Technological University Research Articles

APOS Theory in Learning Mathematics (Using Trigonometry as an Example)

Introduction. One of the most well-known theories that allows us to study the process of structuring a concept in the mind of a student is the APOS theory, specially created for the study of mental processes in mathematical education and worthy of application in other disciplines. Despite numerous studies on methods of teaching mathematics, in recent years there have been few publications on the problem of students’ understanding of mathematical concepts; there are practically no works devoted to the study of the formation of mental structures in the course of students’ assimilation of mathematical concepts. The aim of the article is to analyze the process of mastering mathematical concepts using the example of trigonometric functions and present the results of the study in accordance with the stages of the APOS theory. Materials and Methods. The study sample included 102 first-year students of the Institute of Construction Engineering under Kazan State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. The APOS theory was used to study students' perception of mathematical concepts, which allowed us to see the details of mathematical concepts formation at each stage of the APOS theory, as well as to identify characteristic errors and classify them. The empirical basis of the study includes the results of a written survey conducted among students. The quantitative characteristics of each stage of APOS were compared. Results. The effectiveness of the application of the APOS theory was shown, a questionnaire was developed which allowed studying the process of mathematical concept structurization in the student's mind. Within the APOS theory framework, differences in levels of understanding of trigonometry were identified, which allowed for the classification of errors made by students. It was found that most of the students who participated in the experiment made conceptual errors in learning the concept of function. The results demonstrated the importance of investigating the mental structures that emerge during the cognitive process to determine the intellectual reserves of learners. Discussion and Conclusion. The results of the study contribute to the development of scientific understanding of the process of structuring mathematical concepts in the minds of learners and methods for studying the mental structures of abstract concepts. The materials will be useful for university teachers, school teachers in the development of mathematics, as well as in the study of other disciplines.

Optimisation of the composition of safe dental gel with IL-1β antagonist for the treatment of inflammatory periodontal diseases

Aim. The study aims to develop the composition of the oromucosal gel with the IL-1β interleukin antagonist for complex treatment of inflammatory periodontal diseases. Materials and methods. Experimental studies were conducted based on the Department of Medicines Technology of Zaporizhzhia State Medical and Pharmaceutical University and the Training Medical and Laboratory Center of Zaporizhzhia State Medical and Pharmaceutical University of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. As an active component, in the recipe of oromucosal gel, used antagonist of the interleukin IL-1B. Excipients: D-panthenol (the plasticizer), carboxymethylcellulose sodium salt (the viscosity modifier and mucoadhesive component), Tween-80 (the enhancer absorption), benzalkonium chloride (the preservative), sodium hydrophosphate + citric acid (the phosphate buffer solution), purified water. The experiments used existing and auxiliary ingredients of pharmaceutical purity, which were obtained from Sinbias LLC, Istok-Plus LLC, LLC “Mobile Medical”. For the design of the experiment, the methodology of the response surface (Box-Behnken Design) is used: Na CMC, Tween-80, D-panthenol; and four answers: pH, viscosity test, system type, mucoadhesive properties. Research methods: rheological research (viscosity test, amplitude test, frequency test, mucoadhesive test, thixotropy test) performed in oscillation mode on the modular compact Rheometer Anton Paar MCR 302 (CP50-1 SN71317), which, compared to cylindrical devices, requires a much smaller amount of gel sample and allows the planned tests in the oscillation mode, the temperature in the experiments was provided with a built-in thermostat (Peltier Temperature Control, C-PTD 200). Pharmaco-toxicological studies were conducted on 46 white outbred rats of both sexes, weighing 160–180 grams, which were received from Vivarium by the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology. The studies were performed on enough animals, all manipulations were carried out by the provisions on the use of animals in biomedical experiments. The results of the study were calculated using the standard statistical package of the Statistica for Windows 13 (StatSoft Inc., No. JPZ804I382130ARCN10-J), as well as SPSS 16.0, Microsoft Office Excel 2003. Results. According to the design of the experiment, it is established that the components of the system do not change the value of pH in experimental oromucosal gels (6.5500 ± 0.0334). The Anova for Quadratic Model statistical analysis data certify the significant impact of Na CMC, and Tween-80 factors on the viscous characteristics of oromucosal gels (F-value > p-value). Comparison of mucoadhesive characteristics of the studied samples of oromucosal gels was made using dynamic mechanical analysis and the results of statistical analysis of ANOVA for Quadratic Model highlight the significant influence of Na CMC, D-panthenol, Tween-80. Optimized oromucosal gel test data is obtained that its structure is restored after the applied effort, namely the restoration of the structure after 10 seconds occurs by 69.5 %, after 30 s by 76.1 %, after 180 s by 85.4 %, after 180 s which allows to predict the stability of the dosage form, both after manufacture and after use. Conclusions. The composition of the oromucosal gel of anti-inflammatory action with the IL-1β interleukin antagonist for the complex treatment of inflammatory diseases of periodontal is developed. The optimized composition of the oromucosal gel obtained has satisfactory performance of kinetic stability and thixotropic properties. The developed gel for dentistry meets all the requirements for harmlessness and safety for dosage forms of this group toxicity, lack of local irritant and allergic action.

A Path Study on the Integration of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education and Professional Education: Taking the Marketing Major of Guilin University of Electronic Science and Technology as an Example

School of Business, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin The integration of innovation and entrepreneurship education with professional education is of great significance in promoting teaching reform in universities and improving the quality of talent cultivation. Taking the Marketing major of Guilin University of Electronic Science and Technology as an example, based on the OBE concept, synergy theory, and Herzberg's two factor theory, this study deeply constructs a path for the integration of innovation and entrepreneurship education and professional education from multiple levels such as the target layer, action layer, and support layer, in order to provide reference for further promoting the deep integration of innovation and entrepreneurship education and professional education in Chinese universities.541000, China

Editorial

Dear Readers, It gives me great pleasure to announce the third regular issue of 2024. In this issue, 6 papers by 20 authors from 6 countries - China, Ecuador, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom - cover various topical aspects of computer science. In a continuous effort to further strengthen our journal, I would like to expand the editorial board: If you are a tenured associate professor or above with a strong publication record, you are welcome to apply to join our editorial board. We are also interested in high-quality proposals for special issues on new topics and trends.  As always, I would like to thank all the authors for their sound research and the editorial board for their extremely valuable review effort and suggestions for improvement. I also want to thank the readers for their interest on our articles indicated by an increasing access number and PDF downloads. These contributions, together with the generous support of the consortium members, sustain the quality of our journal.  In the third regular issue, I am very pleased to introduce the following 6 accepted articles: In a collaboration between researchers from The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, Jan Bergstra and John V. Tucker discuss their research on synthetic fracterm calculus, more specifically they introduce a new intermediate and informal axiomatisation of elementary arithmetic. Yasir Yakup Demircan and Serhat Ozekes from Turkey highlight their research on least significant bit steganography technique based on image segmentation. In a collaborative research effort between Spain and Ecuador, Alberto Jimenez-Macias, Pedro Muñoz-Merino, Margarita Ortiz-Rojas, Mario Muñoz-Organero, and Carlos Delgado-Kloos present their study on a systematic literature review on content modeling using machine learning algorithms in smart learning environments considering content indicators based on student interaction. Melih Kuncan, Kaplan Kaplan, Yılmaz Kaya, Mehmet Recep Minaz, and H. Metin Ertunç from Turkey focus on computer numerical control (CNC) systems, more specifically on classification of CNC vibration speeds by Heralick features. Lifang Ren, Jing Li, and Wenjian Wang from China address in their research support vector regression (SVR) and the location-aware method for mobile QoS prediction to overcome the difficulty caused by the sparsity of data and to predict the unknown QoS more accurately. Last but not least, Emre Sadıkoğlu, İrfan Kösesoy, and Murat Gök from Turkey look into the vulnerability of artificial systems to cyber-attacks by applying a gradient descent-based method to generate fake data. Enjoy Reading! Cordially,  Christian Gütl, Managing Editor-in-Chief Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

Experimental Investigation of Gaseous Emissions and Hydrocarbon Speciation for MF and MTHF Gasoline Blends in DISI Engine

Article Experimental Investigation of Gaseous Emissions and Hydrocarbon Speciation for MF and MTHF Gasoline Blends in DISI Engine Rafiu K. Olalere 1,2, Gengxin Zhang 1, and Hongming Xu 1,3, * 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK 2 Department Mechanical Engineering, Lagos State University of Science and Technology, Ikorodu 02341, Nigeria 3 State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China * Correspondence: h.m.xu@bham.ac.uk     Received: 8 November 2023 Accepted: 25 March 2024 Published: 28 March 2024   Abstract: With the increasing shortage of fossil energy, the development of engines urgently requires alternative fuels. Gaseous emissions of a gasoline direct injection spark ignition engine fueled with blends of 2-methylfuran (MF 20% vol. and gasoline 80% vol.) and 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF 20% vol. and gasoline 80% vol.) were experimentally investigated using Gasmeth FTIR. Experiments were conducted at air-fuel ratio (λ = 1) and at engine speed of 1500 rpm using the fuels optimised spark timing. Effects of fuel injection sweeps (180–280 °CA BTDC) on the emission characteristics of blends were investigated at the intermediate load of 5.5 bar IMEP. Hydrocarbon emission (HC) for gasoline is about 41% and 16% higher compared to MF20 and MTHF20 respectively. Carbon monoxide emission for the fuels increases as the injection timing is retarded but the Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions was observed to reduce with the retarded injection timing. Both MF20 and MTHF20 recorded high NOx emissions compared to gasoline. The results indicated ethylene (25–26%) as the major component of the HC speciation in the fuels investigated. The unburnt furan samples for blend fuels were determined to be less than 3% of HC emissions, which could be considered a safe level for exposure.

Study on Variability and Character Association Analysis in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a legume crop belonging to the family Leguminosae (Fabaceae). Therefore, a better insight to the association of yield with its component traits can be helpful in improving the chickpea yield. The present study was conducted with 25 chickpea genotype to understand the magnitude of variability, heritability, genetic advance and the association of various yield components and their direct and indirect effect on yield of chickpea based on twelve traits at Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj during October–January 2022. ANOVA revealed significant variation existed for most of the trait. High GCV, PCV, heritability and genetic advance recorded by harvest index, seed yield, number of pod per plant,  number of seed per pod. Seed yield per plant shows highly significant and positive association with harvest index, number of pod per plant. Harvest index number of pod per plant and biological yield per plant showed highest direct effect on seed yield per plant.

Zinc Application Enhances Tuber Quality and Zinc Bioavailability in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in the Tarai Region of Uttarakhand

As evident from plant and soil investigations, 49 per cent of Indian soils are deficient in zinc. This could affect the production and quality of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) as the crop is moderately sensitive to zinc deficiency. Zinc is considered to be the most important micronutrient for potato and its reduced availability in the plant is the major constraint to obtaining good tuber quality. However, repeated practice of rice-wheat cropping system in the tarai region of Uttarakhand has led to zinc deficiency in the soil, and thereby, its availability in the tubers. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken at the Vegetable Research Centre of Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) during the rabi season of 2021-22 with the objective to enhance the quality of potato tubers, and at the same time, increase the bioavailability of zinc in the tubers. The experiment was laid out in a randomised complete block design with twelve treatments and four replications. The results of the experiment revealed that foliar application of ZnSO4 @ 2 g L-1 at 25 and 50 days after planting recorded the highest dry matter content (20.73%), specific gravity (1.07 g cm-3) and starch content (17.10%) in the tubers. The zinc content in tubers (47.58 ppm) and zinc uptake by tubers (2.85 kg ha-1) were also found to be maximum in the same treatment combination. Hence, the same treatment combination can be recommended for getting better quality of potato tubers as well as increasing zinc bioavailability in potato under the tarai region of Uttarakhand.

Evolving Digital Skills of first-year students: A Pre- and Post-Covid Analysis

Digital skills are necessary for first-year students at Austrian universities. This paper unveils results from two surveys among first-year students at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz): Pre-Covid-19 data (n=921) is derived from a larger study on digital literacy among first-year students in Styria (Janschitz et al., 2021, N=4,676). The same questions were posed in the 2021 ‘Welcome Days’ survey after the Covid-19 distance learning phases (n=1,207). Surprisingly, the only significant change is a noticeable increase of skills concerning the digital signature. This article additionally presents the development of a lecture on digital skills that was implemented at TU Graz as a massive open online course (MOOC).

Chloromethylation of Lignin as a Route to Functional Material with Catalytic Properties in Cross-Coupling and Click Reactions.

Invited for this issue's cover are researchers from Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech). The image depicts the lignin chemical evolution route from raw biomass through a greener chloromethylation procedure developed by the research team. It showcases the transformation into lignin-supported metal nanoparticles, serving as a catalyst for various chemical reactions in both batch and continuous flow conditions. The Research Article itself is available at 10.1002/cssc.202301588.

Implementing Citizen Science within Open Science: Identifying Extra-Academic Skills, Collaborations, Rewards and Recognitions in the Context of a University

What should a university do to support citizen science initiatives within an open science context, and to assist and facilitate researchers in performing effective citizen science? Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) has developed an open science program that includes, among other projects, citizen science. However, performing citizen science is not a straightforward task. For the people designing and managing citizen science projects, it demands appropriate knowledge, understanding, and experience of the field, as well as knowledge of the practical implementation of citizen science and open science. This requires a deeper understanding of which extra-academic skills, collaborations, rewards, and recognitions are needed for a citizen science project. Therefore, we used a local, hydrological citizen science project, “Delft Measures Rain,” as a case-study, implementing citizen science methods and the TU Delft Open Science principles. By means of this case-study, we identify key tools and facilitation needs to assist researchers within TU Delft to perform effective citizen science and open science. This paper shows how the various stakeholders (i.e., researchers, citizens, civil servants, and NGO’s) can benefit from performing participatory research implementing citizen science and open science principles. We list 10 key elements, encompassing tools, facilitation, and infrastructures that universities can provide for their researchers to stimulate and support the implementation and execution of successful, legally sound, and open citizen science. This case study shows that with appropriate and extra-academic knowledge, tools, collaborations, rewards, and recognitions, citizen science can deliver what it promises and be of great value to universities and open science in general.

Excelzyme: A Swiss University-Industry Collaboration for Accelerated Biocatalyst Development.

Excelzyme, an enzyme engineering platform located at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, is dedicated to accelerating the development of tailored biocatalysts for large-scale industrial applications. Leveraging automation and advanced computational techniques, including machine learning, efficient biocatalysts can be generated in short timeframes. Toward this goal, Excelzyme systematically selects suitable protein scaffolds as the foundation for constructing complex enzyme libraries, thereby enhancing sequence and structural biocatalyst diversity. Here, we describe applied workflows and technologies as well as an industrial case study that exemplifies the successful application of the workflow.

A STUDY OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS IN RELATION TO EMPLOYABILITY OF ENGINEERS

India is the diverse country and the diversity extends to the engineering graduates across states. Technical education in India has scaled over the last decade boasting of 1000s of Engineering colleges spread across the length and breadth of the country producing over half a million Engineering graduates annually. The objectives of this study are to find out the relationship between socio-economic status and employability skills among the engineering graduates in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu.  As reported in The Hindu  dated October 07, 2023,Anna University Vice Chancellor has Emphasised the importance of diverse skill of  Tamil Nadu may be known for its massive number of engineering colleges, but the graduates they produce do not top in employability.  The students in most of the engineering colleges are from different socio-economic status/background coming from different places.  The socio economic  status of the family plays an important role in the personality development of the students.  The present study tries to find the extent to which the socio economic status is a barrier in being employable and provides means to overcome the present day menace of unemployability.

‘Pavee Leaders’ – enablers and inhibitors to accessing higher education for Irish travellers

ABSTRACT Historically, Irish Travellers have experienced social exclusion and marked educational disadvantage. Less than 1% of Travellers are documented as being in third-level education, with only 167 adult Travellers reported as holding a third-level qualification (0.5%). This low rate of participation has been targeted by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH). The PATH programme (Strand 3) funded partnership initiatives between higher education institutes in regional clusters. The SOAR partnership initiative in the South Cluster developed a Travellers in Education workstream which delivered three key initiatives: (1) two Leadership in the Community courses delivered at University College Cork (UCC); (2) a Mentoring in Education course delivered at Munster Technological University (MTU) Kerry Campus and (3) a Traveller Graduate Network (TGN) developed at Munster Technological University (MTU) Cork Campus. Two of these initiatives (1 and 2) are bespoke part-time courses for adult learners and the third is a network to support Travellers accessing full-time higher education. Drawing from evaluations of these three initiatives, this paper provides insights into Travellers’ experience of accessing and progressing through Higher Education and identifies supports and barriers.

Empowering E-Learning Excellence: Unveiling the Influence of Outcome Expectation, Learning Motivation, and Self-Efficacy in the Industrial Era 4.0

The advent of the 4th industrial revolution has fundamentally transformed various aspects of human life. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of learning motivation, outcome expectation, and self-efficacy on enhancing the quality of online learning in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The study population consisted of 250 individuals from the University of Engineering and Technology Taxila (UET) who were participating in the e-learning learning paradigm. Data was collected while using an online survey questionnaire. The data was run on Smart PLS 4.0 reveals that learning motivation, outcome expectation, and efficacy are important factors in assessing the level of education. In addition, it was found that self-efficacy played a role in mediating the impact of learning motivation on enhancing the quality of online learning. However, in other instances, self-efficacy have a significant effect on maximizing the influence on the quality of e-learning.

Unveiling the Air Quality Impacts of Municipal Solid Waste Disposal: An Integrative Study of On-Site Measurements and Community Perceptions

This study examines air quality conditions in and around a classroom located in the Sarıçam/Adana region of Türkiye, near the campus of Adana Alparslan Türkeş Science and Technology University and the Sofulu municipal solid waste (MSW) facility. This academic setting was strategically chosen due to its proximity to the waste facility. The study aims to provide a comprehensive view of the environmental and social impacts of solid waste management through a methodological approach that combines quantitative on-site measurements and qualitative survey studies. Findings from measurements and surveys underline the significant and measurable impacts of MSW facilities on the ambient air quality of university residents. The analysis revealed a marked increase in concentrations of key pollutants, including carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), dust, and methane (CH4). At sampling point N1, H2S levels rose from 0 ppm in July to 13 ppm in November. Methane increased from 0.2% to 2.5% of the Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) at the same point, although it remained within safety limits. Additionally, CO levels showed a 40% increase, and dust concentration levels rose from 0.21 mg/m3 to 2.36 mg/m3 from summer to winter, indicating a seasonal variation likely influenced by the landfill’s operational dynamics, as well as changes in temperature and relative humidity. In particular, the results indicate high concentrations of CO, H2S and dust, which are directly related to air quality degradation. The study also sheds light on the impacts of these waste disposal facilities on the general well-being and health of the university community, particularly on students and staff. In addition to these findings, the study highlights a general lack of awareness in the university community about the impacts of MSW facilities on air quality. This highlights the need for increased education and information dissemination. The results support the development of comprehensive and effective strategies, including technical solutions and public awareness initiatives, to mitigate the impacts of these facilities on residential areas. In conclusion, the impacts of MSW facilities on air quality should be seen as a multidimensional issue that requires a holistic approach addressing environmental, health, social, and educational dimensions.

Fault-tolerant formation consensus control for time-varying multi-agent systems with stochastic communication protocol

Article Fault-tolerant formation consensus control for time-varying multi-agent systems with stochastic communication protocol Chunyu Li, Yifan Liu, Ming Gao, and Li Sheng * 1 College of Control Science and Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China * Correspondence: E-mail: shengli@upc.edu.cn   Received: 4 September 2023 Accepted: 8 November 2023 Published: 26 March 2024   Abstract: This paper is concerned with the problem of fault-tolerant formation consensus control for linear time-varying (LTV) multi-agent systems (MASs) with stochastic communication protocol (SCP). The SCP is introduced to schedule the signal transmission, and only one neighbouring agent is allowed to transmit data at one instant. The purpose of this work is to design a fault-tolerant controller for each agent, so that, for all probabilistic scheduling behaviors, MASs can achieve the formation consensus performance. The state and fault are augmented into a new vector, meanwhile, each agent system is written as a singular one and a state observer is designed. By utilizing the estimated information of states and faults, the designed time-varying compensation term can reduce the impacts of unknown external disturbances and faults. Then, a sufficient condition is obtained to guarantee the performance constraint over the finite horizon for closed-loop systems. The parameters of observers and controllers are derived by solving coupled backward recursive Riccati difference equations. Finally, a numerical example is given to validate the effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant control scheme.

Reliable Cost Prediction and Control for Intelligent Manufacture: A Key Performance Indicator Perspective

Article Reliable Cost Prediction and Control for Intelligent Manufacture: A Key Performance Indicator Perspective Hang Geng 1,*, Alireza Mousavi 2, Nikolaos Grigorios Markatos 2, Kai Chen 1, and Xuan Gou 1 1 School of Automation Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China 2 Department of Computer Science, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom * Correspondence: Hang.Geng@uestc.edu.cn     Received: 10 July 2023 Accepted: 11 October 2023 Published: 26 March 2024   Abstract: Intelligent manufacturing is facing significant challenges in adapting to the ever-changing equipment, instrumentation, process and economics. Such a trend together with the pressure to reliably control and contain production costs means that frequent adjusting decisions are required to adapt to incessant volatility imposed on manufacturing systems. Under this circumstance, cost-effective and quality-guaranteed manufacturing strategies would be the most logical route to reducing production costs. In this paper, a novel dynamical cost prediction and control (CPC) model is proposed to support collective decision-making in intelligent manufacturing, where the model output is the real-time prediction of possible manufacturing costs, while the inputs are generic manufacturing key performance indicators covering inventory, product quality, production efficiency, resource utilisation and environmental impact. This proposed CPC model distinguishes itself from existing ones for its capability to translate manufacturing data (at both the physical level and operation management level) into financial metrics that contribute to forming a common language between engineering, financial and administrative departments of an enterprise. The case study about the assembly line of optoelectronic devices demonstrates that, although different enterprise departments have different priorities, our CPC model helps them to achieve certain consensus on intended production that finally creates satisfactory profitability for the company at controlled manufacturing costs.

Feasibility of Parallel Cropping of Black Gram with Pigeon pea in Central Trait of Uttar Pradesh

An experiment was laid out during two consecutive Kharif seasons of 2016-2017 and 2017-18 at Soil Conservation and Water Management Farm, C.S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur. The main objective was to find out the yields of main crop of pigeonpea and black gram and their economic in term of net return. The soil analysis indicated the medium nutrients status. The cropping system i.e., pigeonpea sole, black gram sole and pigeonpea + black gram (1+1) additive series were tested. The total productivity of pigeonpea + black gram was maximum (23.53 q/ha) in comparison to pure crop of pigeonpea (17.34 q/ha) and black gram pure (9.44 q/ha). The study of pooled data of economic display that maximum cost of cultivation Rs. 57876/- ha observed under intercropping of pigeonpea + black gram system. The highest gross return Rs. 134024/ha, net return Rs. 76148/ha and BCR 2.32 were also noted under pigeonpea + black gram (1+1) additive series.

Evaluation of Onion (Allium cepa L.) Genotypes for Yield and its Attributes Traits under Bundelkhand Region of Uttar Pradesh, India

The present investigation was conducted at the Vegetable Research farm at the College of Horticulture, Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, Uttar Pradesh, during the Rabi season 2019-2020. The experiment was conducted in randomized block design with 20 genotypes of onion. The result obtained showed that the NHRDF Red-4 is performing the best among all genotypes in characters viz., plant height at 75 DAT, number of leaves per plant at 75 DAT, equatorial bulb diameter, 20 bulb weight, average bulb weight, gross yield kg per plot, gross yield q/ha, marketable yield kg/plot and marketable yield q/ha. The Bhima Shweta performed superior regarding most of the traits viz., double (%) on number basis, bolters percentage on number basis, rotten percentage at number basis, days to maturity at 60-70% neck fall, days to harvesting after transplanting, thrips per plant and TSS percentage but the genotype/variety Sukh Sagar took minimum duration and mature only in 80 days after transplanting, it is harvested before others genotypes/varieties and also yielded well, so this variety can be also recommended for cultivation in Uttar Pradesh.

Parameter Learning of Probabilistic Boolean Control Networks with Input-Output Data

Article Parameter Learning of Probabilistic Boolean Control Networks with Input-Output Data Hongwei Chen 1,*, Qi Chen 1, Bo Shen 1, and Yang Liu 2 1 College of Information Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China 2 School of Mathematical Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China * Correspondence: hongwei@dhu.edu.cn     Received: 23 September 2023 Accepted: 27 November 2023 Published: 26 March 2024   Abstract: This paper investigates the parameter learning problem for the probabilistic Boolean control networks (PBCNs) with input-output data. Firstly, an algebraic expression of the PBCNs is obtained by taking advantage of the semi-tensor product technique, and then, the parameter learning problem is transformed into an optimal problem to reveal the parameter matrices of a linear system in a computationally efficient way. Secondly, two recursive semi-tensor product based algorithms are designed to calculate the forward and backward probabilities. Thirdly, the expectation maximization algorithm is proposed as an elaborate technique to address the parameter learning problem. In addition, a useful index is introduced to describe the performance of the proposed parameter learning algorithm. Finally, two numerical examples are employed to demonstrate the reliability of the proposed parameter learning approach.