Extensive Approach Research Articles

Phylogeography of Dolichophis Populations in the Aegean Region (Squamata: Colubridae) with Taxonomic Remarks

In this study, we investigate the phylogeographic patterns of Dolichophis species in the Aegean region, aiming to elucidate their genetic diversity and putative historical colonisation routes through mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data. Our findings revealed distinct phylogeographic patterns: D. caspius exhibited a higher level of haplotypes within two shallow mitochondrial lineages, contrasting with D. jugularis, which displayed lower genetic variability in the area. Additionally, we identified evidence showing possible human-mediated historical translocation of D. caspius populations to Karpathos from the Balkans mainland. The mitochondrial variability in D. jugularis remained relatively uniform across southwestern Anatolia and Dodecanese, except for Rhodes Island. The evidence from mitochondrial and nuclear data confirming the previously described morphological differentiation of the Rhodes snakes, and thus the name D. j. zinneri Cattaneo, 2012, described on the island, could be applied to this isolated population. This result addresses the first genetic view on the long-standing taxonomic uncertainties regarding the subspecies status of Rhodes D. jugularis. Our results also raise questions regarding possible historical hybridisations between D. caspius and D. jugularis in the Dodecanese islands, prompting the need for further investigation using extensive field studies and genomic approaches. Ultimately, the Aegean islands, particularly Kos and Rhodes, seem to be important sites for the evolution of these colubrid snakes and their historical dynamics.

Economic Challenges in Georgia: Assessing Good and Bad Growth

The Georgian economy has undergone significant transformations over the years due to government-led reforms that have impacted various sectors, including health care, education, industry, and the military-technical complex. Despite substantial financial support from the European Union, partner countries, and international donor organizations, Georgia’s economy faces challenges. The prolonged economic stagnation can be attributed to an extensive development approach, characterized by investment projects primarily focused on short-term gains rather than long-term sustainability. While economic indicators show growth, a closer examination reveals deficiencies in the national economic system. The data reflects an extensive (often referred to as “bad growth”) expansion of the national economy, driven by investment projects aimed at immediate profits. However, these projects lack a forward-looking perspective and fail to harness scientific and technical progress for qualitative production improvements. The absence of innovative scientific and technical foundations underscores the need for a shift toward intensive growth strategies. In this paper, we delve into both intensive and extensive factors of economic growth. We explore how investment projects can be reoriented to prioritize long-term benefits and sustainable development. Our recommendations emphasize the intensification of production processes, fostering innovation, and creating a robust economic ecosystem that transcends short-term gains. By addressing these challenges, Georgia can navigate toward a more balanced and resilient economic future.

The Concept of School Literacy Movement Through Reading Time at SMPN 19 Pontianak

Getting pleasure as one of the reasons why people read leads the implementation of extensive reading approach. Extensive reading involves students in reading large quantities of books at the appropriate level for them. The primary goal of extensive reading is reading in order to gain information and to enjoy texts. Reading time is a practice carried out by the school to support literacy movement at SMP Negeri 19 Pontianak. The program is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays after praying. The students are provided with 15 minutes of reading any books at school. The students bring books from their house, and each reading time students have to report to the class teacher the results of their reading. At the end of each semester the class teacher reports to the headmaster. The aim of this article is to analyze literacy movement to improve literacy culture at SMPN 19 Pontianak. This research used qualitative descriptive study. The result is literacy movement is at the stage of habituation literacy movement that is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a time allocation of 15 minutes.

Adoption determinants of improved cassava varieties and intercropping among East and Central African smallholder farmers

AbstractA key constraint to cassava productivity in Africa is the lack of adoption of improved cassava varieties tolerant to pests and diseases. To understand the drivers of adoption behavior, we examine the simultaneous adoption of improved cassava varieties and intercropping by 1200 smallholder farmers in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. Using a linear model, we find that varietal characteristics, such as yield and early maturity, are critical drivers of adoption. Access to extension and credit is associated with an increase in the attractiveness of yield‐improving characteristics. We conclude that a more targeted extension approach would increase technology adoption in these countries.

Using IoT and AI to replenish household food supplies: A systematic review

Food wastage because of the lack or incompletion of a household replenishment system is an essential topic to be addressed. An appropriate utilization of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies with particular components is needed to design a smart household replenishment system to reduce food wastage. Therefore, this systematic review is dedicated to survey papers utilizing IoT and AI tools for perishable items storage compartments, as they are always full of items that need to be monitored. This study was conducted by following the PRISMA search strategy. It examined 70 papers in chronological order starting from 2000 when LG Electronics invented the first smart refrigerator, and research on technology involvement in food storage compartments increased. This comprehensive research aims to point out the approaches, contributions, used components and limitations of the reviewed papers to develop a unified framework for a household replenishment system. The analysis resulted in 43 approaches using IoT technology, 27 using AI, and recently the use of AIoT has been trending in the past two years. This systematic review provides future directions for researchers acquired from the limitations of the reviewed papers to enhance the household replenishment system by developing and adding required features in smart food storage compartments. Further investigation into smart home appliances would lead to extensive approaches like smart shops, industries, and eventually smart cities.

Overcoming Maternal and Child Health Problems in Rw 16 Citatah Village, Cipatat District, West

Based on the analysis of the situation from the initial survey data of community service activities, several health problems were obtained in RW 16, it can be concluded that there are 3 maternal and child health problems that are priorities for the community service team to overcome, namely: The prevalence of stunting in children under five years old, low coverage of immunization in children, and nutritional problems in pregnant women. The purpose of this service is to solve maternal and child health problems by providing health education to the community. This service activity employs the extension approach as its methodology. Data collection using questionnaire sheets that become material for evaluation. The outcomes of this service include the assessment of counseling participants' comprehension by oral questioning at the beginning and conclusion of the session. The community seemed enthusiastic about providing responses and answers and was actively involved during the counseling process. So it can be concluded that there is a social change in the form of changes in the way people think about health, especially maternal and child health, tracking the development and growth of children, early detection of diseases, and many other benefits that cause changes in the way people view health.

Discourse Rules of a Book Essay and a Case Study for the Writing Classes in a University Curriculum of Liberal Arts

This thesis explored what the genre knowledge of the book essay is and its discourse rules in the writing classes in a University curriculum of a liberal arts program. Using an example of a class design for book essay writing, it presented the cases pertaining to how the learners internalized the discourse rules and reflected them into their book essays. It put forth an extensive approach, proposing that the discourse rules fall under the premise that the academic book essay belongs to an academic essay, which is located between book journals and academic theses. Also, it presented writing rules which can allow the writers to face their tasks using not only the approach of essays, but also an insight of criticism, using both formal and informal approaches. Learners were able to select their books in a self-directed manner, for the books were related to their own majors and thus were interesting to them. Moreover, they utilized the advantages of the free style forms of writing book essays by selecting their book genre without any restrictions. Also, the program respected the learners’ choices when it came to the components on book essays according to their reading materials by providing, as extensively and diversely as possible, each component in the ‘introduction’, ‘body’ and ‘conclusion’ respectively. Through connecting the writings to presentation classes, this strengthened the learners’ competency of understanding and criticism regarding the transference of their abilities as well as the reading materials and instructions in order for them to establish their authorships. Finally, the learners were able to internalize the discourse rules and they showed that they can reflect them into their writing on their own. This thesis furthermore suggested that the more genre-restricted discourse rules be researched in a more specific way.

Human biomonitoring without in-person interaction: public health engagements during the COVID-19 pandemic and future implications

BackgroundPublic health initiatives, including human biomonitoring, have been impacted by unique challenges since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, compounding a decades-long trend of declining public participation. To combat low public participation rates, public health professionals often employ extensive engagement approaches including in-person interactions related to enrollment and sampling, success of which is an essential component of a statistically defensible study. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged public health programs to diversify engagement and sampling approaches, limiting direct interactions for the health and safety of the population. This study explores biomonitoring recruitment strategies through non-contact mechanisms and evaluate the application feasibility for population-based studies.MethodsThe Iowa Biomonitoring Program at the State Hygienic Laboratory developed a human biomonitoring study that utilized a multifaceted, distance-based approach. Traditional techniques, such as mailed recruitment invitations and phone-based discussions, were coupled with internet-based surveys and self-collected, shipped urine and water samples. Participation rates were evaluated by employing different mailing methods, and the demographics of enrolled participants were examined.ResultsThis non-human contact approach achieved a nearly 14% participation rate among a rural population, well above our target rates. Our improved mailing strategy for targeting initially unresponsive participants yielded a significantly increase in the participation rates. The respondents were predominantly individuals with educational attainment of at least high school level. Among all the eligible participants, 83% submitted self-collected samples, a rate comparable to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey which involved in-person interviews.ConclusionsThe practice of engaging a rural population during the COVID-19 pandemic by transitioning from face-to-face interactions to a combination of mailing and internet-based approaches resulted in higher-than-expected participant recruitment and sample collection rates. Given the declining trend in the response rates for population-based survey studies, our results suggest conducting human biomonitoring without direct human interaction is feasible, which provides further opportunity to improve response rates and the relevance and reach of public health initiatives.

Assembly Function Recognition in Embedded Systems as an Optimization Problem

Many different aspects of software system development and verification rely on precise function identification in binary code. Recognition of the source Assembly functions in embedded systems is one of the fundamental challenges in binary program analysis. While numerous approaches assume that the functions are given a priori, correct identification of the functions in binaries remains a great issue. This contribution addresses the problem of uncertainty in binary code in identification of functions, which were optimized during compilation. This paper investigates the difference between debug and optimized functions via modeling of these functions. To do so, we introduce an extensible model-centred hands-on approach for examining similarities between binary functions. The main idea is to model each function using a set of predetermined, experimentally discovered features, and then find a suitable weight vector that could give impact factor to each such a feature. After finding the weight vector, the introduced models of such desired functions can be identified in binary software packages. It means that we reduce the similarity identification problem of the models to a classical version of optimization problems with one optimization criterion. Using our implementation, we found that the proposed approach works smoothly for functions, which contain at least ten Assembly instructions. Our tool guarantees success at a very high level.

Robot-Assisted Free Flap Reconstruction for Oropharyngeal Cancer: A Systematic Review

Management of oropharyngeal cancer is undergoing a shift due to different profiles of patients, who tend to be younger and show better prognosis. Transoral robotic surgery is being established as the first-line approach as the procedure has shown minimal invasiveness and good oncological and functional outcomes, while avoiding extensive open surgery approaches and intensive chemoradiotherapy treatments. Naturally, the next step in the management of oropharyngeal cancer would be using the same technology for reconstruction to preserve the function and anatomy of the oropharynx. Free flaps, especially the radial forearm free flap and the anterolateral thigh flap, proved to be ideal for oropharyngeal reconstruction, and robotic assistance in these cases is yet to be explored. A limited number of studies have reported robot-assisted oropharyngeal reconstruction, so this review summarizes the currently available data and explores the feasibility, safety, and functional outcomes of this novel technique.

Circular supply chains in manufacturing—Quo vadis? Accomplishments, challenges and future opportunities

AbstractCircular approach in manufacturing supply chain (SC) operations yields multiple benefits through optimal utilisation and consumption of resources. This study maps the scope and structure of circularity in the manufacturing SC discipline and explores the evolution of the domain over time. We review 946 journal articles published between 2013 and September 2023. Our study identifies key drivers and barriers to circular economy (CE) deployment in manufacturing SC operations, bibliometric parameters, emerging research themes, decision support tools, theories and applications. Using the theory extension approach, we propose a strategic framework to fortify the deployment of circularity in SCs. This comprehensive study renders a methodological contribution through combined descriptive content analysis and bibliometric and network analyses to evaluate the circular manufacturing SC operations concepts, theories and applications. We posit that manufacturing firms require to deploy innovation‐led approaches to embed the CE strategies in their SC operations. We find that the studies investigating green skill development and circularity‐culture adoption can facilitate manufacturers to understand the efficacy of circularity in their SC operations. The findings of this study can facilitate the practitioners to identify the links between the CE approaches and their strategic implications and examine CE implementation at the strategic level.

The Impact of Instagram Promotion on Purchase Intention at The Langham Jakarta

This research studies the impact of Instagram Promotion on Purchase Intention at The Langham Jakarta, the inaugural Southeast Asian business hotel branch in SCBD. Strategically positioned in Jakarta's bustling business district, it faces competition from established hotels like Ritz-Carlton Pacific Place, Raffles, Four Seasons, Park Hyatt, and St. Regis. This research aims to identify how the local market perceives The Langham Jakarta as a viable hotel option by examining the impact of their Instagram Promotion activities on consumers’ purchase intention. This study uses an extensive approach to examine how consumers responded to The Langham Jakarta's Instagram promotion efforts to determine whether these efforts affected consumers' intentions to make a purchase. This study aims to offer important insights into the efficacy of Instagram promotion as a marketing technique for hotels entering established areas through data analysis and interpretation. The research’s purpose is to further our knowledge of consumer behaviour and marketing tactics in the hospitality sector, providing hotels looking to improve their competitive position with practical advice. The results from the hypothesis testing phase show that Instagram Promotion has a positive and significant impact on Purchase Intention. The next researcher should examine and add a broader range of variables to discover how they impact consumers' purchasing decisions.

Antibacterial Potential of Symmetrical Twin-Drug 3,6-Diaminoxanthones.

Global health faces a significant issue with the rise of infectious diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites. The increasing number of multi-drug resistant microbial pathogens severely threatens public health worldwide. Antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria, in particular, present a significant challenge. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new potential antimicrobial targets and discover new chemical entities that can potentially reverse bacterial resistance. The main goal of this research work was to create and develop a library of 3,6-disubstituted xanthones based on twin drugs and molecular extension approaches to inhibit the activity of efflux pumps. The process involved synthesizing 3,6-diaminoxanthones through the reaction of 9-oxo-9H-xanthene-3,6-diyl bis(trifluoromethanesulfonate) with various primary and secondary amines. The resulting 3,6-disubstituted xanthone derivatives were then tested for their in vitro antimicrobial properties against a range of pathogenic strains and their efficacy in inhibiting the activity of efflux pumps, biofilm formation, and quorum-sensing. Several compounds have exhibited effective antibacterial properties against the Gram-positive bacterial species tested. Xanthone 16, in particular, has demonstrated exceptional efficacy with a remarkable MIC of 11 µM (4 µg/mL) against reference strains Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, and 25 µM (9 µg/mL) against methicillin-resistant S. aureus 272123. Furthermore, some derivatives have shown potential as antibiofilm agents in a crystal violet assay. The ethidium bromide accumulation assay pinpointed certain compounds inhibiting bacterial efflux pumps. The cytotoxic effect of the most promising compounds was examined in mouse fibroblast cell line NIH/3T3, and two monoamine substituted xanthone derivatives with a hydroxyl substituent did not exhibit any cytotoxicity. Overall, the nature of the substituent was critical in determining the antimicrobial spectra of aminated xanthones.

Stock Price Prediction Using Sentiment Analysis

Abstract: This research discusses the ever-changing nature of the stock market by using models such as LSTM and ARIMA to forecast stock prices. It recognizes the volatility and unpredictability of financial markets recognizing the need for robust tools that can accurately predict. Sentiment analysis is used for enhancing the accuracy of stock price prediction, drawing information from various sources like news resources and social media platforms that reflect public sentiments and opinions. We aim to analyze a thorough aspect of factors influencing stock prices by combining these sentiments with the models. The LSTM model is used to study long-term dependencies in stock price trends and ARIMA provides information into the time series components. Combining sentiment analysis helps us to scan the emotional tone around a particular stock and contributes valuable data to the prediction process. The integration between the machine learning models and sentiment analysis offers an extensive approach to predicting stock prices considering both past trends and current public sentiment. This study adds to the work in progress to develop more accurate and adaptive tools for exploring the difficulties of the stock market.

Bifurcation of the Radial Nerve in the Arm as a Cause of Traumatic Partial Nerve Palsy: A Case Report

Purpose: To describe the case of a traumatic partial nerve palsy following an open crushing arm injury. The partial palsy was due to the presence of radial nerve bifurcation in the proximal arm. Methods: A 23-year-old male was involved in a motor vehicle accident, where his motorbike crushed against a steel road divider sustaining multiple injuries in the spine, thorax, and right arm. On clinical examination, the patient presented a deep, blunt trauma on the posterior aspect of the proximal arm and partial radial nerve palsy was diagnosed with preservation of the brachioradialis and the extensor radialis longus muscle function. Surgical exploration was carried out. Results: An extensible posterior approach to the arm was performed and two main radial nerve branches were found. The lateral, more sizeable nerve, had an epineural hematoma without any distal response during intraoperative stimulation. The medial, thinner nerve trunk was preserved and, when stimulated, elicited response from the brachioradialis. Conclusion: We describe an uncommon variation of the radial nerve which was associated with partial palsy following blunt force trauma. This anatomical variation should be kept in mind in cases like the one described.

Knowledge Assessment of Beneficiary Farmers of Technical Service Centres (TSCs) about Recommended Technologies of Sericulture in Karnataka State of India

Sericulture in Karnataka is in the process of modernization in many phases through new demand driven extension approach called Technical Service Centres (TSCs) located at the grass-root level (Hobli and Taluka level). These centres are mainly involved in the dissemination of the technologies developed by the Research Institutes and also in supply of mulberry cuttings/saplings, monitoring mulberry cultivation, silkworm rearing and providing information about loan facilities and subsidy schemes. There is a need to study the attitude of sericulture beneficiary farmers towards activities of TSCs. The study was conducted during 2018-20 in the Karnataka state which contribute 35 per cent of silk production in India. An ex-post facto research design was used or the study. Knowledge test was constructed to measure the knowledge of sericulture farmers on recommended sericulture technologies. The Ramanagara and Mandya districts were selected because these district have highest number of TSCs in Bangalore and Mysore division respectively. Mandya, Malavalli and K.R Pet taluks from Mandya district as well as Ramanagara, Channapatna and Kanakapura taluks from Ramanagara district were selected for the study with four TSCs from each taluk. Totally, 24 TSCs were selected for the study. Ten sericulture farmers under each TSC, collectively 240, were selected by using random sampling method. The study highlighted that more than half (52.50%) and more than one third (36.25%) of the sericulture farmers had medium and high knowledge on recommended technologies of sericulture respectively. Only just more than one tenth (11.25%) of the sericulture farmers had low knowledge on recommended technologies of sericulture. The probable reason might be due to fact that sericulture farmers were regularly consulting from officials of grainage centres, TSC extension functionaries, input dealers and peer group about the information on latest sericulture technologies.

A Systematic Evaluation of Machine Learning–Based Biomarkers for Major Depressive Disorder

Biological psychiatry aims to understand mental disorders in terms of altered neurobiological pathways. However, for one of the most prevalent and disabling mental disorders, major depressive disorder (MDD), no informative biomarkers have been identified. To evaluate whether machine learning (ML) can identify a multivariate biomarker for MDD. This study used data from the Marburg-Münster Affective Disorders Cohort Study, a case-control clinical neuroimaging study. Patients with acute or lifetime MDD and healthy controls aged 18 to 65 years were recruited from primary care and the general population in Münster and Marburg, Germany, from September 11, 2014, to September 26, 2018. The Münster Neuroimaging Cohort (MNC) was used as an independent partial replication sample. Data were analyzed from April 2022 to June 2023. Patients with MDD and healthy controls. Diagnostic classification accuracy was quantified on an individual level using an extensive ML-based multivariate approach across a comprehensive range of neuroimaging modalities, including structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging as well as a polygenic risk score for depression. Of 1801 included participants, 1162 (64.5%) were female, and the mean (SD) age was 36.1 (13.1) years. There were a total of 856 patients with MDD (47.5%) and 945 healthy controls (52.5%). The MNC replication sample included 1198 individuals (362 with MDD [30.1%] and 836 healthy controls [69.9%]). Training and testing a total of 4 million ML models, mean (SD) accuracies for diagnostic classification ranged between 48.1% (3.6%) and 62.0% (4.8%). Integrating neuroimaging modalities and stratifying individuals based on age, sex, treatment, or remission status does not enhance model performance. Findings were replicated within study sites and also observed in structural magnetic resonance imaging within MNC. Under simulated conditions of perfect reliability, performance did not significantly improve. Analyzing model errors suggests that symptom severity could be a potential focus for identifying MDD subgroups. Despite the improved predictive capability of multivariate compared with univariate neuroimaging markers, no informative individual-level MDD biomarker-even under extensive ML optimization in a large sample of diagnosed patients-could be identified.

EasyBC: A Cryptography-Specific Language for Security Analysis of Block Ciphers against Differential Cryptanalysis

Differential cryptanalysis is a powerful algorithmic-level attack, playing a central role in evaluating the security of symmetric cryptographic primitives. In general, the resistance against differential cryptanalysis can be characterized by the maximum expected differential characteristic probability. In this paper, we present generic and extensible approaches based on mixed integer linear programming (MILP) to bound such probability. We design a high-level cryptography-specific language EasyBC tailored for block ciphers and provide various rigorous procedures, as differential denotational semantics, to automate the generation of MILP from block ciphers written in EasyBC. We implement an open-sourced tool that provides support for fully automated resistance evaluation of block ciphers against differential cryptanalysis. The tool is extensively evaluated on 23 real-life cryptographic primitives including all the 10 finalists of the NIST lightweight cryptography standardization process. The experiments confirm the expressivity of EasyBC and show that the tool can effectively prove the resistance against differential cryptanalysis for all block ciphers under consideration. EasyBC makes resistance evaluation against differential cryptanalysis easily accessible to cryptographers.

The Paradigm Shift of Agricultural Extension from Technology Transfer Towards Participatory Approaches

Purpose: Different technology transfer mechanisms are used to disseminate innovative agricultural technologies. The extension approaches based on the top-down transfer of technology were dominated in the past. That paradigm could not achieve reasonable benefits to many users but the resource-rich clientele reaped the benefits. Therefore, new concepts and approaches were warranted. The paper describes the outcomes of the paradigm shift of agricultural extension from technology transfer to participatory technologies..Research Method: The paper contains the information collected from published literature on technology transfer efforts, global experience in Participatory Rural Appraisal applications, and the research findings from participatory rural appraisal sessions conducted in Sri Lanka.Findings: The critical issue of technology transfer models was insufficient attention granted to incorporate.the participation of grassroots-level clientele. Hence, real community needs were omitted. The concept of Participatory Rural Appraisal evolved as an alternative scenario and was implemented with promising results. The Participatory Rural Appraisal is a bottom-up approach, that incorporates local knowledge and community participation, uses simple technology, requires low cost, and could be applied in rural areas without complex apparatus. Participants have a great opportunity to express their actual needs. Hence, a valid plan can be designed and the community will participate in the following stages of the planning cycle. This study reviews the Participatory Rural Appraisal experience worldwide and the paradigm shift taken place in technology transfer from a top-down approach to participatory methods.

Operational reliability analysis of remote operated vehicle based on dynamic Bayesian network synthesis method

In this study, we propose a reliability framework that combines the GO method with fault tree analysis and integrates human factor reliability analysis. Taking the application of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in underwater oil and gas production as an example, a reliability model of ROV operation process is established. The human reliability in the ROV operation process is analyzed on the basis of Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM) extension approach. The influence of human factor reliability and equipment reliability on the system is compared and analyzed. The importance of each operation step is also compared and analyzed. A sensitivity analysis of the ROV during operation is performed. This study provides a theoretical basis for the improvement and maintenance of the operational reliability of ROV. The proposed reliability modeling approach solves the reliability analysis problem of large and complex operating systems.