Search results for: pose normalization

Authors: Mohamed Ziyaina, Ahlam Rajab, Khadija Alkhweldi, Wafia Algami, Omer Al. Toumi, Barbara Rasco1

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In recent years, there has been a growing interest in monitoring heavy metal contamination in food products. Spices can improve the taste of food and can also be a source of many bioactive compounds but can unfortunately, also be contaminated with dangerous materials, potentially heavy metals. This study was conducted to investigate lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) contamination in selected spices commonly consumed in Libya including Capsicum frutescens (chili pepper) Piper nigrum, (black pepper), Curcuma longa (turmeric), and mixed spices (HRARAT) which consist of a combination of: Alpinia officinarum, Zingiber officinale and Cinnamomum zeylanicum. Spices were analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy after digestion with nitric acid/hydrogen peroxide. The highest level of lead (Pb) was found in Curcuma longa and Capsicum frutescens in wholesale markets (1.05 ± 0.01 mg/kg, 0.96 ± 0.06 mg/kg). Cadmium (Cd) levels exceeded FAO/WHO permissible limit. Curcuma longa and Piper nigrum sold in retail markets had a high concentration of Cd (0.36 ± 0.09, 0.35 ± 0.07 mg/kg, respectively) followed by (0.32 ± 0.04 mg/kg) for Capsicum frutescens. Mixed spices purchased from wholesale markets also had high levels of Cd (0.31 ± 0.08 mg/kg). Curcuma longa and Capsicum frutescens may pose a food safety risk due to high levels of lead and cadmium. Cadmium levels exceeded FAO/WHO recommendations (0.2 ppm) for Piper nigrum, Curcuma longa, and mixed spices (HRARAT).

Keywords: heavy metals, lead, cadmium determination, spice

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Authors: Luay Alsalmi

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Background: Facial filler is the most common type of cosmetic surgery next to botox. Permanent filler is preferred nowadays due to the low cost brought about by non-recurring injection appointments. However, such fillers pose a higher risk for complications, with even greater adverse effects when the procedure is done using unknown dermal filler injections. AIM: This study aimed to establish an algorithm to categorize and manage patients that receive permanent fillers. Materials and Methods: Twelve participants were presented to the service through emergency or as outpatient from November 2015 to May 2021. Demographics such as age, sex, date of injection, time of onset, and types of complications were collected. After examination, all cases were managed based on an algorithm established. FACE-Q was used to measure overall satisfaction and psychological well-being. Results: The algorithm to diagnose and manage these patients effectively with a high satisfaction rate was established in this study. All participants were non-smoker females with no known medical comorbidities. The algorithm presented determined the treatment plan when faced with complications. Results revealed high appearance-related psychosocial distress was observed prior to surgery, while it significantly dropped after surgery. FACE-Q was able to establish evidence of satisfactory ratings among patients prior to and after surgery. Conclusion: This treatment algorithm can guide the surgeon in formulating a suitable plan with fewer complications and a high satisfaction rate.

Keywords: facial filler, FACE-Q, psycho-social stress, botox, treatment algorithm

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Authors: Abdullah Alshakhi

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This study aims to explore the assessment practices of transnational western teachers in Saudi EFL writing classrooms. The study adopts a critical ethnographic approach to understand the views and the experiences of four transnational TESOL professionals about how they navigate and negotiate their writing assessment practices in the Saudi EFL context. The qualitative data were collected through classroom observations and video recordings of the classroom teaching, which were followed by semi-structured interviews with the four TESOL teachers from Australia, England, USA, and Ireland. The data were analyzed from three perspectives of these transnational TESOL teachers in the Saudi EFL context: as a transnational teacher in monolingual context, as a transitional teacher abides by the prescribed curriculum and assessment instructions, and as a transnational teacher’s vision for monolingual students. The results of the study revealed that owing to the transnational teachers’ lack of understanding of the Saudi monolingual culture, bureaucratic structures, and top-down assessment policies in the institute where they work, their teaching and assessment of writing and other language skills are negatively affected and consequently had to be modified. Also, the Saudi learners’ lack of interest and their lower level of English proficiency pose serious challenges to those transnational teachers’ writing assessment practices. More often, the teachers find the prescribed writing curriculum and assessment tools ineffective in the Saudi EFL context. Because of these experiences, the transnational teachers in this study have exhibited their awareness of their monolingual/monoculture background, Saudi’s cultural and religious values, and institutional structures, which have helped them customize or supplement the writing assessment practices accordingly.

Keywords: critical ethnography, Saudi EFL context, TESOL professionals, transnationalism, writing assessment

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Authors: Angelica Salmeron Alcocer, Deifilia Ahuatzi Chacon, Felipe Rodriguez Casasola

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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are produced naturally (forest fires, volcanic eruptions) and human activity (burning fossil fuels). Concern for PAHs is due to their toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects and so pose a potential risk to human health and ecology. Therefore these are considered the most toxic components of oil, they are highly hydrophobic, making them easily depositable on the floor, air and water. One method of removing PAHs of contaminated soil used surfactants such as Tween 80, which it has been reported as less toxic and also increases the solubility of the PAH compared to other surfactants, fluoranthene is a PAH with molecular formula C16H10, its name derives from the fluorescence which presents to UV light. In this paper, a study of the fluoranthene removal solubilized with Tween 80 in synthetic wastewater using a microbial community (isolated from soil of coffee plantations in the state of Veracruz, Mexico) and Fenton oxidation method was performed. The microbial community was able to use both tween 80 and fluoranthene as carbon sources for growth, when the biological treatment in batch culture was applied, 100% of fluoranthene was mineralized, this only occurred at an initial concentration of 100 ppm, but by increasing the initial concentration of fluoranthene the removal efficiencies decay and degradation time increases due to the accumulation of byproducts more toxic or less biodegradable, however when the Fenton oxidation was previously applied to the biological treatment, it was observed that removal of fluoranthene improved because it is consumed approximately 2.4 times faster.

Keywords: fluoranthene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, biological treatment, fenton oxidation

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Authors: Caixia Gao, Chuanrong Li, Lingli Tang, Lingling Ma, Yaokai Liu, Xinhong Wang, Yongsheng Zhou

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Performances analysis of remote sensing sensor is required to pursue a range of scientific research and application objectives. Laboratory analysis of any remote sensing instrument is essential, but not sufficient to establish a valid inflight one. In this study, with the aid of the in situ measurements and corresponding image of three-gray scale permanent artificial target, the in-flight radiometric performances analyses (in-flight radiometric calibration, dynamic range and response linearity, signal-noise-ratio (SNR), radiometric resolution) of self-developed short-wave infrared (SWIR) camera are performed. To acquire the inflight calibration coefficients of the SWIR camera, the at-sensor radiances (L_i) for the artificial targets are firstly simulated with in situ measurements (atmosphere parameter and spectral reflectance of the target) and viewing geometries using MODTRAN model. With these radiances and the corresponding digital numbers (DN) in the image, a straight line with a formulation of L = G × DN + B is fitted by a minimization regression method, and the fitted coefficients, G and B, are inflight calibration coefficients. And then the high point (L_H) and the low point (L_L) of dynamic range can be described as L_H= (G × DN_H + B) and L_L= B, respectively, where DN_H is equal to 2ⁿ − 1 (n is the quantization number of the payload). Meanwhile, the sensor’s response linearity (δ) is described as the correlation coefficient of the regressed line. The results show that the calibration coefficients (G and B) are 0.0083 W·sr⁻¹m⁻²µm⁻¹ and −3.5 W·sr⁻¹m⁻²µm⁻¹; the low point of dynamic range is −3.5 W·sr⁻¹m⁻²µm⁻¹ and the high point is 30.5 W·sr⁻¹m⁻²µm⁻¹; the response linearity is approximately 99%. Furthermore, a SNR normalization method is used to assess the sensor’s SNR, and the normalized SNR is about 59.6 when the mean value of radiance is equal to 11.0 W·sr⁻¹m⁻²µm⁻¹; subsequently, the radiometric resolution is calculated about 0.1845 W•sr^-1m^-2μm^-1. Moreover, in order to validate the result, a comparison of the measured radiance with a radiative-transfer-code-predicted over four portable artificial targets with reflectance of 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% respectively, is performed. It is noted that relative error for the calibration is within 6.6%.

Keywords: calibration and validation site, SWIR camera, in-flight radiometric calibration, dynamic range, response linearity

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Authors: Rahul Madathiparambil Visalakshan, Alex Cavallaro, John Hayball, Krasimir Vasilev

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The role of biomaterial surface nanotopograhy on fibrinogen adsorption and unfolding, and the subsequent immune response were studied. Inconsistent topography and varying chemical functionalities along with a lack of reproducibility pose a challenge in determining the specific effects of nanotopography or chemistry on proteins and cells. It is important to have a well-defined nanotopography with a homogeneous chemistry to study the real effect of nanotopography on biological systems. Therefore, we developed a technique that can produce well-defined and highly reproducible topography to identify the role of specific roughness, size, height and density with the presence of homogeneous chemical functionality. Using plasma polymerisation of oxazoline monomers and immobilized gold nanoparticles we created surfaces with an equal number density of nanoparticles of different sizes. This surface was used to study the role of surface nanotopography and the interplay of surface chemistry on proteins and immune cells. The effect of nanotopography on fibrinogen adsorption was investigated using Quartz Cristal Microbalance with Dissipation and micro BCA. The mass of fibrinogen adsorbed on the surface increased with increasing size of nano-topography. Protein structural changes up on adsorption to the nano rough surface was studied using circular dichroism spectroscopy. Fibrinogen unfolding varied depending on the specific nanotopography of the surfaces. It was revealed that the in vitro immune response to the nanotopography surfaces changed due to this protein unfolding.

Keywords: biomaterial inflammation, protein and cell responses, protein unfolding, surface nanotopography

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Authors: Kwanele Qonono

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Despite the significance and economic benefits of petrol stations in South Africa, these still pose a huge risk of fire and explosion threatening public safety. This research paper examines the extent to which land-use planning in Stellenbosch, South Africa, considers the fire risk posed by petrol stations and the implications for public safety as well as preparedness for large fires or explosions. To achieve this, the research identified the land-use types around petrol stations in Stellenbosch and determined the extent to which their locations comply with the local, national, and international land-use planning regulations. A mixed research method consisting of the collection and analysis of geospatial data and qualitative data was an applied method, where petrol stations within a six-kilometre radius of Stellenbosch’s town centre were utilised as study sites. The research examined the risk of fires/explosions at these petrol stations. The research investigated Stellenbosch Municipality’s institutional preparedness to respond in the event of a fire/explosion at these petrol stations. The research observed that siting of petrol stations does not comply with local, national, and international good practices, thus exposing the surrounding developments to fires and explosions. Land-use planning practice does not consider hazards created by petrol stations. Despite the potential for major fires at petrol stations, Stellenbosch Municipality’s level of preparedness to respond to petrol station fires appears low due to the prioritisation of more frequent events.

Keywords: petrol stations, technological hazard, drr, land-use planning, risk analysis

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Authors: Mohammad Saraj Sharifzai, Keisuke Kitagawa, Ahmad Javid Habib Mohammad Kamil Halimee, Daishi Sakaguchi

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The main purpose of this research is to recognize indoor comfort in contemporary Afghan courtyard house with outdoor welfare in housing layout and neighborhood design where sustainability is a local consideration. This research focuses on three new neighborhoods (Gawoond) in three different provinces of Afghanistan. Since 2001, the capital Kabul and major cities including Kandahar, which will be compared with Peshawar city in Pakistan, have faced a fast, rough-and-tumble process of urban innovation. The effects of this innovation necessitate reconsideration of the formation of sustainable urban environments and in-house thermal comfort. The lack of sustainable urban life in many newly developed Afghan neighborhoods can pose a major challenge to the process of sustainable urban development. Several factors can affect the success or failure of new neighborhoods in the context of urban life. For thermal analysis, we divide our research into three different climatic zones. This study is an evaluation of the environmental impacts of the interior comfort of contemporary courtyard housing with the exterior welfare of neighborhood sustainable design strategy in dry and cold, semi-hot and arid, and semi-humid and hot climates in Afghan cities and Peshawar.

Keywords: Afghan contemporary courtyard house, neighbourhood, street pattern and housing layout, sustainability, welfare, comfort, climate zone, Afghanistan

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Authors: Kirill Filianin, Satu-Pia Reinikainen, Tuomo Sainio

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Frequent measurements of product steam quality create a data overload that becomes more and more difficult to handle. In the current study, plant history data with multiple variables was successfully treated by principal component analysis to detect abnormal process behavior, particularly, in copper solvent extraction. The multivariate model is based on the concentration levels of main process metals recorded by the industrial on-stream x-ray fluorescence analyzer. After mean-centering and normalization of concentration data set, two-dimensional multivariate model under principal component analysis algorithm was constructed. Normal operating conditions were defined through control limits that were assigned to squared score values on x-axis and to residual values on y-axis. 80 percent of the data set were taken as the training set and the multivariate model was tested with the remaining 20 percent of data. Model testing showed successful application of control limits to detect abnormal behavior of copper solvent extraction process as early warnings. Compared to the conventional techniques of analyzing one variable at a time, the proposed model allows to detect on-line a process failure using information from all process variables simultaneously. Complex industrial equipment combined with advanced mathematical tools may be used for on-line monitoring both of process streams’ composition and final product quality. Defining normal operating conditions of the process supports reliable decision making in a process control room. Thus, industrial x-ray fluorescence analyzers equipped with integrated data processing toolbox allows more flexibility in copper plant operation. The additional multivariate process control and monitoring procedures are recommended to apply separately for the major components and for the impurities. Principal component analysis may be utilized not only in control of major elements’ content in process streams, but also for continuous monitoring of plant feed. The proposed approach has a potential in on-line instrumentation providing fast, robust and cheap application with automation abilities.

Keywords: abnormal process behavior, failure detection, principal component analysis, solvent extraction

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Authors: Li Lin Ong, Duc Thinh Khong, Zaher M. A. Judeh

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Phenylpropanoid sucrose esters (PSEs) are natural compounds found in various medicinal plants which exhibit important biological activities such as antiproliferation and α- and β-glucosidase inhibitory activities. Despite their potential as new therapeutics, total synthesis of PSEs has been very limited as their inherent structures contain one or more (substituted) cinnamoyl groups randomly allocated on the sucrose core via ester linkage. Since direct acylation of unprotected sucrose would be complex and tedious due to the presence of eight free hydroxyl groups, partially protected 2,1’:4,6-di-O-diisopropylidene sucrose was used as the starting material instead. However, similar reactivity between the remaining four hydroxyl groups still pose a challenge in the total synthesis of PSEs as the lack of selectivity can restrict customisation where acylation at specific OH is desired. To overcome this problem, a 4-step orthogonal protection scheme was developed. In this scheme, the remaining four hydroxyl groups on 2,1’:4,6-di-O-diisopropylidene sucrose, 6’-OH, 3’-OH, 4’-OH, and 3-OH, were protected with different protecting groups with an overall yield of > 40%. This orthogonally protected intermediate would provide a convenient and divergent access to a wider range of natural and synthetic PSEs as (substituted) cinnamoyl groups can be selectively introduced at desired positions. Using this scheme, three different series of monosubstituted PSEs were successfully synthesized where (substituted) cinnamoyl groups were introduced selectively at O-3, O-3’, and O-4’ positions, respectively. The expanded library of PSEs would aid in structural-activity relationship study of PSEs for identifying key components responsible for their biological activities.

Keywords: orthogonal protection, phenylpropanoid sucrose esters, selectivity, sucrose

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Authors: Adriane Orenha-Ottaiano

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Collocations are conventionalized, recurrent and arbitrary lexical combinations. Due to the fact that they are highly specific for a particular language and may be contextually restricted, collocations pose a problem to EFL/ESL learners with regard to production or encoding. Taking that into account, the compilation of monolingual and bilingual collocations dictionaries for the referred audience is highly crucial and significant. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of the compilation of an Online Corpus-based Bilingual Collocations Dictionary, in the English-Portuguese and Portuguese-English directions. On a first phase, with the use of WordSmith Tools, the collocations were extracted from a Translation Learner Corpus (TLC), a parallel corpus made up of university students’ translations in the Portuguese-English direction, with approximately 100,000 words. In a second stage, based on the keywords analyzed from the TLC, more collocational patterns were extracted using the Sketch Engine. In order to include more collocations as well as to ensure dictionary users will have access to more frequent and recurrent collocations, we also use the frequency list from The Corpus of Contemporary American English, with the purpose of extracting more patterns. The dictionary focuses on all types of collocations (verbal, noun, adjectival and adverbial collocations), in order to help the referred audience use them more accurately and productively – so far the dictionary has more than 330 entries, and more than 3,500 collocations extracted. The idea of having the proposed dictionary in online format may allow to incorporate more qualitatively and quantitatively collocational information. Besides, more examples may be included, different from conventional printed collocations dictionaries. Being the first bilingual collocations dictionary in the aforementioned directions, it is hoped to achieve the challenge of meeting learners’ collocational needs as the collocations have been selected according to learners’ difficulties regarding the use of collocations.

Keywords: Corpus-Based Collocations Dictionary, Collocations , Bilingual Collocations Dictionary, Collocational Patterns

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Authors: Daniela E. Marin, Cornelia Braicu, Gina C. Pistol, Roxana Cojocneanu-Petric, Ioana Berindan Neagoe, Mihail A. Gras, Ionelia Taranu

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Aristolochic acid (AA) is a carcinogenic, mutagenic, and nephrotoxic compound commonly found in the Aristolochiaceae family of plants. AA is frequently associated with urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract in human and animals and is considered as being responsible for Balkan Endemic Nephropathy. The pig provides a good animal model because the porcine urological system is very similar to that of humans, both in aspects of physiology and anatomy. MicroRNA (miRNA) are small non-coding RNAs that have an impact on a wide range of biological processes by regulating gene expression at post-transcriptional level. The objective of this study was to analyze the miRNA profiling in the kidneys of AA intoxicated swine. For this purpose, ten TOPIGS-40 crossbred weaned piglets, 4-week-old, male and females with an initial average body weight of 9.83 ± 0.5 kg were studied for 28 days. They were given ad libitum access to water and feed and randomly allotted to one of the following groups: control group (C) or aristolochic acid group (AA). They were fed a maize-soybean-meal-based diet contaminated or not with 0.25mgAA/kg. To profile miRNA in the kidneys of pigs, microarrays and bioinformatics approaches were applied to analyze the miRNA in the kidney of control and AA intoxicated pigs. After normalization, our results have shown that a total of 5 known miRNAs and 4 novel miRNAs had different profiling in the kidney of intoxicated animals versus control ones. Expression of miR-32-5p, miR-497-5p, miR-423-3p, miR-218-5p, miR-128-3p were up-regulated by 0.25mgAA/kg feed, while the expression of miR-9793-5p, miR-9835-3p, miR-9840-3p, miR-4334-5p was down-regulated. The microRNA profiling in kidney of intoxicated animals was associated with modified expression of target genes as: RICTOR, LASP1, SFRP2, DKK2, BMI1, RAF1, IGF1R, MAP2K1, WEE1, HDGF, BCL2, EIF4E etc, involved in cell division cycle, apoptosis, cell differentiation and cell migration, cell signaling, cancer etc. In conclusion, this study provides new data concerning the microRNA profiling in kidney after aristolochic acid intoxications with important implications for human and animal health.

Keywords: aristolochic acid, kidney, microRNA, swine

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Authors: A. Asambe, A. K. B. Sackey, L. B. Tekdek

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A serosurveillance study was conducted to detect the presence of antibodies to African swine fever virus (ASFV) and Classical swine fever virus in pigs sampled from piggeries and Makurdi central slaughter slab in Benue State, Nigeria. 416 pigs from 74 piggeries across 12 LGAs and 44 pigs at the Makurdi central slaughter slab were sampled for serum. The sera collected were analysed using Indirect Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test kit to test for antibodies to ASFV, while competitive ELISA test kit was used to test for antibodies to CSFV. Of the 416 pigs from piggeries and 44 pigs sampled from the slaughter slab, seven (1.7%) and six (13.6%), respectively, tested positive to ASFV antibodies and was significantly associated (p < 0.0001). Out of the 12 LGAs sampled, Obi LGA had the highest ASFV antibody detection rate of (4.8%) and was significantly associated (p < 0.0001). None of the samples tested positive to CSFV antibodies. The study concluded that antibodies to CSFV were absent in the sampled pigs in piggeries and at the Makurdi central slaughter slab in Benue State, while antibodies to ASFV were present in both locations; hence, the need to keep an eye open for CSF too since both diseases may pose great risk in the study area. Further studies to characterise the ASFV circulating in Benue State and investigate the possible sources is recommended. Routine surveillance to provide a comprehensive and readily accessible data base to plan for the prevention of any fulminating outbreak is also recommended.

Keywords: African swine fever, classical swine fever, piggery, slaughter slab, surveillance

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Authors: Omar Khalifah

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The emergence of Muhammad Fadel’s 1996 film ‘Nasser 56’ ushered in a new era in Egyptian cinema. Not only was it the first biographical film of late Egyptian president Gamal ‘Abdel Nasser (1918-1970); it also broke a long-accepted taboo against cinematic depiction of modern political leaders. Passionately received by Egyptians and Arabs throughout the world, the success of ‘Nasser 56’ empowered other filmmakers to follow Fadel’s suit. Interestingly, the three biographical films that followed had, completely or partially, a Nasser dimension. In addition to another biographical film of Nasser, Anwar al-Qawadri’s ‘Gamal ‘Abdel Nasser’ (1999); Muhammad Khan’s ‘Ayyam al-Sadat (Days of Sadat)’ (2001), and Sherif Arafa’s ‘Halim (Halim)’ (2006) portray, as the titles clearly suggest, two significant figures whose lives thoroughly intersected with Nasser’s - Nasser’s successor Anwar al-Sadat and the legendary singer Abdel Halim Hafiz. Expectedly, therefore, Nasser himself is abundantly referenced in those films, albeit differently. This paper seeks to examine the ways in which Egyptian filmmakers impersonate Nasser on the screen. Starting with scholarly definitions of the biopic, the paper will first ponder the reasons that have made the biopic an unattractive genre to Egyptian filmmakers. It will then argue that the popularity of Nasser and his wide appeal to the public has transformed the status of the biopic genre in Egyptian cinema. However, the impersonation of Nasser in the four films above proved a daunting mission to filmmakers. As this paper will show, unless he is the main character, the reenactment of Nasser in films will constantly pose dilemmas to filmmakers, a few of which will be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: Ahmad Zaki, bio-pictures, Egyptian cinema, Nasser, Nasser 56

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Authors: V. C. Shruti, P. F. Rodríguez-Espinosa, D. C. Escobedo-Urías, Estefanía Martinez Tavera, M. P. Jonathan

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Atoyac River, a major south-central river flowing through the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala in Mexico is significantly impacted by the natural volcanic inputs in addition with wastewater discharges from urban, agriculture and industrial zones. In the present study, core samples were collected from R. Atoyac and analyzed for sediment granularity, major (Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, K, P and S) and trace elemental concentrations (Ba, Cr, Cd, Mn, Pb, Sr, V, Zn, Zr). The textural studies reveal that the sediments are mostly sand sized particles exceeding 99% and with very few to no presence of mud fractions. It is observed that most of the metals like (avg: all values in μg g^-1) Ca (35,528), Mg (10,789), K (7453), S (1394), Ba (203), Cr (30), Cd (4), Pb (11), Sr (435), Zn (76) and Zr (88) are enriched throughout the sediments mainly sourced from volcanic inputs, source rock composition of Atoyac River basin and industrial influences from the Puebla city region. Contamination indices, such as anthropogenic factor (AF), enrichment factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (I_geo), were used to investigate the level of contamination and toxicity as well as quantitatively assess the influences of human activities on metal concentrations. The AF values (>1) for Ba, Ca, Mg, Na, K, P and S suggested volcanic inputs from the study region, where as Cd and Zn are attributed to the impacts of industrial inputs in this zone. The EF and I_geo values revealed an extreme enrichment of S and Cd. The ecological risks were evaluated using potential ecological risk index (RI) and the results indicate that the metals Cd and V pose a major hazard for the biological community.

Keywords: Atoyac River, contamination indices, metal concentrations, Mexico, textural studies

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Authors: Akrem Sellami, Imed Riadh Farah

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Hyperspectral imagery (HSI) typically provides a wealth of information captured in a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum for each pixel in the image. Hence, a pixel in HSI is a high-dimensional vector of intensities with a large spectral range and a high spectral resolution. Therefore, the semantic interpretation is a challenging task of HSI analysis. We focused in this paper on object classification as HSI semantic interpretation. However, HSI classification still faces some issues, among which are the following: The spatial variability of spectral signatures, the high number of spectral bands, and the high cost of true sample labeling. Therefore, the high number of spectral bands and the low number of training samples pose the problem of the curse of dimensionality. In order to resolve this problem, we propose to introduce the process of dimensionality reduction trying to improve the classification of HSI. The presented approach is a semi-supervised band selection method based on spatial hypergraph embedding model to represent higher order relationships with different weights of the spatial neighbors corresponding to the centroid of pixel. This semi-supervised band selection has been developed to select useful bands for object classification. The presented approach is evaluated on AVIRIS and ROSIS HSIs and compared to other dimensionality reduction methods. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of our approach compared to many existing dimensionality reduction methods for HSI classification.

Keywords: dimensionality reduction, hyperspectral image, semantic interpretation, spatial hypergraph

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Authors: Lison Carlier

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The English language that is taught in school or used in media nowadays is defined as 'standard English,' although unstandardized Englishes, or 'parallel' Englishes, are practiced throughout the world. The existence of these 'parallel' Englishes has challenged standardization by imposing its own specific vocabulary or grammar. These non-standard languages tend to be regarded as inferior and, therefore, pose a problem regarding their translation. In the USA, 'slanguage', or slang, is a good example of a 'parallel' language. It consists of a particular set of vocabulary, used mostly in speech, and rarely in writing. Qualified as vulgar, often reduced to an urban language spoken by young people from lower classes, slanguage – or the language that is often first spoken between youths – is still the most common language used in the English-speaking world. Moreover, it appears that the prime meaning of 'informal' (as in an informal language) – a language that is spoken with persons the speaker knows – has been put aside and replaced in the general mind by the idea of vulgarity and non-appropriateness, when in fact informality is a sign of intimacy, not of vulgarity. When it comes to translating American slang, the main problem a translator encounters is the image and the cultural background usually associated with this 'parallel' language. Indeed, one will have, unwillingly, a predisposition to categorize a speaker of a 'parallel' language as being part of a particular group of people. The way one sees a speaker using it is paramount, and needs to be transposed into the target language. This paper will conduct an analysis of American slang – its use, perception and the image it gives of its speakers – and its translation into French, using the novel Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) by way of example. In her autobiography/personal essay book, comedy writer, actress and author Mindy Kaling speaks with a very familiar English, including slang, which participates in the construction of her own voice and style, and enables a deeper connection with her readers.

Keywords: translation, English, slang, French

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Authors: Muhammad Umair Mushtaq, Ameena Iqbal, Muhammad Aqib Hassan Ali Khan, Ismat Nawaz, Sohail Yousaf, Mazhar Iqbal

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Heavy metals are one of the priority pollutants as they pose serious health and environmental threats. They can be removed by various physiochemical methods but are costly and responsible for additional environmental problems. Bioremediation that exploits plants and their associated microbes have been referred as cost effective and environmental friendly technique. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted in a greenhouse to evaluate the potential of Celosia cristata and effects of bacteria, Pseudomonas japonica, and organic amendment moss/compost on tolerating/accumulating heavy metals. Two weeks old seedlings were transferred to soil in pots, and after four weeks they were inoculated with bacterial strain, while after growth of six weeks they were watered with a metal containing synthetic wastewater and were harvested after a growth period of nine weeks. After harvesting, morphological and physiological parameters and metal content of plants were measured. The results showed highest plant growth and biomass production in case of organic amendments while highest metal uptake has been found in non-amended pots. Positive controls have shown highest Pb uptake of 2900 mg/kg DW, while P. japonica amended pots have shown highest Cd, Cr, Ni and Cu uptake of 963.53, 1481.17, 1022.01 and 602.17 mg/kg DW, respectively. In conclusion organic amendments have strong impacts on growth enhancement while P. japonica enhances metal translocation and accumulation to aerial parts with little significant involvement in plant growth.

Keywords: ornamental plants, plant microbe interaction, amendments, bacteria

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Authors: Prince Vivek, Vijay K. Bharti, Manishi Mukesh, Ankita Sharma, Om Prakash Chaurasia, Bhuvnesh Kumar

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High performance of endurance in equid requires adaptive changes involving physio-biochemical, and molecular responses in an attempt to regain homeostasis. We hypothesized that the identification of the suitable reference genes might be considered for assessing of endurance related traits in pony at high altitude and may ensure for individuals struggling to potent endurance trait in ponies at high altitude. A total of 12 mares of ponies, Zanskar breed, were divided into three groups, group-A (without load), group-B, (60 Kg) and group-C (80 Kg) on backpack loads were subjected to a load carry protocol, on a steep climb of 4 km uphill, and of gravel, uneven rocky surface track at an altitude of 3292 m to 3500 m (endpoint). Blood was collected before and immediately after the load carry on sodium heparin anticoagulant, and the peripheral blood mononuclear cell was separated for total RNA isolation and thereafter cDNA synthesis. Real time-PCR reactions were carried out to evaluate the mRNAs expression profile of a panel of putative internal control genes (ICGs), related to different functional classes, namely glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), β₂ microglobulin (β₂M), β-actin (ACTB), ribosomal protein 18 (RS18), hypoxanthine-guanine phosophoribosyltransferase (HPRT), ubiquitin B (UBB), ribosomal protein L32 (RPL32), transferrin receptor protein (TFRC), succinate dehydrogenase complex subunit A (SDHA) for normalizing the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) data of native pony’s. Three different algorithms, geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper software, were used to evaluate the stability of reference genes. The result showed that GAPDH was best stable gene and stability value for the best combination of two genes was observed TFRC and β₂M. In conclusion, the geometric mean of GAPDH, TFRC and β₂M might be used for accurate normalization of transcriptional data for assessing endurance related traits in Zanskar ponies during load carrying.

Keywords: endurance exercise, ubiquitin B (UBB), β₂ microglobulin (β₂M), high altitude, Zanskar ponies, reference gene

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Authors: C. T. Eze, I. N. E. Onwurah

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An important hydrogeologic problem in areas of high faults formations is high environmental health hazard occasioned by microbial and heavy metals contamination of ground waters. Consequently, we examined the microbial load and heavy metals concentration of hospital wastewater discharged into the environment at Park Lane General Hospital Enugu Urban, Nigeria. The microbial counts, characteristics and frequency of occurrences of the isolated microorganisms were determined by cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics using established procedure while the varying concentrations of the identified heavy metals were determined using the spectrophotometric method. The microbiological analyses showed a mean total aerobic bacteria counts from 13.7 ± 0.65 × 107 to 22.8 ± 1.14 ×1010 CFU/ml, mean total anaerobic bacteria counts from 6.0 ± 1.6 × 103 to 1.7 ± 0.41 ×104 CFU/ml and mean total fungal counts from 0 ± 0 to 2.3 ± 0.16 × 105 CFU/ml. The isolated micro-organisms which included both pathogenic and non-pathogenic organisms were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, Klesbsiella pneumonia and bacteriodes sp. The only fungal isolate was Candida albican. The heavy metals identified in the leachate were Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, Mercury and Chromium and their concentrations ranged from 0.003 ± 0.00082 to 0.14 ± 0.0082 mg/l. These values were above WHO permissible limits while others fall within the limits. Therefore, hospital waste water can pose the environmental health risk when not properly treated before discharge, especially in geologic formations with high fault formations.

Keywords: bacterial isolates, fungal isolates, heavy metals, hospital wastewater, microbial counts

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Authors: Hany Elsaid Fawaz Abdallah

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This study presents a new artificial neural network(ANN) model to predict the Nusselt Number and pressure drop for the turbulent flow in a triangular corrugated plate heat exchanger for forced air and turbulent water flow. An experimental investigation was performed to create a new dataset for the Nusselt Number and pressure drop values in the following range of dimensionless parameters: The plate corrugation angles (from 0° to 60°), the Reynolds number (from 10000 to 40000), pitch to height ratio (from 1 to 4), and Prandtl number (from 0.7 to 200). Based on the ANN performance graph, the three-layer structure with {12-8-6} hidden neurons has been chosen. The training procedure includes back-propagation with the biases and weight adjustment, the evaluation of the loss function for the training and validation dataset and feed-forward propagation of the input parameters. The linear function was used at the output layer as the activation function, while for the hidden layers, the rectified linear unit activation function was utilized. In order to accelerate the ANN training, the loss function minimization may be achieved by the adaptive moment estimation algorithm (ADAM). The ‘‘MinMax’’ normalization approach was utilized to avoid the increase in the training time due to drastic differences in the loss function gradients with respect to the values of weights. Since the test dataset is not being used for the ANN training, a cross-validation technique is applied to the ANN network using the new data. Such procedure was repeated until loss function convergence was achieved or for 4000 epochs with a batch size of 200 points. The program code was written in Python 3.0 using open-source ANN libraries such as Scikit learn, TensorFlow and Keras libraries. The mean average percent error values of 9.4% for the Nusselt number and 8.2% for pressure drop for the ANN model have been achieved. Therefore, higher accuracy compared to the generalized correlations was achieved. The performance validation of the obtained model was based on a comparison of predicted data with the experimental results yielding excellent accuracy.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, corrugated channel, heat transfer enhancement, Nusselt number, pressure drop, generalized correlations

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Authors: Wendu Admasu, Assefa Sintayehu, Alemu Gezahgne, Zewdu Terefework

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Eucalyptus is the most widely planted forest tree species in the world. In Ethiopia, pathogenic fungi pose an increasing threat to Eucalyptus species. Due to limited research, there is insufficient information on the associated diseases and pathogens. This study investigated Eucalyptus diseases, the extent of their damage, and the causal fungal pathogens. A Eucalyptus disease survey was conducted in the Eucalyptus forestry areas of Ethiopia during the growth years 2019/20 and 2020/21. Disease assessment and sampling were carried out in eighteen plantations at nine locations. E. camaldulensis was the most dominant species planted in the surveyed areas. The field study shows a high incidence and severity of canker diseases. Diseased stem and branch samples were collected, cultured on malt extract agar media and studied. The results of morphological and ITS sequence analysis confirmed that the fungal species Neofusicoccum parvum, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, and Aplosporella hesperidica caused the observed canker symptoms. This is the first report of Lasiodiplodia theobromae and Aplosporella hesperidica causing diseases in Eucalyptus plants in Ethiopia. Changes in global climate and environmental factors, such as altitude, are believed to have a strong impact on the susceptibility of Eucalyptus plants to diseases. Strict quarantine practices and continuous monitoring of pathogenic and endophytic fungal species associated with Eucalyptus trees are issued to be prioritized to effectively control and manage the disease.

Keywords: Neofusicoccum, Lasiodiplodia, Aplosporella, pathogenicity, phylogeny, severity

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Authors: Eleni Stefania Kalapoda

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Recurring heat waves due to the global climate change emergency pose continuous risks to human health and urban resources. Local and state decision-makers incorporate Heat Vulnerability Indices (HVIs) to quantify and map the relative impact on human health in emergencies. These maps enable government officials to identify the highest-risk districts and to concentrate emergency planning efforts and available resources accordingly (e.g., to reevaluate the location and the number of heat-relief centers). Even though the framework of conducting an HVI is unique per municipality, its accuracy in assessing the heat risk is limited. To resolve this issue, varied housing-related metrics should be included. This paper quantifies and classifies NYC’s single detached housing typology within high-vulnerable NYC districts using detailed energy simulations and post-processing calculations. The results show that the variation in indoor heat risk depends significantly on the dwelling’s design/operation characteristics, concluding that low-ventilated dwellings are the most vulnerable ones. Also, it confirmed that when building-level determinants of exposure are excluded from the assessment, HVI fails to capture important components of heat vulnerability. Lastly, the overall vulnerability ratio of the housing units was calculated between 0.11 to 1.6 indoor heat degrees in terms of ventilation and shading capacity, insulation degree, and other building attributes.

Keywords: heat vulnerability index, energy efficiency, urban heat, resiliency to heat, climate adaptation, climate mitigation, building energy

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Authors: Mawloud Mosbah, Bachir Boucheham

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Color Histogram is considered as the oldest method used by CBIR systems for indexing images. In turn, the global histograms do not include the spatial information; this is why the other techniques coming later have attempted to encounter this limitation by involving the segmentation task as a preprocessing step. The weak segmentation is employed by the local histograms while other methods as CCV (Color Coherent Vector) are based on strong segmentation. The indexation based on local histograms consists of splitting the image into N overlapping blocks or sub-regions, and then the histogram of each block is computed. The dissimilarity between two images is reduced, as consequence, to compute the distance between the N local histograms of the both images resulting then in N*N values; generally, the lowest value is taken into account to rank images, that means that the lowest value is that which helps to designate which sub-region utilized to index images of the collection being asked. In this paper, we make under light the local histogram indexation method in the hope to compare the results obtained against those given by the global histogram. We address also another noteworthy issue when Relying on local histograms namely which value, among N*N values, to trust on when comparing images, in other words, which sub-region among the N*N sub-regions on which we base to index images. Based on the results achieved here, it seems that relying on the local histograms, which needs to pose an extra overhead on the system by involving another preprocessing step naming segmentation, does not necessary mean that it produces better results. In addition to that, we have proposed here some ideas to select the local histogram on which we rely on to encode the image rather than relying on the local histogram having lowest distance with the query histograms.

Keywords: CBIR, color global histogram, color local histogram, weak segmentation, Euclidean distance

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Authors: Yousef Sahari, Eisa Asiri

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Hollywood films are produced in an open and liberal context, and when subtitling for a more conservative and closed society such as an Arabic society, religious words can pose a thorny challenge for subtitlers. Using a corpus of 90 Hollywood films released between 2000 and 2018 and applying insights from Descriptive Translation Studies (Toury, 1995, 2012) and the dichotomy of domestication and foreignization, this paper investigates three main research questions: (1) What are the dominant religious terms and functions in the English subtitles? (2) What are the dominant translation strategies used in the translation of religious words? (3) Do these strategies tend to be SL-oriented or TL-oriented (domesticating or foreignising)? To answer the research questions above, a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the corpus is conducted, in which the researcher adopts a self-designed, parallel, aligned corpus of ninety films and their Arabic subtitles. A quantitative analysis is performed to compare the frequencies and distribution of religious words, their functions, and the translation strategies employed by the subtitlers of ninety films, with the aim of identifying similarities or differences in addition to identifying the impact of functions of religious terms on the use of subtitling strategies. Based on the quantitative analysis, a qualitative analysis is performed to identify any translational patterns in Arabic translations of religious words and the possible reasons for subtitlers’ choices. The results show that the function of religious words has a strong influence on the choice of subtitling strategies. Also, it is found that foreignization strategies are applied in about two-thirds of the total occurrences of religious words.

Keywords: religious terms, subtitling, audiovisual translation, modern standard arabic, subtitling strategies, english-arabic subtitling

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Authors: Xinchao Liu

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Regulating environmental and human rights damages caused by transnational corporations in host States is a core issue in the business and human rights discourse. In current regulatory practices, host States, which are territorially based and should bear primary regulation responsibility, face dual challenges at both domestic and international levels, leading to their continued marginalization. Specifically, host States as TNC damage regulators are constrained domestically by territorial jurisdiction limitations and internationally by the neoliberal international economic order exemplified by investment protection mechanisms. Taking China as a sample, it currently lacks a comprehensive regulation system to address TNC damages; while domestic constraints manifest as the marginalization of judicial regulation, the absence of corporate duty of care, and inadequate extraterritorial regulation effectiveness, international constraints are reflected in the absence of foreign investor obligations in investment agreements and the asymmetry of dispute resolution clauses, challenging regulatory sovereignty. As China continues to advance its policy of high-quality opening up, the risks of negative externalities from transnational capital will continue to increase, necessitating a focus on building and perfecting a regulation mechanism for TNC damages within the framework of international law. To address domestic constraints, it is essential to clarify the division of regulation responsibilities between judicial and administrative bodies, promote the normalization of judicial regulation, and enhance judicial oversight of governmental settlements. Improving the choice of law rules for cross-border torts and the standards for parent company liability for omissions, and enhancing extraterritorial judicial effectiveness through transnational judicial dialogue and cooperation mechanisms are also crucial. To counteract international constraints, specifying investor obligations in investment treaties and designing symmetrical dispute resolution clauses are indispensable to eliminate regulatory chill. Additionally, actively advancing the implementation of TNC obligations in business and human rights treaty negotiations will lay an international legal foundation for the regulation sovereignty of host States.

Keywords: transnational corporate damages, home state litigation, optimization limit, investor-state dispute settlement

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Authors: Oluwatayomi Daniel Fadumo, Chinyere Celestina Esimone

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The construction industry, as a massive human capital-related sector, requires an always motivated workforce. The inability to maintain this state has been found to hamper productivity which ultimately leads to poor project delivery, infrastructural development decline, and low morale among citizens. The need to develop an approach to keep this set of people inspired before, during, and after work becomes a necessity; this paper aims to evaluate the key benefits and cautions in integrating music on construction sites in Nigeria to improve effective project delivery. In attaining this, the study identified the advantages of music on construction sites, evaluated the key considerations in introducing music on construction sites, and recommended measures for the effective integration of music on construction sites in Nigeria. The study is a descriptive research through the use of secondary data gleaned from relevant literature, journals, and research sites. The study concluded that different forms of music genres can be implemented ranging from Pop music, rock, metal, and classical music. Introducing music has the advantage of industrial branding, improving workers` morale, setting the pace for working, helping in information retention, and improving mental health and happiness. The key consideration, however, is to provide the right volume and music that doesn’t pose health and safety challenges. The study finally recommended that for effective integration of music on construction sites in Nigeria, policies should be drafted regulating its use, specific radio customized for the site be introduced and that research-based music, proven to have previously helped, should be given to a group of workers.

Keywords: music, construction sites, workers, construction industry, construction management practice

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Authors: Larry E. Udu, Joseph N. Edeh

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Unarguably, the land is an indispensable factor of production and has been instrumental to numerous conflicts between crop farmers and herders in Nigeria. The conflicts pose a grave challenge to life and property, food security and ultimately to sustainable socio-economic development of the nation. The paper examines the causes of the Fulani herders/farmers conflicts, particularly in the Middle Belt; numerity of occurrences and extent of damage and their socio-economic implications. Content Analytical Approach was adopted as methodology wherein data was extensively drawn from the secondary source. Findings reveal that major causes of the conflict are attributable to violation of tradition and laws, trespass and cultural factors. Consequently, the numerity of attacks and level of fatality coupled with displacement of farmers, destruction of private and public facilities impacted negatively on farmers output with their attendant socio-economic implications on sustainable livelihood of the people and the nation at large. For instance, Mercy Corps (a Global Humanitarian Organization) in its research, 2013-2016 asserts that a loss of $14billion within 3 years was incurred and if the conflict were resolved, the average affected household could see increase income by at least 64 percent and potentially 210 percent or higher and that states affected by the conflicts lost an average of 47 percent taxes/IGR. The paper therefore recommends strict adherence to grazing laws; platform for dialogue bothering on compromises where necessary and encouragement of cattle farmers to build ranches for their cattle according to international standards.

Keywords: conflict, farmers, herders, Nigeria, socio-economic implications

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Authors: Ziba Talaeizadeh, Taghi Ebadi

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Hospitals and medical centers generate a wide array of infectious waste on a daily basis, leading to pressing environmental concerns associated with proper disposal. Disposable plastic items and spun-bond clothing, commonly made from polypropylene, pose a significant risk of disease transmission, necessitating specialized waste management strategies. Incorporating these materials into bituminous asphalt production offers a potential solution, as it can modify asphalt mixtures and reduce susceptibility to cracking. This study aims to assess the crack resistance of asphalt mixtures modified with hospital spun-bond waste. Asphalt mixtures were prepared using the Marshall method, with spun-bond waste added in varying proportions (5% to 20%). The Semi-Circular Bending (SCB) test was conducted to evaluate asphalt fracture behavior under Mode I loading at controlled speeds of 5, 20, and 50 millimeters per minute and an average temperature of 25°C. Parameters such as fracture energy (FE) and Crack Resistance Index (CRI) were quantified. The results indicate that the addition of 10% to 15% spun-bond polypropylene polymer enhances the performance of the modified mixture, resulting in an 18% increase in fracture energy and an 11% reduction in cracking stiffness compared to the control sample. Further investigations involving factors like compaction level, bitumen type, and aggregate grading are recommended to address medical waste management and mitigate asphalt pavement cracking issues.

Keywords: asphalt cracking, hospital waste, semi-circular bending test, spun-bond

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Authors: Priscilla Adoley Moffat

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This study explored perceptions rooted in and acquired from the cultures of many developing countries and how they impact applicants’ preferences and choices of STEM programs. The context of developing countries was chosen for this study because gender role socialization continues to maintain an important place in most of these cultures. This study’s relevance rests in the fact that, as the world takes steps to encourage and promote the choice and study of STEM programs, especially among females, there is a need for efforts towards understanding various cultural perceptions towards some programs of study, particularly STEM programs, which have diverse gender attributions in many developing cultures. Also, as the world strives to achieve gender equity in education, such a study comes in handy, as it provides a useful understanding of the underlying cultural factors that affect study program preferences of applicants, particularly in developing countries like Ghana as well as others in Africa. The study analyzed the admission application data of five public universities in Ghana. 1600 randomly-sampled final-year students of 32 randomly-selected senior high schools from the 16 regions of Ghana were interviewed. Since parents and teachers often guide and influence the study program choices of applicants, the study examined the perceptions of 180 teachers and 360 parents. The study found, among other things, that STEM programs are commonly perceived to pose much more difficulty to females than they do to males. As a result, many female applicants are discouraged from choosing these programs. While nursing programs are perceived more as programs for females, with the justification that females are better caregivers, males are perceived to be better medical doctors, engineers, and computer technicians. Thus, many females are less encouraged to choose Technology and Engineering programs.

Keywords: culture, perceptions, STEM, choice, preference

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