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The study is aimed at developing a technique for forming a structure with a Schottky barrier in the form of a mltilayer Al-Ag2S-ITO sandwich structure, which includes a condensate of colloidal Ag2S quantum dots passivated with thioglycolic acid molecules (Ag2S/TGA QDs). The spectral properties were studied using a USB2000+ spectrometer (Ocean Optics, USA) with a USB-DT light source (Ocean Optics, USA). Electrophysical and photoelectric properties of the structures were studied using a Keysight B1500A semiconductor device analyzer (Keysight tech, USA). The study of the temperature dependences of the properties in the temperature range from 300 to 360 K was carried out in a Shielded room (Faraday cage) placed in a muffle furnace. It was found that the conductivity of the Al-Ag2S-ITO structure is mostly governed by the Schottky barrier at the Al-condensed Ag2S QDs film junction. At the junction between the condensed Ag2S QDs film and Al, signs of the formation of a rectifying contact were found. Under the action of the optical radiation with a wavelength of 650 nm and less, which corresponds to the most probable exciton transition in the UV-Vis absorption of Ag2S/TGA QDs, an increase in the current was found for the negative branch of the J-V curve.

Zainab Rathore,1 Samina Alim,2 Ava Khoshnaghsh3 1Southend University Hospital, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Westcliff-on-Sea, UK; 2St George’s, University of London Medical School, London, UK; 3Kings College London Medical School, London, UKCorrespondence: Samina Alim, St George’s University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE, UK, Email sam.ina@hotmail.com

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is a cool season legume crop that plays vital roles in food and nutritional security, mostly in the least developed countries. Lentil is often cultivated in dry and semi-dry regions, where the primary abiotic factor is drought, which negatively impacts lentil growth and development, resulting in a reduction of yield. To withstand drought-induced multiple negative effects, lentil plants evolved a variety of adaptation strategies that can be classified within three broad categories of drought tolerance mechanisms (i.e., escape, avoidance, and tolerance). Lentil adapts to drought by the modulation of various traits in the root system, leaf architecture, canopy structure, branching, anatomical features, and flowering process. Furthermore, the activation of certain defensive biochemical pathways as well as the regulation of gene functions contributes to lentil drought tolerance. Plant breeders typically employ conventional and mutational breeding approaches to develop lentil varieties that can withstand drought effects; however, little progress has been made in developing drought-tolerant lentil varieties using genomics-assisted technologies. This review highlights the current understanding of morpho-physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms of lentil adaptation to drought stress. We also discuss the potential application of omics-assisted breeding approaches to develop lentil varieties with superior drought tolerance traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Berdasarkan fakta yang ada banyak peserta didik mendapatkan hasil belajar yang kurang memuaskan, hal ini disebabkan karena kurangnya pendidik dalam melatih keterampilan berpikir kritis peserta didik dalam memecahkan suatu permasalahan yang ada dalam suatu pelajaran. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh model problem based learning terhadap keterampilan berpikir kritis siswa Sekolah Dasar tahun ajaran 2023/2024. Jenis penelitian ini adalah eksperimen dengan bentuk Quasi Eksperimental menggunakan Design Nonequivalent Control Group Design design. Desain ini merupakan jenis desain yang memberikan pre-test sebelum perlakuan dan post-test setelah dikenakan perlakuan pada masing-masing kelompok. Uji coba penelitian eksperimen ini dilakukan dengan dua kelas yang dijadikan sampel dan diberi perlakuan yang berbeda selama pembelajaran. Kelas eksperimen menggunakan model problem based learning yaitu sebagai kelas pertama, sedangkan kelas kontrol menggunakan model pembelajaran konvensional sebagai kelas kedua. Penelitian dilakukan di kelas IV SDN Banjar 04 Galis. Menggunakan kelas IVB sebagai kelompok eksperimen dan kelas VA sebagai kelompok kontrol yang masing-masing terdiri dari 25 siswa. Teknik analisis data dalam penelitian ini menggunakan uji prasyarat berupa uji normalitas dan homogenitas serta uji hipotesis menggunakan uji t (t-test). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa penggunaan model problem based learning memberikan pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa materi wujud zat dan perubahannya. Hal ini dibuktikan dari hasil uji-t (t-test) dengan nilai sig 0,00 < 0,05. Kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa yang diperoleh kelompok eksperimen lebih tinggi dari pada kelompok kontrol, ditunjukkan dari mean kelompok kontrol= 10.80 dan mean yang diperoleh kelompok eksperimen sebesar 11.84. Keterampilan berpikir kritis siswa pada kelompok eksperimen lebih tinggi dibandingkan pada kelompok kontrol, hal ini ditunjukkan dengan rata-rata kelompok kontrol sebesar 10,80 dan rata-rata kelompok eksperimen = 11,84. Oleh karena itu, model problem based learning dapat menjadi salah satu alternatif bagi pendidik untuk melatih berpikir kritis pada siswa khususnya pada siswa sekolah dasar.

Introduction Determining aetiology of severe illness can be difficult, especially in settings with limited diagnostic resources, yet critical for providing life-saving care. Our objective was to describe the accuracy of antemortem clinical diagnoses in young children in high-mortality settings, compared with results of specific postmortem diagnoses obtained from Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS).Methods We analysed data collected during 2016–2022 from seven sites in Africa and South Asia. We compared antemortem clinical diagnoses from clinical records to a reference standard of postmortem diagnoses determined by expert panels at each site who reviewed the results of histopathological and microbiological testing of tissue, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid. We calculated test characteristics and 95% CIs of antemortem clinical diagnostic accuracy for the 10 most common causes of death. We classified diagnostic discrepancies as major and minor, per Goldman criteria later modified by Battle.Results CHAMPS enrolled 1454 deceased young children aged 1–59 months during the study period; 881 had available clinical records and were analysed. The median age at death was 11 months (IQR 4–21 months) and 47.3% (n=417) were female. We identified a clinicopathological discrepancy in 39.5% (n=348) of deaths; 82.3% of diagnostic errors were major. The sensitivity of clinician antemortem diagnosis ranged from 26% (95% CI 14.6% to 40.3%) for non-infectious respiratory diseases (eg, aspiration pneumonia, interstitial lung disease, etc) to 82.2% (95% CI 72.7% to 89.5%) for diarrhoeal diseases. Antemortem clinical diagnostic specificity ranged from 75.2% (95% CI 72.1% to 78.2%) for diarrhoeal diseases to 99.0% (95% CI 98.1% to 99.6%) for HIV.Conclusions Antemortem clinical diagnostic errors were common for young children who died in areas with high childhood mortality rates. To further reduce childhood mortality in resource-limited settings, there is an urgent need to improve antemortem diagnostic capability through advances in the availability of diagnostic testing and clinical skills.

Many strategic efforts were made to address nurses’ shortage in controlling Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including recruiting student health volunteers. This review aimed to explore the contribution and involvement of nursing student volunteers during COVID-19.

With the emergence of multisource data and the development of cloud computing platforms, accurate prediction of event-scale dust source regions based on machine learning (ML) methods should be considered, especially accounting for the temporal variability in sample and predictor variables. Arid Central Asia (ACA) is recognized as one of the world’s primary potential sand and dust storm (SDS) sources. In this study, based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, four ML methods were used for SDS source prediction in ACA. Fourteen meteorological and terrestrial factors were selected as influencing factors controlling SDS source susceptibility and applied in the modeling process. Generally, the results revealed that the random forest (RF) algorithm performed best, followed by the gradient boosting tree (GBT), maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model and support vector machine (SVM). The Gini impurity index results of the RF model indicated that the wind speed played the most important role in SDS source prediction, followed by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). This study could facilitate the development of programs to reduce SDS risks in arid and semiarid regions, particularly in ACA.

New Normal is a change in behavior to continue carrying out normal activities but coupled with the implementation of health protocols to prevent Covid-19 transmission. In Indonesia itself, the new normal is applied as a realistic response from the Indonesian government to the existence of COVID-19 as well as the results of the analysis in various sectors of national life, especially the future of the national economy in the medium and long term. After the implementation of the new normal, it automatically affects the routine activities carried out by the community, especially those activities that were restricted by the government at the time of the New Normal. This study aims to analyze the factors that influence behavior change after the application of the New Normal in the Covid-19 Pandemic. A modified Theory of Planned Behavior is used in this study using testing through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-PLS). A total of 427 respondents who have worked have answered the online questionnaire containing 61 questions. The results of this study indicate that knowledge and understanding of covid-19 make people understand the severity they feel and the vulnerabilities they may experience. The severity and vulnerability they feel also have an influence on their attitudes, behavior control, past behavior, and subjective norms so that they have a strong factor in building their intention to behave during the pandemic when the new normal is enacted. The intention that has been built with the support of attitudinal factors, past behavior, subjective norms, and behavior control also changes people's behavior. Employees are able to more moderate the relationship between attitudes towards intention and the relationship between past behavior and intention than entrepreneurs.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the main cereal crops in the world and the main staple food of Bangladesh. Amylose content of rice endosperm is the main chemical properties that contributes the eating and cooking quality. On the other hand, rice protein is the important source of nutrition of almost 50 per cent of the world's population living on rice. A total of 12 rice genotypes including ten advanced mutant lines, one landrace namely Laxmidigha along with BRRI dhan49 was collected from Plant Breeding Division of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Mymensingh and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Gazipur. The genotypes were analyzed to assess the amylose and protein content as well as their genetic diversity relationship. Among all the tested genotypes amylose content were ranged from 23.9-20.3% where highest amylose percentage was found for Magic-86 (25.6%). Protein content of the genotypes were ranged from 8.50-5.04%, where highest 8.86% protein was recorded for SSB-3. The highest gene diversity (0.81) was observed in RM519 marker and the lowest (0.28) was in RM111 marker. The PIC values ranged from 0.24-0.78 with a mean of 0.51. The highest Nei's genetic distance value 0.87 was found in RM-16(N)-10 vs RM-40(C)-4-2-8 and the lowest value 0.18 was found in LD-200-1-3-3-8 vs LD-200-1-3-2-4. A dendogram was constructed using UPGMA system based on Nei's similarity coefficient and six major clusters were obtained at 0.7 cut off. The genotypes showing diverse ranges of amylose and protein content tended to cluster together in the dendogram with some exceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectiveAdolescent pregnancy is a major social and public health problem that burdens affected families, the communities and societies globally. It has been associated with a higher prevalence of adverse pregnancy outcomes compared to pregnancy in adults. To compare adverse pregnancy outcomes in adolescents (13-19 years) and those in adults (20 to 35 years) at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana and investigate the associated factors among adolescents.MethodsThis comparative study involved 110 adolescents (13-19 years) and 220 adults (20 to 35 years) who delivered at the Maternity Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital between November 2016 and February 2017. Participants were recruited using the convenience sampling method. After study protocol was explained to the parturient, informed voluntary consent and assent were obtained. Participants who met the inclusion criteria were recruited in the study. Sociodemographic characteristics, antenatal and delivery records; and maternal and perinatal outcomes were collected using an interviewer administered questionnaire and the participants' records. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 16.0.ResultsThe prevalence of adolescent pregnancies during the study period was 5.1%. Compared to adults, adolescents were about 3 times more likely to have eclampsia although preeclampsia occurred more in adults. Adolescents that resided in sub-urban dwellings were more likely to have an adverse perinatal outcome compared to their adult counterparts.ConclusionOur study found that, in addition to their socioeconomic and biophysical disadvantages, adolescents were likely to have exceptionally high risk of eclampsia.

In resource-limited settings where vital registration and medical death certificates are unavailable or incomplete, verbal autopsy (VA) is often used to attribute causes of death (CoD) and prioritize resource allocation and interventions. We aimed to determine the CoD concordance between InterVA and CHAMPS's method. The causes of death (CoDs) of children

This paper, based on the non-parametric tests and wavelet analysis, analyzed monthly precipitation and runoff data of the small basin in the northern part of the Lake Issyk-Kull basin over the nearly 62-year period, the concentration and correlation of precipitation and runoff in the small bowl of the north Lake Issyk-Kull basin. The results indicated that (1) the Cholpon-Ata River runoff (runoff 1) and the Chong-Ak-Suu River runoff (runoff 2) in the small watershed in the northern part of Lake Issyk-Kull basin are from June to April, January, and from September to November showed a significant increasing trend. The significant abrupt growth change occurred in 1983, while the precipitation at the Cholpon-Ata station showed a significant increasing trend in February, with a sharp point around 1980. (2) The concentration degree (Cd) index of runoff 1 in the small watershed in the northern part of the Lake Issyk-Kull basin has increased but not significantly, and the Cd index of precipitation and runoff 2 showed an insignificant decrease. (3) The Cd index of runoff 1 in the small watershed in the northern part of Lake Issyk-Kull basin existed for 10 years and 18 years, and the Cd index of River 2 existed for 9 years and 13 years. In contrast, the precipitation Cd index was significant at 4- and 15-year cycles. (4) On multiple time scales, they have a significant negative correlation between the runoff and precipitation in the small watershed in the northern part of the Lake Issyk-Kul basin from May to September.