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This research paper explores the evolution of voting systems, assessing vulnerabilities in traditional methods and investigating blockchain technology as a solution. Traditional voting systems encounter challenges concerning security, transparency, and accessibility, prompting a transition towards blockchain-based online voting. Blockchain, originating from cryptocurrencies, decentralizes control, thereby enhancing transparency, integrity, and security in elections. Real-world case studies from Estonia and West Virginia offer insights into implementation and successes. Ethical considerations, including privacy and consent, alongside societal impacts like inclusivity and democratization, are scrutinized. The proposed blockchain-based voting system prioritizes decentralization, tamper resistance, and interoperability. Security measures incorporate cryptographic techniques and multi-factor authentication. Transparency is assured through a publicly accessible blockchain ledger, facilitating an auditable voting process. The paper addresses challenges like voter accessibility and election anonymity, proposing mitigation strategies. Future directions entail integrating blockchain with AI and machine learning for interoperability and standardization. Collaboration among policymakers, technologists, and researchers is pivotal for advocating secure, transparent, and accessible blockchain-based voting systems, with the goal of fostering globally participatory elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Rohit. Bhatia, Partha. Haldar, Inder. Puri, M. Padma Srivastava, Sanjeev. Bhoi, Menka. Jha, Anupam. Dey, Suprava. Naik, Satyabrata. Guru, Mamta. Singh, V. Vishnu, Roopa. Rajan, Anu. Gupta, Deepti. Vibha, [...]

Through social media platforms and the internet, the world is becoming more and more connected, and producing enormous amounts of data. Also, the texts are collected from social media, newspapers, user reviews of products, company press releases, etc. The correctness of the classification is mainly dependent on the kind of words utilised in the corpus and the features utilised for classification. Hence, due to the increasing growth of text data on the Internet, the accurate organisation and management of text data has become a great challenge. Hence, in this research, an effective Invasive Weed Tunicate Swarm Optimization-based Hierarchical Attention Network (IWTSO-based HAN) is implemented for achieving categorisation of text. Here, the features are mined from the text and thereby the optimal features are acquired to perform the classification strategy. The incorporation of parametric features of each optimisation ensures the proposed method to increase the convergence of global solutions by improving the categorisation effectiveness. The proposed method obtained better performance for text classification with measures, like accuracy, True Positive Rate (TRP), True Negative Rate (TNR), precision, and False Negative Rate (FNR) with values of 92.4%, 92.4%, 94.1%, 95.4%, and 0.0758. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polysaccharide-based nanoparticles have garnered significant attention in recent years due to their unique properties and diverse applications in the biomedical field. These nanoparticles are fabricated from natural polysaccharides, such as chitosan, alginate, cellulose, starch, and hyaluronic acid, which offer inherent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low toxicity, making them attractive candidates for drug delivery, imaging, and tissue engineering. This abstract provides a comprehensive overview of the synthesis, properties, and biomedical applications of polysaccharide-based nanoparticles. The synthesis methods encompass both chemical and physical approaches, including emulsification, nanoprecipitation, ionic gelation, and self-assembly techniques. These methods allow for precise control over nanoparticle size, shape, and surface characteristics, which directly impact their functionality and performance in various applications. Furthermore, polysaccharide-based nanoparticles find utility in medical imaging, providing contrast agents for enhanced diagnostic accuracy and disease monitoring. Additionally, they hold immense potential in tissue engineering, facilitating scaffold fabrication and promoting tissue regeneration through controlled release of growth factors and bioactive molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought stress remains one of the most detrimental environmental constraints that hampers plant growth and development resulting in reduced yield and leading to economic losses. Studies have highlighted the beneficial role of carbon-based nanomaterials (NMs) such as multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), graphene, fullerene, and metal-based nanoparticles (NPs) (Ag, Au, Cu, Fe2O3, TiO2, and ZnO) in plants under unfavorable conditions such as drought. NPs help plants cope with drought by improving plant growth indices and enhancing biomass. It improves water and nutrient uptake and utilization. It helps retain water by altering the cell walls and regulating stomatal closure. The photosynthetic parameters in NP-treated plants reportedly improved with the increase in pigment content and rate of photosynthesis. Due to NP exposure, the activation of enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants has reportedly improved. These antioxidants play a significant role in the defense system against stress. Studies have reported the accumulation of osmolytes and secondary metabolites. Osmolytes scavenge reactive oxygen species, which can cause oxidative stress in plants. Secondary metabolites are involved in the water retention process, thus improving plant coping strategies with stress. The deleterious effects of drought stress are alleviated by reducing malondialdehyde resulting from lipid peroxidation. Reactive oxygen species accumulation is also controlled with NP treatment. Furthermore, NPs have been reported to regulate the expression of drought-responsive genes and the biosynthesis of phytohormones such as abscisic acid, auxin, gibberellin, and cytokinin, which help plants defend against drought stress. This study reviewed 72 journal articles from 192 Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and PubMed papers. In this review, we have discussed the impact of NP treatment on morphological, physio-biochemical, and molecular responses in monocot and dicot plants under drought conditions with an emphasis on NP uptake, transportation, and localization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Spinal Anaethesia in Pediatric patient is still practiced with apprehension at most of the centers. With increasing reservations of practicing general anaestheia with respect to later cognitive functions, spinal anaesthesia is definitely a better alternative. We share the management of two anticipated difficult airway cases using the neuraxial block. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A good work life balance is essential for the employees of any organization because it emphasize on balancing the personal and professional life. However there is scarcity of studies focusing work-life balance of defense force employees in India. Aims & Objectives: The present study explores the Work-Life Balance and Occupational Stress of the Non-Gazetted Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Jawans. The main objective behind conducting this study is to investigate the relationship between Work Life Balance and Occupational Stress among the Non-Gazetted CRPF Jawans. Methods: The present study is a quantitative cross-sectional study based on data collected from 354 non-gazetted officers of 148th battalion in Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh, India. Data was collected from after receiving written consent from the respondents. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed to collect the data which included questions related to socio-demographic characteristics, 13 self-developed questions related to work life balance and 46 items Occupational Stress scale developed by Srivastava & Singh. Result: Most of the CRPF Jawans had moderate occupational stress and high work-life balance. The study found moderate negative correlation between Work Life Balance score and Occupational Stress score among the non-gazetted CRPF Jawans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Neha. Pangasa, Ganga. Prasad, Gunjan. Singh, Parvathy. Nair Sir, Pulmonary agenesis is a rare congenital malformation in which there is total absence of the bronchial tree, alveolar parenchyma, pulmonary [...]

One of the effectual text classification approaches for learning extensive information is incremental learning. The big issue that occurs is enhancing the accuracy, as the text is comprised of a large number of terms. In order to address this issue, a new incremental text classification approach is designed using the proposed hybrid optimization algorithm named the Henry Fuzzy Competitive Multi-verse Optimizer (HFCVO)-based Deep Maxout Network (DMN). Here, the optimal features are selected using Invasive Weed Tunicate Swarm Optimization (IWTSO), which is devised by integrating Invasive Weed Optimization (IWO) and the Tunicate Swarm Algorithm (TSA), respectively. The incremental text classification is effectively performed using the DMN, where the classifier is trained utilizing the HFCVO. Nevertheless, the developed HFCVO is derived by incorporating the features of Henry Gas Solubility Optimization (HGSO) and the Competitive Multi-verse Optimizer (CMVO) with fuzzy theory. The proposed HFCVO-based DNM achieved a maximum TPR of 0.968, a maximum TNR of 0.941, a low FNR of 0.032, a high precision of 0.954, and a high accuracy of 0.955. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Gunjan. Singh, Manpreet. Kaur, Maya. Dehran Sir, Ventricular premature complexes (VPCs) are the premature discharge of ventricular ectopic focus. We report the anaesthetic management of a patient with VPCs [...]

The prior studies reflected that eWOM has significant positive impact on different marketing outcomes but study of impact of eWOM on online purchase intention is comparatively a less explored area. Prior research has demonstrated a strong influence of eWOM on consumers. However, it is not known whether individuals react differently to eWOM when it concerns branded products rather than unbranded products. This paper therefore examines the impact of branded and unbranded electronic products on consumers’ reaction towards positive and negative eWOM. The study is conducted to highlight the customer preference of branded and unbranded electronic products by reviewing eWOM patterns online in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh region. The current study is limited to the sample size of 150 customers who purchased electronic products online. The study depicts that both the perception level as well as behavioural level show that eWOM has a stronger influence on purchase intention for unbranded electronic products as compared to branded electronic products. At a perception level negative messages are seen as more negative when concerning branded electronic products rather than unbranded electronic products. Thus, the role of eWOM in selecting branded and unbranded electronic products in online context is examined in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lot has been written on the China-Bangladesh relations. However, there has been a renewed focus on Dhaka from Beijing since 2016. This paper focuses on the developments in bilateral relations, post-Xi Jinpingís historic visit to Bangladesh in 2016 and after Dhaka decided to join the BRI. The paper looks at the Chinese engagements in various areas and also discusses if this has benefitted Bangladesh. It also discusses how these economic and defence ties affect the Bangladesh-China relations, while analysing their impact on Dhakaís relations with other countries in South Asia, with major focus on India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A very special type of pneumonic disease that generated the COVID‐19 pandemic was first identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and is spreading all over the world. The ongoing outbreak presents a challenge for data scientists to model COVID‐19, when the epidemiological characteristics of the COVID‐19 are yet to be fully explained. The uncertainty around the COVID‐19 with no vaccine and effective medicine available until today create additional pressure on the epidemiologists and policy makers. In such a crucial situation, it is very important to predict infected cases to support prevention of the disease and aid in the preparation of healthcare service. In this paper, we have tried to understand the spreading capability of COVID‐19 in India taking into account of the lockdown period. The numbers of confirmed cases are increased in India and states in the past few weeks. A differential equation based simple model has been used to understand the pattern of COVID‐19 in India and some states. Our findings suggest that the physical distancing and lockdown strategies implemented in India are successfully reducing the spread and that the tempo of pandemic growth has slowed in recent days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection, more commonly referred to as COVID-19, has rapidly developed into a worldwide pandemic with a significant health burden. At the time of this research there are no approved pharmacological treatments or preventative therapeutic strategies in place to combat the infection. However, globally, hundreds of clinical studies that aim to discover effective COVID-19 treatments are ongoing. This article summarises the rationale behind several of these interventional trials, including evidence from in vitro studies, and early results to provide an insight into the global response. As patients are being enrolled in clinical trials across the UK, some of the safety and practical considerations for the investigational medicines that pharmacists are most likely to encounter in practice are discussed as part of this review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millions of people in the world depend on traditional medicinal plants for treatment of many diseases. They have curative properties due to presence of various complex chemical substances of different composition, which are found as secondary plant metabolites in one or more parts of these plants. These plant metabolites according to their composition are grouped as flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, saponins etc. Guiera senegalensis(Gs), which grows in abundance in semi-desert area of Western Africa such as Nigeria, has been used for treating specific diseases and wounds. The study is carried out to investigate the phytochemical analysis, toxicity, and the antifungal activity of Gs leaves extract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Arif. Hashmi, Gunjan. Singh Sir, Medicine and its allied branches are growing at an exponential rate, resulting in a deluge of new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. As clinicians, it [...]

We exploited the high Ras activity induced differentiation of supernumerary R7 cells in Drosophila eyes to examine if hsrω lncRNAs influence active Ras signaling. Surprisingly, either down- or up-regulation of hsrω lncRNAs in sev-GAL4>Ras V12 expressing eye discs resulted in complete pupal lethality and substantially greater increase in R7 photoreceptor number at the expense of cone cells. Enhanced nuclear p-MAPK and presence of sev-GAL4 driven RasV12 bound RafRBDFLAG in cells not expressing the sev-GAL4 driver indicated non-cell autonomous spread of Ras signaling when hsrω levels were co-altered. RNA-sequencing revealed that down-and up-regulation of hsrω transcripts in sev-GAL4>Ras V12 expressing eye discs elevated transcripts of positive or negative modulators, respectively, of Ras signaling so that either condition enhances it. Altered hsrω transcript levels in sev-GAL4 > Ras V12 expressing discs also affected sn/sno/sca RNAs and some other RNA processing transcript levels. Post-transcriptional changes due to the disrupted intra-cellular dynamicity of omega speckle associated hnRNPs and other RNA-binding proteins that follow down- or up-regulation of hsrω lncRNAs appear to be responsible for the further elevated Ras signaling. Cell autonomous and non-autonomous enhancement of Ras signaling by lncRNAs like hsrω has implications for cell signaling during high Ras activity commonly associated with some cancers. • Our findings highlight roles of hsrω lncRNAs in conditionally modulating the important Ras signaling pathway. • We provide evidence for cell non-autonomous Ras signaling in Drosophila eye discs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fluidic delivery system that operates, as processing unit for naphtha sensor, has been developed to detect naphtha. It is a mixture of varied hydrocarbons, which constitute less than 1% seepage in the tailings waste that further incorporates into Mature Fine Tailings. Presently, a sample of mature fine tailings is collected and analyzed using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry every 6 h to monitor its naphtha content. This conventional method of detecting naphtha is time consuming, expensive and requires trained personnel. Furthermore, it does not allow for real-time detection. To meet the demand of real-time naphtha detection in mature fine tailings, efforts were made to design and develop fluidic delivery line as processing unit for naphtha sensor. This paper presents a portable monitoring system, which would facilitate in-situ naphtha detection, and reduced manual labor, cost, among others. This prototype combines filtration unit, pumping system, heating unit and vapor storage for a compact and portable delivery system of the feed obtained from Oil Sands Tailings. The device runs in continuous mode and bears inlet tubing that can be used to draw feed into the system at any source where naphtha is to be detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a replacement to existing fossil fuels, biofuels, have proven their worth; however, their widespread use is limited due to inconsistent yields, higher costs and poor productivity. An oleaginous yeast, Rhodosporidium toruloides has been reported to accumulate substantial amounts of lipids (that can be converted to biofuels) and therefore, it was selected for study and optimization. Apart from lipids, R. toruloides is also reported to produce carotene that can be used as a therapeutic agent. In this study, the culture medium was statistically modeled and optimized for concomitant production of lipids and carotenoids and for improving and maximizing the productivity of lipids as well as carotenes. The two metabolites were expressed differentially in the growth cycle of the organism. Culture medium components were simultaneously varied at five different levels using statistical modeling employing response surface methodology (RSM). Osmotic stress was introduced in order to simulate saline conditions and optimize the carotenoid as well as lipid production process, to be used in conditions with high salt contents. We observed a 10% (w/v) increase in carotenoid production in initial experiments under osmotic stress due to high salt concentration, while the increase in lipid synthesis was not pronounced. In this study, we demonstrate 36.2% (w/v) lipid production and 27.2% (w/v) carotenoid production, under osmotic stress with high salt concentrations, for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]