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The present study sheds light on cross-linguistic influence in third language learning, and it aims to explore the role of the previously acquired languages in third language acquisition and test the Cumulative Enhancement Model (Flynn et al, 2004) and Typological Similarity Model (Rothman, 2011). The CE Model supports the facilitation role of the previously acquired languages (L1 and L2) during the learning process of a third language (L3). The participants of this study are 35 middle school students who have Arabic as a first language, French as a second language, and they are learning English as a third language. A multiple-choice translation task that aims to test the participants’ knowledge of the non-native language they learn, in addition to a text in L3 in which they have to translate into their L1 and L2. The findings showed that participants transfer from the more typologically similar language (i.e. French) due to the typological similarity, which gives evidence for the Typological Similarity Model in which learners use the languages that is typologically similar to L3 at early stages of L3 acquisition.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many professions with short-, medium-, and long-term consequences. Hence, this study examined the mediating role of sense of coherence (SOC) and resilience in the relation to COVID-19 stress and teachers’ well-being (TWB). It recruited 836 teachers from Ethiopia’s higher-education institutions, of which 630 (75.4%) were men and 206 (24.6%) were women, with a mean age of 32.81 years and a standard deviation of 6.42. Findings showed that COVID-19 stress negatively predicted SOC, resilience, and TWB and that SOC and resilience positively predicted TWB. It was concluded that SOC and resilience, both together and separately, mediated the relation between COVID-19 stress and TWB. These results were discussed alongside relevant literature, and the study is found to be valuable for practitioners and researchers who seek to improve well-being using SOC and resilience as resources across teaching professions.

This research paper works in the light of relying on the theory of value determinism in the media by professor Dr. Izzy Abdel Rahman, to research, excavate and explore the impact of the distance learning process through the digital space on the cognitive values of Algerian students, and by applying the survey method and relying on the questionnaire tool as a main tool and the observation tool as a secondary tool, We chose the cluster sample; whose vocabulary comes to more than one stage, so we chose the study sample in several stages, and the final number of the study sample was estimated at 483 items, distributed as follows: 152 items were chosen from Djiliali Bounaama University, Khemis Miliana, 136 items were selected from Ibrahim Sultan CHibout University Algeria3, 96 subjects were selected from Ali lounici University Blida2, 100 subjects were selected from Hassiba Ben Bouali University Of Chlef, and all this released By distributing An electronic questionnaire form through a Google form to the study sample students.

The structural, elastic, electronic, and magnetic properties of the CrCoSi, MnCoSi parent half-Heusler (HH) alloys, and their CrMnCo2Si2 derivative double half-Heusler (DHH) compound are studied, utilizing the augmented plane wave method, which is based on density functional theory and implemented in the WIEN2k code. The stability of HH structure of the CrCoSi and MnCoSi alloys has been checked for their non-magnetic and ferromagnetic phases, leading to that the latter phase of the type I arrangement is the most stable. The CrMnCo2Si2 DHH alloy, derivative from the found structural and magnetic ground states of CrCoSi and MnCoSi HH alloys, is constructed and investigated. This DDH as well as its CrCoSi parent HH are found to be resistant to deformation and can be classified as ductile materials, whereas the MnCoSi compound is brittle. By the gradient generalized approximation (GGA), the electronic structures of CrCoSi, MnCoSi, and CrMnCo2Si2compounds exhibit a metallic behavior in the spin-up channel and a semiconducting behavior in the spin-dn channel, with band gaps (half-metallic gaps) of 0.851(0.020), 0.852(0.021), and 0.531(0.002) eV, respectively. The half-metallicity of CrMnCo2Si2 DHH is retained with smaller (larger) band gap (half-metallic gap) of 0.38(0.106) eV than that of GGA, using GGA + U approximation. In addition, the total magnetic moments are found to be 1, 2, and 3 µB for CrCoSi, MnCoSi, and CrMnCo2Si2, respectively. Therefore, these alloys can be good candidates for spinitronic applications due to their half-metallicity.

Managing the transmission of antimicrobial resistance necessitates reliable methods for tracking outbreaks. We compared the performance of MALDI-TOF MS with orthogonal approaches for strain typing, including WGS and FTIR, for Acinetobacter baumannii isolates correlated with a health care-associated infection (HCAI) event.

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is a widely used drug in oncology. It can cause toxicity, especially in the case of Dihydropyrimidine Dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency. An enzyme responsible for the inactivation of more than 80% of the 5-FU dose and for the transformation of uracil (U) into dihydrouracile (UH2). A sensitive method is needed to screen for DPD deficiency by determination of U level, as recommended by the European Medicine Agency (EMA). Separation was performed by an UHPLC on a C18 column and a tandem mass spectrometer performed the detection of U and UH2. The method’s performance was validated according to ICH M10 recommendations. The validated method was used to screen for DPD deficiency in fifty-seven hospitalized patients. None of the patients showed DPD deficiency based on the U-rate instead of the metabolic ratio UH2/U (7.08%) which might be a more sensitive tool for this screening

Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) direct PIWI proteins to transposons to silence them, thereby preserving genome integrity and fertility. The piRNA population can be expanded in the ping-pong amplification loop. Within this process, piRNA-associated PIWI proteins (piRISC) enter the nuage to cleave target RNA, which is stimulated by Gtsf proteins. The resulting cleavage product gets loaded into an empty PIWI protein to form a new piRISC complex. However, for piRNA amplification to occur, it is required that new RNA substrates, Gtsf-piRISC and empty PIWI proteins are all in physical proximity. In this study we show that BmGtsf1L binds to piRNA-loaded BmAgo3 and co-localizes to BmAgo3-BmVreteno positive granules. Biochemical assays further revealed that conserved residues within the unstructured tail of BmGtsf1L directly interact with BmVreteno. Using a combination of AlphaFold modeling, atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and in vitro assays we identified a novel binding interface on a BmVreteno-eTudor domain, which is required for BmGtsf1L binding. Our study reveals that a single eTudor domain within BmVreteno provides two binding interfaces and thereby interconnects piRNA-loaded BmAgo3 and BmGtsf1L.

For a modern agricultural, the search for sustainable practices to increase productivity is fundamental. Steel slag have been studied for their potential use in agriculture. These substances present a great possibility of agricultural applications since they are rich in nutrients, which enhance plant uptake. In this regard, the effect of steel slag based-fertilizer was investigated in the greenhouse durum wheat cultivation in pots under salt-stress conditions. Two slag doses: 10 g slag/ kg soil (D1) and 20 g slag/ kg soil (D2) were evaluated under no salt-stress (0 mM NaCl) and salt-stress conditions (100 mM NaCl) for salinity stress mitigation. Morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters of wheat were measured and compared to the different treatments. Wheat exposure to salinity decreased its biomass, stomatal conductance, efficiency of photosystem II, protein content and increased total soluble sugars, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents. Amended plants with 10 g slag/ kg soil (D1), led to a significant improve in biomass with an increase of shoot and root dry weights (133% and 400% respectively), stomatal conductance (22 %), soluble sugars (14 %) and protein content (158%) under salinity conditions as compared to the control treatment 0 g slag/ kg soil (C), indicating a positive influence on durum wheat plants. However, soil enrichment with 20 g slag/ kg soil (D2) decreased plant growth parameters and presented the highest levels of H2O2 and MDA contents compared to the control and treatment D1 after three months of cultivation under salt-stress. This study supports the hypothesis of the application of slag at lower dose improve productivity of durum wheat and mitigate salinity stress.

Introduction:TheCOVID-19pandemic (since March 2020) and the establishment of health measures are at the origin of an increase in the marketing of hydroalcoholic products (HAPs). Indeed, for fight against the coronavirus transmission, the public is aware to hands disinfection with hydroalcoholic products. The efficiency of these products is directly related to the content (≥ 60% v/v) of antiseptic alcohol (ethanol or isopropanol). The Algerian regulation classifies the HAPs as cosmetic and cleaning products without minimum content requirement of the antiseptic alcohol.Objectives:This work purpose to estimate the quality of HAPs marketed in Algeria during the year 2021 by determination of their antiseptic alcohol content.Materials and method:For this purpose, 52 HAPs have been selected and analysed by gas chromatography coupled with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID), to identify and quantify the alcoholic agent.Results:23 (44.23%) HAPs are not efficient due to they contain less than 60%v/v of alcohol. These products should not be used to fight against the coronavirus spread. 09 HAPs (17.31%) contain more than 80% v/v of alcohol. Furthermore, 05 HAPs were containing a different alcohol from the one declared.Conclusion:HAPs are an effective measure against the micro-organisms spread. However, if their alcohol content is not enough, their use would contribute to the infectious disease transmission by giving a false guarantee of efficiency.

Introduction:TheCOVID-19pandemic (since March 2020) and the establishment of health measures are at the origin of an increase in the marketing of hydroalcoholic products (HAPs). Indeed, for fight against the coronavirus transmission, the public is aware to hands disinfection with hydroalcoholic products. The efficiency of these products is directly related to the content (≥ 60% v/v) of antiseptic alcohol (ethanol or isopropanol). The Algerian regulation classifies the HAPs as cosmetic and cleaning products without minimum content requirement of the antiseptic alcohol.Objectives:This work purpose to estimate the quality of HAPs marketed in Algeria during the year 2021 by determination of their antiseptic alcohol content.Materials and method:For this purpose, 52 HAPs have been selected and analysed by gas chromatography coupled with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID), to identify and quantify the alcoholic agent.Results:23 (44.23%) HAPs are not efficient due to they contain less than 60%v/v of alcohol. These products should not be used to fight against the coronavirus spread. 09 HAPs (17.31%) contain more than 80% v/v of alcohol. Furthermore, 05 HAPs were containing a different alcohol from the one declared.Conclusion:HAPs are an effective measure against the micro-organisms spread. However, if their alcohol content is not enough, their use would contribute to the infectious disease transmission by giving a false guarantee of efficiency.

In this work, a comprehensive investigation of the salicylideneaniline derivatives is carried out using density functional theory to determine their linear and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties. Geometry optimizations, for gas and solvent phases, of the tautomers (enol and keto forms) are calculated using B3LYP levels with 6-31G(d,p) basis set. An intramolecular proton transfer, for 1SA-E and 2SA-E, is performed by a PES scan process at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level. The optical properties are determined and show that they have extremely high NLO properties. In addition, the RDG analysis, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), and gap energy are calculated. The low energy gap value indicates the possibility of intramolecular charge transfer. The frontier molecular orbital calculations clearly show the inverse relationship of HOMO–LUMO gap with the first-order hyperpolarizability (β = 59.6471 × 10–30 esu), confirming that the salicylideneaniline derivatives can be used as attractive future NLO materials. Therefore, the reactive sites are predicted using MEP and the visible absorption maxima are analyzed using a theoretical UV–Vis spectrum. Natural bond orbitals are used to investigate the stability, charge delocalization, and intramolecular hydrogen bond.

The present work is carried out within the framework of a research project launched within the physical engineering laboratory at the University of Tiaret in Algeria. The objective is to optimize the conditions for producing thin films of pure spinel oxides doped with different metallic elements. Thus, in this part, we prepared thin films of pure CuMn2O4 and doped with Bi and Cd at rates of 6 and 9% by the sol-gel Dip-coating method. The materials obtained exhibit acceptable crystallinity, excellent optical transmittance with bandgap energies of between 1.64 eV and 1.9 eV and good electrical conductivity.

Mono and multi-layer porous media are very often used in building engineering and aerospace industry to fight against noise pollution. These media are characterized by several acoustic parameters, the most important of which is the flow resistivity. In this article, a static airflow resistivity association law of multilayer rigid porous materials is proposed. The equivalent fluid theory is considered. The visco-inertial interactions between the structure and the pore-saturating fluid are taken into account by the dynamic tortuosity introduced by Johnson et al and the dynamic compressibility given by Allard. Simplified expressions of acoustic transmission coefficients of a monolayer and bilayer porous medium are established in the very low-frequency regime. The established expressions are independent of frequency and depend only on the airflow resistivity and the thickness of each layer. The equivalent flow resistivity of the bilayer medium is expressed as a function of the thickness and flow resistivity of each layer. The established law has been generalized to the case of a multilayer medium consisting of several different rigid porous layers. Experimental validation of the established law is carried out using a combination of several samples of polyurethane foams (PU) with different thicknesses and flow resistivity.

Concentration dependency of phenotypic and genotypic isoniazid-rifampicin resistance emergence was investigated to obtain a mechanistic understanding on how anti-mycobacterial drugs facilitate the emergence of bacterial populations that survive throughout treatment. Using static kill curve experiments, observing two evolution cycles, it was demonstrated that rifampicin resistance was the result of non-specific mechanisms and not associated with accumulation of drug resistance encoding SNPs. Whereas, part of isoniazid resistance could be accounted for by accumulation of specific SNPs, which was concentration dependent. Using a Hollow Fibre Infection Model it was demonstrated that emergence of genotypic resistance only occurs when antibiotic levels fall below MIC although MICs are typically maintained following clinical dosing provided that adherence to the regimen is good. This study showed that disentangling and quantifying concentration dependent emergence of resistance provides improved rational for drug and dose selection although further work on understanding underlying mechanisms is needed to improve the drug development pipeline.One Sentence SummaryDisentangling and quantifying concentration dependent emergence of resistance will contribute to better informed drug and dose selection for anti-mycobacterial combination therapy.

This research paper seeks to reveal how the Algerian press, represented by the daily Al-Shorouk newspaper, deals with the study sample of topics related to the Corona epidemic, as well as the extent of awareness that the newspaper worked to spread in the Algerian society. Therefore, the study has a special importance distributed on two levels, starting at the level of scientific thought and then at the level of practical reality, as the new Corona pandemic in its second wave in Algeria is suitable to look at how the Algerian written press deals with the epidemic. In line with the nature of the topic, the media survey methodology that falls within the framework of descriptive research was relied upon, supported by the content analysis technique as a main tool for collecting quantitative and qualitative data, and quantitative and qualitative analysis was used to describe the content of the press contents in Al-Shorouk newspaper within a timeframe from November 21 to 20 December 2020.

Concentration dependency of phenotypic and genotypic isoniazid-rifampicin resistance emergence was investigated to obtain a mechanistic understanding on how anti-mycobacterial drugs facilitate the emergence of bacterial populations that survive throughout treatment. Using static kill curve experiments, observing two evolution cycles, it was demonstrated that rifampicin resistance was the result of non-specific mechanisms and not associated with accumulation of drug resistance encoding SNPs. Whereas, part of isoniazid resistance could be accounted for by accumulation of specific SNPs, which was concentration dependent. Using a Hollow Fibre Infection Model it was demonstrated that emergence of resistance did not occur at concentration–time profiles mimicking the granuloma. This study showed that disentangling and quantifying concentration dependent emergence of resistance provides an improved rational for drug and dose selection although further work to understand the underlying mechanisms is needed to improve the drug development pipeline.

The search for sustainable practices to increase productivity is a fundamental need in current agriculture. Steel slag has been studied for its potential use in agriculture. These substances present a great ability of agricultural applications since they are rich in nutrients. The effect of steel slag-based fertilizer was investigated on greenhouse durum wheat cultivar under salt-stress conditions. Two doses of slag: 10 g slag/ kg soil (D1) and 20 g slag/ kg soil (D2) were evaluated under no salt-stress (0 mM NaCl) and salt-stress conditions (100 mM NaCl) for salinity stress mitigation. Morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters of wheat were measured and compared to the different treatments. Exposure of wheat to salinity decreased its biomass, stomatal conductance, efficiency of photosystem II, and protein content, but it increased total soluble sugars, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents. Amended plants with 10 g slag/ kg soil (D1) led to a significant improvement in biomass with an increase of shoot and root dry weights (133% and 400% respectively), stomatal conductance (22 %), soluble sugars (14 %), and protein content (158%) under saline conditions compared to the control treatment with 0 g slag/ kg soil (C), thus indicating a positive influence on durum wheat plants. Soil enrichment with 20 g slag/kg soil (D2) decreased plant growth parameters and presented the highest levels of H2O2 and MDA contents compared to the control and treatment (D1) after three months of cultivation under salt stress. This study supports the hypothesis of the application of slag at lower dose, which improves productivity of durum wheat and mitigate salinity stress.

Background Several antibiotics active against carbapenemase-producing organisms have recently been licensed for clinical use. These organisms usually have multiple integrative and conjugative elements with different resistance genes. The positioning of these agents for empirical use in sepsis caused by different carbapenemase-producing organisms is important in optimizing the likelihood of appropriate treatment before susceptibility testing is complete. Here we present the activities of meropenem-vaborbactam, imipenem-relebactam, eravacycline and tigecycline against NDM- and OXA-48-producing clinical isolates in a London teaching hospital. Methods Sixty-two previously characterized carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative clinical isolates were studied. These comprised 31 NDM and 31 OXA-48 producers. OXA-48 producers comprised Klebsiella pneumoniae (17), Escherichia coli (10), Enterobacter aerogenes (3) and Serratia marcescens (1). NDM producers comprised K. pneumoniae (11), E. coli (10), Acinetobacter baumannii (3), Klebsiella oxytoca (1), Enterobacter asburiae (1), Enterobacter cloacae (1), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1), Citrobacter koseri (1), Citrobacter freundii (1) and Leclercia adecarboxylata (1). MICs of meropenem/vaborbactam, imipenem/relebactam, eravacycline and tigecycline were determined using Etests. Interpretation was done using EUCAST breakpoints. Results OXA-48 producers: Eight of 17 K. pneumoniae, 8/10 E. coli and 2/3 E. aerogenes isolates were meropenem/vaborbactam susceptible. Of these, 2 K. pneumoniae, 5 E. coli and 1 E. aerogenes isolates were imipenem/relebactam susceptible. All imipenem/relebactam/susceptible isolates were also meropenem/vaborbactam susceptible. The S. marcescens isolate (1/1) was resistant to both antibiotics. The only isolates demonstrating susceptibility to the glycylcyclines were E. coli. Five of 10 were susceptible to both glycylcyclines. One of 10 was susceptible to one glycylcycline but resistant to the other. NDM producers: Five of 11 K. pneumoniae, 6/10 E. coli and 1/1 K. oxytoca, E. asburiae and C. koseri isolates were susceptible to meropenem/vaborbactam. Of these, two K. pneumoniae and the K. oxytoca (1/1) and E. asburiae (1/1) isolates were imipenem/relebactam susceptible. The L. adecarboxylata isolate (1/1) was meropenem/vaborbactam resistant but imipenem/relebactam susceptible. All P. aeruginosa, C. freundii, A. baumannii and E. cloacae isolates were resistant to both meropenem/vaborbactam and imipenem/relebactam. Seven of 10 E. coli isolates were tigecycline susceptible of which 6 were also eravacycline susceptible. One of 11 K. pneumoniae, 1/1 K. oxytoca and 1/1 L. adecarboxylata isolates were susceptible to both glycylcyclines. All other isolates were resistant to both glycylcyclines. Conclusions In both OXA-48 and NDM producers, the activity of the four antibiotics tested was better against E. coli than K. pneumoniae. Meropenem/vaborbactam provided better cover than imipenem/relebactam. Eravacycline and tigecycline showed similar activity to each other, but their activity was inferior compared with the β-lactam combinations, particularly against K. pneumoniae.

Background and objectives Burn patients are highly susceptible to invasion by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB) through post-burn damage. The prevalence of MDR-GNB isolated from burns patients has increased dramatically in the last decade, representing a serious risk to patients admitted to burns units worldwide. The challenges of managing infected burns patients are exacerbated in poor resource settings. This study was designed to develop a pathway for the rapid diagnosis of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative infections and identify the bacterial genes including blaOXA1, blaTEM, and blaSHV encoding ESBLs and blaOXA48, blaKPC, blaNDM, and blaVIM encoding carbapenemases from the patient of post burns infection. Methods Clinical isolates were collected (August 2017 to August 2018) from Intensive care unit (ICU) of Burn Centre. Antibiotic susceptibility testing and phenotypic detection of ESBLs and carbapenemases was performed by disk diffusion, double disk synergy test (DDST), combination disk test (CDT), and Imipenem + EDTA combined disk test (IMP + EDTA CDT). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection was performed for ESBLs blaOXA1-blaSHV-blaTEM and carbapenemases genes blaOXA48-blaKPC-blaNDM-blaVIM Results In total, of 170 Gram-negative isolates, 104 (61.2%) were confirmed as multidrug-resistant (MDR); Pseudomonas aeruginosa was found to be the most prevalent 43/104 (41.4%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae 17/104 (16.4%), Acinetobacter baumannii12/104 (11.5%), and 6/104 Proteus mirabilis (5.8%). All isolates (100%) were resistant to cefotaxime and ceftazidime, while the meropenem resistance was 58.7%. ESBL and carbapenemase genotypes were found to be associated with higher MAR index (0.65–0.88) and MIC (> 32 µg/ml) values P. aeruginosa was the major ESBL and carbapenemase producer as determined by phenotypic testing and PCR. blaTEM positive isolates among ESBLs producers were predominant 81.8% (27/33), followed by 27.3% blaOXA1 and blaSHV, respectively. blaVIM positive isolates among carbapenemase producers were predominant 47.7% (21/44), followed by 27.3% blaKPC, 20.5% blaOXA48, and 11.4% blaNDM positive isolates. Conclusions The predominant organism causing burn infections was ESBL and carbapenemase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa. There are only limited effective antibiotics against such strains. blaVIM and blaTEM individually and in co-existence with blaKPC, blaOXA48, blaSHV, and blaOXA1 confer antimicrobial resistance in burns patients. Rapid detection of ESBL and carbapenemase genes will inform treatment strategies improving the outcome for post-burn patients in ICU.

The present study is an attempt to explore the cross-linguistic influence of French on the learning of English vocabulary for L1 Arabic Speakers who have French as L2 and English as L3 in Algeria. In order to investigate this issue, 30 first-year students, at Metkanat Hasi El-ghara Al-gharbiya secondary school – Lmniaa in Algeria, were asked to do two exercises. Both of them is fill in the gap exercises. They were designed to find out how French knowledge affects English and what types of lexical transfer students encountered to be analyzed qualitatively. The findings showed that students tend to transfer from French. These findings support the idea that transfer occurs due to the similarities that exist between languages.

The present study sheds light on cross-linguistic influence and language transfer in third or additional language learning and explores the factors affecting the learning of third or additional language in a multilingual context. It aims at investigating the extent to which the typologically more similar language influences the language being learned. This study was carried out with the participation of 30 third-year students in the foreign languages stream at Al-Kawakibi Secondary School-Touggourt in Algeria. The participants had Arabic as L1, French as L2, English as L3 and they were learning L4 German. The instruments included two translation tasks and a paragraph writing in German, in addition to a questionnaire about learners' self-rated language proficiency of their non-native languages. The findings show that students tend to translate into the language which is typologically more similar to German, in this case English, that influences learning L4 German the most.

Mycobacterial infections are difficult to treat, requiring a combination of drugs and lengthy treatment times, thereby presenting a substantial burden to both the patient and health services worldwide. The limited treatment options available are under threat due to the emergence of antibiotic resistance in the pathogen, hence necessitating the development of new treatment regimens. Drug development processes are lengthy, resource intensive, and high-risk, which have contributed to market failure as demonstrated by pharmaceutical companies limiting their antimicrobial drug discovery programmes. Pre-clinical protocols evaluating treatment regimens that can mimic in vivo PK/PD attributes can underpin the drug development process. The hollow fibre infection model (HFIM) allows for the pathogen to be exposed to a single or a combination of agents at concentrations achieved in vivo–in plasma or at infection sites. Samples taken from the HFIM, depending on the analyses performed, provide information on the rate of bacterial killing and the emergence of resistance. Thereby, the HFIM is an effective means to investigate the efficacy of a drug combination. Although applicable to a wide variety of infections, the complexity of anti-mycobacterial drug discovery makes the information available from the HFIM invaluable as explored in this review.

Porous materials are two-phase media consisting of pores saturated with a fluid emerging from a solid skeleton. There are several parameters describing the porous medium. These parameters are classified into two categories: the high-frequency parameters and the low-frequency parameters. During the excitation by an acoustic wave, two cases can occur; the vibration of both phases simultaneously in the case where the structure is flexible, this case is well studied by Biot theory. For a rigid structure, it is the movement of the fluid that is taken into account; this last case is treated by the equivalent fluid theory which is a particular case of Biot theory. Previous work [Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 45, 045004 (2021)] has shown the influence of the parameters involved in the corrected Johnson-Allard model recently introduced by Sadouki [Phys. Fluids 33, (2021)] on the transmitted signal from a rigid-porous material in the low-frequency regime of ultrasound. The objective of this work is to show, once again, the influence of the same parameters on the reflected signal by providing a comparative study between transmitted and reflected modes.

A simulation study of mechanical parameters sensitivity to reflected ultrasound waves at the second interface of a hypothetical human cancellous bone sample is proposed. The sample is considered as a biphasic porous medium saturated by a fluid. The visco-inertial exchanges between the structure and the saturating fluid are described by the Biot theory modified by the Johnson model. An analytical expression of the reflection coefficient at the second interface is obtained in the frequency domain. This expression depends on three physical parameters, which are the porosity, the tortuosity, and the viscous characteristic length, as well as on mechanical parameters, Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of the solid and the skeletal frame of the medium. The reflected signal is calculated in the frequency domain by the product of the spectrum of the incident signal by the reflection coefficient. In the time domain, the reflected wave is obtained by taking the inverse Fourier transform of the reflected frequency signal. The effect of mechanical parameters on the reflected signal inside the medium is studied. The results obtained are discussed and compared to those given in the literature.

A direct and inverse method is proposed for measuring the thickness and flow resistivity of a rigid air-saturated porous material using acoustic reflected waves at low frequency. The equivalent fluid model is considered. The interactions between the structure and the fluid are taken by the dynamic tortuosity of the medium introduced by Johnson et al. and the dynamic compressibility of the air introduced by Allard. A simplified expression of the reflection coefficient is obtained at very low frequencies domain (Darcy’s regime). This expression depends only on the thickness and flow resistivity of the porous medium. The simulated reflected signal of the direct problem is obtained by the product of the experimental incident signal and the theoretical reflection coefficient. The inverse problem is solved numerically by minimizing between simulated and experimental reflected signals. The tests are carried out using two samples of polyurethane plastic foam with different thicknesses and resistivity. The inverted values of thickness and flow resistivity are compared with those obtained by conventional methods giving good results.

The structural, electronic, elastic and magnetic properties of CoCrScIn were investigated using first principle calculations with applying the full-potential linearized augmented plane waves (FP-LAPW) method, based totally on the density functional theory (DFT). After evaluating the results, the calculated structural parameters reveal that CoCrScIn compound is stable in its ferrimagnetic configuration of the type-III structure. The mechanical properties show its brittle and stiffer behavior. The formation energy value showed that CoCrScIn can be experimentally synthesized. Additionally, the obtained band structures and density of states (DOS) reflect the half-metallic behavior of CoCrScIn, with an indirect bandgap of 0.43[Formula: see text]eV. The total magnetic moment of 3[Formula: see text][Formula: see text] and half-metallic ferrimagnetic state are maintained in the range 5.73–6,79 Å. The magnetic moment especially issues from the Cr-[Formula: see text] and Co-[Formula: see text] spin-polarizations. Furthermore, the calculations of Curie temperature reveal that CoCrScIn has high magnetic transition temperature of 836.7[Formula: see text]K.

Web services are based mainly on SOA architecture. They are considered as autonomous entities that can be published, discovered and invoked dynamically on the Internet. With the complex needs of the companies that cannot be met by a single service, a composition of multiple services is required. This composition must satisfy not only functional specifications but also non-functional ones (QoS). With the dynamism and ever-changing environment, a composite service is vulnerable. During its execution, at any time, one or more services can fail or become unavailable; therefore, it violates the end-to-end constraints. Dynamic reconfiguration allows repairing the failed services to ensure efficient and reliable service with respect to end-to-end constraints. In this paper, we have proposed the meta-heuristic RP-SFLA to replace multiple failed services and maintain the original end-to-end constraints. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach in terms of running time and fitness value through various tests compared with PSO algorithm.

In the present study, the wave equations for shear waves propagating in anisotropic fluid-saturated porous media are established in order to obtain the solutions in terms of displacements and dispersion equation. The wave velocities in the vertical and horizontal directions are derived. The uncertainties of the soil parameters due to their spatial variability are taken into account via Monte Carlo Simulations. The results are restricted to the effects of the porosity and permeability uncertainties on the phase velocity and attenuation for SH wave in addition to the anisotropy for Love wave. Results show that the mean velocities are more sensitive to the random variations of the permeability than to that of the porosity, but both phase velocity and attenuation decrease as the uncertainties increase. On the other hand, the anisotropy level and the randomness significantly affect the dispersion of Love waves. The present approach which converts a deterministic solution in a probabilistic one may be used as an everyday tool for practical applications of shear wave propagation in random media.

The goal of QoS aware web service composition (QoS-WSC) is to provide new functionalities and find a best combination of services to meet complex needs of users. QoS of the resulting composite service should be optimized. QoS-WSC is a global multi-objective optimization problem belonging to NP-hard class given the number of available services. Most of existing approaches reduce this problem to a single-objective problem by aggregating different objectives, which leads to a loss of information. An alternative issue is to use Pareto-based approaches. The Pareto-optimal set contains solutions that ensure the best trade-off between conflicting objectives. In this paper, a new multi-objective meta-heuristic bio-inspired Pareto-based approach is presented to address the QoS-WSC, it is based on Elephants Herding Optimization (EHO) algorithm. EHO is characterised by a strategy of dividing and combining the population to sub population (clan) which allows exchange of information between local searches to get a global optimum. However, the application of others evolutionary algorithms to this problem cannot avoids the early stagnancy in a local optimum. In this paper a discrete and multi-objective version of EHO will be presented based on a crossover operator. Compared with SPEA2 (Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm 2) and MOPSO (Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm), the results of experimental evaluation show that our improvements significantly outperform the existing algorithms in term of Hypervolume, Set Coverage and Spacing metrics.

Thin films of Co-doped [Formula: see text]-MnO2 have been deposited on Pyrex glass substrates by the sol–gel dip-coating method with Co concentrations of 1, 3, 5 and 7 at.%. The deposited thin films were characterized for their structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties. The XRD spectra confirm that all the samples have tetragonal phase of [Formula: see text]-MnO2. FTIR spectra reveal the presence of Mn–O in all of the samples. AFM measurements indicate that the surfaces of films have been affected with cobalt content incorporation. Transmittance spectra of the undoped and Co-doped MnO2 thin films were recorded by a UV–vis spectrometer. Optical gap was found to be in the 2.60–2.51-eV scale. This decrease is due to the presence of manganese vacancies and/or oxygen defects. From the complex impedance measurements that show semicircular arcs at different cobalt contents, an equivalent parallel [Formula: see text] electrical circuit has been proposed.

The full-potential linearized augmented plane waves (FP-LAPW) method, within the density functional theory (DFT), has been used to investigate the structural and elastic properties of KRbAs, KNaAs and NaRbAs. The obtained results, utilizing the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), revealed that all compounds prefer their type-I structure ferromagnetic (FM) phase. However, only two among them, KRbAs and KNaAs, exhibit a mechanical stability thus the electronic and magnetic properties have been calculated for both compounds. In the electronic properties, we found that both compounds show a half-metallic character with direct gaps of 1.114[Formula: see text]eV and 1.514[Formula: see text]eV, in the spin-up channel, for KNaAs and KRbAs, respectively. Thus, they may be potential candidates for spin injection in the field of spintronic applications. Moreover, their integer calculated total magnetic moment of [Formula: see text] agrees with the Slater–Pauling rule.

This study aims at investigating the effect of second language in third language learning. It focuses on metalinguistic awareness, which reflects the extent to which learners can use their background languages in the process of third and additional language learning. The study gives insights into the issue of metalinguistic awareness by testing the participants’ vocabulary knowledge in learning English as a foreign language. The number of participants in this study is 30; they are all middle school students who have Arabic/Berber as native languages, French as a second language, and English as a third language. Two translation tasks were designed to find out how participants use their background languages in learning English: translating words in the first task and paragraph translation (from English into Arabic) and think-aloud protocols in the second task. Additionally, a semi-structured interview is conducted with 8 participants. The findings reveal how participants possess greater cognitive control in language acquisition due to language relatedness between the foreign languages they learn.

ObjectivesThis systematic review focuses on the use of the in vitro hollow fibre infection model (HFIM) for microbial culture. We summarize the direction of the field to date and propose best-practice principles for reporting of the applications.MethodsSearches in six databases (MEDLINE®, EMBASE®, PubMed®, BIOSIS®, SCOPUS® and Cochrane®) up to January 2020 identified 129 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. Two reviewers independently assessed and extracted data from each publication. The quality of reporting of microbiological and technical parameters was analysed.ResultsForty-seven out of 129 (36.4%) studies did not report the minimum pharmacokinetic parameters required in order to replicate the pharmacokinetic profile of HFIM experiments. Fifty-three out of 129 (41.1%) publications did not report the medium used in the HFIM. The overwhelming majority of publications did not perform any technical repeats [107/129 (82.9%)] or biological repeats [97/129 (75.2%)].ConclusionsThis review demonstrates that most publications provide insufficient data to allow for results to be evaluated, thus impairing the reproducibility of HFIM experiments. Therefore, there is a clear need for the development of laboratory standardization and improved reporting of HFIM experiments.

Background Low 25(OH)D levels are mainly related to breast cancer (BC) risk in postmenopausal women, while the impact of insulin resistance (IR) on BC prognosis is controversial. Objective Considering the high prevalence of BC in younger Algerian women, this cross-sectional study analyzed whether vitamin D status and IR are biomarkers for breast tumor status in premenopausal women. Methods In 96 women (mean age, 40.96 ± 0.65years) newly diagnosed with BC, tumor status was determined immunohistochemically, classified by molecular subtype, then correlated with body-mass index, total plasma 25(OH)D, insulin and glucose levels and HOMA-IR, using Chi2, Student t, Spearman and ANOVA tests and multivariate logistic regression. Results A total of 66 of the 96 patients (68.75%) showed vitamin D deficiency (9.74 ng/mL). Overweight and obese patients with HOMA-IR > 2.5, positive for HER2 and with high Ki-67 index had the most severe vitamin D deficiency. There was a significant association between vitamin D deficiency, high Ki-67 index (OR, 14.55; 95% CI: 3.43–82.59; P = 0.00078) and IR (OR, 4.99; 95% CI: 1.27–24.47; P = 0.03), and between IR and HER2-positivity (OR, 3.23; 95% CI: 1.05–10.56; P = 0.04). Conclusions Vitamin D deficiency and IR are potential biomarkers for poorer prognosis in BC patients, independently of and/or synergically with high Ki-67 index and HER2-positivity in premenopausal overweight or obese women. The potential relationship of vitamin D receptor gene expression with breast cancer survival in Algerian patients will be investigated in a large cohort.

Cefiderocol is a parenteral siderophore cephalosporin with a catechol-containing 3′ substituent. We evaluated its MICs against Gram-negative bacteria, using iron-depleted Mueller-Hinton broth. The panel comprised 305 isolates of Enterobacterales, 111 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and 99 of Acinetobacter baumannii, all selected for carbapenem resistance and multidrug resistance to other agents. At 2 and 4 μg/ml, cefiderocol inhibited 78., Cefiderocol is a parenteral siderophore cephalosporin with a catechol-containing 3′ substituent. We evaluated its MICs against Gram-negative bacteria, using iron-depleted Mueller-Hinton broth. The panel comprised 305 isolates of Enterobacterales, 111 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and 99 of Acinetobacter baumannii, all selected for carbapenem resistance and multidrug resistance to other agents. At 2 and 4 μg/ml, cefiderocol inhibited 78.7 and 92.1%, respectively, of all Enterobacterales isolates tested, with rates of 80 to 100% for isolates with all modes of carbapenem resistance except NDM enzymes (41.0% inhibited at 2 μg/ml and 72.1% at 4 μg/ml) or combinations of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and porin loss (61.5% inhibited at 2 μg/ml and 88.5% at 4 μg/ml). Cefiderocol also inhibited 81.1 and 86.5% of all P. aeruginosa isolates at 2 and 4 μg/ml, respectively, with rates of 80 to 100% for isolates with VIM, IMP, GES, or VEB β-lactamases and slightly lower rates for those with NDM (45.5% at 2 μg/ml and 72.7% at 4 μg/ml) and PER (66.7% at 2 μg/ml and 73.3% at 4 μg/ml) enzymes; 63.3% of P. aeruginosa isolates were inhibited at the FDA’s 1-μg/ml breakpoint. Lastly, cefiderocol at 2 and 4 μg/ml inhibited 80.8 and 88.9% of the A. baumannii isolates, respectively, with rates of >85% for isolates with OXA-51-like, -23, -24, or -58 enzymes and 50% at 2 μg/ml and 80% at 4 μg/ml for those with NDM carbapenemases. Dipicolinic acid and avibactam weakly potentiated cefiderocol against Enterobacterales isolates with metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) and serine carbapenemase, respectively, indicating incomplete β-lactamase stability.

The objective of our work is to propose a personalized recommender system based on user–resource interactions and user/resource characteristics in order to suggest the most appropriate resources to users. Recommender systems are commonly used in connection with artificial intelligence because machine learning techniques are frequently used to create recommendation algorithms. We suggest using neural networks to improve resource suggestions. Neural networks can quickly perform complex tasks and easily handle massive data. Our new approach is based on an auto-encoder used as a data extractor to improve user performance and a deep neural network (DNN) for item recommendation. For this, we use an information extraction technique based on the reduction of dimensionality by the use of an auto-encoder to compress the features (the proposed tags). We want to create some semantics between the data in order to enrich the profile of the user. Then based on the history of user ratings as well as data on users and items (useful information such as genre, year, tag and rating), we develop a framework for deep learning to learn a similarity function between users and predict item ratings. We evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach through an experimental study on a real-world dataset such as the MovieLens film recommender system, according to a number of properties. Experimental validation combines both the accuracy of the recommendation system and a set of quality metrics.

Submitted by Silvania Lanfredi (silvania.lanfredi@unesp.br) on 2021-11-23T12:31:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 paper uncorrected proof.pdf: 3205049 bytes, checksum: 1b16f52b6136ce7d703c02289d2b15e3 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by ALESSANDRA KUBA OSHIRO ASSUNÇÃO (alessandra@fct.unesp.br) on 2021-11-23T13:46:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 lanfredi_s_postprint_prud_kand.pdf: 3205049 bytes, checksum: 1b16f52b6136ce7d703c02289d2b15e3 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2021-11-23T13:46:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 lanfredi_s_postprint_prud_kand.pdf: 3205049 bytes, checksum: 1b16f52b6136ce7d703c02289d2b15e3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020-04-12 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) New functional polycation oxide-type catalysts were synthesized by the ultrasonic spray-pyrolysis method. The catalytic activity in the production of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE´s) using soybean oil was studied. Catalysts are conformed by nanostructured hollow spheres of low density with a stoichiometric formula Ca1-KxTiCux/2O3. The influence of the substitutional ratio (x) upon the catalytic activity was verified. The Ca1-xKxTiCux/2O3 sample with x=0.3 showed the highest activity with a yield up to 89 % to produce fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE´s) after 24h reaction using 15wt.% catalysts, 120°C and 40bars. The enhancement in the activity was ascribed to the substitution of the Ca+2 sites by K+ and Ti+4 by Cu+2 and to the hollow morphology favoring a more effective interaction between the soybean oil and the active basic sites of the catalysts. São Paulo State University (Unesp), School of Technology and Sciences, Presidente Prudente, SP Instituto de Ciencias Químicas Aplicadas, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, 8900000 Santiago, Chile Université Grenoble Alpes, LEPMI, 1130 rue de la Piscine, F-38402 St Martin d'Hères, France CNRS, LEPMI, F-38000 Grenoble, France Laboratory of Technology and Solid Properties (LTPS), Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Abdelhamid Ibn Badis University, Mostaganem, 27000, Algeria Unidad de Desarrollo Tecnológico (UDT), Universidad de Concepción, Barrio Universitario s/n, Concepción, Chile FAPESP: 07/03510-9 FAPESP: 14/11189-0 FAPESP: 19/06623-6 FAPESP: 02/05997-9