SMARTPHONE APPLICATION FOR MANAGING MISSED AND FOUND BELONGINGS

Nowadays, due to our everyday stress and current stressful lifestyle, the loss of items appears a frequent issue and may be very inconvenient. In this regard, until the IoT becomes part of everyday life, we can use the software as an efficient tool to assist a person's searching, verifying, and finding lost belongings. This paper presents an Android-based application that we proposed and implemented to help users find lost items. Utilizing this software will enable the subscriber to record his request to the relevant authority. In addition, a special section offers to insert a contact telephone number or email to communicate between the person who found the item and the person who lost it. During testing, among other services, the platform showed its capabilities to register and log users, releasing a lot of information of lost items and automatically forwarding lost-and-found notifications. The paper can be useful for those who deal with the application of information technology.

Green synthesis of triazolo-nucleoside conjugates via azide–alkyne C–N bond formation

Modified nucleosides are the core precursors for the synthesis of artificial nucleic acids, and are important in the field of synthetic and medicinal chemistry. In order to synthesize various triazolo-compounds, copper and ruthenium catalysed azide–alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions also known as click reaction have emerged as a facile and efficient tool due to its simplicity and convenient conditions. Introduction of a triazole ring in nucleosides enhances their therapeutic value and various photophysical properties. This review primarily focuses on the plethora of synthetic methodologies being employed to synthesize sugar modified triazolyl nucleosides, their therapeutic importance and various other applications.

Determination of the SSM Processing Window

Identification of critical temperatures is paramount for semisolid processing. Application of the principles of differential calculus to identify these temperatures on semisolid transformation curves allows the semisolid metal (SSM) processing window to be determined. This paper synthesizes and organizes a methodology that can be used to this end, namely the differentiation method (DM). Examples are given of the application of the method to 356, 355, and 319 aluminum alloys, which are commonly used in SSM processing, and the results are compared with those of numerical simulations performed with Thermo-Calc® (under the Scheil condition). The DM is applied to experimental differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) heat-flow data for cooling and heating cycles under different kinetic conditions (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 °C/min). The findings indicate that the DM is an efficient tool for identifying critical points such as the solidus, liquidus, and knee as well as tertiary transformations. The results obtained using the method agree well with those obtained using traditional techniques. The method is operator-independent as it uses well-defined mathematical/graphical criteria to identify critical points. Furthermore, the DM identifies an SSM processing window defined in terms of a higher and lower temperature for rheocasting or thixoforming operations (TSSML and TSSMH) between which the sensitivity is less than 0.03 °C-1 and, consequently, the process is highly controllable. This DM has already been published in a partial and dispersed way in different works in the past and the aim here is to present it in a more cohesive and didactic way, synthesizing the presented data and comparing them.

Crab-Eating Monkey Acidic Chitinase (CHIA) Efficiently Degrades Chitin and Chitosan under Acidic and High-Temperature Conditions

Chitooligosaccharides, the degradation products of chitin and chitosan, possess anti-bacterial, anti-tumor, and anti-inflammatory activities. The enzymatic production of chitooligosaccharides may increase the interest in their potential biomedical or agricultural usability in terms of the safety and simplicity of the manufacturing process. Crab-eating monkey acidic chitinase (CHIA) is an enzyme with robust activity in various environments. Here, we report the efficient degradation of chitin and chitosan by monkey CHIA under acidic and high-temperature conditions. Monkey CHIA hydrolyzed α-chitin at 50 °C, producing N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) dimers more efficiently than at 37 °C. Moreover, the degradation rate increased with a longer incubation time (up to 72 h) without the inactivation of the enzyme. Five substrates (α-chitin, colloidal chitin, P-chitin, block-type, and random-type chitosan substrates) were exposed to monkey CHIS at pH 2.0 or pH 5.0 at 50 °C. P-chitin and random-type chitosan appeared to be the best sources of GlcNAc dimers and broad-scale chitooligosaccharides, respectively. In addition, the pattern of the products from the block-type chitosan was different between pH conditions (pH 2.0 and pH 5.0). Thus, monkey CHIA can degrade chitin and chitosan efficiently without inactivation under high-temperature or low pH conditions. Our results show that certain chitooligosaccharides are enriched by using different substrates under different conditions. Therefore, the reaction conditions can be adjusted to obtain desired oligomers. Crab-eating monkey CHIA can potentially become an efficient tool in producing chitooligosaccharide sets for agricultural and biomedical purposes.

Epidemiological models based on meteorological variables to forewarn Alternaria blight of rapeseed-mustard

Alternaria blight [Alternaria brassicae (Berk.) Sacc.] is one of the most widespread and harmful maladies of rapeseed-mustard, causing yield loss up to 47 per cent. Meteorological parameters especially temperature, relative humidity and bright sunshine hours play major role in the development of Alternaria blight disease. Infection by the pathogen is highly influenced by meteorological conditions. A well-tested model based on meteorological variables is an efficient tool for forewarning this disease. Epidemiology of Alternaria blight of brassicas was investigated based on long term data during 2003-2018 crop seasons on the disease severity and meteorological variables, which was validated with data for two subsequent years. During this study, meteorological variable-based regression model of forewarning was developed for maximum severity (%) of Alternaria blight on leaves and pods for three locations viz., New Delhi, Hisar (Haryana) and Mohanpur (West Bengal)] in India. Validation of the forewarning models for maximum severity (%) of Alternaria blight proved the efficiency of the targeted forecasts.

Advances in Forensic Geophysics

Traditionally, forensic geophysics involves the study, search, localization, and mapping of buried objects or elements within soil, buildings, or water using geophysics tools for legal purposes. Recently, with the evolution of environmental crimes, forensic geophysics gave special care to detection, location, and quantification of polluting products. New techniques including the magnetic susceptibility have emerged to investigate this type of crimes. After discussing the state of the art of forensic geophysics, this chapter proposed the magnetic susceptibility as an efficient tool of environmental crimes detection. A case study of pollution detection was proposed from Tunisia. Being a fast and cheap technique, magnetic surveys represent a real promise for environmental forensic geophysics.

A good servant but a bad master: Finnish Translators’ Perceptions on Translation Technology

This paper reports the results of a survey measuring Finnish professional translators’ (N=450) perceptions on translation technology. The paper also introduces a tool that can be used to study the perception of such changes, the NEMP model (New Educational Models or Paradigms).Main results indicate that translation technology is perceived by professional translators as an efficient tool that has changed translating in practice, but does not encourage to creativity. Business translators seem to have a more positive perception on translation technology than other respondents (literary or audiovisual translators). As for the method, the results indicate that the NEMP model is a useful method for studying the perception of translation technology.