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Abstract Handwritten signatures in biometric authentication leverage unique individual characteristics for identification, offering high specificity through dynamic and static properties. However, this modality faces significant challenges from sophisticated forgery attempts, underscoring the need for enhanced security measures in common applications. To address forgery in signature-based biometric systems, integrating a forgery-resistant modality, namely, noninvasive electroencephalography (EEG), which captures unique brain activity patterns, can significantly enhance system robustness by leveraging multimodality’s strengths. By combining EEG, a physiological modality, with handwritten signatures, a behavioral modality, our approach capitalizes on the strengths of both, significantly fortifying the robustness of biometric systems through this multimodal integration. In addition, EEG’s resistance to replication offers a high-security level, making it a robust addition to user identification and verification. This study presents a new multimodal SignEEG v1.0 dataset based on EEG and hand-drawn signatures from 70 subjects. EEG signals and hand-drawn signatures have been collected with Emotiv Insight and Wacom One sensors, respectively. The multimodal data consists of three paradigms based on mental, & motor imagery, and physical execution: i) thinking of the signature’s image, (ii) drawing the signature mentally, and (iii) drawing a signature physically. Extensive experiments have been conducted to establish a baseline with machine learning classifiers. The results demonstrate that multimodality in biometric systems significantly enhances robustness, achieving high reliability even with limited sample sizes. We release the raw, pre-processed data and easy-to-follow implementation details.

Facebook Live has become a means of teaching and learning in many parts of the world. This paper, thus, reports an examination of teaching English through Facebook Live and students' experiences of learning on it in the COVID-19 pandemic. It as participatory action research employed observation of self-managed Facebook Live streaming, and an online semi-structured interview with students and parents. The intervention of Facebook Live consisted of three strategies: pre-recorded video streaming, live teaching and a combination of both. This paper reports on how students in absence of a physical classroom learned English through Facebook Live, developed communicative skills and gained ICT skills. Although the teacher's lessons on Facebook Live were appreciated by students and parents as students could get ideas for speaking English, students expressed concerns if they could interact with the teacher and friends. Facebook Live associated with videoconferencing tools, however, can complement physical classroom learning in crises and normal situations.

The Kashmir musk deer (Moschus cupreus) is a globally endangered species hunted for its musk pod. Despite its endangered status, it remains one of the least studied species of musk deer. In 2019, the genetic discovery of Kashmir musk deer in Mustang district of Nepal – outside of its historically known range in Kashmir, India – opened up new avenues for research on this elusive species. Communication among individuals of musk deer is primarily based on latrine sites, which serve various purposes such as territorial marking and reproductive signaling. Hence, this study aims to investigate the association between microhabitat and latrine sites of Kashmir musk deer in the Mustang, Nepal. A systematic survey was conducted to identify latrine presence and absence sites at an elevational gradient. Data on biophysical parameters, including altitude, slope, aspect, tree height, shrub height, and regeneration height were recorded for both latrine presence and absence plots. Significant differences in tree height and regeneration height, crown cover, and trail width were observed between the presence and absence plots. Latrine presence and absence data fitted with the generalized linear model using logistic function, revealed that the interaction between tree height and regeneration height plays a pivotal role in determining the suitability of a particular site within the habitat for establishing a latrine site. This significant positive interaction indicated that the probability of discovering latrines significantly increases when the areas have taller trees and taller regeneration. This finding affects microclimate factors, such as sunlight exposure, wind speed, soil moisture, and temperature, influencing their role in sustaining scent retention in the latrine sites. Incorporating knowledge about the association between microhabitats and latrine sites can aid in preserving suitable habitats that are critical for establishing communication among individual musk deer. This information can inform various conservation efforts, including captive breeding programs, anti-poaching operations, and reintroduction initiatives.

Background: Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) outlines a roadmap for the parties to safeguard public health policies in compliance with the national law from the influence of commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry. Aim: The study was conducted with the aim to identify gaps and bring existing Indian policies in compliance with Article 5.3 of FCTC. Materials and Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional opinion poll involving respondents aged >18 years (n = 164) and a panel discussion (n = 31) were conducted. Results: The majority of stakeholders expressed (strongly agree = 65% and agree = 22.6%) the need for a nationwide policy to regulate interactions between public officials and the tobacco industry. About 56.7% felt the need to expand existing protocols and codes of conduct for public officials across India. Over 84% of the participants supported incorporating specific sections to implement Article 5.3 into the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act Amendment Bill 2020. The majority of participants supported the need for guidelines for medical bodies and prohibiting tobacco companies from participating in corporate social responsibility activities. Conclusion: The Government of India should comprehensively adopt Article 5.3, in all states and union territories, adopting a whole-of-government approach in partnership with the community and civil society under the “whole-of-society” approach for effective tobacco control measures.

Abstract Background Okhaldhunga is a hilly district with fragile socioeconomic conditions, limited access to health care, social stigma, and poor resource management, where most people rely on medicinal plants for primary health care. The use of medicinal plants for primary health care varies with socioeconomic attributes. Following the intra-cultural analysis, we documented and tested the hypothesis that use of medicinal plants in Champadevi, Okhaldhunga, Nepal, depends on socioeconomic variables. Methods We interviewed 224 respondents, 53.12% female and 46.88% male, including 31 Brahmin, 157 Chhetri, 13 Dalit, and 23 Janajati, and conducted three focused group discussions and seven key informant interviews to record the ethnomedicinal plants used in Champadevi rural municipality, Okhaldhunga District. The relative frequency of citation (RFC) was computed to know the importance of the species. A generalized linear model (GLM) was used to see the relationship between medicinal plants reported with the sociocultural variables, which include age, gender, occupation, education, ethnicity, and religion. Results We documented 149 medicinal plants, including 69 herbs, 22 shrubs, nine climbers, 48 trees, and one parasitic plant, belonging to 68 families and 130 genera, and used to treat 48 distinct diseases and ailments. Plant parts, leaf, and digestive disorders were frequently treated during healing. Curcuma angustifolia was the most cited species with RFC 0.9554. The respondents' knowledge of medicinal plant use varied significantly with age (p = 0.0001) and occupation (p = 0.003). Changes in land use, population decline of medicinal plant species, and unsustainable harvesting practices constituted the local threats to medicinal plants and associated knowledge. Elders died without passing on their knowledge to the younger generations during sociocultural transformation, and youth disinterest coupled with the free availability of allopathic medicine led to knowledge erosion. Conclusions The use of medicinal plants in Champadevi, Okhaldhunga, was significantly depended on two socioeconomic variables age and occupation. Ethnomedicinal plants are essential in the primary healthcare system in Nepal; however, their availability and practices are declining. Thus, plans regulating land use change and human migration, acknowledging traditional healthcare practices, and raising awareness of the significance of traditional medical practices as complementary healthcare practices should be strengthened.

Silver nanoparticles are becoming increasingly popular because of their potential applications in bioengineering and medical diagnostics. Nanoparticles possess distinctive features, including increased surface-to-volume ratio and superior magnetic properties, which render them well-suited for a range of biological uses. They have a multi-functionalization, high surface plasmon resonance, large surface area, stable nature, and easy processing. However, silver nanoparticles have exciting potential for biomedical applications, including biomaterials, detection and diagnosis platforms, formulations, drug delivery, and medical device coatings. This typical review provides a comprehensive overview of the current research on silver nanoparticles in biomedical applications, highlighting different methods for creating nanoparticles, exploring their antimicrobial properties in various medical fields, and examining their prospective biological uses.

The higher educational institutions and universities were forced to be shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and came up with an alternative to resume the teaching-learning process via a digital mode of education. Due to many shortcomings in the digital mode of education, it is now necessary to reopen educational institutions. As students are important stakeholders, the views and suggestions are necessary before actually taking a decision on reopening the educational institutions. With objectives on reopening of educational institutions, modification in the course curriculum due to many problems faced by students during online teaching-learning process, health and safety protocols to be followed, etc, 21 questions are designed. Likert scale is used in data collections and analysed using various statistical tools. The students have different views on the reopening of the institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The practical or project-based course curriculum irrespective of offline or online mode of teaching is suggested by most of the students. On the health and safety protocols, the percentage of students giving priorities for creation of disinfection room, hand sanitization station entry and common places and regular health checkup are 74.82%, 80.69% and 74.48%, respectively. On the issue of the health and safety rule implementation, 92.4 % of students committed to pledge to adhere to the health and safety protocols, but 72.9% of students expressed that it would be difficult to enforce health and safety measures to the students inside the institution.

The automatic generation control (AGC) is a paradigm topic of interest that is continuously evolving for adequate power generation control in the power system. In this proposed study, a fuzzy adapted PID (FPID) controller is assigned for the AGC of the hybrid power system in various electrical risks and hazards. The hybrid power system includes traditional thermal and hydroelectric facilities along with gas and nuclear power plants. Two FACTS components, the superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) and the interline power flow controller (IPFC), have been included in to the system to improve stability of the system. The proposed FPID controller is developed to its full potential using the newly developed teaching learning-based optimization (TLBO) method. The TLBO technique's capability has been compared against a few common evolutionary strategies in order to demonstrate its superiority. It also shows how FPID controllers outperform traditional PID controllers. Investigations are also done on how IPFC and SMES might improve system stability performance. Owing to the outcome study, it is revealed that suggested TLBO-FPID, IPFC and SMES are most effective tool to advance the AGC mechanism. It is revealed from the outcomes that anticipated FPID controller reduces the settling time of area1 frequency (ΔF1) by 135.72 %, 428.58 % and 471.42 % over TLBO;PID, DE;PID and PSO;PI respectively. Finally, the proposed mechanisms are discussed with employing in electric vehicle integrated three-area distributed energy source-based power network to justify the efficacy of the proposed approaches.

The robust design and application of a novel type-2 fuzzy tilt controller (Type2-FTC) has been well demonstrated in this manuscript. This controller is anticipated to build automatic generation control (AGC) of a multi-area hybrid power system in concern to the optimal power generation scheduling. The combined action of AGC and optimal scheduling of a power system is referred as economic AGC or commonly ELD-AGC. At the initial stage of the analysis, the concept of only AGC has been discussed through various robust approaches. Then the extensive study on ELD-AGC of the proposed power system has been progressed under various controller actions. Further, the proposed Type2-FTC controller is designed ideally with employing an innovative quassi-opposition path finder algorithm (QO-PFA) in various operating conditions. The effectiveness and the viability of the proposed Type2-FTC controller has been verified over type-I fuzzy PID and conventional PID controllers for AGC as well as ELD-AGC of the multi area power system. In controller comparison study, it has been revealed that proposed Type2-FTC is a potential candidate to improve frequency stability of the system. Further, the analysis over technique study justifies supremacy of the suggested QO-FPA algorithm over standard PFA and PSO algorithms for optimal designing all implemented controllers.

This study explores the co-pyrolysis recycling of the Polypropylene-Bakelite blend to improve the kinetics, thermodynamics, and conversion of thermal degradation of bakelite into useful products. The thermogravimetry analysis of the blend was conducted from ambient to 1000 °C at various heating rates in an N2 atmosphere. Thermogravimetric-Differential thermogravimetry curves revealed four steps of pyrolytic degradation, including two major weight loss steps (220–420 °C and 420–550 °C). The blending of polypropylene with Bakelite caused a shift in the pyrolytic degradation temperature zone and a synergetic effect. The pyrolytic degradation of the blended sample followed the F3 order-based mechanism with an average activation energy of 151 kJ/mol at 220–420 °C and the P3/2 nucleation mechanism with an average activation energy of 306 kJ/mol at 420–550 °C. The blend produced 47.66 % oil, 11.1 % wax, 15.1 % residue, and 26.14 % non-condensable gas during batch pyrolysis at 450 °C. The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analyses revealed that the oil contained 18.86 % saturated hydrocarbons (C8-54), 20.33 % unsaturated hydrocarbons (C7-19), and 60.81 % oxygenated compounds (C9-41) that could be used as transportation fuel.

Abstract We study the intricate interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes through the lens of the prisoner’s dilemma game. But while previous studies on cooperation amongst selfish individuals often assume instantaneous interactions, we take into consideration delays to investigate how these might affect the causes underlying prosocial behavior. Through analytical calculations and numerical simulations, we demonstrate that delays can lead to oscillations, and by incorporating also the ecological variable of altruistic free space and the evolutionary strategy of punishment, we explore how these factors impact population and community dynamics. Depending on the parameter values and the initial fraction of each strategy, the studied eco-evolutionary model can mimic a cyclic dominance system and even exhibit chaotic behavior, thereby highlighting the importance of complex dynamics for the effective management and conservation of ecological communities. Our research thus contributes to the broader understanding of group decision-making and the emergence of moral behavior in multidimensional social systems.