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This paper describes how students conceptualize real-life phenomena in which two or more quantities are covarying in an augmented reality environment. With this technology, real-world phenomena and virtual representations may be connected simultaneously. We aim to investigate how students connect elements of the two worlds when conceptualizing functional relationships. We relied on Zindel's conceptual facet model for functional relationships to achieve this goal, specifically focusing on the covariational approach. Three 11th-grade students participated in two real-life experiments (Galileo and Hooke's law experiments) at the heart of this study. The qualitative analysis of selected episodes revealed how students relate the two worlds and how covariational reasoning is reflected in such connections. The findings show that students frequently related elements of the real and virtual worlds while engaging in several forms of covariational reasoning. The theoretical contribution resulting from this study is expanding Zindel's model to address the conceptualization of families of functions indexed by a parameter.

The hydrogeochemical properties and evolution of groundwater in the Essaouira syncline basin in northwestern Morocco were investigated in this study, with a total of 447 samples during different campaigns (April 2017, May 2018, March 2019, and July 2020). These samples were analyzed for major ions and stable and radioactive water isotopes (δ2H, δ18O, and 3H). With decreasing rainfall from climate change in Morocco, it is crucial to assess the sustainability of groundwater reserves. This shortage leads to the degradation of water and soil quality. To ensure sustainable water management and preserve the environment in the study area, it is necessary to assess groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation, take precautions, and establish management plans. This study assessed groundwater quality using two water quality index methods (WQI and IWQI). Several natural processes control groundwater mineralization, including the dissolution of evaporite and carbonate minerals, cation exchange phenomena, evaporation, and seawater intrusion. According to the results obtained using the WQI method, all groundwater samples in the study area are generally of poor quality and must be treated before being used for domestic purposes. Based on the results obtained by the IWQI method, the samples are suitable for use as irrigation water, especially for plants resistant to high salinity concentrations. Stable isotope measurements (δ2H and δ18O) indicate that Atlantic precipitation continuously recharges the recharge areas of the Essaouira Basin. Thus, the low values of tritium (3H) in groundwater mean that the freshwater in the Essaouira Basin is ancient.

Context: Mentha species are well known for their health benefits. Products extracted from aromatic plants of this genus (Mentha) are increasingly being studied for their active constituents in order to replace synthetic products that are harmful to health. Aims: To determine the chemical composition, physicochemical parameters, and antioxidant properties of essential oils of M. spicata, M. piperita, and M. pulegium. These plants were collected from three different geographical areas in the Rabat-Sale-Kenitra region of Morocco, with an additional focus on analyzing the fluctuation of their chemical composition based on their locations. Methods: Essential oils obtained through hydrodistillation of the fresh aerial parts of the plants were analyzed via gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The antioxidant capacity was measured by several chemical tests: DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP. Results: Multiple major components were identified, showcasing variations in composition between species as well as between plants of the same species. M. spicata was characterized by carvone, piperitone, 1,3,8-p-menthatriene; while M. piperita features linalool, D-carvone, 1,3,8-p-menthatriene; and M. pulegium had a single major component which is pulegone. To the best of our knowledge, it is assumed that a new set of chemotypes may be defined based on the geographical regions studied. The examined essential oils demonstrated notable antioxidant efficacy. Conclusions: These findings suggest the potential use of extracts from these plants as an alternative to synthetic chemical products. Therefore, they could find applications in complementary medicine as well as in the pharmaceutical and food industries.

The last few years have witnessed the widespread use of blockchain technology in several works because of its effectiveness in terms of privacy, security, and trustworthiness. However, the challenges of cyber-attacks represent a real threat to systems based on this technology. The resort to the systems of anomaly detection focused on deep learning, also called deep anomaly detection, is an appropriate and efficient means to tackle cyber-attacks on the blockchain. This paper provides an overview of the blockchain technology concept, including its characteristics, challenges and limitations, and its system taxonomy. Numerous blockchain cyber-attacks are discussed, such as 51% attacks, selfish mining attacks, double spending attacks, and Sybil attacks. Furthermore, we survey an overview of deep anomaly detection systems with their challenges and unresolved issues. In addition, this article gives a glimpse of various deep learning approaches implemented for anomaly detection in the blockchain environment and presents several methods that enhance the security features of anomaly detection systems. Finally, we discuss the benefits and drawbacks of these recent advanced approaches in light of three categories—discriminative learning, generative learning, and hybrid learning—with other methods based on graphs, and we highlight the ability of the proposed approaches to perform real-time anomaly detection.

The increasing prevalence of brain tumors necessitates the development of advanced diagnostic techniques to enhance detection and characterization. This paper presents innovative methodologies for designing and optimizing antenna characteristics using characteristic modes theory (CMT), specifically adapted for high-resolution imaging in medical applications. Our research focuses on the critical goal of improving the accuracy and precision of brain tumor detection through a confocal microwave image reconstruction algorithm. The study begins with an in-depth modeling of essential antenna elements, examining their behavior to understand their interactions within the overall structure. This comprehensive analysis enhances our understanding of antenna performance and characteristics. The introduction of CMT is pivotal, as it facilitates the identification of resonance frequencies that exhibit exceptional radiation efficiency. Moreover, the antenna’s directivity is significantly enhanced through a thorough investigation of the effects of various substrate materials and patch shapes on the performance of the radiated antenna modes. This study prioritizes the optimization of the dominant directive mode to improve tumor imaging resolution, ultimately leading to superior quality imaging results. To compare and analyze the impact of different antenna directivity modes on the imaging resolution of brain tumors, two optimized antennas with distinct patch shapes and radiation patterns are integrated into a microwave imaging system. This advanced system is carefully designed to accurately locate and characterize brain tumors, enhancing diagnostic precision. The confocal imaging algorithm demonstrates that the dominant mode with high directivity radiation produces high-resolution images that significantly improve tumor detection and diagnosis.

Among hospitalized patients worldwide, infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to isolate MDR bacteria from five intensive care units (ICUs) at Tripoli University Hospital (TUH). A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted over a seven-month period (September 2022 to March 2023) across five ICUs at TUH. A total of 197 swabs were collected from Patients’, healthcare workers’ and ICUs equipment. Samples collected from patients were nasal swabs, oral cavity swabs, hand swabs, sputum specimens, skin swabs, umbilical venous catheter swabs, and around cannula. Swabs collected from health care workers were nasal swabs, whereas ICUs equipment’s samples were from endotracheal tubes, oxygen masks, and neonatal incubators. Identification and antimicrobial susceptibility test was confirmed by using MicroScan auto SCAN 4 (Beckman Coulter). The most frequent strains were Gram negative bacilli 113 (57.4%) with the predominance of Acinetobacter baumannii 50/113 (44%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae 44/113 (40%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 6/113 (5.3%). The total Gram positive bacterial strains isolated were 84 (42.6%), coagulase negative Staphylococci 55 (66%) with MDRs (89%) were the most common isolates followed by Staphylococcus aureus 15 (17.8%). Different antibiotics were used against these isolates; Gram- negative isolates showed high resistance rates to ceftazidime, gentamicin, amikacin and ertapenem. A. baumannii were the most frequent MDROs (94%), and the highest resistance rates in Gram-positive strains were observed toward ampicillin, oxacillin, ampicillin/sulbactam and Cefoxitin, representing 90% of total MDR Gram-positive isolates. ESBL and MRS were identified in most of strains. The prevalence of antibiotic resistance was high for both Gram negative and Gram positive isolates. This prevalence requires strict infection prevention and control intervention, continuous monitoring, implementation of effective antibiotic stewardship, immediate, concerted and collaborative action to monitor its prevalence and spread in the hospital.

This paper aims to design and simulate a Wireless Power Transfer charger that can achieve fast charging, thereby improving the EV users’ experience and bypassing the disadvantages of Level 1 and 2 chargers. We attend to this objective by presenting a Two-Stage Inductive Power Transfer system controlled by the constant power (CP) control strategy. Key innovations include the integration of an LCC-C compensation network with a Switched-Controlled Capacitor (SCC) and a DC/DC Buck converter. To validate our proposed system, we simulate a prototype using SimScape library. The simulation leads us to design a TSIPT prototype that achieves high-power charging of 15.3 KW and a power efficiency ranging from 92.2 % to 88 %, and an output voltage varying from 523V to 878V. These results are thanks to the DC/DC Buck converter that regulate the output and help to improve the battery life span, and due to the combination between the SCC and the secondary active rectifier (AR) the proposed IPT can maintain with a maximum constant charging output and a maximum power efficiency, that can make the overall system more stable.

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology has recently witnessed a paradigm shift with respect to performance accuracy. Nevertheless, impaired speech remains a significant challenge, evidenced by the inadequate accuracy of existing ASR solutions. This lacking is reported in various research reports. While this lacking has motivated new directions in Automatic Disordered Speech Recognition (ADSR), the gap between ASR performance accuracy and that of ADSR remains significant. In this paper, we report a consolidated account of research work conducted to date to address this gap, highlighting the root causes of such performance discrepancy and discussing prominent research directions in this area. The paper raises some fundamental issues and challenges that ADSR research faces today. Firstly, we discuss the adequacy of impaired speech representation in existing datasets, in terms of the diversity of speech impairments, speech continuity, speech style, vocabulary, age group, and the environments of the data collection process. We argue that disordered speech is poorly represented in the existing datasets; thus, it is expected that several fundamental components needed for training ADSR models are absent. Most of the open-access databases of impaired speech focus on adult dysarthric speakers, ignoring a wide spectrum of speech disorders and age groups. Furthermore, the paper reviews prominent research directions adopted by the ADSR research community in its effort to advance speech recognition technology for impaired speakers. We categorize this research effort into directions such as personalized models, model adaptation, data augmentation, and multi-modal learning. Although these research directions have advanced the performance of ADSR models, we believe there is still potential for further advancement since current efforts, in essence, make the false assumption that there is a limited distribution shift between the source and target data. Finally, we stress the need to investigate performance measures other than Word Error Rate (WER)- measures that can reliably encode the contribution of erroneous output tokens in the final uttered message.

Chenopodium ambrosioides aerial parts have been historically employed in traditional medicine for addressing various ailments such as headaches, abdominal discomfort, joint issues, and respiratory disorders, alongside treatments for lice and warts. This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive phytochemical analysis of C. ambrosioides and assess the acute and subacute toxicity of oral treatments using fractions in preclinical trials. Spectrophotometric analysis via LC–MS/MS was used to characterize the plant’s chemical composition. Acute toxicity evaluation followed Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development code 42 guidelines, conducted on adult male and female Wistar strain mice. Subsequently, Swiss mice were divided into six groups for the subacute toxicity study, receiving oral doses of 200 mg/kg extracts and fractions for 28 days. Daily observations and biochemical analyses were performed, with LC–MS/MS revealing a diverse array of compounds including organic acids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, rutin, hesperidin, nicotiflorine, and fumaric acid. Results indicated no lethality or alterations in body weight in treated groups, though some organ weight changes were noted. Biochemical analyses demonstrated values within the normal range for all groups, suggesting that the treatments did not induce adverse effects. Acute and subacute treatments with fractions did not result in lethality or toxic alterations at therapeutic doses, implying the safety of the product at appropriate levels. This study underscores the potential of C. ambrosioides as a safe therapeutic option warranting further exploration.

Chenopodium ambrosioides, a member of the Chenopodiaceae family, is renowned for its toxic properties. Despite its toxicity, it has been traditionally utilized in various communities, particularly in pediatric contexts, for its vermifuge, antispasmodic, and antipyretic attributes. This study aims to unravel the phytochemical composition present in organic fractions and aqueous extracts obtained from the aerial components of C. ambrosioides. Furthermore, our objective is to evaluate the antioxidant activity of these extracts and fractions, coupled with a comprehensive examination of their toxicological effects. Polyphenols were quantified using the Folin–Ciocalteu reagent, flavonoids via the aluminum trichloride reagent AlCl3, and tannins using the vanillin method. Identification of bioactive compounds within the plant specimen was accomplished through GC-MS spectrophotometric analysis. The assessment of antioxidant activity employed DPPH, ferric (Fe3+) ion antioxidant reducing power (FRAP), ABTS, and TAC methods, with quercetin, catechin, and ascorbic acid serving as standards. Dermoprotective activity was studied using the ultraviolet absorption test. The GC-MS analysis conducted on the aqueous extracts (EAI and EAM) and assorted fractions (FCH, FE, FB, and FA) revealed the presence of diverse chemical families encompassing alcohols, acids, terpenes, steroids, and phenolic compounds. The components identified in the investigated samples, including trans-ascaridol glycol, palmitic acid, phenol, octadecadienoic acid, isoascaridol, eicosanoic acid, 2-methoxy-4-vinyl phenol, mexiletine, and thymol, are postulated as potential contributors to the observed antioxidant activity inherent in the plant extracts and fractions. Our findings highlight the remarkable antioxidant potential of Chenopodium ambrosioides, with the ethyl acetate fraction exhibiting the highest activity (IC50 = 0.54 mg/ml) in the DPPH test. In the FRAP and ABTS tests, the n-butanolic and ethyl acetate fractions demonstrated superior activity (IC50 = 4.43 mg/ml, 12.9 mg/ml and IC50 = 1.6 mg/ml, 4.54 mg/ml, respectively). Conversely, the TAC test revealed that the macerated aqueous extract displayed the highest activity (316.33 mg Eq AG/g), followed closely by the n-butanolic fraction (250.67 mg Eq AG/g). These outcomes can be attributed to the abundant presence of phenolic compounds in the n-butanolic and ethyl acetate fractions, as well as the macerated aqueous extract, playing a pivotal role in the observed antioxidant activity. Additionally, our investigation of the dermoprotective activity demonstrated robust efficacy in the ethyl acetate fraction (FE) and the n-butanolic fraction (FB) compared to the standard agents employed (ZnO and methyl salicylate). Overall, our comprehensive studies affirm that the extracts and fractions derived from C. ambrosioides manifest moderate antioxidant activities alongside significant dermoprotective potential, elucidated by the presence of phenolic compounds in moderate quantities within the plant.

There are a number of difficulties that an individual face during all stages of his life. In order to adapt to these difficulties and maintain a healthy self-perception, he needs some defense mechanisms. Research on psychological theory and existence focuses on negative factors. In the last 20 years, studies to further develop the positive characteristics of the individual in the field of psychology have come to the fore. The aim of this study is to examine the psychological well-being and happiness level of university students who do swimming and fitness. In this study, 113 university students were swimming in the Indoor Swimming Pool of Pamukkale University Sports Center in Denizli and exercising in the fitness center. Slimming will be made according to the gender and marital status of the individuals. To determine the psychological well-being and happiness levels of the participants (Keldali 2015), the "Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale", whose validity and reliability study was conducted, and the "Oxford Happiness Scale", the validity and reliability study of which was conducted by Dogan and Sapmaz (2012) used. Inventories were applied one-to-one to the participants and an inventory was made by explaining the questions. A significant difference was found between the psychological well-being levels of swimming and fitness men (p < 0.05). No significant difference was found between the happiness and well-being scores of the individuals who do swimming and fitness according to their marital status (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference between the happiness and well-being levels of individuals who do swimming and fitness (p < 0.05). Conclusions and recommendations, when we look at the literature on this subject, we see that different results emerge. Studies with more subjects are needed.