With an aging population, the prevalence of geriatric diseases is increasing, especially among older individuals who live alone. This study investigates the potential of using TV viewing patterns to detect these diseases by analyzing variables such as daily average viewing time, peak viewing hours, and channel-switching behaviors. Significant correlations between TV viewing patterns and early indicators of geriatric diseases (depression, activities of daily living (ADL) performance, and cognitive function) were found. The correlations between the Korean form of the Geriatric Depression Scale (KGDS) and daily average viewing time and excessive channel switching were 0.320 and 0.308, respectively. The Korean version of the Modified Barthel Index (KMBI) showed correlations of -0.313 with daily average viewing time and -0.352 with excessive channel switching. Participants were divided into groups based on scores, and significant differences in peak viewing hours were observed among the different groups. The Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-K) groups showed significant differences at 3, 4, and 5 PM. The KGDS and KMBI groups showed significant differences at 8 PM and midnight and 1 AM and 2 AM, respectively. These findings suggest that TV viewing patterns can serve as effective early diagnostic indicators for geriatric diseases.

Background: Depressive symptoms are a serious public health problem that are associated with BADL and IADL disabilities in Chinese adults.Objective: The limitation of activities of daily living (ADL) affects the mental health of older adults. We distinguished activities of daily living into basic activities of daily living (BADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) to explore the relationship between these two limitations and depressive symptoms among older Chinese adults using nationally representative cross-sectional data. In addition, this study explored the relationships between BADL, IADL and depression risk in elderly people at the individual and provincial levels and in rural and urban subgroups.Methods: The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study(CHARLS) survey used a multistage probability‒proportional‒to-size (PPS) sampling technique. Province-level socioeconomic characteristics were merged with microdata for respondents over 60 years of age from the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS 2020) Wave 5 (n=10,036) by the author. The respondents were asked whether their BADL and IADL were limited . The risk of depression was assessed using the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale(CES-D 10). The chi-squared test was used to explore whether having a disability that limits BADL and IADL were associated with mental health status. A binary logistic regression model was used to evaluate this association further after controlling for confounding factors.Results: Overall, 27.5% (2759/10036) and 25.7% (2776/10036) of the participants over 60 years of age were limited in their BADL and IADL, respectively. Regression analyses revealed that older adults whose BADL were not limited (OR=1.942, 95% CI: 1.638–2.303, P < .001) and whose IADL were not limited (OR=1.775, 95% CI: 1.485–2.122, P < .001) had a lower risk of depression than older adults whose BADL and IADL were limited. In addition, older adults who were female (P <.001), were 60-69 years (P < .005), had a partner (P <0.001), were literate (P <.001), lived in a rural area (P <.001), had a retirement pension (P <.001), had 3 or more children (P < .001), did not have any chronic diseases (P < .001), had a fair SRH score (P < .001), drank alcohol (P < .001), exercised (P < .005), did not participate in social activities (P < .001), or had an above average per capita household consumption (P < .001) lived in provinces with the first quartile of GDP per capita (P < .001) and lived in provinces with the second quartile of the number of beds in medical institutions per 10,000 persons (P < .001) were more likely to experience depressive symptoms, while smoking had no effect. In a binary logistic regression, older adults who were single (OR=0.669, 95% CI=0.551, 0.812), illiterate (OR=0.646, 95% CI=0.504, 0.828), living in rural areas (OR=1.485, 95% CI=1.270, 1.735), without retirement pensions (OR=0.671, 95% CI=0.582, 0.819) and with very bad SRH scores (OR=0.411, 95% CI=0.311, 0.544) had a greater risk of depressive symptoms. In the binary logistic regression analysis of the urban and rural subgroups separately, the results indicated that old people whose BADL or IADL were not limited were associated with a risk of depression, especially rural (P < .001) and urban (P < .001) participants.Conclusions: The present study provides evidence of an association between BADL, IADL and depression in older Chinese adults. This study revealed that individuals with limited BADL and limited IADL were predominantly depressed older adults. Binary logistic regression models suggested that disabilities limiting BADL and IADL were more likely to be associated with depressive symptoms in rural Chinese older adults. Older adults should be encouraged to participate in moderate physical and social activities to prevent physical dysfunction. The government and social work organisations should pay attention to the mental health of older adults in rural areas.

Optimal upper extremity motor control and range of motion are necessary to achieve even the basic Activities of Daily Living (ADL) function. Stroke, with resulting hemiparesis, can significantly and negatively impact an individual’s ADL function. Functional Independence Measure (FIM) self-care score can provide assessment of what aspects and to what degree ADL functions are impaired. FIM self-care assessment can also track changes in ADL function during stroke recovery and rehabilitation. Recently, sensor-acquired 3D motion analysis of stroke patients’ upper extremity has shown promise as a potential alternative to assess ADL function. This observational study evaluates whether the sensor-acquired upper extremity reachable workspace (RWS) measure correlates with clinician-evaluated FIM self-care score in stroke patients. Seventeen patients with stroke were enrolled in the study. FIM self-care, NeuroQoL upper extremity, and reachable workspace outcome measures (relative surface area, RSA) were collected upon rehabilitation hospital admission, at discharge, and at 3-month visit. Pearson and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients as well as multiple linear regression analyses were used to determine the relationships between FIM self-care, NeuroQoL, and reachable workspace RSAs. Moderately strong correlation between total reachable workspace RSA and total FIM self-care score at discharge and at 3-month were noted (r=0.619, r=0.661, p&lt;0.05), and similarly strong correlation was also noted with the upper extremity NeuroQoL total score (r=0.690, r=0.815, p&lt;0.05). Multiple linear regression analyses revealed a change in bilateral total RSA of 0.1 unit from admission to 3-month follow up correlated with respective change in FIM self-care score of 2.011 points (95%CI: 0.663-3.360). Longitudinal improvement in ADL function during stroke rehabilitation and recovery process is correlated with improvement in reachable workspace.

As the number of older adults with dementia increases, early diagnosis and intervention are crucially important. The purpose of this study was to conduct dementia screening on older adults to determine whether there are differences in daily activities of living, depression, loneliness, social support, and life satisfaction between older adults at high-risk for dementia compared with low-risk older adults. We hypothesized a negative relationship between high-risk older adults and these factors. This study also hypothesized a moderating effect for social support on the relationship between daily living activities and life satisfaction. This study used a cross-sectional design with survey data. Participants were recruited at 15 public community health centers in South Korea. A total of 609 older adults (male 208, female 401) living in the community were screened for early dementia, and 113 participants (18.9 %) were assigned to the high-risk group. As hypothesized, participants in the high-risk group showed significantly more negative results ​​in terms of activities of daily living, depression, loneliness, social support, and life satisfaction compared with participants in the low-risk group. The findings of this study provide a theoretical basis for the importance of early screening for dementia and policies for effective dementia prevention.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the activities of daily living using the Barthel Index, before and after the infection by SARS-COV-2 and to see if the results vary according to sex. Methods: The activities of daily living of 68 cohabiting geriatric patients, 34 men and 34 women, in 2 nursing homes were measured before and after SARS-COV-2 infection using the Barthel index. Results: The Covid 19 infection affects the performance of daily life activities in institutionalized elderly in nursing homes, and it does so especially the older the subject, regardless of sex. Conclusions: The Covid 19 pandemic, in addition to having claimed some victims, especially in the elderly population, has reduced the ability of these people to carry out their activities of daily life, considerably worsening their quality of life despite have been able to overcome the disease.

Sensors available on mobile devices allow the automatic identification of Activities of Daily Living (ADL). This paper describes an approach for the creation of a framework for the identification of ADL, taking in account several concepts, including data acquisition, data processing, data fusion, pattern recognition, and machine learning. These concepts can be mapped in a module of the framework, including the use and creation of several algorithms. For the development of a framework that works in several conditions, e.g., without Internet connection, these algorithms should take in account the hardware and software limitations of the mobile devices to run all main tasks locally. The main purpose of this paper is related to the presentation the sensors, algorithms, and architecture of the proposed approach.

This article describes the use of the PI ProcessBook software tool for visualization and indirect monitoring of occupancy of SHC rooms from the measured operational and technical quantities for monitoring of daily living activities for support of independent life of elderly persons. The proposed method for data processing (predicting the CO₂ course using neural networks from the measured temperature indoor T_i (°C), temperature outdoor T_o (°C) and the relative humidity indoor rHi (%)) was implemented, verified and compared in MATLAB SW tool and IBM SPSS SW tool with IoT platform connectivity. Within the proposed method, the Stationary Wavelet Transform de noising algorithm was used to remove the noise of the resulting predicted course. In order to verify the method, two long-term experiments were performed, (specifically from February 8 to February 15, 2015, from June 8 to June 15, 2015) and two short-term experiments (from February 8, 2015 and from June 8, 2015). For the best results of the trained ANN BRM within the prediction of CO₂, the correlation coefficient R for the proposed method was up to 90%. The verification of the proposed method confirmed the possibility to use the presence of persons of the monitored SHC premises for rooms ADL monitoring.

Peptides, both natural and synthetic, are well suited for a wide range of purposes and offer versa-tile applications in different fields such as biocatalysts, injectable hydrogels, tumor treatment, and drug delivery. The rising prominence of therapeutic peptides encompasses anticancer, antiviral, antimicrobial, and anti-neurodegenerative properties. The metals Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, and Mo are ten of the twenty elements that are considered essential for life. Crucial for under-standing the biological role of metals is the exploration of metal-bound proteins and peptides. Aside from essential metals, there are other, non-essential metals that also interact biologically, exhibiting either therapeutic or toxic effects. Irregularities in metal binding contribute to diseases like Alzheimer’s, neurodegenerative disorders, Wilson's, and Menkes disease. Certain metal com-plexes have potential applications as radiopharmaceuticals. The examination of these complexes was done by preforming UV-Vis, IR, EPR, NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray analysis.

In recent years, the problem of ecosystem degradation caused by human activities has become increasingly serious. Vegetation restoration is a key means to solve this problem, which has increased. To address the suitability and structural optimization of vegetation restoration in the Loess Plateau, the MaxEnt model was used to quantify the impacts of environmental and human activities on the planting suitability of vegetation restoration species at the raster scale. Three layers of trees, shrubs, and herbs with 12 common vegetation restoration species were selected. The factor index system was constructed by combining climatic, ecological, and socio-economic data, and the MaxEnt model predicted land suitability. It was found that human activities significantly increased the unsuitable planting area. This especially affected Robinia pseudoacacia in the tree layer and Amorpha fruticosa in the shrub layer. Highly suitable and moderately suitable areas were mainly located in sparsely populated areas with close water sources. Through maximum suitability optimization, it was identified that the overall spatial distribution of the three layers in the study area was relatively consistent, and the structural dominance of trees + shrubs + herbs and single herbs in the vertical structure was obvious, which were concentrated in the southwestern and northeastern parts of the study area, respectively. In addition, organic content (OC) and distance from the road to woodland (RW) were the dominant factors affecting land suitability, with a contribution rate of more than 50% and up to 80%. These results provide a scientific basis for optimizing planting structures. They are of significant theoretical and practical significance in guiding vegetation restoration work.

Marine industries are dependent on the ocean and often have a direct impact on the marine environment. Although previous studies have talked about pollution from marine industries, it is not known to what extent and to what extent these behaviors affect the ocean. Therefore, this study examines the impacts of major marine industries on the marine environment, using China as an example. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China categorizes the quality of seawater into Class I, Class II, Class III, Class IV, and Inferior Class IV in descending order according to the quality from good to poor. In this study, water quality of Class I and Class II are defined as good quality seawater, Class III as average quality, Class IV and Class IV as poor quality, and the proportion of the area of seawater with different water quality to the total area of the sea area symbolizes the overall quality of the marine environment. We use panel data from 11 provinces and cities along the coast of mainland China from 2006 to 2020, estimated by the full feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) method, to study the impacts of the development of coastal tourism, marine transportation, marine shipbuilding, marine salt, mariculture, and marine fishing on the marine environment. The empirical results show that, in descending order of the degree of influence, the marine industries that cause a decrease in the area of good quality seawater are coastal tourism, mariculture and shipbuilding, and the marine industries that cause an increase in the area of poor quality seawater are marine transportation and shipbuilding, while the marine salt industry has no obvious influence on the marine environment, and the development of the marine fishing industry indirectly contributes to the improvement of the marine environment.

The Shule River Basin (SRB) is a typical arid area in northwest China with a fragile ecology. Un-derstanding vegetation dynamics and its response to climate change and human activities provides essential information for ecological and environmental resource management. This study extracted fractional vegetation coverage (FVC) data from 2000 to 2019 using the Google Earth Engine plat-form and Landsat satellite images, employing trend analysis and other methods to examine spati-otemporal changes in vegetation in the SRB. Additionally, partial correlation and residual analysis were utilized to explore the response of FVC to climate change and human activities. The main results were as follows: (1) The regional average FVC in the SRB showed a significant upward trend from 2000 to 2019, increasing by 1.3 × 10−3 y–1. The area within 1 km of roads experienced a higher increase of 3 × 10−3 y–1, while the roadless areas experienced a lower increase of 1.1 × 10−3 y–1. Road construction from 2004 to 2006 significantly reduced the FVC within 200 meters of the roads. FVC spatial heterogeneity in the SRB is significant. (2) Partial correlation analysis shows that FVC has a strong positive correlation with precipitation and surface water area, with correlation coefficients of 0.575 and 0.744, respectively. There is a weak negative correlation between FVC and land surface temperature (LST). FVC changes are more influenced by precipitation than by LST. (3) Compared to climate factors, human activities have a greater impact on vegetation dynamics in the SRB. The contributions of climate change to vegetation recovery are increasing. (4) The area changes of dif-ferent land types are closely related to climate factors and human activities, reflecting their impact on vegetation. These results provide valuable information for ecosystem restoration and environ-mental protection in the SRB.

Falls, highly common in the constantly increasing global aging population, can have a variety of negative effects on their health, well-being, and quality of life, including restricting their capabilities to conduct Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), which are crucial for one’s sustenance. Timely assistance during falls is highly necessary, which involves tracking the indoor location of the elderly during their diverse navigational patterns associated with ADLs to detect the precise location of a fall. With the decreasing caregiver population on a global scale, it is important that the future of intelligent living environments can detect falls during ADL.s while being able to track the indoor location of the elderly in the real world. Prior works in these fields have several limitations, such as – the lack of functionalities to detect both falls and indoor locations, high cost of implementation, complicated design, the requirement of multiple hardware components for deployment, and the necessity to develop new hardware for implementation, which make the wide-scale deployment of such technologies challenging. To address these challenges, this work proposes a cost-effective and simplistic design paradigm for an Ambient Assisted Living system that can capture multimodal components of user behaviors during ADLs that are necessary for performing fall detection and indoor localization in a simultaneous manner in the real world. Proof of concept results from real-world experiments are presented to uphold the effective working of the system. The findings from two comparison studies with prior works in this field are also presented to uphold the novelty of this work. The first comparison study shows how the proposed system outperforms prior works in the areas of indoor localization and fall detection in terms of the effectiveness of its software design and hardware design. The second comparison study shows that the cost for the development of this system is the least as compared to prior works in these fields, which involved real-world development of the underlining systems, thereby upholding its cost-effective nature.

This study investigates the anthropogenic activities, water quality, and ichthyofaunal diversity of the Navotas Riverine Ecosystem. It examines the anthropogenic influences, analyzes the physicochemical and microbiological properties of water, identifies fish species, evaluates the water quality index, and determines ichthyofaunal diversity using various indices. Water samples and fish collections were conducted from January to April 2024 at three sites. Key findings indicate that water quality parameters such as temperature (23.20-37.5°C), dissolved oxygen (6.22-7.84 mg/L), phosphate concentration (0.55-3.72 mg/L), and fecal coliform (350-160,000 MPN/100 mL) failed to meet DENR standards for Class C water. The TDS (1153.33-10700 ppm) and conductivity (17653.33-21333.33 µS/cm) were also elevated, indicating significant pollution. The study identified low ichthyofaunal diversity, with six native and one invasive fish species. A total of 269 fish were collected: 161 from Site 1, 46 from Site 2, and 62 from Site 3. The most abundant species was Scatophagus argus (19% occurrence), while the invasive Sarotherodon melanotheron ranked third (17% occurrence). Notably, pH (r = 0.753) correlated highly with nitrate concentration. S. melanotheron significantly correlated with pH (r = 0.602, p = 0.019) and nitrates (r = 0.555, p = 0.031). Lutjanus argentimaculatus also had significant correlations with pH (r = 0.527, p = 0.039) and nitrates (r = 0.651, p = 0.011). Conversely, S. argus had a negative moderate correlation with temperature (r = -0.529, p = 0.039) and conductivity (r = -0.536, p = 0.036). These correlations suggest that the water parameters significantly influence the diversity and abundance of fish in the river. The study concludes that the river's water quality is heavily influenced by anthropogenic activities which negatively affect ichthyofaunal diversity. Recommendations include continuous monitoring, gut and heavy metal analysis of fish, assessment of avifauna diversity, and strict implementation of conservation regulations.

Medicinal plants have been a cornerstone of traditional medicine systems for centuries, offering a vast array of bioactive compounds with therapeutic potential. However, the identification, characterization, and elucidation of the pharmacological properties of these plants have often been challenging due to their complex chemical composition and diverse biological activities. Bioinformatics, with its interdisciplinary approach combining biology, computer science, and information technology, presents a powerful toolkit for the systematic study of medicinal plants. This review provides an overview of bioinformatics methodologies and resources that can facilitate the identification, phytochemical analysis, pharmacological investigation, and conservation of medicinal plants. It highlights the integration of omics technologies, computational algorithms, database resources, and molecular modeling techniques in advancing our understanding of medicinal plants' therapeutic potential and their applications in drug discovery and development.

Cortex Periplocae, as a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, has been widely used for autoimmune diseases, especially rheumatoid arthritis. Due to its potential pharmaceutical values, more studies about the biological activities of Cortex Periplocae have been conducted recently. Meanwhile, the adverse reaction of Cortex Periplocae is not a negligible problem in clinic. In this article, we reviewed a series of articles and summarized the recent studies of Cortex Periplocae in the areas of phytochemistry and pharmacology. More than 100 constituents have been isolated and identified from Cortex Periplocae, including steroids, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, and fatty acid compounds. The crude extracts of Cortex Periplocae and its active compounds exhibit various biological activities, such as cardiotonic effect, anticancer action, and anti-inflammatory effect. This paper aims to provide an overall review on the bioactive ingredients, pharmacological effect, and toxicity of this plant. Furthermore, this review suggests investigating and developing new clinical usages according to the above pharmacological effects.

There are various modeling techniques adopted for predicting the labor productivity that incorporate the influence of various factors, but neural networks are found to have strong pattern recognition and higher accuracy to get reliable estimates. To develop a construction labor productivity (CLP) model for concreting activities, data were collected through a questionnaire. The most critical influencing parameters were ranked according to their relative importance index (RII). Then the strength of the relationship between CLP and influencing parameters was analyzed using correlation coefficient results generated in Python program. Finally, the CLP model which represents the output of the crew within a certain factor was successfully developed using artificial neural networks (ANNs). Five objectives and six subjective critical influencing parameters were selected using RII. Crew experience, age of workers, and placement technique are the top three influencing parameters that have a strong relation with CLP with correlation coefficient values of 0.5681, 0.5349, and 0.5227 respectively. The developed model within these influencing parameters has a higher capability to predict the output of labor with a 92% coefficient of determination (R2) and a mean squared error of 0.316%. Therefore, the application of such a model for the accurate estimation of labor productivity is recommended.

The aim was to identify if surface electromyography (sEMG) parameters are indicative of post-activation potentiation (PAP)/post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE), in terms of twitch potentiation and voluntary performance. Three databases were used in March 2024, with the following inclusion criteria: (a) original research, assessed in healthy human adults, (b) sEMG parameters were measured. The exclusion criteria were: (a) studies with no PAP/PAPE-protocol, (b) non-randomized control trials. The following data were extracted: study characteristics/demographics, PAP/PAPE-protocols, sEMG parameters, twitch/performance outcomes, and study findings. A modified physiotherapy evidence database (PEDro) scale was used for quality assessment. Fifteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs), with a total of 199 subjects were included. The M-wave amplitude (combined with a twitch torque outcome) was shown to generally be indicative of PAP. The sEMG amplitude (in some muscles) were found to be indicative of PAPE during ballistic movements, while a small decrease in the MdF (in certain muscles) were shown to reflect PAPE. Changes in the Hmax/Mmax ratio were found to contribute (temporally) to PAP, while the H-reflex amplitude was shown to be neither indicative of PAP nor PAPE. This review provides preliminarily findings suggesting that certain sEMG parameters could be indicative of PAP/PAPE. However, future research is warranted.

The toxic cadmium (Cd) poses a serious threat to plant growth and human health. Populus euphratica CPK21 has previously been shown to attenuate Cd toxicity by reducing Cd accumulation, enhancing antioxidant defense and improving water balance in transgenic Arabidopsis. Here, we confirmed a protein-protein interaction between PeCPK21 and AtNF-YC3 by yeast two-hybrid, HaloTag pull-down and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays. AtNF-YC3 was induced by Cd and strongly expressed in PeCPK21-overexpressed plants. Overexpression of AtNF-YC3 in Arabidopsis reduced salt inhibition of root length, fresh weight and membrane stability under Cd stress conditions (100 µM, 7 d), suggesting that AtNF-YC3 appears to contribute to the improvement of Cd stress tolerance. AtNF-YC3 improved Cd tolerance by limiting Cd uptake and accumulation, activating antioxidant enzymes, and reducing H2O2 production under Cd stress. We conclude that PeCPK21 interacts with AtNF-YC3 to limit Cd accumulation, enhance the ROS scavenging system, and thereby positively regulate plant adaptation to Cd environments. This study highlights the interaction between PeCPK21 and AtNF-YC3 under Cd stress conditions, which can be utilized to improve Cd tolerance in higher plants.

Exopolysaccharide (EPS)-producing bacteria were isolated from the intestines of freshwater fish as prebiotics. Among the isolates, Bacillus sp. P1 was the potent EPS producer with a high EPS production and was then identified as Bacillus subtilis P1 based on 16S rRNA and biochemical characteristics. The produced microbial EPS was characterized its functional groups by FTIR, showing a 90.20% correlation to inulin while the EPS molecular weight was approximately 105 Da with a high PDI (&gt;1.5). Moreover, the EPS from B. subtilis P1 was assessed for prebiotic properties by growing probiotic bacteria and the significant cell growth occurred in sugar-free TSB with 0.5% EPS (p&lt;0.05). EPS exhibited approximately 55.37% DPPH radical scavenging at 20 mg/mL and inhibited certain fish pathogens at 400 μg/mL (10-13 mm inhibition zone). EPS cytotoxicity was confirmed (&lt;1% hemolysis) prior to use as immunobiotics in Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) diet supplementation. Nile tilapia growth and immune response were monitored after feeding with control (C): Basal Diet (BD) and treatment (T): BD + EPS 5 g/kg. In the T-group, WG, %SGR, and ADG significantly increased compared to control (p&lt;0.05) by week 4th, with no negative effects on blood chemistry parameters. Lysozyme activity and respiratory burst activity in T-groups were significantly higher than control (p&lt;0.05), with a 50% RLP survival rate of Nile Tilapia challenged with Aeromonas veronii in the T-group within two weeks. On the other hand, for the proximate analysis revealed higher protein content in the T-group. These findings suggest that EPS from B. subtilis P1 in fish diets efficiently supports fish growth and stimulates innate immune responses in Nile Tilapia, thus showing potential as the immunobiotics for aquaculture.

Place attachment is an emotion that people experience in connection to a specific place and it is needed to maintain sustainable neighborhood community. The emotion is affected by various factors, such as experience, function, environment, and satisfaction. This study focuses on commercial structures, which are one feature that characterize the physical environments of neighborhoods. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of commercial activities in different commercial environments on social bonding and place attachment in residents. Two sites were selected for analysis due to their different commercial environments, and path analysis was used to examine the relationships among factors. The results indicate that the type of commercial environment had effects on commercial activities, including shopping frequency, and that commercial activities affected social bonding and place attachment in residents. Also, commercial activities had indirect effects on place attachment through social bonding between residents. These results suggest that the commercial environment is an important element affecting the community and place attachment of residents in neighborhoods.

Gracilaria lamaneiformis, a red seaweed, is an abundant source of bioactive polysaccharides with significant health-promoting properties. Nevertheless, the broad application of G. lamaneiformis in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical sectors remains constrained due to the absence of comprehensive data. This review provides a detailed examination of the preparation methods, structural characteristics, and biological activities of G. lamaneiformis polysaccharides (GLP). We explore both conventional and advanced extraction techniques, highlighting the efficiency and yield improvements achieved through methods such as microwave-, ultrasonic-, and enzyme-assisted extraction. The structural elucidation of GLP using modern analytical techniques, including high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, is discussed, providing comprehensive insights into their molecular composition and configuration. Furthermore, we critically evaluate the diverse biological activities of GLP, including their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and gut microbiota modulation properties. This review underscores the therapeutic potential of GLP and suggests future research directions to fully harness their health benefits.

Extended Reality (XR) technologies—encompassing Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR)—merge elements of the physical world with virtual environments, revolutionizing various sectors, including healthcare. This paper explores the transformative potential of XR when combined with advanced digital tools to enhance therapeutic practices for individuals with disabilities or social isolation. Emphasizing the pivotal role of healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, the study investigates how these experts can effectively integrate XR technologies to maximize therapeutic benefits. The research includes a pre-implementation phase that assesses the knowledge and acceptance levels of both healthcare professionals and the general population. This foundational study highlights the potential of XR in expanding access to artistic and recreational activities, drawing insights from efforts by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence) to democratize timeless artistic experiences. The findings underscore the im-portance of defining key terms and understanding stakeholder readiness before full-scale implementation.

Human activities (e.g., exploitation, utilization, and conservation) exert substantial impact on forest ecological functions (FEF). The human influence on FEF significantly varies across developmental stages, which are attributed to the temporal and spatial in nature. This study evaluates some notable FEF indices (FEFI) in the 448 counties within the Yellow River basin (YRB) using panel data from the Seventh to Ninth National Forest Inventory. Data analysis involves employing the residual trends, geographical and temporal weighted regression. Results indicate that, firstly, the overall forest ecological function in the YRB is moderate to inferior, with superior FEF in counties endowed with more natural forest resources. Afforestation demonstrates a short-term improvement, but its effectiveness diminishes over time. Secondly, the positive spatial correlation is stronger among counties, characterized by both high-high and low-low agglomeration effects. Scattered planting, simple stand structure, and concentrated harvesting of forests at the identical stand ages hinder the formation of complex and large-scale FEF agglomerations. Thirdly, significant spatial-temporal differences exist in the impact of human activities on FEF. In the upper reaches of the basin, increased vegetation coverage through agricultural and forestry production benefited FEF, however, some over-exploitation of forests and grasslands is observed there. In the middle reaches, the economic development, expanding population and the greening activities help to improve FEF effectively, but excessive water using in agricultural production brought more difficulties to FEF improvement. In the lower reaches of the basin, improved wastelands and forest protection positively influence FEF. This study recommends that county governments should prioritize forest management with multi-species and multi-layered complex forests. Each county should define its position in regional development and ecological protection, considering the potential impacts on neighboring regions. This holistic approach promotes more effective integrated regional management.

The disparity between software design and implementation, especially concerning IoT security and forensics, often lacks clarity and precision. Formal languages, rooted in mathematical rules, logic, and symbols, have proven priceless for expressing specifications and verifying system designs. Various semi-formal and formal languages, such as JSON, XML, predicate logic, and regular expressions, along with formal models like Turing machines, cater to specific domains. This paper introduces a novel formal language, named ObTFL (Object Transaction Formal Language), initially developed for IoT forensics and authentication purposes but later extended to encompass general distributed systems. The paper elucidates the syntax and semantics of ObTFL and presents several case studies showcasing its versatility and effectiveness.

Retails and shopping centers have become essential to today’s lifestyle. Furthermore, as modern shopping venues, retail centers' social role contributes to its popularity and profitability. The social motive of customers for shopping is beyond acquiring their crucial purchases. These advantages favor retail centers and improve the level of social sustainability and its relevant concepts. Given that relatively little study has been studied on the impact of retail centers' social role as places for interactional and recreational activities on customers' behavior in these centers and its relation to social sustainability. Two hypotheses were raised that show the effect of time travel duration and shop variety on increasing the percentage of users who spend their leisure time and recreational activities in two analogous retail centers. The result of research regarding the first hypothesis reveals that there is an interaction between time travel duration and shoppers' motivation. Furthermore, the results revealed that half of both retail center goers who spend more than 10 minutes to arrive at the retail centers prefer to do leisure activities and browsing than shopping. Therefore, the majority of individuals are from further distances, indicating longer trips can be one of the factors for willing to spend more leisure time and recreational activities. The second hypothesis reveals that shop variety can be one of the main reasons for attracting users to spend their leisure time and browse in both retail centers. There is a significant correlation between shop variety and customers’ motivation.

A series of penta-1,4-dien-3-one containing a H-phosphonate scaffold were designed and synthesized. The structures of all title compounds were determined by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 31P-NMR, and HRMS. Bioassay results showed that several of the title compounds exhibited remarkable antibacterial and antiviral activities. Among these, compounds 3c and 3o exhibited substantial antibacterial activities against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzae (Xoo) and Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (Xac). In addition, compounds 3c, 3f, and 3r showed remarkable curative activities against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), with 50% effective concentration (EC50) values of 290.0, 234.0, and 373.6 μg/mL, respectively. These were superior to that of ningnanmycin (386.2 μg/mL). Compound 3r exhibited comparative protective activity against TMV, with an EC50 value of 291.1 μg/mL, which was better than that of ningnanmycin (297.1 μg/mL). Notably, the solubility of all title compounds improved relative to the lead compound curcumin. These results suggest that penta-1,4-dien-3-one containing a H-phosphonate scaffold may be considered as an activator for antibacterial and antiviral agents.

Soil extracellular enzyme activity (EEAs) and enzymatic stoichiometry (ES) can provide a crucial indication of changes in soil ecosystem's nutrient availability and the microbial resource limitations. However, the changing characteristics of soil EEAs and ES at different stages of the native succession process and their key drivers are unclear. In order to investigate the soil EEAs, ES and driving factors of soil under vegetation at different succession stages, we adopted the "spatio-temporal substitution" method to collect the surface soil of bryophyte community, herbaceous community, shrub community and tree community in the new volcanic lava platform of Wudalianchi Volcanic Nature Reserve. We measured seven soil EEA, including carbon(C)-acquiring enzyme (β-1,4-glucosidase (BG)), N-acquiring enzymes (β-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAG) and leucine aminopeptidase (LAP)) and phosphorus (P)-acquiring enzyme (acid phosphatase (AP)) activities. The length and angle of vectors defined by ratios of enzyme activities (BG/(NAG + LAP) vs. BG/AP) were used to indicate relative microbial investments in C- (length), and N- and P- (angle) acquiring enzymes. Our results showed that the contents of TC, TN, TP, MBC, DOC and NO3-N in shrub community soil were significantly higher than those in bryophyte, herb and tree communities, and increased by 441%, 246%, 137%, 5570%, 12% and 484%, respectively. The highest soil EEA of C-, N- and P-acquiring were found in shrub community, and the soil EEAs/MBC of C-, N- and P-acquiring were the highest in bryophyte community. Enzyme C:N, C:P and N:P ratios increased progressively in the order of bryophyte, herb and shrub community, but the enzyme C:N, C:P and N:P ratios of tree community were both far less than shrub community. Vector lengths increased progressively in the order of bryophyte (1.16), herb (1.27), tree (1.29) and shrub (1.40), and Vector angles decreased progressively in the order of bryophyte (49.15°), herb (45.65°), Tree (45.31°) and shurb (44.54°), suggested that as succession progresses, soil microbial nutrients transforms from P limitation (angle＞45°) to N limitation (angle＜45°). Redundancy analysis showed that TC, TN, EC and C:N were important drivers of variation in soil EEAs and ES in vegetation at different succession stages. Our findings highlight that the primary succession process cause nutrient limitation transformation. Soil ES might be a sensitive indicator mediated by soil microorganisms to the relative resource limitation at different stages of the primary succession process.

Global warming, exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions from non-green product manufacturing, necessitates a shift towards green production to safeguard ecosystems and finite resources. The United Nations Environment Programme emphasizes the importance of environmental considerations in corporate ESG criteria. Despite the higher costs of designing and manufacturing green products, which deter some companies and lead to greenwashing, efforts persist to promote sustainable goods. This study explores enhancing consumer repurchase intentions for green products through social media marketing, emphasizing green values, environmental concerns, brand image, and involvement. Findings reveal social media's role in boosting these factors, thus encouraging green repurchases. Insights are valuable for green businesses, social media groups, environmental agencies, and future research.

Alginate-silver nanocomposites in the form of spherical beads and films were prepared using a green approach by using the aqueous extract of Ajwa dates seeds. The nanocomposites were fabricated by in situ reduction and gelation method by ionotropic crosslinking using calcium ions in solution. The rich phytochemicals of the dates seeds extract played a dual role as reducing and stabilizing agent in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The formation of silver nanoparticles was studied using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and a distinct surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak at 421 nm characteristic of silver nanoparticles confirmed the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The morphology of the nanocomposite beads and film was compact with even distribution of silver nanoclusters. The catalytic property of the nanocomposite beads was evaluated for the degradation of 2-nitrophenol in the presence of sodium borohydride. The degradation followed pseudo-first order kinetics with a rate constant of 1.40 ´ 10^-3 s^-1 at 23 °C with an activation energy of 18.45 kJ mol^-1. The thermodynamic parameters such as changes in enthalpy and entropy were evaluated to be 15.22 kJ mol^-1 and -197.50 J mol^-1 K^-1, respectively. The nanocomposite exhibited properties against three clinically important pathogens (Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria)

This review aims at studying the phytochemistry and biological activities of some selected Apocynaceae plants. Eleven members of this family were reviewed for their phytochemistry and biological activities. Interestingly, the commonly isolated compounds reported from Mondia whitei (Hook.f.) Skeels, Secondatia floribunda A. DC, Carissa carandas, Tabernaemontana divaricate, Nerium oleander, Wrightia tinctoria, T. divaricate, Alstonia scholaris, Carrisa spinarum Linn, Thevetia peruviana and Caralluma lasiantha were triterpenoids, flavonoids, phytosterols, cardiac glycosides and lignans. All of them exhibited remarkable biological activities, mostly similar to each other. This review provides a detailed insight into the pharmacological activities of these selected members of this family.

Limited research has been conducted on the metabolites present in the essential oils (EOs) of Phlomoides rotata (Benth. ex Hook. f.) Mathiesen (PR, syn. Lamiophlomis rotata (Benth.) Kudô), and their potential pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant properties, are often overlooked. We conducted a metabolomics-based screening to identify the characteristic metabolites (CMs) in the EOs extracted from PR. Meanwhile, we evaluated their in vitro antioxidant activities (AOAs). The EOs obtained through hydro-distillation are characterized by a light yellow color and a fresh, elegant fragrance. Cryoprecipitation was used to separate the crystals (Crs) from the EOs, resulting in the crystal-free EOs (CFs). A total of 121 components are identified and quantified in the EOs, Crs, and CFs. Among them, 84 were reported for the first time from such EOs. The major compounds include long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) and their esters, such as palmitic acid (PA), myristic acid (MA), linoleic acid (LA), oleic acid (OA), stearic acid, and methyl palmitate (MP). Furthermore, 11 kinds of apocarotenoids (also called norisoprenoids) were first systematically investigated. Among them, eight C13-norisoprenoids, with trans-β-damascenone (DN) being particularly notable for its flavor, were identified. A sum of 11 CMs are screened , including PA, MA, LA, OA, MP, hexahydrofarnesyl acetone, phytol (PT), DN, stearic acid, linalool, and hexanal. These CMs are biosynthesized through FAs and 2-C-Methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate/1-Deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate pathways. The in vitro AOAs of EOs, Crs, CFs, and seven selected CMs (PA, MA, LA, OA, MP, PT, and DN) were evaluated. Generally, PA and MA exhibited pro-oxidant activities (POAs) or weak AOAs. LA and OA demonstrated POAs or weak AOAs at lower concentrations, but at higher concentrations, they displayed medium to strong AOAs. Importantly, the CFs typically exhibited stronger AOAs compared to the corresponding EOs and Crs, potentially due to variations in their PA content. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the potential utilization of EOs from PR.

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale in the context of outdoor physical activities. In order to do this, we carried out a research in some Primary and Secondary school l located in western Andalucía (Spain), with kids aged 9-12 years old [M= 11.22; SD= 1.07), therefore a sample of 455 students (228 boys= 50.1% 227 girls = 49.9% = 50.1) was used]. Descriptive, exploratory and confirmatory analyses were conducted. We also analyzed several factors such as internal consistency, composite reliability, average variance extracted and convergent validity. Afterwards, differences by gender and school year were also studied. Data showed the need to eliminate many of the items from the original scale, giving as a result a model of 5 items with satisfactory fit in the confirmatory analysis. The ANOVA statistical test carried out in terms of sex and school year didn’t show any tangible difference between the target groups.

Lasiodiplodan, an exocellular Lasiodiplodia theobromae β-glucan exopolysaccharide (LaEPS), has at-tracted interest because of its antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antiproliferative properties. LaEPS carboxymethylation enhances LaEPS water solubility and biological activities. However, carboxymethylated fractions of LaEPS (LaEPS-C): LLaEPS-C (Linear) and BLaEPS-C (Branched) were not widely studied yet. So, LaEPS-C, LLaEPS-C, and BLaEPS-C were assessed for their antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiproliferative, anticoagulant, immunomodulatory, and anti-viral activities. Elementary Chemical Composition Analysis confirmed their structural charac-teristics by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Detector (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques. The best DPPH scavenging potential was achieved for LLaEPS-C for concentrations lower than 200mg/mL. LaEPS-C showed moderate antiproliferative activity for the NCI-ADR/RES cell (GI50 65.3 µg/mL), and BLaEPS-C showed weak activity for the K562 cell (GI50 235 µg/mL). LLaEPS-C had a reduced Prothrombin Time (PT) and a procoagulant effect. LLaEPS-C and BLaEPS-C are inducers of pro-inflammatory activity due to their ability to induce TNF-α in human macrophages. LLaEPS-C also showed anti-hRSV, which confirmed the antiviral activity of this molecule.

Globally, karst aquifers store large amount of precious water and create beautiful karst springs in many places. However, most of the karst springs flow declined, and some of the karst springs dried up with the effects of extensive groundwater development and climate variation. In order to obtain better understanding of factors contributing to the drying-up of karst springs, this study introduced grey system models to quantify spring flow taking Jinci Springs (China) as an example, which dried up in May 1994. Based on the characteristics of Jinci Springs flow, the spring flow was divided into two stages: the first stage (1954-1960), when the spring flow was affected only by climate variation; and the second stage (1961-1994), when the flow was impacted by both climate variation and anthropogenic activities. Results showed that the Jinci Springs flow had strong relations with precipitation occurring one year and three years earlier in the first stage. Subsequently, a grey system GM (1, 3) model with one-year and three-year lags was set up for the first stage. By using the GM (1, 3) model, we simulated the spring flow in the second stage under effects of climate variation only. Subtracting the observed spring flow from the simulated flow, we obtained the contribution of anthropogenic activities to Jinci Springs cessation. The contribution of anthropogenic activities and climate variation to Jinci Springs cessation was 1.46 m³/s and 0.62 m³/s, respectively. Finally, each human activity causing spring flow decline was estimated. The methods are useful to describe the karst hydrological processes under the effects of anthropogenic activities and climate variation.

Natural montane peatlands generally are not a significant source of nitrous oxide (N₂O) due to environment limitation including phosphorus (P) scarcity and temperature lowness. Phosphorus enrichment and warming caused by global change are altering this limitation, likely to increase the source function of N₂O. However, the combined effects of P addition and warming on N₂O fluxes and biotic/abiotic factor in peatlands are still uncertain. To address this, we investigated the long-term (12 yrs) effects of P addition (5 and 10 kg ha^-1 yr^-1) and its interaction with warming on N₂O fluxes in a peatland. The results showed that although long-term P addition did not significantly affect the source/sink function of N₂O in the peatland, it stimulated enzyme activities, promoted peat decomposition. However, warming amplified the effect of P addition to increase N₂O emissions by stimulating enzyme activities and changing soil stoichiometry, even turned the peatland into a significant source of N₂O with an emission of approximate 100 g m^-2 during the growing season. Our study suggests that P enrichment under the current background of global warming will enhance the possibility of strong N₂O emissions in montane peatlands, which may increase the risk to further aggravate global warming.

Salinity stress emerges as an important menace to global food security, particularly affecting susceptible crops such as common bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The disruption of ion balances caused by salt stress withing plants cells reduces water and nutrient absorption, and hampers growth and productivity. Sacchorhiza polyschides, a brown macroalga rich in essential elements, and macrominerals, has drawn attention as a natural biostimulant, being a potential remedy to bolster crop resilience against salt stress. This study delves into the effect of water extracts of Sacchorhiza polyschides (SPE) across varying concentrations (1%, 2%, and 5%) in common bean plants under salt stress (68.4 mM NaCl) conditions. Two different methods of application were used: by spraying the aerial part of the plant or by irrigation together with the watering solution. The effects of both systems of application were studied on the aerial parts of the plants. SPE exhibited significant enhancements in morphological parameters, chlorophyll content, carbon-nitrogen activities, and antioxidant enzymatic system activities, alongside increasing osmolyte accumulation, compared to salt-stressed plants without biostimulation. Moreover, SPE reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels caused by salt stress, mitigating lipid peroxidation. The concentrations of 2% and 5% SPE applied by spraying showed the most significant results in most of the parameters analyzed. By shedding light on the underlying science behind this biostimulant effect, this research underscores the potential of SPE to enhance crop resilience and augment food production in salt-challenged environments.

Fungi are rich sources of secondary metabolites of agrochemical, pharmaceutical and food importances, such as mycotoxins, antibiotics and antitumor agents. Secondary metabolites play vital roles in fungal pathogenesis, growth and development, oxidative status modulation, and adaptation/resistance to various environmental stresses. LaeA contains an S-adenosylmethionine binding site and displays methyltransferase activity. The members of velvet proteins include VeA, VelB, VelC, VelD and VosA, for each member with a velvet domain. LaeA and velvet proteins can form multimeric complexes such as VosA-VelB and VelB-VeA-LaeA. They belong to global regulators and are mainly impacted by light. One of their most important functions is to regulate gene expression that are responsible for secondary metabolite biosynthesis. The aim of this mini-review is to represent the newest cognition on the biosynthetic regulation of mycotoxins and other fungal secondary metabolites by LaeA and velvet proteins. In most cases, LaeA and velvet proteins positively regulated production of fungal secondary metabolites. The regulated fungal species mainly belong to the toxigenic fungi from the genera of Alternaria, Aspergillus, Botrytis, Fusarium, Magnaporthe, Monascus, and Penicillium for the production of mycotoxins. We can control secondary metabolite production to inhibit the production of harmful mycotoxins while promoting the production of useful metabolites by global regulation of LaeA and velvet proteins in fungi. Furthermore, the regulation by LaeA and velvet proteins should be a practical strategy in activating silent biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in fungi to obtain previously undiscovered metabolites.

: Given that cancer is a disease that is rampant in the world and especially in Africa where the population has enormous difficulty in treating it, plants are a safer and less expensive alterna-tive. Cassava is one of the plant species valued in Benin because of its numerous medicinal and nutritional virtues. This study evaluated the biological activities of amygdalin from the organs of three cassava varieties most produced in Benin (BEN, RB, and MJ). HPLC analysis was used to quantify amygdalin in cassava organs and derivatives. Phytochemical screening was performed to determine secondary metabolite groups. DPPH and FRAP methods were used to assess anti-oxidant activity. Cytotoxicity of the extracts was tested on Artemia salina larvae. The an-ti-inflammatory activity was evaluated in vivo on albino mouse paw edema model induced by 5% formalin. The anticancer activity was evaluated in vivo on Wistar rats rendered cancerous by 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) using 5-fluorouracil as reference molecule. The results showed that the organs of all three-cassava varieties contained glycosides, flavonoids, saponosides, ster-oids, tannins, coumarins, and cyanogenic derivatives. Young stems and fresh leaves of cassava had the highest amygdalin concentration with 11142.99 µg 10 g-1 and 9251.14 µg 10 g-1 respec-tively. The Agbeli derivative was more concentrated in amygdalin with a content of 401.56 µg 10 g-1 than the others derivatives. The antioxidant activity results showed that the amygdalin ex-tracts were found to be DPPH radical scavengers with IC50 values ranging from 0.18 mg mL-1 to 2.35 mg mL-1. The cytotoxicity test showed no toxicity of the extracts toward shrimp larvae. Ad-ministration of amygdalin extracts from the leaves of BEN and MJ varieties prevents inflamma-tory edema. The percentages of edema inhibition varied between 21.77% and 27.89%. These val-ues are similar (p> 0.05) to that of acetylsalicylic acid (25.20%). Amygdalin extract of BEN variety significantly (p<0.0001) reduces edema. Cancer induction with DMH was inhibited by both BEN extract. In both preventive and curative treatments, rats fed with amygdalin extracts showed low anti-cancer activity under the effect of DMH and the significant difference in biochemical results. Thus, the organs of all three cassava varieties studied have secondary metabolites and good an-tioxydant activity. The leaves contain high levels of amygdalin and can be used as an-ti-inflammatory and anticancer agents.

Mining activities often generate important amounts of extractive waste, and as a consequence, environmental impacts that affects all factors to a greater or lesser extent. Depending on a variety of variables, the impact can be permanent or temporary, reversible or irreversible, negative or positive. This study conducted research on the status of closure and remediation processes of mining areas in Romania, specifically in the counties of Maramureș, Suceava, Harghita, Alba, Hunedoara, and Caraș-Severin. Furthermore, based on the type and level of pollution, the degree of application of remediation techniques for water and soil pollution in the investigated mining areas was studied. From the analysed information, it is evident that although the closure and remediation process started in Romania over 20 years ago, unfortunately, to this day, the technical projects, technical assistance, and execution of closure and remediation works have not yet completely solved the complex environmental issues in the mining sector. Most of the tailing ponds and waste piles of former mines continue to pose permanent specific risk to the environment and the population. This study concludes that the mining sector in Romania, although it has the necessary techniques and technologies for the ecological rehabilitation of degraded lands related to the Extractive Waste Facilities and the elimination of negative impacts on the environment and public health, has not yet been able to fully concretize its remediation efforts.

Ehretia laevis Roxb. (Boraginaceae) has been extensively used as a traditional remedy for the treatment of a diverse range of ailments related to the respiratory system, the gastrointestinal tract, the reproductive system, and against several infections. This review critically assesses and documents, for the first time, the fragmented information on E. laevis, including its botanical description, folklore uses, bioactive phytometabolites and pharmacological activities. The goal is to explore this plant therapeutically. Ethnomedicinal surveys reveal that E. laevis has been used by tribal communities in Asian countries for the treatment of various disorders. Quantitative and qualitative phytochemical investigations of E. laevis showed the presence of important phytoconstituents such as pentacyclic triterpenoids, phenolic acids, flavonoids, fatty acids, steroids, alkaloids, aliphatic alcohols, hydrocarbons, amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Fresh plant parts, crude extracts, fractions and isolated compounds have been reported to exhibit broad spectrum of therapeutic activities viz., antioxidant, antiarthritic, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antiulcer, antidiarrheal, antidysenteric, wound healing and anti-infective activities. E. laevis is shown to be an excellent potential source of drugs for the mitigation of jaundice, asthma, dysentery, ulcers, diarrhea, ringworm, eczema, diabetes, fissure, syphilis, cuts and wounds, inflammation, liver problems, venereal and infectious disorders. Although few investigations authenticated its traditional uses but employed uncharacterized crude extracts of the plant, the major concerns raised are reproducibility of therapeutic efficacy and safety of plant material. The outcomes of limited pharmacological screening and reported bioactive compounds of E. laevis suggest that there is an urgent need for in-depth pharmacological investigations of the plant.

Medicinal plants have antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activities. More or less all plants have medicinal properties. In this research article, we have selected four economically important plants (three fruit plants and an economically important plant), Malus domestica Borkh., Prunus persica L., Ricinus communis L., and Carica papaya L. found in several areas of Indian state Uttarakhand. Using the methanolic extract of leaves, we have screened those four plants against four human pathogenic bacteria, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus luteus. For our experiment we have screened the methanolic leaf extracts of four plants against the above-mentioned bacteria. Statistical analysis was also performed for validation. Result revealed the said bacteria have potential antibacterial activities. So, these leaves can be used for clinical trial. These plants can also be used for making herbal medicines.

Chitooligosaccharides (COS) are -1,4-linked homo-oligosaccharides of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) or glucosamine (GlcN), and also include hetero-oligosaccharides composed of GlcNAc and GlcN. These sugars are of practical importance because of their various biological activities, such as anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-tumor activities, as well as triggering the innate immunity in plants. The reported data on bioactivities of COS used to contain some uncertainties or contradictions, because the experiments were conducted with poorly characterized COS mixtures. Recently, COS have been satisfactorily characterized with respect to their structures, especially the degree of polymerization (DP) and degree of N-acetylation (DA); thus, the structure-bioactivity relationship of COS has become more unambiguous. To date, various green-chemical strategies involving enzymatic synthesis of COS with designed sequences and desired biological activities have been developed. The enzymatic strategies could involve transglycosylation or glycosynthase reactions using reducing end-activated sugars as the donor substrates and chitinase/chitosanase and their mutants as the biocatalysts. Site-specific chitin deacetylases were also proposed to be applicable for this purpose. Furthermore, to improve the yields of the COS products, metabolic engineering techniques could be applied. The above-mentioned approaches will provide the opportunity to produce tailor-made COS, leading to the enhanced utilization of chitin biomass.

Constructed wetlands (CWs) is a kind of green environmental protection technology, which is widely used in sewage treatment. The traditional CWs is faced with the problem of low treatment effect of high concentration sewage. In recent years, biochar, as a new type of adsorption material, has been used in CWs because of its advantages of large specific surface area, strong adsorption capacity and wide material sources. This paper systematically summarized the characteristics of biochar and the preparation of biochar by studying the changes of microorganisms added to CWs, and compared the effects of different treatment methods coupled with biochar on the treatment performance of CWs, the effects of biochar coupled with CWs on enzyme activity, functional genes, metabolites and microbial communities were investigated. This review summarizes how different preparation methods affect the properties of biochar and how these biochar cause changes in the microorganisms added to CWs.

The paper analyzes the actions that improve innovativeness in production enterprises in the Silesian province. Innovation is one of the elements that allows to achieve a competitive advantage. It turns out justified to research various factors that are important in improving innovativeness. The research includes selected production enterprises in the Silesian province, adopting the descriptive statistics measures and statistic tests: random sample test, chi-square independence test and the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test based on a survey questionnaire. As part of the most important factors determining the possibilities of innovation by manufacturing companies were detected contacts with other enterprises, R&D centers and counseling institutions, competitive position of the company and creating appropriate incentive systems.

In this contribution, time course studies were performed toward oxidation of different peroxidase substrates in the presence of silver nanozymes. In this regard, two common peroxidase substrates, TMB and DAB, were selected as model chromogens. The process of the oxidation reaction was probed by recording the absorbance of the colored products using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Thereafter, the nanozymatic activity was calculated and used as an index for comparing the performance of the silver nanozymes against different substrates in a certain reaction time. The time course curves, revealed that the maximal activity of the silver nanozymes were achieved after a very short time of 3.0 min toward TMB oxidation while regarding DAB, the maximal activity was observed after 25.0 min which is 6.5-fold slower than that of the TMB oxidation. The difference between the DAB and TMB can be assigned to their different reaction pathways and different reactivity. In fact, the oxidation of DAB has occurred via n-electron irreversible pathway while the TMB oxidation has occurred through a simple 2-electon reversible pathway. Besides, DAB is a high stable and less relative compound compared of TMB, resulting different oxidation times, different affinity for binding to nanozyme active nodes which lead to different nanozymatic activities.

Aim: M. oleifera, a tree that have medicinal applications. A.hispidum has been utilized in traditional medicine as a cure for microbial and other infections. The aim of this study is to evaluate the bioactive compounds of A.hispidum and M.oleifera and determination of Antioxidant, Anticancer, Antifungal and Antibacterial for their pharmaceutical importance. Methods: Fresh leaves of these plants were collected from Akinmoorin and Awe in Nigeria. Particles Induced X-Ray Emission method was carried out via a 2.5MeV proton beam. Detection of phytochemicals was carried out by HPLC analysis. Disc diffusion method was used to determine MIC for fungi and MIC for bacteria. DPPH radical scavenging activity of these plant leaves was determined. Cancer cells were cultivated using 5% CO2 with 95% air in 100% relative humidity. The adherent cells were seeded and subjected to treatment with increase concentrations of the plant extracts from 48–72 h for anti-cancer activity. Results: The mean ± S.E. of the mean (S.E.M.) for all data were displayed. Three copies of the invitro experiment data were collected. For unpaired data, the student's t-test was applied at P < 0.05, the differences in the data were deemed significant. The ethanolic extracts showed on the average a 50% reduction in cancer cell viability at 24.5μg mL−1 for MO and 16.0μg mL−1 for AH respectively. Conclusions: The results of this study indicated these two plants have Antioxidant, Antitumor, Antifungal and Antibacterial activity and it is recommended that the active constituents be isolated and formulated into suitable dosage form. Keywords: Phytochemical Screening; pharmacological activities; Acanthospermum hispidum; Moringa oleifera.

Globally,coastal regions are vital areas of human activities and, as such, are centres of population growth and urban and economic development. Long-term human development has had a major impact on the ecological environment of coastal zones. Therefore, exploring the distribution and provenance of marine sediment types in coastal areas heavily influenced by human activities can provide scientific evidence and references for the current and future ecological management of these sensitive environments. For this reason, we have conducted an analysis on the sediment grain size, Endmember, organic matter content and geochemical elements in the Lu’erhuan River‒Malan Island‒Sandun Island area in the eastern part of Qinzhou Bay, a region heavily influenced by human activities. Sediment grain size clearly differs throughout the study site and the material provenances and hydrodynamic conditions are also varied, likely due to the local environmental conditions and the significant impact human activities have had on the area. The finest-grained sediment is imported from either inland or coastal areas via rivers and weak tidal currents, the next finest component is input from coastal areas through weak tidal currents, and the moderately coarse component mainly originates from nearby beaches. The two coarsest-grained sediment components are influenced by the combination of human activities, tidal currents and waves and enter the water via erosion. Organic matter provenance resembles that of the sediment components, exhibiting varied characteristics. This is due to the combination of natural and human activities in the bay. The organic matter in the upper reaches of the Lu’erhuan River originates from the river and coastal paddy fields, with obvious terrigenous characteristics; the organic matter in northern Malan Island mainly comes from external sources related to oyster farming; while organic matter in eastern Sandun Island is mainly produced endogenously by marine plankton. Al, Ti, Fe, Mg, K, Ga and other elements indicate that terrestrial sediments are significantly disturbed by human activities. However，Mn reflects the marine distribution of terrestrial sediments from the Lu’erhuan River to Jishuimen. Ca and Sr, indicators of marine sediments, are distributed in the eastern offshore area of Sandun Island, which is connected to the open waters. Due to the influence of human activities, As and Cd are highly enriched in the study area, while Cu is less affected by human activities.

Regional product labeling can help develop regional business activities, especially with traditional regional products. Their general popularity is a significant source of income for the less developed regions. The Gemer-Malohont region belongs to economically underdeveloped areas with high unemployment rate. The subject of the survey was regional food products, which are made by small farmer. The analysis was carried out on a questionnaire survey in the period April-July 2017 in each of the region's districts. The results obtained by questionnaire survey have been statistically processed using the statistical method (two-step cluster analysis, radar chart, box-plots, regression analysis) using Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS Statistics 23 software. Through cluster analysis and based on the preference of regional food, we divided consumers into two groups - knowledgeable regional food purchasers and priced oriented consumers. We have shown that the more developed regions (Rimavská Sobota, Rožňava) show a higher rate of purchase of regional foods. Less developed regions (Poltár, Revúca) are represented by lower-income consumers for whose the food price is the decisive criterion. Local residents of backward regions should pay attention to domestic food and local small farmers, who are the way to create local capital and local development.

Plant secondary metabolites are organic compounds (alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, tannins, anthraquinones, saponins, steroids, lignins, terpenes) produced by plant for self-defense during growth and development in order to protect them from harmful agents. As population is increasing and quality of life is reducing couple with outbreak of some diseases that are posing threat on the economy, a lot of medicinal plants have attracted interest of researchers because of the usefulness of these metabolites in pharmaceuticals, food and cosmetic industries. In this review, the pharmacological activities of some medicinal plants that are rich in secondary metabolites were studied, means of identifying and quantifying using spectrophotometry and chromatography techniques were also discussed. However, this will assist to reduce the uses and dependent on the synthetic drug and the onset of the age related diseases.

This study examines the evolution of the tourism industry in Chile during the period 2013-2019, focusing on its contribution to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Using data from the National Tourism Service (SERNATUR) and the Undersecretariat of Tourism, it analyzes the approximation of tourism GDP and its share in the Chilean economy. The results indicate a sustained growth of the tourism sector, with a contribution to GDP that reached 3.3% in 2019. The main Tourism Characteristic Activities (TCAs) contributing to this growth are identified, highlighting administrative and support activities, food services and accommodation. The study reveals growth patterns, fluctuations in the contribution of different TCAs, and the impact of external factors on the sector's performance. This research provides valuable insights for the formulation of tourism development policies and strategies in Chile.

There are many species of endemic plants from Mexico, without food or commercial use, but with different applications in traditional medicine and valuable for their content of secondary metabolites. In this sense, we found two species of Cucurbitacea family plants natives of southeast and gulf of México, with traditionally use how soap and laundry agent, control of some pests, and it has also been used how infusion for the treatment of different types of dermatitis and stomachache. In the present work, we evaluate the antiproliferative activity in vitro, of six crude organic extracts, tested against six human tumor cell lines, A549 (lung), HBL-100 (breast), HeLa (cervix), SW1573 (lung), T-47D (breast) and WiDr (colon), the results indicated that at least three extracts from both species presents an interesting antiproliferative activity on five tumor cell lines.

As the most important city in China, Beijing has experienced an economic soar, large-scale population growth and eco-environment changes in recent 20 years.Evaluating climate and human-induced vegetation changes could reveal the relationship of vegetation-climate-human activities and provide important insights for the coordination of economic growth and environmental protection. Based on a long-term MODIS vegetation index dataset, meteorological data (temperature, precipitation) and impervious surface data, the Theil-Sen regression and the Mann-Kendall method are used to estimate vegetation change trend in this study and the residual analysis is utilized to distinguish the impacts of climate factors and human activities on vegetation restoration and degradation from 2000 to 2019 in Beijing. Our results show that the increasing vegetation areas account for 80.2\% of Beijing. The restoration of vegetation is concentrated in the urban core area and mountainous area, while the degradation of vegetation is mainly concentrated in the suburbs. In recent years, the vegetation in most mountainous areas has changed from restoration to significant restoration, indicating that the growth of mountain vegetation has continued to restore. We also found that in the process of urban expansion, vegetation browning occurred in 53.1\% of the urban built-up area, while vegetation greening occurred in the rest part. We concluded that precipitation is the main climatic factor affecting the growth of vegetation in Beijing mountain areas through correlation analysis. Human activities have significantly promoted the vegetation growing in the northern mountainous area thanks to the establishment of environmental protection areas. The negative correlation between vegetation and the impervious surface tends to gradually expand outwards, which is consistent with the trend of urban expansion. The positive correlation region remains stable, but the positive correlation is gradually enhanced. The response of vegetation to urbanization demonstrated a high degree of spatial heterogeneity. These findings indicated that human activities played an increasingly important role in influencing vegetation changes in Beijing.

The rapid process of urbanization is affecting residents’ living patterns. Concurrently, shopping and consumption patterns are changing at what seems to be a constant rate. Recently, a look at retail centers would leave one to understand that these centers are by no means exempted from these changes. Retail centers, which initially held a more commercial role, are now considered to be places of leisure as well as. In this research, the new role of these retail centers as a new part of public spaces and area for leisure activities is being examined. In order to survey this new concept of retail centers, two retail centers that were almost similar to each other in terms of function and characteristics in Iran and Spain respectively, considered as a developing country and developed country were studied. The results of the research show that retail centers, due to their new nature, have shown similar behavior in both. In general, nowadays retail centers have more of a recreational role, so that more than 65% of the people in Tehran and Madrid are spending their time in recreational activities. Nevertheless, in developing countries, the process of these changes has been imitative and to say anything of cross-sectoral policies it will require more research.

The Smart Park (well-known as Taman Pintar) as a major educational tourism destination in Jogjakarta offers a variety of tourism attractions that are very interesting for tourists. The main purpose of tourists visiting Smart Park is to get an educational tourism experience. A subjective experience raises a specific challenge for Smart Park toward the status of competitive destination. The purpose of this study is to analyze the aspects of educational tourism experience that are affected by tourism demand and supply. Data were collected by survey technique to 150 respondents and analyzed using path analysis. The results of analysis show that tourism demand and supply contributed to the variation of tourism activities by 45.1%, while the remaining was explained by other variables, such as National Budget, Local Budget, ticket sale, and cooperation with some stakeholders. Tourism supply had a higher effect than tourism demand. Tourism demand did not partially affect tourism experience. However, the results of the path analysis indicate that tourism supply had direct and indirect effects on tourism experience through the variation of tourism activities with indirect effect being dominant. In the management of Smart Park, there is still a gap between tourism demand and supply, so that the environment of tourism experience has not been created maximally.

Oxidized sucrose (OS) reacts with amino group-containing polysaccharides, including chitosan, without catalyst, resulting in hydrogels entirely composed of carbohydrates. The presence of imine bonds with low structural stabilities and unreacted aldehydes in the structures of these hydrogels hinder their application as biomaterials. Therefore, herein, the chitosan hydrogels (CTSGs) obtained after the crosslinking of chitosan with OS were reduced using sodium borohydride to convert imine bonds to secondary amines and aldehydes to alcohols. Structures of CTSGs were comprehensively characterized by Fourier transform infrared and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies, and results implied that the degree of crosslinking (CR) depended on the OS feed amount used during CTSG preparation. Properties of CTSGs were significantly dependent on CR; with an increase in CR, thermal stabilities and dynamic moduli of CTSGs increased, whereas their swelling properties decreased. CTSGs exhibited antimicrobial properties against the gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, and their performances were also dependent on CR. Results indicated the potentials of CTSGs completely based on carbohydrates as antimicrobial hydrogels for various medical and pharmaceutical applications. We believe that this study will contribute to the development of hydrogels for application in the food, medical, and pharmaceutical fields.

In this review article, the occurrence of nor-lignans and their biological activities are explored and described. Nor-lignans have proven to be present in several different families also belonging to chemosystematically distant orders as well as to have many different beneficial pharmacological activities. This review article represents the first one on this argument and is thought to give a first overview on these compounds with the hope that their study may continue if not raise after this.

Lomefloxacin (F1) and pefloxacin (F2) have a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. In this study, we investigated the complexation mode, morphological and biological properties of four metal-based complexes of F1 and F2 molecules with Mg(II), Ca(II), Zn(II), and Fe(III) metal ions. These complexes were prepared at ~60–70°C in a neutral medium using a 5% NH3 solution at pH ~7-8 with a 1:1 ratio. Multiple physicochemical methods were employed to characterize the binding mode between F1 and F2 with the metal ions under investigation. The results of these methods suggested that the gross formula of the complexes obtained with the metal ions were [MgF1(H2O)Cl]2H2O, [CaF1(H2O)Cl]3H2O, [ZnF1(H2O)Cl], [FeF1(H2O)2Cl2]Cl2H2O, [MgF2(H2O)Cl]2H2O, [CaF2(H2O)Cl]3H2O, [ZnF2(H2O)Cl], and [FeF2(H2O)2Cl2]Cl2H2O. The microscopic characterizations indicated that the Ca(II)-F1 complex had an interesting surface topography. Its particles had a homogenous, short, rod-like shaped structure that clustered together to form a tree shape. Using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion protocol, the synthesized metal-based complexes were screened in vitro against different Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial and fungal species. The antimicrobial profile of the Fe(III)-F1 complex indicated that it had remarkable inhibitory activity against all the tested bacterial and fungal species with potency equal to that of the standard drugs (streptomycin and ketoconazole).

A series of novel indole Schiff base derivatives (2a–2t) containing a 1,3,4-thiadiazole scaffold modified with a thioether group were synthesized, and their structures were confirmed using FT-IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, andHR-MS. In addition, the antifungal activity of synthesized indole derivatives was investigated against Fusarium graminearum (F. graminearum), Fusarium oxysporum (F. oxysporum), Fusarium moniliforme (F. moniliforme), Curvularia lunata (C. lunata), and Phytophthora parasitica var. nicotiana (P. p. var. nicotianae) using the mycelium growth rate method. Among the synthesized indole derivatives, compound 2j showed the highest inhibition rates of 100%, 95.7%, 89%, and 76.5% at a concentration of 500 μg/mL against F. graminearum, F. oxysporum, F. moniliforme, and P. p. var. nicotianae, respectively. Similarly, compounds 2j and 2q exhibited higher inhibition rates of 81.9% and 83.7% at a concentration of 500 μg/mL against C. lunata. In addition, compound 2j has been recognized as a potential compound for further investigation in the field of fungicides.

DBP and DEHP are two of the most common plasticisers used in modern industries, which have aroused a major concern over their ubiquitous occurrence and hazardous environmental effects. This study presents the first data of phthalates’ occurrence and distribution in the Maltese shoreline sand. DBP and DEHP occurrences’ was investigated in three busy and secluded beaches, respectively. Analytical determination involved quantifying DBP and DEHP from 75 samples using UPLC-MS/MS through triple repeatability. The concentrations ranged between 0.0095–0.07034 µg/g and &lt;LOQ–0.0977 µg/g for DBP and DEHP, respectively. Statistical analysis of the comparison of phthalates in different beaches demonstrated that the occurrence of DBP and DEHP in Maltese shoreline sand varies. The differences in the occurrence of phthalates were attributed to the beaches’ topography and anthropogenic pressures. Analysis of the effects of anthropogenic activities on the occurrence of phthalates showed a positive association. Distribution analysis showed that DBP and DEHP exhibit an uneven distribution along the shoreline. Conversely, different distributions were observed at distances away from the sea. The uneven distributions observed were associated with anthropogenic activities, different chemodynamic properties and wave action. Cluster analysis was performed to prove the interactions between the phthalates’ concentrations and the characteristics of the beaches.

This study aims to introduce out of school activities (OSA) to high school PJOK teachers in Padang Pariaman District, West Sumatra Province, Indonesia. As is known, OSA is an alternative for students in fulfilling their movement needs, especially during the COVID 19 pandemic. Currently, students mostly stay at home, such as studying from home, to doing activities from home. So that there is minimal possibility of carrying out the movement activities recommended by WHO. The research method used is action research. This method gets a problem, then arranges problem-solving, conducts treatment, and finally evaluates. The research results show no teachers who have ever carried out of school activities (OSA); understanding, implementation, and evaluation are also not understood by the teachers. After being given the treatment, the teachers became more aware and understood about out of school activities, starting from understanding, implementing to evaluating what had to be done.

Cameroon territory is experiencing significant land use and land cover (LULC) changes since its independence in 1960. But the main relevant impacts are recorded since 1990 due to intensification of agricultural activities and urbanization. LULC effects and dynamics vary from one region to another according to the type of vegetation cover and activities. Using remote sensing, GIS and subsidiary data, this paper attempted to model the land use and land cover (LULC) change in the Centre Region of Cameroon that host Yaoundé metropolis. The rapid expansion of the city of Yaoundé drives to the land conversion with farmland intensification and forest depletion accelerating the rate at which land use and land cover (LULC) transformations take place. This study aims at assessing the impacts of both agriculture and urbanization on the LULC change in the Centre Region of Cameroon. A detailed LULC map from MAPBOX high resolution images and three LULC maps were produced from Landsat TM-OLI images (1984-2015). A maximum likelihood classification techniques using ERDAS Imagine, showed forest decline with a total loss of 54% in thirty years. Also, Landsat and MAPBOX images to which we added 1951 aerial photograph and SPOT 6 (2006) were used to analyse urban growth in the city of Yaoundé. The results show a remarkable urban spatial spread of the metropolis between 1951 and 2015, with a peak in 2000. Images processing enabled us to analyse the long term dynamics of LULC change since the 1950s in this Region using ArcGIS & QGIS software’s. Based on this dynamic, a LULC projection map was produced using Markov model on IDRISI Selva, demonstrating the decrease of the dense forest (45% in 2015 to 0.25% in 2050). It was estimated that by 2050, the entire dense forest can be depleted if nothing is done, while only 12.67% of the secondary forest would remain in the Region. Such a projected map is very useful to decision makers for council development and urban planning. This effective forest depletion ties with the hypothesis that urbanization of Yaoundé and its secondary surrounding satellite cities (within a radius of 30-100km) is a veritable driving force of deforestation.

Owing to fascinating applications of ZnO in modern devices, it is interesting to explore its more features for future devices. Hence, herein, we have synthesized the high quality ZnO spherical nanoparticles (SNPs) through a facile green synthesis route and robust structural and biomedical studies are carried out. Hexagonal phase with 93.2% crystallinity was confirmed through XRD analysis. ZnO nanoparticles were tested for their bioactivities both in vivo (acute cytotoxicity test) and in vitro (Anti-cancer activities on liver (HepG2) and cervical (Hela) cancer cell lines, stimulatory/inhibitory effects on normal rat splenic cells and hemolytic effects on red blood cells). Results showed that ZnO SNPs has no cytotoxic effects on vital organ like liver and has no hemolytic action on red blood cells. ZnO SNPs showed inhibitory consequence on normal rat splenic cells growth at all tested concentrations. ZnO nanoparticles showed an inhibitory effect on HepG2 cell line. While showed stimulatory effect on Hela cell line. Current study presents the synthesized ZnO SNPs as highly applicable in bio-optoelectronics.

This study aimed to analyse the variation of recreational water quality in Plettenberg Bay in an attempt to comprehend the effects of pollution on the environment, and more specifically the potential impacts on the quality of surface water used for recreational activities. Plettenberg Bay is a major destination for tourists in South Africa, with recreational water activities representing an important attraction. For this study, data were obtained from Bitou Municipality, the local au-thority in charge of the water monitoring program in Plettenberg Bay. The selected datasets contained water quality data collected by the Bitou Municipality waterworks department in three sampling sites in Plettenberg Bay. The samples were tested for six water quality parameters namely, Ammonia, Suspended Solids, Conductivity, Nitrates/Nitrites, pH, and E coli. Water quality trends appeared stabile over the five years, with only a few parameters showing variation in their concentration levels. It is recommended that the Bitou Municipality increase the sampling frequency to allow a clearer understanding of water quality variation and to minimise potential uncertainties.

The article presents the trends in penitentiary work with convicts of different cultures, focuses on their activation, individualisation of work, and organizational difficulties. The purpose of the research has been to discover the ways in which prison staff react to situations requiring flexibility justified by cultural differences of the inmates. The research questions have included: How does prison staff respond to the needs of culturally different inmates? How do the respondents’ reactions correlate with professional experience? Based on the literature, a hypothesis has been established that prison staff avoids individualized treatment of convicted foreigners. Despite the perceived differences in culture, religion, and their different mentality, prison procedures aim at uniformity. Tendencies towards resistance and stiffness to the needs of culturally different people become prevailing. The research method used has included a diagnostic survey (n = 232, F: 40, M: 192) conducted in prison officers in Poland. The written interview technique has been used, where the respondents has reacted to 3 situations of convicts, reflecting their national, religious, and cultural distinctiveness. In their responses, the respondents have decided on the way of action in the situation, as well as their motivation. The operationalization of the source material has been performed in two ways. There has been applied the content analysis method according to the grounded theory (B.G. Glaser, A.L. Strauss), resulting in the creation of categories marking actions and motives. A multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) of the built categories has been carried out using the Statistica program, as well as the correlation analysis of variables with the Cramer's V coefficient. The results of the analysis show statistically created, indicated manners of reacting that have occurred in the studied sample. Additionally, they point out an independent variable - seniority, which has correlated with the quality of the response.

The adoption of sustainable forest management practices emerged as a contemporary imperative for forest biodiversity preservation, functional integrity, and mitigation of climate change. Within the spectrum of these practices, thinning is recognized as an environmentally sustainable strategy. The primary objective of thinning is the equitable redistribution of aboveground growth, diverting resources from younger trees to promote the accelerated development of more valuable specimens compared to unthinned forests. Thinning, while fostering aboveground changes, induces substantial alterations in soil chemical and biochemical properties. This review addresses the often-debated consequences of thinning on soil characteristics, focusing on the intricate interplay involving different thinning intensities and their impact on soil chemical and biochemical parameters. Specifically, the analysis delves into the modulation of organic carbon levels, microbial biomass, and enzymes crucial to the organic matter cycle. Two key aspects are scrutinized: firstly, the influence of thinning intensity and the temporal dimension post-thinning on soil properties; secondly, the comparative impact of thinning intensity versus the time elapsed from the thinning event on soil properties and associated biological processes. The findings underscore pivotal insights: a) temporal dynamics significantly affect soil organic matter across broadleaved (excluding beech), coniferous, and mixed forests, manifesting as early as 2-7 years post-thinning; b) thinning intensity, up to a threshold of 50%, enhances soil quality by augmenting organic carbon content, bolstering microbial communities, and amplifying associated enzyme activities. This review consolidates valuable information for forest managers, providing guidance to optimize natural processes in tandem with achieving specific management objectives. By illuminating the nuanced interactions between thinning practices and soil dynamics, this knowledge equips stakeholders to make informed decisions in the pursuit of sustainable forest management and ecological resilience.

The structure characterization of two new polysaccharides from Agrocybe aegerita (AA-P) and Hygrophorus olivaceoalbus (HO-P) by HPGPC, GC-MS, NMR and FT-IR indicated that AA-P was composed of Galactose, Glucose and Arabinose, in the ratio of 3:2:1. Its skeleton structure was consisted of (1→4)-Arap, (1→4,6)-Glup and (1→6)-Galp with one branched chain. The HO-P was consisted of mannose, galactose and glucose in a ratio of 1:1:2. Its skeleton structure was consisted of (1→6)-Galactose residues, (→1)-glucose residues, (1→4)-glucose residues and (1→4,6)-D-mannose residues. There were two branched chains connected to the main chain. AA-P and HO-P had the best stimulation effect on B cells and RAW264.7 cells, respectively, and could both mainly by impacting and reducing G0/G1 phase which lead to a significant proliferation of B cells, T cells and RAW264.7 cells. In addition, AA-P and HO-P could significantly promote the secretion of TNF-α from T cells, the secretion of IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG and IgM from B cells, and the secretion of TNF-α from RAW264.7 cells, but neither of them could impact the secretion of IL-1β from RAW264.7 cells.

The influence of the addition of 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10.0% of dried Enoki and Maitake mushrooms on the content of bioactive compounds and some pro-health properties of pasta was studied. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of phenolic compounds performed using the LC-MS/MS technique indicated the highest amount of phenolic compounds in pasta supplemented with Maitake. However, all pasta enriched with Enoki mushrooms contained statistically significant-ly higher content of α-glucans in comparison to the control. In samples subjected to gastrointes-tinal digestion, the antioxidant, and potential anti-inflammatory activities were significantly higher than ethanolic and PBS extracts of samples. The ethanolic extracts from pasta fortified with dried Enoki and Maitake mushrooms had higher antioxidant activity (in some of the anti-radical and reducing power assays ) as well as a higher ability to inhibit lipoxygenase (E2.5 and E5 samples) compared to the control sample. Also some in vitro digested samples of pasta en-riched with dried Enoki and Maitake mushrooms showed higher chelating power (E10, M7.5 and M10); reducing power (E5, E7.5, and M10) and lipoxygenase inhibition (E7.5, E10 and M10) than the control. In conclusion, Enoki and Maitake mushrooms can be used for fortification of semo-lina pasta, conferring healthier characteristics of the product.

Wear simulation aims to assess wear rates and their dependence on factors like load, kinematics, temperature, and implant orientation. Despite its significance, there's a notable gap in research concerning advancements in simulator control systems and the testing of clinically relevant waveforms. This study addresses this gap by focusing on enhancing the conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller used in joint simulators through the development of a fuzzy logic-based controller. Leveraging a single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) fuzzy logic control system, the study aimed to improve displacement control, augmenting the traditional Proportional-Integral (PI) tuning approach. Implementation and evaluation of a novel Fuzzy-PI control algorithm were conducted on the Leeds spine wear simulator. The study also included testing of daily-living (DL) profiles, particularly from the hip joint, to broaden the scope of simulation scenarios. While both the conventional PI controller and the Fuzzy-PI controller met ISO tolerance criteria for the spine flexion-extension (FE) profile at 1Hz, the Fuzzy-PI controller demonstrated superior performance at higher frequencies and with DL profiles due to its real-time adaptive tuning capability. The Fuzzy-PI controller represents a significant advancement in joint wear simulation, offering improved control functionalities and a more accurate emulation of real-world physiological dynamics.

This paper serves a survey and empirical evaluation of the state-of-the-art in activity recognition methods using accelerometers. We examine research that has focused on the selection of activities, the features that are extracted from the accelerometer data, the segmentation of the time-series data, the locations of accelerometers, the selection and configuration trade-offs, the test/retest reliability, and the generalisation performance. Furthermore, we study these questions from an experimental platform and show, somewhat surprisingly, that many disparate experimental configurations yield comparable predictive performance on testing data. Our understanding of these results is that the experimental setup directly and indirectly defines a pathway for context to be delivered to the classifier, and that, in some settings, certain configurations are more optimal than alternatives. We conclude by identifying how the main results of this work can be used in practice, specifically in experimental configurations in challenging experimental conditions.

To maintain a healthy lifestyle, adults rely on their ability to walk while simultaneously managing multiple tasks that challenge their coordination. This study investigates the impact of cognitive dual-task on lower limb muscle activities in 21 healthy young adults during both gait initiation and steady-state gait. We utilized wireless electromyography sensors to measure muscle activities, along with a 3D motion capture system and force plates to detect the phases of gait initiation and steady-state gait. Participants were asked to walk at their self-selected pace, and we compared single-task and dual-task conditions. We analyzed mean muscle activation and co-contraction in the biceps femoris, vastus lateralis, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior muscles. The findings revealed that during gait initiation with the dual-task condition, there was a decrease in mean muscle activation and an increase in mean muscle c-contraction between the swing and stance limb compared to the single-task condition. In steady-state gait, there was also a decrease in mean muscle activation in the dual-task condition compared to the single-task condition. When participants performed dual-task activities during gait initiation, early indicators of reduced balance capability were observed. Additionally, during dual-task steady-state gait, knee stabilizer muscles exhibited signs of altered activation, contributing to balance instability.

Agricultural activities profoundly affect groundwater levels in Saudi Arabia. The Al Kharj and Wadi Sahba areas, central Saudi Arabia, produce groundwater mainly from the Jurassic Arab/Jubaila aquifer and the overlying Cretaceous Biyadh aquifer. A geographic information system analysis and linear regression analyses show that from 1978 to 2016, significant agricultural overexploitation of the area’s fossil groundwater was associated with groundwater level drops of ~104 m in Al Kharj and ~48 m in Wadi Sahba. The estimated total volume of groundwater withdrawal across both aquifers during this period of wheat and alfalfa irrigation was ~27 billion m3. Landsat image analysis shows that agricultural land use decreased by ~66% over the same period due to overexploitation. The 2016 phase-out of alfalfa farming was associated with increases in groundwater levels: ~26 m in the Arab/Jubaila aquifer and ~3 m in the Biyadh aquifer. This recovery was likely due to lateral flow from surrounding fossil water within the aquifer given the absence of significant surface recharge. Model-based evaluation of surface recharge of the aquifer reveals very low potential for surface infiltration, with almost no recharge into the deep aquifer. Assuming that recovery continues at the present rate, the average groundwater level for the Arab/Jubaila aquifer is expected to reach 98 m below ground level in 2025 and 74 m below ground level in 2030.

Benefits of baby swimming have been established, but there is limited knowledge about the methodologies used by practitioners. To address this knowledge gap, this study aimed to categorize and classify the equipment and environmental used in baby swimming programs worldwide. A descriptive categorical content analysis approach was employed to analyse videos of baby swimming programs obtained from YouTube. The framework created was validated for interrater reliability, and a pilot study was conducted to classify videos from different countries based on the equipment and environment used. Results indicated that the physical environments observed were pool tanks and swimming pools with and without depth reduction zones, while the equipment used included assistive devices, toys, and clothes. This study represents a significant first step in the development of a comprehensive tool to systematize and characterize the methodologies used in baby swimming programs globally.

as the growth and popularity of technology has become simultaneous ascend in both impacts and numbers of cyber criminals thanks to the web. For many years, the organization has strived in ways of preventing any attacks from cyber-criminal with advanced techniques. Cybercriminals and intruders are developing a more advanced way to breach the security surface of an organization. Advanced Persistent Threats are also known as APT are new and a lot more sophisticated version for multistep attack scenarios that are known and are targeted just to achieve a goal most commonly undercover activities. this report, there will cover everything I know that tells us about APT with more word and brief explanations

This study used secondary data from the 2017 Korean Community Health Survey to compare the associations of socio-physical environment, social support networks, and social activities with happiness among older adults with three different family types. As per the results, there was a significant difference in happiness index between the three groups (F = 86.688, p < .001). Older adults living alone (odds ratio (OR) = 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.57–0.99) and those living with family (OR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.65–0.99) showed greater happiness as the frequency of contact with family increased. Older adults living with only their spouse showed an increase in happiness when their contact with friends was higher (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.56–0.84). It was confirmed that there were differences in factors influencing happiness according to the family type of the older adults in this study. Therefore, the happiness of older adults needs to be adequately ensured, while considering their various circumstances, including family type.

Introduction. The main task of the study was to measure the workload of nurses in the care of a patient with a developmental defect–congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH)–in the neonatal intensive care unit, which was evaluated on the basis of standardized tools Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS–28), Nine Equivalents of Nursing Manpower use Score (NEMS) and Nursing activities Score (NAS). Methods. Retrospective study. The workload was measured using TISS–28, NEMS and NAS tools. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data, and a single-sample test was used to verify the research hypotheses. Results. The sample consisted of medical records of 33 patients; 592 observations were analyzed. Studies prove the need for research on the workload of nurses in neonatal intensive care units. A patient with CDH should receive nursing care as required. Conclusion. It is necessary to implement a model for measuring the workload of nurses in neonatal intensive care units, taking into account the evaluation of work and its optimization.

The aim of this article was to evaluate properties of new polymer material, based on PEEK, for FPDs in patients with parafunctions. Methods: Prospective clinical study involved patients with diagnosed signs and symptoms of parafunctions, restored with 100 units, PEEK based FPDs, veneered with composite material. During one year observation period the following parameters were evaluated: color changes, periodontal indices, treatment success using FDI criteria, occlusal parameters, patient-reported outcome measures (OHIP-49) and occurrence of complications. Results: Spectrophotometry revealed that 63% of bridges experienced changes for L*, a*, b* color parameters, but it was not clinically significant for patients. Periodontal indices (PI, GI, BOP) revealed statistically significant higher values around restorations. According to FDI criteria, therapy was considered successful and 86.7% of FPDs were acceptable. Computerized occlusal analysis demonstrated no significant difference in the number of occlusal contacts and the intensity of relative forces between restoration and control side. Results of OHIP-49 questionnaire showed improved patient’s quality of life. Complications appeared in a limited number of cases. Conclusion: PEEK based FPDs could be indicated for successful prosthodontic rehabilitation in patients with parafunctional activities, but further material improvements and long-term clinical trials should be conducted to analyze performance of this material in challenging cases, for patients with CMD and in implant therapy.

: Human settlements have historically thrived near rivers for navigation, trade, and availability of water supply and resources. Night light data, representing economic activities provide a novel approach to studying the interactions between human activity and rivers over time. Here, we use the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) stable night light data from 2000-2013 as a proxy for human presence and activities to quantify the statistical relationships between night light presence and intensity in the Indus Basin, Asia. We test how these data are affected by proximity to trunk channels and by channel type (single/multi-thread) in the study area. We find that night light presence is enhanced by 26% within a 0 to 5 km proximity range of the Indus River and its tribu-taries, relative to the basin as a whole. We interpret this to represent increased human presence and activity within this zone. However, the mean intensity is lower near the river and higher away from the river signifying denser settlements, such as towns and cities which are preferentially located away from the Indus and its tributaries. Moreover, the enhancement of lit pixels signifying human presence and activities is increased by 18% near single-thread sections of the Indus River, compared to segments of the Indus displaying multi-thread morphologies. We suggest that this is due to the enhanced stability of single-threaded channels, relative to mobile multi-threaded channel reaches. This study demonstrates how night lights are an important tool to constrain the relationship between human presence and river dynamics in large catchments such as the Indus, and we suggest this data will have an important role in assessing differential flood spatial and social vulnerability at a regional scale.

Jatropha multifida L. is a plant belong to Euphorbiaceae family used in Benin pharmacopoeia because of its medicinal properties. The objective of this work is to appreciate the therapeutic power of this plant through the evaluation of some of its biological activities. After the preliminary phytochemistry, the polyphenols and flavonoids were quantified and identified by the LC-MS-ESI. The antimicrobial power of the extracts was investigated by agar medium diffusion. The antioxidant power of the extracts was evaluated by the reduction of the DPPH radical, the ABTS radical cation, the feric ion (FRAP) and the lipid peroxidation (LPO). Anti-inflammatory activity was assessed by inhibition of protein (albumin) denaturation. Indeed, different phenolic and flavonoid compounds namely, 2-Hydroxybenzoic acid, o-Coumaroylquinic acid, Apigenin-apiosyl-glucoside, Luteolin-galactoside, Luteolin-glucoside, Luteolin-rhamnoside, Quercetin-glucoside, Quercetin-arabinoside, Dicaffeoyquinic acid, Kaempferol-rhamnoside were identify. The J. mutifida extracts has a bactericidal effect with reference strains of wich CMBs vary from 22.67 mg/ml (S. aureus, S. enteridis, L. monocytogenes and C. albicans) to 47.61 mg/ml (E. coli) and with the meat isolated strains (S. equorum, S. saprophiticus, S. haemoliticus, S. cohnii and S. lentus). Ethanolic extract show the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity (IC₅₀ = 0.72±0.03 mg/ml) while methanolic extract showed the highest ferric ion reduction (46.23±1.10 µgEAA/g). Contrary to the FRAP method, the reducing power with ABTS method of water-ethanolic extract was greater (0.49±0.11 mol ET/g). The same extract show the highest albumin denaturation inhibition power (97.31±0.35%) at 1000µg/ml. J. multifida extracts are rich in bioactive compound with good biological activity

Sulfated polysaccharides from seaweed are highly active natural substances having valuable applications. In the present paper, attempts have been made to discuss the physicochemical and structural features of polysaccharides isolated from red marine alga Alsidium corallinum (ACPs) and its protective effect in hepatic impairments induced by tebuconazole (TBZ) in rats. Structural features were determined using High performance liquid chromatography, Fourier transformed infrared, and solid state ¹H and ¹³C-Nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. ACPs are found to be hetero-sulfated-anionic polysaccharides that contained carbohydrates, sulfate groups and uronic acids. In vitro biological activities suggested the effective antioxidant and antimicrobial capacities of ACPs. For antioxidant testing in vivo, the biochemical analysis and plasma profiles displayed that oral administration of ACPs could mitigate blood lipid indicators, including total cholesterol, triglyceride, low and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, bilirubin, liver function indexes involving alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase, showed that ACPs possessed obvious antioxidant activities. Besides, the intervention of ACPs potentially inhibited lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, key enzymes of lipid metabolism (<0.001) and increased levels and antioxidant status (<0.05). Histomorphological observation confirmed that ACPs intervention could partially repair liver injuries caused by TBZ. The computational results showed that A. corallinum monosaccharides bound 1JIJ, 1HD2 and 1WL4 receptors with acceptable affinities, which together with deep embedding and molecular interactions support the antioxidant, antimicrobial and hypolipidemic outlined effects in the in vitro and in vivo findings. In view of their prominent antioxidant effects, ACPs stand for promising candidates in liver diseases and need be considered in pharmaceutical applications.

Indigenous trees have great economic potential and ecological benefits for enhancing environmental prosperity, mostly in forestry and the forest products sector in the developing countries of Sub-Sahara Africa. The baobab (Adansonia Digitata L.) is known as the African green jewel in both fruit production and medicinal benefits also remarkable for so many forest products exported across the world. Research conducted in the different Sub-Saharan African sub-regions has shown this iconic tree with a majestic outlook has a priority tree species for local and foreign use and conservation. However, data on the benefits and conservation of baobab trees in Africa, especially the Sub-Saharan countries is limited. This study aimed to assess the predominant geo-graphical distribution of the tree, the indigenous (cultural, socio-economic, ecological, and medical/health) benefits, and the conservation strategies of the baobab resources in Sub-Saharan Africa. The baobab tree's succulent roots, bulbs, branches, fruit, pods, foliage, and petals are all nourishing. Baobab parts have been used for diverse reasons in Africa, some countries of Asia, and Europe for the past two centuries due to their medicinal well-being properties. In addition, the medicinal applications of the plant parts are discussed. Many authors have highlighted the baobab tree as one of the most important trees to be saved and localized in Africa because of its high indigenous usage and commercial worth. Anthropogenic global warming may induce a drop in baobab species, which could inflict negative impacts on African economies. As a result, it's critical to research the species' likely future distribution and develop conservation policies. Literature was consulted for records and availability of this tree in the Western, Central, Eastern, and Southern African species records and it was also analyzed what percentage of the current environment would be appropriate in the future. Recent studies suggested that farmers and the locals be provided free seeds and seedlings to encourage biological rejuvenation to maximize the plant's potential, people should be informed about the additional uses of baobab that have been discovered. Individuals must also be educated on simple sustainable agroforestry activities that can be performed in plant and forest management.

Three new compounds (1, 11 and 12), together with 32 known ones, were isolated from the root bark of Morus alba L. using various chromatographic methods. The structures of the undescribed compounds were elucidated based on 1D, 2D NMR and HRESIMS data analysis, while the known ones were identified by comparison of their spectroscopic data with those reported in the literature. All the isolates were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against human gastric cancer HGC27 cells by CCK-8 assay. Among them, compounds 5, 8, 10 and 30 exhibited cytotoxic activities on HGC27 cells with IC50 values of 10.24 ± 0.89 μM, 28.94 ± 0.72 μM, 6.08 ± 0.34 μM and 33.76 ± 2.64 μM, respectively. Furthermore, compound 10 was confirmed to reduce proliferation ability, increase apoptosis rate and inhibit cell migration pathway by annexin V/PI double staining experiment, transwell experiment and western blot analysis.

In this paper is described the obtention of fourteen derivatives from four natural labdane diterpenes isolated from Copaifera oleoresin, named ent-copalic acid (1), ¬ent-3beta-acetoxy copalic acid (2), ent-3beta-hydroxy copalic acid (3) and ent-agathic acid (4). All eighteen compounds were assayed against promastigote form of Leishmania amazonensis and trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi, revealing two promising compounds related to leishmanicidal activity (IC50 = 5.94 micromolar and 5.31 micromolar) and three promising compounds with trypanocidal activity, two of them (IC50 = 13.31micromolar and IC50 = 15.05micromolar) displaying similar activity as the reference drug (IC50 = 13.12micromolar) and one of them even more potent with IC50 = 0.425micromolar.

This lack of information is due to the primary role of HSTs in fungal pathogenesis, which often masks the functions of NSTs and CWDEs. So, the toxic effects of A. alternata metabolites due to NSTs and CWDEs have received minor attention than those reported for HSTs mycotoxins [11]. A wider study of the activity of isolated fungal metabolites can allow the identification of compounds directly related to the pathogenic activity of the fungus, making it possible to create chemo libraries that facilitate the linking of the structure of the compounds with the species that produce it and its effect on host and non-host crops, as well as with biosynthetic features [12]. In this context, our work reports a study focused on NSTs and CWDEs used by an A. alternata strain isolated from infected pears in Italy. To this aim, the characterization of hydrolytic enzyme activities of A. alternata and the identification of the metabolites produced in vitro were performed. Furthermore, the phytotoxic activity of the isolated compounds was evaluated on pear (host and non-host varieties) and lemon fruits [13]. Finally, the competition of A. alternata with other pathogens was evaluated to investigate the role of NSTs on co-infections.

Zephyranthes citrina Baker is a bulbous herb, commonly known as yellow rain lily belongs to the family Amaryllidaceae. It is a native of tropical and subtropical America but nowadays it is cultivated as a popular ornamental herb in several parts of the world including India. This herb represents one of the richest sources of phytochemicals, especially alkaloids and possesses great potential for pharmaceutical applications. It shows remarkable antiprotozoal, antimicrobial, anti-Alzheimer, cytotoxic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and dye removal activities. This review is an effort to give a detailed study of the literature on the biological activities of Zephyranthes citrina. This review concludes that Zephyranthes citrina has a great potential to treat various diseases and could be used as a source for novel healthcare products in the near future, which requires further experimentation.

The Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) prickly pear peel, is a residue product and was used as a substrate in solid-state fermentation (SSF) to obtain bioactive compounds of interest due to its antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. A Box Hunter &amp; Hunter design to evaluate the independent factors was used. These factors were temperature (°C), inoculum (spores/g), humidity (%), pH, NaNO3 (g/L), MgSO4 (g/L), KCl (g/L) and KH2PO4 (g/L). The response factors were hydrolyzable and condensed tannins amount. In addition, the fermentation extracts the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity were evaluated. The results showed that the humidity (%), inoculum (spores/g) and temperature (°C) affect the release of hydrolyzable and condensed tannins. The treatments 13 and 16 were the best to accumulate condensed (43 mg/g) and hydrolyzable tannins (3.8 mg/g) respectively. Besides, the fermented extracts showed a higher antioxidant activity compared than the unfermented peel extracts, as well as a high inhibition versus E. coli, Alternaria sp. and Botrytis spp. The use of the fermentation process is a good alternative for the recovery of waste and the accumulation of bioactive molecules with potential industrial application.

Along with environmental pollutions, urban planning has been connected to public health. The research indicates that the quality of built environments plays an important role in reducing mental disorders and overall health. The structure and shape of the city are considered as one of the factors influencing happiness and health in urban communities and the type of the daily activities of citizens. The aim of this study was to promote physical activity in the main structure of the city via urban design in a way that the main form and morphology of the city can encourage citizens to move around and have physical activity within the city. Functional, physical, cultural-social, and perceptual-visual features are regarded as the most important and effective criteria in increasing physical activities in urban spaces based on literature review. The environmental quality of urban spaces and their role in the physical activities of citizens in urban spaces were assessed by using the questionnaire tool and analytical network process (ANP) of structural equation modeling. Further, the space syntax method was utilized to evaluate the role of the spatial integration of urban spaces on improving physical activities. Based on the results, the consideration of functional diversity, spatial flexibility and integration, security, and the aesthetic and visual quality of urban spaces plays an important role in improving the physical health of citizens in urban spaces. Further, more physical activities, including motivation for walking and consequently, the sense of public health and happiness, were observed in the streets having higher linkage and space syntax indexes with their surrounding texture.

Since a few decades, the world has been facing severe global challenges with context to water, food, agriculture science, energy resources, healthcare, medicines, diseases, etc. One of the causes of these challenges is excessive human activities. So, there has arisen a necessity to tackle these challenges using sustainable solutions so as to minimize the effect of human interference. Nanotechnology (NT) has gained pace as a new technique that provides cost-effective, efficient, and eco-friendly solutions to such challenges. The advantages of the usage of NT have increased in every field of science. As compared to traditional methods, NT possesses wider use and benefits as it is designed at the nano levels and also keeps the environment clean. It is the science of tiny particles that has an important role to play in international efforts in sustainability. The innovation of NT is revolutionary and therefore subsequently will cover a wider space in terms of scientific achievements. Technology saves time, money, and human resources. This paper discusses and highlights the usage of NT with respect to its application, knowledge, and sustainable development. It also gives a broad view of the approaches, properties, and applications of NT in various sectors including the treatment of water bodies, agricultural science, drug delivery systems, medicines, and energy saving.

The objective of this research article is to determine if social and cultural capital are factors that cause inequalities in the level of knowledge in civic and citizenship education, between Latin American and European countries. To achieve this purpose, information from the National Study of Civic and Citizen Education -ICCS-, of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement -IEA-, of the year 2016, is used. Methodologically speaking, the Educational Production Function -EPF- is estimated and subsequently, the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique is applied to quantify the differences in civic and citizenship education and see how much they are explained by the characteristics of the student and their family. the school, the social and cultural capital. As a main result, educational inequalities were found in favor of European countries, and are due to a greater extent to differences in school resources, between Latin American and European countries, followed by differences in social and cultural capital, therefore, it is the European students who make the best use of and benefit from the differences in school endowments and in social and cultural capital.

Tin (IV) oxide nanoparticles (SnO2 NPs) have received a lot of interest because of their interesting features. SnO2 NPs have proven productive in a range of fields, including water purification, supercapacitors, batteries, antibacterial and antioxidant agents, and others. SnO2-based nanoparticles found a wide range of applications after incorporating materials with varying chemical compositions. SnO2 NPs and their nanocomposites have been used effectively as antibacterial agents against various pathogenic bacteria, photocatalysts for dye degradation, and electrode materials for supercapacitors (SCs). This article covers the characteristics of SnO2 NPs, SnO2 nanocomposite materials, applications of SnO2 NPs and their composite materials, including antibacterial, energy storage, and photocatalysis, as well as some significant recent studies.

The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is a stem cell and carcinoma antigen, which mediates cellular adhesion and proliferative signaling by the proteolytic cleavage. In contrast to low expression in normal epithelium, EpCAM is frequently overexpressed in various carcinomas, which correlates with poor prognosis. Therefore, EpCAM has been considered as a promising target for tumor diagnosis and therapy. Using the Cell-Based Immunization and Screening (CBIS) method, we previously established an anti‐EpCAM monoclonal antibody (EpMab-37; mouse IgG1, kappa). In this study, we investigated the antibody‐dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), complement‐dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), and an antitumor activity by a defucosylated mouse IgG2a-type of EpMab-37 (EpMab-37-mG2a-f) against an EpCAM‐expressing breast cancer cell line (BT-474). EpMab-37-mG2a-f recognized BT-474 cells with a moderate binding-affinity [a dissociation constant (KD): 2.9x10-8 M] by flow cytometry. EpMab-37-mG2a-f exhibited ADCC and CDC for BT-474 cells by murine splenocytes and complements, respectively. Furthermore, administration of EpMab-37-mG2a-f significantly suppressed the BT-474 xenograft tumor development compared with the control mouse IgG. These results indicated that EpMab-37-mG2a-f exerts antitumor activities against the BT-474 xenograft, and could provide valuable therapeutic regimen for the breast cancers.

In this review paper, the occurrence in the plant kingdom and the biological activities associated to two specific phenyl-ethanoid glycosides i.e., leucosceptoside A and leucosceptoside B, were shown and discussed. This is the first work ever done on such subject. Analysis of the literature data clearly indicates that leucosceptoside A is much more common in plants and exerts many more biological activities than leucosceptoside B even if this also presents some important elements. All of this was widely discussed in this paper.

Edcraft, a recycling and upcycling event for Malaysian secondary school students, particularly in the Klang Valley area in 2020. The event's goal was to look into gamified solutions to encourage recycling and upcycling among the students’ age group. Lectures, talks, practical exercises and games were used to teach students about climate change and environmental preservation. According to a post-event survey, the percentage of participants who recycle has climbed significantly: 76% now recycle, compared to only 24% previously. The study discovered that gamification-based activities could effectively facilitate recycling and upcycling behaviours. Such solutions can be applied to encourage behavioural changes in different contexts. By interviewing 15 Edcraft students in a focus group study setting, researchers could better understand the motivations. Themes such as 'social connections are vital', 'convenience and rewards are significant motivators', 'gamified activities help attract and engage teens' and 'environmental knowledge is crucial to prolonging recycling' emerged from the thematic analysis. This manuscript proposes gamified activities to induce a behavioural change in upcycling, and the findings yield helpful insights to fuel pro-environmental behaviours.

The abundance, distribution and composition of marine debris (> 5 cm) and small microplastics (11 μm) from five rivers in South Eastern, Nigeria was investigated. This study provided the first assessment of the type and quantity of marine litter and microplastics in Nigeria. A total of 3487 macrodebris items/m2 were counted with the following distribution; plastics (59 %) > metal (10 %) > cloth (7 %), paper /cardboard (7 %), rubber (7 %) > glass/ceramics (5 %), medical and agro-based waste (3 %) > wood (2 %). The cleanliness of the river assessed with clean coast index (CCI) ranged from “very clean” at Okumpi and Obiaraedu river to “extremely dirty” at Nwangele river. Microplastics abundance ranged from 440 to 1556 particles/L, with high accumulation at downstream. Fragment shape was most abundant while fiber and film followed. The distribution of plastic types was; PET (29 %) > PE (22 %) > PVC (16 %) > PP (14 %) > other (6 %) respectively. Significant relationship was found between the total abundances of microplastics and different macrodebris groups suggesting that microplastics were abundant in areas where the macrodebris abundance was high. Our results provide baseline information for future assessments. Management actions should focus on input prevention including proper waste management, recycling of plastics, and strict penalties for illegal dumping of wastes.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms that colonize diverse environments worldwide, ranging from ocean to freshwaters, soils, and extreme environments. Their adaptation capacities and the diversity of natural products (molecules, metabolites, or compounds) that they synthesize support the cyanobacterial success for the colonization of their respective ecological niches. Although cyanobacteria are well-known for their toxin production and their relative deleterious consequences, they also produce a large variety of molecules that exhibit beneficial properties with high potential for various fields of application (e.g., synthetic analog of the dolastatin 10 used against Hodgkin lymphoma). The present review specially focuses on the beneficial activities of cyanobacterial molecules described so far. Based on an analysis of 670 papers, it appears that more than 90 genera of cyanobacteria have been found to produce compounds with potential beneficial activities, most of them belonging to the orders Oscillatoriales, Nostocales Chroococcales, and Synechococcales. The rest of the cyanobacterial orders (i.e., Pleurocapsales, Chroococcidiopsales, and Gloeobacterales) remain poorly explored in terms of their molecular diversity and relative bioactivity. The diverse cyanobacterial molecules presenting beneficial bioactivities belong to 10 different chemical classes (alkaloids, depsipeptides, lipopeptides, macrolides/lactones, peptides, terpenes, polysaccharides, lipids, polyketides, and others) that exhibit 14 major kinds of bioactivity. However, no direct relation between the chemical class and the bioactivity of these molecules has been demonstrated. We further selected and specifically described 50 molecule families according to their specific bioactivities and their potential uses in pharmacology, cosmetology, agriculture, or other specific fields of interest. This up-to-date review takes advantage of the recent progresses in genome sequencing and biosynthetic pathway elucidation, and presents new perspectives for the rational discovery of new cyanobacterial metabolites with beneficial bioactivity.

At room temperature, the indentation morphologies of crystalline copper with different grain size including nanocrystalline (NC), ultrafine-grained (UFG) and coarse-grained (CG) copper were studied by nanoindentation at the strain rate of 0.04/s without holding time at indentation depth of 2000 nm. As the grain size increasing, the height of the pile-up around the residual indentation increases and then has a slightly decrease in the CG Cu, While the area of the pile-up increases constantly. Our analysis has revealed that the dislocation motion and GB activities in the NC Cu, some cross- and multiple-slips dislocation insides the larger grain in the UFG Cu, and forest dislocations from the intragranular Frank-Read sources in the CG Cu, would directly induce these distinct pile-up effect.

The use of metal oxide nanoparticles as an alternative antimicrobial agent has gained attention due to the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. Understanding its properties and potential benefits can contribute to the development of more effective and sustainable treatments in veterinary medicine. The aim of this study was to characterize TiO2-NP formulations and evaluate their antibacterial and wound healing abilities. The diameters and zeta potentials were determined using the Zetasizer in conjunction with dynamic light scattering. The agar-well diffusion method, time-kill kinetic assay and crystal violet assay were used to evaluate their antimicrobial activities. Wound healing assays were conducted both in-vitro and in-vivo. The study demonstrated that TiO2-NP formulations exhibit significant antimicrobial properties against various bacterial strains such as S. aureus and E. coli. No measurable E. coli growth was observed within a 15-mins period following exposure to TiO2-NP formulations. The TiO2-NP formation can improve wound healing by enhancing cell migration and collagen formation in both in-vitro and in-vivo conditions. In summary, our study suggests that TiO2-NP has the potential for use as an antimicrobial agent for animal wound treatment due to its ability to suppress bacterial growth and biofilm formation, as well as to enhance wound healing.

AbstractBaraton University dairy farm is an environment that attracts a microbiologist to inquire the composition of bacteria that exist there in. The knowledge of bacteria has in time and again amazed the life scientist community that have invested to acquire more information in this microbiology world.The study engages fundamental tests such as gram stain, endospore stain, and assays for specific microbial activities & enzymes, susceptibility on disinfectant and antibiotic, utilization of specific substrate and culture characteristics. The two organisms (gram negative and positive) tested positive for sucrose & lactose fermentation, Indole & Methly red, catalase & Oxidase, were both facultative and motile. On contrary, gram positive bacteria had spores and had a gamma haemolysis on Blood Agar, while gram negative bacteria haemolysed beta haemolysis. To draw a conclusion on the identity of the two organisms is that, the gram positive is a Bacillus ........ while gram negative is Escherichia coli.

Prunus dulcis is one of the most widely cultivated species in the world. Its fruit (almond) is rich in various nutritious and bioactive compounds that exert several beneficial effects. The aim of this study was to determine the chemical profile and evaluate the biological potential in vitro of almond shell extracts. The chemical analysis of shell extracts led to the identification of 15 com-pounds by HPLC-DAD of which 11 were first detected in the almond plant. Twenty-six volatile compounds were identified by the GC-MS technique, among them; seven were firstly detected in the studied plant. For the biological activities, the extracts demonstrated moderate inhibition potential against the antioxidant, antidiabetic, and cytotoxic activities. The methanol extract at 50 µg/mL showed the highest antioxidant (45%) and antidiabetic activities (45% against alpha-glucosidase and 31% against alpha-amylase extracts), while the cyclohexane and dichloromethane at 50 µg/mL showed the highest cytotoxic activity towards Hela (32.2% with cyclohexane), and RAW 264-7 (45% with dichloromethane). Overall, these findings demonstrate the potential of almond shell extracts as a source of bioactive compounds that could be applied in the pharmaceutical and medical fields.

Understanding park events and their categorization offer pivotal insights into urban parks and their integral roles in cities. This study utilized images and event category data from the New York City Parks Events Listing database to train a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for image-based park event categorization. Different CNN models were tuned to complete this multi-label classification task, their performances compared. Preliminary results underscore the efficacy of deep learning in automating the event classification process, revealing the multifaceted activities within urban green spaces. The CNN showcased proficiency in discerning various event nuances, emphasizing the diverse recreational and cultural offerings of urban parks. Such categorization has potential applications in urban planning, aiding decision-making processes related to resource distribution, event coordination, and infrastructure enhancements tailored to specific park activities.

A novel hybrid cobalt phosphite, (H2DAB)[Co(H2PO3)4]·2H2O, has been synthesized by using slow evaporation method, in the presence of cobalt nitrate, phosphorous acid and 1,4- dia-minobutane (DAB= 1,4- diaminobutane) as a structure-directing agent. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the compound crystallizes in the P-1(n.2) triclinic space group, with the following unit cell parameters (Å, °) a = 5.4814 (3), b = 7.5515 (4), c = 10.8548 (6), α = 88.001 (4), β = 88.707 (5), γ = 85.126 (5), and V= 447.33 (4) Å3. The crystal structure was built up from cor-ner-sharing [CoO6] octahedra, forming chains parallel to [001], which are interconnected by H2PO3 pseudo-tetrahedral units. The deprotonated cations, residing between the parallel chains, interacted with the inorganic moiety via hydrogen bonds leading thus to the formation of the 3D crystal structure. The Fourier transform infrared spectrum showed characteristic bands corresponding to the phosphite group and the organic amine. The thermal behavior of the compound consisted mainly of the loss of its organic moiety and the water molecules. The biological tests exhibited significant activity against Candida albicans and Escherichia coli strains in all used concentrations, while less inhibitory activity was pronounced against Staphylococcus epidermidis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and in the case of multi-cellular organisms, no activity against the nematode model Steinernema feltiae was detected.