bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Konsep Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini Berdasarkan Al-qur’an
Authors:   Universitas Al-Washliyah, Sumatera Utara, wana Nir
Published: June 2021

Early childhood education is an important stage to be prepared carefully and conceptually. The verses in the Koran can be used as a guide in providing the values of early childhood education in an Islamic way to face modern life today. This study aims to discuss early childhood education in the Koran, stages of early childhood education in the Koran, Surah Luqman, and the concept of early childhood education in the Koran, Surah Lukman. This research uses the literature study method. This study found that early childhood education has beneficial roles in life. This study also found seven stages of educating early childhood and six concepts of early childhood education in the Koran, Surat Luqman. A researcher hopes that this research can be useful for future research in the field of early childhood education from an Islamic perspective.
Ontological Methodologies for Counselling Intervention: Do’a and Zikr Al-Mā’thur Corpus
Authors: Othman Roslina , Tawil Siti Fatimah Mohd
Published: June 2021

Do’a and Zikr al-Mā’thur (authentic supplications and remembrance of ALLAH ‘Azza wa Jalla) can be suggested to Muslims to help them deal with challenges or issues in life. Counselling cases affect a person’s feelings. Do’a and Zikr al-Mā’thur are often applied as a counselling intervention. Unfortunately, the authentic Do’a and Zikr al-Mā’thur are dispersed in many resources not visible to users, and the fact that not all online resources offer access to accurate Do’a and Zikr al-Mā’thur to users and the dubious Do’a and Zikr al-Mā’thur frequently credited to the Prophet (pbuh). The goal of this research is to develop an ontology for the purpose of providing credible results to counselling cases in need of relevant Do’a and Zikr Al- Ma’thur. This research focused on presenting how an ontology could support to provide accurate information to cases supervised by high school counsellors. This research developed the ontology for Do’a and Zikr al-Mā’thur for counselling in Protégé. The methodology implemented in the ontology development included the models designed by Fernandez-Lopez et al., Thunkijjanukij, Gomez-Perez et al., and Kreider. The ontology was verified, validated, and evaluated by two subject domain experts. Most concepts were rated as ‘Compliant’ and some as ‘Partially Compliant’. Queries in SPARQL produced answers to the competency questions. Feedbacks from the user assessment proved that the executed results from the Do’a and Zikr al-Mā’thur ontology for counselling succeeded in fulfilling the users’ requirement. It is recommended that the sustainability of the ontology should be secured through constant submission of real cases by counsellors and people with similar roles for query analysis and results. Credible scholars should provide direction to trustworthy sources. Such essential input is valuable for content management and contributes towards very few domain ontologies that deliver support to professional works. It also provides the step-by-step procedures to ontology construction and assessment for Islamic collection for counselling intervention.
The Impact of Fear and Rational Appeal Scam Techniques on Individual Susceptibility
Authors: Bakar Siti Nurdiana Abu , Zakaria Nur Haryani
Published: June 2021

Scams remain among top cybercrime incidents happening around the world. Individuals with high susceptibility to persuasion are considered as risk-takers and prone to be scam victims. Unfortunately, limited number of research is done to investigate the relationship between appeal techniques and individuals' personality thus hindering a proper and effective campaigns that could help to raise awareness against scam. In this study, the impact of fear and rational appeal were examined as well as to identify suitable approach for individuals with high susceptibility to persuasion. To evaluate the approach, pretest and posttest surveys with 3 separate controlled laboratory experiments were conducted. This study found that rational appeal treatment has a significantly stronger impact than the fear appeal. This result is a starting point in suggesting that rational appeal is a promising means in persuading individuals with high susceptibility to persuasion.
Performance Evaluation of Intrusion Detection System using Selected Features and Machine Learning Classifiers
Authors: Mahmood Raja Azlina Raja , Abdi AmirHossien , Hussin Masnida
Published: June 2021

Some of the main challenges in developing an effective network-based intrusion detection system (IDS) include analyzing large network traffic volumes and realizing the decision boundaries between normal and abnormal behaviors. Deploying feature selection together with efficient classifiers in the detection system can overcome these problems.  Feature selection finds the most relevant features, thus reduces the dimensionality and complexity to analyze the network traffic.  Moreover, using the most relevant features to build the predictive model, reduces the complexity of the developed model, thus reducing the building classifier model time and consequently improves the detection performance.  In this study, two different sets of selected features have been adopted to train four machine-learning based classifiers.  The two sets of selected features are based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) approach respectively.  These evolutionary-based algorithms are known to be effective in solving optimization problems.  The classifiers used in this study are Naïve Bayes, k-Nearest Neighbor, Decision Tree and Support Vector Machine that have been trained and tested using the NSL-KDD dataset. The performance of the abovementioned classifiers using different features values was evaluated.  The experimental results indicate that the detection accuracy improves by approximately 1.55% when implemented using the PSO-based selected features than that of using GA-based selected features.  The Decision Tree classifier that was trained with PSO-based selected features outperformed other classifiers with accuracy, precision, recall, and f-score result of 99.38%, 99.36%, 99.32%, and 99.34% respectively.  The results show that using optimal features coupling with a good classifier in a detection system able to reduce the classifier model building time, reduce the computational burden to analyze data, and consequently attain high detection rate.
A Modified Symmetric Key Fully Homomorphic Encryption Scheme Based on Read-Muller Code
Authors: Challa RatnaKumari , Gunta VijayaKumari
Published: June 2021

Homomorphic encryption became popular and powerful cryptographic primitive for various cloud computing applications. In the recent decades several developments has been made. Few schemes based on coding theory have been proposed but none of them support unlimited operations with security.   We propose a modified Reed-Muller Code based symmetric key fully homomorphic encryption to improve its security by using message expansion technique. Message expansion with prepended random fixed length string provides one-to-many mapping between message and codeword, thus one-to many mapping between plaintext and ciphertext. The proposed scheme supports both (MOD 2) additive and multiplication operations unlimitedly.   We make an effort to prove the security of the scheme under indistinguishability under chosen-plaintext attack (IND-CPA) through a game-based security proof. The security proof gives a mathematical analysis and its complexity of hardness. Also, it presents security analysis against all the known attacks with respect to the message expansion and homomorphic operations.
Simulation and Modelling of Electricity Usage Control and Monitoring System using ThingSpeak
Authors: Anang Nurhazwani , Hamid Mohammad Safwan AB , Muda Wan Mariam Wan
Published: June 2021

Renewable energy technology is growing fast especially photovoltaic (PV) system to move the conventional electricity generation and distribution towards smart grid. However, similar to monthly electricity bill, the PV energy producers can only monitor their energy PV generation once a month. Any malfuntion in PV system components may reduce the performance of the system without notice. Thus, developing a real-time monitoring system of PV production is very crucial for early detection. In addition, electricity consumption is also important to be monitored more frequently to increase energy savings awareness among consumers. Hardware based Internet-of-Thing (IoT) monitoring and control system is widely used. However, the implementation of the actual smart grid system is high in cost. Thus, simulation and modelling of the system is important to see the capability of the actual system before being employed. Since the smart grid and its components are usually modeled using MATLAB/Simulink, the communication between MATLAB/Simulink, IoT platform such as ThingSpeak and mobile application is crucial to be explored to gain a better understanding of the features of the smart grid. To achieve the objectives, there are five main steps which are simulation of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system to generate data to be monitored and controlled using HOMER software, then, development of monitoring on ThingSpeak and mobile application using MIT App Inventor 2.  Next, the control system is developed on mobile application and the communication on how data are transferred between all the softwares are set up. The results show that all the seletected parameters can be monitored in real-time successfully. The developed mobile application can be used to control the MATLAB/Simulink in two modes. During automatic mode, ThingSpeak controls the MATLAB/Simulink by giving a zero signal (OFF) if load demand is less than the power generated by PV and a one signal (ON) if the load demand is greater than PV power. During manual mode, consumer can send ON or OFF signal to MATLAB/Simulink via the mobile application unconditionally. It is hoped that the proposed system will bring many benefits in modeling a complete smart grid system in MATLAB/Simulink.
Arabic Speech Classification Method Based on Padding and Deep Learning Neural Network
Authors: Asroni Asroni , Ku-Mahamud Ku Ruhana , Damarjati Cahya , Slamat Hasan Basri
Published: June 2021

Deep learning convolution neural network has been widely used to recognize or classify voice. Various techniques have been used together with convolution neural network to prepare voice data before the training process in developing the classification model. However, not all model can produce good classification accuracy as there are many types of voice or speech. Classification of Arabic alphabet pronunciation is a one of the types of voice and accurate pronunciation is required in the learning of the Qur’an reading. Thus, the technique to process the pronunciation and training of the processed data requires specific approach. To overcome this issue, a method based on padding and deep learning convolution neural network is proposed to evaluate the pronunciation of the Arabic alphabet. Voice data from six school children are recorded and used to test the performance of the proposed method. The padding technique has been used to augment the voice data before feeding the data to the CNN structure to developed the classification model. In addition, three other feature extraction techniques have been introduced to enable the comparison of the proposed method which employs padding technique. The performance of the proposed method with padding technique is at par with the spectrogram but better than mel-spectrogram and mel-frequency cepstral coefficients. Results also show that the proposed method was able to distinguish the Arabic alphabets that are difficult to pronounce. The proposed method with padding technique may be extended to address other voice pronunciation ability other than the Arabic alphabets.
A Word Cloud Model based on Hate Speech in an Online Social Media Environment
Authors: Ibrahim Valentina , Abu Bakar Juhaid , Harun Nor Hazlyna , Abdulateef Alaa Fareed
Published: June 2021

Social media is known as detectors platform that are used to measure the activities of the users in the real world. However, the huge and unfiltered feed of messages posted on social media trigger social warnings, particularly when these messages contain hate speech towards specific individual or community. The negative effect of these messages on individuals or the society at large is of great concern to governments and non-governmental organizations. Word clouds provide a simple and efficient means of visually transferring the most common words from text documents. This research aims to develop a word cloud model based on hateful words on online social media environment such as Google News. Several steps are involved including data acquisition and pre-processing, feature extraction, model development, visualization and viewing of word cloud model result. The results present an image in a series of text describing the top words. This model can be considered as a simple way to exchange high-level information without overloading the user's details.
Reinforcement Learning-Based Television White Space Database
Authors: Pakzad Armie E. , Manuel Raine Mattheus , Uy Jerrick Spencer , Asuncion Xavier Francis , Ligayo Joshua Vincent , Materum Lawrence
Published: June 2021

Television white spaces (TVWSs) refer to the unused part of the spectrum under the very high frequency (VHF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF) bands. TVWS are frequencies under licenced primary users (PUs) that are not being used and are available for secondary users (SUs). There are several ways of implementing TVWS in communications, one of which is the use of TVWS database (TVWSDB). The primary purpose of TVWSDB is to protect PUs from interference with SUs. There are several geolocation databases available for this purpose. However, it is unclear if those databases have the prediction feature that gives TVWSDB the capability of decreasing the number of inquiries from SUs. With this in mind, the authors present a reinforcement learning-based TVWSDB. Reinforcement learning (RL) is a machine learning technique that focuses on what has been done based on mapping situations to actions to obtain the highest reward. The learning process was conducted by trying out the actions to gain the reward instead of being told what to do. The actions may directly affect the rewards and future rewards. Based on the results, this algorithm effectively searched the most optimal channel for the SUs in query with the minimum search duration. This paper presents the advantage of using a machine learning approach in TVWSDB with an accurate and faster-searching capability for the available TVWS channels intended for SUs.
A Comprehensive Review on Medical Image Steganography Based on LSB Technique and Potential Challenges
Authors: Shtayt Bushra Abdullah , Zakaria Nur Haryani , Harun Nor Hazlyna
Published: June 2021

The rapid development of telemedicine services and the requirements for exchanging medical information between physicians, consultants, and health institutions have made the protection of patients’ information an important priority for any future e-health system. The protection of medical information, including the cover (i.e. medical image), has a specificity that slightly differs from the requirements for protecting other information. It is necessary to preserve the cover greatly due to its importance on the reception side as medical staff use this information to provide a diagnosis to save a patient's life. If the cover is tampered with, this leads to failure in achieving the goal of telemedicine. Therefore, this work provides an investigation of information security techniques in medical imaging, focusing on security goals. Encrypting a message before hiding them gives an extra layer of security, and thus, will provide an excellent solution to protect the sensitive information of patients during the sharing of medical information. Medical image steganography is a special case of image steganography, while Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is the backbone of all medical imaging divisions, whereby it is most broadly used to store and transmit medical images. The main objective of this study is to provide a general idea of what Least Significant Bit-based (LSB) steganography techniques have achieved in medical images.
Community Perception on Smart Engagement: Case of Kubang Pasu Local Government
Authors: Ku-Mahamud Ku Ruhana , ChePa Noraziah , Omar Mohd Hasbullah , Sharif Shamshuritawati , Salleh Farizan
Published: June 2021

Implementing smart community engagement should consider careful planning and collaboration with numerous stakeholders, including the community. The technology and program must be designed to frame its purpose and should link back to specific goals of implementing smart community engagement. Digital services do not guarantee a smart engagement between the community and the local government. This is the case for the Kubang Pasu local government where several online services have been provided in their attempt to implement the smart community concept. However, understanding on the preferences of features and requirements of existing web-based systems and the impact of these systems is lacking. Therefore, a perception study needs to be conducted to obtain information regarding smart community engagement implementation. This study aimed to discover the community’s perceptions on smart community engagement, specifically for Kubang Pasu in terms of its local context. To achieve this, a combination of interview and online survey was employed involving stakeholders of several organizations and 309 respondents among the community in Kubang Pasu. Result of the interview and survey revealed moderate engagement between the community and organizations due to low awareness, moderate engagement between the community and local authorities, low exposure to online services, as well as the weaknesses of the current online systems. It can be concluded that the satisfaction level of the respondents with officers at the organizations was only moderate. The implementation of e-services could reduce face-to-face interactions, which could help to improve the satisfaction level. This could also help in moving toward the smart community engagement concept. Therefore, the smart communication method via social media, email, and website could be employed to increase the low rating of public engagement with the authorities. This move will foster the prompt implementation of smart community engagement.
A Scoping Study on Lightweight Cryptography Reviews in IoT
Authors: Chiadighikaobi Ikenna Rene , Katuk Nurliza
Published: June 2021

The efforts in designing and developing lightweight cryptography (LWC) started a decade ago. Many scholarly studies in literature report the enhancement of conventional cryptographic algorithms and the development of new algorithms. This significant number of studies resulted in the rise of many review studies on LWC in IoT. Due to the vast number of review studies on LWC in IoT, it is not known what the studies cover and how extensive the review studies are. Therefore, this article aimed to bridge the gap in the review studies by conducting a systematic scoping study. It analyzed the existing review articles on LWC in IoT to discover the extensiveness of the reviews and the topics covered. The results of the study suggested that many review studies are classified as overview-types of review focusing on generic LWC.  Further, the topics of the reviews mainly focused on symmetric block cryptography, while limited reviews were found on asymmetric-key and hash in LWC. The outcomes of this study revealed that the reviews in LWC in IoT are still in their premature stage and researchers are encouraged to explore by conducting review studies in the less-attended areas. An extensive review of studies that cover these two topics is deemed necessary to establish a balance of scholarly works in LWC for IoT and encourage more empirical research in the area.
Wireless Propagation Multipaths using Spectral Clustering and Three-Constraint Affinity Matrix Spectral Clustering
Authors: Blanza Jojo
Published: June 2021

This study focused on spectral clustering (SC) and three-constraint affinity matrix spectral clustering (3CAM-SC) to determine the number of clusters and the membership of the clusters of the COST 2100 channel model (C2CM) multipath dataset simultaneously. Various multipath clustering approaches solve only the number of clusters without taking into consideration the membership of clusters. The problem of giving only the number of clusters is that there is no assurance that the membership of the multipath clusters is accurate even though the number of clusters is correct. SC and 3CAM-SC aimed to solve this problem by determining the membership of the clusters. The cluster and the cluster count were then computed through the cluster-wise Jaccard index of the membership of the multipaths to their clusters. The multipaths generated by C2CM were transformed using the directional cosine transform (DCT) and the whitening transform (WT). The transformed dataset was clustered using SC and 3CAM-SC. The clustering performance was validated using the Jaccard index by comparing the reference multipath dataset with the calculated multipath clusters. The results show that the effectiveness of SC is similar to the state-of-the-art clustering approaches. However, 3CAM-SC outperforms SC in all channel scenarios. SC can be used in indoor scenarios based on accuracy, while 3CAM-SC is applicable in indoor and semi-urban scenarios. Thus, the clustering approaches can be applied as alternative clustering techniques in the field of channel modeling.
Future Scenario of Global Climate Map change according to the Köppen -Geiger Climate Classification
Authors: Mohammed Fahmy Osman , Mohammad Anwar Othman , Ibrahim Hivi Shawket , Hasan Rozhgar Abdullah
Published: June 2021

Earth’s climate changes rapidly due to the increases in human demands and rapid economic growth. These changes will affect the entire biosphere, mostly in negative ways. Predicting future changes will put us in a better position to minimize their catastrophic effects and to understand how humans can cope with the new changes beforehand. In this research, previous global climate data set observations from 1961-1990 have been used to predict the future climate change scenario for 2010-2039. The data were processed with Idrisi Andes software and the final Köppen-Geiger map was created with ArcGIS software. Based on Köppen climate classification, it was found that areas of Equator, Arid Steppes, and Snow will decrease by 3.9 %, 2.96%, and 0.09%, respectively. While the areas of Warm Temperature and Dessert will increase by 4.5% and 0.75%, respectively. The results of this study provide useful information on future climate Köppen-Geiger maps and areas that will most likely be affected by climate change in the following decades
The Synoptic Characteristics, Causes, and Mechanisms of Kahlaa Tornado in Iraq on 14th April 2016
Authors: Roomi Thaer O. , Basheer Firas S.
Published: June 2021

In this study, an analysis of the synoptic characteristics, causes and mechanisms of Kahlaa tornado event was carried out. This tornado occurred on 10:30 UTC (1:30 pm Iraq Local Time) on 14 April 2016 to the north of Kahlaa town in Maysan governorate. We analyzed surface and upper charts, weather conditions, the damage indices, the dynamical features and the instability of the tornado. The analysis showed that there was a low pressure system which was an extension of the Monsoon low in addition to a supercell thunderstorm and a jet stream aloft. The cold trough and high relative vorticity at 500 hPa level, the humid warm wind blowing from the south and the dry cold wind from the north contributed to the initiation of the tornado. According to the damage amount, Kahlaa tornado can be classified as EF2 degree (considerable) on Enhanced Fujita scale. Three indices were calculated to estimate the instability of the tornado. The values of the convective available potential energy (CAPE), K-index, and lifted index were (≥2500 J/kg), (35.3 oC), and (-7), respectively. All these indices confirmed the instability required to form severe thunderstorm essential to tornado formation. Although the forecasting of tornadoes occurrence is difficult, there would be indications that may lead to expect of occurrence. These may include the availability of moisture, heat, and significant wind direction changes with altitude. However, the vital factors were the existence of high instability and a supercell thunderstorm.
Investigating the Aerodynamic Surface Roughness Length over Baghdad City Utilizing Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques
Authors: Mohsen Al-Zahraa A. , Al-Jiboori Monim H. , Al-Timimi Yaseen K.
Published: June 2021

This study calculated the surface roughness length (Zo), zero-displacement length (Zd) and height of the roughness elements (ZH) using GIS applications. The practical benefit of this study is to classify the development of Baghdad, choose the appropriate places for installing wind turbines, improve urban planning, find rates of turbulence, pollution and others. The surface roughness length (Zo) of Baghdad city was estimated based on the data of the wind speed obtained from an automatic weather station installed at Al-Mustansiriyah University, the data of the satellite images digital elevation model (DEM), and the digital surface model (DSM), utilizing Remote Sensing Techniques. The study area was divided into 15 municipalities (Rasheed, Mansour, Shulaa, Karrada, Shaab, Adhamiyah, Sadre 2, Sadre 1, Rusafa, Alghadeer, Baghdad Aljadeedah, Karkh, Kadhumiya, Green zone, and Dora). The results indicated that the variations in Zo depend strongly on zero-displacement length (Zd) and the roughness element height (ZH) and wind speed. The research results demonstrated that Baghdad Aljadeedah has the largest (Zo) with 0.43 m and Rasheed has the lowest value of (Zo) with 0.19 m.; the average (Zo) of Baghdad city was 0.32 m.
Studying the Changes in Solar Radiation and Their Influence on Temperature Trend in Iraq for a Whole Century
Authors: Al-Knani Basim Abdulsada , Abdulkareem Iqbal H. , Nemah Hussain Abodi , Nasir Zahraa
Published: June 2021

Most studies indicated that the values ​​of atmospheric variables have changed from their general rates due to pollution or global warming etc. Hence, the research indicates the changes of direct solar radiation values ​​over a whole century i.e. from 1900 to 2000 depending on registered data for four cities, namely (Mosul - Baghdad - Rutba - Basra. Moreover, attemptsto correlate the direct solar radiation with the temperature values have been ​​recorded over that period. The results showed that there is a decreasing pattern of radiation quantities over time throughout the study period, where the value of direct radiation over the city of Baghdad 5550 w/m2 was recorded in the year 1900, but this ratio decreased clearly to approximately 5400 w/m2 in the year 2000, which is perhaps due to the increase of general pollution rates in the atmosphere. The results also showed that the city of Rutba recorded the highest annual rate of radiation quantities, and Baghdad with Mosul recorded the lowest radiation ratios compared to the rest of the cities, in addition to that there was a large convergence of radiation ratios between them to some extent. The results showed that there is a sharp drop in radiation ratios, specifically in the years1980and 1990. As for the extent of the relationship for solar radiation with temperature levels throughout the study period, it was found that there is an inverse relationship between them, and this confirms that the cause of high temperatures is not because of increased solar radiation, but it may rather due to other reasons such as increased greenhouse gases.
Projective MDS Codes Over GF(27)‎
Authors: Abdulkareem Al-Zangana Emad Bakr
Published: June 2021

MDS code is a linear code that achieves equality in the Singleton bound, and projective MDS (PG-MDS) is MDS code with independents property of any two columns of its generator matrix.   In this paper, elementary methods for modifying a PG-MDS code of dimensions 2, 3, as extending and lengthening, in order to find new incomplete PG-MDS codes have been used over . Also, two complete PG-MDS codes over  of length  and 28 have been found.
Antibacterial Capability of Triclosan Treated on Filter Fiber Materials
Authors: li yanju , MIAO Qinging , WANG Xinyu , HE Jinlu
Published: June 2021

Antibacterial filtration material is an effectively control technique of airborne biological pollutant to purify indoor air. This study aims to assess the antibacterial capability of triclosan treated on three filter fiber materials: the glass fiber (GF), the non-woven fabric (NF) and the chemical fiber (CF). Triclosan was loaded on filtration materials by the impregnation method. E. coli, S. albus and S. aureus were used as test strains. It’s found that the filter materials loaded with triclosan showed obvious antibacterial zone: the antibacterial zones against E. coli were 11.5 mm(GF), 13.2 mm(NF) and 11.0 mm(CF) respectively; zones against S. albus were 28.0 mm(GF), 21.0 mm(NF) and 25.0 mm(CF); zones against S. aureus were 21.5 mm(GF), 14.0 mm(NF) and 11.5 mm(CF). The percent reduction of bacteria of antibacterial fiber treated with triclosan against E. coli were 78.57% (CF) and 80.00% (GF), the percent reduction of bacteria of triclosan treated fiber against S. albus were 68.59% (NF) and 82.52% (CF), respectively. This research provided an effective antibacterial filter fiber material loaded with triclosan and it aids to reduce the transmission and harm of infectious diseases and to decontaminate the indoor environment.
Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance Mechanisms of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from Selected Hospitals in Ashanti Region, Ghana.
Authors: Zumbi Crystal Ngofi , Boamah Vivian Etsiapa , Boakye Yaw Duah , Odoi Hayford , Agyare Christian
Published: June 2021

Background: Antibiotic resistance in bacteria has long been recognized as a major health problem occurring worldwide. The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) remains a global health problem. MRSA is reported as one of the leading pathogens involved in increased rates of morbidity and mortality amongst patients in Ghana. This study determined the prevalence and resistance mechanisms of MRSA isolated from patients in selected hospitals in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Antibiograms of the isolates were determined using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Antibiotic resistance genes (mecA and mecC) were detected and efflux pump activity assessed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and microbroth dilution methods, respectively. Results: Out of 626 samples obtained from patients, S. aureus was identified in 68, representing 10.9%. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was observed in 46 (67.6%) of the S. aureus isolates of which 28 (60.9%) were Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The MRSA isolates showed higher susceptibility to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (50%) and higher resistance to oxacillin and cefoxitin (100%). mecA gene was identified in 9 (32.1%) of the MRSA isolates whereas mecC gene was absent in all the isolates. The isolates did not exhibit any multiple efflux pump activities. Conclusion: The prevalence of MDR-MRSA in S. aureus infections at healthcare facilities in the Ashanti region was found to be high. The presence of the mecA gene was identified as a possible mechanism responsible for resistance in the MRSA isolates.
Microphthalmia and Optic Nerve Hypoplasia Induced by Maternal Coronavirus Infection?
Authors: Morhart Patrick , Mardin Christian , Rauh Manfred , Jüngert Jörg , Hammersen Johanna , Kehl Sven , Schuh Wolfgang , Maier-Wohlfart Sigrun , Hermes Katharina , Neubert Antje , Schneider Michael , Hein Alexander , Woelfle Joachim , Schneider Holm
Published: June 2021

Possible mother-to-child transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during pregnancy is still a matter of debate. We studied the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on 56 complete households, including 27 newborns whose mothers were pregnant when exposed to the virus. Three perinatal SARS-CoV-2 transmissions with mild symptoms in affected neonates were recorded (two cases confirmed by PCR, the third one based on clinical findings). In addition, we observed a severe eye malformation (unilateral microphthalmia, optic nerve hypoplasia, and congenital retinopathy) associated with maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection in weeks 5 and 6 of embryonic development. This embryopathy could not be explained by other infectious agents, genetic factors, or drug use during pregnancy. Eight other women with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection prior to gestational week 12, however, delivered healthy infants.Conclusion: The repeated occurrence of mother-to-child transmission in our cohort with risks that remain incompletely understood, such as long-term effects and the possibility of an embryopathy, should sensitize researchers and stimulate further studies as well as strongly support COVID19 vaccination recommendations for pregnant women.Trial registration number: NCT04741412Date of registration: November 18, 2020
Structural basis of anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of HCQ: specific binding to N protein to disrupt its interaction with nucleic acids and LLPS
Authors: Song Jianxing , Dang Mei
Published: June 2021

Great efforts have led to successfully developing the spike-based vaccines but
challenges still exist to completely terminate the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein plays the essential roles in almost all key steps of the viral life cycle, thus representing a top drug target. Almost all key functions of N protein including liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) depend on its capacity in interacting with nucleic acids. Therefore, only the variants with their N proteins functional in binding nucleic acids might survive and spread in evolution and indeed, the residues critical for binding nucleic acids are highly conserved. Very recently, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was shown to prevent the transmission in a large-scale clinical study in Singapore but so far, no specific SARS-CoV-2 protein was experimentally identified to be targeted by HCQ. Here by NMR, we unambiguously decode that HCQ specifically binds NTD and CTD of SARS- CoV-2 N protein with Kd of 112.1 and 57.1 μM respectively to inhibit their interaction with nucleic acid, as well as to disrupt LLPS essential for the viral life cycle. Most importantly, HCQ-binding residues are identical in SARS-CoV-2 variants and therefore HCQ is likely effective to them all. The results not only provide a structural basis for the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of HCQ, but also renders HCQ to be the first known drug capable of targeting LLPS. Furthermore, the unique structure of the HCQ-CTD complex decodes a promising strategy for further design of better anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs from HCQ. Therefore, HCQ is a promising candidate to help terminate the pandemic.
Insights into Transcriptional Regulation by Individual H3K4 Methylation Marks in S. Cerevisiae
Authors: Deshpande Neha , Jordan Rachel A , Pozzi Shelley Henderson , Bryk Mary
Published: June 2021

Set1 is a lysine methyltransferase in S. cerevisiae that catalyzes the mono, di and tri methylation of the fourth lysine on the amino terminal tail of histone H3 (H3K4). Set1-like methyltransferases are evolutionarily conserved, and research has linked their function to developmental gene regulation and several cancers in higher eukaryotes. Set1 is a member of the multiprotein COMPASS complex in S. cerevisiae. The H3K4 methylation activity of COMPASS regulates gene expression and chromosome segregation in vivo. The three distinct methyl marks on histone H3K4 act in discrete ways to regulate transcription. Trimethylation of H3K4 is usually associated with active transcription whereas dimethylation of H3K4 is associated with gene repression. In this study, amino acid substitution mutants of SET1 that encode partial function Set1 proteins capable of H3K4me1, H3K4me1 and H3K4me2, or H3K4me1and H3K4me3 were analyzed to learn more about the roles of individual H3K4 methyl marks in transcription. The findings reveal a previously unappreciated role for H3K4me1 in activation of transcription of the HIS3 gene in S. cerevisiae cultures grown under histidine-starvation conditions. Surprisingly, induction of the HIS3 gene in cultures grown under histidine starvation is not accompanied by significant changes in the profiles of H3K4-methylated nucleosomes at the HIS3 gene in SET1 wild-type strains and set1 partial-function mutants. The data show that H3K4me1 supports induction of HIS3 mRNA to wild-type levels under histidine-starvation conditions and that higher-order H3K4 methylation (H3K4me2 and H3K4me3) is not required.
In Vitro Study of Antioxidant Activity of Serum and Plasma Samples As Well As Glutathione Exposed to Various Exogenous Stress Factors
Authors: Olszowy-Tomczyk Małgorzata , Paprotny Łukasz , Celejewska Agnieszka , Szewczak Dorota , Wianowska Dorota
Published: June 2021

The imbalance between the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and their sequestration promotes the formation of so-called oxidative stress conditions which are considered crucial in the aging process and development of many human diseases. Glutathione plays an essential role in the antioxidative barricade against ROS. Its role in the detoxification process of xenobiotics and carcinogen is also known. However, there are no comparative studies on the antioxidant properties of both biological samples and glutathione as well as the change in these properties as a result of exposure to various stress factors. This paper fills this gap comparing the antioxidant activity of serum and plasma samples of the known glutathione content with the activity of glutathione itself assessed by the different methods. In addition, it reveals a significant role of environmental xenobiotics in oxidative stress and differentiates the stress induced by different groups of drugs, among which the greatest one has been demonstrated for antiarrhythmic drugs and cytostatics. More importantly, it proves that human plasma is more resistant to stress factors and N-acetylcysteine clearly promotes the extension of antioxidant properties of both the plasma and serum samples. The latter conclusion is consistent with the implied preventive and/or supportive action of this drug against SARS-CoV-2.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Image Segmentation and Brain Tumour Detection Using Pulse-Coupled Neural Networks
Authors: Dehyadegari Louiza , Khajehasani Somayeh
Published: June 2021

Image processing can be defined as a functional structure to correct and change the images viewed and their interpretation. One of the applications of digital image processing is using image processing techniques in the component and image segmentation. One of these techniques is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the medical world. In this article, a brain tumour detection system and various anomalies and abnormalities are presented where image pre-processing and preparation include image enhancement, filtering and noise reduction. Then image segmentation is done by a pulse neural network. Next, the image features are extracted and finally, the tumour and abnormal area are separated from the normal area by the algorithms. In this research, the feature selection and integration method are used and the most important statistical features of brain MRI images are used to improve brain tumour detection. Along with the studies done and the implementation of tumour detection systems, the following suggestions can be provided for future researches and the tumour detection system will work more efficiently. The pulse-coupled neural network (PCNN) can be used for image segmentation in the pre-processing stage, especially in the image filtering.
Analytical Solution for the Boundary Value Problem of Euler-Bernoulli Beam Subjected to Accelerated Distributed Load
Authors: Usman Mustapha Adewale , Hammed Fatai Akangbe , Daniel Debora Oluwatobi
Published: June 2021

The study of dynamic response of beam-like structures to moving or static loads has attracted and still attracting a lot of attention due to its wide range of applications in the construction and transportation industry especially when transverse by travelling masses. Hence, analytical solution for the boundary value problem (BVP) of elastic beams subjected to distributed load was investigated. The partial differential equation of order four were analysed to determine the dynamic response of the elastic beam under consideration and solved analytically. Effects of different parameters such as the mass of the load, the length of the moving load, the distance covered by the moving load, the speed of the moving and the axial force were considered. Result revealed that the values of the deflection with acceleration being considered increases than the system where acceleration of the moving load is negligible.
Effects of Heating Temperature and Load Weight on Rheological Properties of Waste Plastic Cup
Authors: Nasution Halimatuddahliana , Winny Winny
Published: June 2021

Analysis of heating temperature and load weight to the rheological properties of waste plastic cups is very important to gain fundamental understanding of the structure, characteristics, and processability of the material. The samples were tested using melt flow indexer. The heating temperature investigated were 180°C, 190°C, 200°C, 210°C, 220°C and 230°C, and the weight load were 1,875 g, 2,160 g, 2,835 g, 3,035 g and 3,450 g. The results obtained showed that the rheological properties of products such as melt flow index, shear stress and shear rate increased and the viscosity decreased with the increasing of heating temperature and load weight. For higher heating temperatures, the melt flow index, shear stress and shear rate of waste plastic cup increased significantly with the increasing load weight whereas the viscosity of waste plastic cup did not decrease significantly with the increasing load weight.
Impact Modified Polyvinyl Chloride Based Thermoplastic Elastomers: Effect of Nitrile Butadiene Rubber and Graphene Oxide Loading
Authors: Vijayan Kuhanraj , Muniyadi Mathialagan , Munusamy Yamuna
Published: June 2021

A new thermoplastic elastomer with improved impact and tensile properties was produced through melt blending of graphene oxide filled nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR-GO) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) without the addition of plasticisers and thermal stabilisers. Nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) compounds, with and without graphene oxide (GO) are prepared through latex compounding method and cured, prior to blending with PVC. The effect of NBR and NBR-GO loading on the process-ability and physico-mechanical properties of PVC blends were evaluated. The addition of NBR and NBR-GO improved tensile strength (TS), impact strength and swelling resistance of PVC. Addition of NBR also increased the stiffness of PVC due to higher elasticity of NBR as compared to PVC. Optimum impact strength, TS and swelling resistance was achieved with the addition of 10 wt. % NBR-GO. Good miscibility between NBR and PVC, and additional reinforcement by GO is responsible for enhancement of impact and TS. NBR-GO showed greater miscibility in PVC as compared to NBR as proven by morphological observation under scanning electron microscope. Morphological observation reveals that micro-cracks formation on PVC/30NBR surface which is responsible for low impact, tensile and swelling properties as compared to PVC/30NBR-GO composite.
Analytical Solution for the Boundary Value Problem of Elastic Beams Subjected to Distributed Load
Authors: Usman Mustapha Adewale , Mohd Afandi Nur Nabilah Afja , Hammed Fatai Akangbe , Daniel Debora Oluwatobi
Published: June 2021

Analytical solution for the boundary value problem (BVP) of elastic beams subjected to distributed load was investigated. Based on the study, dynamic application curves are developed for beam deflection. The partial differential equation of order four were analysed to determine the dynamic response of the elastic beam under consideration and solved analytically. Effects of different parameters such as the mass of the load, the length of the moving load, the distance covered by the moving load, the speed of the moving and the axial force were considered. Result revealed that the values of the deflection with acceleration being considered are higher than the system where acceleration of the moving load is negligible. These obtained results are in agreement with the existing results.
Groundwater Potentiality Mapping in Viruthachalam Taluk, Tamil Nadu, India: AHP and GIS Approaches
Authors: Ranganathan Muthukumarasamy , M. Bagyaraj , M. Mukesh , Islam Zubairul , Gebremedhin Daniel Tekley , Brhane Grmay Kassa
Published: June 2021

Groundwater is the most valuable treasury commodity in the world, yet it is depleted on a daily basis. Hand arrangement is crucial in assembly for delineating a potential groundwater zones. Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) data with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach have proven critical for micro level analysis of groundwater potentials. This exploration was authorized in order to locate a prospective groundwater area in the Virutachalam Taluk of Southern India. The Inverse Distance Weightage (IDW) technique was used to determine the groundwater potential precinct by thematic layers of drainage, drainage density, geology, lineament, lineament density, geomorphology, soil, and slopes. Overall, the prospective groundwater zone in the study area was classified as excellent (20.66 %), good (60.29 %), moderate (16.38 %) and poor (2.73 %). This optional analysis offers an excellent possible groundwater zone for patches in the northern and central sections of Kotteri and Kammapuram in Virudhachalam Taluk. The survey revealed that the approach of inverse distance weighting provides an operating mechanism for suggesting groundwater potential zones for clear expansion and groundwater control in not the same hydro-geological settings.
Beatle Boots and Lennon Glasses - 1960s fashion in Pop Music
Authors: Engelskircher Kathrin
Published: June 2021

Fashion is a phenomenon strongly connected with music. Artists are aware of what they wear on stage and in public spaces and how they present themselves via social media channels. In this way, they do not only create a certain image of themselves through this self-staging strategy, but they also show their affiliation to a certain scene. In the 1960s a specific kind of music was developed which was, therefore, also characterised by a particular way of dressing and style to the current music scene which owes its strong impact to the current music scene.
The Beatles as the maybe most influential band of the 1960s with a very interesting development regarding their own fashion serve as a model for the style of the Spanish-Chilean, Germany-based band The Recalls. Their specific kind of appropriation actualises, transforms and recontextualises as a translational act the fashion of The Beatles in a postmodern way. This approach underlines the chance of establishing a transcultural dialogue and tries to develop a new perspective on other border-crossing phenomena.
"Voyage d'un rêve à l'autre"
Authors: Cabral Maria Jesus
Published: June 2021

Este artigo tem por base o livro Système de la mode (1967) que Roland Barthes consagrou à moda, fenómeno incontornável da vida social de meados dos anos sessenta do século XX, num tempo em que emergem várias revoluções. Interessamo-nos por investigar o tema à luz das suas análises e reflexões e, mais precisamente, o modo como este interage com a semiologia fundamentalmente aberta de Barthes. Atentamos em noções como texto, tecido, sentido e imaginário, e exploramos algumas implicações para a própria conceção da literatura (e do seu estudo) em Barthes, quer do ponto de vista da produção quer do da receção. No final, esta obra sobre moda oferece-se como esclarecedora de vários problemas tratados por Barthes ao longo do seu itinerário intelectual, e o mais vital de todos: a linguagem.