bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Molecular Approaches in Soil Microbial Analysis: Forensic Perspective
Authors: Sangwan Preeti , Nain Tarsem , Yadav Priyanka , Sharma Neelkamal
Published: July 2023

The growing field of soil microbial forensics provides the legal answer to how microorganisms play a crucial role in criminal investigations. It is an advanced crossdisciplinary science capable of offering significant physical evidence with considerable interest in criminal investigations, environmental crime, and counterterrorism. Microbial forensics of soil consists of different techniques to identify and evaluate microbial abundance, their complexity, and their interaction with soil and surrounding objects. The present review highlights various microbial analysis techniques such as Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism, Temperature/Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis, Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis, Length Heterogeneity PCR, Phospholipid-derived fatty acids, Fluorescence in situ hybridization, Stable-isotope probing and metagenomics using nextgeneration sequencing. This article also summarises the challenges faced in soil microbial forensics, various statistical approaches, reference databases commonly used in forensic soil studies, and different methodological approaches used in forensic laboratories. Literature was studied using various online bibliographic databases like Google Scholar, Web of Science, Pub Med, Scopus, and several other search engines. Conclusive evidence generated by this paper signifies the importance of soil microbes to assist forensic scientists and researchers in selecting adequate methods to differentiate soil samples. The present comparative study concluded that targeted molecular analysis of microbes as a forensic soil typing tool has a lot of potential and should be investigated further.
Mushroom based Cosmeceuticals: An Upcoming Biotechnology Sector
Authors: Mago Payal , Sharma Richa , Hafeez Ibtesaam , Nawaz Imtshan , Joshi Mansi , Mehrotra Rekha
Published: July 2023

ABSTRACT: Mushrooms have been an established source of nutrition for hundreds of years. They are recently being exploited for their potential applications in other sectors as well. One of their emerging applications has been in the cosmetic industry where their bioactive properties are being used either as cosmeceutical for topical administration or as nutricosmetics for oral administration. Certain genera of mushrooms which are being used in cosmetic industries are Lentinula, Ganoderma, Pleurotus, Cordyceps, Inonotus, Tremella, Grifola, Schizophyllum, Pleurotus, Coriolus, Ganoderma, Euphorbia, Pistacia, Trametes, Agaricus, Phellinus, Antrodia. The mushroom extracts and their bioactive metabolites show excellent anti-oxidant, anti-wrinkle, anti-aging, moisturizing and skin whitening effects making them ideal and multi-functional cosmetic components. The mounting benefits of various mushroom extracts in skin and hair care products have also fast-tracked the commercial production of mushrooms which is worth mass attention. The present review discusses about the role, diversity, properties and commercial status of mushrooms that are being exploited by the cosmetic industry.
Serum Protein Profiles of Rheumatoid Arthritis Samples –A Case Study
Authors: Desai Rupal H , Dangar Priyanka , Chunduri Jayaprada Rao
Published: July 2023

Rheumatoid arthritis is the 3rd autoimmune disease with a degenerative, chronic inflammatory characteristics. Diagnosis criteria suggested by American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism based on serological blood tests and acute phase reactant measurements analyses are the key steps in the diagnosis of disease. Genetic, environmental, or hormonal factors may have contributed to the development of this illness. Characterization of Rheumatoid arthritis-related proteins can be beneficial for early diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic aspects. During the current study the serum samples of rheumatoid arthritis subjects were analyzed using serum electrophoresis and Orbitrap Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry along with biochemical confirmatory tests. The patterns of total protein and gamma globulin ratios, interrelationships of the different test criteria for diagnosis indicated unique pattern. The orbitrap Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry analyses indicated the presence of 20 unique proteins exclusively in the subjects with Rheumatoid arthritis. Testicular protein Li 227, uncharacterized protein Q6DHW4 and protein S 100-A7 can aid in the early confirmation of the disease. Further analyses of these specific proteins may help in the prognosis, diagnosis, and therapeutic aspect of the disease.
Fabrication of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles with Improved Antibacterial Potential and Antioxidant Activity
Authors: Kandhasamy Karthikeyan , Premkumar Kumpati
Published: July 2023

Recent years have seen a dramatic uptick in both research into and practical application of nanoparticles (NPs). Many biomedical applications have found success with the use of nanoparticles due to their wide spectrum of significant biological effects, including antibacterial and antioxidant properties. Nanoparticles that aren't harmful are gaining traction as a promising new class of antioxidants. Cerium oxide is a lanthanide rare-earth element. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) exhibit a large surface area and good catalytic activity, the result of the dual oxidation state of CNPs, Ce3+ and Ce4+, has good antibacterial and antioxidant activity. CNPs were characterised by using analytical techniques such as the UVVisible spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, zeta potential, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering (DLS). CNPs exhibited a strong zone of inhibition against S. aureus (15mm) and E. coli (14mm). In vitro antioxidant activity of CNPs was investigated using the DPPH and ABTS techniques, with 50% of their radical scavenging potential being observed at concentrations of 47.61µg/mL and 49.26µg/mL respectively. Thus, our study reports that CNPS could be used as a prominent and efficient antioxidant and antibacterial agent. However, further studies are needed to understand the possible mechanisms of toxicity assessment.
Biochanin-A Protects Rats from Diabetes-associated Cardiorenal Damage by Attenuating Oxidative Stress through Activation of Nrf-2/HO-1 Pathway
Authors: Sethumathi P. P. , Uddandrao V. V. Sathibabu , Chandrasekaran P. , Sengottuvelu S. , Tamilmani P. , Ponmurugan P. , Vadivukkarasi S. , Santhanakumar M. , Begum M. Shabana , Saravanan G.
Published: July 2023

The current study is designed to evaluate the cardiorenal protective efficacy of the Biochanin-A (BCA) against high-fat-diet (HFD) and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes in rats. BCA (10mg/kg body weight) was administered to the diabetic rats for a period of 30 days and evaluated its effect on hyperglycemic markers, formation of lipid peroxidation, nitric oxide production and antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione mediated enzymes. Further, we assessed the impact of BCA on nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2 (Nrf-2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) along with antioxidant enzymes mRNA expressions by RT-PCR. BCA administration to diabetic rats resulted in attenuation of hyperglycemia and oxidative stress in both the kidney and heart. Further, BCA enhanced the endogenous antioxidant activities in the kidney and heart and up-regulated their corresponding mRNA expressions. In addition, BCA treatment produced notable up-regulation of Nrf-2 and HO-1 mRNA expressions in the cardiac and renal tissue of diabetic rats. In conclusion, the current study revealed that BCA could protect from diabetes-induced complications such as cardiomyopathy and nephropathy by activating the Nrf-2/HO-1 pathway and enhancing the endogenous antioxidant state in the kidney and heart.
Eradication of Enterobaracter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogene, Staphylococcus aurous, and Acetobacter by High Voltage Pulsed Electric Field in Water and Milk Samples
Authors: Ansari Md Fahim , Afzal Fahad , Mehra Satya
Published: July 2023

ABSTRACT: Ensuring food and water safety has always been a health challenge globally. The present papers underscores HV-PEF (High Voltage Pulsed Electric Field), a novel approach to eliminate five kinds of microbes prevalent in milk and water in fractions of a second. These microorganisms are Enterobaracter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogene, Staphylococcus aurous, and Acetobacter. Objective was to find out the impact of HV-PEF on survival of selected species of bacteria, which are often considered as a concern for water and milk safety. A laboratory experimental setup was designed for producing HV-PEF, which was applied on sample of water and milk. The water sample was obtained from tap, and the milk sample was obtained from Bubalus bubalis. The microbial count was measured by plate method for both samples pre and post exposure to the HV-PEF. The effect was measured with combinations of varying field intensity and number of pulses, the intensity of the field having the highest value of 180 kV/cm (kilovolt-per-centimeter), and the pulse count varied between one to one hundred. Results showed, the endurance of few species was extremely low, at 40 kV filed intensity and 40 pulses. Other microbes also demonstrated low survival ratio (SR) at more than 40kV with pulses-count above 40. Complete inactivation of E. coli was achieved at around 80kV. The inactivation of microbe by HV-PEF varies with morphology and shape of the microorganisms. The annihilation of microorganisms is due to the rupturing of cell wall of microbe by the effect of HV-PEF, instead of ohmic heating (resistance induced).
Synthesis, Characterization and Antimicrobial Activity of Thiazolo-oxazine Fused Heterocyclic Derivatives, Based on Benzene Sulfonyl Hydrazide
Authors: Donthukurthi Saisuryanarayana , Patel Devdatt J , Patel Rakesh I. , Vyas Piyush J.
Published: July 2023

Schiff bases of Benzene sulfonyl hydrazide (SBSZ) (1a-e) were prepared by using various benzaldehyde derivatives. (1a-e) SBSZ were then condensed with mercapto acetic acid. The obtained resultant 2-thiazolidinone derivatives (2a-e) were then condensed with 5-nitro-2furfuralidine derivatives i.e. (Z)-N-(5-((5-nitrofuran-2-yl) methylene)-4-oxo-2-substitutedthiazolidin-3-yl) benzenesulfonamide (3a-e). These derivatives were further condensed with phenyl urea to yield fused heterocyclic derivatives i.e. N-(2-substituted-7-(5-nitrofuran-2-yl)-5-(phenylamino)-2H-thiazolo[5,4-e] [1,3]oxazin-3(3aH)-yl) benzene sulfonamide (4a-e). All the derivatives were characterised by C, H, N elemental analyser and IR-NMR-Mass Spectra. The antimicrobial properties of all the derivatives were studied for selected common microbes. The results of antibacterial activity of all three series (i.e. 2a-e, 3a-e, and 4a-e) of compounds indicate that all compounds are toxic for bacteria. However, the chlorine containing compounds are more toxic than others.
Synthesis, Characterization and Bioassay of Nano Cartap Hydrochloride-An Ecofriendly Insecticide
Authors: Padmavathi B. , Venugopal N.V.S.
Published: July 2023

The common insecticide used in Cabbage and Basmati rice fields is Cartaphydrochloride(CHC). It is a low toxicity insecticide belongs to Neurotoxin. Present study aimed to synthesize a new Nano-insecticide by using polypropylene glycol(PPG) as an encapsulated agent. Nano-CHC is useful for plant disease control. Polypropylene glycol encapsulated CHC size distribution was obtained by PadeLaplace dispersion in the size range in between 60-67nm.The functional group analysis of encapsulated CHC was carried by FT-IR spectroscopy. The structural topology of encapsulated CHC was obtained by scanning electron microscope. The morphological internal structural elucidation of encapsulated CHC can be obtained by transmission electron microscope analysis. The bioactivity study was conducted and shows good efficacy results against aspergillus flavus, sclerotium rolfsii and Rhizoctonia solani.
Quality by Design Based Development and Quantification of Telmisartan and Rosuvastatin Calcium Using RP-HPLC
Authors: G. Garg Aayush , Singh Yash Raj , B. Shah Darshil , Maheshwari Dilip G. , S. Shah Jignesh
Published: July 2023

RP-HPLC technique to estimate the Telmisartan and Rosuvastatin Calcium, employing an experimental design method using response surface methodology, was developed and validated. Experimental design was used to evaluate a multivariate optimisation of experimental conditions using flow rate, buffer pH, and % of acetonitrile in the mobile phase as three independent variables. The peak symmetry and retention time of the last eluting peak were optimized employing Derringer’s desirability function in which 1 ml/min flow rate, KH2PO4 buffer with pH 3.5 (altered with 1% orthophosphoric acid), and 65% v/v of acetonitrile in the mobile phase in an isocratic proportion of acetonitrile: buffer (65:35, v/v) on a C18 column. Using response surface methodology, a RP-HPLC method was developed based on DoE that resulted in a better separation of peaks with a lower retention time of less than 9 min for eluted peaks. Response of linear was reported over the range of concentration of 20-100 μg/mL for Telmisartan and 5-25 μg/ mL for Rosuvastatin Calcium.
Simulation of High-voltage Pulse Generator for Environment-friendly, Non-thermal Pasteurization Applications
Authors: B. Vaishali  , S. Chandrasekar  , K. Karpagavani
Published: July 2023

Nowadays, the demand for high-voltage pulse generators has begun to proliferate in many industries. Particularly in the food processing industries, the conventional method of pasteurization involves the use of heat treatment processes, which are not environment-friendly; hence, researchers are working towards environment-friendly, non-thermal food processing techniques by which the microorganisms present in the liquid food can be eliminated. High-voltage pulsed electric field technology is one of the popular non-thermal food processing techniques. Recent advancements in power electronic switching technology have facilitated the development of solid-state pulse generators for these applications. In this paper, the simulation of a high-voltage pulse generator for eco-friendly pasteurization applications has been attempted using a cascaded boost converter topology. The entire simulation is carried out using MATLAB/Simulink software. The designed two-stage cascaded boost converter is tested for varying duty cycles and loads. The results with resistive and inductive loads have been analyzed.
Impact of Rainfall on the Nesting Activity of Solenopsis invcta in South China
Authors: Lu Yong yue
Published: July 2023

Through field observations we found that workers of Solenopsis invcta would make prompt repair to the nest after the rainfall as the exits were often blocked with soils in the rain. Therefore, after each rain, the mounds were significantly higher but no significant change was found in diameter. The growth of the mound volume has a very close relationship with the rainfall and its duration. The longer the rain lasted, the greater the rainfall was, the greater the nest volume grew. The results showed that the volume of mounds was not changing constantly during the year, and it was quite different in different seasons. In November each year, the fire ants grew less active as the temperature decreased, and in the following December to February, the number of fire ant nests remained at a very low level. When April began, many new nests appeared as the temperatures rose and the rainfall increased. From May to July, it rained, and some extinct and new mounds appeared at the same time. The total number of active mounds increased significantly. Between August and October, when the temperature was relatively stable with not much rain, the mound number was maintained at a stable level.
Foraging Populations of Tube Building Termites, Gnathamitermes perplexus (Banks), Associated With Termiticide Experiments in Southern Arizona (Isoptera: Termitidae)
Authors: Baker Paul
Published: July 2023

In the southwestern desert region of Arizona, a common non-structure invading species is the tube building termite Gnathamitermes perplexus. It is a valuable species from an ecological point of view due to its role in the decomposition of dead wood in desert environments and its capacity to enrich and aerate vast quantities of soil. Since it has no economic importance, very little is known of the effects of termite control measures on it. However, G. perplexus is likely exposed to termiticides used to manage more damaging termite species with which it co-occurs. Since most common termiticides have relatively generalized modes of action, we hypothesized that G. perplexus populations would decrease significantly as a result of termiticide application. The results reported here are part of a larger study in which we were primarily interested in evaluating foraging termite populations of Heterotermes aureus, associated with circular grids that were treated with termiticides. Termites were collected monthly from 9 plots located at the Santa Rita Experimental Range (Pima Co., AZ) over a 3-year period. Plots were equally and randomly assigned to three treatments: a control and two insecticide treatments of either fipronil (Termidor®, BASF) or chlorfenapyr (Phantom®, BASF). Within the chlorfenapyr (Phantom®) treatment, we saw a significant increase in termite foraging populations after termiticide application. This effect showed a spatial pattern in which more termites were found near the center of plots. However, the number of G. perplexus collected in the fipronil (Termidor®) plots was reduced with respect to controls. This reduction in the number of termites also showed a spatial distribution with the decrease in termite numbers being stronger near the center of plots within the treated zone.
Ecology of Vespidae (Hymenoptera)Predators in Coffea arabica Plantations
Authors: Fernandes Flavio Lemes
Published: July 2023

Social Vespidae exhibit control of Leucoptera coffeella (Lepidoptera: Lyonetiidae) in Brazil. The objective was to determine the ideal unit for sampling of predaceous Vespidae in coffee crops in the vegetative and reproductive phases. This research was conducted in two coffee plantations in Viçosa, MG. The factors being studied were: crop phase, canopy thirds, branch type, exhibition side of the plant to solar light and the position of the leaf on the branch. The number of predation mines by Vespidae on all the leaves of each evaluated plant was recorded. In coffee plants in the vegetative phase the best sampling unit of the Vespidae was the 5th or 6th pair of leaves on the primary plagiotropic branches of the median third of the canopy. In coffee plants already in the reproductive phase the best unit for sampling Vespidae were leaves on the third apical of the 4th or 6th pair of leaves on primary plagiotropic branches on the plant face exposed to the sun in the afternoon period or on the median third on the 5th pair of leaves of the plant face exposed to the sun in the afternoon period.
Vombisidris tibeta, a New Myrmicine Ant Species from Tibet, China with a Key to the Known Species of Vombisidris Bolton of the World (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Authors: Xu Zheng-Hui
Published: July 2023

Seventeen species of the myrmicine ant genus Vombisidris Bolton are recognized in the world. A new species collected from the south slope of Himalaya Mountain, V. tibeta sp. nov., is described. A key to the 17 known species of the genus is provided based on the worker caste. Illustrations are provided for each species.
Adaptive Nesting Tactics in a Paper Wasp, Polistes riparius, Inhabiting Cold Climatic Regions
Authors: Kudô Kazuyuki
Published: July 2023

Thermal effects on the nest sizes constructed by Polistes riparius foundresses, their nesting activities, and colony compositions were determined in laboratory conditions during the pre-emergence period. In this study, foundresses were placed in cold (20°C) and warm conditions (27°C), and ample food and nest materials were supplied. Nest sizes were larger in the cold condition; particularly, the elongation of cells was remarkable. The number of cells between the 2 conditions was not significantly different. Inter-condition colony composition was similar, while more honey drops were observed in the cold condition nests. A positive relation was observed when the relationships between body weight and developmental days were investigated, i.e., small offspring required shorter developmental days in both thermal conditions. In the cold condition, the first offspring were very small, whereas offspring size increased steeply after the second order, and was comparable to that of the foundresses; the size increase in the warm group was slight. This result indicates that the cold condition foundresses manipulated the sizes of their offspring. When inter-condition foundresses activities were compared , cold condition foundresses spent more time and energy on flight activities. Theseresults support the view that foundresses change nesting activities in relation to environmental temperatures, i.e., they can improve the thermal condition of nests by adding extra cells and manipulate the sizes of adult offspring.
Litter as an Important Resource Determining the Diversity of Epigeic Ants in the South-Central Part of Bahia State, Brazil
Authors: Carvalho Karine Santana , Nascimento Ivan Cardoso do , Delabie Jacques Hubert , Zina Juliana , Souza Ana Lucia Biggi , Koch Elmo Borges de Azevedo , Carneiro Marcos Augusto Ferraz , Santos Anselmo Souza
Published: July 2023

This study evaluates the richness and composition of the epigeic ant fauna in two Caatinga areas (site 1: Brejo Novo and 2: Frizuba) within a transitional region (between the Caatinga and the Decidual Atlantic Forest) in the Municipality of Jequié, state of Bahia, Brazil. Ants were sampled using pitfall traps and Winkler extractor method in 50 randomly chosen points, totalizing a sampling area of 12.5 ha per site. Overall, we identified 60 species belongingto 27 genera. The most speciose genera were Pheidole, Camponotus, and Solenopsis (with five species each) followed by Wasmannia and Cephalotes (four species each). Pheidole sp1. was the most frequent species (occurring in approximately 60% of the samples). Since site 1 did not possess a litter layer (and therefore could not be sampled by the Winkler extractor) comparisons between the two areas were made using only the data provided by the pitfalltrap method. The Simpson diversity indexes calculated for sites 1 and 2 were 0.87 and 0.89, respectively, and showed no statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.417). The Jaccard coefficient revealed only 35.5% similarity in species composition between the two areas. The results suggest that the presence of litter contributed to increased species richness (the Winkler method added 28 species in the sum total of species collected) and “shaped” a distinct faunal composition of the area. The present study is the first ant fauna inventory in the region and reveals an unexplored conservation potential for the Decidual Forest and the Caatinga of northeastern Brazil.
Ultra-high sensitivity microwave-photonic sapphire fiber Fabry-Perot interferometry based on the Vernier effect
Authors: Li Rui , Liu Xianming , Chen Yuru , Lv Shaojie , Lei Xiaohua , Zhang Peng , Zhang Jian
Published: July 2023

The wavelength of microwave is longer than that of lightwave, causing the interferometric optical path difference induced by the measurand changes to be relatively smaller than that of microwave, which results in the lower sensitivity of sapphire fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) sensor in microwave band. To improve sensitivity, a parallel FPI sensing system is constructed, in which a section of sapphire fiber connected to a single-mode transmission fiber is used as a sensing FPI, and a single-mode fiber (SMF) with a slightly different optical path from a sensing FPI is utilized as a reference FPI. By connecting two FPIs in parallel, Vernier effect is formed to improve sensitivity. The influence of relationship between the optical path difference of the reference FPI and the sensing FPI on the sensitivity amplification factor is analyzed based on the microwave interference spectrum of the parallel FPI. A section of sapphire fiber with the length of 8 cm is used as temperature sensor to construct high-temperature sensing system. The results demonstrate that the temperature sensitivity reaches about 2338.68kHz/°C, which is approximately 130 times higher than that of the sensing FPI alone. Furthermore, when the difference of optical path between the sensing FPI and the reference FPI is kept constant while the sensing FPI is unchanged, the amplification factor of the temperature sensitivity is approximately 2.64 times higher with longer length of the reference FPI compared to the situation with shorter length of the reference FPI.
Wide dynamic range signal detection for underwater optical wireless communication using a PMT detector
Authors: Liu Weijie , Zhang Ling , Huang Nuo , Xu Zhengyuan
Published: July 2023

In the underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC) scenario, a photomultiplier tube (PMT) with higher sensitivity, lower noise, and a larger receiver area is employed as the photon detector to further extend the transmission distance. Due to the complex underwater environment, the high directionality of the light beam, and the vibration of a transceiver, the incident optical power usually spans a very wide dynamic range, and the PMT may operate in any one of the three regimes: pulse, transition, and waveform. While it is difficult to obtain the analytical characterization of the output electric signals across these regimes, this paper resorts to experimental measurements of the upsampled discrete samples within a training symbol duration. Among different statistical distribution fitting options, generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution is found to show excellent performance in fitting the probability density function (PDF) of either multiple samples or the superimposition of all samples within a symbol duration. Then joint sample distribution (JSD) based and superimposed sample distribution (SSD) based symbol detection methods are proposed by adopting the GEV distribution and log-likelihood ratio (LLR) testing criterion. The proposed methods are experimentally evaluated under different received signal optical powers, data rates, and sampling rates. They are shown to outperform the Poisson and Gaussian based maximum likelihood detection methods which are employed for the pulse regime and waveform regime respectively. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the proposed methods in alleviating strong ambient radiation is experimentally verified.
Iskolába lépő és iskolás korú gyermekek szókincsének mérése – szakirodalmi áttekintés
Authors: Magyar Andrea
Published: July 2023

Számos kutatási eredmény bizonyítja, hogy a családi háttér jelentősen befolyásolja az iskolába érkező gyermekek szókincsét. A kisebb, gyengébb szókinccsel rendelkező tanulók nehezebben tanulnak meg olvasni, ami a későbbi tanulmányaik során lemaradást okozhat (Cs. Czachesz, 2014; Horváth, 2016; Juhász & Radics, 2018; Neuberger, 2014; Perfetti & Stafura, 2014). Fontos ezért a szegényesebb szókinccsel rendelkező diákok diagnosztizálása, a lemaradás okainak feltárása, és célzott fejlesztésük. Kutatásunk célja, hogy feltérképezzük, hogy milyen szókincsmérő tesztek állnak rendelkezésre hazánkban az iskolába kerülő és iskolás gyerekek részére, és ezek milyen módszereket használnak elsősorban. Kutatásunkat a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) irányelvének alkalmazásával végeztük. A szisztematikus irodalomfeldolgozás eredményeként összesen 14, hazánkban alkalmazott szókincstesztet azonosítottunk. A tesztek leggyakrabban a főnevek, igék, melléknevek ismeretét vizsgálják. A feltárt mintában mind az expresszív, mind a receptív szókincs mérésére hét tesztet azonosítottunk, és nyolc-nyolc a vizuális, illetve a verbális módszereket használó mérőanyag. Sajnos a tesztek többsége csak gyógypedagógai diagnosztika céljából, illetve csak pszichológus általi felhasználásra engedélyezett, azonban fontos lenne, hogy a pedagógusok is ismerjék ezeket, valamint részükre is rendelkezésre álljanak olyan, osztálytermi környezetben diagnosztikai céllal használható mérőanyagok, amelyek megbízhatóan segíthetik a szegényesebb szókinccsel rendelkező gyermekek beazonosítását, ezzel segítve célzott fejlesztésüket.
Enhanced QOS energy-efficient routing algorithm using deep belief neural network in hybrid falcon-improved ACO nature-inspired optimization in wireless sensor networks
Authors: Krishna K. Phani Rama , Thirumuru Ramakrishna
Published: July 2023

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have recently acquired prominence in a variety of applications such as remote monitoring and tracking. Since it is virtually hard to recharge the nodes in their remote deployment, also, the transmission of data from nodes to the base station requires a significant amount of energy. Thus, our research proposes a routing protocol, namely hybrid falcon-improved ACO Nature-Inspired Optimization using a deep learning model to reduce energy consumption while increases the network lifetime. In the developed model, initially, the falcon optimization technique is utilized to locate the best possible cluster heads in the quickest possible time. Furthermore, to improve the quality of service in routing optimization a new improved ACO has been proposed in which linear flexible operator and the premier operator are used to increasing the iteration speed. Finally, the optimum route is obtained through DBNN based on predicted energy. As a result, our proposed model gives a lifetime as 121 s and energy consumption as 0.041 J at 500 rounds when compared to the baseline approaches. Therefore, our proposed approaches provides better routing and improves the QoS as well as the energy consumption which increases the longevity of mobile nodes.
On anthroponymy in the Streets of Santa Fe, NM
Authors: Contreras Miguel Reyes
Published: July 2023

The connection between a street and the anthroponym which identifies it goes beyond a simple way of locating in the geographical space. It constitutes a representation of the national, local, international and cultural history and, at the same time, it is a sort of government control since they not only serve administratively, but also legitimize the current official history. The aim of this paper is to analyze a corpus of 1260 street names of Santa Fe, New Mexico containing person names so the connection between these names with the national, state and local history can be established.  The outcomes of this paper are that the city of Santa Fe considers equally important the national and the local affairs and people. This allows a greater creativity in the naming process. Hence, this analysis also permits the possibility to observe the linguistic and cultural richness in the city.
Teacher-team reflections on the quality and modes of thinking in Writing Intensive courses at the University of the Witwatersrand during the first year of the global COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Nichols Pamela , Joffe Avril , Pillay Roshini , Tladi Bontle
Published: July 2023

Writing Intensive (WI) courses depend on student engagement and continuous responses to student work. The sudden move to online learning in the face of COVID-19 presented profound challenges to this model. This is unsurprising since it is widely accepted that globally the quality of learning, particularly the acquisition of deep literacy, declined significantly throughout the pandemic (OECD, 2021; Garfinkle, 2020). This paper draws on the reflections of three course teams in different disciplines and follows the method pioneered by John Bean and Barbara Walvoord in the evaluation of writing programmes (Bean, et al., 2005). It mines iterative and comparative teacher team reflections but does not seek to provide quantitative data on ‘proof of impact’. From the evidence of these three courses, it is suggested that student learning and problem solving can be enhanced through the explicit teaching of the types of reasoning required, in these cases analogic, empathetic, and inferential. The argument is located within wider international arguments on the crisis of deep literacy and the work of The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on developing literacy skills in a digital world (OECD, 2021).
Producción y descomposición de hojarasca en un robledal: análisis de determinantes ambientales y la vegetación
Authors: Machuca Duarte Francy Liliana , Acevedo Bermúdez Álvaro Sebastián , Suescún Carvajal Diego , León Peláez Juan Diego , Bolívar-Santamaría Sergio
Published: July 2023

Este artículo evaluó, para un bosque altoandino, la relación entre la producción y descomposición de hojarasca y varias variables, incluyendo la lluvia, el suelo y las estructuras y características florísticas. Se instalaron trampas de hojarasca, trampas de descomposición y pluviómetros, y se registraron varias variables. La producción fina total de hojarasca fue de 4780 kg.ha-1.año-1, con las hojas como la fracción más representativa (60.4 %), mientras que la descomposición estuvo entre 25 y 30 %. Se encontraron correlaciones significativas entre la producción fina y la precipitación incidente (0.60), entre altura (-0.98) y biomasa aérea (0.97) y entre la descomposición y la humedad (0.75). Los resultados sugieren que los cambios en la estructura del bosque o en las condiciones meteorológicas podrían afectar la regulación de las funciones ecosistémicas y biogeoquímicas, destacando la importancia de conservar los bosques altoandinos amenazados por la deforestación y el cambio climático.
Comparison of Sigma metrics computed by three bias estimation approaches for 33 chemistry and 26 immunoassay analytes
Authors: Ercan Şerif
Published: July 2023

Objectives

Sigma metric can be calculated using a simple equation. However, there are multiple sources for the elements in the equation that may produce different Sigma values. This study aimed to investigate the importance of different bias estimation approaches for Sigma metric calculation.

Methods

Sigma metrics were computed for 33 chemistry and 26 immunoassay analytes on the Roche Cobas 6000 analyzer. Bias was estimated by three approaches: (1) averaging the monthly bias values obtained from the external quality assurance (EQA) studies; (2) calculating the bias values from the regression equation derived from the EQA data; and (3) averaging the monthly bias values from the internal quality control (IQC) events. Sigma metrics were separately calculated for the two levels of the IQC samples using three bias estimation approaches. The resulting Sigma values were classified into five categories considering Westgard Sigma Rules as ≥6, <6 and ≥5, <5 and ≥4, <4 and ≥3, and <3.

Results

When classifying Sigma metrics estimated by three bias estimation approaches for each assay, 16 chemistry assays at the IQC level 1 and 2 were observed to fall into different Sigma categories under at least one bias estimation approach. Similarly, for 12 immunoassays at the IQC level 1 and 2, Sigma category was different depending on bias estimation approach.

Conclusions

Sigma metrics may differ depending on bias estimation approaches. This should be considered when using Six Sigma for assessing analytical performance or scheduling the IQC events.
Atherosclerosis plaque tissue classification using self-attention-based conditional variational auto-encoder generative adversarial network using OCT plaque image
Authors: Jagadeesan Kowsalyadevi , Palanisamy Geetha
Published: July 2023

Adults with coronary artery disease often have atherosclerosis, this is defined as the accumulation of plaque in the tissues of the arterial wall. Cardiologists utilize optical coherence tomography (OCT), a light-based imaging method, to examine the layers of intracoronary tissue along pathological formations, such as plaque accumulation. Intracoronary cross-sectional images produced by state-of-the-art catheter-based imaging scheme have 10–15 µm high resolution. Nevertheless, interpretation of the obtained images depends on the operator, which takes a lot of time and is exceedingly error-prone from one observer to another. OCT image post-processing that automatically and accurately tags coronary plaques can help the technique become more widely used and lower the diagnostic error rate. To overcome these problems, Atherosclerosis plaque tissue classification using Self-Attention-Based Conditional Variational Auto-Encoder Generative Adversarial Network (APC-OCTPI-SACVAGAN) is proposed which classifies the Atherosclerosis plaque images as Fibro calcific plaque, Fibro atheroma, Thrombus, Fibrous plaque and Micro-vessel. The proposed APC-OCTPI-SACVAGAN technique is executed in MATLAB. The efficiency of proposed APC-OCTPI-SACVAGAN method attains 16.19 %, 17.93 %, 19.81 % and 1.57 % higher accuracy; 16.92 %, 11.54 %, 5.29 % and 1.946 % higher Area under curve; and 28.06 %, 25.32 %, 32.19 % and 39.185 % lower computational time comparing to the existing methods respectively.
Preparation and properties of modified ammonium polyphosphate synergistic with tris(2-hydroxyethyl) isocynurate for flame-retardant LDPE
Authors: Dong Tingxuan , Wang Guxia , Li Zhaoshuai , Li Dan , Liu Yuan , Zhou Peng , Guo Shengwei
Published: July 2023

UF-SiAPP was prepared by modifying ammonium polyphosphate with the urea formaldehyde resin (UF), tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), and vinyltriethoxysilane (A-151). Moreover, a new intumescent flame retardant (IFR) used for low density polyethylene (LDPE) flame retardant was obtained by mixing UF-SiAPP with tris(2-hydroxyethyl) isocynurate (THEIC). The structure, morphology, and mechanical properties of flame retardants and LDPE composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, TG, and universal material testing machines. Furthermore, the flame-retardant properties of LDPE composites were comprehensively investigated by limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94, and cone calorimetry tests. The results show that UF-SiAPP exhibits excellent hydrophobic properties and good compatibility with LDPE after being modified by UF, TEOS, and A-151. And the flame-retardant properties of LDPE composites are significantly improved by adding IFR-containing UF-SiAPP. Especially, the LDPE composites attained the LOI value of 30.5% and reached the V-0 level after introducing 20.0 wt% UF-SiAPP and 10.0 wt% THEIC. And the tensile strength reached 13.55 MPa, which was 10.33% higher than that of LDPE/IFR with UF-APP and 13.21% higher than that of LDPE/IFR without THEIC in the same proportion. The smoke density tests demonstrate that the addition of UF-SiAPP not only effectively improves the residual carbon content and thermal stability of LDPE composites but also significantly reduces smoke emissions.
印尼高校中文專業現狀、問題及發展研究
Authors: 唐根基  , 葉俊傑
Published: July 2023

本研究主要探討印尼高校中文專業的現狀、問題及發展， 研究資料源于印尼高等教育司官網、文獻、問卷及訪問， 使用定性與定量研究法相結合對此進行研究。 整體論文框架主要是三個方面進行探討： 一、瞭解印尼高校開設中文相關本科專業課程的情況; 二、瞭解印尼高校開設中文相關職業科專業課程的情況; 三、瞭解印尼高校中文教師的學歷及其專業情況。 研究發現， 印尼 29 所高校開設的 31 個中文專業課程中： 一、本科中文專業的課程包括漢語教育本科、中國文學本科、漢語與中國文化本科及漢語言本科， 當中開設漢語教育本科專業課程占多數， 即有 10 所印尼高校開設此類課程; 二、職業科中文專業的課程包括漢語言職業科、中國語言與文化職業科和商務與職業溝通漢語職業科， 當中開設漢語言職業科專業課程占多數， 即有 6 所印尼高校開設此類課程; 三、印尼高校中文專業課程教師有 232 位， 當中 147 位華人和 85 位非華人， 17 位博士、 212 位碩士、 3 位學士。
Novalis’ Metaphysics of Having: A Step Towards an Environmental Conception of the Human–Nature Relationship
Authors: Valpione Giulia
Published: July 2023

This article focuses on Novalis’ understanding of the ‘I-nature’ relationship demonstrating that he anticipates some aspects developed by later environmental and ecological philosophies. After an introductory part on Novalis’ criticism against Fichte’s conception of the Self, the article investigates the crucial role played by Spinoza for the reassessment of natural sciences (physiology in particular) in Novalis’ philosophy and, as a consequence, for the conception of a “metaphysics of Having”. This particular metaphysics implies that subjects and objects interpenetrate each other, and that this relationship precedes their respective identities. In the last part, the article sketches a parallel with the current philosophical debate on ecology.
A note on 𝑑-maximal 𝑝-groups
Authors: Aiech Messab , Zekraoui Hanifa , Guerboussa Yassine
Published: July 2023

A finite 𝑝-group 𝐺 is said to be 𝑑-maximal if

d
⁢

(
H
)

<

d
⁢

(
G
)

d(H)<d(G)

for every subgroup

H
<
G

H<G

, where

d
⁢

(
G
)

d(G)

denotes the minimal number of generators of 𝐺.
A similar definition can be formulated when 𝐺 is acted on by some group 𝐴.
In this paper, we extend earlier results of Kahn and Laffey to this more general setting and we answer a question of Berkovich on minimal non-metacyclic 𝑝-groups.
Performance analysis of UAV assisted triple-hop mixed FSO/RF/UWOC system with altitude optimization
Authors: Yadav Sarita , Aggarwal Mona , Ahuja Swaran , Vats Anshul , Sabherwal Pooja
Published: July 2023

In this paper, we propose a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assisted triple hop mixed FSO/RF/UWOC system to establish a communication between distant users. In the proposed system, the source sends information signal towards a hovering UAV such as drone acting as a first intermediate node via FSO link modelled by Gamma-Gamma distribution. The drone further transmits the received signal to the second intermediate node located on a floating vehicle (FV) on the ocean surface via a RF link modelled by the Nakagami-m fading distribution and from where it is finally forwarded towards the deep ocean destination via visible light channel (VLC) link which is modelled by Exponential Generalized Gamma (EGG) fading distribution. Both the relay nodes act as decode and forward relays. For this asymmetric triple hop mixed communication system, we obtain a new exact closed form analytical expression for the outage probability and also study its behaviour at high signal to noise ratio (SNR) regime. Additionally, the UAV altitude optimization is also carried out for the proposed system to find the optimal altitude of the UAV and the optimal elevation angle to maximize the system’s performance. The numerical simulation results illustrate the accuracy of the proposed system model and present the influence of the various link parameters such as atmospheric path loss, turbulence, pointing errors, angle-of-arrival fluctuations, multipath fading parameter, water turbulence, and scintillation on the performance of the proposed system.
Crosstalk reduction in multiwavelength VOA-loop-based photonic cross-connect for mixed line rate networks
Authors: Sumati  , Kaur Harpreet , Randhawa Rajneesh
Published: July 2023

The effect of crosstalk is investigated in this paper using a multiwavelength photonic cross-connect (OXC) based on the variable optical attenuator (VOA) loop for mixed line rates. It displays efficient behaviour with a BER of 10−15, 96 % eye-opening, and an eye height of 0.000138 a.u. at 10 Gbps of data rate. The proposed structure is tested for 20 and 40 Gbps data rates also in terms of crosstalk, output power, and BER. The structure is also efficient with a minimum latency of 0.56 ns with a pseudo-random binary sequence of order 14. It has been observed that VOA-SMZI-SOA-based significantly reduced cross-channel interference that is produced within the cross ports with crosstalk of −24.6 dB proving its superiority in comparison to previously reported techniques.
The three Swedish kings of geodesy – Speech at the NKG General Assembly dinner in 2022
Authors: Sjöberg Lars E.
Published: July 2023

During the 1950s–1970s, there were three geodesy professors in Sweden. Before and after that period the only such position was at KTH in Stockholm. One in the triple proposed the creation of the Nordic Geodetic Commission, which was realized in 1953 and still exists in much the same form as originally proposed.
Bootstrap choice of non-nested autoregressive model with non-normal innovations
Authors: Zamani Mehreyan Sedigheh
Published: July 2023

It is known that the block-based version of the bootstrap method can be used for distributional parameter estimation of dependent data.
One of the advantages of this method is that it improves mean square errors.
The paper makes two contributions.
First, we consider the moving blocking bootstrap method for estimation of parameters of the autoregressive model.
For each block, the parameters are estimated based on the modified maximum likelihood method.
Second, we provide a method for model selection, Vuong’s test and tracking interval, i.e. for selecting the optimal model for the innovation’s distribution.
Our analysis provides analytic results on the asymptotic distribution of the bootstrap estimators and also computational results via simulations.
Some properties of the moving blocking bootstrap method are investigated through Monte Carlo simulation.
This simulation study shows that, sometimes, Vuong’s test based on the modified maximum likelihood method is not able to distinguish between the two models; Vuong’s test based on the moving blocking bootstrap selects one of the competing models as optimal model.
We have studied real data, the S&P500 data, and select optimal model for this data based on the theoretical results.
Effect of maternal age and body mass index on induction of labor with oral misoprostol for premature rupture of membrane at term: A retrospective cross-sectional study
Authors: Sfregola Gianfranco , Sfregola Pamela , Ruta Federico , Zendoli Federica , Musicco Alessandra , Garzon Simone , Uccella Stefano , Etrusco Andrea , Chiantera Vito , Terzic Sanja , Giannini Andrea , Laganà Antonio Simone
Published: July 2023

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of maternal age and body mass index (BMI) on induction of labor with oral misoprostol for premature rupture of membrane (PROM) at term. We have conducted retrospective cross-sectional study, including only term (37 weeks or more of gestation) PROM in healthy nulliparous women with a negative vaginal-rectal swab for group B streptococcus, a single cephalic fetus with normal birthweight, and uneventful pregnancy that were induced after 24 h from PROM. Ninety-one patients were included. According to the multivariate logistic regression, age and BMI odds ratio (OR) for induction success were 0.795 and 0.857, respectively. The study population was divided into two groups based on age (<35 and ≥35 years) and obesity (BMI <30 and ≥30). Older women reported a higher induction failure rate (p < 0.001); longer time to cervical dilation of 6 cm (p = 0.03) and delivery (p < 0.001). Obese women reported a higher induction failure rate (p = 0.01); number of misoprostol doses (p = 0.03), longer time of induction (p = 0.03) to cervical dilatation of 6 cm (p < 0.001), and delivery (p < 0.001); and higher cesarean section (p = 0.012) and episiotomy rate (p = 0.007). In conclusion, maternal age and BMI are two of the main factors that influence oral misoprostol efficacy and affect the failure of induction rate in term PROM.
The crystal structure of (N-([1,1′:4′,1″-terphenyl]-4,4′-diethyl)-2-(bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)amino)acetamide-κ
4
N,N,N″, O)tri(nitrato-kO, O′) samarium(III) - methanol - acetonitrile (1/1/1), C40H39SmN8O14
Authors: Wang Hai-Ping , Zhang Ci-Mao , Huang Guo-Peng , Liang Jia-Jun
Published: July 2023

C40H39SmN8O14, triclinic, P1̄ (no. 2), a = 8.2799(1) Å, b = 16.6666(5) Å, c = 17.1471(3) Å, α = 

73.549

(
2
)

∘

$73.549{(2)}^{\circ }$

, β = 

89.123

(
1
)

∘

$89.123{(1)}^{\circ }$

, γ = 83.045(2)°, V = 2252.2(1) Å3, Z = 2,

R

g
t

${R}_{gt}$

(F) = 0.0592,

w

R

r
e
f

$w{R}_{ref}$

(F
2) = 0.1438, T = 297.71(13) K.