Present Paper Research Articles

Comparative Osteology Study of Ariid Catfishes along the Coast of Gulf of Mannar and Wadge Bank, Tamil Nadu

Background: Taxonomic ambiguity still exists in ariid catfish species identification. Morphological similarities occur in ariid catfishes which lead to misidentification of the species. To overcome this taxonomic ambiguity osteology is one of the effective integrated taxonomic tools for species discrimination. From this study, we provide an osteotaxonomic key for the field identification of ariid catfish species. Methods: The fish samples were cleaned and washed with the freshwater put into the sample for 1% potassium hydroxide solution (KOH). Then fish samples were allowed for alkali digestion of muscle in the solution for 24-48 hours depending on the condition of the specimen. After the completion of the muscle digestion process, Alizarin S dye was used for staining the fish bones. Result: The present paper deals with a comparative study of the five Ariidae family species discussed, they are Arius arius (Hamilton,1822), Plicofollis layardi (Gunther,1866), Netuma thalassina (Ruppell, 1837), Nemapteryx caelata (Valenciennes, 1840) and Osteogeneiosus militaris (Linnaeus, 1758). The osteological portions used for this study like premaxillary, dentary, neurocranium, otolith, vertebral and caudal bone. The aforementioned osteological portions made the important primitive characters that will be used to differentiate the species.

Approximation by Nörlund type means in the grand Lebesgue spaces with variable exponent

In the present paper the approximation of functions by Nörlund type means in the generalized grand Lebesgue spaces with variable exponent is studied.

New records of herbivory of Leucothyreus MacLeay, 1819 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Geniatini) on Cecropia Loefl. (Urticaceae)

Species in the genus Cecropia Loefl. (Urticaceae) are important food sources for a handful of species belonging to the insect orders Orthoptera (grasshoppers), Lepidoptera (caterpillars), Hymenoptera (leafcutter ants), and Coleoptera (beetles). Among the leaf chafer beetles, specimens of the scarab genus Leucothyreus MacLeay, 1819 (Scarabaeidae: Geniatini) have been barely recorded as defoliators of Cecropia spp., and information about the identity of the involved plant and beetle species is scarce and imprecise. The present paper records for the first time the incidence of two species of Leucothyreus on four species of Cecropia in Central Amazon (Brazil), with short behavioral notes regarding their feeding habits.

An Analysis of Life Skills in the Content of English Language Text Books

This present paper aims at analyzing the six main domains of life skills: Effective Communication, Problem-solving, Decision-making, Creative/Critical thinking, Personal/ social life skills, and Leadership life skills / Self-awareness. The unit of analysis used in this study is the activities that show or indicate the specific life skill. The criteria of this paper are the extent of the inclusion of life skills activities that enhance interactive learning and meaningful communication in the pupils’ book of Action Pack10. The researcher adopted the analytical descriptive approach. Frequencies and percentages are measured to verify the results of the questions of the study. The findings showed variation in the frequencies of the six main domains and each domain as well. This means that these kinds of activities are represented in the first semester.

From Western India to Eastern Africa—the Rise of the Parsis in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Abstract The present paper examines the socio-economic conditions for the ascendancy of the Zoroastrian community in Western India between the 18th and 19th centuries. This study reinforces the well-established thesis on the role played by the Parsis in the development of capitalism in India. What distinguishes it from other narratives is the periodization of this development and the consideration of Parsi agency in the Western Indian Ocean region and East Africa, especially Mozambique. The cooperation of the Parsis with the European trade companies and private European traders as of the mid-17th century—most notably, their links to the English East India Company, which boosted the Zoroastrian communities of northwestern India—is investigated. I try to show how the Parsis, who had been predominantly peasants, farmers and artisans from the 10th to 17th centuries, increasingly embarked upon trade, moneylending, brokerage and production. Because of their accumulated wealth, their numbers as well as their influence augmented throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

Thankfulness: Kierkegaard’s First-Person Approach to the Problem of Evil

The present paper argues that, despite appearance to the contrary, Kierkegaard’s writings offer promising argumentational resources for addressing the problem of evil. According to Kierkegaard, however, in order to make use of these resources at all, one must necessarily be willing to shift the battleground, so to speak: from a third- to a genuine first-person perspective, namely the perspective of what Climacus dubs Religiousness A. All (yet also only) those who seek deliberate self-annihilation before God—a God in relation to whom they perceive themselves always in the wrong—shall discover the ideal that an unwavering and in fact unconditional thankfulness (namely, for being forgiven) is to be considered the only appropriate attitude towards God and as such both necessary and sufficient for coming to terms with evil and suffering, at least in the life of someone making that discovery. I will argue that Kierkegaard’s (non-)pseudonymous writings provide reasons, at times unwittingly, for adopting the perspective of Religiousness A; however, I will also and ultimately argue that the principle of infinite thankfulness as a corollary of that perspective flounders when it comes to making sense of (the eschatological implications of) the suffering of others.

Experimental study of ground improvement techniques of soft Kaolin soil using sand drain and jute wrapped with polyamide polyester vertical drain”

Thick alluvial deposits of soft clayey soils are characterized by low shear strength, high compressibility and low hydraulic conductivity. In recent years, soil improvement is required to provide adequate bearing capacity and improve shear strength of the soft cohesive soils to satisfy the need for various type of construction on sites underlain by such soft soils. Amongst various ground improvement techniques like vibroflotation, compaction with explosive, electro-osmosis, heavy tamping, stone column etc., the technique of preloading or pre-compression used in combination with vertical drains is one of the oldest and most widely used techniques to preconsolidate and strengthen weak compressible soils in situ. To accelerate the time of Primary consolidation, Prefabricated Vertical drains are used in soft clays as they decrease the drainage path. In this paper, we investigate the consolidation rate of soft soil with Sand drain and jute wrapped with polyamide polyester drain as PVD. The present paper focuses on Study of pore water dissipation, effect on consolidation due to radial drainage flow and gain in strength using 254 mm diameter Rowe Type Oedometer for both the drain materials. The load in increment of ΔP/P = 1 is applied and measurement of settlement by conventional method is done. It is observed that Jute wrapped with polyamide polyester drain as PVD performs better in comparison to Sand Drain.

Literary and Sufi Analysis of Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s Poem “al-Tā’iyyat al-kubrā”: A Philosophical Educational Approach

The present paper offers a new approach to the poetry of the Egyptian Sufi poet ‛Umar Ibn al-Fāriḍ (576-632AH/ 1181-1235AD). This approach is based on the text of Ibn al- Fāriḍ’s Great Sufi Poem, al-Tā’iyyat al-kubrā, in which the poet expresses in full his spiritual experience. First, the basic hermeneutical question is discussed, e.g., what is the way of approaching a literary text in order to understand the experience of the poet? Also, it deals with a Sufi text, its context and the relationship between text and experience. To what extent does the author express his inner world verbally? In the end, there is a distance between the interior experience of a Sufi and his verbal expression. Eventually, this method is applied to the poetry of Ibn al-Fāriḍ. He describes his Sufi experience as a journey through three steps: from separation (farq) to unity (ittiḥād) to universal union (ǧam‛). On such a partition, ten basic units are highlighted, forming the structure of his Sufi poem.

Type Ia supernovae from chemically segregated white dwarfs

Type Ia supernovae are the outcome of the explosion of a carbon–oxygen white dwarf in a close binary system. They are thought to be the main contributors to the galactic nucleosynthesis of iron-peak elements, with important contributions to the yields of intermediate-mass elements. Recent analyses of the phase diagram of carbon and oxygen containing impurities such as 22Ne and 56Fe in conditions relevant to white dwarf interiors suggest that both isotopes can partially separate when the temperature of the star is low enough to start solidifying. The purpose of the present paper is to examine the impact of this separation on the yields of the different chemical species synthesized during explosions. We used a one-dimensional supernova code to evaluate the impact of the sedimentation assuming different degrees of chemical separation. We find that the main properties of the ejecta, the kinetic energy, and the ejected mass of 56Ni only vary slightly when the separation is taken into account. However, the yields of important isotopes that are used as diagnostic tools, such as manganese, can be strongly modified. Furthermore, the chemical separation studied here is able to change several indicators related to the metallicity of the progenitor (such as the mass ratio of calcium to sulphur in the ejecta or the UV flux of the supernova) and to its mass, whether it is a Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf or a substantially lighter one (such as the imprint of stable nickel on late-time infrared spectra or that related to the presence of radioactive nickel at the center of the ejecta).

Numerical study of microscale gas pump based on surface acoustic waves

The concept of microscale fluidic pump based on microchannel with surface acoustic waves (SAWs), propagating along one of its walls, has been extensively studied in the last decade with possible application to lab-on-chip projects. Meanwhile, any mentions of the application of such device to gas medium seem absent in the literature. The present paper aims to fill this gap by investigating the possibility of using microchannel with SAWs as a microscale gas pump. The numerical study is performed using the modification of the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. It was shown that the pumping effect occurs mainly in the area covered by SAW, while the upper layers of gas are almost still in average. The pumping effect demonstrates weak dependence on gas rarefaction, decreases with the SAW speed, and is lower for a low amplitude to channel height ratios. Finally, it is shown that the propulsion intensity in the open system decreases with a decreasing microchannel height, while the compression ratio in the closed system, on the contrary, increases.

Annual Research Review: Neuroimmune network model of depression: adevelopmental perspective.

Depression is a serious public health problem, and adolescence is an 'age of risk' for the onset of Major Depressive Disorder. Recently, we and others have proposed neuroimmune network models that highlight bidirectional communication between the brain and the immune system in both mental and physical health, including depression. These models draw on research indicating that the cellular actors (particularly monocytes) and signaling molecules (particularly cytokines) that orchestrate inflammation in the periphery can directly modulate the structure and function of the brain. In the brain, inflammatory activity heightens sensitivity to threats in the cortico-amygdala circuit, lowers sensitivity to rewards in the cortico-striatal circuit, and alters executive control and emotion regulation in the prefrontal cortex. When dysregulated, and particularly under conditions of chronic stress, inflammation can generate feelings of dysphoria, distress, and anhedonia. This is proposed to initiate unhealthy, self-medicating behaviors (e.g. substance use, poor diet) to manage the dysphoria, which further heighten inflammation. Over time, dysregulation in these brain circuits and the inflammatory response may compound each other to form a positive feedback loop, whereby dysregulation in one organ system exacerbates the other. We and others suggest that this neuroimmune dysregulation is a dynamic joint vulnerability for depression, particularly during adolescence. We have three goals for the present paper. First, we extend neuroimmune network models of mental and physical health to generate a developmental framework of risk for the onset of depression during adolescence. Second, we examine how a neuroimmune network perspective can help explain the high rates of comorbidity between depression and other psychiatric disorders across development, and multimorbidity between depression and stress-related medical illnesses. Finally, we consider how identifying neuroimmune pathways to depression can facilitate a 'next generation' of behavioral and biological interventions that target neuroimmune signaling to treat, and ideally prevent, depression in youth and adolescents.

Medicinal Importance and Therapeutic Benefit of Bioactive Flavonoid Eriocitrin: An Update on Pharmacological Activity and Analytical Aspects

Background: Polyphenols are micronutrients and an important class of secondary metabolites that are naturally present in various types of plants and their derived byproducts. Humans obtain polyphenols and phytochemicals from different vegetables, fruits, spices, and teas. More than 8,000 different types of polyphenols have been isolated from different natural sources. Polyphenols play an important role in the plants’ resistance against pests and diseases. Plants from citrus class contain flavonoids, carotenoids, and ascorbic acid. Eriocitrin is a flavanone glycoside present in lemon juice and other citrus plants. Methods: Scientific research data on eriocitrin have been collected from Google, Google Scholar, Pub- Med, and Scopus databases, and analyzed in the present paper to determine the biological importance of eriocitrin in medicine. The medicinal importance and therapeutic benefit of eriocitrin in medicine have been investigated through literature data analysis of various research works. Pharmacological activity data have been thoroughly collected in the present work and analyzed in order to assess the health-beneficial aspects of eriocitrin against human disorders. Results: Scientific database analysis has revealed the medicinal importance and therapeutic benefit of eriocitrin in medicine. Scientific data analysis has revealed the anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive, and anti-obesity activities of eriocitrin. Further scientific data analysis has revealed the biological effect of eriocitrin on osteoarthritis, hepatocellular carcinoma, oral carcinogenesis, hepatic steatosis, oxidative damage, and different types of enzymes. In addition, eriocitrin has also been reported to exert potent antioxidant and suppressive effects on oxidative stress. Scientific data analysis has also revealed the significance of analytical techniques for the separation, isolation, and identification of eriocitrin. Conclusion: The present work indicates the biological importance of eriocitrin in medicine and other allied health sectors.

Social support in relation to posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms among patients with violent versus nonviolent injury.

Violent injuries have become increasingly more common in the United States. Individuals experiencing violent injury are at increased risk for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as compared to those experiencing nonviolent injury. Social support is touted as a protective factor against various psychiatric symptoms (i.e., PTSD), though little is known about the relation between PTSD symptoms and social support in traumatic injury populations. The aims of the present paper were twofold: (1) examine the prevalence of PTSD as a function of injury type (2) explore differences in levels of social support as a function of injury type and (3) explore the association between injury type and later PTSD symptoms as moderated by baseline social support. Participants were 553 adults from a level-one trauma center in the Southeast United States who experienced a violent injury or nonviolent injury and completed measures of social support at baseline as well as PTSD symptoms at the 30-day follow-up timepoint. The study utilized data from both the baseline timepoint (i.e., upon admission to the trauma surgery unit), as well as a 30-day follow-up timepoint. Results demonstrated that those endorsing nonviolent injury reported lower levels of social support and PTSD symptoms. Social support predicted later PTSD symptoms until injury type was included as a covariate in the model. Social support did not moderate the relationship between injury type and later PTSD symptoms. Findings highlight the interrelatedness of key risk variables (i.e., injury type) with protective factors in influencing the trajectory of psychopathology postinjury. Violence intervention and interruption programs may have the capacity to fill patient needs when social support networks are insufficient. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Enhancing the output power of solar cell system using artificial intelligence algorithms

The main objective of research in the field of solar cell systems is to obtain the maximum output power. In this respect, artificial intelligence (AI) is considered the current icon. Hence, in the present paper perturbation & observation (P&O) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms were used to achieve the maximum power. Solar irradiance at three different regions of Egypt was measured using a new technique based on Arduino microcontroller. The obtained experimental results of the solar irradiance were inlaid to the MATLAB simulation program to study the performance of the proposed algorithms. Many improvements were carried out in P&O and PSO algorithms to harvest maximum power for long hours daily by a continuous modulation of the duty cycle. The output maximum power and the reaching time of both improved P&O and PSO are better than the traditional one and PV array, which indicates their efficiency in harvesting the maximum power and enhancing the performance of solar cell systems. The reinforcing of the PV system by P&O improved its efficiency by 98.733%, while PSO improved its efficiency by 99.968%.

Therapeutic Potential and Clinical Effectiveness of Quercetin: A Dietary Supplement.

Fruits and vegetables (like apples, citrus, grapes, onions, parsley, etc.) are the primary dietary sources of quercetin. In addition, isolated quercetin is also available on the market as a dietary supplement with a daily dose of up to 1000 mg/d. The objective of the present study is to explore the therapeutic potential and clinical efficacy of quercetin as a dietary supplement. The present paper highlights the safety parameters and clinical trial studies with several targets reviewed from the data available on PubMed, Science Direct, ClinicalTrails. gov, and from many reputed foundations. The results of the studies prove the unique position of quercetin in the treatment of various disorders and the possibility of using phytochemicals such as quercetin for an efficient cure. As evidenced by the numerous published reports on human interventions, it has been concluded that quercetin intake significantly improves disease conditions with minimal adverse effects.

Avoiding the hope of avoiding collapse: collapsology and non-hope as an emotional practice of conviction

ABSTRACT Recent years have seen the rise of a ‘postapocalyptic environmentalism’, which sees environmental catastrophe as ongoing or inevitable and therefore rejects the hope of avoiding that catastrophe. So far, research on this form of environmentalism has pointed to the paradoxes and ambivalences involved in its rejection of hope, as well as to environmental activists’ difficulties translating non-hope into movement strategy. However, postapocalyptic environmentalists’ efforts of practicing non-hope have yet to be investigated. Drawing on interviews with participants in a Swedish online environmentalist network committed to ‘collapsology’, the present paper therefore investigates postapocalyptic environmentalist non-hope as an emotional practice of conviction. The paper approaches non-hope as a form of emotional deintegration, in which collapsologists seek to dehabituate the hope and optimism that inform the dominant emotive-cognitive frame of environmental politics in Western industrial societies. They do so by vigilantly maintaining feelings of certainty about the inevitability of civilizational collapse. More specifically, in rejecting hope, the interviewed participants articulate this non-hope as a form of conviction. However, the participants present this conviction as haunted by doubts, dissonances, and ambivalences, and therefore as needing vigilant maintenance efforts. Such efforts include what I call ‘impossibility work’. Implications for further research on postapocalyptic environmentalism and related movements are discussed.

Meaning and subjectivity in the PISA mathematics frameworks: a sociological approach

AbstractSocial institutions function not only by reproducing specific practices but also by reproducing discourses endowing such practices with meaning. The latter in turn is related to the development of the identities or subjectivities of those who live and thrive within such institutions. Meaning and subjectivity are therefore significant sociological categories involved in the functioning of complex social phenomena such as that of mathematical instruction. The present paper provides a discursive analysis centered on these categories of the influential OECD’s PISA mathematics frameworks. As we shall see, meaning as articulated by the OECD primarily stresses the utilitarian value of mathematics to individuals and to society at large. Furthermore, molding students’ subjectivities towards endorsing such articulation of meaning is emphasized as an educational objective, either explicitly or implicitly, as connected to the OECD’s definition of mathematical literacy. Therefore, the OECD’s discourses do not only serve to reproduce the type of mathematical instruction implied in the organization’s services concerning education, but also concomitantly provide a potentially most effective educational technology through which the demand of these very services may be reproduced.

Fundamental Theorems for Timelike Surfaces in the Minkowski 4-Space

In the present paper, we study timelike surfaces free of minimal points in the four-dimensional Minkowski space. For each such surface we introduce a geometrically determined pseudo-orthonormal frame field and writing the derivative formulas with respect to this moving frame field and using the integrability conditions, we obtain a system of six functions satisfying some natural conditions. In the general case, we prove a Fundamental Bonnet-type theorem (existence and uniqueness theorem) stating that these six functions, satisfying the natural conditions, determine the surface up to a motion. In some particular cases, we reduce the number of functions and give the fundamental theorems.

USAGE OF HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENTS FOR PLANT PATHOGEN CONTROL, AN OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY AND TRENDS: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

The extensive use of synthetic chemical fertilizers in agriculture is causing environmental problem. In this situation it is desirable to find out suitable agents, which would increase plant growth without compromising with the quality of food and of soil. This paper represents the history and trends of homeopathic drugs utilized in the control of plant pathogens in plant pathology. This method started with the pioneering work of kolisko in 1923 on wheat germination and Junker in 1928 on growth of microorganisms. Literature search on the Homeopathic drugs in the control of plant pathogens, which have shown the anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-bacterial properties have been reviewed in this present paper. From the literature during the present study the different homeopathic drugs were found were used in agriculture. The contents of the article cover all the scientific reports published in Agricultural sectorfrom 1966 to till dates. A total 120 papers have been reported from homeopathic treatments used in Agriculture. Amongst these Arsenicum album, Natrum muriaticum, Cina, Thujawere found as the most used compounds. The science of homeopathy has great potentials and could give a new direction that requires attention of the researchers in alternative agriculture. This review discusses the experimental evidence relating to the use of homeopathic drugs in plant pathology, with view to assess the potential of homeopathy in agriculture.

Is implicit memory associated with the hippocampus?

ABSTRACT According to the traditional memory-systems view, the hippocampus is critical during explicit (conscious) long-term memory, whereas other brain regions support implicit (nonconscious) memory. In the last two decades, some fMRI studies have reported hippocampal activity during implicit memory tasks. The aim of the present discussion paper was to identify whether any implicit memory fMRI studies have provided convincing evidence that the hippocampus is associated with nonconscious processes without being confounded by conscious processes. Experimental protocol and analysis parameters included the stimulus type(s), task(s), measures of subjective awareness, explicit memory accuracy, the relevant fMRI contrast(s) or analysis, and confound(s). A systematic review was conducted to identify implicit memory studies that reported fMRI activity in the hippocampus. After applying exclusion criteria, 13 articles remained for analysis. We found that there were no implicit memory fMRI studies where subjective awareness was absent, explicit memory performance was at chance, and there were no confounds that could have driven the observed hippocampal activity. The confounds included explicit memory (including false memory), imbalanced attentional states between conditions (yielding activation of the default-mode network), imbalanced stimuli between conditions, and differential novelty. As such, not a single fMRI study provided convincing evidence that implicit memory was associated with the hippocampus. Neuropsychological evidence was also considered, and implicit memory deficits were caused by factors known to disrupt brain regions beyond the hippocampus, such that the behavioral effects could not be attributed to this region. The present results indicate that implicit memory is not associated with the hippocampus.