Let R be a commutative ring with identity and S be a multiplicatively closed subset of R. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of weakly S-primary ideals as a new generalization of weakly primary ideals. An ideal I of R disjoint with S is called a weakly S-primary ideal if there exists s∈S such that whenever 0≠ab∈I for a,b∈R, then sa∈√I or sb∈I. The relationships among S-prime, S-primary, weakly S-primary and S-n-ideals are investigated. For an element r in any general ZPI-ring, the (weakly) S_{r}-primary ideals are charctarized where S={1,r,r²,⋯}. Several properties, characterizations and examples concerning weakly S-primary ideals are presented. The stability of this new concept with respect to various ring-theoretic constructions such as the trivial ring extension and the amalgamation of rings along an ideal are studied. Furthermore, weakly S-decomposable ideals and S-weakly Laskerian rings which are generalizations of S-decomposable ideals and S-Laskerian rings are introduced.

Much of the debate on Plan S seems to concentrate on how to make toll access journals open access, taking for granted that existing open access journals are Plan S compliant. We suspected this was not so, and set out to explore this using DOAJ's journal metadata. We conclude that an overwhelmingly large majority of open access journals are not Plan S compliant, and that it is small HSS publishers not charging APCs that are least compliant and will face major challenges with becoming compliant. Plan S need to give special considerations to smaller publishers and/or non-APC-based journals.

This note first summarizes the history of the manuscript "On a Continuum Model for Avalanche Flow and Its Simplified Variants" by Grigorian and Ostroumov―published in the Special Issue on snow avalanche dynamics of Geosciences―since the early 1990s and explains the guiding principles in editing it for publication. The changes are then detailed and some explanatory notes given for the benefit of readers who are not familiar with the early Russian work on snow avalanche dynamics. Finally, the editor's personal views as to why he still considers this paper of relevance for avalanche dynamics research today are presented in brief essays on key aspects of the paper, namely the role of simple and complex models in avalanche research and mitigation work, the status and possible applications of Grigorian's stress-limited friction law, and non-monotonicity of the dynamics of the Grigorian–Ostroumov model in the friction coefficient. A comparison of the erosion model proposed by those authors with two other models suggests to enhance it with an additional equation for the balance of tangential momentum across the shock front. A preliminary analysis indicates that continuous scouring entrainment is possible only in a restricted parameter range and that there is a second erosion regime with delayed entrainment.

Aquaculture production is under pressure to increase its production to meet the growing demand for food from a growing population. In the Philippines, aquaculture has experienced the shift from milkfish to prawn with its attractive marketable price. Its intensification has led to negative and positive impacts making its collapse inevitable in the mid-1990s and raised a range of environmental and socioeconomic problems. This paper reviewed the environmental impacts, challenges, and disease outbreaks that overtook the industry using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. We examined gaps and changes required to revitalize the industry to properly take-off. It considers and gives details on the impacts of shrimp culture on the environment e.g. shrimp farm management, marine pollution, disease outbreaks, climate change impacts, and socioeconomic impacts. Moreover, the presence of viral diseases such as White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), Monodon Baculovirus (MBV), Infectious Hypodermal and Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHHNV), Hepatopancreatic Parvovirus (HPV), and Yellow Head Virus (YHV), have caused socioeconomic impacts with approximate losses of 40,080 mt in 1997 to 51,000 mt in 2014 in the shrimp industry. Recommended strategies were considered to improve the environmental management of shrimp aquaculture, including disease management, and priorities that were highlighted for future research. This management relates to adopting good aquaculture practices on shrimp culture, proper environmental monitoring and sustainable practices at the farm level.

Read-Across Structure-Activity Relationship (RASAR) is an emerging cheminformatic approach that combines the usefulness of a QSAR model and similarity-based Read-Across predictions. In this work, we have generated a simple, interpretable, and transferable quantitative-RASAR (q-RASAR) model which can efficiently predict the cytotoxicity of TiO2-based multi-component nanomaterials. The data set involves 29 TiO2-based nanomaterials which contain specific amounts of noble metal precursors in the form of Ag, Au, Pd, and Pt. The data set was rationally divided into training and test sets and the Read-Across-based predictions for the test set were generated using the tool Read-Across-v4.1 available from https://sites.google.com/jadavpuruniversity.in/dtc-lab-software/home. The hyperparameters were optimized based on the training set data and using this optimized setting, the Read-Across-based predictions for the test set were obtained. The optimized hyperparameters and the similarity approach, which yields the best predictions, were used to calculate the similarity and error-based RASAR descriptors using the tool RASAR-Desc-Calc-v2.0 available from https://sites.google.com/jadavpuruniversity.in/dtc-lab-software/home. These RASAR descriptors were then clubbed with the physicochemical descriptors and were subjected to features selection using the tool Best Subset Selection v2.1 available from https://dtclab.webs.com/software-tools. The final set of selected descriptors was used to develop multiple linear regression based q-RASAR models, which were validated using stringent criteria as per the OECD guidelines. Finally, a random forest model was also developed with the selected descriptors. The final machine learning model can efficiently predict the cytotoxicity of TiO2-based multi-component nanomaterials superseding previously reported models in the prediction quality.

Attitude control of a novel regional truss-braced wing aircraft with low stability characteristics is addressed in this paper using Reinforcement Learning (RL). In recent years, RL has been increasingly employed in challenging applications, particularly, autonomous flight control. However, a significant predicament confronting discrete RL algorithms is the dimension limitation of the state-action table and difficulties in defining the elements of the RL environment. To address these issues, in this paper, a detailed mathematical model of the mentioned aircraft is first developed to shape an RL environment. Subsequently, Q-learning, the most prevalent discrete RL algorithm will be implemented in both the Markov Decision Process (MDP), and Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) frameworks to control the longitudinal mode of the air vehicle. In order to eliminate residual fluctuations that are a consequence of discrete action selection, and simultaneously track variable pitch angles, a Fuzzy Action Assignment (FAA) method is proposed to generate continuous control commands using the trained Q-table. Accordingly, it will be proved that by defining an accurate reward function, along with observing all crucial states (which is equivalent to satisfying the Markov Property), the performance of the introduced control system surpasses a well-tuned Proportional–Integral–Derivative (PID) controller.

A linear Cauchy problem with polynomial coefficients wich combines q-difference operators for q>1 and differential operators of irregular type is examined. A finite set of sectorial holomorphic solutions w.r.t the complex time is constructed by means of classical Laplace transforms. These functions share a common asymptotic expansion in the time variable which turns out to carry a double layers structure which couples q-Gevrey and Gevrey bounds. In the last part of the work, the problem of confluence of these solutions as q tends to 1 is investigated.

This paper includes some new investigations and results for post quantum calculus, denoted by (p,q)-calculus. A chain rule for (p,q)-derivative is developed. Also, a new (p,q)-analogue of the exponential function is introduced and some its properties including the addition property for (p,q)-exponential functions are investigated. Several useful results involving (p,q)-binomial coefficients and (p,q)-antiderivative are discovered. At the final part of this paper, (p,q)-analogue of some elementary functions including trigonometric functions and hyperbolic functions are considered and some properties and relations among them are analyzed extensively.

Motivated by Kurt's work [Filomat 30 (4) 921-927, 2016], we first consider a class of a new generating function for (p, q)-analog of Apostol type polynomials of order a including Apostol-Bernoulli, Apostol-Euler and Apostol-Genocchi polynomials of order a. By making use of their generating function, we derive some useful identities. We also introduce (p, q)-analog of Stirling numbers of second kind of order v by which we construct a relation including aforementioned polynomials.

Supporting the implementation of school food and nutrition policies (SFNPs) is an international priority to encourage healthier eating among children and youth. Schools are an important intervention setting to promote childhood nutrition, and many jurisdictions have adopted policies, guidelines, and programs to modify the school nutrition environment and promote healthier eating. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between perceived adequacy and capacity for SFNP implementation on food availability and policy adherence in the province of Nova Scotia (NS), Canada, one of the first regions in Canada to launch a comprehensive SFNP. A cross sectional online survey was conducted in 2014-15 to provide a current-state of policy implementation and adherence. Adequacy and capacity for food policy implementation was used to assess policy adherence through the availability of prohibited ‘minimum’ nutrition foods. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on a selected of available foods and ‘slow’ and ‘quick’ service food composition measures were dichotomized for food availability. Schools with above perceived average adequacy and capacity for policy implementation had more than three times (3.62) greater odds of adhering to a lunch policy, while schools that adhered to a snack and lunch policy had 52% and 82% lower odds of serving quick service foods, respectively. This study identified the need for appropriate adequacy and capacity for policy implementation to ensure policy adherence and improve the school food environment. These findings highlight the potential of SFNPs to have a positive impact on childhood nutrition, but adequately supporting their implementation is critical to ensure their impact.

Satellite-based monitoring can retrieve ground-level PM_2.5 concentrations with higher-resolution and continuous spatial coverage to assist in making management strategies and estimating health exposures. The Sichuan Basin has a complex terrain and several city clusters that differ from other regions in China: it has an enclosed air basin with a unique planetary boundary layer dynamic which accumulates air pollution. The spatiotemporal distribution of 1-km resolution Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) in the Sichuan Basin was retrieved using the improved dark pixel method and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data in this study. The retrieved seasonal AOD reached its highest values in spring and had the lowest values in autumn. The higher correlation (r = 0.84, N = 171) between the ground-based Lidar AOD and 1-km resolution MODIS AOD indicated that the high-resolution MODIS AOD could be used to retrieve the ground-level PM_2.5 concentration. The Lidar-measured annual average extinction coefficient increased linearly with the Planetary Boundary Layer Height (PBLH) in the range of 100 ~ 670 m, but exponentially decreased between the heights of 670 ~ 1800 m. Both the correlation and the variation tendency of simulated PBLH from WRF_SHIN/CALMET were closer to the Lidar observation than that of three other Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) schemes (the Grenier-Bretherton-McCaa (GBM) scheme, the he Total Energy-Mass Flux (TEMF) scheme and the University of Washington (UW) scheme), which suggested that the simulated PBLH could be used in the vertical correction of retrieval PM_2.5. Four seasonal fitting functions were also obtained for further humidity correction. The correlation coefficient between the aerosol extinction coefficient and the fitted surface-level PM_2.5 concentration at the benchmark station of Southwest Jiao-tong University was enhanced significantly from 0.62 to 0.76 after vertical and humidity corrections during a whole year. During the evaluation of the retrieved ground-level PM_2.5 with observed values from three cities, Yibin (YB), Dazhou (DZ), and Deyang (DY), our algorithm performed well, resulting in higher correlation coefficients of 0.78 (N = 177), 0.77 (N = 178), and 0.81 (N = 181), respectively.

Nutraceuticals comprise dietary supplements, functional foods, medicinal foods, and pharmaceuticals. However, to date all these concepts are interpreted in different ways with the rapid increasing knowledge on nutrition, medicine, and plant biotechnology changing the concepts about food, health and agriculture. What matters are the bioactive elements conveyed by foodstuffs as nutrients or non-nutrients, which interfere with human metabolism and have impact on health, aging and well-being. Food, not nutrients, is the fundamental unit in nutrition and edible mushrooms, are fungi that supply unique biological compounds, different from plant or animal origin, which significantly impact on health status. Their influence on medicinal interventions has been known and studied for many years. The role on neurodegenerative disorders has been recently investigated and their significance on many other diseases has been well demonstrated. On this note it is synthesized the more recent knowledge of some edible mushrooms and preparations on Ménière’s disease, a lifelong condition it can develop at any age, but most commonly appearing between 40 and 60 years of age.

The central mechanism of biological evolution, variation-selection-inheritance (VSI), is one of the most universal mechanisms known. Much of our understanding of VSI, however, has been dominated by the Neo-Darwinian Modern Synthesis with a rather narrow understanding of what constitutes variation, selection, and inheritance. This unduly narrow understanding of VSI might have been a key cause behind our failure to adequately explain some critical puzzles in biological evolution, from the origin of the first cell to the origin of the eukaryotes, the puzzling biology of metabolism, apoptosis, aging, and cancer in metazoan.I broaden our understanding of VSI, in a spirit that is somewhat similar to several recent contributions and then extend this broadened view of VSI to its natural starting point: the origin of the First Universal Cell Ancestor (FUCA). I advance three principal arguments. First, survival comes before replication. Before the coming of reproducer and replicator, there must be survivors, to paraphrase Szathmary and Maynard Smith (1997). Second, natural selection, especially the non-Darwinian kind, can operate without replication or even metabolism, as long as different molecules, complexes, and vesicles have differential survival rate within a system. Third, merger and acquisition, via breaking-and-re-encapsulation, endocytosis, endosymbiosis, and processes similar to them, had been a far more powerful force of variation and selection in the pre-Darwinian period of evolution that led to LUCA and long before eukaryogenesis. Endosymbiosis therefore had been a far more foundational force than even Lynn Margulis and many of her supporters have appreciated. Our thesis thus goes beyond Woese’s emphasis of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and actually subsumes HGT with Margulis’ emphasis of endosymbiosis. Combing these three new perspectives with other perspectives and evidence sheds important new light upon the origin of FUCA, the singular water-shedding moment in the evolution of life.

The consistent and continuous growth in the world’s population is creating many challenges for public policymakers in the different life areas, including dealing with the increasing amounts of waste that are generating problems involving air and land pollution and a shortage of land for waste disposal. This study presents the results of public policy on managing municipal waste, as manifested in the quantity and rate of waste collected throughout Israel in recent years and disposed of in the various landfills and in analysis of the political and economic factors affecting this policy. The study combines a quantitative and qualitative approach, where the quantitative study includes analysis of statistical data based on information from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Finance, and others, and the qualitative study relies on reading and analyzing primary documents of the different government ministries on Israel’s waste disposal policy and information in the media on this issue. The research findings attest to an increase in the amount of municipal waste dumped in Israel, a merely slight decrease in the rate of landfilling as a proportion of all municipal waste disposal, and a merely slight increase in the rate of municipal waste recycled in recent years. The research conclusions stress the effects of the landfill levy and the Cleanliness Maintenance Fund on one hand, and of the government instability in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the positivist policy embraced by decision makers in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the power struggles between Israel’s different ministries on the other, as the respective economic and political factors affecting Israeli policy on municipal waste management.

This article focuses on the economic dimensions of maternal health, highlighting the benefits of investing in maternal healthcare and the policy implications for sustainable development. Through a comprehensive review of the literature, the article explores the economic impact of maternal health, including its effects on human capital, productivity, and healthcare costs. It emphasizes the importance of addressing social determinants such as access to healthcare services, education, employment, income, and geographical disparities. By prioritizing maternal health, societies can unlock the economic potential of women, promote inclusive growth, and reduce gender disparities. The article discusses policy interventions, including the importance of healthcare infrastructure, financial support for maternal healthcare, and promoting gender equality. It also emphasizes the need for future research to quantify the economic benefits and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of different interventions. Overall, the article underscores the economic imperative of investing in maternal health and provides valuable insights for policymakers and researchers seeking to enhance maternal health outcomes and promote sustainable economic development.

Threats to natural ecosystems are closely linked to human development, and the lack, insufficiency or inefficiency of public policies are some of the most important drivers of negative effects on the environment. The contribution of the IUCN’s Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) to conservation topics has been discussed in previous studies; however, to date its implications for conservation in public policies have not been addressed. This perspective discusses how the RLE may support the improvement and development of these policies, specifically through the implications for public policy of each of the criteria that substantiate the threat status of ecosystems. We aim to provide a plausible baseline to the operationalization of RLE in public and conservation policy, facilitating the work of governments, practitioners and decision makers. Finally, we provide recommendations and examples as to how to proceed in creating and modifying different public policy instruments, such as land-use planning, spatial zoning, tax reduction, compensation schemes, climate change adaptation plans, management of introduced species, development offsets and restoration investment. This perspective contributes to implement RLE into public policy and to improve ecosystem conservation by expanding the current scope of RLE into practical and political dimensions through plausible actions, policies and strategies.

In Brazil, during the four last administrations of Worker’s Party (PT) 2003-2015, the support to the agrarian reform seems to have stagnated, even with the influence of landless workers' movements. Thus in 2016, the impeachment President Dilma Roussef have marked a brutal stop in the agrarian reform process. How to explain that which seems at first to be a contradiction and has become a decadence of an important federal public policy?. Furthermore, how can we evaluate the debates within Brazilian society and the federal government on this theme? The article analyzes the tensions, debates, advances and impasses of the past fifteen years of agrarian reform policy in Brazil looking at the interaction between social movements and public policies. The method associates bibliography, official statistic synthesis and research results in Northeast, Amazônia and Cerrado regions among several projects. The first part results put on evidence the crescent reduction of agrarian reform settlements and beneficiary families since 2006. The second part presents the main reasons offering an analysis of government and society debates in Brazil about land reform. The analysis conclude to the less of power and representation in the society of the pro agrarian reform large and popular coalition.

There are many uncertainties and risks in residential electricity consumption during the economic development. Knowledge of the relationship between residential electricity consumption and its key determinant—income—are important to the sustainable development of electric power industry. Using panel data from 30 provinces for the 1995-2012 period, this study investigates how residential electricity consumption changes as incomes increase in China. Previous studies typically used linear or quadratic double-logarithmic models imposing ex ante restrictions on the indistinct relationship between residential electricity consumption and income. Contrary to those models, we employed a reduced piecewise linear model that is self-adaptive and highly flexible and circumvents the problem of “prior restrictions.” Robust tests of different segment specifications and regression methods are performed to ensure the conservatism of the research. The results provide strong evidence that the income elasticity was approximately one, and it remained stable throughout the estimation period. The income threshold at which residential electricity consumption automatically remains stable or slows has not been reached. To ensure the sustainable development of the electric power industry, introducing higher energy efficiency standards for electrical appliances and improving income levels are vital. And government should emphasize electricity conservation in industrial sector rather than in residential sector.

Background: Health policy is a set of comprehensive principles and legislations that guide how healthcare should be effectively delivered in the community. Medical schools should prepare students to undertake managerial responsibilities by incorporating health policy in the curriculum to deal with the intricacies of healthcare systems and their clinical roles in their future professional careers. Objective: To examine medical students' perception at a Public University in Malaysia regarding teaching health policy and their participation in health policy roles. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study using universal sampling was carried out among the medical students using a paper-based questionnaire to collect the data. Results: Most respondents opined their willingness to learn health policy (80.9%) and that teaching health policy (83.6%) should be compulsory for medical students. The respondents thought health policy should be introduced earlier in Year 1 or 2. The student scores on their knowledge regarding health policy and year of study were significantly associated with their involvement in the health policy roles in both the simple and multiple logistic regression. Both statistical tests reported higher participation in health policy roles with the higher year of study, though only Year 4 and 5 were significant in the simple logistic regression and only Year 5 in the multiple logistic regression compared to Year 1. On the other hand, age and type of admission show significant results only in the simple logistic regression, while the race was only significant at the multivariate level. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that most respondents showed their willingness to learn health policy, participate in the health policy programs, and recommend that health policy be considered an essential topic in the medical curriculum, which should be taught right from the first year of medical school. We recommend encouraging students’ participation in health policy activities.

Tourism gentrification presents issues of privatization of public space, the transformation of public services to cater to tourists, the erosion of community social bonds, and the commodification of regional consumption, which has far-reaching impacts on the well-being of local residents and a desire to relocate. Thus, tourism gentrification in traditional industrial areas is defined as a process driven by the reconfiguration of spatial functions and the transformation of service provisions, resulting in displacement. This study employs Q methodology aims to understand the residents’ perceptions of tourism gentrification with a specific focus on the 798 Industrial Art Zone in Beijing, China. The results reveal four dimensions that form residents’ stress: neighboring environment, community attachment, economic interest, and cultural identity. Based on the stress threshold theory, this study further proposes a framework to explain the decision-making processes of residents in relation to their intent to relocate due to stress from interactions with migrants and visitors and changes in the place functions of industrial areas and communities. The findings offer valuable theoretical knowledge surrounding tourism gentrification from residents’ perspectives and suggest practical guidance for policymakers and destination managers in reducing residents’ stress and promoting sustainable development of industrial tourism.

: This paper proposes a reem-shape phononic crystal for the performance enhancement of TPoS resonators. The proposed phononic crystal offers an ultra-wide acoustic band gap that prevents energy leakage through the supporting substrate on its placement at the anchoring boundary, resulting in significant improvements in the resonator quality factor. Simulated results show reem-shape Phononic crystals generate a band gap up to 175MHz with BG of 90% and enhance the anchor quality factor from 180,000 to 6,000,000 and unloaded quality factor from 133,000 to 160,000 representing 33.3-fold and 1.2-fold improvements respectively.

This paper aims to unify q-derivative/q-integral and h-derivative/h-integral in a single definition, this will be called q−h-derivative/q−h-integral. These notions are further extended on finite interval [a,b] in the form of left and right q−h-derivatives and q−h-integrals. Some inequalities are studied for q−h-integrals which are directly connected with well known results. In diverse fields of science and engineering the theory based on q-derivatives/q-integrals and h-derivatives/h-integrals can be unified by using the concept of q−h-derivative/q−h-integral.

We examine a family of nonlinear q-difference-differential Cauchy problems obtained as a coupling of linear Cauchy problems containing dilation q-difference operators, recently investigated by the author, and quasi-linear Kowalevski type problems that involve contraction q-difference operators. We build up local holomorphic solutions to these problems. Two aspects of these solutions are explored. One facet deals with asymptotic expansions in the complex time variable for which a mixed type Gevrey and q-Gevrey structure is exhibited. The other feature concerns the problem of confluence of these solutions as q tends to 1.

Increased data acquisition by uncalibrated, heterogeneous digital sensor systems such as smartphones present new challenges. Binary metrics are proposed for the quantification of cyber-physical signal characteristics and features, and a standardized constant-Q variation of the Gabor atom is developed for use with wavelet transforms. Two different continuous wavelet transform (CWT) reconstruction formulas are presented and tested under different signal to noise ratio (SNR) conditions. A sparse superposition of Nth order Gabor atoms worked well against a synthetic blast transient using the wavelet entropy and an entropy-like parametrization of the SNR as the CWT coefficient-weighting functions. The proposed methods should be well suited for sparse feature extraction and dictionary-based machine learning across multiple sensor modalities.

In the present paper, the (p,q)-Hermite based Apostol type Frobenius-Euler polynomials and numbers are firstly considered and then diverse basic identities and properties for the mentioned polynomials and numbers, including addition theorems, difference equations, integral representations, derivative properties, recurrence relations. Moreover, we provide summation formulas and relations associated with the Stirling numbers of the second kind.

In this paper, we investigate p-adic q-integral (q-Volkenborn integral) on ℤ_{p} of p-adic gamma function via their Mahler expansions. We also derived two q-Volkenborn integrals of p-adic gamma function in terms of q-Daehee polynomials and numbers and q-Daehee polynomials and numbers of the second kind. Moreover, we discover q-Volkenborn integral of the derivative of p-adic gamma function. We acquire the relationship between the p-adic gamma function and Stirling numbers of the first kind. We finally develop a novel and interesting representation for the p-adic Euler constant by means of the q-Daehee polynomials and numbers.

In this paper, we introduce a new class of $(p,q)$-analogue type of Fubini numbers and polynomials and investigate some properties of these polynomials. We establish summation formulas of these polynomials by summation techniques series. Furthermore, we consider some relationships for $(p,q)$-Fubini polynomials associated with $(p,q)$-Bernoulli polynomials, $(p,q)$-Euler polynomials and $(p,q)$-Genocchi polynomials and $(p,q)$-Stirling numbers of the second kind.

In this paper, we revisit the q-states clock model for small systems. We present results for the thermodynamics of the q-states clock model from $q=2$ to $q=20$ for small square lattices $L \times L$, with L ranging from $L=3$ to $L=64$ with free-boundary conditions. Energy, specific heat, entropy and magnetization are measured. We found that the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT)-like transition appears for $q>5$ regardless of lattice size, while the transition at $q=5$ is lost for $L<10$; for $q\leq 4$ the BKT transition is never present. We report the phase diagram in terms of $q$ showing the transition from the ferromagnetic (FM) to the paramagnetic (PM) phases at a critical temperature T$_1$ for small systems which turns into a transition from the FM to the BKT phase for larger systems, while a second phase transition between the BKT and the PM phases occurs at T$_2$. We also show that the magnetic phases are well characterized by the two dimensional (2D) distribution of the magnetization values. We make use of this opportunity to do an information theory analysis of the time series obtained from the Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, we calculate the phenomenological mutability and diversity functions. Diversity characterizes the phase transitions, but the phases are less detectable as $q$ increases. Free boundary conditions are used to better mimic the reality of small systems (far from any thermodynamic limit). The role of size is discussed.

The prim objective of commenced article is to determine q-sumudu transforms of a product of unified family of q-polynomials with basic (or q-) analogue of fox’s H-function and q-analog of I-functions. Specialized cases of the leading outcome are further evaluated as q-sumudu transform of general class of q-polynomials and q-sumudu transforms of the basic analogues of Fox’s H-function and I-functions.

In this paper, we consider the zero distributions of q-shift monomi-als and difference polynomials of meromorphic functions with zero order, that extends the classical Hayman results on the zeros of differential poly-nomials to q-shift difference polynomials. We also investigate problem of q-shift difference polynomials that share a common value.

The main goal of the present paper is to construct some families of the Carlitz’s q-Bernoulli polynomials and numbers. We firstly introduce the modified Carlitz’s q-Bernoulli polynomials and numbers with weight (α, β) and investigate their some explicit properties and identities arising from the bosonic q-Volkenborn integral on ℤ_p. We then define the modified degenerate Carlitz’s q-Bernoulli polynomials and numbers with weight (α, β) and obtain some recurrence relations and other identities. Moreover, we derive some correlations with the modified Carlitz’s q-Bernoulli polynomials with weight (α, β), the modified degenerate Carlitz’s q-Bernoulli polynomials with weight (α, β), the Stirling numbers of the first kind and second kind.

The evolving multiphase induction generators (MPIG) with more than three phases are receiving prominence in high power generation systems. This paper aims at the development of a comprehensive model of the wind turbine driven seven-phase induction generator (7PIG) along with necessary the power electronic converters and controller for grid interface. The dynamic model of the system is developed in Maltlab/Simulink. Synchronous reference frame phase-locked loop (SRFPLL) system is incorporated for grid synchronization. The modeling aspects are detailed and the system response is observed for various wind velocities. The effectiveness of seven phase induction generator is demonstrated with the fault tolerant capability and high output power with reduced phase current when compared to conventional 3-phase wind generation scheme. The response of the PLL is analyzed and the results are presented.

Due to the use of structural and seismic techniques an attempt has been made in this study to determine the hydrocarbon potential and future exploration in Pakistan's Lower Indus basin area and offshore region. In addition to the possibility of hydrocarbon accumulation, the major goals of this research are to analyze structural patterns in the subsurface of the study region, identify the horizons of various formations using surface seismic, and interpret seismic lines. Seismic data has been used to find and integrate the exposed Cretaceous/Tertiary basalt at Ranikot in the lower Indus basin to the well-known Deccan basalts of the Indo-Pak plate, which is the secondary goal of the current investigation. According to the interpretation of seismic data, the Indo-Pakistan plate has experienced rifting because of tectonic activity. Graben and horst structures have been identified in the study area horizon, which indicates that the area has undergone major structural and depositional changes. While faults provide a pathway for hydrocarbons to migrate from their source to reservoir rock, grabens are principally responsible for the accumulation of hydrocarbons. We further deduce that the prior exploration failures in the area were due to a lack of knowledge of the subsurface formations and structural trends, which are essential for characterizing the hydrocarbon play and trap features. Our results can be productive for the local hydrocarbon drilling projects as well as worldwide tectonic stratigraphy studies on passive continental edges.

Astrocytes perform a wide variety of essential functions defining normal operation of the nervous system, and are active contributors to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer among others. Recent data provide compelling evidence that distinct reactive astrocyte states are associated with specific stages of Alzheimer´s disease. The advent of transcriptomics technologies enables rapid progress in the characterisation of such pathological astrocyte states. In this review, we provide an overview of the origin, main functions, molecular and morphological features of astrocytes in physiological as well as pathological conditions related to Alzheimer´s disease. We will also explore the main roles of astrocytes in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer´s disease and summarize main transcriptional changes and altered molecular pathways observed in astrocytes during the course of the disease.

In this present paper, we deal with the generalized (k, s)-fractional integral and differential operators recently defined by Nisar et al. and obtain some generalized (k, s)-fractional integral and differential formulas involving the class of a function as its kernels. Also, we investigate a certain number of their consequences containing the said function in their kernels.

Despite ample warning and significant lead time, global society has not acted sufficiently to combat climate change, and global carbon dioxide emissions are now about 60% higher today than in 1990 [1]. This paper uses marine fisheries as an analog model to compare with the many similar management issues faced with global climate change. Both marine fisheries and global climate change are complex systems that have similar properties that make management very difficult. A simple fishery prototype model is used to educate citizens about similar issues of dynamic complexity found in climate change models. We highlight how our slow reaction time to global climate change can be thought of as a mismatch between our cognitive abilities and the nature of global collective problems. Understanding the history and system structure of marine fisheries can provide insight into managing global climate change. We suggest ways to improve communication between science and citizens for updating mental models and changing climate policy.

Green economy has emerged as a significant pillar of sustainable development in the current global context, and the unpredictability of economic policy has progressively garnered the interest of businesses and government officials as one of the obstacles they must confront. This paper examines how uncertainty in the green economy impacts the green economy's efficacy. The research concentrates on how changes in a particular region can result in geospatial diffusion (spatial spillover), which is a form of spatial spillover wherein the uncertainty of the green economy can impact its efficacy. This paper examines the policy formulation and current state of the green economy across various regions, as well as the diffusion of economic policy uncertainty across geographical areas and the subsequent impact on the green economy's status quo. There is a negative correlation between economic policy uncertainty and green economy efficacy, according to research. There is a spatial spillover effect between economic policy uncertainty and the efficacy of the green economy. Regional variations exist in the impact of economic policy uncertainty on the efficacy of the green economy. The findings indicate that the implementation of AI has a more substantial beneficial effect on carbon emissions. An increase in carbon dioxide emissions poses a growing challenge for the industrial sector in its pursuit of carbon neutrality.

The circular economy is based on maintaining a circular flow of resources. Policymakers face difficulties in balancing national security and circular economy aspects in the field of mineral resources policy. With a uniquely expanded input-output table, this study estimates the final destination of several critical minerals (lithium, cobalt, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, neodymium and dysprosium) and base metals (iron, copper and aluminum) in the Japanese economy for 2015. Our model shows quite a good similarity between the estimated composition and the actual data of products. The results reveal a detailed distribution of critical minerals and indicate prioritized implementation for creating and maintaining a circular flow of critical minerals. Developed decision flow guidance provides a comprehensive approach to national security and circular economy aspects for policymakers. For further actions, inclusive indicator development is required for policymakers to support the determination of implementation possibilities from social and technological aspects.

Cigarette butts (CBs) are the most diffuse waste in the world, often abandoned in the environment without proper disposal. They are dangerous because of the numerous harmful chemicals poten-tially released in the environment. There are, in literature, several technological options for CB recycling, but some critical concerns could affect their effectiveness due to the quality and quantity of CB litter collected in the proper way. The present paper focuses on policy framework social behavior, waste collection and transport and technological processes. The Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for CBs is proposed at European level as an action to tackle CB litter and encourage sustainable product development. The CB waste collection and transport is a key step for bringing CB to the recycling process. The main concern is the small quantity of CBs collected: 0.06 % of the municipal waste and 0.18 % of the unsorted waste in the administrative area of Pe-rugia. Another crucial issue is the need for behavioral interventions to increase education and awareness of smoker citizens, addressing the discrepancy between smokers’ behaviors and beliefs.

Bridging the gap between traditional education and matching the pace of education with the rest of the world, Govt. of India implemented a new education policy this year which was much awaited for a long time. The new education policy is a big step to change India's overall education scenario by changing the examination pattern. However, this new type of decision-making process seeks to ensure that it achieves great benefits covering all uncovered elements while keeping technology as a parameter, so this new policy in the previous education system is also missing some key issues that must be addressed in the next amendments. Making it an example of impact, this paper describes salient issues where new educational policies are silent or those grey areas have been only superficially touched upon.

Policies are adopted and implemented to achieve specific goals. In this regard, the Government of Zambia in 2019 adopted the higher education policy with many objectives which include, the expansion of access to higher education; reduction of gender and other forms of inequity in accessing higher education; the improvement of quality of higher education by increasing funding to higher education institutions, construction, and repair of infrastructure in higher and improvement in the provision of learning materials in higher education institutions (HEIs).This paper, therefore, sought to evaluate the higher education policy of 2019. The four criteria were used namely; effectiveness, equity, policy sustainability, and consistency. Other principles such as political and social acceptability of a policy were not used because the policy is already adopted and being implemented. Further, the principle of efficiency was not used because it would have been problematic to gauge the expenditure against the outcomes.The findings have revealed that the policy to some extent has been effective; some of the objectives such as increased access to higher education and reduction of inequality have been partially achieved. It has been established that the number of students pursuing higher education has been increased to 114,049 in 2020 from 91,969 in 2017. Further, in 2021, 48.5% of scholarships in public universities were awarded to female students while 51.5% were awarded to female students. Further, more students are encouraged to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); and more women are pursuing studies in STEM-related fields. However, the policy has not helped to achieve the quality of higher education as funding in public HEIs has not improved. Further, infrastructure remains very poor and inadequate; and access to update and relevant learning materials also remains a challenge in HEIs. However, the policy seems to be duplicated by the recent re-launched Technical Education Vocation Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) national policy.Given the above findings, it has been recommended that the government among other things improve funding and build infrastructure in public HEIs. There is also a need to harmonise the TEVET national policy with the higher education policy.

This paper aims to delve into how gender dimensions observed before, during and after a disaster, have been addressed in two internationally recognised frameworks developed for reducing risks of disasters: Hyogo Framework Action (2005-2015) and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). Building on a systematic review, we evaluate 33 scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles, including book chapters and websites in areas of gender, disaster risk reduction and vulnerability. This study documents a comparative picture of these two frameworks and shows the practical implications of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) by addressing women’s empowerment in the light of their active participation in disaster risk reduction process. The findings of the study suggest that the frameworks have discussed the reduction of women’s socioeconomic vulnerabilities, as well as encouraged their empowerment. Comparing the two frameworks, it appears in the current study that there has been a significant gap in the existing literature that does not explicitly document comparing and contrasting features of a gender lens in the policy documents.

The study's motivation is to gauge the nexus between economic policy uncertainty and financial innovation for the period 2004M1 to 2018M12 in BRIC nations. For establishing a long-run cointegration study applied Autoregressive Distributed Lagged (ARDL) and asymmetry effects of economic policy uncertainty investigated following nonlinear framework known as NARDL. Furthermore, directional causality is established by performing a non-granger causality test. Cointegration test results of Fpss, Wpss, and tBDM confirmed the long-run association between EPU and financial innovation. On the other hand, the Wald test results proved asymmetry effects furring from EPU to financial innovation both in the long-run and short-run. Referring to asymmetry effects that positive and negative shocks in financial innovation, the study revealed that negative linkage between shocks in EPU and financial innovation in the long-run but short-run effects are insignificant. Furthermore, financial innovation measured by R&D investment exhibits positive linked with shocks in EPU, implying that uncertainty induces innovation in the economy. Refers to directional causality estimation, the study revealed evidence supporting the feedback hypothesis between EPU and financial innovation in all sample countries.

The majority of the population in developing countries resides in the rural area. Development itself cannot address the challenges of the rural area since its economic, political and environmental landscape is different from an urban area. The paper attempts to assess the rural dimension aspect of Nepali Agriculture Policy since rural development and agricultural development is closely resembled due to an agrarian-based economy of the country and a large rural population. Therefore, a critical review of National Agriculture Policy, 2004 (NAP-2004) was carried out under “Commercialization of Agriculture”, “Food Security”, “Rural Infrastructure”, “Gender”, “Climate Change” and “Social Inclusion” thematic area. The results showed that NAP-2004 satisfactorily address rural development albeit ample space for improvement. The findings of the paper could be beneficial to policymakers and development workers in the field of rural development and agriculture along with academicians having interest in it.

In this study, the prevalent methodology for design of the industrial policy in developing countries was critically assessed, and it was shown that the mechanism and content of classical method is fundamentally contradictory to the goals and components of the endogenous growth theories. This study, by proposing a new approach, along settling Schumpeter's economic growth theory as a policy framework, designed the process of entering, analyzing and processing data as the mechanism of the industrial policy in order to provide "theoretical consistency" and "technical and Statistical requirements" for targeting the growth stimulant factor effectively.

Emerging countries in Southeast Asia are facing considerable challenges in addressing rising motorisation and its negative impact on air quality, traffic, energy security, liveability, and greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, even as initial policies to address these issues are being agreed and implemented, current trends are incompatible with sustainable development and long-term climate change targets. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the approach and status of sustainable, low-carbon transport policy in ASEAN countries and identifies differences and similarities, with the aim of helping assessment of feasibility of future policies and informing future studies on policy innovations and cross-country learning. The methodology is based on the taxonomy of policy components developed by Howlett and Cashore, and our data on comprehensive country studies for Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam and interviews. We find that each country has a specific set of goals, objectives and targets that support sustainable transport, and, directly or indirectly, climate change mitigation. In terms of specific instruments and calibrations, which we analyse based on the Avoid-Shift-Improve approach, there are notable differences between the countries, for example in fuel economy policy.

By utilizing a generalized version of the Madelung quantum-hydrodynamic framework that incorporates noise, we derive a solution using the path integral method to investigate how a quantum superposition of states evolves over time. This exploration seeks to comprehend the process through which a stable quantum state ultimately emerges in the presence of fluctuations induced by the noisy gravitational background. The model defines the conditions that give rise to a limited range of interaction for the quantum potential, allowing for the existence of coarse-grained classical descriptions at a macroscopic level. The theory uncovers the smallest attainable level of uncertainty in an open quantum system and examines its consistency with the localized behavior observed in large-scale classical systems. The research delves into connections and similarities with decoherence theory and the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Additionally, it assesses the potential consequences of wave function decay on the measurement of photon entanglement. To validate the proposed theory, an experiment involving entangled photons transmitted between detectors on the Moon and Mars is discussed. Finally, the findings of the theory are applied to the creation of larger Q-bits systems at elevated temperatures.

We propose a new statistical analysis of the Acoustic Emissions (AE) produced in a series of triaxial deformation experiments leading to fractures and failure of two different rocks, namely, Darley Dale Sandstone (DDS) and AG Granite (AG). By means of q-statistical formalism, we are able to characterize the pre-failure processes in both types of rocks. In particular, we study AE inter-event time and AE inter-event distance distributions. Both of them can be reproduced with q-exponential curves, showing universal features which are observed here for the first time and could be important in order to understand more in detail rock fractures dynamics.

Beyond the usual ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases present in spin systems, the usual q-state clock model, presents an intermediate vortex state when the number of possible orientations q for the system is equal to 5 or larger. Such vortex states give rise to the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase present up to the XY model in the limit q→∞. Based on information theory, we present here an analysis of the classical order parameters plus new short-range parameters defined here. Thus, we show that even using the first nearest neighbors spin-spin correlations only, it is possible to distinguish the two transitions presented by this system for q greater than or equal to 5. Moreover, the appearance at relatively low temperature and disappearance of the BKT phase at a rather fix higher temperature is univocally determined by the short-range interactions recognized by the information content of classical and new parameters.

Machine learning is an established and frequently used technique in industry and academia but a standard process model to improve success and efficiency of machine learning applications is still missing. Project organizations and machine learning practitioners have a need for guidance throughout the life cycle of a machine learning application to meet business expectations. We therefore propose a process model for the development of machine learning applications, that covers six phases from defining the scope to maintaining the deployed machine learning application. The first phase combines business and data understanding as data availability oftentimes affects the feasibility of the project. The sixth phase covers state-of-the-art approaches for monitoring and maintenance of a machine learning applications, as the risk of model degradation in a changing environment is eminent. With each task of the process, we propose quality assurance methodology that is suitable to address challenges in machine learning development that we identify in form of risks. The methodology is drawn from practical experience and scientific literature and has proven to be general and stable. The process model expands on CRISP-DM, a data mining process model that enjoys strong industry support but lacks to address machine learning specific tasks. Our work proposes an industry and application neutral process model tailored for machine learning applications with focus on technical tasks for quality assurance.

In this paper, inspired by Jleli and Samet [journal of inequalities and applications 38 (2014) 2 1–8] we introduce two new classes of auxiliary functions and utilize the same to define (q, y)R-weak 3 contractions. Utilizing (q, y)R-weak contractions, we prove some fixed point theorems in the setting 4 of relational metric spaces. We employ some examples to substantiate the utility of our newly proved 5 results. Finally, we apply one of our newly proved results to ensure the existence and uniqueness of 6 solution of a Volterra-type integral equation.

The statistics of grain displacements probability distribution function (pdf) during the shear of a granular medium displays an unusual dependence with the shear increment upscaling as recently evinced [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115 238301 2015]. Basically, the pdf of grain displacements has clear nonextensive ($q$-Gaussian) features at small scales but approaches to Gaussian characteristics at large shear window scales -- the granulence effect. Here, we extend this analysis studying a larger system (more grains considered in the experimental setup) which exhibits a severe shear band fault during the macroscopic straining. We calculate the pdf of grain displacements and the dependency of the $q$-statistics with the shear increment. This analysis have shown a singular behavior of $q$ at large scales, displaying a non-monotonic dependence with the shear increment. By means of an independent image analysis, we demonstrate that this singular non-monotonicity could be associated with the emergence of a shear band within the confined system. We show that the exact point where the $q$-value inverts its tendency coincides with the emergence of a giant percolation cluster along the system, caused by the shear band. We believe that this original approach using Statistical Mechanics tools to identify shear bands can be a very useful piece to solve the complex puzzle of the rheology of dense granular systems.

In this paper, we investigate p-adic q-integral (q-Volkenborn integral) on Z_p of p-adic gamma function via their Mahler expansions. We also derived two q-Volkenborn integrals of p-adic gamma function in terms of q-Daehee polynomials and numbers and q-Daehee polynomials and numbers of the second kind. Moreover, we discover q-Volkenborn integral of the derivative of p-adic gamma function. We acquire the relationship between the p-adic gamma function and Stirling numbers of the first kind. We finally develop a novel and interesting representation for the p-adic Euler constant by means of the q-Daehee polynomials and numbers.

In this paper we introduce the hypo-q-norms on a Cartesian product of inner product spaces. A representation of these norms in terms of inner products, the equivalence with the q-norms on a Cartesian product and some reverse inequalities obtained via the scalar Shisha-Mond, Birnacki et al., Grüss type inequalities, Boas-Bellman and Bombieri type inequalities are also given.

We attempted to establish an objective method to accurately evaluate the motility of bull sperm and examined the effects of media for sperm suspensions and frame rates on data of computer-assisted sperm motility analysis (CASA). Sperm incubated in Brackett and Oliphant medium (BO) more clearly showed hyperactivation-like motility than those in synthetic oviductal fluid. Sperm images captured at 150 frames per second (fps) showed a trajectory that was closer to the real pathway than those at other frame rates (30, 50, and 75 fps). We then examined the characteristics of sex-sorted and non-sorted semen using a cluster analysis followed by a discriminant analysis of sperm motility in BO at 150 fps. The results indicated that sex-sorted semen contained sperm with hyperactivation-like motility as the main subpopulation immediately after thawing and this subpopulation decreased after 2-h incubation. The main subpopulation in non-sorted semen had progressive motility that was maintained during incubation. In conclusion, usage of BO for sperm suspensions and capturing sperm motility at 150 fps by CASA were appropriate for evaluating bovine sperm motility. A discriminant analysis using data from a cluster analysis of motile sperm has the ability to accurately describe differences in the structures of sperm motility subpopulations.

Given the opportunities offered by foreign investment in energy infrastructure mostly by Chinese firms, the Government of Cambodia is giving high priority to developing hydropower resources for reducing energy poverty and powering economic growth. Using a “Political ecology of the Asian drivers” framework, this paper assesses China’s involvement in the development of large dams’ in Cambodia and its impacts on the access of natural resources such as water and energy by dam builders, local communities and the government. This analysis is based on 61 interviews and 10 focus group discussions with affected communities, institutional actors, Chinese dam builders and financiers in relation to the first large Chinese dam built in Cambodia, the Kamchay dam. Based on the results of the analysis this paper makes recommendations on how to improve the planning, implementation and governance of large dams to ensure that the dams’ benefits are shared more equally.

Older adults with obesity have an increased risk for cognitive decline and subsequent Alzheimer’s disease. Previous research has focused on the impact of individual nutrients and overall dietary patterns to improve cognitive function. The Brain and Body Health (BB-Health) study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a multicomponent nutritional supplement (MCNS) and weight loss (WL) intervention for individuals with overweight and obesity who are not consuming a healthy diet. BB-Health is a parallel-group randomized placebo-controlled 2x2 factorial pilot trial comparing the MCNS, WL, and MCNS+WL with a Control group. Eligible participants are 55 to 85 years of age with a body mass index 27.0 to 39.9 kg/m2. Major exclusion criteria include type 2 diabetes, moderate or severe cognitive impairment, and self-reported healthy dietary pattern. The BB-Health feasibility trial is registered as NCT05542199 at clinicaltrials.gov. The BB-Health objectives are to report: 1) recruitment and enrollment, including pace and descriptive statistics of the study sample; 2) adherence to the administered interventions; 3) successful data collection and performance of outcome assessments, including evaluation of change in key outcomes over time that are powered for this pilot study; and 4) summary statistics on outcomes for use in planning a subsequent, larger trial. The outcomes of interest are age-sensitive cognitive assessments, cerebral hemodynamics, and related health parameters. All measurements are collected at baseline, 3-, 6-, and 12-month visits. If the BB-Health protocol demonstrates feasibility, the novel MCNS with and without a parallel WL intervention has potential to be administered in a confirmatory randomized trial to evaluate ability to prevent age-related cognitive decline and improve brain health. The BB-Health Feasibility Study could significantly contribute to our understanding of the influence of diet and weight management on cognitive health

(S)-Atenolol ((S)-2-(4-(2-Hydroxy-3-(isopropylamino)propoxy)phenyl)acetamide) has been synthesized in >99% ee with use of Candida antarctica lipase B from Syncozymes (Shanghai, China), in a kinetic resolution of the corresponding racemic chlorohydrin. Deprotonation of the starting phenol building block was base catalyzed. The enantiopurity of the chlorohydrin building block remained unchanged upon subsequent amination. All four steps in the synthesis protocol have been optimized compared to previously reported methods, which makes this new protocol more sustainable and in accordance with green chemistry principles compared to previously reported protocols.

A problem involving the government's inspection of coins in Lower Slobbovia is discussed in the \emph{American Mathematical Monthly}. It is desirable to classify and correct counterfeit coins by utilizing the fewest possible measures. However, previous article only proves the existence of the solution, which does not give a practical solution to the problem. This note provides effective methods to achieve the identification of coiners using dirac delta function and singularity function. Moreover, unit-order construction of continuum mappings and discretization of unique basis vectors with semi-expansion are established in S-base space.

Symmetry concepts in parametrized dynamical systems may reduce the number of external parameters by a suitable normalization prescription. If, under the action of a symmetry group G, parameter space A becomes a (locally) trivial principal bundle, A ~ A/G x G, then the normalized dynamics only depends on the quotient A/G. In this way, the dynamics of fractional variables in homogeneous epidemic SI(R)S models, with standard incidence, absence of R-susceptibility and compartment independent birth and death rates, turns out to be isomorphic to (a marginally extended version of) Hethcote's classic endemic model, first presented in 1973. The paper studies a 10-parameter master model with constant and I -linear vaccination rates, vertical transmission and a vaccination rate for susceptible newborns. As recently shown by the author, all demographic parameters are redundant. After adjusting time scale, the remaining 5-parameter model admits a 3-dimensional abelian scaling symmetry. By normalization we end up with Hethcote's extended 2-parameter model. Thus, in view of symmetry concepts, reproving theorems on endemic bifurcation and stability in such models becomes needless.

Rational demonstration in favor of God`s existence was a fundamental theme in Indian theism — īçvara-vāda (teaching about Īçvara), original theistic metaphysics in classical Indian Philosophy. Traditionally, Nyāya together with Vaiċeşika and Yoga are regarded as the most theistic Indian systems that assert Īçvara — personal Divine Absolute with such attributes as perfect and supreme consciousness, compassion, etc. Udayana (X-XI cc.), an eminent Indian philosopher of the Nyāya school, performed a highly-sophisticated and elaborated defense of God`s existence, especially in his brilliant opus called “Nyāya-kusumāņjali” (NK), where he presented his famous eight proofs in the severe polemics with opponents (nirīçvara-vādins). By the end of XX century, translators and interpreters of NK started the process of actualization of Udayana`s argumentation in detail. Cosmological proofs in NK present Īçvara as Supreme Cause of the universe, its numerical structure and initial impulse. Udayana`s theism resembles metaphysical principles of ancient, medieval philosophy and contemporary Thomism. Besides comparative analysis, this article undertakes the questions of God`s transcendence and immanence, co-relation between reason and belief in Udayana`s works. Lately, scholars have stressed that Udayana has been deprived of sufficient attention though his heritage and original rational arguments for God`s existence can enrich world theism and theology.

The relationship between Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease, and palmitoylation, a post-translational lipid modification, is not well understood. In this study, we have analyzed the differential palmitome present in the cerebral cortex of PD patients compared to controls (n=4 per group) to better understand the role of protein palmitoylation in PD and the pathways altered in this disease. Data-mining of the cortical palmitome from PD patients and controls has allowed to: i) detect a set of 150 proteins with altered palmitoylation in PD subjects in comparison with controls, ii) describe the biological pathways and targets predicted to be altered by these palmitoylation changes, and iii) depict the overlap between the differential palmitome identified in our study with protein interactomes of the PD-linked proteins α-synuclein, LRRK2, DJ-1, PINK1, GBA and UCHL1. In summary, we have partially characterized the altered palmitome in the cortex of PD patients which is predicted to impact cytoskeleton, mitochondrial and fibrinogen functions, as well as cell survival. Our study points out that protein palmitoylation could have a role in the pathophysiology of PD, and that comprehensive palmitoyl-proteomics offers a powerful approach for elucidating novel cellular pathways modulated in this neurodegenerative disease.

Many years and $$$ spent for research did not yet produced a universally effective gene therapy of prostate cancer (PCa). Our studies indicated that not only each human, but even each cancer nodule in the same tumor has unique and dynamic gene expression profile, control and coordination. The tumor heterogeneity of the transcriptome topology is a strong argument in favor of personalized gene therapies, tailored on patients’ primary tumor unique characteristics. Here, we propose a bioinformatics procedure by which to identify the Gene Master Regulators (GMR) of cancer cells from transcriptomic data and predict consequences of their experimental manipulation. The procedure, based on our Genomic Fabric Paradigm (GFP), can determine the most important gene in each cancer nodule whose controlled alteration would selectively kill the cancer cells. In this report, the method is applied to our microarray data on two men PCs (each with three distinct cancer nodules) and two standard human PCa cell lines (DU145 and LNCaP). We expect the industry to produce ready-to-use CRISPR constructs for all genes allowing the clinical oncologist to prescribe the adequate personalized CRISPR cocktail for his/her patient. Thus, the GMR approach may provide the most effective, yet affordable solution in fighting cancer.

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of histone residues shape the landscape of gene expression by modulating the dynamic process of RNAPII transcription. The contribution of particular histone modifications to the definition of distinct RNAPII transcription stages remains poorly characterized in plants. Chromatin Immuno-precipitation combined with next-generation sequencing (ChIP-seq) resolves the genomic distribution of histone modifications. Here, we review histone PTM ChIP-seq data in Arabidopsis thaliana and find support for a Genomic Positioning System (GPS) that guides RNAPII transcription. We review the roles of histone PTM “readers”, “writers” and “erasers”, with a focus on the regulation of gene expression and biological functions in plants. The distinct functions of RNAPII transcription during the plant transcription cycle may in part rely on the characteristic histone PTMs profiles that distinguish transcription stages.

In the present work we study the properties of geodesic sub-$ (\alpha,b,s) $-preinvex functions on Hadamard manifolds and establish some basic properties in both general and differential cases. Further, we study sufficient conditions of optimality and proved some new inequalities under geodesic sub-($ \alpha,b,s $)-preinvexity.

This manuscript introduces prospective hard engineering solutions to continuous episodic erosional events on beaches utilized for recreation and tourism. The basis of this paper is information from a modeling study completed in 2011 on a two mile stretch of beach in South Carolina. The study utilized three alternative groin systems and a no groin option. The optimum spacing of the groin applications and the retention rate of a replenished beach at the location was determined based on running a computer model (Genesis) for the environmental conditions (wave climate, littoral transport, etc.) at the demonstration site. It was also determined that the innovative groin alternative presented in this paper would likely develop as the most effective cost/benefit relationship among the more conventional alternatives utilized in the United States. The experimental groin system (modular adjustable permeable groin(s) MAPG) was calculated to save initial construction costs by 25% to 30%as compared to the other alternatives. This was significant when considering that adjacent beach impacts are minimized and the beach berm is better protected over the typical beach re-nourishment cycle. This paper attempts to facilitate further discussion of regional sediment budget and (coastal zone) management by bridging the divide between choosing only sand nourishment vs. engineered structures. We demonstrate that reintroducing engineered structures in combination with beach nourishment can be a cost effective solution to episodic erosional events over time while allowing longshore sediment transport.

Coenzyme Q (CoQ) is a lipidic compound widely distributed in nature with crucial functions in metabolism, protection against oxidative damage and ferroptosis, and other processes. CoQ biosynthesis is a conserved and complex pathway involving several proteins. COQ2 is a member of the UbiA family of transmembrane prenyltransferases that catalyzes the condensation of the head and tail precursors of CoQ, a key step in the process because its product is the first intermediate that will be modified in the head by the next component of the synthesis process. Mutations in this protein have been linked to primary CoQ deficiency in humans, a rare disease predominantly affecting organs with a high energy demand. The reaction catalyzed by COQ2 and its mechanism are still unknown. Here we aimed at clarifying COQ2 reaction by exploring possible substrate binding sites using a strategy based on homology, comprising the identification of ligand-bound homologs with solved structures available in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and their subsequent structural superposition to the AlphaFold predicted model for COQ2. The results highlight some residues located on the central cavity or the matrix loops that may be involved in substrate interaction, some of them mutated in primary CoQ deficiency patients. Furthermore, we analyze the structural modifications introduced by the pathogenic mutations found in humans. These findings shed new light on the understanding of COQ2 function and, thus, CoQ biosynthesis and pathogenicity of primary CoQ deficiency.

Towards smart batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) smart algorithms to control battery packs, mainly reconfigurable batteries, have to be developed. This work proposes a reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm to balance the State of Charge (SoC) of reconfigurable batteries based on the topologies half-bridge and battery modular multilevel management (BM3). As RL algorithm, Amortized Q-learning (AQL) is implemented, which allows enourmous numbers of possible configurations of the reconfigurable battery to be controlled, as well as the combination of classical controlling approach and machine learning methods. This enables safety mechanisms in control. As a neural network of the AQL a Feedforward Neuronal Network (FNN) is implemented consisting of three hidden layers. The experimental evaluation using a 12-cell hybrid cascaded multilevel converter illustrates the applicability of the method to balance the SoC and maintain the balanced state during discharge. The evaluation shows a 20.3% slower balancing compared to the classical. Nevertheless, AQL shows great potential to be applied for multiobjective optimizations as an applicable RL algorithm for control in power electronics.

Given the AdS/CFT relationship, the study of higher-dimensional AdS black holes is extremely important. Furthermore, since the restriction derived from $f(Q)$'s field equations which prevents it from deriving spherically symmetric black hole solutions, the result is either $Q'=0$ or $f_{QQ}=0$. We derive static anti-de-Sitter black holes in $D$-dimensions using the cylindrical coordinate in the framework of the cubic form of $f(Q)$ gravity, where the coincident gauge condition is imposed \cite{Heisenberg:2023lru,Maurya:2023muz}. Within this study we are going to use the power-law ansatz which is the most viable according to observations where $f(Q)=Q+\frac{1}2\gamma Q^2+\frac{1}3\gamma Q^3-2\Lambda$, and the condition $D \geq 4$ is satisfied. Since these solutions lack a general relativity limit, they belong to a brand-new solution class, the characteristics of which are derived only from the non-metricity $Q$ modification. We investigate the singularities of the solutions by computing the values of different curvature and non-metricity invariants. We discover that the solutions indeed have a central singularity, but because of the f(Q) impact, it is softer than in the typical general relativity case. In conclusion, we compute thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy, Hawking temperature, and entropy. These thermodynamic calculations confirm that our model is stable.

β-Ga2O3 crystal have attracted great attentions in the fields of photonics and photoelectronics because of its ultra wide-band gap and high thermal conductivity. Here, pure β-Ga2O3 crystal was successfully grown by optical floating zone (OFZ) method, and used as saturable absorbers to realize a passively Q-switched all-solid-state 1μm laser for the first time. By placing the as-grown β-Ga2O3 crystal into the resonator of Nd:GYAP solid-state laser, a Q-switched pulses at the center wavelength of 1080.4 nm are generated under a output coupling of 10%. The maximum output power is 191.5 mW while the shortest pulse width is 606.54 ns, and the maximum repetition frequency is 344.06 kHz. The maximum pulse energy and peak power are 0.567 μJ and 0.93 W, respectively. Our experimental results show that β-Ga2O3 crystal has great potential in the development of all-solid-state 1μm pulsed laser.

In this paper, we investigate several relations for p-adic gamma function by means of their Mahler expansion and fermionic p-adic q-integral on ℤ_{p}. We also derive two fermionic p-adic q-integrals of p-adic gamma function in terms of q-Boole polynomials and numbers. Moreover, we discover fermionic p-adic q-integral of the derivative of p-adic gamma function. We acquire a representation for the p-adic Euler constant by means of the q-Boole polynomials. We finally develop a novel, explicit and interesting representation for the p-adic Euler constant including Stirling numbers of the first kind.

In this paper we introduce the hypo-q-operator norm and hypo-q-numerical radius on a Cartesian product of algebras of bounded linear operators on Banach spaces. A representation of these norms in terms of semi-inner products, the equivalence with the q-norms on a Cartesian product and some reverse inequalities obtained via the scalar reverses of Cauchy-Buniakowski-Schwarz inequality are also given.

The environmental and social sustainability of seafood is jeopardized by rampant illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Regulations implemented by fishing countries and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations are insufficient to combat illegal fishing; complementary efforts from the consumer end of the supply chain are essential. Despite the growing reliance on imported seafood globally, only four market states have implemented legislation to regulate the legality of seafood products from other countries. We provide an overview of the existing import regulations to address the widespread confusion about the structure and scope of these measures. We propose eight key design criteria for more effective seafood import policies, emphasizing the need for a centralized, fully electronic catch documentation and import monitoring system with automated fraud checks and a broad scope of species covered. The Australian government is currently developing its new seafood import policy and has the opportunity to design a world-leading system that encourages multilateral cooperation to help combat illegal fishing. Through the implementation of import regulations that address key flaws in existing frameworks, market states like Australia can foster a more cohesive and effective front against illegally sourced seafood, improving the sustainability of global fisheries.

In this study, we employ the GARCH-MIDAS (Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity variant of Mixed Data Sampling) model to explore the predictability of commodity return volatility in relation to US climate policy uncertainty (CPU). Our analysis utilizes the 20-day annualized realized commodity volatility returns of nine global commodities (Aluminium, Cocoa, Coffee, Copper, Cotton, Rice, Soybean, Sugar, and Wheat) to construct the GARCH-MIDAS model, with Climate Policy Uncertainty (CPU) serving as the predictive variable. The outcomes of our investigation reveal a consistently positive and statistically significant relationship between CPU and the selected commodities. This implies that CPU effectively serves as a robust predictor of volatility in commodity returns. The implications drawn from our results suggest that climate change policies play a pivotal role in influencing economic activities within the commodity market. This underscores the substantial impact of climate change considerations on investment decisions and further emphasizes the integral role of climate change in shaping economic choices.

A promoting work for the elderly is an important way of empowering the participation of the elderly in society for economic development, which will lead to the well-being of the elderly. This is presented the policy proposal for elderly government officials employment in public sector organizations landscape study by policy research on EDFR which combines MACR, especially, elderly civil servants in public sector organizations of 56 - 60 years, and aged of 60 years to over, include the experts into the data. Comparing the employment forms elderly civil servants in public sector organizations of flexible employment and new employment models to differences at statistical significance level of 0.01, 0.05, respectively. Significance the policy proposal for elderly government officials employment at “Key” factors of the strategies, goals, measures, and operational guidelines to effectiveness.

In 2021 an acute energy crisis inflicted severe damage on the global economy, leading to escalated prices for electricity, gas, and fuel. In order to shield individuals and businesses from the mounting energy expenses, governments have been compelled to implement policy measures, including tax reductions, price restrictions or discounts, and subsidies. This research paper examines these policy responses through the lens of energy sufficiency. Energy poverty poses a significant threat to social cohesion and support for climate-related initiatives. Therefore, it is imperative to employ compensatory measures. However, the design of such solutions must carefully consider the incentives to reduce energy consumption and associated carbon emissions. The findings of the analysis demonstrate that the escalation of energy costs holds promise for achieving energy sufficiency. Nevertheless, the government's response to the surge in energy prices and energy poverty falls short and lacks precision. Most of the policy changes primarily focus on regressive energy cost subsidies and nudging households away from fossil fuels, but they fail to generate the necessary impetus for achieving energy sufficiency, which involves the elimination of energy poverty and excessive energy consumption.

When attempting to quantify future harms caused by carbon emissions and to set appropriate energy policies, it has been argued that the most important metric is the number of human deaths caused by climate change. Several studies have attempted to overcome the uncertainties associated with such forecasting. In this article, approaches to estimating future human deaths tolls from climate change are compared and synthesized, and implications for energy policy are considered. Several studies are consistent with the “1000-ton rule,” according to which a future person is killed every time 1000 tons of fossil carbon are burned (order-of-magnitude estimate). If warming reaches or exceeds 2°C this century, mainly richer humans will be responsible for killing roughly 1 billion mainly poorer humans through anthropogenic global warming. Such mass manslaughter is clearly unacceptable. On this basis, relatively aggressive energy policies are summarized that would enable immediate and substantive decreases to carbon emissions. The limitations to such calculations are outlined and future work is recommended to accelerate the decarbonization of the global economy while minimizing the number of sacrificed human lives.

The amendment or removal of superfluous government support policies is typically difficult, yet in the ever more important debate on low-carbon (i.e. clean) marine energy policy under the international law of climate action, the law of the sea, and international investment protection, there are additional dimensions of legal or economic peril. Coastal states enact policies subsidising clean energy investments, such as offshore wind energy generation, in their exclusive economic zones or continental shelves. Investors are attracted to the prospect that policies granting subsidies for ostensibly new industries are sufficiently durable. Are such subsidy policies salient or stale? In principle, the purpose of regulatory policy is the promotion of social welfare, and hence there is an optimal incidence, magnitude, and duration of the subsidy, in essence, an ideal strategy for starting, altering, or exiting such policy. We aim to introduce the concept of optimisation to the design and implementation of regulatory policy in this context. Our contribution is to offer three maxims of optimal clean marine energy law and policy: the efficiency and equity of alternative regulatory arrangements; the continuous optimisation of such arrangements; and the recognition of linguistic entanglements in the law. We test these maxims against the case of clean marine energy policy on offshore wind energy generation. One legal implication for international investment protection is that coastal states should establish a policy exit clause in their investment contracts. Our analysis of policy optimisation is generalisable across policies supporting the transition to sustainable energy forms.

In this research, we investigate the healthcare expenditure patterns in Uzbekistan, analyze their economic implications, and provide policy recommendations. The study focuses on the time frame from 2000 to 2019, employing quantitative data analysis, theoretical frameworks such as Wagner’s Law, and an economic geography perspective. Our objective is to gain insights into the relationship between economic development and healthcare spending, identify spatial disparities, and forecast future trends. The findings reveal fluctuations in per capita healthcare spending, emphasizing the necessity for sustainable financing mechanisms and preventive measures. Ultimately, our study underscores the significance of aligning healthcare expenditure decisions with economic objectives while prioritizing the well-being of the population.

There are two contrary opinions regarding the risk if mainland China (MC) moves away from its zero-COVID policy. Some experts think the risk shall be much lower than influenza as per MC’s own COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR), while some other experts think the risk shall be much higher than influenza as per the COVID-19 CFRs of other regions. We elucidate here that this and multiple other striking differences in the CFR between various scenarios all support and substantially resulted from the view that good IDM is highly powerful to mitigate COVID-19, where IDM (isolation-disinfection-maintenance) means isolation of COVID-19 cases from other people, disinfection of their living environments, and health maintenance (e.g., rest, nutrition, breathing). The high effect of good IDM is also supported by the theoretic functions of IDM in minimizing co-infections and maintaining body functions, and the fact that all the 505 COVID-19 deaths reported in MC in 2022 before May 5 died directly of severe underlying diseases with COVID-19. Although it is tough for people in poverty to obtain good IDM, good IDM can be feasible at home for the most mild cases and in hospitals for the most severe cases. Therefore, good IDM can be crucial to mitigating COVID-19 worldwide. It also suggests that the risk for China to end its zero-COVID policy depends on China’s control policies or measures. Based on the effect of IDM, the cautious co-existence policy was proposed for COVID-19 control. This policy could reduce the whole death toll in MC because good IDM is non-specific and can reduce deaths of various other diseases. The cautious co-existence policy (non-specific) and the vaccination policy (specific) aid each other to mitigate COVID-19, and they cannot replace each other. Those who are qualified in health for vaccination should be vaccinated against COVID-19 timely.

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease acquired through contact with contaminated freshwater. The definitive hosts are terrestrial mammals, including humans, with some Schistosoma species crossing the animal-human boundary through zoonotic transmission. An estimated 12 million people live at risk of zoonotic schistosomiasis caused by Schistosoma japonicum and Schistosoma mekongi, largely in the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific Region and in Indonesia. Mathematical models have played a vital role in our understanding of the biology, transmission, and impact of intervention strategies, however, these have mostly focused on non-zoonotic Schistosoma species. Whilst these non-zoonotic-based models capture some aspects of zoonotic schistosomiasis transmission dynamics, the commonly-used frameworks are yet to adequately capture the complex epi-ecology of multi-host zoonotic transmission. However, overcoming these knowledge gaps goes beyond transmission dynamics modelling. To improve model utility and enhance zoonotic schistosomiasis control programmes, we highlight three pillars that we believe are vital to sustainable interventions at the implementation (community) and policy-level, and discuss the pillars in the context of a One-Health approach, recognising the interconnection between humans, animals and their shared environment. These pillars are: (1) human and animal epi-ecological understanding; (2) economic considerations (such as treatment costs and animal losses); and (3) sociological understanding, including inter- and intra-human and animal interactions. These pillars must be built on a strong foundation of trust, support and commitment of stakeholders and involved institutions.

Capability assessment plays a crucial role in the demonstration and construction of equipment. To improve the accuracy and stability of capability assessment, we study the neural network learning algorithms in the field of capability assessment and index sensitivity. Aiming at the problem of over-fitting and parameter optimization in neural network learning, the paper proposes an improved machine learning algorithm—the Ensemble Learning Based on Policy Optimization Neural Networks (ELPONN) algorithm with the policy optimization and ensemble learning. This algorithm presents optimized neural network learning algorithm through different strategies evolution, and builds an ensemble learning model of multi-intelligent algorithms to assessment the capability and analyze the sensitivity of the indexes. Through the assessment of capabilities, the algorithm effectively avoids parameter optimization from entering the minimum point in performance to improve the accuracy of equipment capability assessment, which is significantly better than previous neural network assessment methods. The experimental results show that the mean relative error is 4.10%, which is better than BP, GABP, and early stopping. The ELPONN algorithm has better accuracy and stability performance, and meets the requirements of capability assessment.

The resource curse indicates that economic growth performs poorly in countries with significant natural resources. Nevertheless, certain countries rich in energy managed to protect their resource riches in the long run. It is necessary to enforce effective policies in resource-rich countries to fully leverage the advantages which can come from the abundance of natural resources. This study aimed to evaluate how oil-rich countries would avoid resource flows by successful fiscal and management policies. By taking the guidance of Norway and implementing fiscal policy focused on tax rules on its oil management, it is proposed that oil-exporting countries benefit significantly. The framework attempts to mitigate this resource curse and utilise oil revenues in the interest of the country.

The present article analyzes the integration of green building policy and practice with the largest low-income housing production program in the US and the innovativeness of its housing agencies. Drawing on policy innovation literature, panel data and regression analysis are employed to quantify associations between state-level characteristics and the adoption of green building criteria into the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. Results show that, on average, housing agencies have increasingly adopted green building criteria, and most have identified co-benefits from energy-efficient buildings and smart growth. Despite overall progress, the rate of adoption of green building criteria has decreased, few states have comprehensive criteria, and many have dropped important criteria, such as on-site renewable energy generation. Results are consistent with hypotheses derived from the literature and suggest the integration of green building with LIHTC developments is significantly associated with government motivation, financial resources, and exogenous characteristics that affect the demand for green building. Future research should explore organization-level factors that affect environmental policy innovation. It is recommended that LIHTC housing agencies require compliance with green building rating systems and periodically reconfigure green building criteria based on planned evolutionary change, data-driven strategies, and life-cycle analyses towards zero net energy consumption.

Background: As the opioid epidemic continues, understanding the geospatial, temporal and demand patterns is important for policymakers to assign resources and interdict individual, organization, and country-level bad actors. Methods: GIS geospatial-temporal analysis and extreme-gradient boosted random forests evaluate ICD-10 F11 opioid-related admissions and admission rates using geospatial analysis, demand analysis, and explanatory models, respectively. The period of analysis was January 2016 through September 2018. Results: The analysis shows existing high opioid admissions in Chicago and New Jersey with emerging areas in Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. High rates of admission (claims per 10,000 population) exist in the Appalachian area and on the Northeastern seaboard. Explanatory models suggest that hospital overall workload and financial variables might be used for allocating opioid-related treatment funds effectively. Gradient-boosted random forest models accounted for 87.8% of the variability of claims on blinded 20% test data. Conclusions: Based on the GIS analysis, opioid admissions appear to have spread geographically, while higher frequency rates are still found in some regions. Interdiction efforts require demand-analysis such as that provided in this study to allocate scarce resources for supply-side and demand-side interdiction: prevention, treatment, and enforcement. Based on GIS analysis, the opioid epidemic is likely to spread or diffuse through the country, and interdiction efforts require demand-analysis such as that provided in this study to allocate scarce resources for supply-side and demand-side interdiction: prevention, treatment, and enforcement.

Energy taxation is used globally as a means of energy policy. Energy tax plays an important role as a driving force for the conversion to environmentally friendly energy. The basic tax principles considered in the design of energy taxation increases the efficiency of policy instruments. The purpose of this study is to evaluate South Korea’s energy taxation based on tax principles, namely, equity, efficiency, simplicity, flexibility, and accountability and suggest directions for improvement. This study applied a methodology that provides policy implications, such as reviewing existing literature and comparing energy taxes. Results of this study show that South Korea’s energy taxation is negative in terms of equity, simplicity, and accountability. South Korea’s current energy tax is regressive to income classes and complex tax structures and it does not objectively measure the impact of energy taxation. However, energy taxation is evaluated positively in terms of efficiency and flexibility because it meets the greenhouse gas reduction policy and operates a flexible tax rate. The results of this analysis provide policy implications for reorganizing South Korea’s energy taxation.

The financial inclusion, including all the people with the finance, is very concerned issue all over the world where Bangladesh is also trying to include all the people with the finance. Bangladesh lies in such a group of countries where only 17.6% - 38.6% adults are presently under the reach of the formal financial services. This is because the present banks and other formal financial modes consider the outcome and profitability in a way that, the rural and non-developed areas are always out of the consideration. But these areas consist of the most population of Bangladesh. And only then financial inclusiveness will be successful in Bangladesh when people from these regions will be under formal financial consideration. The paper seeks for a solution to the issue and presents the Unit Banking System as a probable way towards financial inclusion. For implementing the system in Bangladesh, the system needs a slight modification to cope in Bangladeshi economic condition and address the specific needs without hampering the surroundings. Considering all these, the paper shows the status, problems and key points of financial scenario of inclusion in Bangladesh and shows policy for a Modified Unit banking System.

Urban areas face daunting economic challenges that have increased in scope in recent years. At the same time, cities provide for opportunities for growth and value creation. The interplay of these challenges and opportunities represents the area of intervention for policymakers and researchers. However, the traditional approach to urban policy, deriving from the managerial and economic policy theories, shows difficulties mainly related to the capacity to counterbalance the interests and expectations of a multitude of stakeholders participating to the value co-creation process and to bring all different components to synergically contribute to the sustainability of the system. The Author proposes an innovative approach to urban public policy, by adopting the theoretical corpus of the Viable Systems Approach ("VSA"). Urban planning will be particularly analysed, as systemic components of urban areas, with the aim to investigate the decision-making processes for an integrated, efficient, effective and sustainable management of the territory as a multidimensional, multisectoral and multi-stakeholder entity. By recovering different settings, the VSA intends the co-creation of value as the capacity of the viable systems to increase its surviving chances in its own context. The value derives, first of all, from the strategic decisions aimed at finding both dyadic and context consonance. Through its strategic decisions, the Governing Body of the territory develops a specific system as the overall synthesis of all possible systems organised within a specific area, identifying pattern of development agreed by the several stakeholders of the territory. In the dynamics of value co-creation in systemic multi-subjective organizations, where the level of complexity is particularly significant, the research for consonance among different stakeholders is particular important in order to achieve the most value for the territory. In this respect, the VSA may constitute a valid tool, helping to find the necessary capacities to imagine evolutionary paths towards new competencies.

With the proliferation of locating devices, more and more raw spatial trajectories are formed, and many works enrich these raw trajectories with semantics, and mine patterns from both raw and semantic trajectories, but access control of spatial trajectories is not considered yet. We present a multi-policy secure model for semantic spatial trajectories. In our model, Mandatory Access Control, Role Based Access Control and Discretionary Access control are all enforced, separately and combined, and we represent the model semi-formally in Ontology Web Language.

This paper presents a new methodology that provides the analysis of surface texture changes in areas adjacent to the volcano and its impact product of volcanic activity. To do this, algorithms from digital image processing such as the co-occurrence matrix and the wavelet transform are used. These methods are working on images taken by the Landsat satellite platform sensor 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM + sensor, and implemented with the purpose of evaluating superficial changes that can warn of surface movements of the volcano. The results were evaluated by similarity metrics for grayscale images, and validated in two different scenarios that have the same type of eruption, but differ, essentially, in climate and vegetation. Finally, the proposed algorithm is presented, setting the parameters and constraints for implementation and use.

This study examined the efficacy of essential oil (EO) obtained from the Australian native plants, lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) (LM) to inhibit Penicillium digitatum by in vitro agar diffusion and vapor assay, and in inoculated oranges. Gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry analysis revealed the main constituent of LM EO as citral. Pure citral was also included in the experiment for com-parison. LM EO at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 µL disc-1 in the in vitro tests significantly inhibited fungal growth compared to the non-treated control. Moreover, LM EO at 4 and 5 µL disc-1 in both the assays completely inhibited fungal growth similar to its main component of citral. Inoculated oranges dipped in 1000 μL L-1 LM EO solutions for 5, 10, 15 and 30 sec showed significantly lower fungal wounds compared to control. While higher dipping times generated slight rind injury, a 5 and 10 sec dip did not cause any injury to the fruit rind. The quality assessments and sensory evaluations also revealed that the addition of LM EO did not adversely affect the quality and taste of the oranges. These findings suggest LM EO as an alternative to synthetic fungicides to inhibit wastage in citrus during storage.

Aquaculture is growing rapidly as a food-producing sector and in recent years, fishmeal prices have climbed by more than twofold on a global scale. This review of previous studies was performed to contribute to the extant literature on the aquaculture sector to aid cost reduction of aquafeeds by identifying substitute protein that can replace fishmeal. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) using the SCOPUS and WOS (Web of Science), DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), Academia, and Pubmed Central databases with the following search terms: “fishmeal,” “alternative protein source” and “aquafeeds.” This resulted in 5,331 articles from the SCOPUS and WOS databases. Finally, the titles and abstracts of the articles were screened, giving a total of 162 articles that were used in the study; another 58 articles came from open databases. Results have shown that 100% replacement of fishmeal with blood meal did not affect the growth of fish as well as 75% to 100% combination of poultry-by-product (PBM), feather meal (FEM), and blood meal (BM). Moreover, a 10% replacement of fishmeal using seaweed (Gracilaria arcuata) has no adverse effect on feed efficiency and growth performance of tilapia, a 50% replacement of fishmeal using black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), and 25% replacement using soybean (Glycine max) also showed better results for fish growth. With that, this review shows that alternative protein can be a great alternative to the aquaculture sector in reducing the cost of aquafeeds since alternative proteins are much cheaper than the usual fishmeal.

The use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in education brings up new possibilities of promoting the learning and health experiences. In this sense, education contexts of 21st century must consider these two areas of knowledge, especially their integration. This article presents learning practices developed with mobile devices and games, in order to improve learning and well-being in children and adolescents undergoing cancer treatment in non-formal educational setting. The methodology is based on qualitative case studies with content-based data analysis, involving informal interviews and observation methods. The study considers data from 5 patients who participated in the research between 2015 and 2019. The results demonstrate a positive influence of the practices with mobile technologies and games in terms of learning and in the well-being feeling of patients during the treatment.

Pekalongan is one of several cities that lies in the northern coast of Java island which is often flooded due to sea level rise. This condition impacted its urban development characteristic and increase in the future. In this research both Geographical Information System based and Spatial Metric approach are used. The spatial pattern is analyzed by using spatial metric based on the exploration of land use change that occurred. In this research, the spatial pattern is focused on aggregation pattern and diversity in coastal area. The result shows that the land use of coastal area are dominated with swamp, then followed by settlement and fishpond. It is also shown that the greatest land use change occurred on paddy field and swamp areas. Based on the spatial metric calculation, the aggregation level of land use decrease periodically and has a small growth level. It is indicated from its metric value aggregation and diversity from two periods: 2003-2009 and 2009-2016. Overall the land use of Pekalongan experienced large dynamics, especially in its coastal area. The spatial pattern trend in those area tend to be more sprawl as defined by the decrease of aggregation pattern and low level of land use growth pattern.

Given the landscape of intricate and constantly evolving cyber threats, organizations demand refined strategies to deploy a Security Information and Event Management to support the management of a Cyber Security Operations Center. The dynamic nature of cyber threats complicates the efficient allocation of the location of network intrusion detection sensors, a critical component of a robust cybersecurity framework. Our research introduces an approach that integrates the precision of biomimetic optimization algorithms with the adaptability of Deep Q–Learning. By employing different biomimetic algorithms enhanced with deep learning, we aim to refine the deployment of sensors in network infrastructures, balancing the network security imperative against deployment costs. The results of computational tests demonstrate that the improved iterations leveraging Deep Q–Learning have outperformed their native counterparts. These findings underscore the importance of reinforcement learning, specifically through Deep Q–Learning, as a powerful tool to enhance the effectiveness of metaheuristics in addressing optimization challenges.

The high-speed railway operation environment monitoring network system has a wide variety of sensors and inconsistent business requirements, which have certain requirements for data transmission delay and network life. Most of the previous research focuses only on prolonging network lifetime or reducing data transmission delays when designing or optimizing routing protocols, without co-designing the two. In addition, due to the harsh operating environment of high-speed railways, when the network changes dynamically, the traditional routing algorithm will generate unnecessary redesigns and lead to high overhead. Based on the actual needs of high-speed railway operation environment monitoring, this paper proposes a novel Double Q-values adaptive model combined with the existing reinforcement learning method, which considers the energy balance of the network and real-time data transmission, and constructs energy saving and delay. The two-dimensional reward avoids the extra overhead of maintaining a global routing table while capturing network dynamics. In addition, the adaptive weight coefficient is used to ensure the adaptability of the model to each business of the high-speed railway operation environment monitoring system. Finally, simulations and performance evaluations are carried out and compared with previous studies.Finally, simulations and performance evaluations are carried out and compared with previous studies. The results show that the proposed routing algorithm successfully extends the network’s life cycle and gets good real-time data performance. It also saves energy and has fewer delays than the other three routing protocols in different situations.

Limited availability of expensive alloying elements elevates low-alloyed steels to a unique position in the field of lightweight construction and mass production. Quenching and partitioning (Q&P) heat treatments of low-alloyed steels with exceptional property combinations are particularly promising. In this study, we characterize for the first time a new low-alloyed steel to be processed by Q&P heat treatments. In combined experimental and numerical studies, we design a novel approach that effectively combines the short cycle times of press hardening with the excellent property profiles of Q&P-treated steels. We identify appropriate transformation parameters for Q&P heat treatments by dilatometric studies and we adjust a number of reference conditions with different isothermal holding times. By means of SEM analysis and XRD measurements, we show that different fractions of retained austenite result in different mechanical properties. Initial numerical designs of the process can identify varying temperature profiles and cooling rates depending on the position in the die. The results show that the geometry of the part plays a minor role, but the die temperature is the dominant factor for successful partitioning directly in the press hardening process.

In this study, we introduce a new class of bi-univalent functions using q-Janowski Function. We derive the Fekete-Szegö functional problems for functions in this new subclass, as well as estimates for the Taylor-Maclaurin coefficients |α2| and |α3|. Furthermore, a collection of fresh outcomes are3 presented by customizing the parameters employed in our initial discoveries.

We construct a novel family of summation-integral type hybrid operators in terms of shape parameter $\alpha\in \lbrack 0,1]$ in this paper. Basic estimates, rate of convergence, and order of approximation are also studied using the Korovkin theorem and the modulus of smoothness. We investigate the local approximation findings for these sequences of positive linear operators utilising Peetre's K-functional, Lipschitz class, and second-order modulus of smoothness.

Increasing the quality factor (Q) of an optical resonator device has been a research focus to be utilized in various applications. Higher Q-factor means light is confined in a longer time which will produce a shaper peak and higher transmission. In this paper, we introduce a novel technique to increase further the Q-factor of a one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D PhC) cavity device by using an end loop-mirror (ELM). The technique utilizes and recycles the light transmission from the conventional 1D PhC cavity design. The design has been proved to work by using the 2.5D FDTD simulation with Lumerical FDTD and MODE softwares. By using the ELM technique, the Q- factor of a 1D PhC design has been shown to have increased up to 79.53 % from the initial Q value without the ELM. This novel design technique can be combined with any high Q-factor and very high Q-factor designs to increase more the Q-factor value of a photonic crystal cavity devices or any other suitable optical resonator devices. The experimental result shows that the device is measurable by adding a Y-branch component to the one-port structure and able to get the high-Q result.