обосновывается тезис, согласно которому в современных российских условиях ключевым инструментом стимулирования энергоэффективности является запуск экономического роста.
Сценарии развития агропродовольственного рынка ЕАЭС в долгосрочной перспективе
Authors: Ксенофонтов М.Ю. , Ползиков Д.А. , Урус А.В.
Published: November 2020

В статье рассматриваются ретроспективные тенденции и сценарный прогноз потребления и производства аграрного сырья и продовольствия в странах ЕАЭС, выявляются факторы, способствующие и препятствующие обострению противоречий во взаимной торговле продукцией АПК в долгосрочной перспективе.
Находимся ли мы на пороге масштабной трансформации мировой экономики?
Authors: Сапир Жак
Published: November 2020

В статье содержится анализ событий мировой экономической истории, связанных с процессами глобализации. Описаны принципы и характер функционирования международных институтов, которые определяют мировой порядок в последние десятилетия. В контексте существенных изменений, происходящих в мире в последние годы, ставится вопрос об изменении баланса сил в мировой экономике и оценивается возможность перехода к ее «деглобализации».
Стратегическое планирование в государственном управлении: опыт, возможности и перспективы
Authors: Ленчук Е.Б.
Published: November 2020

В статье рассматриваются вопросы, связанные с применением стратегического планирования в практике государственного управления. Сделан краткий обзор теоретических подходов и исторического опыта в этой сфере как за рубежом, так и в России. Выполнен анализ современной ситуации со стратегическим планированием в России. Показано, что в рамках отечественной экономической политики в постсоветский период роль стратегического планирования недооценивалась, и что возрождение интереса к нему произошло относительно недавно. Разобраны ключевые достоинства и недостатки современной российской системы стратегического планирования. В частности, выявлены несогласованность многих документов стратегического планирования по целям, задачам, приоритетам, целевым показателям, срокам разработки и т.д. Также выявлены серьезные нестыковки в методических подходах к разработке различных документов стратегического планирования, отсутствие некоторых важнейших стратегических документов в одних случаях и их избыточность в других случаях. В заключительной части статьи сформулированы и обоснованы развернутые предложения по совершенствованию системы стратегического планирования в России.
Российская нефтегазохимия в пространстве и времени
Authors: Крюков В.А. , Шмат В.В.
Published: November 2020

В статье рассматриваются проблемы развития нефтегазохимической промышленности в России. Переработка углеводородного сырья (нефти, природного газа и их составляющих) проходит в своем развитии ряд этапов, обусловленных как развитием технологий, так и динамикой спроса на различные материалы и изделия. Современный этап развития нефтегазохимии характеризуется стремительным расширением перечня продуктов малотоннажной и наукоемкой химии. Этот процесс сопровождается переходом от отдельных комбинатов и нефтегазохимических комплексов к кластерам. Развитие нефтегазохимии в России, по мнению авторов, носит преимущественно «восстановительный» характер и ориентировано на развитие комплексов. Развитие кластеров как эффективных форм взаимодействия многих участников процесса освоения и использования материальных, энергетических и интеллектуальных ресурсов находится на начальной стадии. Возврат России в число ведущих производителей нефтегазохимической продукции, прежде всего полимеров и продуктов оргсинтеза, требует формирования и реализации проактивной политики со стороны государства (как на уровне страны в целом, так и отдельных ее регионов).
Uso del condón en personas de 18-45 años de la zona norte del estado de Veracruz
Authors: Martínez Díaz Nazaria , Zepeta Hernández David , Gámez Velázquez Sofía , Vargas Zaleta Nimbe Eunice , Miranda Landa María Isabel
Published: November 2020

El VIH es catalogado como pandemia por el incremento de casos de infección, según las Organización de Naciones Unidas, en el 2016 en el mundo había 36.7 millones de personas con VIH, el porcentaje mayor es de hombres. El uso del preservativo masculino es una de las prácticas menos empleadas por los jóvenes en las relaciones sexuales, a pesar de que es considerado el principal método para prevenir enfermedades de transmisión sexual, incluido el VIH/SIDA. Estudio descriptivo, transversal con muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia, participaron 486 participantes. Se aplicó el instrumento denominado información confidencial con 19 ítems de opción múltiple y 1 ítem de pregunta abierta. El 67% de las personas encuestadas fueron mujeres, el 21 % contestó que usa condón a veces en sus relaciones sexuales, el mismo porcentaje contestó que casi siempre y el 18 % dijo que casi nunca usa condón.
Standardized Biometric Templates in Indian Scenario: Interoperability Issues and Solutions
Authors: Saquib Zia , Soni Santosh Kumar , Suhasaria Sweta , Singh Anamika
Published: November 2020

The compelling need for establishing the identity of a person is becoming critical in our vastly interconnected society. Biometrics is beginning to gain wide acceptance as a legitimate method for determining an individual’s identity in India. Minutiae features extracted from fingerprint images are widely used for automated fingerprint recognition. The conformance of minutiae templates to standardized data interchange formats and the interoperability of minutiae extraction and comparison subsystems from multiple suppliers are important to prevent proprietary lock-in. Further, just by achieving vendor-neutral fingerprint biometric templates, doesn’t guarantee seamless integration and exchange of information amongst different government agencies in India, viz., Aadhaar-enabled citizen services/applications, Seafarers' Identity Cards (ILO-SID) of DG Shipping, State-police AFISs (Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems) etc. One of the key reasons to this interoperability issue is the existence of multiple international standards for generation of minutiae-based fingerprint templates, which are primarily not interoperable. This paper focuses on conformance and interoperability issues that are likely to arise at the time of integration of such virtually isolated govt. agencies, specifically, in applications like, conducting nation-wide criminal background checks, de-duplication of data, etc. The paper further proposes viable solutions to address these issues.
Performance Evaluation of Computation Intensive Tasks in Grid
Authors: Raghu P. , Sriram K.
Published: November 2020

Grid computing is a special type of parallel computing, which allows us to unite pools of servers, storage systems, and networks into a single large virtual super computer. Grid computing has the advantages of solving complex problems in a shorter time and also makes better use of the existing hardware. It can take advantage of underutilized resources to meet business requirements while minimizing additional costs. There are many Grid setup tools available. In this paper, Globus Toolkit, an open source tool for grid enabled applications, is considered. Initially grid is established between two systems running Linux, using Globus Toolkit. A simple matrix multiplication program, which is capable of running both in grid and stand alone systems, is developed. The application is executed in single system varying the order of the matrices. The same application is split into two sub jobs and run on two grid machines with different orders. Finally the results of the execution are compares and the results are presented in graphs. The work can be extended further to find the type of parallelizing suitable for the application developed. Similarly, FP tree algorithm is taken and the data sets are fed into different machine and in stand alone system. A suitable load balancing mechanism for grid application is discussed. The sections in the paper are arranged as following; Introduction to Grid, Grid setup using Globus toolkit, splitting of the matrix application, FP tree algorithm, performance results, future works, conclusion and references.
People, SHGs and Social Objectives: A Formal Framework
Authors: Sagar A B. , Mohanty Hrushikesha
Published: November 2020

A Self Help Group [SHG] is a small homogeneous gathering of persons who join on a voluntary basis in order to undertake some common activity through mutual trust and mutual help. SHG system is conceptualized primarily to address the problem of rural unemployment, and empowering people to make them economically self-dependent. But, there is a possibility of it being turned into a commercial unit negating the very thesis it espouses. We proposed a value based design of information system for SHGs to make them socially responsive by inculcating the social objectives such as collaboration, dependability, transparency and inclusiveness. The study includes formalization of structural and dynamic aspects of SHGs, and deals with the implementability of dynamic behavior that makes the system socially responsive by implementing the four objectives. We plan implementation of the concept in UML framework. The information system will be useful to the Funding Agency/Governing Body in identifying which of the members, SHGs, Banks, Third Party Merchants and NGOs are socially responsive i.e. collaborative, dependable, transparent and inclusive.
Event Based Approach for Web Services Composition
Authors: Vathsala A. Vani , Mohanty Hrushikesha
Published: November 2020

The success of the Internet and the ongoing globalization led to a demand for new solutions to meet the requirements for ITsystems. The paradigm of service-oriented and event-driven architecture with fine grained and loosely coupled services tries to cope with those needs. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Event Driven Architecture (EDA) are two acknowledged architectures for the development of business applications and information systems, which have evolved separately over the years. Today both architectures are acknowledged, but their synergy is not. There are numerous benefits of having an architecture that supports coexistence between operations and events, and composition of services based on operation invocation and event triggering. As part of our ongoing research work, we have tried to analyze in this paper, the basic design of Event based systems, issues that have to be addressed when event based approach is used for composing and coordinating web services. Then we have specified the techniques available that handle these issues, and gave a comparative study on these techniques. Finally we have attempted to sort out the unhandled/ partially handled issues that could be addressed as part of our research.
Sürdürülebilirliğin Mimarlık Yüksek Lisans Programı ile Bütünleştirilmesi: Yurt Dışı ve Türkiye Örneklerinin Karşılaştırmalı Analizi
Authors: GÖKŞEN Fulya , AYÇAM İdil , GÜNER Cansu
Published: November 2020

Dünyanın dört bir yanındaki birçok üniversite, mimarlık programlarından mezun olacak adayları için, sürdürülebilirlik olgusunun kavramsal ve teorik açıdan yeterli düzeyde verilmesi amacıyla öğretim programlarını ve yöntemlerini, gerekli güncel bilgilerle değiştirmekte veya desteklemektedir. Tasarım ve bina teknolojilerinde sürdürülebilirlik paradigmasının gereksinimlerini karşılamak, lisans düzeyinde yaratılan farkındalığın ötesinde lisansüstü eğitimle gelişim gösterecek, yeterli mesleki bilgi ve uzmanlık sağlayacaktır. Bu alan, uygulamada halen yeterli düzeyde deneyimlenemediği için, mimari eğitim süreci ile söz konusu eksikliğin giderilmesine yönelik çalışmaların ve bilgi birikiminin verilmesini sağlayacak bir sisteme ihtiyaç olduğu açıktır. Çalışma kapsamında, farklı yaklaşımlar kullanılarak sürdürülebilirlik konularını müfredatlarına adapte etmeyi büyük oranda başarabilmiş, dünyanın farklı yerlerinde faaliyet gösteren mimarlık eğitim kurumlarının ve Türkiye’de yer alan mimarlık eğitim kurumlarının yüksek lisans düzeyindeki müfredat yapıları incelenmiştir. Hali hazırda uygulanmakta olan müfredatı, dünya örnekleri ile karşılaştırarak durum tespiti yapılmış ve ne tür güncellemeler yapılabileceği konusunda öneriler sunulmuştur. Amaç, sürdürülebilir mimarlık ve çevresel tasarım alanında uzmanlaşmak isteyen lisansüstü öğrencilerinin farkındalıklarını ve gelişim düzeylerini arttırmak için dünya örneklerinden edinilen bilgileri referans alarak, uygulanmakta olan müfredatın geliştirilmesidir.
Dialogue processes in online information seeking and sharing: a study of an asynchronous discussion group
Authors:   Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland, Savolainen Reijo
Published: November 2020

Introduction. This study elaborates the picture of dialogical information interaction by examining asynchronous dialogue processes constitutive of information seeking and sharing in online forums. Method. Descriptive quantitative analysis and qualitative content analysis of fifty discussion threads with 1326 messages downloaded from Google Groups uk.d-i-y forum. Analysis. To examine the dialogue processes, eleven categories of dialogue acts were defined. These acts include, for example, initial fact question, initial opinion answer, specifying opinion question, complementary fact answer and disagreement. Based on the temporally sensitive nature of such acts, the dialogue process was approached in two phases: initiation and elaboration. Results. The dialogue process at the initiation phase occurs in two ways: responding the initial question, and clarifying the initial question before answering. The elaboration phase is based on a more complex interplay of specifying questions, complementary answers, as well as answer agreements and disagreements. Due to this characteristic, the degree of dialogicality is higher at the elaboration phase. Conclusions. Dialogue is a fundamental constituent of information interaction. Due to its protean nature, the dynamics of asynchronous dialogue processes are difficult to capture in detail. The empirical research settings may be elaborated further by drawing on the potential of novel methods such as digital conversation analysis.
Understanding user satisfaction with Chinese government social media platforms
Authors:   School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, China, Yang Feng , Zhao Shan ,   School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, China, Li Wenyong ,   School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economic, China, Evans Richard ,   Information Management at Westminster Business School, University of Westminster, United Kingdom, Zhang Wei ,   School of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
Published: November 2020

Introduction. The purpose of this paper is to understand government social media from the perspective of user satisfaction and to evaluate it in the context of presentation, content and utility of the government affairs' microblogs in China. Method. Based on the comprehensive information theory, this study will generalise descriptions about the factors affecting the user satisfaction in the existing research. Analysis. Taking Chinese government affairs microblogs as examples, the paper utilises structural equation modelling to analyse an online survey study. Results. Its result indicates that presentation, content and utility have a positive influence on user satisfaction with Chinese government social media platforms. Conclusions. This study gets rid of the oversimplified description of the application of government social media, and could provide policy reference for subsequent adoption strategies of government social media.
Use of news and patent mining to identify companies with growth potential
Authors:   Department of Information Management, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Lin Keng-Pei , Chang Tzu-Lin ,   Department of Accounting, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Chang Yi-Wei ,   Department of Information Management, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Cai Jia-Wun
Published: November 2020

Introduction. Enterprise decision-makers can use news media to help guide investment decisions, and patents are publicly available documents describing research and development outputs. This work sought to leverage the information extracted from news articles and patent documents to identify companies holding patents about emerging technologies. This helped to pinpoint the companies with growth potential. Method. We used text mining techniques to extract hot terms for novel technologies and products from news articles and patent documents to identify the supply chain companies holding patent portfolios in emerging technologies. Analysis. We identified eighteen public companies in the supply chain of the automotive industry in Taiwan. The data envelopment analysis-based Malmquist productivity index was adopted to evaluate their relative performance growth over time. Results. The experimental results show that most of the companies identified by the proposed method had promising growth potential. Conclusions. The results of this research indicate that the supply chain companies identified by the hot terms in news articles and patent documents possessed development potential. This could assist decision-makers in planning investment strategies.
A cross-discipline comparison of subject guides and resource discovery tools
Authors:   University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, Tyson A.F. , Dinneen Jesse David ,   Berlin School of Library and Information Science, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
Published: November 2020

Introduction. Academic libraries invest considerable resources in creating disciplinary subject guides, but patron use of such guides is rarely quantified in the literature. We analyse access data for subject guides and other electronic resource discovery tools to investigate disciplinary differences in resource discovery behaviour. Method. We analysed access data for resource discovery tools and subject guides that was collected over five weeks in the first term of the academic year at a public teaching and research university. Analysis. We analysed unique page views for subject guides, then calculated and compared access to electronic resources originating from the following resource discovery tools: Summon, subject guides, Google Scholar, and the database index. Results. Disciplines with high unique page views for subject guides were more likely to use subject guides or specific databases for resource discovery, while disciplines with low subject guide unique page views were more likely to use Summon or Google Scholar for resource discovery. Conclusions. The low unique page views for most guides suggests providing guides for all disciplines may not be an effective method for supporting students in resource discovery. This study also indicates a need for subject guide use to be evaluated in relation to other resource discovery tools.
Animal World and Living Behaviour - Managerial Implications
Authors: Varambally K.V.M. , Aithal P. S.
Published: November 2020

Sustainability of business organizations is an important issue at any point of time in society and needs different types of behavioural attributes to be followed by managers and the employees to be followed to satisfy or to make an impact on stakeholders. The management thinkers of many schools of thought suggest to find out optimum behaviour to ensure success. It is observed that some Animals in their living style adopt certain behaviour which is in built in their way of survival. The principles behind their living methods have several managerial implications. This paper is based on the living behaviour of animals and the managerial lessons involved in it which are relevant to Business Managers in their business operations.
A Survey on Communication Issues in Mobile Cloud Computing
Authors: RAJU Dasari Naga , SARITHA Vankadara
Published: November 2020

Despite the expanding utilization of mobile devices, exploring their full resources is an issue due to their limited battery power, processing power and data storage. The integration of cloud computing with mobile devices solves these issues by offloading major computation in to the cloud. This paper provides a survey on Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC), which helps to understand the MCC architecture, communication issues and applications. An extensive survey is made of communication issues and different approaches are discussed to overcome the communication issues. Finally open research challenges are also provided which will be helpful for active researchers in the field of MCC.
Ammonia-Acetylene PECVD Coating on Wound Dressing to Control Delivery of Silver Sulfadiazine
Authors: TUNMA Somruthai , LIMSOPATHAM Kwankamol , CHUTSIRIMONGKOL Chanchai , BOONYAWAN Dheerawan
Published: November 2020

A novel wound dressing surface modification was developed by applying plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The cotton wound gauze dressings were treated by the mixed composition of 10 %NH3+He and 10 %NH3+C2H2 plasmas followed by immersion in silver sulfadiazine (AgSD) solution. A high functionality and a high surface area can thus be obtained by plasma deposition of C2H2 + NH3. We reported the effect of a strong interaction between AgSD and cotton gauze yarn by observing the reactive amorphous carbon layer. It had an ability to slow down the release rate of AgSD compounds into the solution, reported as the UV-visible absorbance of the solution released from the plasma-treated gauze. The results showed that the release rate of AgSD molecules was lower, compared to the untreated gauze. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs showed the interaction between AgSD and the cotton fibers of the plasma-treated gauze. In the untreated gauze, no such interaction was found. According to the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) data, %weight of the Ag compound on the treated gauze was higher than the untreated gauze. A test on the antibacterial effect, using Fluid Thioglycollate Medium (FTM) as the culture media, clearly demonstrated that the plasma treated gauze which was immersed with AgSD, had ability to inhibit bacterial growth.
Applying Information Measure for Predicting Release Time of Open Source Software
Authors: PARVEEN Talat , ARORA Hari Darshan
Published: November 2020

Open Source Software (OSS) is updated regularly to meet the requirements posed by the customers. The source code of OSS undergoes frequent change to diffuse new features and update existing features in the system, providing a user friendly interface. The source code changes for fixing bugs and meeting user end requirements again affects the complexity of the code change and creates bugs in the software which are accountable to the next release of software. In this paper, the complexity of code changes in various Bugzilla open source software releases, from version 2.0 on 19th Sep, 1998, to 5.0.1 on 10th Sep, 2015, bugs in each software version release, and the time of release of each software version are considered, and the data used to predict the next release time. The Shannon entropy measure is used to quantify the code change process in terms of entropy for each software release. Observed code changes are utilized to quantify them into entropy units and are further used to predict the next release time. A neural network-based regression model is used to predict the next release time. The performance is compared with the R measure calculated using the multi linear regression model, and a goodness of fit curve is produced.
Correcting Misreported Multinomial Outcome Data Based on Logistic Regression Model with Application to Stroke Mortality in Thailand
Authors: MA-A-LEE Arinda , PIPATJATURON Nattakit , TONGKUMCHUM Phattrawan
Published: November 2020

Causes of death in Thailand are misreported; about 40 % of deaths have been recorded as “ill-defined”. This study aims to describe statistical methods to correct misreported multinomial outcome by using verbal autopsy (VA) data. Since the outcome is a nominal variable, with 21 levels, the appropriate model for systematic analysis of death by ICD-10 code is multinomial regression. Moreover, it is simpler and more informative to separately fit logistic regression models to the 21 outcome cause groups, and then rescale the results to ensure that the total number of estimated deaths for each group match those reported in the corresponding populations. This method also gives confidence intervals for percentages of deaths in cause groups for levels of each risk factor, adjusted for other risk factors. These confidence intervals are compared with bar charts of sample percentages, to assess evidence of confounding bias. The methods were illustrated using stroke deaths. Area plots are used to show results by gender, age group, and year. The most misclassified stroke deaths were ill-defined, other cardio vascular disease, mental and nerve (outside-hospital), septicemia, and respiratory disease (in-hospital).
Potentiating Effect of Oxymatrine and 5-fluorouracil on Cell Survival and Inhibition of Cancer Metastasis in SW-620 Colorectal Cancer Cells
Authors: MANMUAN Suwisit , YOYKAEW Punyo , THUETONG Piyachat , ASIPONG Patchraporn , RIANTONG Nattanicha
Published: November 2020

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common cancer in the world, beginning in the cell lining of the colon and rectum. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is a first-line therapy for colorectal cancer patients. However, the response rate of 5-FU in advanced colorectal cancer patients is only 10 - 15 %, and can fail due to drug resistance. Therefore, the development of a new anticancer compound for improving the response rate or for reversing resistance to 5-FU is urgently needed. Oxymatrine is a major component of Sophora flavescens. Recently, many pharmacological effects have been exhibited. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the anticancer activity of oxymatrine, as well as to potentiate the effect of oxymatrine with 5-FU on cell viability, colony-forming, cell migration, cell invasion, and determined MMP-9 protein expression in SW-620 colorectal cancer cells. The results demonstrated that oxymatrine significantly inhibited the cell viability of SW-620 cells after 24, 48, and 72 h treatments. Oxymatrine and 5-FU interaction was synergistically greater in inhibiting the cell survival of SW-620 cells than 5-FU was alone. Oxymatrine also decreased colony formation, cell migration, and cell invasion through reducing the level of MMP-9 protein in SW-620 cells. These first findings elucidated an efficacious anticancer agent, which is derived from natural sources, which could be used to overcome 5-FU resistance in colorectal cancer, and may be beneficial for patients with colorectal cancer who are treated with 5-FU.
In vitro Propagation of Globba schomburgkii Hook. f. via Bulbil Explants
Authors: SAENSOUK Piyaporn , SAENSOUK Surapon , PIMMUEN Phattaraporn
Published: November 2020

An efficient and rapid protocol for the micropropagation of Globba schomburgkii Hook. f. via bulbil explants was investigated. The long divided and undivided bubils of G. schomburgkii Hook. f. were cultured on MS medium (Murashige and Skoog) that had either 3 mg/l benzyladenine (BA) or 0.5 mg/l naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) added for 8 weeks. The results indicated that the long divided bulbils of G. schomburgkii Hook. f. showed a greater amount of plant regeneration than the undivided bulbils. Callus induction, as well as shoot and root formation, were observed when culturing microshoots of 1 cm in length on media (MS) that had Thidiazuron (TDZ) or NAA plus BA added at a range of concentrations for 8 weeks. The highest percentage of callus induction was 40 % when culturing the microshoots on MS medium supplemented with NAA and BA. The best result for shoot formation was achieved when culturing the microshoots on MS medium with TDZ added. The highest number of roots was obtained when culturing the microshoots on MS medium with NAA and BA added. The in vitro-derived plantlets of G. schomburgkii Hook. f. were transplanted to pots containing different types of potting mixture in a greenhouse. The survival rates were 80 % when G. schomburgkii Hook. f. was transplanted to sand.
Cloning of a C-phycocyanin Alpha Subunit from Thermosynechococcus sp. TUBT-T01 and Prediction of Its Properties
Authors: DEDVISITSAKUL Plaipol , HUADRAKSASAT Sichon , CHITTAPUN Supenya , CHAROENRAT Theppanya , PIYAPITTAYANUN Chanitchote
Published: November 2020

C-Phycocyanin, a blue-colored and water soluble protein, is a class of phycobiliproteins that are the major light-harvesting pigments of a photosynthetic system in cyanobacteria. C-phycocyanins are utilized in many industries, including as natural colorants in food and cosmetics and as antioxidant compounds. However, the uses of C-phycocyanins have been limited due to their vulnerability to high temperatures. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify and analyze the C-phycocyanin gene isolated from Thermosynechococcus sp. TUBT-T01, living in a hot spring in Surat Thani province, in the hope that this C-phycocyanin exhibited thermostable properties and that their applications could be expanded over a wide range of industries. In the present study, the polymerase chain reaction of the gene encoding alpha subunits of C-phycocyanin (cpcA) was performed, using primers designed based upon the sequence alignments of cpcA from Thermosynechococcus sp. available in the GenBank database. The putative cpcA, with an approximate size of 500 base pairs, was detected on an agarose gel. The DNA sequencing analysis indicated that the cpcA was 489 base pairs in length, and its nucleotide sequence was 94 % identical to those of thermophilic Thermosynechococcus sp. NK55, T. elongatus BP-1, and Synechococcus vulcanus. The deduced amino acid sequence was very similar to those of Thermosynechococcus sp. NK55, T. elongatus BP-1, and S. vulcanus. The data derived from the homologous model revealed that the presence of Asp28, Lys32, and Ser72 in the alpha subunit of C-phycocyanin from Thermosynechococcus sp. TUBT-T01 could provide the high thermostability property of this protein.
Antibacterial Effect of Plant Resin Collected from Tetrigona apicalis (Smith, 1857) in Thung Salaeng Luang National Park, Phitsanulok
Authors: KRAIKONGJIT Sathirapong , JONGJITVIMOL Touchkanin , MIANJINDA Naklao , SIRITHEP Nutta , KAEWBOR Thodsaporn , JUMROON Noppadon , JONGJITWIMOL Jirapas
Published: November 2020

Tetrigona apicalis (Smith, 1857) is a common species of stingless bee found in lower northern Thailand. In previous studies, the propolis of stingless bees has been shown to have antibacterial properties, due to its chemically contained phenolic contents. The major component of propolis is resin. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the antibacterial activities of crude resin extracts by disk diffusion and broth microdilution methods. We also determined the total phenolic contents using the Folin-Ciocalteau method and, to detect individual polyphenolic contents, we used the high performance liquid chromatographic method. Two samples of resin were collected from Thung Salaeng Luang National Park, Phitsanulok. The first sample was from fresh plants, which stingless bees used for nest construction. The second sample was taken from entrances of the bee’s nest. All samples were macerated in 30 % ethanol and incubated at room temperature for 14 days. The supernatants were filtered and ethanol residues then removed as ethanolic resin extracts (eREs). The antibacterial activity of the extracted resins against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 was examined. The disks containing 9 and 14 mg of eREs produced obvious inhibition zones against S. aureus, but did not show zones against E. coli and P. aeruginosa. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the eREs against the bacterial strains tested were variously between 6 and 48 mg/ml, whereas the minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) were from 12 to 48 mg/ml. The amount of the total phenolic compounds in the eREs from the fresh resin was 9,908 mg of pyrogallol equivalent (PGE) per kg of eREs, and from the nest entrances, 14,740 mg per kg. We also found that hydroquinin had the highest concentration in both extracts. In conclusion, the crude resin extracts demonstrated antibacterial properties against the S. aureus, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa strains tested. They also contained phenolic compounds which were active antibacterial agents. We have identified new and novel knowledge which can be used as preliminary data, leading to further, more detailed, investigation of the mechanistic action of the resin against bacterial cells.
Schottky Barrier Height Engineering of Ti/n-Type Silicon Diode by Means of Ion Implantation
Authors: TANTRAVIWAT Doldet , YAMWONG Wittawat , TECHAKIJKAJORN Udom , IMAI Kazuo , INCEESUNGVORN Burapat
Published: November 2020

Herein, boron implantation technique was employed to engineer the Schottky barrier height (SBH) of Ti/n-type silicon junction (Ti/n-Si). The Ti/n-Si Schottky diodes with boron doses of 4, 5.4 and 6.6´1012 cm-2 at the energy of 25 keV were fabricated with improved rectification and their effective SBHs increased from 0.49 to 0.95. The tuning of the effective SBH is mainly attributed to the presence of shallow p-layer, which modifies the energy band at Ti/n-Si interface. This work clearly shows that the ability to precisely control the SBH, regardless of the metal work function, would facilitate the implementation of Schottky diode into various semiconductor structures, such as MPS (Merged PiN Schottky) diode, in order to improve performance without major modification on the existing metal line process.
THEORIES OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Authors: D Veeraiyan Vishvantha , V Dr. Deepak Nallasamy
Published: November 2020

Continental drift is the process of continental plates moving. The movement is very slow, and it might take even years to show the impact on the Earth. The movement depends on gravity, convection drift, and plate formation. Gravity impacts the movements as the mantle (The layer below the crust) is always spinning because of gravity and the plates are located on the mantle. Convection drift impacts on the movement because convection drift is a cycle of melting and cooling of rocks in the mantle which can slowly impact the movement of the plate. Plate formation also affects the way the plates move as the new plates formed pushes the nearby plates causing movement.
Ulcerative Stomatitis as the Sole Manifestation of Progesterone Hypersensitivity
Authors: Al-Amad Suhail H.
Published: November 2020

Oral mucosal involvement of autoimmune progesterone dermatitis is exceedingly rare. This report presents a woman with very painful ulcerative stomatitis that recurred with every menstrual period, in the absence of other clinical manifestations. Ulcers were eventually controlled with oral tamoxifen treatment for three months. Subsequent follow-up visits showed complete resolution of her oral ulcerative lesions. The nonspecific nature of her oral ulcers resulted in multiple medical and dental consultations and a delay in reaching the final diagnosis. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of progesterone hypersensitivity when painful oral ulcerative lesions appear concurrently with each progesterone surge.
Biosynthesis of Silver Nanoparticles: Minireview
Authors: Alnaimat Alaa , Aljamaeen Intesar
Published: November 2020

In principle, nanoscience focus on the understanding of the structure, physical and chemical properties of nano size objects. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are both recent and active ongoing branch of science includes multi interdisciplinary sciences. On the other hand, nanotechnology considered as the invested outcomes of the obtained fundamental knowledge about nano objects in various commercial, industrial, environmental and medical sectors. All nano scale matters regardless of their nature referred to as nano-objects were the prefix ‘nano’ mean one millionth of millimeter size. Due to their nano size and high surface area, metal nanoparticles exhibits unique and novel physical and chemical properties compared to their macro scale counterparts. They are considered as very interesting and popular antimicrobial agent with wide spectrum activity against the variety of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Three main methods were routinely used for metal nanoparticles formation that are chemical, physical and biological approaches. As eco-friendly, cheap and safe synthesis approach without the use of toxic chemicals and free of resulted hazardous byproducts several extracellular and intracellular biological methods using bacteria, fungi, plants or their extracts were reported that known collectively as green nanotechnology
FACS in the 21st century
Authors: Brett Christopher , Hartshorn Richard
Published: November 2020

It is a great pleasure, on behalf of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, for us to greet the members of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, and to write this Foreword to the inaugural issue of AsiaChem, the new magazine of the FACS.
CO2 Recycling: The Conversion of Renewable Energy into Chemical Fuels
Authors: Sariciftci Niyazi Serdar
Published: November 2020

We want to bring the idea of conversion of CO2 into synthetic fuels (CO2 recycling) into attention, as a possible approach for transportable storage of renewable energy. Recycling of CO2 by homogeneous and/or heterogeneous catalytic approaches have been investigated with increasing emphasis within the scientific community. In the last decades, especially using organic and bioorganic systems towards CO2 reduction has attracted great interest. Chemical, electrochemical, photoelectrochemical, and bioelectrochemical approaches are discussed vividly as new routes towards the conversion of CO2 into synthetic fuels and/or useful chemicals in the recent literature. Here we want to especially emphasize the new developments in bio-electrocatalysis with some recent examples.
Quantifying bioaerosol concentrations in dust clouds through online UV-LIF and mass spectrometry measurements at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory
Authors: Morrison Douglas , Crawford Ian , Marsden Nicholas , Flynn Michael , Read Katie , Neves Luis , Foot Virginia , Kaye Paul , Stanley Warren , Coe Hugh , Topping David , Gallagher Martin
Published: November 2020

Abstract. Observations of the long-range transport of biological
particles in the tropics via dust vectors are now seen as fundamental to
the understanding of many global atmosphere–ocean biogeochemical cycles,
changes in air quality, human health, ecosystem impacts, and climate.
However, there is a lack of long-term measurements quantifying their
presence in such conditions. Here, we present annual observations of
bioaerosol concentrations based on online ultraviolet laser-induced
fluorescence (UV-LIF) spectrometry from the World Meteorological
Organization – Global Atmospheric Watch (WMO-GAW)
Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory on São Vicente. We observe
the expected strong seasonal changes in absolute concentrations of
bioaerosols with significant enhancements during winter due to the strong
island inflow of air mass, originating from the African continent.
Monthly median bioaerosol concentrations as high as 45 L−1 were
found with 95th percentile values exceeding 130 L−1 during strong
dust events. However, in contrast, the relative fraction of
bioaerosol numbers compared to total dust number concentration
shows little seasonal variation. Mean bioaerosol
contributions accounted for 0.4 ± 0.2 % of total coarse aerosol
concentrations, only rarely exceeding 1 % during particularly strong
events under appropriate conditions. Although enhancements in the median
bioaerosol fraction do occur in winter, they also occur at other times of
the year, likely due to the enhanced Aeolian activity driving dust events at
this time from different sources. We hypothesise that this indicates the
relative contribution of bioaerosol material in dust transported across
the tropical Atlantic throughout the year is relatively uniform, comprised
mainly of mixtures of dust and bacteria and/or bacterial fragments. We
argue that this hypothesis is supported from analysis of measurements also
at Cabo Verde just prior to the long-term monitoring experiment where UV-LIF
single particle measurements were compared with laser ablation aerosol
particle time-of-flight mass spectrometer (LAAP-ToF) measurements. These
clearly show a very high correlation between particles with mixed
biosilicate mass spectral signatures and UV-LIF biofluorescent signatures
suggesting the bioaerosol concentrations are dominated by these mixtures.
These observations should assist with constraining bioaerosol concentrations for tropical global
climate model (GCM) simulations. Note that here we use the term “bioaerosol” to
include mixtures of dust and bacterial material.
High-precision laser spectrometer for multiple greenhouse gas analysis in 1 mL air from ice core samples
Authors: Bereiter Bernhard , Tuzson Béla , Scheidegger Philipp , Kupferschmid André , Looser Herbert , Mächler Lars , Baggenstos Daniel , Schmitt Jochen , Fischer Hubertus , Emmenegger Lukas
Published: November 2020

Abstract. The record of past greenhouse gas composition from ice cores is crucial for our understanding of global climate change. Future ice core projects will aim to extend both the temporal coverage (extending the timescale to 1.5 Myr) and the temporal resolution of existing records. This implies a strongly limited sample availability, increasing demands on analytical accuracy and precision, and the need to reuse air samples extracted from ice cores for multiple gas analyses. To meet these requirements, we designed and developed a new analytical system that combines direct absorption laser spectroscopy in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) with a quantitative sublimation extraction method. Here, we focus on a high-precision dual-laser spectrometer for the simultaneous measurement of CH4, N2O, and CO2 concentrations, as well as δ13C(CO2).
Flow-through experiments at 5 mbar gas pressure demonstrate an analytical precision (1 σ) of 0.006 ppm for CO2, 0.02 ‰ for δ13C(CO2), 0.4 ppb for CH4, and 0.1 ppb for N2O, obtained after an integration time of 100 s. Sample–standard repeatabilities (1 σ) of discrete samples of 1 mL STP (Standard Temperature and Pressure) amount to 0.03 ppm, 2.2 ppb, 1 ppb, and 0.04 ‰ for CO2, CH4, N2O, and δ13C(CO2), respectively. The key elements to achieve this performance are a custom-developed multipass absorption cell, custom-made high-performance data acquisition and laser driving electronics, and a robust calibration approach involving multiple reference gases.
The assessment of the spectrometer capabilities in repeated measurement cycles of discrete air samples – mimicking the procedure for external samples such as air samples from ice cores – was found to fully meet our performance criteria for future ice core analysis. Finally, this non-consumptive method allows the reuse of the precious gas samples for further analysis, which creates new opportunities in ice core science.
Late Paleocene–early Eocene Arctic Ocean sea surface temperatures: reassessing biomarker paleothermometry at Lomonosov Ridge
Authors: Sluijs Appy , Frieling Joost , Inglis Gordon N. , Nierop Klaas G. J. , Peterse Francien , Sangiorgi Francesca , Schouten Stefan
Published: November 2020

Abstract. A series of papers published shortly after the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program
Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX, 2004) on Lomonosov Ridge indicated
remarkably high early Eocene sea surface temperatures (SSTs; ca. 23 to 27 ∘C) and land air temperatures (ca. 17 to 25 ∘C) based
on the distribution of isoprenoid and branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol
tetraether (isoGDGT and brGDGT) lipids, respectively. Here, we revisit these
results using recent analytical developments – which have led to improved
temperature calibrations and the discovery of new temperature-sensitive
glycerol monoalkyl glycerol tetraethers (GMGTs) – and currently available
proxy constraints. The isoGDGT assemblages support temperature as the dominant variable
controlling TEX86 values for most samples. However, contributions of
isoGDGTs from land, which we characterize in detail, complicate TEX86
paleothermometry in the late Paleocene and part of the interval between the
Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ∼ 56 Ma) and the Eocene
Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2; ∼ 54 Ma). Background early Eocene
SSTs generally exceeded 20 ∘C, with peak warmth during the PETM
(∼ 26 ∘C) and ETM2 (∼ 27 ∘C). We find abundant branched GMGTs, likely dominantly marine in origin, and
their distribution responds to environmental change. Further modern work is
required to test to what extent temperature and other environmental factors
determine their distribution. Published Arctic vegetation reconstructions indicate coldest-month mean
continental air temperatures of 6–13 ∘C, which reinforces the
question of whether TEX86-derived SSTs in the Paleogene Arctic are skewed
towards the summer season. The exact meaning of TEX86 in the Paleogene
Arctic thus remains a fundamental issue, and it is one that limits our assessment
of the performance of fully coupled climate models under greenhouse
conditions.
Monitoring of microscopic fungi community in selected bee products
Authors: Mašková Zuzana , Kňazovická Vladimíra , Mančíková Veronika , Tančinová Dana , Barboráková Zuzana
Published: November 2020

Honey is a remarkably complex food with a valued place in the human diet. An important indicator of its quality is the presence of microorganisms. This study aimed to monitor the mycological quality of 27 samples of Slovak kinds of honey and honey products with the addition of differently processed blueberries, cranberries, and red currants. Yeast and filamentous microscopic fungi were monitored using the plate dilution method. A total of 21 samples (78%) were positive for the presence of yeasts and 14 samples (52%) were positive for the filamentous microscopic fungi occurrence. In 6 samples (22%) no presence of microscopic fungi was found at all. The highest number of yeasts (3.07 log CFU.g-1) was recorded in one flower honey sample and in other samples, yeast counts did not exceed 3 log CFU.g-1. The highest numbers of filamentous micromycetes (2.39 and 2.44 log CFU.g-1) were recorded in 2 honeydew honey samples. Overall, the following genera have been identified: Alternaria, Arthrinium, Aspergillus (including previously named as Eurotium), Aureobasidium, Cladosporium, Mucor, Penicillium, and Stemphilium. Penicillium spp. were recorded with the highest isolation frequency (41%). Aspergillus species were isolated from 19% of honey samples. In the honey with fruit addition, the yeasts in a range of 1.00 – 3.09 log CFU.g-1 and the filamentous microscopic fungi in a range of 1.00 – 1.39 log CFU.g-1 were found. The study showed that cranberries were the most appropriate addition from a mycological point of view. Dried and lyophilized forms of tested fruits were the most suitable. Except for honey with frozen currants and honey with fresh cranberries, all final products had a water activity below 0.610 and appeared to be stable.