Hard Times Research Articles

Unleashing the power of teacher’s wellbeing and selfcare

Teachers’ personal and professional life depends heavily on their health and self-care. This article examines the value of teacher wellbeing and self-care, educators’ difficulties, and the possible advantages of putting their physical, mental, and emotional health first. The many challenges teachers face can have an impact on their wellness. Teachers frequently struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance because of the hard job, long hours, and time limits. Additionally, the emotional demands of the job, such as handling difficult circumstances or managing student behavior problems, might result in elevated stress levels. These issues are made more difficult by scarce resources, a lack of support networks, and a culture that puts teacher wellbeing last. Schools and higher tertiary institutions may establish a happy and encouraging environment that improves overall student results by recognizing and addressing the wellbeing of instructors. This paper will encourage teachers to release the power of self-care and prioritize their wellbeing. This research paper focused on the benefits of teachers’ wellbeing and self-care, the common challenges teachers face, and strategies for promoting teachers’ wellbeing and self-care. A qualitative secondary data research approach was used in data collection, which uncovered numerous elements that significantly impact teachers’ wellbeing.

Rice Leaf Diseases Detection Using Machine Learning

One of India's most widely grown crops, rice is susceptible to a wide range of illnesses during the growing process. Due to a lack of training and experience, farmers have a hard time making reliable diagnoses when identifying these illnesses manually. Timely detection of diseases and the application of necessary treatments to afflicted plants are crucial for ensuring healthy and normal development of rice plants. In today's agricultural fields, the detection of leaf diseases is of the utmost importance. Consequently, we may use machine learning to identify diseases in rice leaves by image processing. The agriculture sector is in dire need of a system that can identify rice plant problems automatically. We present a novel convolutional neural network (CNN) model for the classification of prevalent rice leaf diseases. From a variety of picture backdrops and capture situations, our algorithm can identify rice leaf illnesses. Classifying disease pictures in rice leaves with complicated backgrounds and varying lighting conditions is our goal. We reach 95% accuracy with the CNNs based model. The outcomes for disease identification in rice demonstrate the effectiveness of suggested approach. Disease detection, CNN algorithm, rice leaf, and machine learning are index terms.

Keeping Time: General Motors-Holden’s Gold Watch Reward Scheme, 1949–2017

In 1949, desperate to recruit and hold on to workers, General Motors-Holden (GMH) introduced a ‘gold watch scheme’ to reward employees who gave ‘faithful’ service over twenty-five years. The scheme became entrenched in the company’s culture, creating an elite social tier within the factory sphere. Gold watches, recognising the worker’s elevation in status, were presented at lavish dinners until hard times in the 1980s forced the company to abolish them, creating ill-feeling among some employees. Drawing on oral histories with former workers, this article argues that the gold watch scheme was a barometer not just of GMH’s fluctuating fortunes but of social and demographic changes within the workplace, relationships between the company and its workers, and evolving ideas about the nature of work and job security.

BrJAC 2023 – Growing and Building Bridges

BrJAC 2023 – Growing and Building Bridges

A Strictly Predefined-Time Convergent and Noise-Tolerant Neural Model for Solving Linear Equations With Robotic Applications

Nowadays, there are time-critical applications involving linear equations, such as the fault reconstruction problem, where hard response time constraints and robustness to external disturbances are expected. Zeroing neural network (ZNN) is one of the effective solutions to time-variant problems including time-variant linear equations. This paper proposes a strictly predefined-time convergent and noise-tolerant ZNN (SPTC-NT-ZNN) to solve time-variant linear equations. Differing from the existing ZNN models, the designed SPTC-NT-ZNN is enhanced to be convergent in strictly predefined time while exhibiting noise tolerance. This guarantees the desirable timely convergence and robustness for time-critical applications. In theory, the strictly predefined-time convergence and noise-tolerance properties of the proposed SPTC-NT-ZNN are mathematically proved in a rigorous manner. Comparative validations are performed to verify that the SPTC-NT-ZNN outperforms existing typical ZNNs, regarding the convergence and robustness performance. To demonstrate potential applications, the SPTC-NT-ZNN is applied to 3D stereo reconstruction and motion control of a Franka Emika Panda robot, showing the efficacy of the proposed method.

Improvement of solubility, dissolution, and bioavailability of phenytoin intercalated in Mg-Al layered double hydroxide.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are highly effective drug delivery systems, owing to their capacity to intercalate or adsorb biomaterials, flexible structure, swelling property, high stability, good biocompatibility, and ease of synthesis. Phenytoin (PHT) is an antiseizure BCS (Biopharmaceutics Classification System) class II drug, presenting low aqueous solubility. Therefore, the current study aimed at increasing its solubility, dissolution, and bioavailability. PHT was intercalated to the MgAl-LDH formed in situ and successful intercalation to form MgAl-PHT-LDH was confirmed by FTIR, PXRD, DSC, and TGA. Examination of particle size and morphology (by photon correlation spectroscopy and electron microscopy, respectively) confirmed the formation and intercalation of nanostructured LDH. Intercalation enhanced the saturation solubility of PHT at 25°C in 0.1N HCl and phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) by 6.57 and 10.5 times respectively. The selected drug excipient powder blend for the formulation of MgAl-PHT-LDH tablets exhibited satisfactory properties in both pre-compression parameters (angle of repose, bulk density, tapped density, Carr's index, and Hausner ratio) and tablet characteristics (weight variation, thickness, hardness, friability, content uniformity, and disintegration time). MgAl-PHT-LDH tablets showed better dissolution of PHT compared to unprocessed PHT tablets at all time points. Oral bioavailability of MgAl-PHT-LDH tablets and unprocessed PHT tablets was tested in two groups of Sprague Dawley rats based on analysis of serum levels of both forms of PHT by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS serum. MgAl-PHT-LDH tablets demonstrated a relative bioavailability of 130.15% compared to unprocessed PHT tablets, confirming a significantly higher oral bioavailability of MgAl-PHT-LDH. In conclusion, MgAl-PHT-LDH could provide a strategy for enhancing solubility, dissolution, and thereby bioavailability of PHT, enabling the evaluation of theclinical efficacy of MgAl-PHT-LDH tablets for the treatment of seizures at lower PHT doses.

The Power of Hard Work, Opportunity, and Time: A Physician’s Personal Leadership Journey

The author shares his personal leadership journey as a physician, highlighting the importance of hard work, embracing opportunities, and the role of randomness in shaping our lives. Through personal anecdotes, he hopes to inspire others to believe in their potential and embrace the unpredictable nature of life’s path.

Family Pressure, Peer Influence, and Teenagers Involvement in Prostitution

The study investigated ‘Family Pressure, Peer Influence, and Teenager’s Involvement in Prostitution’. The study area was Delta State. The target population for the study was teenagers between the ages of 15 and 18 found in some brothels, on the street at night, and in guest houses involved in prostitution as a way of surviving a hard time. The sample size is 120 teenagers. The questionnaire was developed by the researcher and validated by experts in the field of measurement and evaluation. Both instruments have a reliability of 0.78 and 0.85, respectively. An in-depth interview was conducted with six respondents; this was made possible by the participant observation method adopted by the research. A photograph was taken. A semi-structured interview guide was used for the IDI. The researcher transcribed the data acquired from the in-depth interviews through the use of a recording device, and they were compared with the notes taken by the note-taker during the meetings. Both the transcribed tapes and the field notes were utilized for data analysis. Simple regression was used to test the first two hypotheses, and multiple regression was used to analyzing the last hypothesis, as well as content analysis for the In-depth interview. Findings from the study revealed that peer influences are a major variable that propels teenagers into prostitution, and a lack of economic power has put strains on parents to send their girl child to the city in the name of searching for green pasture, who end up becoming prostitutes. A recommendation was made that parents should take full responsibility for the upbringing of their children and should desist from giving their children economic favors from friends and relatives. In most cases, such children end up becoming prostitutes and armed robbers.

Parents and teenagers mental health suggestions chatbot using cosine similarity

Parents today have a particularly hard time empathising with their children' worries, and teenagers themselves are having trouble finding solutions. To become a better version of themselves, everyone needs counsel. The most important part of being human is having mental support, which is especially important during adolescence when a person starts to feel a variety of emotions and his or her parents are itself new to that and have to deal with it. So, we are talking about this issue in this paper to discover answers and give advice to both parents and children using a chatbot. The dataset is gathered by examining teen behavior changes, and the system is trained using NLP and cosine similarity.

Ayurveda Practitioner Adaptation of Variation in Service Approaches during COVID-19 Pandemic in Kathmandu, Nepal

Background: COVID-19 declared global pandemic created various impact on different aspects of life, medical fraternity and economy worldwide. With its ever changing viral features, COVID-19 then had become a real hard time challenge to the world medical fraternity in finding out the appropriate measures to control it. The whole world adopted various measures to control its spread, preventive measures against COVID-19 proved to be an effective measure to content it. Health care systems were challenged as they were potential hub for contracting COVID-19 and at the same time overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients. Health practitioners had to follow safety guidelines in order to prevent the spread, protect themselves and at the same time provide the health service to the people. The objective of the study was to identify various methodological variations adopted by Ayurveda practitioners to provide Ayurveda services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: The research method adopted was a quantitative, descriptive cross sectional study. A well- developed online questionnaire was formed and circulated through Whats app, messengers and email among Ayurveda practitioners of Ayurveda Campus Teaching Hospital, Nardevi Ayurveda Hospital and National Ayurveda Research and Training Center Kirtipur. Results and Discussion: Implementation of safety protocols, adoption of sanitization methods and procedural modification in consultation and OPD based services were practiced by Ayurveda practitioners during COVID-19 in order to deliver Ayurveda Health Service. Conclusion: The continuity of OPD based services were maintained considering safety protocols, sterilization methods and modifications in delivering consultations and OPD procedures.

Formulation development and stability studies of quinine sulphate suppositories for paediatric use Quinine sulphate suppositories for paediatric use

Rectal administration is preferred to oral and parenteral routes in paediatric population because it is relatively painless while avoiding nausea, vomiting and first pass metabolism. With emergence of chloroquine resistance, quinine is still one of the accepted chemotherapeutic agents against Plasmodium falciparum. The aim of this study is to develop paediatric suppositories of quinine sulphate using FattibaseTM to aid stability, adequate release, ease of administration and affordability. Physical appearance, weight uniformity, hardness, melting range, liquefaction time, drug content uniformity, FTIR and release profile of the suppositories were determined at 27.0±2.0 ᵒC and 4.0±0.5 ᵒC after 0, 1, 4 and 8 weeks. Statistical analysis was done using two-way ANOVA.  FTIR analysis revealed no significant modification occurred in the chemical structure of quinine throughout storage. For suppositories stored at 27.0±2.0 ᵒC, hardness and liquefaction time increased significantly with time. Release of quinine from the fattibaseTM was sustained (quantity released at 120 min, Q120 = 52.16 - 71.16%). Storage time had significant influence (p< 0.05) on all the parameters while storage temperature significantly influenced hardness, liquefaction time, Q120 and drug content. Quinine sulphate suppositories made with fattibaseTM were stable throughout the period of study and will be suitable for peadiatric use

Источники надежды в меняющейся действительности (на материале романа Бориса Пастернака Доктор Живаго)

The article analyzes the sources of hope in the changing reality in Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago. The concept of changing reality is presented through the prism of Zygmunt Bauman’s sociological reflections. In Pasternak’s novel, the high concentration of events of the first part of the 20th century, filled with social upheavals and catastrophes, such as wars and revolutions, becomes part of the protagonist’s biography. The novel reveals the protagonist’s ability to find sources of hope in a hopeless environment. This ability strengths Yuri Zhivago and helps him to live and be engaged in creative activity in hard times. Yuri Andreevich finds salvation in everyday worries, which helps him to overcome chaos in post-revolutionary Moscow. Events filled with the warmth and comfort of everyday life acquire a special status. The next source of hope and inspiration in the book is a creative activity. An inexhaustible source of motivation in the novel is also nature, which is inextricably linked with the theme of creativity. For the protagonist, life is most fully revealed in compassion, active love, admiration for the world, and hope for the triumph of beauty and goodness.

Foucault Meets Novel Coronavirus: Biosociality, Excesses of Governmentality and the “Will to Live” of the Pandemicariat

This essay situates Foucault`s ideas of ‘biopower’ and ‘governmentality’ within the Indian context of the Covid emergency, analysing how the excesses of ‘biopolitical’ and the authoritarian forms of ‘governmentality’ evoke a radical re-reading of Foucault within Covid-infested India. We argue how pre-existing ‘discursive’ conditions of biomedical, digital, and neoliberal India facilitated more majoritarian and undemocratic forms of (bio)politics during the Indian experience of the pandemic, exposing the migrant workers in particular to tremendous ‘precarity’ and turning them into pandemicariat. To meet our theoretical ends, we investigate through forging links between Foucauldian theory – consisting of a set of concepts like biopolitics, anatomo-politics, governmentality etc— and ideas like transmuted biosociality, truncated sociality, will to live, pandemicariat etc. Current conditions of truncated sociality render human bodies more ‘discursively’ available for ‘biomedical’ and ‘biopolitical’ interventions, disempowering people’s capacity to sustain the more synthetic biosocial substances of conviviality. However, following Agamben’s early controversial stance for braving the virus, we would like to envisage “life” to be more than “survival” alone. We would also argue that the hard times of the pandemic invoke a new grammar of the “will to live” that was practised by the pandemicariat against heavy odds.

A Study on the Vehicle Routing Problem Considering Infeasible Routing Based on the Improved Genetic Algorithm

The study aims to optimize the vehicle routing problem, considering infeasible routing, to minimize losses for the company. Firstly, a vehicle routing model with hard time windows and infeasible route constraints is established, considering both the minimization of total vehicle travel distance and the maximization of customer satisfaction. Subsequently, a Floyd-based improved genetic algorithm that incorporates local search is designed. Finally, the computational experiment demonstrates that compared with the classic genetic algorithm, the improved genetic algorithm reduced the average travel distance by 20.6% when focusing on travel distance and 18.4% when prioritizing customer satisfaction. In both scenarios, there was also a reduction of one in the average number of vehicles used. The proposed method effectively addresses the model introduced in this study, resulting in a reduction in total distance and an enhancement of customer satisfaction.

PENGEMBANGAN SEDIAAN TABLET ESTROGENIK DARI EKSTRAK RUMPUT KEBAR (Biophytum petersianum) MENGGUNAKAN VARIASI KONSENTRASI PENGIKAT PVP K-30

Kebar grass (Biophytum petersianum Klotzsch) contains steroid, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, and triterpenoids. The use of Kebar grass extract can increase the development of follicles because it contains saponins which are the basic ingredients for the synthesis of steroid hormones and can improve the performance of reproductive system. This study aims to determine the quality the tablets made from Kebar grass extract with varying concentrations of PVP K-30 binder. Tablets were made in 3 formulas with varying concentrations of PVP K-30 as a binder, namely 2% (F1), 3% (F2), and 4% (F3). Methods of making tablets by wet granulation. Tablet quality testing includes organoleptic, weight uniformity, thickness, diameter, hardness, friability, and disintegration time. The flavonoid quercetin was used as a marker for tablet analysis. The results showed that the tablets were round in shape, white-gray in color, had a slightly bitter taste and had a characteristic aromatic odor. The average value of tablet weight uniformity is 290.06 – 306.45 mg (KV <5%), tablet diameter is 0.91 -0.92 cm, thickness is 0.41 – 0.48 cm, hardness is 4.06 – 7.95 kp, friability 0.17 – 0.21% and tablet disintegration time < 15 minutes. The results of the statistical analysis showed that the differences in the concentration of PVP K-30 did not affect the hardness and friability of the tablets (p> 0.05). The level of the flavonoid quercetin in the tablet is 0.17 – 0.21%. The conclusion that Kebar grass extract tablets can be made using PVP K-30 at a concentration of 2-4% as a binder and the quality of the tablets is not significantly different.

Banerjee, A. V., and Duflo, E. (2019). Good economics for hard times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems

Banerjee, A. V., and Duflo, E. (2019). Good economics for hard times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems

The Russian family as a guardian and translator of traditional national values

Introduction. The article analyzes the advantages of the family in the formation and intergenerational continuity of basic national values and the gradual, step-by-step development of their youth. The article uses the experience of assessing traditional values by students of Nizhny Novgorod schools during family-patriotic contests, as well as the results of the author's sociological research among schoolchildren on the degree of their commitment to Russian values.Materials and Methods. The authors of the article relied on the analysis of primary and secondary sociological data. In general, general scientific research methods were applied (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, comparative historical and dialectical methods).Results. The successful implementation of the intergenerational transmission of values by the family was negatively affected by the cardinal transformations of Russian society in the 90s of the XX century. The attempt to revise the basic Russian traditional values in favor of liberalization through familiarization with the Western way of life (imposing the priority of values on the psychology of mass consumption society) of the majority of Russians led to a deepening of the crisis state of the institution of the family and society as a whole. Meanwhile, the Russian family, possessing a number of qualities (one of which is a sense of healthy conservatism), was able to preserve the best practices of broadcasting intergenerational values. However, the thoughtless policy of the reformers of the "Yeltsin's hard times" did not pass by without a trace. The analysis of secondary and primary sociological data has shown that many traditional Russian spiritual and moral values are insufficiently formed. Let's denote two "pain points":1. The negative attitude of the majority of young men (59.6%) to the statement that "Conscription is an obligatory stage in life for every man is extremely alarming." There is a crisis of fatherhood as the main element in the functioning of the mechanism of intergenerational transmission of values. 2. The popularity of so-called "alternative" forms of family structure among young people is alarming. An analysis of the data on gender identity revealed discrepancies that draw attention to themselves. Thus, boys (71.8%) are more confident that "A family is a union of a man and a woman, and not Parents No. 1 and No. 2" than girls (53.6%). This is an occasion for further research and explanation of the reason for the greater commitment of young men to traditional family values than girls.Discussion and Conclusions. Theoretical and methodological analysis of the state of modern Russian society and the family has shown that the actualization of public attention on traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, their legislative consolidation in various decrees and by-laws and their practical implementation has a positive effect on the system of education of younger youth in general. The results of the author's sociological research indicate, for the most part, the formation of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values in the youth consciousness. Thus, it can be argued that Russian society has not lost the ability of intergenerational transmission of basic Russian values, its mental and cultural code.

Physicochemical Characterization and Reverse Engineering of Reference Market Product for Generic Formulation Development

The present study aimed to carry out reverse engineering of reference innovator product (Xarelto® 20 mg film-coated tablets) to decode the critical scientific information that is needed for successfully develop a stable and bio-equivalent generic formulation of rivaroxaban 20 mg film-coated tablets. The innovator product characterization was done followed by deformulation of the reference product (Xarelto® 20 mg film-coated tablets) to quantity critical excipients to decode the innovator product’s quantitative composition and to identify the manufacturing process used to manufacture the innovator product. The particle size distribution and particle size distribution of rivaroxaban API used in the innovator product were performed using hot-stage microscopy. The polymorphic form of rivaroxaban API used was identified using DSC and XRD methods. Visual, tactile and microscopic evaluation of granules obtained from crushed tablets of the innovator product revealed that the granulation process was used in the manufacturing of the innovator product. It was further concluded that the manufacturing process is wet granulation process due to the presence of organic solvent in the innovator core tablet. Physical evaluation was done to know the tablet weight, shape, size, coating appearance, tablet hardness and disintegration time. Chemical analysis was performed to record the drug content, percentage impurity and dissolution profile. The decoded information can serve as a reference for a faster and bioequivalent generic formulation development with reduced cost, time, effort, and a higher success rate

When the going gets tough, the entrepreneurs get less entrepreneurial?

We investigate how the 2008-2012 economic crisis relates to entrepreneurs' confidence ten years later and, in turn, their venture's entrepreneurial orientation. Conceptually, we introduce the new concept of 'hard times' to capture an entrepreneur's sense of their venture's hardship during the crisis. Theoretically, we extend ideas on imprinting, to build the argument that hard times cause a persistent reduction in an entrepreneur's entrepreneurial self-efficacy and sense of job security, both of which in turn cause a contemporaneous reduction in their venture's entrepreneurial orientation. We contrast the crisis imprinting hypothesis with a hypothesis from the more established behavioral theory of the firm. Strikingly, rich data of about 300 Flemish entrepreneurs and their ventures are in line with a small crisis imprinting effect.

Calcium – Oxygen Batteries: Challenges and Possibilities

The present lithium-ion battery technology has a hard time keeping pace with the ever-increasing demands and requirements of various applications and markets. To enable continuous and sustainable growth of society, we need to develop new less expensive and less environmentally unfriendly energy storage solutions, and preferably also with higher gravimetric and volumetric energy densities, high power densities, and long(er) cycle-life. In this context, rechargeable metal–oxygen batteries are often considered the “Holy Grail” – this as the cathode of conventional metal-ion batteries most often is the most expensive component and at the same time the most challenging from both environmental and resource perspectives. An oxygen/air cathode, especially when used with a multivalent metal anode, can thus be a path to secure reliable energy storage for the future with significantly fewer concerns.Herein we describe the efforts made in the framework of our NATO-funded project: “High-energy Ca–O2 batteries”. The overall objective is to overcome the challenges of both a reversible oxygen cathode and the passivation of calcium metal via a proper selection of Ca metal, electrolyte design, and oxygen reduction catalysts/oxygen evolution mediators. We do this by developing two compatible half-cells with full cell KPIs in mind.Initially, we have explored, mainly via cyclic voltammetry, standard style organic electrolytes based on either Ca(TFSI)2 or Ca(OTf)2 and a boron-based additive, showing the latter to significantly enhance the Ca plating/stripping at room temperature. For the Ca(OTf)2 salt we create electrolytes using a tailored mixture of organic solvents, which not only allows for higher salt concentrations but also a wide ranges of additives possible.At the cathode/electrolyte interface a novel bi-functional multi-component catalyst has been employed to create gas-diffusion electrode (GDE) assemblies based on transition metal (Co, Mn) oxides as interactive supports for Ir and Pt in few-monolayer sizes. These are first tested using model aqueous solutions before turning to the organic electrolytes. Preliminary tests indicate controlled kinetics of the hydrothermal oxide generation and the electrochemical deposition/galvanic replacement, which could result in adequate bi-functional activity. Figure 1