bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Digital Model of Quality of Life
Authors:   Transbaikal State University, Shchetkina Irina A. , Liga Ekaterina M. ,   Transbaikal State University, Zakharov Maxim A. ,   Transbaikal State University
Published: December 2022

At the present stage of the developed society, the attention of scientists and practitioners to the analysis of the digital society has increased. This is evidenced by the appearance of various publications in line with this issue; the formation and implementation of regulatory documents, for example, the Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation for 2017–2030. In this regard, it becomes relevant to analyze a new model of the quality of life, a digital one, as one of the results of the development of a digital society. The methodological basis of the research is the concepts of the representatives of post industrialism D. Bell, P. Drucker, G. Galbraith, E. Toffl er about the role of theoretical knowledge and technology in ensuring the quality of life as determinants of all processes occurring in societies, as well as the ideas of the members of the Club of Rome, who created models of life quality and determined the ways to ensure it in relation to developing countries. This article analyzes individual models of digital society as social practices, which showed that the main trend of their development should be a new quality of digital life, generated by the digital environment and forming new technologies, communications, interaction mechanisms. A certain concept of “digital model of quality of life” is a refl ection of the processes of digitization of everyday life and professional activity of a new subject of public life. We revealed that new interactions arise in the digital model of quality of life: knowledge that creates new technologies is the determining and producing resource for all benefi ts; the introduction of these technologies ensures the development of the digital economy, which forms the need for new mechanisms that determine the evolution of society and man, as the subject of these trends which education should form. The digital model of the quality of life is studied from the standpoint of objectivism and subjectivism. The research materials can be used in assessing trends in the development of modern digital society, identifying the prospects for the development of society in the conditions of digitalization, in making forecasts of the future development of mankind.
Effect of pepper and salt blends on microbial quality of quanta: Ethiopian dried red meat
Authors: Seleshe S. , Seifu E. , Kidane S. W.
Published: December 2022

This study was conducted to assess the effect of spice blends varying in salt and pepper concentrations on the microbial quality of Quanta: Ethiopian dried red meat. The experiment had seven treatments: 25% spices, 25% salt, and 50% pepper (T1); 25% spices, 20% salt, and 55% pepper (T2); 25% spices, 15% salt, and 60% pepper (T3); 25% spices, 10% salt, and 65% pepper (T4); 25% spices, 5% salt, and 70% pepper (T5); 100% spices (without salt and pepper), a positive control (T6); a negative control without any added ingredient (T7). Microbiological analyses were performed initially on the raw sliced meat and spice blends, and after application of the treatments on the 10thand 20thdays of drying. High initial loads of total bacteria (APC) and Enterobacteriaceae (EC) were observed in the raw meat samples and spice blends and increased over the drying periods (10 and 20 days) in all treatments. No significant difference (p>0.05) was observed among the treatments (T1-T7) for APC and EC at a given drying period and between the drying periods. Salmonella spp. was not detected in any of the seven treatments either on the 10th and 20th days of drying. However, Escherichia coli was detected in six (T1-T6) of the dry meat samples except in T7 both on the 10thand 20thdays of drying suggesting that the spice blends served as a source of contamination of the dried meat samples with E. coli. However, the spice blends used in combination with drying were effective in inhibiting the growth of Salmonella species in the dry meat samples. Spices as well as the raw meat used for Quanta preparation should be produced and handled under hygienic conditions to minimize the microorganisms that they harbor.
Prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in meat products during 2017–2019 depending on technological factors and seasons
Authors: Yushina Yu. K. , Kuznetsova O. A. , Tutelyan A. V. , Grudistova M. A. , Bataeva D. S. , Reshchikov M. D. , Tartakovsky I. S. , Nikolaev Yu. A.
Published: December 2022

Microbiological examination of contamination of imported and domestic meat products with pathogenic bacteria Listeria monocytogenes depending on a meat type, technology and season was carried out during 2017–2019. In total, 2777 product samples were analyzed; the presence of this pathogen was revealed in 8.8% of products (244 positive samples). It was found that the prevalence of L. monocytogenes in meat products increased over three years of observation (2017–2019). The highest occurrence of this pathogen was found in poultry meat (on average 18.7%) followed by products from beef (13.2%). Meat products from mixed raw materials (beef and pork) accounted for 5.3% of tested samples, while in pork semi-finished products L. monocytogenes was found only in 3.2% of cases. It was noted that the technology of semi-finished products significantly affected the level of contamination of meat products with L. monocytogenes. Various technological approaches are used in the production process increasing the risk of contamination of the finished product since there is no timely data on Listeria contamination of raw materials used for production of a particular product. It has been established that a significant role in microbiological studies is played by various approaches to sample preparation of analyzed samples of meat cuts, semi-finished products in large and small pieces, as well as minced semi-finished products. Not knowing the real level of surface contamination with L. monocytogenes of carcasses, half-carcasses, semi-finished products in large pieces, manufacturers use such raw materials for the subsequent production of other types of semi-finished meat products, increasing the risk of manufacturing unsafe products with following contamination of equipment, work surfaces and other objects of the production environment. The highest occurrence of L. monocytogenes in meat products during three years of observation was found in the summer period (14.2%). The proportions of positive samples in the winter, spring and autumn months varied on average within 6.7–7.1%.
Biotechnological techniques for intensification of protein extraction from the porcine pancreas
Authors: Kotenkova E. A. , Akhremko A. G. , Polishchuk E. K. , Aryuzina M. A. , Spirina M. E.
Published: December 2022

Processing of secondary products after slaughter of farm animals is in demand. The pancreas is a rich source of bioactive protein substances, effective extraction of which is a serious problem today due to their aggregation. The aim of the work was to assess the extractivity of protein substances of the porcine pancreas using sodium chloride, trehalose, arginine, and combination of glycine and proline. The protein concentration was determined in the obtained extracts by the biuret reaction and their protein composition was assessed by densitometry of two-dimensional electropherograms using software ImageMaster™ 2D Platinum powered by Melanie 8.0. The results showed a positive effect of anti-aggregation agents on the release of protein substances into a solution. The highest protein concentration (33.36±0.64 g/l) was observed when adding 1М L-arginine; however, it was conditioned mainly by an increase in the content of three major protein fractions rather than by diversity of the protein composition. In general, the use of 0.9% NaCl as an extractive agent was quite effective, but selectivity to certain protein groups was observed for anti-aggregation agents such as sodium chloride, trehalose, arginine, glycine and proline, as well as their combination. The obtained results are important for intensifying extraction of protein substances including target ones with the subsequent application in different fields.
Study of adipose tissue of Kemerovo piglets: Detection of beige adipocytes
Authors: Pchelkina V. A. , Chernukha I. M. , Korotkiy I. A. , Ilyin N. A.
Published: December 2022

Animals have two types of adipose tissue differing in structure and function: white (WAT) and brown (BAT). Beige adipose tissue (BeAT) is a result of WAT browning, when beige adipocytes appear between white adipocytes in response to exposure to cold, diet or physical activity. BeAT shares morphological and biochemical characteristics with BAT, is thermogenic and dissipates energy in the form of heat, unlike WAT, which is responsible for energy storage. Pigs do not have classic BAT, and modern breeds are sensitive to cold. There is literature information that BeAT has been found in cold-resistant pigs. The aim of the work was to study adipose tissue of piglets of the Kemerovo cold-resistant breed under growing conditions in the cold season and to identify the localization of BeAT. Histological studies have shown two types of adipocytes in subcutaneous fat samples (lateral, backfat and axillary): white, with one large fat droplet, and beige, multilocular. Larger cells were detected in backfat fat (69.36±12.98 µm) compared with lateral (53.25±9.27 µm) and axillary fat (45.94±8.29 µm). Only WAT with a diameter of 35.69±6.96 µm was present in the internal perirenal fat. Raman spectroscopy was used to evaluate the overall fatty acid profile of the tested samples. The main peaks were noted in all samples: 970 cm-1 (=C-H out-of-plane bend), 1266/1272 cm-1 (=C-H symmetrical rock) and 1655 cm-1 (C=C stretching) responsible for unsaturated bonds, and signals at 1297/1301 cm-1 (CH2 twisting), 1430/1460 cm-1 (CH2 symmetrical deformation (scissoring)) and 1735/1746 cm-1 (C=O stretching) corresponding to saturated bonds or ester groups. Internal perirenal fat contained the largest number of saturated fatty acid bonds, subcutaneous axillary fat — the smallest. The average intensity of the peaks was 0.4801010 and 0.639995, respectively. According to the results of gas chromatography, the largest amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids was noted in the subcutaneous fat samples: 20.199 in backfat fat, 21.749 in lateral and 20.436 in axillary fat compared to 18.636 in internal fat. Activation of beige cells in Kemerovo pigs under cold exposure, according to the authors, plays a crucial role in the heat balance, allowing them to tolerate cold without severe shivering. The study of the BeAT formation is of great practical importance for changing energy metabolism and increasing thermogenesis in newborn piglets by genome editing, as well as for improving the quality of pig’s fat.
The ways to improve the biological and morphological parameters of young fattening pigs
Authors: Mikolaychik I. N. , Morozova L. A. , Iltyakov A. V. , Stupina E. S. , Neverova O. P. , Uryumtseva T. I.
Published: December 2022

Studies were carried out to find the new ways to improve the efficiency of iodine use for the young pigs. During the scientific and economic experiment it was found that bringing iodine to the physiological norm, in combination with introduction of 3% bentonite clay into the diets of young fattening pigs, provided a positive effect on the morphological composition of carcasses, slaughter parameters and meat quality of the pigs. So fattening the yelts with the diets with a physiological norm of iodine in combination with 3% bentonite clay allowed young pigs of the 3rdexperimental group to reach a slaughter weight of 78.95 kg at the age of 8 months, which is 10.1% more than in the control group, and 4.2% and 2.5% more in comparison with the 1st and 2nd experimental groups. The slaughter yield in yelts of the 3rdexperimental group increased by 2.43% (P<0.05) compared to the control group. The largest (30.17 cm2) area of the “rib eye” was recorded in the 3rdexperimental group, which is 5.60% more than the control one, while the carcasses of pigs of the 3rdexperimental group contained muscle tissue by 4.74% (P<0.05) more than the same in the control group. Analysis of the Musculus longissimus showed a significant increase in protein content in the 3rdexperimental group by 1.22% compared to the control group (P<0.05). The protein-quality parameter was significantly higher in the muscle tissue of young pigs of the 3rdexperimental group and amounted to 10.90 (P<0.05), which is 1.12% higher than in the muscle tissue of the control group yelts. The maximum content of oleic acid was found in the lard of animals of the 3rdexperimental group — 49.59, which is 1.28% (P<0.05) higher than in the control group.
ESGOTAMENTO SANITÁRIO E O AVANÇO DA META 6.2 DO ODS 6: ESTUDO DE CASO NO MUNICÍPIO DE PARACURU, CEARÁ
Authors: Da Silva Costa Thays Maria , Alencar Julião Cabral Nájila Rejanne , Pereira Cysne Andréa , Capistrano Pinto Tavares Ingryd
Published: December 2022

O Objetivo de Desenvolvimento Sustentável 6 (ODS 6), estabelecido em 2015 na Agenda 2030 para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável, tem por finalidade até o ano de 2030 que as populações tenham acesso equitativo ao saneamento básico. Tendo em vista diagnosticar o estado atual e o alcance gradual da prestação de serviços de esgotamento sanitário, a pesquisa objetivou analisar a evolução no município de Paracuru, Ceará, concernente à meta 6.2 o ODS 6. A metodologia abrangeu a análise de dados do período de 2010 a 2019, provenientes principalmente do Sistema Nacional de Informações de Saneamento (SNIS), sendo possível com esse horizonte temporal melhor visualização da situação do município, desde antes dos ODS serem estabelecidos. O método utilizado teve na Análise de Conteúdo de Bardi (1977) e Richardson (1989) a base para sua execução, em termos quantitativos. O recolhimento e tratamento de esgoto no município tiveram índices decrescentes durante quase todos os anos observados. Os resultados mostram para o período analisado, o aumento na extensão da rede de esgoto tratado, mas o percentual até 2019 não ultrapassou 40%. Assim, infere-se que não somente existe falta de universalização do serviço no município, mas também dificuldades em alcançar melhorias. Uma gestão que busque a universalização do serviço é de extrema importância para o cumprimento das metas que devem ser alcançadas, tendo em vista que o cumprimento da meta 6.2 objetiva melhorar a qualidade de vida da população, proporcionando bem-estar e condições de desenvolvimento, devendo ser alcançada até o ano de 2030.
AVALIAÇÃO FARMACOLÓGICA IN SILICO E DOCKING MOLECULAR DE ANÁLOGOS A CUMARINA FRENTE AO SARS-COV-2
Authors: De Melo Maria Nalym Menezes , Fonseca Thiago de Sousa
Published: December 2022

A busca de fármacos que possam atuar contra o vírus causador da Covid-19 (Sars-Cov-2) possui extrema relevância, pois, atualmente, não existem medicamentos eficazes contra o vírus. Um dos métodos de prospecção de novos fármacos, é o estudo in silico, no qual possui algumas ferramentas de estudo, tais como as simulações com programas computacionais. Sendo assim, decidimos realizar o estudo experimental in silico e o docking molecular frente a uma proteína do Sars-Cov-2, por meio de softwares com livre acesso, de dez moléculas análogas à cumarina, uma vez que essa molécula possui relatos de atividade antiviral na literatura. Nenhuma molécula violou a regra de Lipinski, além da área superficial polar. Os valores de pKa dessas cumarinas foram de 3,38 - 48,45 e as cumarinas ionizadas foram as com os grupos carboxila de ácido (em pH 7 e 8) e outra com o grupo amina (em pH 2) ligado ao anel aromático. As moléculas apresentaram solubilidade aquosa de -4,10 - 0,00 em pH 2, 7 e 8, sendo que a cumarina com a carboxila de ácido apresentou o valor de 0,00 (não ideal) em pH 7 e 8. As cumarinas com os grupos nitro e amino apresentaram problemas relacionados a tumorigenicidade e mutagenicidade, e as que possuem os grupos nitro, éster e tiona apresentaram problemas relacionados ao sistema reprodutor. O docking molecular mostrou que a molécula com a carboxila de ácido apresentou o melhor valor de energia ligante/proteína S do Sars-Cov-2 (-23,8871 kcal/mol). Portanto, através da presente pesquisa, foi possível realizar a busca de moléculas promissoras no combate ao Sars-Cov-2.
CARACTERÍSTICAS E POTENCIALIDADES FARMACOLÓGICAS DA Morinda citrifolia Linn (NONI)
Authors: Kennedy de Figueiredo Silva Kelvyn , Gomes da Silva Viviane , Braga Dantas Bruna
Published: December 2022

Morinda citrifolia Linn, conhecida popularmente como noni, é uma tradicional planta medicinal que tem sido empregada por mais de dois mil anos pelos povos polinésios e ainda hoje é utilizada na medicina tradicional e popular para cura, prevenção e tratamento de diversas patologias. Entretanto, embora seja consagrada pela cultura popular, seus efeitos farmacológicos necessitam ser melhor investigados. Diante disso, objetivou-se apresentar e discutir as evidências científicas sobre os potenciais efeitos farmacológicos e biológicos da Morinda citrifolia Linn descritos na literatura científica. Trata-se de uma revisão narrativa da literatura, realizada na plataforma BVS-BIREME e nas bases de dados: LILACS, SciELO, PubMed, MEDLINE, Google Scholar e Science Direct. Após a aplicação dos critérios de inclusão e exclusão, 73 artigos compuseram a amostra do estudo. Diversas pesquisas científicas têm sido realizadas e demonstram a eficácia da Morinda citrifolia Linn em várias situações, como atividade antioxidante, antimicrobiana, anticâncer, anti-inflamatória, anti-helmíntica, antidislipidêmica, hipotensora e hipoglicemiante. Ademais, demonstrou ser benéfica nos tratamentos de doenças degenerativas, autoimunes, psíquicas, gástricas e ósseas, podendo, inclusive, acelerar o processo de cicatrização de feridas. Todavia, grande parte destas propriedades foram evidenciadas por intermédio de ensaios in vitro e in vivo, e os efeitos adversos relatados em humanos ainda são escassos e controversos, sinalizando para a necessidade de investigações clínicas adicionais para a geração de resultados mais confiáveis à saúde das populações.
Difference of Rutin Content in the Leaf of Male and Female Carica papaya Linn. using Microwave Assisted Extractive (MAE) Method
Authors: Chew See Khai , Teoh Wen Hui , Hong Sok Lai , Yusoff Rozita
Published: December 2022

The extraction of rutin from the leaf of male and female Carica papaya Linn. was conducted using Microwave Assisted Extractive (MAE) method. Box Behnken Design (BBD) was selected to design the experiment in order to achieve the objective of this paper. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was chosen to monitor the relationship between extraction parameters and response. Parameters involved in this study were irradiation time, min (), ethanol concentration, % (), S/L ratio of papaya leaf/ethanol, wt./wt. (), and particle size, µm (). By using BBD and RSM, second order polynomial models were developed to calculate rutin yields based on conditions provided. High coefficient of determination (R2) and adj-R2 acquired indicating high accuracy of the models generated to calculate relative responses based on parameters inputted. Insignificant lack-of-fit at p > 0.05 further point to the high precision of the models. Extraction parameters were optimized with the goal of extracting highest yields of rutin under the most optimal conditions before comparing the result of male and female leaf. Higher concentration of rutin was observed to be extracted from 1 gram of female leaf compared to male leaf. As a conclusion, female leaf was determined to contain higher concentration of rutin for its reproductive effort.
Optimization of Deep Eutectic Solvent Pretreatment of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Incorporated Assistive Heating Methods
Authors: Cheong Yuen Theng , Chua Adeline Seak May , Ngoh Gek Cheng
Published: December 2022

One of the most underutilized biomasses wastes in Malaysia is oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB). Lignin presented in EFB was found to contain the highest energy content compared to hemicellulose and cellulose. Therefore, EFB can be the sources of lignin extraction to generate profit for the oil palm industry. Deep eutectic solvent (DES) has emerged as a new green solvent in biomass fractionation field as it has impressive delignification efficiency and low toxicity. Many researchers had delignified biomass using DES with conventional oil bath heating. The conventional method for delignification is energy-intensive and involving long pre-treatment time. Hence, this study aims to achieve effective extraction yield while reducing energy usage to extract lignin from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) using DES with aid of microwave heating (MAE) and ultrasonic irradiation (UAE). The feasible extraction scheme was used to investigate parameters include water content in DES, irradiation duration, and heating method power. The crucial parameters affecting MAE pre-treatment was found to be microwave power and duration. As for UAE pre-treatment, ultrasonic amplitude and water content in DES plays a significant role on delignifying EFB using DES. In addition, the models developed for both pre-treatments are identified to be significant and thus the optimized pre-treatment conditions can be obtained. This finding is anticipated to generate an effective DES pre-treatment with integration of assistive heating techniques. From regression analysis, the optimized condition for UAE pre-treatment is at 75% amplitude for 8 min 38s, resulting in an 13.20% of lignin removal from EFB. As for the MAE pre-treatment, 56.30% of delignification efficiency was achieved using optimized condition at 300 W for 2 min 42 sec.
An Automated Malaria Cells Detection from Thin Blood Smear Images using Yolov4
Authors: Sukumarran Dhevisha , Hasikin Khairunnisa , Khairuddin Anis Salwa Binti Mohd , Ngui Romano , Sulaiman Wan Yusoff Wan , Vythilingam Indra , Divis Paul C.S
Published: December 2022

Malaria is a severe global health problem, with an estimated 241 million malaria infections and 627,000 malaria deaths globally in 2020. Hundreds of millions of blood films are examined annually for malaria, which includes manually counting parasites and infected red blood cells by a trained microscopist. Segmented red blood cells play an important role in applying deep learning for malaria diagnosis. However, traditional segmentation and separation of single red blood cells is challenging and requires much human intervention. Therefore, instead of segmented red blood cells, the performance of deep learning models can be studied using bounded cell images. Various object detection architectures are studied in detecting red blood cells from thin blood smear images. However, there is a lack of study on the performance of Yolov4 to detect infected cells in thin blood smear images. This study aims to evaluate the performance of Yolov4 in detecting red blood cells infected by four types of malaria species and integrate a separate algorithm to automatically crop the infected cells. Different types of malaria images are used to study if the model can still detect cells infected by various malaria parasites and from multiple stages of infection despite their morphology differences. The MP-IDB malaria datasets were used in the experiments. The performance of the Yolov4 model was evaluated by partitioning the train and test dataset by 90/10 and 80/20. The partitioning was done on datasets with and without augmentations. The results show that upon training Yolov4 model can detect infected cells despite their morphological differences. Model 4 with 80/20 dataset partition and augmentation is chosen as the best model with the best mAP of 93.43%.
Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent (NADES) as Plasticizer for Bioplastic Film Fabrication. A Comparative Study
Authors: Tan Shiou Xuan , Andriyana Andri , Lim Steven , Ong Hwai Chyuan , Pang Yean Ling , Ngoh Gek Cheng
Published: December 2022

Incorporation of chitosan into the bioplastic film could improve its mechanical properties. However, aqueous acidic solution is required to dissolve the chitosan. The aim of the present work was to explore the potential use of acidic NADES as the plasticizer as well as a solvent for chitosan without the addition of aqueous acidic solution. The film-forming solution consisted of sago starch as the matrix and chitosan as the filler was prepared by solution casting and evaporation method in the presence of acidic NADES. Acidic NADES was obtained by mixing choline chloride (ChCl) and lactic acid (LA) as the hydrogen bond acceptor and hydrogen bond donor, respectively. The mechanical properties and water uptake ability of chitosan-reinforced starch-based bioplastic films plasticized with acidic NADES were compared with the bioplastic films plasticized with conventional plasticizer, glycerol in the absence and presence of acetic acid solution. The results revealed that acidic NADES was capable of plasticizing the starch and dissolve the chitosan. Bioplastic film plasticized with acidic NADES achieved higher tensile strength and lower water uptake than the bioplastic film plasticized with glycerol in the presence of acetic acid solution. The interaction between chitosan and acidic NADES was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). FTIR results exhibited that the amide II band of chitosan in the ChCl/LA film had shifted, and its intensity had decreased to almost undetectable.
Microbubble Aeration: The Effects on the Nursery Stage of Litopenaeus Vannamei Biofloc Culture System
Authors: Samsuri Noor Ezzah Rahimah Ahmad , Ganesan P. , Jauhari Iswadi , Tan G.Y.A
Published: December 2022

This study presents the effects of nano/micro bubble (MB) aeration on Litopenaeus vannamei (whiteleg shrimp) for 30 days of nursery stage. Similar studies were carried out using conventional aquarium air stones that produce larger air bubbles (LB) as a point of reference. The water quality parameters: dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, ammonia (TAN), nitrite, nitrate, and settleable solids (SS) were recorded throughout the culture days. The shrimp growth parameters in terms of body weight and length, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and survival rate for 30 days of culture were compared. The results showed that microbubble aeration significantly improved the DO of the water, accelerated TAN to nitrate conversion and yielded a higher amount of biofloc than the LB system. Despite the microbubble considerably raising the temperature and lowering the pH, the water quality parameters of MB aeration remained consistent and within the acceptable range. The growth of shrimps in the MB aeration system was significantly larger (increased by 34%) and had achieved a lower FCR value (reduced by 26%) in comparison to that of the LB aeration system. This study found that MB aeration promotes the production of biofloc and the growth of L. vannamei.
An Improved YOLO Model for Vehicle Recognition System in Aerial Imagery
Authors: Momin Md Abdul , Junos Mohamad Haniff , Khairuddin Anis Salwa Binti Mohd , Talip Mohamad Sofian Abu , Taguchi Akira
Published: December 2022

The modern development in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) providing aerial imagery attracts researchers to improve the object detection algorithms to be used in various applications. Lightweight object detection models are required for low computational resource devices. This study developed a lightweight object detection model by improving the architecture of YOLOv4 Tiny to detect vehicles from the VEDAI dataset. In the developed model, one additional scale feature map is added to the architecture. Besides that, the sizes of output images for the second and third prediction boxes are upscaled with the aim of detecting the small pixels of vehicles in the aerial imagery with better accuracy. The experimental results showed an improvement in the detection accuracy and precision when compared with several state-of-the-art methods to detect small objects such as vehicles in aerial imagery.
A Transactive Energy Microgrid Model using Blockchains
Authors: Nagah Mostafa , Shaaban Mohamed
Published: December 2022

The price of technology used in the production of renewable energy (RE) has come down significantly, and end users' roles have shifted from that of simple energy consumers to that of active participants in the creation of their energy. This new function is known as a prosumer, and it has led to the change in electricity markets by enabling prosumers to resell energy excess to electricity suppliers and other prosumers. As a result, there is a need for a peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading network that makes use of the Ethereum blockchain and a smart contract mechanism to operate as an interface between prosumers and consumers. This paper develops a microgrid model incorporating Blockchain technology to simulate peer-to-peer energy transactions. In the simulation setup, solar panels are employed as the primary source of electrical energy. In addition, energy storage batteries when the sun sets, complement the energy provided by the solar PV in the simulation developed. Furthermore, an automated bidding system to facilitate energy transactions is implemented. The bidding system consists of a full interface that shows houses supply, demand, batteries, and the bid on the energy. The simulation is carried out for 20 days, with 15 houses connected to the grid. Full transaction simulation resulted in peak prices that were more than 25 percent lower than real-life energy tariff coming from the electric utility company.
Automated Debris Detection System Based on Computer Vision
Authors: Zailan Nur Athirah , Junos Mohamad Haniff , Hasikin Khairunnisa , Khairuddin Anis Salwa Binti Mohd , Khairuddin Uswah
Published: December 2022

Marine litter has been one of the major challenges and a well-known issue across the globe for decades. 6.4 million tonnes of marine debris per year is estimated to enter water environments, with 8 million items entering each day. These statistics are so worrying, and mitigation steps need to be taken for the sake of a sustainable community. The major contributor to marine litter is no other than riverine litter. However, when there is not enough data about the amount of litter being transported, making quantitative data for monitoring impossible. Nowadays, most countries still use visual counting, which limits the feasibility of scaling to long-term monitoring at multiple locations. Therefore, an object detector using one of the deep learning algorithms, You Only Look Once version 4 (YOLOv4), is developed for floating debris of riverine monitoring system to mitigate the problem mentioned earlier. The proposed automated detection method has the capability to detect and categorize riverine litter, which can be improved in terms of detection speed and accuracy using YOLOv4. The detector is trained on five object classes such as styrofoam, plastic bags, plastic bottle, aluminium can and plastic container. Image augmentation technique is implemented into the previous datasets to increase training and validation datasets, which results in the increase of accuracy of the training. Some YOLOv4 and YOLOv4-tiny parameters have also been studied and manipulated to see their effects on the training.
Intelligent Energy Price Forecasting using Deep Learning
Authors: Kumar Parikshit , Anand Vighnesh , Rajasekaran Gowtham , Sankaranarayanan Suresh , Khairuddin Anis Salwa Binti Mohd
Published: December 2022

Energy Price forecasting is important towards meeting the demand of consumers and accordingly bring the consumers and utility play part in efficient usage of energy and generation resulting in reduced pricing. Previous works proposed machine learning technique on large data set with the predicted parameters such as price, energy, and demand for accurate predictions. However, forecasting on a country wide dataset with several regions remains challenging due to the complex dataset. In this study, two methods have been applied namely ARIMA and LSTM in an ensemble fashion on the AEMO Average Price dataset which consists of five regions over a period of more than two decades to predict the average RRP (Average spot price. The results obtained showed that the proposed LSTM method outperforms the ARIMA model.
Intelligent Demand Forecasting Using Deep Learning
Authors: Anandavel Lithicka , Sharma Ansh , S. Naveenkumar , Sankaranarayanan Suresh , Khairuddin Anis Salwa Binti Mohd
Published: December 2022

One type of energy demand is the electricity demand, which measures the electricity consumption Wh (watt-hour). Forecasting this electricity demand is very crucial and plays a fundamental role in the electrical industry, as it provides the basis for making decisions in the operation and planning procedures of power systems. Forecasting is important for development experts and are of great interest to energy authorities, power utilities, and private investors. Inaccurate projections can have disastrous social and economic implications, whether they over-or under-predict demand. Supply shortages and forced power outages occur from underestimating demand, wreaking havoc on productivity and economic growth. Overestimating demand can result in overinvestment in generation capacity, financial hardship, and, eventually, higher power costs. This paper has validated several methodologies such as ARIMA, XGBOOST, LSTM and Bi-LSTM towards forecasting the energy demand for different regions of Australia during different season. The models were validated towards energy demand forecasting in terms of error and accuracy resulting in LSTM with 2 layers outperforming the other models.
Automatic Object Detection in Oil Palm Plantation using a Hybrid Feature Extractor of YOLO-based Model
Authors: Junos Mohamad Haniff , Khairuddin Anis Salwa Binti Mohd , Kairi Muhammad Izhar , Siran Yosri Mohd
Published: December 2022

The current manual harvesting process is very laborious and time-consuming. Implementing a machine vision-based automated crop harvesting system may minimize operational costs and increase productivity. This paper aims to develop a one-stage object detection model with high accuracy, lightweight size, and low computing cost. A novel PalmYOLO model is proposed by modifying the architecture of the YOLOv3 tiny model to localize and detect oil palm tree, grabber and Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) in varied environmental conditions. The PalmYOLO model employed a lightweight-hybrid feature extractor composed of densely connected neural network and mobile inverted bottleneck module, multi-scale detection architecture, Mish activation function and complete intersection over union loss function. The proposed PalmYOLO model obtained an excellent mAP and F1 score of 97.20% and 0.91. Moreover, the proposed model generated a lower BFLOPS value of 26.732 and a lightweight model size of 46.7MB. The extensive results demonstrate the PalmYOLO model’s ability to accurately detect objects in palm oil plantations.
Budgeting approaches and employee motivation in the hospitality industry
Authors: Egbide Ben-Caleb , Agi-Ilochi Mercy , Madugba Joseph , Taiwo Asaolu , Ayomide Ibrahim
Published: December 2022

The thorough appraisal of financial tools such as budgeting guides business leaders in effectively planning and controlling business activities for optimum productivity and profitability. Hence, proper budgeting can be used to motivate employees. This study seeks to investigate the functional association between budgetary approaches and employee motivation in the Nigerian hospitality industry. The descriptive research design was employed, and data were garnered via a structured questionnaire (using a five-point Likert) administered to 85 hospitality industry employees spanning accommodation, catering, tourism, and recreation spheres. The paper employed a purposeful sampling technique. Motivation, which is the dependent variable, was determined using the path-goal model. Both descriptive statistics and ordinary least square regression were conducted to gauge the magnitude and direction of the relationship between the variables under consideration. The outcome signposts a significant positive correlation between budgeting style and employee motivation up to 48.9%. Specifically, the participatory budgeting style was shown to boost the motivation of employees to work with set budgets and to pursue company objectives. However, budget standard and success rates were observed to be slightly higher with imposed budgeting. The paper recommends that, while participatory budgeting is good for maintaining a well-motivated workforce, it should be practiced with adequate supervision to avoid having low-performing budgets.
Vaccine Management Knowledge and Practice of Health workers in Yemen
Authors: Sule Victor
Published: December 2022

Vaccine management comprises of estimation of vaccine needs, ordering, storage, distribution, monitoring vaccines use and limiting vaccine wastage. Yemen has been in conflict situation for over 7 years and remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with an estimated 23.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. This descriptive cross-sectional study to assess the vaccine management knowledge and practice in Yemen was carried out among health workers in 6 governorates. 536 health workers at different levels provided responses to the online questionnaire which were imported into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) platform for relevant descriptive and inferential analysis. Chi square test was used to determine statistical significance of observed difference in knowledge and vaccine management practice against relevant socio-demographic and work-related variables. The level of significance was set at p value <0.05. The study showed that 429(80%) had good knowledge while 63(11.8%) and 44(8.2%) had fair and poor knowledge of vaccine management respectively. More than two-thirds of respondents only receive vaccines 411(76.7%), 124(23.1%) receive and distribute vaccines. Vaccine distribution included use of refrigerated vehicles (15.2%), cold boxes (32.8%) and vaccine carrier (41.6%) both with conditioned ice packs. A total of 432(63.8%) have experienced vaccine stock-out and mostly for 1-2weeks (75.6%). Association between age and vaccine management knowledge was statistically significant with p-value of 0.006. The vaccine management knowledge and practice as shown from the findings of the study are commendable. However, there is need to address the artificial stock-out of vaccines to avoid missed opportunities. Keywords: Knowledge, Practice, Vaccine Management.
Community Health Posts Impact on Adult Male Access to HIV Services in Lusaka, Zambia
Authors: Claude Kazadi Mwayabo Jean
Published: December 2022

Achieving HIV epidemic control is an ultimate goal for Zambia. To achieve this goal there is need to close services access gaps. Adult men are less likely to utilize existing health facility-based HIV services and they account for a significant proportion of new HIV infections with risk to onward HIV transmission in the community. Almost two-thirds of males (65.1%) and 79.2% of females aged 15-59 years reported ever having been tested for HIV and having received their results. Over two-thirds (67.1%) of HIV-positive males 25-29 years of age reported being unaware of their HIV status. Twenty-five percent of the national pandemic is in Lusaka. This non-experimental, descriptive mixed-methods study shows increase in number of adult males accessing services at community health posts and the impact of community health posts on improving adult male access to HIV services, including improved retention to HIV services and viral load suppression. The attitude or customer care of health care workers and the location of the community health posts played a bigger role in improving adult male access to HIV services, by creating a better, trusted environment and by bringing the services closer to where these males work or live. The community health post improved also the inequality in accessing HIV services for adult males, as this is one of the key factors to achieving the end of HIV pandemic. Keywords: Community Health Post, Control, Epidemic, HIV, Impact, and Inequality, Male Adult.
Self-Prescribed Pharmacological Drugs Used for Covid-19 Prevention and Treatment in the Current Pandemic
Authors: Fagbola Olalekan
Published: December 2022

The practice of using pharmacological drugs not prescribed by qualified medical practitioners is a worrying trend especially in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It is a global issue that has attracted the attention of physicians and various stakeholders in the health care systems in developing and developed countries. Such practice is associated with overdosage, allergic reaction, infection resistant to antibiotic, wrong diagnosis, delay in seeking treatment at health facilities and drug addiction. This study assessed the prevalence of self-prescribed antibiotics, analgesics, vitamins, and minerals by a cross section of burgesses in the Prices Town Regional Corporation (PTRC) in South Trinidad to treat and prevent Covid-19 infection. A descriptive cross-sectional survey in online and paper and pencil questionnaire formats was conducted from February 2022 to April 2022 on 286 self-selected participants from a population of 1000 residents. Data entry and analysis conducted after merging them using Google Charts. Prevalence of Ivermectin was 9.44%, Zithromax 3.15, Steroids 3.5% Panadol 33.6%, Vitamins C 63.3%, Zinc 60.8%, D3 55.2 %, and B Complex 11.9%. Multivariate analysis performed on dependent and independent variables showed that the use of self-prescribed medication was significantly associated with age group 26-35 years (COR 0.15, p0.00129, 95% CI 0.04, 0.51 at significance level of p≤0.05) and marital status of being separated from spouses (COR 2.48, p0.0229, 95% CI 1.02, 6.06, significance level of p≤0.05). More females practiced self-medication compared to males. The researcher recommends health education to curb the practice. Keywords: Prevalence, Treatment, Self-prescribed antimicrobials, Analgesic, Vitamins, Covid-19, Pandemic, Infection.
Factors Influencing Male Involvement in the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV: The Missing Component in Test and Start in Kumba Health District
Authors: Ebua Athanasius Fang
Published: December 2022

Prevention of Mother to child Transmission (PMTCT) programs has been proven to be effective in reducing the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child. Men participation in PMTCT programs is likely to increase women’s uptake of PMTCT services. Unfortunately, men involvement in this intervention has been very minimal. Thus, identifying the factors that influences male involvement in the PMTCT programs is imperative. The study was a hospital and community base quantitative cross-sectional survey of 200 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic ANC/PMTCT clinic and 200 men in the Kumba Health District community using structured questionnaire. Ethical clearance was obtained from Faculty of health sciences University of Buea. Each health area in the district represented a stratum. Women were sampled at the clinics and men in the community. Written consent was obtained from all participants. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 26 at 95% confident interval and P<0.05 for statistical significance. Result. 52(13%) of male respondents had attended PMTCT services in the district with their partners which is far below the 80% standard set by the ministry of Public Health of Cameroon. Of the 200 male respondents 94(47%) had heard about PMTCT programs (p=0.001). Knowledge on HIV transmission through breast feeding (P=0.001) were highly significant, likewise level of education (P=0.003) and employment of participants (P=0.001). Despite the successful implementation of the Test and START in Kumba Health District, eliminating MTCT of HIV remains a major challenge. Keywords. ANC, ARV, HIV, Male Involvement, MTCT, PMTCT.
Human rights as the base of civil society institutions
Authors: Ю. С. Размєтаєва
Published: December 2022

Article focuses on the implementation and protection of human rights through the institutions of civil society. Forms of manifestation of the human rights of the institutions of civil society have been defined. It is found that the relevant institutions are the basis of human rights in this society, including through legal activity of individuals.
Systemic issues-structural organization of the autonomous Republic of Crimea
Authors: О. Ю. Лялюк
Published: December 2022

The analysis of the nature of power in the Crimea, its main structural components are considered elements of the structure of government autonomy, interaction between them, as well as other sub-systems of power that operate in the ARC – the state and municipal. The main directions for improving systemic and structural organization of public power in ARC.
Control as a form of regulation of financial services in Ukraine
Authors: Г. М. Шовкопляс
Published: December 2022

The paper analyzes the main features of the control as a form of state regulation of the financial services market. The system of government that exercise this control and found in all forms and by what means he is made.
Violation of judicial oath as the constitutional as the responsibility of judges
Authors: О. М. Овчаренко
Published: December 2022

The author analyzes breaches of judicial oath as a reason for legal liability of a judge. Based on the provisions of national legislation, judicial practice, and international legal standards significant signs of the violation of judicial oath are presented.
Publicly services in the sphere of physical culture and sports: types and content characteristics
Authors: Л. В. Романенко
Published: December 2022

The problems legal regulation of public (state) services in the sphere of physical culture and sport, types and their principal characteristics.
Subject of interrogation minor suspect at investigation of thefts, persons accomplished by a group
Authors: І. О. Манжос
Published: December 2022

The features of the subject of interrogation minor suspect at investigation of thefts, persons accomplished by a group are considered. Determined and summarized the circle of circumstances, that is included in the subject of interrogation minor and the blocks of questions, that is subject to finding out, are distinguished.
The problems of definition in laws and regulations
Authors: В. Г. Клочков
Published: December 2022

In this article an author studies the problems of definition in laws and regulations.
Problems of legislative security ownership on natural resources and systems
Authors: А. К. Соколова
Published: December 2022

The author conducted a comprehensive study of the legal categories and the problems associated with the provision of legal ownership on natural resources and systems in paper, manes conclusion that it is necessary to improve the environmental legislation in the field of exercise of the right of ownership of natural resources and systems.
The problem of determination of the limitation period for bringing judges under responsibility for violation of the judicial oath
Authors: О. М. Овчаренко
Published: December 2022

The author analyzes legislation that determines the limitation period for bringing judges to disciplinary and constitutional liability. It is proved that the Law of Ukraine "On the High Council of Justice" must contain limitation period for discharging judges for violation of the judicial oath. The absence of such a rule contradicts the fundamental principles of proportionality and legal certainty, and has as a negative impact on the provision of procedural independence of the judiciary.
Sources of formation of marital property
Authors: О. О. Довбиш
Published: December 2022

The article is dedicated to types of sources of formation of marital property, in particular to the order and the grounds of acquisition of property during cohabitation, conducting entrepreneurial activity, contribution of property to the charter capital of business entities and private enterprises, a substantial increase of the property or its improvement over time of the marriage at the expense of the common funds of the conjoints.