Search results for: emerging Salmonella serotypes

Authors: Amanda C. Evans

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Enabling technologies such as continuous processing (CP) approaches can provide the tools needed to control and manipulate reactivities and transform chemical reactions into micro-controlled in-flow processes. Traditional synthetic approaches can be radically transformed by the application of CP, facilitating the pairing of chemical methodologies with technologies from other disciplines. CP supports sustainable processes that controllably generate reaction specificity utilizing supramolecular interactions. Continuous photochemical processing is an emerging field of investigation. The use of light to drive chemical reactivity is not novel, but the controlled use of specific and tunable wavelengths of light to selectively generate molecular structure under continuous processing conditions is an innovative approach towards chemical synthesis. This investigation focuses on the use of circularly polarized (cp) light as a sustainable catalyst for the CP generation of asymmetric molecules. Chiral photolysis has already been achieved under batch, solid-phase conditions: using synchrotron-sourced cp light, asymmetric photolytic selectivities of up to 4.2% enantiomeric excess (e.e.) have been reported. In order to determine the optimal wavelengths to use for irradiation with cp light for any given molecular building block, CD and anisotropy spectra for each building block of interest have been generated in two different solvents (water, hexafluoroisopropanol) across a range of wavelengths (130-400 nm). These spectra are being used to support a series of CP experiments using cp light to generate enantioselectivity.

Keywords: anisotropy, asymmetry, flow chemistry, active pharmaceutical ingredients

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Authors: Robert Smith, Omar Espinoza, Anna Pitta

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In the United States, trees felled in urban areas and wood generated through construction and demolition are primarily disposed of as low-value resources, such as biomass for energy, landscaping mulch, composting, or landfilled. An emerging industry makes use of these underutilized resources to produce high value-added products, with associated benefits for the environment, the local economy, and consumers. For the circular economy to be successful, markets must be created for sustainable, reusable natural materials. Research was carried out to increase the understanding of the marketing practices of urban and reclaimed wood industries. This paper presents the results of a nationwide survey of these companies. The results indicate that a majority of companies in this industry are small firms, operating for less than 10 years, which produce mostly to order and sell their products at comparatively higher prices than competing products made from virgin natural resources. Promotional messages included quality, aesthetics, and customization, conveyed through company webpages, word of mouth, and social media. Distribution channels used include direct sales, online sales, and retail sales. Partnerships are critical for effective raw material procurement. Respondents indicated optimistic growth expectations, despite barriers associated with urban and reclaimed wood materials and production.

Keywords: urban and reclaimed wood, circular economy, marketing, wood products

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Authors: Yadav Shyamjeet Maniram

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Despite reports of more than seventy million population of India affected by rare diseases, it rarely figured on the agenda of the Indian scientist and policymakers. Hitherto ignored, a fresh initiative is being attempted to establish the first national registry for rare diseases. Though there are registries for rare diseases, established by the clinicians and patient advocacy groups, they are isolated, scattered and lacks information sharing mechanism. It is the first time that there is an effort from the government of India to make an initiative on the rare disease registries, which would be more formal and systemic in nature. Since there is lack of epidemiological evidence for the rare disease in India, it is interesting to note how rare disease policy is being attempted in the vacuum of evidence required for the policy process. The objective of this study is to analyse rare disease registry creation and implementation from the parameters of evolutionary policy perspective in the absence of evidence for the policy process. This study will be exploratory and qualitative in nature, primarily based on the interviews of stakeholders involved in the rare disease registry creation and implementation. Some secondary data will include various documents related to rare disease registry. The expected outcome of this study would be on the role of stakeholders in the generation of evidence for the rare disease registry creation and implementation. This study will also try to capture negotiations and deliberations on the ethical issues in terms of data collection, preservation, and protection.

Keywords: evolutionary policy perspective, evidence for policy, rare disease policy, rare disease in India

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Authors: Maria João Mimoso, Bárbara Magalhães Bravo

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This study aims to analyse the phenomenon of arbitration as a paradigm in solving emerging controversies of foreign investment. We will present their benefits and demonstrate their contribution to greater legal certainty in economic relations. This article explores the legal relevant concepts under a strictly conceptual methodology, preparing future research to be developed under more developed comparative law methodologies. The review of national and international literature and jurisprudence will reveal the importance of arbitration in the field of international economic relations, presenting it as an alternative dispute resolution. Globalization imposes new forms of investment protection and appeals to other forms of dispute settlement, primarily to prevent, among other problems, the possible bias of the recipient country's investment tribunals. Characterization of foreign investment, its regulatory sources, their characteristics and the need for intervention of an entity capable of resolving disputes between the parties involved: State investor reception; Investor (of a nationality other than the latter); State of the investor's nationality, and sometimes a ‘subsidiary’ local foreign investor. The ICSID (International Settlement of Investment Disputes) arbitration as a means of resolving investment litigations covered by bilateral treaties (BIT) and investment contracts calls for a delimitation of these two figures in order to clarify the scope of the arbitration under the aegis of the World Bank and to make it more secure in the view of the sovereign power of the States.

Keywords: arbitration, contract, foreign, investment, disputes

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Authors: Desissa Yadeta Muleta

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Purely organic long-persistent luminescence materials (OLPLMs) have been developed as emerging organic materials due to their simple production process, low preparation cost and better biocompatibilities. Notably, OLPLMs with afterglow-time-tunable long-persistent luminescence (LPL) characteristics enable higher-level protection applications and have great prospects in biological applications. The realization of these advanced performances depends on our ability to gradually tune LPL duration under ambient conditions, however, the strategies to achieve this are few due to the lack of unambiguous mechanisms. Here, we propose a two-step strategy to gradually tune LPL duration of OLPLMs over a wide range of seconds in water and air, by using derivatives as the guest and introducing a third-party material into the host-immobilized host–guest doping system. Based on this strategy, we develop an analysis method for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content detection without DNA separation in aqueous samples, which circumvents the influence of the chromophore, fluorophore and other interferents in vivo, enabling a certain degree of in situ detection that is difficult to achieve using today’s methods. This work will expedite the development of afterglow-time-tunable OLPLMs and expand new horizons for their applications in data protection, bio-detection, and bio-sensing

Keywords: deoxyribonucliec acid, long persistent luminescent materials, water, air

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Authors: Joshua Harrell, Gideon Osei Bonsu, Susan Garza, Clarence Conner, Da’Neisha Harris, Emma Bukoswki, Zohreh Safari

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The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) stands as a pivotal tool for gauging community resilience amidst diverse stressors, including pandemics like COVID-19. This paper synthesizes recent research and underscores the significance of SVI in elucidating the differential impacts of crises on communities. Drawing on studies by Fox et al. (2023) and Mah et al. (2023), we delve into the application of SVI alongside emerging data sources to uncover nuanced insights into community vulnerability. Specifically, we explore the utilization of SVI in conjunction with mobility data from platforms like SafeGraph to probe the intricate relationship between social vulnerability and mobility dynamics during the COVID-19 pandemic. By leveraging 16 community variables derived from the American Community Survey, including socioeconomic status and demographic characteristics, SVI offers actionable intelligence for guiding targeted interventions and resource allocation. Building upon recent advancements, this paper contributes to the discourse on harnessing AI techniques to mitigate health disparities and fortify public health resilience in the face of pandemics and other crises.

Keywords: social vulnerability index, mobility dynamics, data analytics, health equity, pandemic preparedness, targeted interventions, data integration

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Authors: Monika Szymańska-Czerwińsk, Kinga Zaręba-Marchewka, Krzysztof Niemczuk

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Chlamydiaceae are Gram-negative bacteria distributed worldwide in animals and humans. One of them is Chlamydia gallinacea recently discovered. Available data show that C. gallinacea is dominant chlamydial agent found in poultry in European and Asian countries. The aim of the studies was screening of poultry flocks in order to evaluate frequency of C. gallinacea shedding and genetic diversity. Sampling was conducted in different regions of Poland in 2019-2020. Overall, 1466 cloacal/oral swabs were collected in duplicate from 146 apparently healthy poultry flocks including chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and quails. Dry swabs were used for DNA extraction. DNA extracts were screened using a Chlamydiaceae 23S rRNA real-time PCR assay. To identify Chlamydia species, specific real-time PCR assays were performed. Furthermore, selected samples were used for sequencing based on ompA gene fragments and variable domains (VD1-2, VD3-4). In total, 10.3% of the tested flocks were Chlamydiaceae-positive (15/146 farms). The presence of Chlamydiaceae was confirmed mainly in chickens (13/92 farms) but also in turkey (1/19 farms) and goose (1/26 farms) flocks. Eleven flocks were identified as C. gallinacea-positive while four flocks remained unclassified. Phylogenetic analysis revealed at least 16 genetic variants of C. gallinacea. Research showed that Chlamydiaceae occur in a poultry flock in Poland. The strains of C. gallinacea as dominant species show genetic variability.

Keywords: C. gallinacea, emerging agent, poultry, real-time PCR

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Authors: Aulia Dwi Nastiti

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A number of studies and reports on terrorism have continuously addressed the role of internet and online activism to support terrorist and extremist groups. In particular, they stress on social media’s usage that generally serves for the terrorist’s propaganda as well as justification of their causes. While those analyses are important to understand how social media is a vital tool for global network terrorism, they are inadequate to explain the online communication patterns that enable terrorism acts. Beyond apparent online narratives, there is a deep cyber sphere where the very vein of terrorism movement lies. That is a hidden space in the internet called ‘darknet’. Recent investigations, particularly in Middle Eastern context, have shed some lights that this invisible space in the internet is fundamental to maintain the terrorist activities. Despite that, limited number of research examines darknet within the issue of terrorist movements in Indonesian context—where the country is considered quite a hotbed for extremist groups. Therefore, this paper attempts to provide an insight of darknet operation in Indonesian cases. By exploring how the darknet is used by the Indonesian-based extremist groups, this paper maps out communication patterns of terrorist groups on the internet which appear as an intermingled network. It shows the usage of internet is differentiated in different level of anonymity for distinctive purposes. This paper further argues that the emerging terrorist communication network calls for a more comprehensive counterterrorism strategy on the Internet.

Keywords: communication pattern, counterterrorism, darknet, extremist groups, terrorism

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Authors: Umair Nadeem, Sidra Umair

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Political behavior of voters and democratic values have been observed an emerging phenomenon in recent years in Pakistan. Privatized TV news channels are taking one sided position on the political issues, corresponding with respective political parties. Since last decade, TV News Channels have undermined this monopoly. Elections 2013 were unique in Pakistan with reference to political behavior and democratic values. Partisan narratives and counter narratives have been witnessed on different TV channels, in last few years. These mediated events seem very important to study the political behavior and democratic values as the country is approaching towards elections 2018. This endeavor is an attempt to capture the framing of the parties, issues in the partisan media culture and framing effects on political behavior of voters. Data for this research come from two data set. Content analysis of selected representative talks shows broadcast on mainstream news channels provide an assessment of the framing while quantitative survey of the discussion program’s viewers from Lahore city provide an evidence of framing effects on political behavior on voters and on democratic values. Regression results help us to argue that the highly partisan shows are strong predictors of polarized views among the audience. Study also grasp the attention of scholars towards the implications of this phenomenon.

Keywords: democratic values, partisan media, polarized views, political behavior

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Authors: Raana Babadi Fathipour

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Food packaging plays a crucial role in protecting food from unwanted external factors. Antibacterial edible films are a promising option for food packaging due to their biodegradability, environmental friendliness, and safety. This paper reviews recent research progress on antimicrobial edible films, focusing on those made from polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids. Polysaccharides and proteins are the primary components of antimicrobial edible films, while lipids primarily serve as plasticizers and carriers for active substances in composite films. For instance, second-generation liposomes have shown great potential as carriers for antimicrobial substances and other bioactive compounds due to their exceptional stability. Furthermore, this paper analyzes recent advancements and future trends in antimicrobial edible films. One promising direction is the integration of antimicrobial edible film materials with delivery systems, such as nanoemulsion and microencapsulation technologies, to ensure stable loading of bioactive substances. Another emerging area of interest is the development of smart and active packaging that allows consumers to assess the freshness of food products without opening the package. pH-sensitive films and smart fluorescent "on-off" sensors for humidity are currently being explored as materials for smart and active packaging to monitor food product freshness, with further exploration anticipated in the future.

Keywords: antimicrobial edible film, biopolymer, antimicrobial agent, encapsulation, antimicrobial assay

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Authors: Iyad M. Muslih, Yehya Abdellatif, Sara Qutishat

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Renewable energy and in particular solar photovoltaic energy is emerging as a reasonable power generation source. The intermittent and unpredictable nature of solar energy can represent a serious challenge to the utility grids, specifically at relatively high penetration. To minimize the impact of PV power systems on the grid, self-consumption is encouraged. Self-consumption can be improved by matching the PV power generation with the electrical load consumption profile. This study will focus in studying different load profiles and comparing them to typical solar PV power generation at the selected sites with the purpose of analyzing the mismatch in consumption load profile for different users; residential, commercial, and industrial versus the solar photovoltaic output generation. The PV array orientation can be adjusted to reduce the mismatch effects. The orientation shift produces a corresponding shift in the energy production curve. This shift has a little effect on the mismatch for residential loads due to the fact the peak load occurs at night due to lighting loads. This minor gain does not justify the power production loss associated with the orientation shift. The orientation shift for both commercial and industrial cases lead to valuable decrease in the mismatch effects. Such a design is worth considering for reducing grid penetration. Furthermore, the proposed orientation shift yielded better results during the summer time due to the extended daylight hours.

Keywords: grid impact, HOMER, power mismatch, solar PV energy

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Authors: Hanan M. Alghamdi, Kholud E. Alsalami, Manal I. Alshaikhi, Nouf M. Alsalami, Sara A. Awad, Ruqaya A. Alrabei

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Tourism in Saudi Arabia is one of the emerging sectors with rapid growth. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is characterized by its wonderful and historical areas, which constitute important cultural and tourist landmarks. These landmarks attract the attention of the government of Saudi Arabia; hence the improvement of the tourism sector becomes one of the important axes of Saudi Arabia's vision 2030. There is a need to enhance the tourist experience by facilitating the tourism process for visitors to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This project aims to design an application to serve domestic tourists and visitors from outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This application will contain an automated tourist generate plan service by sentiment analysis of comments in Google Map using Lexicon for method Rule-based approach. There are thirteen regions in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The regions supported in this application will be Makkah and Asir regions. According to the output of the sentiment analysis, the application will recommend restaurants and cafes, activities (parks, museums) and shopping (shopping centers) in the generated plan. After that, the system will show the user a drop-down list of “Mega-events in Saudi Arabia” containing a link to the site of events in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. and “important information for you” public decency regulations.

Keywords: tourist automated plan, sentiment analysis, comments in google map, tourism in Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Kristine Vike-Jonas, Susana V. Gonzalez, Olav L. Bakkerud, Karoline S. Gjelstad, Shazia N. Aslam, Øyvind Mikkelsen, Alexandros Asimakopoulos

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P-hydrobenzoic acid esters (parabens), paraben metabolites, and triclocarban (TCC) are a group of synthetic antimicrobials classified as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and emerging pollutants. The aim of this study was to investigate the levels of these compounds in sediment near the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the Trondheim Fjord, Norway. Paraben, paraben metabolites, and TCC are high volume production chemicals that are found in a range of consumer products, especially pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PCPs). In this study, six parabens (methyl paraben; MeP, ethyl paraben; EtP, propyl paraben; PrP, butyl paraben; BuP, benzyl paraben; BezP, heptyl paraben; HeP), four paraben metabolites (4-hydroxybenzoic acid; 4-HB, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid; 3,4-DHB, methyl protocatechuic acid; OH-MeP, ethyl protocatechuic acid; OH-EtP) and TCC were determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) in 64 sediment samples from 10 different locations outside Trondheim, Norway. Of these 11 target analytes, four were detected in 40 % or more of the samples. The sum of six parabens (∑Parabens), four paraben metabolites (∑Metabolites) and TCC in sediment ranged from 4.88 to 11.56 (mean 6.81) ng/g, 52.16 to 368.28 (mean 93.89) ng/g and 0.53 to 3.65 (mean 1.50) ng/g dry sediment, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that TCC was positively correlated with OH-MeP, but negatively correlated with 4-HB. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first time parabens, paraben metabolites and TCC have been reported in the Trondheim Fjord.

Keywords: parabens, liquid chromatography, sediment, tandem mass spectrometry

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Authors: Melvin Chan, Chew Lee Teo

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There has been a growing emphasis in elevating the teachers’ proficiency and competencies through continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities. In this era of a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous (VUCA) world, teachers are expected to be collaborative designers, critical thinkers and creative builders. However, many of the CPD structures are still revolving in the model of transmission, which stands in contradiction to the cultivation of future-ready teachers for the innovative world of emerging technologies. This article puts forward the framing of CPD through a Principle-Based, Technological-Driven Knowledge Building Approach grounded in the essence of andragogy and progressive learning theories where growth is best exemplified through an authentic immersion in a social/community experience-based setting. Putting this Knowledge Building Professional Development Model (KBPDM) in operation via a Professional Learning Team (PLT) situated in a Secondary School in Singapore, research findings reveal that the intervention has led to a fundamental change in the learning paradigm of the teachers, henceforth equipping and empowering them successfully in their pedagogical design and practices for a 21^st century classroom experience. This article concludes with the possibility in leveraging the Learning Analytics to deepen the CPD experiences for educators.

Keywords: continual professional development, knowledge building, learning paradigm, principle-based

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Authors: Muhammad Ali

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Cyber-attacks and anomaly detection on the Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure is emerging concern in the domain of data-driven intrusion. Rapidly increasing IoT risk is now making headlines around the world. denial of service, malicious control, data type probing, malicious operation, DDos, scan, spying, and wrong setup are attacks and anomalies that can affect an IoT system failure. Everyone talks about cyber security, connectivity, smart devices, and real-time data extraction. IoT devices expose a wide variety of new cyber security attack vectors in network traffic. For further than IoT development, and mainly for smart and IoT applications, there is a necessity for intelligent processing and analysis of data. So, our approach is too secure. We train several machine learning models that have been compared to accurately predicting attacks and anomalies on IoT systems, considering IoT applications, with ANOVA-based feature selection with fewer prediction models to evaluate network traffic to help prevent IoT devices. The machine learning (ML) algorithms that have been used here are KNN, SVM, NB, D.T., and R.F., with the most satisfactory test accuracy with fast detection. The evaluation of ML metrics includes precision, recall, F1 score, FPR, NPV, G.M., MCC, and AUC & ROC. The Random Forest algorithm achieved the best results with less prediction time, with an accuracy of 99.98%.

Keywords: machine learning, analysis of variance, Internet of Thing, network security, intrusion detection

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Authors: Modupe Beatrice Adeyinka

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French, as a foreign language in Nigeria, is pronounced to be the second official language and a compulsory subject in the primary school level; hence, colleges of education across the nation are saddled with the responsibility of training teachers for the subject. However, it has been observed that this policy has not been fully implemented, for French teachers in training, do face many challenges, of which translation is chief. In a bid to investigate the major cause of the perceived translation problem, this study examined French translation problems of pre-service teachers in selected colleges of education in the southwest, Nigeria. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The simple random sampling technique was used to select four colleges of education in the southwest, where 100 French students were randomly selected by selecting 25 from each school. The pre-service teachers’ French translation problems’ questionnaire (PTFTPQ) was used as an instrument while four research questions were answered and three null hypotheses were tested. Among others, the findings revealed that students do have problems with false friends, though mainly with its interpretation when attempting French-English translation and vice versa; majority of the students make use of French dictionary as a way out and found the material very useful for their understanding of false friends. Teachers were, therefore, urged to attend in-service training where they would be exposed to new and emerging strategies, approaches and methodologies of French language teaching that will make students overcome the challenge of translation in learning French.

Keywords: false friends, French language, pre-service teachers, source language, target language, translation

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Authors: Sehrish Jalal, Choon-Mee Kim, Dong-Min Kim

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Background: Many pathogens causing hemorrhagic fevers of medical and veterinary importance have been identified and isolated from rodents in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Objective: We investigated the prevalence of emerging viruses causing hemorrhagic fevers, such as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) and flaviviruses, from wild rodents. Methods: Striped field mice, Apodemus agrarius, (n=39) were captured during 2014-2015 in the south-west of ROK. Using molecular methods, lung samples were evaluated for SFTS virus, HFRS virus and flavivirus, and seropositivity was evaluated in the blood. Results: A high positive rate of Hantavirus (46.2%) was detected in A.agrarius lungs by reverse transcription-nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-N-PCR). The monthly prevalence of HFRS virus was 16.7% in October, 86.7% in November and 25% in August of the following year (p < 0.001). Moreover, 17.9% of blood samples were serologically positive for Hantavirus antibodies. The most prevalent strain in A. agrarius was Hantaan virus. All samples were positive for neither SFTS nor flavivirus. Conclusion: Hantan virus was detected in 86.7% of A. agrarius in November (autumn), and thus, virus shedding from A. agrarius can increase the risk of humans contracting HFRS. These findings may help to predict and prevent disease outbreaks in ROK.

Keywords: hemorrhagic fever virus, molecular diagnostic technique, rodents, Korea

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Authors: Achim Kampker, Kai Kreiskoether, Johannes Wagner, Sarah Fluchs

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The growing speed of innovation in related industries requires the automotive industry to adapt and increase release frequencies of new vehicle derivatives which implies a significant reduction of investments per vehicle and ramp-up times. Emerging markets in various parts of the world augment the currently dominating established main automotive markets. Local content requirements such as import tariffs on final products impede the accessibility of these micro markets, which is why in the future market exploitation will not be driven by pure sales activities anymore but rather by setting up local assembly units. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the concept of decentralized assembly and to discuss and critically assess some currently researched and crucial approaches in production technology. In order to determine the scope in which complementary mobile assembly can be profitable for manufacturers, a general cost model is set up and each cost driver is assessed with respect to varying levels of decentralization. One main result of the paper is that the presented approaches offer huge cost-saving potentials and are thus critical for future production strategies. Nevertheless, they still need to be further exploited in order for decentralized assembly to be profitable for companies. The optimal level of decentralization must, however, be specifically determined in each case and cannot be defined in general.

Keywords: automotive assembly, e-mobility, production technology, release capability, small series assembly

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Authors: Serena Clark, Katriona O'Sullivan, Kevin Marshall, Mac MacLachlan

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This paper explores the United Nation's sustainable development goals (SDGs) alongside digital poverty and proposes that digital poverty should be a new SDG. The SDGs concentrate on 17 key areas, including economic growth, reducing inequalities, climate action, ending poverty, gender equality, and quality education. Many of the plans to fulfill these goals involve the creation and adaptation of new technologies. As we have seen with COVID-19, access to these technologies has determined communities and societies' ability to respond to these challenges in both developed and developing nations. For example, the transition to online education due to the lockdowns had a detrimental effect on children who did not have access to technology to provide continuity in their educational development. Digitalization and emerging technologies, especially information and communication technologies (ICTs), can help address each goal. Digital poverty and exclusion exacerbate the gap between rich and poor within our societies and internationally, and COVID-19 has further highlighted these issues. Closing this gap can support achieving the SDGs. If access to digital technologies measure society's response and resilience in addressing the challenges the SDGs seek to resolve, should reducing digital poverty be an SDG of its own? This paper will explore this question, arguing that digital poverty should be an independent SDG working alongside and supporting the achievement of the other 17 SDGs.

Keywords: digital poverty, digital exclusion, United Nations sustainable development goals, information and communication technologies

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Authors: Shehroz Mukhtar, Maqsood Ahmed, Abdullah Mukhtar, Choudhry Shahid, Waqar Javaid

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Code switching is a common phenomenon, generally observed in multilingual communities across the globe. A critical look at code switching literature reveals that mostly code switching has been studied in classroom in learning and teaching context while code switching outside classroom in settings such as café, hostel and so on have been the least explored areas. Current research investigated the reasons for code switching in the interactive practices of students and their perceptions regarding the same outside the classroom settings. This paper is the study of the common practice that prevails in the Universities of Sialkot that bilinguals mix two languages when they speak in different class room situations. In Pakistani classrooms where Multilingual are in abundance i.e. they can speak two or more than two languages at the same time, the code switching or language combination is very common. The teachers of Sialkot switch from one language to another consciously or unconsciously while teaching English in the class rooms. This phenomenon has not been explored in the Sialkot’s teaching context. In Sialkot private educational institutes does not encourage code-switching whereas the public or government institutes use it frequently. The crux of this research is to investigate and identify the importance of code switching by taking its users in consideration. Survey research method and survey questionnaire will be used to get exact data from teachers and students. We will try to highlight the functions and importance of code switching in foreign language classrooms of Sialkot and will explore why this trend is emerging in Sialkot.

Keywords: code switching, bilingual context, L1, L2

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Authors: Mian Adnan Kakakhel, NIshita Narwal, Majid Rasta, Shi Xiaotao

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The widespread use of nanoparticles means that they are significantly increasing in the aquatic ecosystem, where they are likely to pose threat to aquatic organism. In particular, the influence of nanoparticles exposure combined with varying water velocities on fish behavior remain poorly understood. Emerging evidences suggested a probable correlation between fish swimming behavior and gut bacterial dysbiosis. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the effects of nanomaterials in different water velocities on fish gut bacterial composition, which in results change in fish swimming behavior. The obtained findings showed that the contamination of nanoparticles was reduced as the velocity increased. However, the synergetic effects of nanoparticles and water velocity significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the bacterial composition, which plays a critical role in fish development, metabolism, digestion, enzymes production, and energy production such as Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. This group of bacterial also support fish in swimming behavior by providing them a significant energy during movement. The obtained findings of this study suggested that the presence of nanoparticles in different water velocities have had a significant correlation with fish gut bacterial dysbiosis, as results the gut dysbiosis had been linked to the change in fish behavior. The study provides an important insight into the mechanisms by which the nanoparticles possibly affect the fish behavior.

Keywords: water velocities, fish behavior, gut bacteria, secondary metabolites, regulation

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Authors: Ahmad Alazemi, M. Sherif El-Eskandrany, Mohamad Kishk, Thanyan AlOnaizi, Ahmad Alduweesh, Shorouq Abdullaleel

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Arc melting technique followed by top-down approach, using a high-energy ball milling technique were employed to synthesize nanocrystalline of Cu50(Zr50-xNix)50 (x = 0, 10, 20 and 30 at.%) powder particles. The end-products of the alloy powders obtained after 50 h of the ball milling time were uniform in composition and had spherical-like morphology with an average particle size of 0.75 µm in diameter. The powders, which consisted of nanocrystalline grains with an average grain size of 10 nm in diameter, were used as feedstock materials for double face coating of stainless (SUS304) sheets, using cold spraying process. The coating materials enjoyed nanocrystalline structure and uniform composition. Biofilms were grown on 20-mm2 SUS304 sheets coated coupons inoculated with 1.5 × 108 CFU ml−1 E. coli. Significant biofilm inhibition was recorded in the nanoparticles coated coupons in comparison to non-coated SUS304 coupon. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that formation of biofilms can be significantly inhibited by Cu-based alloys especially in case of high (Ni) content. The inhibition of biofilm formation by nanocrystalline powders of Cu-based provides a practical approach to achieve the inhibition of biofilms formed by an emerging pathogen.

Keywords: biofilm, Cu, E.coli, FE-HRTEM/EDS, nanomaterials, nanocrystalline

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Authors: Oladimeji Israel Ajayi

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Agricultural development has long been identified as a cornerstone for wealth creation and economic growth, particularly in emerging economies like Nigeria. This study examines the relationship between agricultural development and wealth creation in Nigeria, emphasizing the sector's potential in reducing poverty, creating employment, and boosting economic stability. Nigeria, endowed with fertile land and a favorable climate, has a significant agricultural base that, if fully leveraged, can transition the economy from oil dependency to a diversified and sustainable growth model. However, challenges such as limited access to credit, poor infrastructure, outdated farming techniques, and climate variability hinder optimal productivity. This research employs a mixed-methods approach, analyzing data from the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics and the Food and Agriculture Organization to understand how investments in agriculture influence wealth indicators such as GDP growth, employment rates, and rural income levels. The findings reveal a strong positive correlation between agricultural investment and wealth creation, suggesting that strategic policies focusing on mechanization, credit accessibility, and sustainable practices could significantly boost agricultural productivity and contribute to wealth distribution in Nigeria. This study contributes to policy discourse by highlighting agriculture’s role as a transformative tool for economic resilience and sustainable wealth creation in Nigeria.

Keywords: agricultural development, poverty reduction, wealth creation, prosperity

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Authors: Fabianna Bacil, Zenathan Hasannundin, Clovis Freire

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The green transition opens green windows of opportunity – temporary moments in which there are lower barriers and shorter learning periods for developing countries to enter emerging technologies and catch-up. However, taking advantage of these windows requires capabilities in national sectoral systems to adopt and develop technologies linked to green sectors as well as strong responses to build the required knowledge, skills, and infrastructure and foster the growth of targeted sectors. This paper uses UNCTAD’s frontier technology readiness index to analyse the current position of Latin America and the Caribbean to use, adopt, and adapt frontier technologies, examining the preconditions in the region to take up windows of opportunity that arise with the green transition. The index highlights the inequality across countries in the region, as well as gaps in capabilities dimensions, especially in terms of R&D. Moving to responses, it highlights industrial policies implemented to foster the growth of green technologies, emphasising the essential role played by the state to build and strengthen capabilities and provide infant industry protection that enables the growth of these sectors. Overall, while there are exceptions, especially in the Brazilian case, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean should focus on strengthening their capabilities to be better positioned, especially in terms of knowledge creation, infrastructure, and financing availability.

Keywords: Green technologies, Industrial policy, Latin America, windows of opportunity

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Authors: Tuti Haryati Jasimin, Hishamuddin Mohd Ali

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Malaysia’s green building development is gaining momentum and green buildings have become a key focus area especially within the commercial sector with the encouragement of government legislation and policy. Due to the emerging awareness among the market players’ views of the benefits associated with the ownership of green buildings in Malaysia, there is a need for valuers to incorporate consideration of sustainability into their assessments of property market value to ensure the green buildings continue to increase in the market. This paper analyses the valuers’ current perception on the valuation practices with regard to the green issues in Malaysia. The study was based on a survey of registered real estate valuers and the experts whose work related to valuation in the Klang Valley area to rate their view regarding the perception on valuation of green building. The findings present evidence that even though Malaysian valuers have limited knowledge of green buildings, they recognize the importance of incorporating the green features in the valuation process. The inclusion of incorporating the green features in valuations in practice was hindered by the inadequacy of sufficient transactional data in the market. Furthermore, valuers experienced difficulty in identifying what are the various input parameters of green building and how to adjust it in order to reflect the benefit of sustainability features correctly in the valuation process. This paper focuses on the present challenges confronted by Malaysian valuers with regards to incorporating the green features in their valuation.

Keywords: green commercial office building, Malaysia, valuers’ perception, valuation, commercial sector

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Authors: Davide Palma, Dimitra Papagiannaki, Marco Minella, Manuel Lai, Rita Binetti, Claire Richard

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Modern analytical technologies allow us to detect water contaminants at trace and ultra-trace concentrations highlighting how a large number of organic compounds is not efficiently abated by most wastewater treatment facilities relying on biological processes; we usually refer to these micropollutants as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). The availability of reliable end effective technologies, able to guarantee the high standards of water quality demanded by legislators worldwide, has therefore become a primary need. In this context, water plasma stands out among developing technologies as it is extremely effective in the abatement of numerous classes of pollutants, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly. In this work, a custom-built non-thermal pulsed plasma discharge generator was used to abate the concentration of selected CECs in the water samples. Samples were treated in a 50 mL pyrex reactor using two different types of plasma discharge occurring at the surface of the treated solution or, underwater, working with positive polarity. The distance between the tips of the electrodes determined where the discharge was formed: underwater when the distance was < 2mm, at the water surface when the distance was > 2 mm. Peak voltage was in the 100-130kV range with typical current values of 20-40 A. The duration of the pulse was 500 ns, and the frequency of discharge could be manually set between 5 and 45 Hz. Treatment of 100 µM diclofenac solution in MilliQ water, with a pulse frequency of 17Hz, revealed that surface discharge was more efficient in the degradation of diclofenac that was no longer detectable after 6 minutes of treatment. Over 30 minutes were required to obtain the same results with underwater discharge. These results are justified by the higher rate of H₂O₂ formation (21.80 µmolL⁻¹min⁻¹ for surface discharge against 1.20 µmolL⁻¹min⁻¹ for underwater discharge), larger discharge volume and UV light emission, high rate of ozone and NOx production (up to 800 and 1400 ppb respectively) observed when working with surface discharge. Then, the surface discharge was used for the treatment of the three selected perfluoroalkyl compounds, namely, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), and pefluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) both individually and in mixture, in ultrapure and groundwater matrices with initial concentration of 1 ppb. In both matrices, PFOS exhibited the best degradation reaching complete removal after 30 min of treatment (degradation rate 0.107 min⁻¹ in ultrapure water and 0.0633 min⁻¹ in groundwater), while the degradation rate of PFOA and PFHxA was slower of around 65% and 80%, respectively. Total nitrogen (TN) measurements revealed levels up to 45 mgL⁻¹h⁻¹ in water samples treated with surface discharge, while, in analogous samples treated with underwater discharge, TN increase was 5 to 10 times lower. These results can be explained by the significant NOx concentrations (over 1400 ppb) measured above functioning reactor operating with superficial discharge; rapid NOx hydrolysis led to nitrates accumulation in the solution explaining the observed evolution of TN values. Ionic chromatography measures confirmed that the vast majority of TN was under the form of nitrates. In conclusion, non-thermal pulsed plasma discharge, obtained with a custom-built generator, was proven to effectively degrade diclofenac in water matrices confirming the potential interest of this technology for wastewater treatment. The surface discharge was proven to be more effective in CECs removal due to the high rate of formation of H₂O₂, ozone, reactive radical species, and strong UV light emission. Furthermore, nitrates enriched water obtained after treatment could be an interesting added-value product to be used as fertilizer in agriculture. Acknowledgment: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 765860.

Keywords: CECs removal, nitrogen fixation, non-thermal plasma, water treatment

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Authors: Akhila Sara Varughese

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In the postmodern society, visual narratives became an emerging genre in the field of literature. Graphic literature focuses on the literal and symbolic layer of interpretation. The most salient feature of graphic literature is its exploration of the public history of events and life narratives. The Indian graphic literature re-interprets the canon, style and the form of texts in Indian Writing in English and it demands a new literacy and the structure of the English literature. With the help of visual-verbal language, the graphic narratives discuss various facets of contemporary India. Graphic novels have firmly identified itself with the art of storytelling because of its capability of expressing human experiences to the most. In the textual novels, the author usually deserts the imagination of the readers, but in the case of graphic narratives, due to the presence of visual elements, the interpretation becomes simpler. India is the second most populous country in the world with a long tradition of history and culture. Indian literature always tries to reconstruct Indian history in various modes of representation. The present paper focuses on the fictional articulation of Indian history through the graphic narratives and analyses how some historical events in India portrays. The paper also traces the differences in rendering the history in graphic novels with that of textual novels. The paper discusses how much the blending of words and images helps in represent the Indian history by analyzing the graphic novels like Kashmir Pending by Naseer Ahmed, Delhi Calm by Vishwajyoti Ghosh and Munnu by Malik Sajad.

Keywords: graphic novels, Indian history, representation, visual-verbal literacy

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Authors: Shehroz Mukhtar, Maqsood Ahmed, Abdullah Mukhtar, Choudhry Shahid, Waqar Javaid

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Code switching is a common phenomenon, generally observed in multilingual communities across the globe. A critical look at code-switching literature reveals that mostly code-switching has been studied in the classrooms in learning and teaching contexts, while code-switching outside the classroom in settings such as café, hostels and so on has been the least explored areas. The current research investigated the reasons for code-switching in the interactive practices of students and their perceptions regarding the same outside the classroom settings. This paper is the study of the common practice that prevails in the Universities of Sialkot that bilinguals mix two languages when they speak in different classroom situations. In Pakistani classrooms where Multilingual is in abundance, i.e. they can speak two or more two languages at the same time, code-switching or language combination is very common. The teachers of Sialkot switch from one language to another consciously or unconsciously while teaching English in the classrooms. This phenomenon has not been explored in Sialkot’s teaching context. In Sialkot, private educational institutes do not encourage code-switching, whereas public or government institutes use it frequently. The crux of this research is to investigate and identify the importance of code-switching by taking its users into consideration. The survey research method and survey questionnaire will be used to get exact data from teachers and students. We will try to highlight the functions and importance of code switching in foreign language classrooms of Sialkot and will explore why this trend is emerging in Sialkot.

Keywords: code switching, foreign language classrooms, bilingual context, use of L1, importance of L2.

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Authors: Nada Hamed, Mariam Aldhaheri, Sonia Abdennadher

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Islamic Finance is not a new term that emerging in the global market, but it is still under scope by many countries. Its characteristics and regulation are not widely clear and implemented. In 2015, The United Nation announced a plan about potential benefits of using Islamic Finance as a sustainable development approach. Enhancing its application in financial markets could protect from unexpected crisis that might be created from the traditional tools of finance. This paper focuses on this area to test if Islamic finance could be used for maintaining sustainable development and if the term of 'Green Islamic Finance' could be implemented to minimize the deficiencies and 'pollution’ generated from traditional techniques and tools of finance. This paper intends to measure the impact on financial performance and sustainability when financial institutions use Islamic finance or better practice it. The objective of this explanatory research is to measure the performance of Islamic Finance with using a case study of an Islamic bank. The paper would analyze and compare the behavior of financial institutions that used traditional financing tools and converted to Islamic banking system. The methodology used is based on a case study of an Islamic bank in Dubai with comparing its performance before implementing Islamic Finance and after. The selected case study represents the first national bank in Emirates Arab Unis who adopt the Islamic finance approach. Based on a time series analysis, a quantitative analysis would be also used through looking at various set of ratios that are routinely used to measure bank performance.

Keywords: Islamic finance, financial stability, green finance, Islamic finance practices, financial ratios

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Authors: Sukrita Mukherjee, Anindita Chaudhuri

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Soft skills are a crucial aspect for employees, and these skills are not confined to any particular field rather, it guarantees further career growth and job opportunities for employees who are seeking growth. Soft skills are also regarded as personality-specific skills that are observable and are qualitative in nature, which determines an employee’s strengths as a leader. When an employee intends to hold his job, then the person must make effective use of his personal resources, that, in turn, impacts his employability in a positive manner. An employee at his workplace is expected to make effective use of his personal resources. The resources that are to be used by the employee are generally of two types. First type of resources are occupation related, which is related with the educational background of the employee, and the second type of resources are the psychological resources of the employee, such as self-knowledge, career orientation awareness, sense of purpose and emotional literacy, that are considered crucial for an employee in his workplace. The present study is a qualitative study which includes 10 individuals working in IT Sector and Service Industry, respectively. For IT sector, graduate people are considered, and for the Service Industry, individuals who have done a Professional course in order to get into the industry are considered. The emerging themes from the findings after thematic analysis reveal that different aspect of Soft skills such as communication, decision making, constant learning, keeping oneself updated with the latest technological advancement, emotional intelligence are some of the important factors that helps an employee not only to sustain his job, but also grow in his workplace.

Keywords: employabiliy, soft skils, employees, resources, workplace

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