Modern Day Research Articles

Issues with corpus planning in Zimbabwe’s previously marginalised languages in Matabeleland

ABSTRACT The promulgation of Zimbabwe’s current constitution amendment number 20, in 2013, brought hope to the previously marginalised languages in the country. In the founding provisions of the amendment, it is stated that 16 of the languages of Zimbabwe are officially recognised. Prior to the current constitution, only English, Ndebele and Shona were recognised. The paper scrutinises corpus planning activities that have taken place in the previously marginalised languages that are found in Matabeleland region. The analysis of corpus planning activities in these languages was done through a qualitative phenomenological design. Two members from each of the associations of these languages were interviewed. The results of the study indicate that the accomplishment of success in corpus planning is hampered by approaches that are asynchronous with modern day linguistic realities. Realistic language practices that are not influenced by prescriptivism, selfishness and mere recognition of the language need to be adopted in contemplation for successful corpus planning.

Editorial: Introduction to Special Issue on modern day experiential exercises

Editorial: Introduction to Special Issue on modern day experiential exercises

Social care institutions workers of the far eastern federal district awareness on HIV-infection and its significance in providing quality services and lowering self-perceived HIV risk

Objective of the research: to reveal level of awareness and stigmatizing factors that influence service provision, to disclose self-perceived HIV risk of social care workers and a necessity of planning events targeted at increasing their competence concerning the issues of HIV-infection. Materials and methods: by the means of a structured questionnaire, a sociological research was conducted among 386 specialists of social care institutions of 6 constituent entities of the Far Eastern Federal district. Mean age of survey participants was 41.5 years, work experience – 11.2 years. Sociological (survey) and analytical research methods were utilized in the study. Results: HIV/AIDS epidemic is one of main medical and social issues of modern days. Specialists of social care institutions will inevitably meet with people living with HIV during their practice. Their insufficient awareness about HIV transmission route, stigmatization of people living with HIV cause fear and reluctance to work with such recipients of the service. Respondents rated their knowledge on the issue of HIV-infection as satisfactory in 74.7%. All participants were well aware of main routs of HIV transmission however, mother-to-child transmission was known only by 66.1% of respondents. A certain lack of knowl­edge was revealed regarding self-perceived HIV risk as well as anxiety regarding working with HIV-infected clients and high rate of alert when working with HIV-positive colleagues. However, up to 25.7% of respondents expressed their readiness to help people living with HIV. Using condoms, disposable medical instruments and personal hygiene items as well as avoiding intravenous drug use were selected by survey participants as measures of HIV-infection prevention. Conclusion: the results of the research indicate insufficient level of awareness on the issue, because of which a con­clusion can be made that there is a certain degree of stigmatization of clients living with HIV receiving social services, as well as existence of self-perceived occupational vulnerability to HIV among social workers. This reveals a necessity of further surveillance over social workers’ knowledge to define priority topics in order to increase their professional competence on the issue of HIV-infection as well as expediency of holding training seminars for specialists of social care institutions contributing to development of their practical skills in work with HIV-positive clients.

Numerical and Experimental Study of Low-Frequency Membrane Damper for Tube Vibration Suppression

In modern days, low-frequency vibration is still challenging to suppress due to its high vibrational energy. A typical suppression method is to increase the object’s mass to reduce the amplitude of the vibration, but such a way is unsuitable in many cases. Membrane dampers can potentially eliminate the limitation and offer lightweight and compact damper. The idea is to decrease the stiffness and add additional mass to increase the dissipation of the vibration energy. For that, the membrane and an extra mass made of silicone rubber were used for the damper. Finite element eigenfrequency simulation showed the transformation of each mode to the damper mode, where the tube displacement was zero. Also, it showed the bandgap between modes in the frequency range from 106 Hz to 158 Hz. The experimental verification of clamped from both ends of the tube showed the predicted bandgap and absence of the resonance peak of the bare tube. Overall, the membrane damper showed good efficiency in extremely low frequencies and seems promising for vibration suppression.

A Note on Homelessness and the Moral Economy: How Thompson's Moral Economy Presents in Modern Day Homelessness

In this research note, I propose a theoretical framework that centers class struggle in order to better understand the micro‐level interactions that take place within homeless communities and the systems that structure them. I suggest that researchers can gain clearer insights into marginalized communities by taking a radical interactionist approach, as described by Athens. To start, I propose revisiting classic theories emphasizing the impact of power and dominance in the development of social systems as ways to understand interpersonal social interactions. Specifically, in this note I propose revisiting E.P. Thompson's original theory of the moral economy as an analytical basis and grounding point in the effort to explore homelessness and the communities it creates. Thompson's moral economy suggests that in communities facing oppression and class struggle, an economic and social system develops in which the central tenant is fairness and morality. By revisiting this theory, I suggest that researchers may better understand the ways in which homeless communities structure themselves, not only in relation to one another, but also in relation to the broader social world around them.

The molecular and metabolic events behind different germination stages of rice seeds: A metabolomics perspective

AbstractSeed germination is a crucial stage for the completion of plants' life cycle. The process of seed germination is a very important phenomenon for agricultural food and crop production and to understand the underlying food chemistry. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) being easy to grow and cheap source of phytonutrients is a fundamental food crop across the world. Several researches are going on for years to improve the production of rice, ameliorate the deadly bacterial or fungal diseases utilizing genetics, transcriptomics, and proteomics aspects. Metabolomics is a very new arena of research in this field. With the help of modern‐day metabolomic tools and technologies, researchers are incessantly trying to unveil the metabolic construction of rice seeds, and new to this topic is seed germination. The principal aim of this review on metabolomics of germinating rice seeds is to have a big picture on the key molecular, cellular, and metabolic events of germination. This review tries to summarize all the available data to fulfill the aforesaid aim.

An effective control approach of hybrid energy storage system based on moth flame optimization

In modern days, renewable sources increase the independence of urban energy infrastructures from remote sources and grids. In renewable energy systems (RES) systems, batteries are frequently used to close the power gap between the power supply and the load demand. Due to the variable behavior of RES and the fluctuating power requirements of the load, batteries frequently experience repeated deep cycles and uneven charging patterns. The battery's lifespan would be shortened by these actions, and increase the replacement cost. This research provides an effective control method for a solar-wind model with a battery-supercapacitor hybrid energy storage system in order to extend battery’s lives expectancy by lowering intermittent strain and high current need. Unlike traditional techniques, the suggested control scheme includes a low-pass filter (LPF) and a fuzzy logic controller (FLC). To begin, LPF reduces the fluctuating aspects of battery consumption. FLC lowers the battery's high current need while continuously monitoring the supercapacitor's level of charge. The moth flame optimization (MFO) optimizes the FLC's membership functions to get the best peak current attenuation in batteries. The proposed model is compared to standard control procedures namely rule based controller and filtration-based controller. When compared to the conventional system, the suggested method significantly reduces peak current and high power of the battery. Furthermore, when compared to standard control procedures, the suggested solution boosts supercapacitor utilization appreciably.

God’s Gift of Science: Theological Presuppositions Underlying Exploration of the Natural World

God’s Gift of Science: Theological Presuppositions Underlying Exploration of the Natural World

Effect of sleep on blood pressure among adults of urban slums: A Cross sectional study

Introduction: Hypertension, the “Silent, Invisible killer” - is a modern day’s universal epidemic. The adult populations in slum area are more vulnerable for hypertension as they are so busy in the fulfilment of even day to day basic needs and care, family commitments and economic stress. Aim and objectives: To estimate the prevalence of hypertension among the adults (25-44 years) and to study the effect of sleep on blood pressure levels. Methodology: The present cross-sectional study was carried among adults aged between 25 to 44 years residing in the slums of Meerut District. 30 Cluster Sampling technique was used. The slum was selected as a cluster unit. During the visit by house-to-house survey, members of the family were listed and eligible person were interviewed and examined. Data collected on a structured and pretested questionnaire. Results: Prevalence of hypertension among those who had sleep duration of >8 hours per day was 44.8% followed by 20.1% and 17.5% among those who had 7-8 hours and less than 7 hours of sleep time respectively. It was found that 24.2% monophasic sleep pattern follower were hypertensives while the prevalence was 19.4% in biphasic pattern. Conclusion: Majority (55.4%) had a sleep duration between 7-8 hours, followed by 33.9% and 10.7% with <7 hours and >8 hours of sleep time respectively. Majority (61.3%) of the study population were having monophasic sleep pattern, while 36.3% were biphasic and 2.4% were multiphasic.

Driver-less Automated Solar Powered Electric Vehicle Prototype With Sensor Control

A solar powered electric vehicle has been designed in order to create the modern day transportation evolution. It uses renewable energy sources such as sunlight which never ends until the presence of atmosphere and it also the future of energy savings and reduce carbon emission, so it helps to prevent global warming. It has the feature of solar PV cell which absorbs the sunlight and recharge the battery of these prototype, when the sunlight is present it uses the sunlight for travelling and also recharge the battery and when the sunlight is not present the vehicle still moves with the help of battery. The battery can charge two ways either the help of solar PV or with the help of electricity. If there neither presence of solar PV nor the battery charge then it uses the adaptable jumper wire to connect with charging station and recharge its battery. It has another feature sensor and receiver, it is directly taken instruction using sensor and receiver so it is completely encrypted system that connects user and prototype without the interference of any third party application.

How can Vedic Education Ideals Save Our Current Education System and Help in Its Improvement?

Our current education system is not going well. It is not producing quality education and capable citizens. It is sick at all levels whether its primary, secondary or higher educational level. It has many serious problems which need to be solved as soon as possible for a better education system. It has many issues like - lack of discipline, low concentration power in students, lack of dedication in teachers, high fee charges, corrupt practices, rote learning, theoretical curriculum, boring teaching methods, no personality or character development, pen-paper based evaluation system, no scope for creativity or vocational training, etc. etc. If order to make our modern education system better, more relevant and efficient we need to look at our past. Our ancient historical time period has all the solutions for our modern day problems. We should revive our vedic period’s Gurukula education system. Gurukuls were based on “simple living, high thinking” principle. If we revive some ideals of our Gurukula education system, our whole education system will witness a revolution. This new revolution will be so impactful that it can remove all the current shortcomings in our education system. This article will focus on the need of revivaling the Gurukula system. It will also try to suggest some possible ways to implement Vedic ideals in current education system. Vedic educational ideals are the only hope to save our education system by degrading. They will make our education more practical and valuable.

Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Revolutionizing the Travel Industry

With the development of ICTs, vivid changes have been experienced in the travel industry. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an integral part of everyday lives and it is also impacting the travel industry to a great extent. The travel industry has always been among the leading industries to adopt the latest technologies. It has also acquired the AI-enabled tools for providing a seamless travelling experience to the travellers. The use of travel chatbots, customer service travel bots, voice assistants, service automation and robots have been able to fulfill the demands of modern day tourists. This eventually leads to personalization of tourism services, upgradation of operations and increment of productivity. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has proved to be of great help during the COVID-19 pandemic when there were restrictions on travelling and social distancing regulations were being followed by the travellers. It has a promising future in the travel industry as well. The present study tends to discuss the various usages of artificial intelligence in improving the travel industry. The paper also tends to highlight the impact of artificial intelligence in revolutionizing the travel industry and offering a better travel experience to the tourists.

Relationship between biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance of Klebsiella pneumoniae and updates on antibiofilm therapeutic strategies.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium within the Enterobacteriaceae family that can cause multiple systemic infections, such as respiratory, blood, liver abscesses and urinary systems. Antibiotic resistance is a global health threat and K. pneumoniae warrants special attention due to its resistance to most modern day antibiotics. Biofilm formation is a critical obstruction that enhances the antibiotic resistance of K. pneumoniae. However, knowledge on the molecular mechanisms of biofilm formation and its relation with antibiotic resistance in K. pneumoniae is limited. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of biofilm formation and its correlation with antibiotic resistance is crucial for providing insight for the design of new drugs to control and treat biofilm-related infections. In this review, we summarize recent advances in genes contributing to the biofilm formation of K. pneumoniae, new progress on the relationship between biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance, and new therapeutic strategies targeting biofilms. Finally, we discuss future research directions that target biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance of this priority pathogen.

Let me be fodder: Unravelling human and animal derived plant remains recovered from Roman Mursa, Croatia

Although evidence is sporadic it is becoming clear that haymaking and hay meadow management were likely indispensable elements of practices related to animal husbandry during the Roman period. As large towns begin to emerge, success in breeding large livestock such as cattle and horses would have required good quality fodder. Yet, how we distinguish fodder or other animal associated plant remains in the archaeological record can be problematic for many reasons. This paper explores this issue through the context of Roman Mursa, located in modern day Osijek, Croatia. Two pits dating to c. AD133, contained relatively large quantities of grassland and wet ground species, such as Trifolium/Melilotus sp. Prunella vulgaris and the grasses Poa sp. and Phleum sp., as well as chaff and other remains, such as dung, eggshells, and fish scales. By examining the proportion of species grouped into habitat types, we see that the composition of sample SU391 is indictive of hay meadows and could indicate nearby animal stabling in the centre of the early Roman colony.

Agronomic characteristics and chemical composition of hydroponic maize fodder as influenced by animal waste solutions

The growing of plants hydroponically is a soilless form of growing in modern day agriculture. It helps to make feed available for animals throughout the season since it is not affected by what is faced by field grown crops. The use of animal waste, that is, their faeces, in the growth of forage was compared with commercial hydroponics solutions as a way of looking for a reduction in the cost incurred in the purchase of commercial hydroponics solutions. The study evaluated the use of organic nutrient solutions (ONS) alongside a standard/commercial nutrient solution in growing crops hydroponically on the growth, dry matter yield, water use efficiency, and chemical composition of hydroponic maize fodder. The ONS used were formulated from the dried faeces of cattle, poultry, rabbits, and swine. The prepared organic nutrient solutions with the control were used in growing the maize seeds for 10 days, and growth, yield, and chemical composition were determined. Results show the highest (196 g) dry matter yield for maize hydroponic fodder irrigated with poultry ONS. Similarly, maize irrigated with poultry ONS was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in CP content, while it was not significantly different from maize irrigated with cattle, swine, and commercial solutions. A lower water use efficiency value (0.19 kg DM/m3) was recorded for maize irrigated with cattle ONS. According to the study, irrigating maize with different organic nutrient solutions produced maize fodder with a higher yield and a similar chemical composition as the commercial nutrient solution.

Railway Accident Prevention using Ultrasonic Sensor with Microcontrollers

Railway Transport is indispensable in modern day life, both for business and private users. Nowadays, rail networks across the world are getting busier with trains travelling at higher speeds and carrying more passengers and heavier axle loads than ever before. The combination of these factors has put considerable pressure on the existing infrastructure, leading to increased demands in inspection and maintenance of rail assets. But nowadays, it is not that much safer as lot of accidents occur due to improper communication among the network like wrong signalling , worst weather condition, immediate route change, etc., The train driver doesn‟t get proper information on time and before time so that the hazardous condition can occur. While maritime and air transport are already benefiting from collision avoidance application based on infrastructure less communications. We propose this system to avoid train collision by using Ultrasonic Sensors to provide communication between trains and to avoid same track collisions

Social Media and Social Change. A Study of the Arab Spring and Spanish Indignados

As the world moves away from conventional tactics to unconventional ones, or conflict below the threshold of violence, public and private services will be used as a form of influence. In turn, social media’s power to influence individuals and groups at all levels has emerged at the forefront of modern day conflicts. It is against this background that this paper investigated the role of social media and bringing about large-scale social or political change. The paper relies on qualitative data and method for its analysis. The Arab spring with focus on Tunisia and Egypt, and the Spanish indignados revolution in Spain were examined. The study concluded that the social media contributed immensely to the Arab spring and the Spanish indignados’ revolutions through awareness, recruitment, mobilization and sustainability

Spectral Efficiency for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a special form of multicarrier modulation (MCM) with heavily spaced subcarriers as well as overlapping spectra was patented in the United States of America in 70s. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing has been popularly utilized in modern days due to its ability for spectral efficiency and robustness to noise and fading. It provides flexibility and agile spectrum allocation in case of cognitive radios. This paper will focus on OFDM research and simulation for enhancement of spectral efficiency. OFDM is especially compatible for high-speed wireless communication due to its resistance to Inter symbol Interference. As in modern days communication systems has increased their data transfer speed, the required time for each transmission has become very short. As delay time due to multipath remains constant, Inter symbol interference became limitation in high-data-rate communication. OFDM avoids this difficulty by transmitting numerous low speed transmissions simultaneously

Perspective on historical evolution and modern day challenges for the Internal Medicine Physician – based on SLCIM oration 2023 – “My search for meaning”

No abstract available

Fiber Optics Communication: Evolution of Guided Media

Abstract: Fiber Optic Communication system is a key element in modern day telecommunication network used all around the globe. Larger bandwidth signal transmission where data received with lowest possible delay serves as a big edge to both, the telecommunication industry and consumer. Recently, optical fiber communication technology has made great progress, where constantly exploring new technologies has greatly enhanced communications capabilities in the traditional sense. This paper gives an overview of fiber optic communication systems including their key technologies, and also discusses their technological trend towards the next generation. The recent developments in the area of fiber optic communication as well as the advances in different Fiber types, their properties, optical sources, detectors, system limitations and applications are also discussed in the paper.