Journal articles on the topic 'Other mathematical sciences not elsewhere classified'

This article offers an approach through administrative and cultural history to the problems associated with gathering and processing data for the Spanish national census of 1920, and by implication for earlier Spanish censuses. It focuses on the Basque province of Guipúzcoa, making use of correspondence between the central statistical office in Madrid, the provincial jefe de estadística and the localities, and of reports on three problematic towns within the province. The issues that emerge regarding ‘undercounting’, the definition of administrative boundaries and the classification of demographic characteristics are set in the wider context of census-taking practices and problems elsewhere in Spain and in other cultures.

This research aims to design student worksheets based on problem-based learning in composition and inverse functions to facilitate conceptual understanding is valid. This research uses a PPE model by Richey and Klein; there are three parts: planning, production, and evaluation. The planning stage is a product planning process that will be developed for a specific purpose. The production stage is the process of making a product according to a previously made design. The evaluation stage is the process of testing and assessing the product that has been developed. The data obtained from the expert validator is then processed using a Likert scale and calculated using Aiken's formula to conclude the validity of the product developed. The Student Worksheets based on Problem Based Learning to aid students' understanding of mathematical ideas on composition functions and inverse functions were valid, have a 0.84 average validity value, and were classified as high. The PBL model familiarizes students with understanding concepts through problem-solving processes. On the other hand, learning mathematics using PBL effectively improves students' understanding and abilities because students apply mathematical concepts in everyday life.

A significant number of papers in the field of scientometrics addressed the comparisons of various similarity indexes. However, there is still a debate on the appropriateness of an index compared to others, beacause of the assessment differences reported in the literature. The objective of this paper is to make a comparative analysis of the five most used similarity indexes for the three scientometric analysis types: co-word, co-citation and co-authorship. A total of 388 papers addressing similarity indexes in scientometric analysis over three decades were retrieved from the Web of Science and examined; of which 49 were retained as the most relevant according to selective criteria. The approach consisted of building cross matrices for the five indexes (Jaccard, Dice-Sorensson, Salton, Pearson, and Association Strength) for the three types of scientometric analysis. For each of these analyses, a distinction is made between papers according to their theoretical or empirical results. Furthermore, papers are classified according to the mathematical formula of the similarity index being used (vector vs non vector). In the 49 relevant papers being selected, the comparative analysis showed that there is still no consensus on the appropriateness of an index for co-word and co-authorship analyses, while for co-citation, Salton is the widely preferred one. The Association Strength is the less covered and compared to other indexes for the three analysis types. An open source computer program was developed as a tool to facilitate empirical comparative studies of indexes. It allows generating normalized matrix of any chosen index for the two mathematical variants.

Although well over 1000 journal articles, conference papers, books, technical notes and theses have been written on the subject of information technology (IT) evaluation, only a relatively small subset of this literature has been concerned with the core issues of what precisely is meant by the term ‘value’ and with the process of making (specifically) IT investment decisions. All too often, the problem and highly complex issue of value is either simplified, ignored or assumed away. Instead the focus of much of the research to date has been on evaluation methodologies and, within this literature, there are different strands of thought which can be classified as partisan, composite and meta approaches to evaluation. Research shows that a small number of partisan techniques are used by most decision makers with a minority using a single technique and a majority using a mixture of such techniques of whom a substantial minority use a formal composite approach. It is argued that, in mapping the set of evaluation methodologies on to what is termed the investment opportunity space, that there is a limit to what can be achieved by formal rational evaluation methods. This limit becomes evident when decision makers fall back on ‘gut feel’ and other non-formal/rigorous ways of making decisions. It is suggested that an understanding of these more complex processes and decision making, in IT as elsewhere, needs tools drawn from philosophy and psychology.

Previous literature has compared the performance of existing ground point classification (GPC) techniques on airborne LiDAR (ALS) data (LiDAR—light detection and ranging); however, their performance when applied to terrestrial LiDAR (TLS) data has not yet been addressed. This research tested the classification accuracy of five openly-available GPC algorithms on seven TLS datasets: Zhang et al.’s inverted cloth simulation (CSF), Kraus and Pfeiffer’s hierarchical weighted robust interpolation classifier (HWRI), Axelsson’s progressive TIN densification filter (TIN), Evans and Hudak’s multiscale curvature classification (MCC), and Vosselman’s modified slope-based filter (MSBF). Classification performance was analyzed using the kappa index of agreement (KIA) and rasterized spatial distribution of classification accuracy datasets generated through comparisons with manually classified reference datasets. The results identified a decrease in classification accuracy for the CSF and HWRI classification of low vegetation, for the HWRI and MCC classifications of variably sloped terrain, for the HWRI and TIN classifications of low outlier points, and for the TIN and MSBF classifications of off-terrain (OT) points without any ground points beneath. Additionally, the results show that while no single algorithm was suitable for use on all datasets containing varying terrain characteristics and OT object types, in general, a mathematical-morphology/slope-based method outperformed other methods, reporting a kappa score of 0.902.

An important stage in the design of the artificial ground freezing during the construc-tion of mine shafts (and other underground structures) is the simulation of deformation and heat transfer in the media to be frozen. This is necessary to calculate the required thicknesses of frozen wall, the time of its formation and the parameters of freezing stations. The choice of an adequate mathematical model is impossible without analyzing the significance and coupling of various physical processes occurring during the freezing of soil. Such an analysis allows se-lecting a reasonable degree of detailing of physical processes in the model: take into account all important factors and neglect the rest. This article proposes a methodology for analyzing the significance and coupling of such physical processes. For this, a general thermo-hydro-mechanical model of soil freezing has been formulated, a set of dimensionless complexes has been identified and classified, which determine the relationship between various physical pro-cesses. The transition from the general thermo-hydro-mechanical model to simpler models is possible only if the corresponding dimensionless complexes are small.

In this work, several types of microstrip couplers are investigated in terms of structure, performance and design methods. These planar 4-ports passive devices transmit a signal through two different channels. Designers' competition has always been in miniaturizing and improving performance of couplers. Some couplers have been offered with a novel structure, which is a special feature. A high-performance coupler should have high isolation and low losses at both channels. The channels are usually overlapped so that the common port return loss in these channels should be low. Among the couplers, those with balanced amplitude and phase are more popular. The popular mathematical analysis methods are even/odd mode analysis, extracting the information from the ABCD matrix and analyzing the equivalent LC circuit of a simple resonator. According to the phase shift value, couplers are classified as 90º and correct multiples of 90º, where a microstrip 0º coupler can be used as a power divider. Some couplers have filtering and harmonic elimination features that are superior to other couplers. However, few designers paid attention to suppressing the harmonics. If the operating frequency is set in according to the type of application, the coupler becomes particularly valuable.ABCD Matrix

: Mathematics is an extremely necessary skill for everyone, as it is the main tool with which human beings have been able to understand the world around them. When we are students, it is common for us to ask ourselves, why should I study mathematics? We could start by saying that there are many activities of daily life that are related to this science, for example, managing money, preparing a recipe, calculating the distance we have to travel to get somewhere, among other things, but the answer goes further. It is difficult to find a completely comprehensive definition of the mathematical concept. Currently, it is classified as one of the formal sciences (along with logic), since, using logical reasoning as a tool, it focuses on the analysis of relationships and properties between numbers and geometric figures. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the trends and challenges in mathematics teacher education and to establish their challenges. The main results indicate that there is a bias to think that it is difficult to study mathematics.

Winter wheat is one of the major cereal crops in China. The spatial distribution of winter wheat planting areas is closely related to food security; however, mapping winter wheat with time-series finer spatial resolution satellite images across large areas is challenging. This paper explores the potential of combining temporally aggregated Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI data available via the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform for mapping winter wheat in Shandong Province, China. First, six phenological median composites of Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI reflectance measures were generated by a temporal aggregation technique according to the winter wheat phenological calendar, which covered seedling, tillering, over-wintering, reviving, jointing-heading and maturing phases, respectively. Then, Random Forest (RF) classifier was used to classify multi-temporal composites but also mono-temporal winter wheat development phases and mono-sensor data. The results showed that winter wheat could be classified with an overall accuracy of 93.4% and F1 measure (the harmonic mean of producer’s and user’s accuracy) of 0.97 with temporally aggregated Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 data were combined. As our results also revealed, it was always good to classify multi-temporal images compared to mono-temporal imagery (the overall accuracy dropped from 93.4% to as low as 76.4%). It was also good to classify Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI imagery combined instead of classifying them individually. The analysis showed among the mono-temporal winter wheat development phases that the maturing phase’s and reviving phase’s data were more important than the data for other mono-temporal winter wheat development phases. In sum, this study confirmed the importance of using temporally aggregated Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI data combined and identified key winter wheat development phases for accurate winter wheat classification. These results can be useful to benefit on freely available optical satellite data (Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI) and prioritize key winter wheat development phases for accurate mapping winter wheat planting areas across China and elsewhere.

Signet-ring cell carcinoma of the prostate gland (SRCCP) an uncommon and aggressive malignant tumour of the prostate gland which is characterized by histopathology examination features of compression of the nucleus into the form of a crescent by a large cytoplasmic vacuole. SRCCPs that have so far been reported have been either (a) primary tumours, metastatic tumours with the primary tumour elsewhere with the gastro-intestinal tract being the site of the primary tumour but the primary tumour could originate elsewhere, and additionally some reported SRCCPs have been classified as carcinoma of unknown primary. SRCCP could be a pure tumour or a tumour that is contemporaneously associated with other types of tumour including various variants of adenocarcinoma. SRCCP can manifest in various ways including: Incidental finding following prostatectomy that has been undertaken for a presumed benign prostatic hyperplasia, lower urinary tract symptoms, visible and non-visible haematuria, raised levels of serum PSA but some SRCCPs have been diagnosed with normal / low levels of serum PSA, there may be a history of dyspepsia in cases of metastatic signet-ring cell carcinoma in association with contemporaneous primary signet-ring cell carcinoma of the stomach or there may be a past history of surgical treatment for signet-ring cell carcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract, or bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract in cases of upper gastrointestinal tract and rectal bleeding as well as change in bowel habit for primary tumours of the anorectal region, retention of urine, and rarely a rectal mass in the case of SRCCP with an anorectal primary tumour. In order to exclude a primary signet ring cell carcinoma elsewhere, a detailed past medical history is required as well as radiology imaging including contrast – enhanced computed tomography (CECT) scan and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CEMRI) scan as well as upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and colonoscopy to exclude a primary lesion within the gastrointestinal tract. Diagnosis of SRCCP requires utilization of the histopathology and immunohistochemistry examination features of prostate biopsy, prostatic chips obtained from trans-urethral resection of prostate specimen or radical prostatectomy specimen. SRCCPs upon immunohistochemistry staining studies tend to show tumour that tend to exhibit positive staining for the following tumour markers as follows: PSA – positive staining for PSA has been variable in some studies, AE1/AE3, CAM 5.2, Ki-67 with a mean of 8%, PAS-diastase, Mucicarmine (50%), Alcian blue (60%), Alpha-methyl-acyl coenzyme A racemase (P504S), and Cytokeratin 5/6. SRCCPs also tend to exhibit negative staining for: Bcl2 (rare positive), and CEA (80%). Traditionally the treatment of Primary Signet-Ring Cell Carcinoma of the Prostate Gland has tended to be similar to the treatment of the traditional adenocarcinoma of the prostate gland which does include: hormonal treatment, radiotherapy, and surgery. Nevertheless, considering that primary SRCCPs and metastatic SRCCPs that have been reported in the literature have generally tended to be associated with an aggressive biological behaviour, even though there is no consensus opinion on the treatment of the disease it would be strongly recommended that these tumours that tend to be associated with rapid progress of the disease and poor survival there is an urgent need to treat all these tumours with aggressive surgery including radical prostatectomy plus adjuvant therapies including: radical radiotherapy, combination chemotherapy, selective prostatic angiography and super-selective embolization of the artery feeding the tumour including intra-arterial infusion of chemotherapy agents directly to the tumour, radiofrequency ablation of the tumour as well as irreversible electroporation of the tumour which should form part of a global multicentre study of various treatment options. With regard to metastatic signet-ring cell carcinomas of the prostate gland with a contemporaneous primary tumour elsewhere the primary tumour should also be treated by radical and complete excision of the primary tumour plus radical surgery and aggressive adjuvant therapy. Considering that SRCCPs have tendered not to respond well to available chemotherapy agents, there is need for urologists, oncologists, and pharmacotherapy research workers to identify new chemotherapy medicaments that would more effectively and safely destroy signet-ring cell tumours in order to improve upon the prognosis.

AbstractForeign language competences belong to the employers’ essential requirements set for workforce. The enhancement of acquired competences and the acquisition of new ones form a part of higher education. In the paper employability of the graduates of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences in the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra on the European labour market has been analysed. The graduates completed their study in the years 2007-2011. A questionnaire was used to survey 300 graduates by the 30th June 2011, out of which 103 responded. The Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences prepares professionals in the fields of biotechnology, food technology, applied biology, hygiene and food safety. Input data have been evaluated by the methods of analysis, synthesis and comparison. In relation to the mathematical-statistical methods used, the input data have been classified according to the qualitative and statistical characteristics and evaluated by the association tables and graphs. We have come to the conclusion that foreign language competences are actively used by 43% of the respondents in different sectors of national economy, and the dominant foreign language is English. Within half a year after graduation 74% of respondents who had taken part in student mobilities, and 48% of respondents who did not participate in them, found jobs on the labour market. The time of getting the first job is influenced not only by knowledge, working skills and other competencies but also by current job vacancies.

I compared the effects of potassium sulfate and potassium chloride fertiliser, at rates up to 1280 kg/ ha K, on the concentrations in petioles of the youngest fully expanded leaves and in harvested tubers of potassium, calcium (tubers only), magnesium, phosphorus, chloride and sulfur (petioles only) and on potassium: magnesium ratios in petioles. For the sites classified as deficient and marginal according to soil test potassium concentrations, increased application rates of potassium sulfate increased the potassium and sulfur concentrations and potassium: magnesium ratios in petioles and decreased magnesium, phosphorus and chloride concentrations. In tubers both potassium and magnesium concentrations increased as potassium sulfate rates increased, while calcium and phosphorus concentrations showed negative trends. Compared with potassium sulfate, potassium chloride resulted in higher potassium, calcium and chloride concentrations and lower sulfur concentrations. Chloride concentrations in petioles from many sites were much higher than those reported in other studies and were related to high chloride concentrations in irrigation waters. Significant correlations were obtained between bicarbonate- extractable potassium concentrations in the surface (0-1 5-cm) soils and potassium concentrations in petioles (r2 = 0.75***) and tubers (r2 = 0.84***). As bicarbonate-extractable potassium concentrations in the surface soils increased from 40 to 600 mg/kg, the potassium concentrations in tubers increased from 1.69 to 2.69% compared with an increase from 5.72 to 1376% in petioles. Significant correlations were obtained between relative yields ((mean treatment yields/maximum mean treatment yie1d)x 100) and potassium concentrations (dry weight basis) in petioles and tubers and potassium:magnesium ratios in petioles. The percentage of variance in relative yield accounted for by each regression was 67.9, 31.0 and 56.9% respectively. The potassium concentration in petioles was the most effective plant index to predict yield response to potassium. For petioles and tubers prognostic critical potassium concentrations of 11.30 k 0.26% and 2.19 � 0.11% respectively were established. Alternatively, a prognostic critical potassium:magnesium ratio of 14.8 � 0.8% was determined. The choice of the mathematical model used influenced the critical values obtained.

The article proposes a model of an impulse-wave mechanism of the interaction between the media and society as a recipient. The article aims at creating a model building a background for using mathematical tools in forecasting results of the impact of information waves generated by the media on society information field. Applying scientific categories that belong to natural sciences will allow one to meet the goal set more easily. The media impact on society can be compared with impulses that unbalance individuals’ characteristics for a more or less prolonged time. Being unbalanced these characteristics fluctuate in some way with these fluctuations gradually decreasing until new information impulses appear. Such fluctuations are not homogenous, they depend on quality characteristics of a particular individual and can be classified on different levels, i.e. physical, emotional, intellectual and value-semantic ones. Impulses initiated by the media receive a wave response in society changing characteristics of homogeneous groups of individuals in the information field. In this way, the media activate some fluctuations of individuals’ characteristics and stop the other ones. In such a way, an indirect method of managing society is used. The proposed model of an impulse-wave mechanism can be helpful to find ways of harmonizing society by changing the media’s role from an instrument of society destruction to an instrument of society building. The authors suppose that such re-focusing can be achieved by activating fluctuations of ratio-value characteristics of individuals as elements of society.

BackgroundThe diet of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is comprised almost exclusively of foliage from the genusEucalyptus(family Myrtaceae).Eucalyptusproduces a wide variety of potentially toxic plant secondary metabolites which have evolved as chemical defences against herbivory. The koala is classified as an obligate dietary specialist, and although dietary specialisation is rare in mammalian herbivores, it has been found elsewhere to promote a highly-conserved but low-diversity gut microbiome. The gut microbes of dietary specialists have been found sometimes to enhance tolerance of dietary PSMs, facilitating competition-free access to food. Although the koala and its gut microbes have evolved together to utilise a low nutrient, potentially toxic diet, their gut microbiome has not previously been assessed in conjunction with diet quality. Thus, linking the two may provide new insights in to the ability of the koala to extract nutrients and detoxify their potentially toxic diet.MethodThe 16S rRNA gene was used to characterise the composition and diversity of faecal bacterial communities from a wild koala population (n = 32) comprising individuals that predominately eat either one of two different food species, one the strongly preferred and relatively nutritious speciesEucalyptus viminalis, the other comprising the less preferred and less digestible speciesEucalyptus obliqua.ResultsAlpha diversity indices indicated consistently and significantly lower diversity and richness in koalas eatingE. viminalis. Assessment of beta diversity using both weighted and unweighted UniFrac matrices indicated that diet was a strong driver of both microbial community structure, and of microbial presence/absence across the combined koala population and when assessed independently. Further, principal coordinates analysis based on both the weighted and unweighted UniFrac matrices for the combined and separated populations, also revealed a separation linked to diet. During our analysis of the OTU tables we also detected a strong association between microbial community composition and host diet. We found that the phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were co-dominant in all faecal microbiomes, with Cyanobacteria also co-dominant in some individuals; however, theE. viminalisdiet produced communities dominated by the generaParabacteroidesand/orBacteroides, whereas theE. obliqua-associated diets were dominated by unidentified genera from the family Ruminococcaceae.DiscussionWe show that diet differences, even those caused by differential consumption of the foliage of two species from the same plant genus, can profoundly affect the gut microbiome of a specialist folivorous mammal, even amongst individuals in the same population. We identify key microbiota associated with each diet type and predict functions within the microbial community based on 80 previously identifiedParabacteroidesand Ruminococcaceae genomes.

In conditions of forced isolation, nature-based tourism meets the needs of safe and comfortable recreation and travel combined with the solution of acute issues of medical treatment and rehabilitation during the pandemic and post-pandemic periods. This study aims to develop a model for decision-making on change management in nature tourism based on the approach of linear economic and mathematical programming. The paper formalized changes in the variability of objective function parameters of the model and the system of its restrictions, following the structure of assets of nature-based tourism, balanced by the sustainability principle. The algorithm for implementing the model includes four stages: collection and processing of relevant data on nature-based tourism; considering changes in the objective function and the system of its limitations; linear programming with variability tests using the simplex method; defining ranges/limits in which decisions are made. The initial data are summarized and averaged based on the primary data analysis on the functioning of sanatoriums and other tourist and recreational facilities in Ukraine. Short-term nature-based tourism is considered, the services of which are classified according to the criterion of the primary purpose of travel: “wow-effect” tourism, sports tourism, health tourism, traditional recreation, and green tourism. The results make it possible to substantiate decisions on changes in recreational land areas and human resources, on the limits of changes in income due to the dynamics of service prices, as well as determine the price range while maintaining income structure and sustainability limits for natural and human assets of nature-based tourism. AcknowledgmentThe paper contains the results of a study conducted under the National Academy of Science of Ukraine’s grant Formation and Use of Natural-Resource Assets of the Recreational and Tourism Sphere (0120U100159) and the Nominal Scholarship of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Young Scientists-Doctors of Sciences for 2021 (0121U113482).

Abstract Introduction Multiple Myeloma (MM) is considered a malignancy of post germinal center long-lived plasma cells. Nevertheless T-cell independent antigen stimulation before the exposure of the B-cell to the germinal center can happen and results to IgM secreting short lived plasma cells and lymphoplasmacytes representing thus a potential alternative normal counterpart for IgM plasma cell dyscrasias. IgM myeloma is an infrequent subtytpe of MM with an estimated prevalence of 0.5%. Due to its rarity little is known about its characteristics and prognosis in comparison with Waldestrom’s macroglobulinemia (WM) and the other MM subtypes. Purpose To identify the characteristics and the prognosis of IgM MM, and compare it predominantly with WM and subsequently with the rest of the MM subtypes. Methods We interogatted our Multiple Myeloma Data Base for cases of IgM MM and their respective Overall Survival (OS), Progression Free Survival (PFS), bone disease as defined by x-Rays, PET-CT and MRI, Gene Expression Profile (GEP), and common disease characteristics (anemia,calcium, creatinine) and compare it to the prognosis of WM and non-IgM MM. Diagnosis was based on the morphological and immunophenotypical findings of pathologically examined biopsy specimens along with the presence or not of typical clinical characteristics of MM (lytic bone lesions, hypercalcemia, renal failure) or typical clinical characteristics of WM (organomegaly, lymphadenopathy). Results There were 22 confirmed IgM MM cases. 14 of them presented at MIRT at initial diagnosis while 8 had previously been treated elsewhere. Osteolytic bone lesions and/or pathological fractures by x-ray and CT examination were evident in 16 cases. For the remaining 6 cases active bone focal lesions by either MRI or PET were identified in three. There was no organomegaly evident in cases with an available PET/CT at baseline, while only one had evidence of hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy along with calcified lung nodules. Elevated creatinine levels (>2.0 mg/dl) were evident in 4 cases at initial diagnosis. Their disease characteristics are depicted in the table 1. Median OS for IgM MM was 4.9 years while PFS could not be accurately estimated due to lack of data on patients treated elsewhere. Median OS for a historical control of 158 WM cases in MIRT was 9.2 years (Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 11(1):139-42). Median OS of the WM group remained largely unaffected, even when the subgroup of the WM cases requiring treatment was analyzed (9.0 years).To further clarify if the IgM MM differs in terms of OS from the other isotypes of MM, we compared the IgM group to a group of 61 non-IgM MM cases which were matched by important prognostic clinical factors (age, creatinine> 2mg/dl, LDH>190u/L, b-2M >5.5mg/dl and Albumin<3.5gr/dl). No statistical difference was found for OS (p=0.846). Out of 22 cases, 14 of them had available GEP data on initial diagnosis. In 6 of these cases the cyclin D1 gene expression was high enough to be consistent with a t(11;14) translocation at FISH analysis, one case was consistent with a t(14;16) translocation, one with a t(4;14) translocation and two more were classified as belonging to the hyperdiploid subgroup. A comparative genomic analysis was performed on the IgM MM, the non-IgM MM and WM cases with available GEP data at initial diagnosis (14, 61 and 42 cases respectively). 1155 probesets that had expression level significantly different between WM and non IgM MM (FDR<3E-06) were identified. Then, the expression values of these 1155 probesets in all GEP samples, including WM, non IgM MM, and IgM MM, were used to build a clustering tree. We found that IgM MM mainly clustered with non IgM MM, supporting the findings of the clinical data. Conclusion IgM MM is a discrete clinical entity that should be distinguished from WM. Bone disease is evident in the majority of the cases, especially when specialized radiological techniques are incorporated at the initial work up. It holds a distinct prognosis from WM, while when balanced for prognostic factors that hold importance in MM it does not differ from the other MM isotypes. Finally analysis of the genetic data further supports the resemblance between IgM MM and the non IgM MM, and the difference with WM. Disclosures: Zhang: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences: Co-inventor of the DNA probes for FISH of IGHC/IGHV (14q32), MMSET/FGFR3 (4p16), CCND3 (6p21), CCND1 (11q13), MAF (16q23), and MAFB (20q12) loci, sub. to the US Patent & Trademark Office as Prov. App# 61/726,327: Methods of Detecting 14q32 Translocations, Co-inventor of the DNA probes for FISH of IGHC/IGHV (14q32), MMSET/FGFR3 (4p16), CCND3 (6p21), CCND1 (11q13), MAF (16q23), and MAFB (20q12) loci, sub. to the US Patent & Trademark Office as Prov. App# 61/726,327: Methods of Detecting 14q32 Translocations Patents & Royalties.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is three-fold: to review the categories explaining mainly optimization algorithms (techniques) in that needed to improve the generalization performance and learning speed of the Feedforward Neural Network (FNN); to discover the change in research trends by analyzing all six categories (i.e. gradient learning algorithms for network training, gradient free learning algorithms, optimization algorithms for learning rate, bias and variance (underfitting and overfitting) minimization algorithms, constructive topology neural networks, metaheuristic search algorithms) collectively; and recommend new research directions for researchers and facilitate users to understand algorithms real-world applications in solving complex management, engineering and health sciences problems. Design/methodology/approach The FNN has gained much attention from researchers to make a more informed decision in the last few decades. The literature survey is focused on the learning algorithms and the optimization techniques proposed in the last three decades. This paper (Part II) is an extension of Part I. For the sake of simplicity, the paper entitled “Machine learning facilitated business intelligence (Part I): Neural networks learning algorithms and applications” is referred to as Part I. To make the study consistent with Part I, the approach and survey methodology in this paper are kept similar to those in Part I. Findings Combining the work performed in Part I, the authors studied a total of 80 articles through popular keywords searching. The FNN learning algorithms and optimization techniques identified in the selected literature are classified into six categories based on their problem identification, mathematical model, technical reasoning and proposed solution. Previously, in Part I, the two categories focusing on the learning algorithms (i.e. gradient learning algorithms for network training, gradient free learning algorithms) are reviewed with their real-world applications in management, engineering, and health sciences. Therefore, in the current paper, Part II, the remaining four categories, exploring optimization techniques (i.e. optimization algorithms for learning rate, bias and variance (underfitting and overfitting) minimization algorithms, constructive topology neural networks, metaheuristic search algorithms) are studied in detail. The algorithm explanation is made enriched by discussing their technical merits, limitations, and applications in their respective categories. Finally, the authors recommend future new research directions which can contribute to strengthening the literature. Research limitations/implications The FNN contributions are rapidly increasing because of its ability to make reliably informed decisions. Like learning algorithms, reviewed in Part I, the focus is to enrich the comprehensive study by reviewing remaining categories focusing on the optimization techniques. However, future efforts may be needed to incorporate other algorithms into identified six categories or suggest new category to continuously monitor the shift in the research trends. Practical implications The authors studied the shift in research trend for three decades by collectively analyzing the learning algorithms and optimization techniques with their applications. This may help researchers to identify future research gaps to improve the generalization performance and learning speed, and user to understand the applications areas of the FNN. For instance, research contribution in FNN in the last three decades has changed from complex gradient-based algorithms to gradient free algorithms, trial and error hidden units fixed topology approach to cascade topology, hyperparameters initial guess to analytically calculation and converging algorithms at a global minimum rather than the local minimum. Originality/value The existing literature surveys include comparative study of the algorithms, identifying algorithms application areas and focusing on specific techniques in that it may not be able to identify algorithms categories, a shift in research trends over time, application area frequently analyzed, common research gaps and collective future directions. Part I and II attempts to overcome the existing literature surveys limitations by classifying articles into six categories covering a wide range of algorithm proposed to improve the FNN generalization performance and convergence rate. The classification of algorithms into six categories helps to analyze the shift in research trend which makes the classification scheme significant and innovative.

SCIENCE AND RELIGION: A New Introduction, 3rd edition by Alister E. McGrath. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2020. 272 pages. Paperback; $28.99. ISBN: 9781119599876. *Alister McGrath is a major international scholar who is prolific in his output. He has produced many popular books and academic tomes, and as a theological educator his output also includes many textbooks for students. Science and Religion: A New Introduction is now into its third edition and is an excellent introduction to the whole field of science and religion. The restructuring and inclusion of new material is designed to be helpful to the student, and reflects comments on the previous editions. The book introduces most of the areas of interaction between these bodies of thought, and I myself have used earlier editions in my own teaching, giving students a chapter of McGrath to start with for an essay, followed by more detailed material from elsewhere. *McGrath notes that science and religion are wide categories and serious study entails narrowing them down. He describes Ian Barbour's four models for interaction followed by what he calls four ways of imagining the relationship between them. The conflict model is rightly dismissed as a late nineteenth-century myth, and areas where conflict has been perceived, notably with Galileo and Darwin, are given the more nuanced treatment they deserve, thus dispelling the myths surrounding them. McGrath also gives a broader historical overview, refuting the further myth that the scientific revolution owed nothing to the medieval period. He describes the development of the Newtonian mechanistic model of the universe and brings us to the twentieth century with the development of the Big Bang theory. Regarding this last, it would have been good to note the pioneering work of Roman Catholic priest Georges Lemaître, often dubbed the "Father of the Big Bang," who, in contrast to Alexander Friedman, regarded solutions of Einstein's equations as physically realistic and not just mathematical curiosities. *McGrath moves on to a helpful chapter on religion and the philosophy of science. Some form of realism seems predominant and, indeed, the most rational position to take. It is interesting to note the adoption of "critical realism," including not only by science-religion scholars such as John Polkinghorne and others, but also such as the biblical scholar N. T. Wright and James Dunn. McGrath moves on to the role of explanation in science, noting how in science there are different methods for different sciences, and thus different levels of explanation across the different subdisciplines. Theology too has its own methods appropriate to its own object but there are differing views on the role of explanation. He discusses an important case study, that of "non-reductive physicalism" associated with Nancey Murphy and others. He also gives criteria for drawing an "inference to the best explanation." Various perspectives on the philosophy of science--logical positivism and the criteria of verification, falsificationism, and Kuhn's paradigm shifts--are discussed. Worthy of mention here would have been Imre Lakatos whose "methodology of scientific research programmes" has been applied to theology by Philip Hefner and Nancey Murphy. *Complementing the above there follows a useful chapter on science and the philosophy of religion. McGrath describes arguments for the existence of God, beginning with Aquinas's five ways. A section on the Kalām cosmological argument notes how this has been given a new lease on life by the Big Bang theory's postulation of a temporal origin to the universe, although it would have been good to note that the existence of the universe would demand an explanation even if it were to lack a temporal origin. He gives a careful analysis of Paley's natural theology, noting neglected aspects of Paley's work such as his responses to arguments of David Hume. He examines ways in which God may act in the world given the laws of nature uncovered by science, including through miracles, where he notes Hume's critique. However, as McGrath rightly says, Hume's critique needs to be qualified, since, on the one hand, he defines miracles as violations of laws of nature and yet, on the other, has a problem with inductive generalizations from past experience--which is just what laws of nature are. McGrath rightly sees evolutionary arguments debunking religion as committing the genetic fallacy and self-defeating if human rationality is flawed, since that could equally well affect judgments in areas other than religion, notably science. There is a good section on natural theology and the role of explanation. *In the next chapter, McGrath turns to models and analogies: first, as found within the natural sciences and then, within religion. After considering what the terms mean more generally, he gives specific examples for the sciences, including the kinetic theory of gases, wave-particle duality, Galileo's analogical reasoning which led him to postulate mountains on the moon, and Darwin's metaphor of "natural selection." In the theological sphere, he considers Aquinas's notion of analogia entis whereby the creation bears a likeness to its creator, and Ian Ramsey's model of the "divine economy" utilizing the Greek concept of oikonomia. He looks at Arthur Peacocke's theological application of models as linked to "critical realism," and Sally McFague's metaphors in theology--though he could perhaps have allowed more than one sentence on Janet Soskice. He then examines specific theological examples: creation and theories of the atonement. He has a helpful section on the notion of "mystery" in science and religion before returning to Ian Barbour on models. *McGrath's final chapter considers a number of contemporary debates. Noting Hume's distinction between "ought" and "is" he critiques the idea that science, say, evolutionary biology or neuroscience, can determine ethics and moral values. That leads to a more general critique of the imperialist stance that science can answer all interesting questions or that the only reality is that disclosed by science. An interesting example is mathematics, which discovers truths that do not belong to the natural sciences. It is also utterly astonishing that mathematics is effective in describing nature and very hard to explain on an atheistic view. *An important area considered is theodicy, which is arguably made more difficult by the long process of evolution, preceding the existence of humans by hundreds of millions of years. McGrath provides an overview of the helpful contributions of Christopher Southgate and his former student Bethany Sollereder. For these scholars, there is "no other way" for God to create such a rich diversity of creatures, with whom God suffers, and for whom God will bring eschatological fulfilment. On transhumanism, McGrath describes the approaches of Philip Hefner and Ted Peters who, while recognizing the creativity of technological enhancement, are also aware that, given fallen human nature, this can also be abused. *McGrath returns to the anthropic principle and fine-tuning. He says that fine-tuning is strongly consistent with a theistic perspective, but the debate about a multiverse as a possible explanation continues. He also considers the legitimacy of teleological language and directionality in biology. Simon Conway Morris's notion of convergent evolution may be the "best explanation" of what is observed and is resonant with a religious perspective but, like cosmological fine-tuning, does not prove that God exists. *McGrath concludes with two sections on the psychology of religion, considering whether this field can "explain away" religion. Religion may be "natural," but it is debatable as to whether that has any implication at all about the existence of God. Moreover, it is a long way from primitive apprehension of some vague supernatural agent to the systematic theology of, say, Thomas Aquinas or Karl Barth. To my mind, this is not unlike the difference--to give a scientific analogy--between the discovery of fire by early humans and the modern scientific understanding of combustion. *This is an excellent introduction to the field and very well suited to its pedagogic purpose. There are a few typographical errors (e.g., "magisterial" for "magisteria"). I also noticed that British cosmologist Paul Davies is mistakenly described as American. But these and my earlier minor points should not detract from a volume that provides a vital resource to educators and their students. *Reviewed by Rodney Holder, Emeritus Course Director, The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Cambridge, UK CB3 0UB.

Environments containing significant concentration of NaCl such as salt lakes harbor extremophiles microorganisms which have a great biotechnology interest. To explore the diversity of Bacteria in Chott Tinsilt (Algeria), an isolation program was performed. Water samples were collected from the saltern during the pre-salt harvesting phase. This Chott is high in salt (22.47% (w/v). Seven halophiles Bacteria were selected for further characterization. The isolated strains were able to grow optimally in media with 10–25% (w/v) total salts. Molecular identification of the isolates was performed by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene. It showed that these cultured isolates included members belonging to the Halomonas, Staphylococcus, Salinivibrio, Planococcus and Halobacillus genera with less than 98% of similarity with their closest phylogenetic relative. The halophilic bacterial isolates were also characterized for the production of biosurfactant and industrially important enzymes. Most isolates produced hydrolases and biosurfactants at high salt concentration. In fact, this is the first report on bacterial strains (A4 and B4) which were a good biosurfactant and coagulase producer at 20% and 25% ((w/v)) NaCl. In addition, the biosurfactant produced by the strain B4 at high salinity (25%) was also stable at high temperature (30-100°C) and high alkalinity (pH 11).Key word: Salt Lake, Bacteria, biosurfactant, Chott, halophiles, hydrolases, 16S rRNAINTRODUCTIONSaline lakes cover approximately 10% of the Earth’s surface area. The microbial populations of many hypersaline environments have already been studied in different geographical regions such as Great Salt Lake (USA), Dead Sea (Israel), Wadi Natrun Lake (Egypt), Lake Magadi (Kenya), Soda Lake (Antarctica) and Big Soda Lake and Mono Lake (California). Hypersaline regions differ from each other in terms of geographical location, salt concentration and chemical composition, which determine the nature of inhabitant microorganisms (Gupta et al., 2015). Then low taxonomic diversity is common to all these saline environments (Oren et al., 1993). Halophiles are found in nearly all major microbial clades, including prokaryotic (Bacteria and Archaea) and eukaryotic forms (DasSarma and Arora, 2001). They are classified as slight halophiles when they grow optimally at 0.2–0.85 M (2–5%) NaCl, as moderate halophiles when they grow at 0.85–3.4 M (5–20%) NaCl, and as extreme halophiles when they grow at 3.4–5.1 M (20–30%) NaCl. Hyper saline environments are inhabited by extremely halophilic and halotolerant microorganisms such as Halobacillus sp, Halobacterium sp., Haloarcula sp., Salinibacter ruber , Haloferax sp and Bacillus spp. (Solomon and Viswalingam, 2013). There is a tremendous demand for halophilic bacteria due to their biotechnological importance as sources of halophilic enzymes. Enzymes derived from halophiles are endowed with unique structural features and catalytic power to sustain the metabolic and physiological processes under high salt conditions. Some of these enzymes have been reported to be active and stable under more than one extreme condition (Karan and Khare, 2010). Applications are being considered in a range of industries such as food processing, washing, biosynthetic processes and environmental bioremediation. Halophilic proteases are widely used in the detergent and food industries (DasSarma and Arora, 2001). However, esterases and lipases have also been useful in laundry detergents for the removal of oil stains and are widely used as biocatalysts because of their ability to produce pure compounds. Likewise, amylases are used industrially in the first step of the production of high fructose corn syrup (hydrolysis of corn starch). They are also used in the textile industry in the de-sizing process and added to laundry detergents. Furthermore, for the environmental applications, the use of halophiles for bioremediation and biodegradation of various materials from industrial effluents to soil contaminants and accidental spills are being widely explored. In addition to enzymes, halophilic / halotolerants microorganisms living in saline environments, offer another potential applications in various fields of biotechnology like the production of biosurfactant. Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds synthesized from plants and microorganisms. They reduce surface tension and interfacial tension between individual molecules at the surface and interface respectively (Akbari et al., 2018). Comparing to the chemical surfactant, biosurfactant are promising alternative molecules due to their low toxicity, high biodegradability, environmental capability, mild production conditions, lower critical micelle concentration, higher selectivity, availability of resources and ability to function in wide ranges of pH, temperature and salinity (Rocha et al., 1992). They are used in various industries which include pharmaceuticals, petroleum, food, detergents, cosmetics, paints, paper products and water treatment (Akbari et al., 2018). The search for biosurfactants in extremophiles is particularly promising since these biomolecules can adapt and be stable in the harsh environments in which they are to be applied in biotechnology.OBJECTIVESEastern Algeria features numerous ecosystems including hypersaline environments, which are an important source of salt for food. The microbial diversity in Chott Tinsilt, a shallow Salt Lake with more than 200g/L salt concentration and a superficies of 2.154 Ha, has never yet been studied. The purpose of this research was to chemically analyse water samples collected from the Chott, isolate novel extremely or moderate halophilic Bacteria, and examine their phenotypic and phylogenetic characteristics with a view to screening for biosurfactants and enzymes of industrial interest.MATERIALS AND METHODSStudy area: The area is at 5 km of the Commune of Souk-Naâmane and 17 km in the South of the town of Aïn-Melila. This area skirts the trunk road 3 serving Constantine and Batna and the railway Constantine-Biskra. It is part the administrative jurisdiction of the Wilaya of Oum El Bouaghi. The Chott belongs to the wetlands of the High Plains of Constantine with a depth varying rather regularly without never exceeding 0.5 meter. Its length extends on 4 km with a width of 2.5 km (figure 1).Water samples and physico-chemical analysis: In February 2013, water samples were collected from various places at the Chott Tinsilt using Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of 35°53’14” N lat. and 06°28’44”E long. Samples were collected randomly in sterile polythene bags and transported immediately to the laboratory for isolation of halophilic microorganisms. All samples were treated within 24 h after collection. Temperature, pH and salinity were measured in situ using a multi-parameter probe (Hanna Instruments, Smithfield, RI, USA). The analytical methods used in this study to measure ions concentration (Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+, Na+, K+, Cl−, HCO3−, SO42−) were based on 4500-S-2 F standard methods described elsewhere (Association et al., 1920).Isolation of halophilic bacteria from water sample: The media (M1) used in the present study contain (g/L): 2.0 g of KCl, 100.0/200.0 g of NaCl, 1.0 g of MgSO4.7HO2, 3.0 g of Sodium Citrate, 0.36 g of MnCl2, 10.0 g of yeast extract and 15.0 g agar. The pH was adjusted to 8.0. Different dilutions of water samples were added to the above medium and incubated at 30°C during 2–7 days or more depending on growth. Appearance and growth of halophilic bacteria were monitored regularly. The growth was diluted 10 times and plated on complete medium agar (g/L): glucose 10.0; peptone 5.0; yeast extract 5.0; KH2PO4 5.0; agar 30.0; and NaCl 100.0/200.0. Resultant colonies were purified by repeated streaking on complete media agar. The pure cultures were preserved in 20% glycerol vials and stored at −80°C for long-term preservation.Biochemical characterisation of halophilic bacterial isolates: Bacterial isolates were studied for Gram’s reaction, cell morphology and pigmentation. Enzymatic assays (catalase, oxidase, nitrate reductase and urease), and assays for fermentation of lactose and mannitol were done as described by Smibert (1994).Optimization of growth conditions: Temperature, pH, and salt concentration were optimized for the growth of halophilic bacterial isolates. These growth parameters were studied quantitatively by growing the bacterial isolates in M1 medium with shaking at 200 rpm and measuring the cell density at 600 nm after 8 days of incubation. To study the effect of NaCl on the growth, bacterial isolates were inoculated on M1 medium supplemented with different concentration of NaCl: 1%-35% (w/v). The effect of pH on the growth of halophilic bacterial strains was studied by inoculating isolates on above described growth media containing NaCl and adjusted to acidic pH of 5 and 6 by using 1N HCl and alkaline pH of 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 using 5N NaOH. The effect of temperature was studied by culturing the bacterial isolates in M1 medium at different temperatures of incubation (4°C–55°C).Screening of halophilic bacteria for hydrolytic enzymes: Hydrolase producing bacteria among the isolates were screened by plate assay on starch, tributyrin, gelatin and DNA agar plates respectively for amylase, lipase, protease and DNAse activities. Amylolytic activity of the cultures was screened on starch nutrient agar plates containing g/L: starch 10.0; peptone 5.0; yeast extract 3.0; agar 30.0; NaCl 100.0/250.0. The pH was 7.0. After incubation at 30 ºC for 7 days, the zone of clearance was determined by flooding the plates with iodine solution. The potential amylase producers were selected based on ratio of zone of clearance diameter to colony diameter. Lipase activity of the cultures was screened on tributyrin nutrient agar plates containing 1% (v/v) of tributyrin. Isolates that showed clear zones of tributyrin hydrolysis were identified as lipase producing bacteria. Proteolytic activity of the isolates was similarly screened on gelatin nutrient agar plates containing 10.0 g/L of gelatin. The isolates showing zones of gelatin clearance upon treatment with acidic mercuric chloride were selected and designated as protease producing bacteria. The presence of DNAse activity on plates was determined on DNAse test agar (BBL) containing 10%-25% (w/v) total salt. After incubation for 7days, the plates were flooded with 1N HCl solution. Clear halos around the colonies indicated DNAse activity (Jeffries et al., 1957).Milk clotting activity (coagulase activity) of the isolates was also determined following the procedure described (Berridge, 1952). Skim milk powder was reconstituted in 10 mM aqueous CaCl2 (pH 6.5) to a final concentration of 0.12 kg/L. Enzyme extracts were added at a rate of 0.1 mL per mL of milk. The coagulation point was determined by manual rotating of the test tube periodically, at short time intervals, and checking for visible clot formation.Screening of halophilic bacteria for biosurfactant production. Oil spread Assay: The Petridis base was filled with 50 mL of distilled water. On the water surface, 20μL of diesel and 10μl of culture were added respectively. The culture was introduced at different spots on the diesel, which is coated on the water surface. The occurrence of a clear zone was an indicator of positive result (Morikawa et al., 2000). The diameter of the oil expelling circles was measured by slide caliber (with a degree of accuracy of 0.02 mm).Surface tension and emulsification index (E24): Isolates were cultivated at 30 °C for 7 days on the enrichment medium containing 10-25% NaCl and diesel oil as the sole carbon source. The medium was centrifuged (7000 rpm for 20 min) and the surface tension of the cell-free culture broth was measured with a TS90000 surface tensiometer (Nima, Coventry, England) as a qualitative indicator of biosurfactant production. The culture broth was collected with a Pasteur pipette to remove the non-emulsified hydrocarbons. The emulsifying capacity was evaluated by an emulsification index (E24). The E24 of culture samples was determined by adding 2 mL of diesel oil to the same amount of culture, mixed for 2 min with a vortex, and allowed to stand for 24 h. E24 index is defined as the percentage of height of emulsified layer (mm) divided by the total height of the liquid column (mm).Biosurfactant stability studies : After growth on diesel oil as sole source of carbone, cultures supernatant obtained after centrifugation at 6,000 rpm for 15 min were considered as the source of crude biosurfactant. Its stability was determined by subjecting the culture supernatant to various temperature ranges (30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100 °C) for 30 min then cooled to room temperature. Similarly, the effect of different pH (2–11) on the activity of the biosurfactant was tested. The activity of the biosurfactant was investigated by measuring the emulsification index (El-Sersy, 2012).Molecular identification of potential strains. DNA extraction and PCR amplification of 16S rDNA: Total cellular DNA was extracted from strains and purified as described by Sambrook et al. (1989). DNA was purified using Geneclean® Turbo (Q-BIO gene, Carlsbad, CA, USA) before use as a template in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. For the 16S rDNA gene sequence, the purified DNA was amplified using a universal primer set, forward primer (27f; 5′-AGA GTT TGA TCM TGG CTC AG) and a reverse primer (1492r; 5′-TAC GGY TAC CTT GTT ACG ACT T) (Lane, 1991). Agarose gel electrophoresis confirmed the amplification product as a 1400-bp DNA fragment.16S rDNA sequencing and Phylogenic analysis: Amplicons generated using primer pair 27f-1492r was sequenced using an automatic sequencer system at Macrogene Company (Seoul, Korea). The sequences were compared with those of the NCBI BLAST GenBank nucleotide sequence databases. Phylogenetic trees were constructed by the neighbor-joining method using MEGA version 5.05 software (Tamura et al., 2011). Bootstrap resembling analysis for 1,000 replicates was performed to estimate the confidence of tree topologies.Nucleotide sequence accession numbers: The nucleotide sequences reported in this work have been deposited in the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database. The accession numbers are represented in table 5.Statistics: All experiments were conducted in triplicates. Results were evaluated for statistical significance using ANOVA.RESULTSPhysico-chemical parameters of the collected water samples: The physicochemical properties of the collected water samples are reported in table 1. At the time of sampling, the temperature was 10.6°C and pH 7.89. The salinity of the sample, as determined in situ, was 224.70 g/L (22,47% (w/v)). Chemical analysis of water sample indicated that Na +and Cl- were the most abundant ions (table 1). SO4-2 and Mg+2 was present in much smaller amounts compared to Na +and Cl- concentration. Low levels of calcium, potassium and bicarbonate were also detected, often at less than 1 g/L.Characterization of isolates. Morphological and biochemical characteristic feature of halophilic bacterial isolates: Among 52 strains isolated from water of Chott Tinsilt, seven distinct bacteria (A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B4 and B5) were chosen for further characterization (table 2). The colour of the isolates varied from beige, pale yellow, yellowish and orange. The bacterial isolates A1, A2, A4, B1 and B5 were rod shaped and gram negative (except B5), whereas A3 and B4 were cocci and gram positive. All strains were oxidase and catalase positive except for B1. Nitrate reductase and urease activities were observed in all the bacterial isolates, except B4. All the bacterial isolates were negative for H2S formation. B5 was the only strain positive for mannitol fermentation (table 2).We isolated halophilic bacteria on growth medium with NaCl supplementation at pH 7 and temperature of 30°C. We studied the effect of NaCl, temperature and pH on the growth of bacterial isolates. All the isolates exhibited growth only in the presence of NaCl indicating that these strains are halophilic. The optimum growth of isolates A3 and B1 was observed in the presence of 10% NaCl, whereas it was 15% NaCl for A1, A2 and B5. A4 and B4 showed optimum growth in the presence of 20% and 25% NaCl respectively. A4, B4 and B5 strains can tolerate up to 35% NaCl.The isolate B1 showed growth in medium supplemented with 10% NaCl and pH range of 7–10. The optimum pH for the growth B1 was 9 and they did not show any detectable growth at or below pH 6 (table 2), which indicates the alkaliphilic nature of B1 isolate. The bacterial isolates A1, A2 and A4 exhibited growth in the range of pH 6–10, while A3 and B4 did not show any growth at pH greater than 8. The optimum pH for growth of all strains (except B1) was pH 7.0 (table 2). These results indicate that A1, A2, A3, A4, B4 and B5 are neutrophilic in nature. All the bacterial isolates exhibited optimal growth at 30°C and no detectable growth at 55°C. Also, detectable growth of isolates A1, A2 and A4 was observed at 4°C. However, none of the bacterial strains could grow below 4°C and above 50°C (table 2).Screening of the halophilic enzymes: To characterize the diversity of halophiles able to produce hydrolytic enzymes among the population of microorganisms inhabiting the hypersaline habitats of East Algeria (Chott Tinsilt), a screening was performed. As described in Materials and Methods, samples were plated on solid media containing 10%-25% (w/v) of total salts and different substrates for the detection of amylase, protease, lipase and DNAse activities. However, coagulase activity was determined in liquid medium using milk as substrate (figure 3). Distributions of hydrolytic activity among the isolates are summarized in table 4.From the seven bacterial isolates, four strains A1, A2, A4 and B5 showed combined hydrolytic activities. They were positive for gelatinase, lipase and coagulase. A3 strain showed gelatinase and lipase activities. DNAse activities were detected with A1, A4, B1 and B5 isolates. B4 presented lipase and coagulase activity. Surprisingly, no amylase activity was detected among all the isolates.Screening for biosurfactant producing isolates: Oil spread assay: The results showed that all the strains could produce notable (>4 cm diameter) oil expelling circles (ranging from 4.11 cm to 4.67 cm). The average diameter for strain B5 was 4.67 cm, significantly (P < 0.05) higher than for the other strains.Surface tension and emulsification index (E24): The assimilation of hydrocarbons as the sole sources of carbon by the isolate strains led to the production of biosurfactants indicated by the emulsification index and the lowering of the surface tension of cell-free supernatant. Based on rapid growth on media containing diesel oil as sole carbon source, the seven isolates were tested for biosurfactant production and emulsification activity. The obtained values of the surface tension measurements as well as the emulsification index (E24) are shown in table 3. The highest reduction of surface tension was achieved with B5 and A3 isolates with values of 25.3 mN m−1 and 28.1 mN m−1 respectively. The emulsifying capacity evaluated by the E24 emulsification index was highest in the culture of isolate B4 (78%), B5 (77%) and A3 (76%) as shown in table 3 and figure 2. These emulsions were stable even after 4 months. The bacteria with emulsification indices higher than 50 % and/or reduction in the surface tension (under 30 mN/m) have been defined as potential biosurfactant producers. Based on surface tension and the E24 index results, isolates B5, B4, A3 and A4 are the best candidates for biosurfactant production. It is important to note that, strains B4 and A4 produce biosurfactant in medium containing respectively 25% and 20% (w/v) NaCl.Stability of biosurfactant activities: The applicability of biosurfactants in several biotechnological fields depends on their stability at different environmental conditions (temperatures, pH and NaCl). For this study, the strain B4 appear very interesting (It can produce biosurfactant at 25 % NaCl) and was choosen for futher analysis for biosurfactant stability. The effects of temperature and pH on the biosurfactant production by the strain B4 are shown in figure 4.biosurfactant in medium containing respectively 25% and 20% (w/v) NaCl.Stability of biosurfactant activities: The applicability of biosurfactants in several biotechnological fields depends on their stability at different environmental conditions (temperatures, pH and NaCl). For this study, the strain B4 appear very interesting (It can produce biosurfactant at 25 % NaCl) and was chosen for further analysis for biosurfactant stability. The effects of temperature and pH on the biosurfactant production by the strain B4 are shown in figure 4. The biosurfactant produced by this strain was shown to be thermostable giving an E-24 Index value greater than 78% (figure 4A). Heating of the biosurfactant to 100 °C caused no significant effect on the biosurfactant performance. Therefore, the surface activity of the crude biosurfactant supernatant remained relatively stable to pH changes between pH 6 and 11. At pH 11, the value of E24 showed almost 76% activity, whereas below pH 6 the activity was decreased up to 40% (figure 4A). The decreases of the emulsification activity by decreasing the pH value from basic to an acidic region; may be due to partial precipitation of the biosurfactant. This result indicated that biosurfactant produced by strain B4 show higher stability at alkaline than in acidic conditions.Molecular identification and phylogenies of potential isolates: To identify halophilic bacterial isolates, the 16S rDNA gene was amplified using gene-specific primers. A PCR product of ≈ 1.3 kb was detected in all the seven isolates. The 16S rDNA amplicons of each bacterial isolate was sequenced on both strands using 27F and 1492R primers. The complete nucleotide sequence of 1336,1374, 1377,1313, 1305,1308 and 1273 bp sequences were obtained from A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B4 and B5 isolates respectively, and subjected to BLAST analysis. The 16S rDNA sequence analysis showed that the isolated strains belong to the genera Halomonas, Staphylococcus, Salinivibrio, Planococcus and Halobacillus as shown in table 5. The halophilic isolates A2 and A4 showed 97% similarity with the Halomonas variabilis strain GSP3 (accession no. AY505527) and the Halomonas sp. M59 (accession no. AM229319), respectively. As for A1, it showed 96% similarity with the Halomonas venusta strain GSP24 (accession no. AY553074). B1 and B4 showed for their part 96% similarity with the Salinivibrio costicola subsp. alcaliphilus strain 18AG DSM4743 (accession no. NR_042255) and the Planococcus citreus (accession no. JX122551), respectively. The bacterial isolate B5 showed 98% sequence similarity with the Halobacillus trueperi (accession no. HG931926), As for A3, it showed only 95% similarity with the Staphylococcus arlettae (accession no. KR047785). The 16S rDNA nucleotide sequences of all the seven halophilic bacterial strains have been submitted to the NCBI GenBank database under the accession number presented in table 5. The phylogenetic association of the isolates is shown in figure 5.DICUSSIONThe physicochemical properties of the collected water samples indicated that this water was relatively neutral (pH 7.89) similar to the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake (USA) and in contrast to the more basic lakes such as Lake Wadi Natrun (Egypt) (pH 11) and El Golea Salt Lake (Algeria) (pH 9). The salinity of the sample was 224.70 g/L (22,47% (w/v). This range of salinity (20-30%) for Chott Tinsilt is comparable to a number of well characterized hypersaline ecosystems including both natural and man-made habitats, such as the Great Salt Lake (USA) and solar salterns of Puerto Rico. Thus, Chott Tinsilt is a hypersaline environment, i.e. environments with salt concentrations well above that of seawater. Chemical analysis of water sample indicated that Na +and Cl- were the most abundant ions, as in most hypersaline ecosystems (with some exceptions such as the Dead Sea). These chemical water characteristics were consistent with the previously reported data in other hypersaline ecosystems (DasSarma and Arora, 2001; Oren, 2002; Hacěne et al., 2004). Among 52 strains isolated from this Chott, seven distinct bacteria (A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B4 and B5) were chosen for phenotypique, genotypique and phylogenetique characterization.The 16S rDNA sequence analysis showed that the isolated strains belong to the genera Halomonas, Staphylococcus, Salinivibrio, Planococcus and Halobacillus. Genera obtained in the present study are commonly occurring in various saline habitats across the globe. Staphylococci have the ability to grow in a wide range of salt concentrations (Graham and Wilkinson, 1992; Morikawa et al., 2009; Roohi et al., 2014). For example, in Pakistan, Staphylococcus strains were isolated from various salt samples during the study conducted by Roohi et al. (2014) and these results agreed with previous reports. Halomonas, halophilic and/or halotolerant Gram-negative bacteria are typically found in saline environments (Kim et al., 2013). The presence of Planococcus and Halobacillus has been reported in studies about hypersaline lakes; like La Sal del Rey (USA) (Phillips et al., 2012) and Great Salt Lake (Spring et al., 1996), respectively. The Salinivibrio costicola was a representative model for studies on osmoregulatory and other physiological mechanisms of moderately halophilic bacteria (Oren, 2006).However, it is interesting to note that all strains shared less than 98.7% identity (the usual species cut-off proposed by Yarza et al. (2014) with their closest phylogenetic relative, suggesting that they could be considered as new species. Phenotypic, genetic and phylogenetic analyses have been suggested for the complete identification of these strains. Theses bacterial strains were tested for the production of industrially important enzymes (Amylase, protease, lipase, DNAse and coagulase). These isolates are good candidates as sources of novel enzymes with biotechnological potential as they can be used in different industrial processes at high salt concentration (up to 25% NaCl for B4). Prominent amylase, lipase, protease and DNAase activities have been reported from different hypersaline environments across the globe; e.g., Spain (Sánchez‐Porro et al., 2003), Iran (Rohban et al., 2009), Tunisia (Baati et al., 2010) and India (Gupta et al., 2016). However, to the best of our knowledge, the coagulase activity has never been detected in extreme halophilic bacteria. Isolation and characterization of crude enzymes (especially coagulase) to investigate their properties and stability are in progress.The finding of novel enzymes with optimal activities at various ranges of salt concentrations is of great importance. Besides being intrinsically stable and active at high salt concentrations, halophilic and halotolerant enzymes offer great opportunities in biotechnological applications, such as environmental bioremediation (marine, oilfiel) and food processing. The bacterial isolates were also characterized for production of biosurfactants by oil-spread assay, measurement of surface tension and emulsification index (E24). There are few reports on biosurfactant producers in hypersaline environments and in recent years, there has been a greater increase in interest and importance in halophilic bacteria for biomolecules (Donio et al., 2013; Sarafin et al., 2014). Halophiles, which have a unique lipid composition, may have an important role to play as surface-active agents. The archae bacterial ether-linked phytanyl membrane lipid of the extremely halophilic bacteria has been shown to have surfactant properties (Post and Collins, 1982). Yakimov et al. (1995) reported the production of biosurfactant by a halotolerant Bacillus licheniformis strain BAS 50 which was able to produce a lipopeptide surfactant when cultured at salinities up to 13% NaCl. From solar salt, Halomonas sp. BS4 and Kocuria marina BS-15 were found to be able to produce biosurfactant when cultured at salinities of 8% and 10% NaCl respectively (Donio et al., 2013; Sarafin et al., 2014). In the present work, strains B4 and A4 produce biosurfactant in medium containing respectively 25% and 20% NaCl. To our knowledge, this is the first report on biosurfactant production by bacteria under such salt concentration. Biosurfactants have a wide variety of industrial and environmental applications (Akbari et al., 2018) but their applicability depends on their stability at different environmental conditions. The strain B4 which can produce biosurfactant at 25% NaCl showed good stability in alkaline pH and at a temperature range of 30°C-100°C. Due to the enormous utilization of biosurfactant in detergent manufacture the choice of alkaline biosurfactant is researched (Elazzazy et al., 2015). On the other hand, the interesting finding was the thermostability of the produced biosurfactant even after heat treatment (100°C for 30 min) which suggests the use of this biosurfactant in industries where heating is of a paramount importance (Khopade et al., 2012). To date, more attention has been focused on biosurfactant producing bacteria under extreme conditions for industrial and commercial usefulness. In fact, the biosurfactant produce by strain B4 have promising usefulness in pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries and for bioremediation in marine environment and Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) where the salinity, temperature and pH are high.CONCLUSIONThis is the first study on the culturable halophilic bacteria community inhabiting Chott Tinsilt in Eastern Algeria. Different genera of halotolerant bacteria with different phylogeneticaly characteristics have been isolated from this Chott. Culturing of bacteria and their molecular analysis provides an opportunity to have a wide range of cultured microorganisms from extreme habitats like hypersaline environments. Enzymes produced by halophilic bacteria show interesting properties like their ability to remain functional in extreme conditions, such as high temperatures, wide range of pH, and high salt concentrations. These enzymes have great economical potential in industrial, agricultural, chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnological applications. Thus, the halophiles isolated from Chott Tinsilt offer an important potential for application in microbial and enzyme biotechnology. In addition, these halo bacterial biosurfactants producers isolated from this Chott will help to develop more valuable eco-friendly products to the pharmacological and food industries and will be usefulness for bioremediation in marine environment and petroleum industry.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSOur thanks to Professor Abdelhamid Zoubir for proofreading the English composition of the present paper.CONFLICT OF INTERESTThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.Akbari, S., N. H. Abdurahman, R. M. Yunus, F. Fayaz and O. R. Alara, 2018. Biosurfactants—a new frontier for social and environmental safety: A mini review. Biotechnology research innovation, 2(1): 81-90.Association, A. P. H., A. W. W. Association, W. P. C. Federation and W. E. Federation, 1920. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. American Public Health Association.Baati, H., R. Amdouni, N. Gharsallah, A. Sghir and E. Ammar, 2010. Isolation and characterization of moderately halophilic bacteria from tunisian solar saltern. Current microbiology, 60(3): 157-161.Berridge, N., 1952. Some observations on the determination of the activity of rennet. Analyst, 77(911): 57b-62.DasSarma, S. and P. Arora, 2001. Halophiles. Encyclopedia of life sciences. Nature publishishing group: 1-9.Donio, M. B. S., F. A. Ronica, V. T. Viji, S. Velmurugan, J. S. C. A. Jenifer, M. Michaelbabu, P. Dhar and T. Citarasu, 2013. Halomonas sp. Bs4, a biosurfactant producing halophilic bacterium isolated from solar salt works in India and their biomedical importance. SpringerPlus, 2(1): 149.El-Sersy, N. A., 2012. Plackett-burman design to optimize biosurfactant production by marine Bacillus subtilis n10. Roman biotechnol lett, 17(2): 7049-7064.Elazzazy, A. M., T. Abdelmoneim and O. Almaghrabi, 2015. Isolation and characterization of biosurfactant production under extreme environmental conditions by alkali-halo-thermophilic bacteria from Saudi Arabia. Saudi journal of biological Sciences, 22(4): 466-475.Graham, J. E. and B. Wilkinson, 1992. Staphylococcus aureus osmoregulation: Roles for choline, glycine betaine, proline, and taurine. Journal of bacteriology, 174(8): 2711-2716.Gupta, S., P. Sharma, K. Dev and A. Sourirajan, 2016. Halophilic bacteria of lunsu produce an array of industrially important enzymes with salt tolerant activity. Biochemistry research international, 1: 1-10.Gupta, S., P. Sharma, K. Dev, M. Srivastava and A. Sourirajan, 2015. A diverse group of halophilic bacteria exist in lunsu, a natural salt water body of Himachal Pradesh, India. SpringerPlus 4(1): 274.Hacěne, H., F. Rafa, N. Chebhouni, S. Boutaiba, T. Bhatnagar, J. C. Baratti and B. Ollivier, 2004. 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Ohta, Y. Tanaka, K. Takeyasu and T. Msadek, 2009. Adaptation beyond the stress response: Cell structure dynamics and population heterogeneity in Staphylococcus aureus. Microbes environments, 25: 75-82.Morikawa, M., Y. Hirata and T. J. B. e. B. A.-M. Imanaka, 2000. A study on the structure–function relationship of lipopeptide biosurfactants. Biochimica et biophysica acta, 1488(3): 211-218.Oren, A., 2002. Diversity of halophilic microorganisms: Environments, phylogeny, physiology, and applications. Journal of industrial microbiology biotechnology, 28(1): 56-63.Oren, A., 2006. Halophilic microorganisms and their environments. Springer science & business media.Oren, A., R. Vreeland and L. Hochstein, 1993. Ecology of extremely halophilic microorganisms. The biology of halophilic bacteria, 2(1): 1-8.Phillips, K., F. Zaidan, O. R. Elizondo and K. L. Lowe, 2012. Phenotypic characterization and 16s rDNA identification of culturable non-obligate halophilic bacterial communities from a hypersaline lake, la sal del rey, in extreme south texas (USA). Aquatic biosystems, 8(1): 1-5.Post, F. and N. Collins, 1982. A preliminary investigation of the membrane lipid of Halobacterium halobium as a food additive 1. Journal of food biochemistry, 6(1): 25-38.Rocha, C., F. San-Blas, G. San-Blas and L. Vierma, 1992. Biosurfactant production by two isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. World Journal of microbiology biotechnology, 8(2): 125-128.Rohban, R., M. A. Amoozegar and A. Ventosa, 2009. Screening and isolation of halophilic bacteria producing extracellular hydrolyses from howz soltan lake, Iran. Journal of industrial microbiology biotechnology, 36(3): 333-340.Roohi, A., I. Ahmed, N. Khalid, M. Iqbal and M. Jamil, 2014. Isolation and phylogenetic identification of halotolerant/halophilic bacteria from the salt mines of Karak, Pakistan. 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International journal scientific research paper publication sites, 4: 1-7.Spring, S., W. Ludwig, M. Marquez, A. Ventosa and K.-H. Schleifer, 1996. Halobacillus gen. Nov., with descriptions of Halobacillus litoralis sp. Nov. and Halobacillus trueperi sp. Nov., and transfer of Sporosarcina halophila to Halobacillus halophilus comb. Nov. International journal of systematic evolutionary microbiology, 46(2): 492-496.Tamura, K., D. Peterson, N. Peterson, G. Stecher, M. Nei and S. Kumar, 2011. Mega5: Molecular evolutionary genetics analysis using maximum likelihood, evolutionary distance, and maximum parsimony methods. Molecular biology evolution, 28(10): 2731-2739.Yakimov, M. M., K. N. Timmis, V. Wray and H. L. Fredrickson, 1995. Characterization of a new lipopeptide surfactant produced by thermotolerant and halotolerant subsurface Bacillus licheniformis bas50. Applied and environmental microbiology, 61(5): 1706-1713.Yarza, P., P. Yilmaz, E. Pruesse, F. O. Glöckner, W. Ludwig, K.-H. Schleifer, W. B. Whitman, J. Euzéby, R. Amann and R. Rosselló-Móra, 2014. Uniting the classification of cultured and uncultured bacteria and archaea using 16s rRNA gene sequences. Nature reviews microbiology, 12(9): 635-645

This paper will present the results of experiments in a class by conducting initial and final tests as well as in the control class by conducting mathematics learning in Madrasah Aliyah through contextual approaches, as an effort to improve communication and mathematical connections and student learning interests. Respondents in this study were 72 students from class X Natural Sciences in the city of Bandung. The instruments used include tests of mathematical communication skills, tests of mathematical connection abilities and questionnaires. Interest in learning mathematics. It was found from the researcher that in the mathematics learning class using a contextual approach, communication skills and mathematical connections were better than ordinary classes, even though both of these abilities were classified as low. While interest in learning mathematics in the experimental class is better than in the control class with moderate differences. As for the other things, it turns out that there is no association between communication abilities and mathematical connections Keywords: Mathematic Communication, Mathematic connection, contextual approach

Mathematical critical thinking skills are one of the essential skills in the 21st century. However, in reality, many students still do not have good mathematical critical thinking skills. This is because the teacher has not been able to process students' critical thinking in mathematics. Most teachers only teach mathematical concepts without seeing how the students' critical thinking processes in solving mathematics problems are given. Therefore, it is necessary to know how the critical thinking process of students so that teachers know what strategies should be applied in the classroom. This study aims to (1) describe the critical thinking skills of students in Grade 8 in solving a system of linear equations in two variables (SLETV) and (2) identify the components of critical thinking in students. It is a study with a qualitative descriptive approach. Three indicators are used as the basis, namely analyzing, evaluating, and drawing a conclusion. As many as 32 subjects were involved (14 males and 18 females). The research instrument was a test with three problems containing three indicators. Data were collected through test and interview methods, and triangulation was done to compare the outcomes between tests and interviews. The data were analyzed through data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The findings indicate that: (1) critical thinking skills of students are classified 'low'; (2) students' ability in concluding, as one indicator of critical thinking skills, is lower than other indicators.

Mathematical critical thinking skills are one of the essential skills in the 21st century. However, in reality, many students still do not have good mathematical critical thinking skills. This is because the teacher has not been able to process students' critical thinking in mathematics. Most teachers only teach mathematical concepts without seeing how the students' critical thinking processes in solving mathematics problems are given. Therefore, it is necessary to know how the critical thinking process of students so that teachers know what strategies should be applied in the classroom. This study aims to (1) describe the critical thinking skills of students in Grade 8 in solving a system of linear equations in two variables (SLETV) and (2) identify the components of critical thinking in students. It is a study with a qualitative descriptive approach. Three indicators are used as the basis, namely analyzing, evaluating, and drawing a conclusion. As many as 32 subjects were involved (14 males and 18 females). The research instrument was a test with three problems containing three indicators. Data were collected through test and interview methods, and triangulation was done to compare the outcomes between tests and interviews. The data were analyzed through data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The findings indicate that: (1) critical thinking skills of students are classified 'low'; (2) students' ability in concluding, as one indicator of critical thinking skills, is lower than other indicators.

AbstractThe fungal pathogens of spruce are well known in Europe and elsewhere. Therefore, it was surprising to discover a new fungal species and genus in Central Europe that attacks the pollen cones of three spruce species. The new ascomycete forms apothecia on stromatized pollen cones of Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Serbian spruce (Picea omorika) in mountain areas and on West Himalayan spruce (Picea smithiana) planted in urban lowland regions of Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. It was also detected in France, based on metabarcode sequences deposited in the GlobalFungi database. Its sudden appearance and the different origins of the host trees in Europe and Asia leave the origin of the fungus unclear. The new fungus might be a neomycete for Europe. A phylogenetic analysis using SSU, LSU, ITS, RPB2, and TEF1 sequences classified the fungus as a member of Sclerotiniaceae (Helotiales, Leotiomycetes). However, it differs morphologically from the other genera of this family in having an ascus without apical apparatus containing four mainly citriform spores with 16 nuclei each. Furthermore, it is the only known cup fungus that parasitizes pollen cones of conifers by stromatizing their tissue and infecting pollen grains. The fungus does not seem to cause major damage to the spruce populations, as only a few pollen cones per tree are affected. All this leads us to describe the newly discovered fungus as the new species and new genus Microstrobilinia castrans, the fungus that castrates pollen cones of spruce.

Purpose This paper aims to propose an integrated centralized data envelopment analysis (CDEA)-balanced scorecard (BSC) model to provide a selective approach to determine the most efficient indicators for evaluating the four perspectives of the BSC. Design/methodology/approach An integer linear programming model based on the efficiency concept of the CDEA method is presented to select the best indicators for evaluating four perspectives of the BSC. The basis for selecting indicators in this method is to maximize the overall performance of each BSC perspective. The modeling is performed on a real case. The considered model is solved using a general algebraic modeling system software for the data set of the real case. Findings A real-world case is solved using the proposed method. The integration of the CDEA and the BSC seems to be advantageous because it sheds more light on the complexity and tradeoffs inherent in actual performance measurement. It is important to note that there cannot be a unique and universal model of performance measurement applicable in every situation, in every organization and at any time. Research limitations/implications The data set of a single organization in the manufacturing industry is used to show the performance of the proposed mathematical model; therefore, generalization of the results should be done cautiously. This framework is based on the Iranian community and experts’ viewpoints; therefore, different results may be obtained if it is applied elsewhere, and the importance of perspectives and their indicators might show different results in other populations and other countries. In addition, because the data is collected in a specific period of time, the results cannot be extended to other periods of time. Originality/value The main contribution of this paper lies in the adaption of a new integrated CDEA-BSC model to performance measurement in the industrial sector that technology improves the ultimate results of performance measurement and provides wider opportunities for decision-makers. This paper aids managers and decision-makers to control the efficient indicators in perspectives.

PurposeOne of the main advantages of the proposed model is that it is flexible to generate n-day pairings simultaneously. It means that, despite previous researches, one-day to n-day pairings can be generated in a single model. The flexibility in generating parings causes that the proposed model leads to better solutions compared to existing models. Another advantage of the model is minimizing the risk of COVID-19 by limitation of daily flights as well as elapsed time minimization. As airports are among high risk places in COVID-19 pandemic, minimization of infection risk is considered in this model for the first time. Genetic algorithm is used as the solution approach, and its efficiency is compared to GAMS in small and medium-size problems.Design/methodology/approachOne of the most complex issues in airlines is crew scheduling problem which is divided into two subproblems: crew pairing problem (CPP) and crew rostering problem (CRP). Generating crew pairings is a tremendous and exhausting task as millions of pairings may be generated for an airline. Moreover, crew cost has the largest share in total cost of airlines after fuel cost. As a result, crew scheduling with the aim of cost minimization is one of the most important issues in airlines. In this paper, a new bi-objective mixed integer programming model is proposed to generate pairings in such a way that deadhead cost, crew cost and the risk of COVID-19 are minimized.FindingsThe proposed model is applied for domestic flights of Iran Air airline. The results of the study indicate that genetic algorithm solutions have only 0.414 and 0.380 gap on average to optimum values of the first and the second objective functions, respectively. Due to the flexibility of the proposed model, it improves solutions resulted from existing models with fixed-duty pairings. Crew cost is decreased by 12.82, 24.72, 4.05 and 14.86% compared to one-duty to four-duty models. In detail, crew salary is improved by 12.85, 24.64, 4.07 and 14.91% and deadhead cost is decreased by 11.87, 26.98, 3.27, and 13.35% compared to one-duty to four-duty models, respectively.Originality/valueThe authors confirm that it is an original paper, has not been published elsewhere and is not currently under consideration of any other journal.

Two lander-based devices, the Bubble-Box and GasQuant-II, were used to investigate the spatial and temporal variability and total gas flow rates of a seep area offshore Oregon, United States. The Bubble-Box is a stereo camera–equipped lander that records bubbles inside a rising corridor with 80 Hz, allowing for automated image analyses of bubble size distributions and rising speeds. GasQuant is a hydroacoustic lander using a horizontally oriented multibeam swath to record the backscatter intensity of bubble streams passing the swath plain. The experimental set up at the Astoria Canyon site at a water depth of about 500 m aimed at calibrating the hydroacoustic GasQuant data with the visual Bubble-Box data for a spatial and temporal flow rate quantification of the site. For about 90 h in total, both systems were deployed simultaneously and pressure and temperature data were recorded using a CTD as well. Detailed image analyses show a Gaussian-like bubble size distribution of bubbles with a radius of 0.6–6 mm (mean 2.5 mm, std. dev. 0.25 mm); this is very similar to other measurements reported in the literature. Rising speeds ranged from 15 to 37 cm/s between 1- and 5-mm bubble sizes and are thus, in parts, slightly faster than reported elsewhere. Bubble sizes and calculated flow rates are rather constant over time at the two monitored bubble streams. Flow rates of these individual bubble streams are in the range of 544–1,278 mm3/s. One Bubble-Box data set was used to calibrate the acoustic backscatter response of the GasQuant data, enabling us to calculate a flow rate of the ensonified seep area (∼1,700 m2) that ranged from 4.98 to 8.33 L/min (5.38 × 106 to 9.01 × 106 CH4 mol/year). Such flow rates are common for seep areas of similar size, and as such, this location is classified as a normally active seep area. For deriving these acoustically based flow rates, the detailed data pre-processing considered echogram gridding methods of the swath data and bubble responses at the respective water depth. The described method uses the inverse gas flow quantification approach and gives an in-depth example of the benefits of using acoustic and optical methods in tandem.

Background: Reperfusion following ischemia can lead to more injuries than ischemia itself especially in diabetic patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dexmedetomidine on ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) in rats with have hepatic IRI and diabetes mellitus. Methodology: Twenty-eight Wistar Albino rats were randomised into four groups as control (C), diabetic (DC), diabetic with hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (DIR), and diabetic but administered dexmedetomidine followed by hepatic IRI (DIRD) groups. Hepatic tissue samples were evaluated histopathologically by semiquantitative methods. Malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathion s-transpherase (GST), and catalase (CAT) enzyme levels were investigated in liver and kidney tissues as oxidative state parameters. Results: In Group DIR; hepatocyte degeneration, sinusoidal dilatation, pycnotic nucleus, and necrotic cells were found to be more in rat hepatic tissue; while mononuclear cell infiltration was higher in the parenchyme. MDA levels were significantly lower; but SOD levels were significantly higher in Group DIRD with regard to Group DIR. In the IRI induced diabetic rats’ hepatic and nephrotic tissues MDA levels, showing oxidative injury, were found to be lower. SOD levels, showing early antioxidant activity, were higher. Conclusion: The enzymatic findings of our study together with the hepatic histopathology indicate that dexmedetomidine has a potential role to decrease IRI. Key words: Hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury; Diabetes mellitus; Dexmedetomidine; Rat; MDA; SOD Citation: Sezen SC, Işık B, Bilge M, Arslan M, Çomu FM, Öztürk L, Kesimci E, Kavutçu M. Effect of dexmedetomidine on ischemia-reperfusion injury of liver and kidney tissues in experimental diabetes and hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury induced rats. Anaesth Pain & Intensive Care 2016;20(2):143-149 Received: 21 November 2015; Reviewed: 10, 24 December 2015, 9, 10 June 2016; Corrected: 12 December 2015; Accepted: 10 June 2016 INTRODUCTİON Perioperative acute tissue injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion is a comman clinical event caused by reduced blood supply to the tissue being compromised during major surgery. Ischemia leads to cellular injury by depleting cellular energy deposits and resulting in accumulation of toxic metabolites. The reperfusion of tissues that have remained in ischemic conditions causes even more damage.1 Furthermore hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) demonstrates a strong relationship with peri-operative acute kidney injury.2 The etiology of diabetic complications is strongly associated with increased oxidative stress (OS). Diabetic patients are known to have a high risk of developing OS or IRI which results with tissue failure.3 The most important role in ischemia and reperfusion is played by free oxygen radicals.1 In diabetes, characterized by hyperglycemia, even more free oxygen radicals are produced due to oxidation of glucose and glycosylation of proteins.3 The structures which are most sensitive to free oxygen radicals in the cells are membrane lipids, proteins, nucleic acids and deoxyribonucleic acids.1 It has been reported that endogenous antioxidant enzymes [superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathion s-transpherase (GST), catalase (CAT)] play an important role to alleviate IRI.4-8 Also some pharmacological agents have certain effects on IRI.1 The anesthetic agents influence endogenous antioxidant systems and free oxygen radical formation.9-12 Dexmedetomidine is a selective α-2 adrenoceptor agonist agent. It has been described as a useful and safe adjunct in many clinical applications. It has been found that it may increase urine output by considerably redistributing cardiac output, inhibiting vasopressin secretion and maintaining renal blood flow and glomerular filtration. Previous studies demonstrated that dexmedetomidine provides protection against renal, focal cerebral, cardiac, testicular, and tourniquet-induced IRI.13-18 Arslan et al observed that dexmedetomidine protected against lipid peroxidation and cellular membrane alterations in hepatic IRI, when given before induction of ischemia.17 Si et al18 demonstrated that dexmedetomidine treatment results in a partial but significant attenuation of renal demage induced by IRI through the inactivation of JAK/STAT signaling pathway in an in vivo model. The efficacy of the dexmedetomidine for IRI in diabetic patient is not resarched yet. The purpose of this experimental study was to evaluate the biochemical and histological effects of dexmedetomidine on hepatic IRI in diabetic rat’s hepatic and renal tissue. METHODOLOGY Animals and Experimental Protocol: This study was conducted in the Physiology Laboratory of Kirikkale University upon the consent of the Experimental Animals Ethics Committee of Kirikkale University. All of the procedures were performed according to the accepted standards of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. In the study, 28 male Wistar Albino rats, weighing between 250 and 300 g, raised under the same environmental conditions, were used. The rats were kept under 20-21 oC at cycles of 12-hour daylight and 12-hour darkness and had free access to food until 2 hours before the anesthesia procedure. The animals were randomly separated into four groups, each containing 7 rats. Diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (Sigma Chemical, St. Louis, MO, USA) at a dose of 65 mg/kg body weight. The blood glucose levels were measured at 72 hrs following this injection. Rats were classified as diabetic if their fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels exceeded 250 mg/dl, and only animals with FBGs of > 250 mg/dl were included in the diabetic groups (dia­betes only, diabetes plus ischemia-reperfusion and diabetes plus dexmedetomidine-ischemia-reperfusion). The rats were kept alive 4 weeks after streptozotocin injection to allow development of chronic dia­betes before they were exposed to ischemia-reperfusion.(19) The rats were weighed before the study. Rats were anesthetized with intraperitoneal ketamine 100 mg/kg. The chest and abdomen were shaved and each animal was fixed in a supine position on the operating table. The abdomen was cleaned with 1% polyvinyl iodine and when dry, the operating field was covered with a sterile drape and median laparotomy was performed. There were four experimental groups (Group C (sham-control; n = 7), (Group DC (diabetes-sham-control; n = 7), Group DIR (diabetes-ischemia-reperfusion; n = 7), and Group DIRD (diabetes-ischemia-reperfusion-dexmedetomidine; n = 7). Sham operation was performed on the rats in Group C and Group DC. The sham operation consisted of mobilization of the hepatic pedicle only. The rats in this group were sacrificed 90 min after the procedure. Hepatic I/R injury was induced in Groups DIR and DIRD respectively with hepatic pedicle clamping using a vascular clamp as in the previous study of Arslan et al.(17) After an ischemic period of 45 min, the vascular clamp was removed. A reperfusion period was maintained for 45 min. In Group DIRD, dexmedetomidine hydrochloride 100 μg/kg, (Precedex 100 μg/2 ml, Abbott®, Abbott Laboratory, North Chicago, Illinois, USA) was administrated via intraperitoneal route 30 minutes before surgery. All the rats were given ketamine 100 mg/kg intraperitoneally and intracardiac blood samples were obtained. Preserving the tissue integrity by avoiding trauma, liver and renal biopsy samples were obtained. Biochemical Analysis: The liver and renal tissues were first washed with cold deionized water to discard blood contamination and then homogenized in a homogenizer. Measurements on cell contest require an initial preparation of the tissues. The preparation procedure may involve grinding of the tissue in a ground glass tissue blender using a rotor driven by a simple electric motor. The homogenizer as a tissue blender similar to the typical kitchen blender is used to emulsify and pulverize the tissue (Heidolph Instruments GMBH & CO KGDiax 900 Germany®) at 1000 U for about 3 min. After centrifugation at 10,000 g for about 60 min, the upper clear layer was taken. MDA levels were determined using the method of Van Ye et al,(20) based on the reaction of MDA with thiobarbituric acid (TBA). In the TBA test reaction, MDA and TBA react in acid pH to form a pink pigment with an absorption maximum at 532 nm. Arbitrary values obtained were compared with a series of standard solutions (1,1,3,3-tetraethoxypropane). Results were expressed as nmol/mg.protein. Part of the homogenate was extracted in ethanol/chloroform mixture (5/3 v/v) to discard the lipid fraction, which caused interferences in the activity measurements of T-SOD, CAT and GST activities. After centrifugation at 10.000 x g for 60 min, the upper clear layer was removed and used for the T-SOD, CAT, GST enzyme activity measurement by methods as described by Durak et al21, Aebi22 and Habig et al23 respectively. One unit of SOD activity was defined as the enzyme protein amount causing 50% inhibition in NBTH2 reduction rate and result were expressed in U/mg protein. The CAT activity method is based on the measurement of absorbance decrease due to H2O2 consumption at 240 nm. The GST activity method is based on the measurement of absorbance changes at 340 nm due to formation of GSH-CDNB complex. Histological determinations: Semiquantitative evaluation technique used by Abdel-Wahhab et al(24) was applied for interpreting the structural changes investigated in hepatic tissues of control and research groups. According to this, (-) (negative point) represents no structural change, while (+) (one positive point) represents mild, (++) (two positive points) medium and (+++) (three positive points) represents severe structural changes. Statistical analysis: The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA) 20.0 softwre was used for the statistical analysis. Variations in oxidative state parameters, and histopathological examination between study groups were assessed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. The Bonferroni-adjusted Mann-Whitney U-test was used after significant Kruskal-Wallis to determine which groups differed from the others. Results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (Mean ± SD). Statistical significance was set at a p value < 0.05 for all analyses. RESULTS There was statistically significant difference observed between the groups with respect to findings from the histological changes in the rat liver tissue (hepatocyte degeneration, sinüsoidal dilatation, pycnotic nucleus, prenecrotic cell) determined by light microscopy according to semiquantitative evaluation techniques (p < 0.0001). In Group DIR, hepatocyte degeneration was significantly high compared to Group C, Group DC and Group DIRD (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001, p = 0.002, respectively), (Table 1, Figure 1-4). Similarly, sinüsoidal dilatation was significantly higher in Group DIR (p < 0.0001, p = 0.004, p = 0.015, respectively). Although, pcynotic nucleus was decreased in Group DIRD, it did not make a significant difference in comparison to Group DIR (p = 0.053), (Table 1, Figure 1-4). The prenecrotic cells were significantly increased in Group DIR, with respect to Group C, Group DC and Group DIRD (p < 0.0001, p = 0.004, p < 0.0001, respectively), (Table 1, Figure 1-4). Table 1. The comparison of histological changes in rat hepatic tissue [Mean ± SD)] p**: Statistical significance was set at a p value < 0.05 for Kruskal-Wallis test *p < 0.05: When compared with Group DIR Figure 1: Light microscopic view of hepatic tissue of Group C (control). VC: vena centralis, *: sinusoids. ®: hepatocytes, k: Kupffer cells, G: glycogen granules, mc: minimal cellular changes, Hematoxilen & Eosin x 40 Figure 2: Light-microscopic view of hepatic tissue of Group DC (diabetes mellitus control) (G: Glycogen granules increased in number, (VC: vena centralis, *:sinusoids. ®:hepatocytes, k:Kupffer cells, G: glycogen granules, mc: minimal cellular changes; Hematoxylin & Eosin x 40) Figure 3: Light-microscopic view of hepatic tissue of Group DIR (Diabetes Mellitus and ischemia-reperfusion) (VC: vena centralis, (H) degenerative and hydrophic hepatocytes, (dej) vena centralis degeneration (centrolobar injury) (*): sinusoid dilatation. (←) pycnotic and hyperchromatic nuclei, MNL: mononuclear cell infiltration, (¯) congestion, K: Kupffer cell hyperplasia, (­) vacuolar degeneration (Hematoxylin & Eosin x 40) Figure 4: Light-microscopic view of hepatic tissue of Group DIRD (Diabetes Mellitus and ischemia-reperfusion together with dexmedetomidine applied group) (VC: vena centralis, (MNL) mononuclear cell infiltration, (dej) hydrophilic degeneration in hepatocytes around vena centralis, (conj) congestion, G: glycogen granules, (←) pycnotic and hyperchromatic nuclei, sinusoid dilatation (*) (Hematoxylin & Eosin x 40) Besides, in liver tissue parenchyma, MN cellular infiltration was a light microscopic finding; and showed significant changes among the groups (p < 0.0001). This was significantly higher in Group DIR, compared to Group C, DC, and DIRD (p < 0.0001, p=0.007, p = 0.007, respectively), (Table 1, Figure 1-4). The enzymatic activity of MDA, SOD and GST in hepatic tissues showed significant differences among the groups [(p = 0.019), (p = 0.034). (p = 0.008) respectively]. MDA enzyme activity was significantly incresed in Group DIR, according to Group C and Group DIRD (p = 0.011, p = 0.016, respectively), (Table 2). In Group DIR SOD enzyme activity was lower with respect to Group C and Group DIRD (p = 0.010, p = 0.038, respectively), (Table 2). The GST enzyme activity was significantly higher in Group DIR, when compared to Group C, DC and DIRD (p = 0.007, p = 0.038, p = 0.039, respectively), (Table 2). Table 2. Oxidative state parameters in rat hepatic tissue [Mean ± SD] p**: Statistical significance was set at a p value < 0.05 for Kruskal-Wallis test *p < 0.05: When compared with Group DIR The enzymatic activity of MDA, SOD in renal tissues, showed significant differences among the groups [(p < 0.0001), (p = 0.008) respectively ]. MDA enzyme activity was significantly incresed in Group DIR, according to Group C and Group DIRD (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001, respectively). Also MDA enzyme activity level was significantly increased in Group DC, in comparison to Group C and Group DIRD (p = 0.003, p = 0.001, respectively), (Table 3). In Group DIR SOD enzyme activity was lower with respect to Group C and Group DIRD (p = 0.032, p = 0.013, respectively), (Table 3). The GST enzyme activity was significantly higher in Group DIR than the other three groups, however; CAT levels were similar among the groups (Table 3). Table 3: Oxidative state parameters in rat nephrotic tissue [Mean ± SD)] p**: Statistical significance was set at a p value < 0.05 for Kruskal-Wallis test *p < 0.05: When compared with Group DIR DISCUSSION In this study, we have reported the protective effect of dexmedetomidine in experimental hepatic and renal IRI model in the rat by investigating the MDA and SOD levels biochemically. Besides, hepatic histopathological findings also supported our report. Ischemic damage may occur with trauma, hemorrhagic shock, and some surgical interventions, mainly hepatic and renal resections. Reperfusion following ischemia results in even more injury than ischemia itself. IRI is an inflammatory response accompanied by free radical formation, leucocyte migration and activation, sinusoidal endothelial cellular damage, deteoriated microcirculation and coagulation and complement system activation.1 We also detected injury in hepatic and renal tissue caused by reperfusion following ischemia in liver. Experimental and clinical evidence indicates that OS is involved in both the pathogenesis and the complications of diabetes mellitus.25,26 Diabetes mellitus is a serious risk factor for the development of renal and cardiovascular disease. It is also related to fatty changes in the liver.27 Diabetes-related organ damage seems to be the result of multiple mechanisms. Diabetes has been associated with increased free radical reactions and oxidant tissue damage in STZ-induced diabetic rats and also in patients.26Oxidative stress has been implicated in the destruction of pancreatic β-cells28 and could largely contribute to the oxidant tissue damage associated with chronic hyperglycemia.29 A number of reports have shown that antioxidants can attenuate the complications of diabetes in patients30 and in experimental models.28,31 This study demonstrated that diabetes causes a tendency to increase the IRI. There is a lot of investigations related to the pharmacological agents or food supplements applied for decreasing OS and IRI. Antioxidant agents paly an important role in IRI by effecting antioxidant system or lessening the formation of ROS. It has been reported that anesthetic agents too, are effective in oxidative stress.1 During surgical interventions, it seems rational to get benefit from anesthetic agents in prevention of OS caused by IRI instead of using other agents. It has been declared that; dexmedetomidine; as an α-2 agonist with sedative, hypnotic properties; is important in prevention of renal, focal, cerebral, cardiac, testicular and tourniquet-induced IRI.13-18 On the other hand Bostankolu et al. concluded that dexmedetomidine did not have an additional protective role for tournique induced IRI during routine general anesthesia.32 In this study; we have shown that dexmedetomidine has a reducing effect in IRI in diabetic rats. Some biochemical tests and histopathological evaluations are applied for bringing up oxidative stress and IRI in the tissues. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) that appear with reperfusion injury damage cellular structures through the process of the lipid peroxidation of cellular membranes and yield toxic metabolites such as MDA.33 As an important intermidiate product in lipid peroxidation, MDA is used as a sensitive marker of IRI.34 ROS-induced tissue injury is triggered by various defense mechanisms.35 The first defence mechanisms include the antioxidant enzymes of SOD, CAT, and GPx. These endogenous antioxidants are the first lines of defence against oxidative stres and act by scavenging potentially damaging free radical moieties.36 There is a balance between ROS and the scavenging capacity of antioxidant enzymes.1-8 In this study, for evaluation of oxidative damage and antioxidant activity, MDS, SOD, GST and CAT levels were determined in liver and kidney tissues. MDA levels in hepatic and renal tissues were higher in Group DIR compared to Group C and Group DIRD. GST levels were higher in Group DIR compared to all the other three groups. When the groups were arranged from highest to lowest order, with respect to CAT levels, the order was; Group DIR, Group DIRD, Group DC and Group C. However, the difference was not significant. The acute phase reactant MDA, as a marker of OS, was found to be high in Group DIR and low in Group DIRD. This could be interpreted as the presence of protective effect of dexmedetomidine in IRI. IRI developing in splanchnic area causes injury also in the other organs.35 Leithead et al showed that clinically significant hepatic IRI demonstrates a strong relationship with peri-operative acute kidney injury.2 In our experimental research that showed correlation to that of research by Leithead et al. After hepatic IRI in diabetic rats renal OS marker MDA levels were significantly more in Group DIR than Group DIRD. In our study, we observed histopathological changes in the ischemic liver tissue and alterations in the level of MDA, SOD, GST and CAT levels which are OS markers. Histopathological changes of the liver tissues are hepatocyt degeneration, sinusoidal dilatation, nuclear picnosis, celluler necrosis, mononuclear cell infiltrationat paranchimal tissue. These histopathological injury scores were significantly lower in the Group DIRD than those in group DIR. LIMITATION Study limitation is there was no negative control group, as this type of surgical intervention is not possible in rats without anesthesia. CONCLUSION The enzymatic findings of our study together with the hepatic histopathology indicate that dexmedetomidine has a potential role to decrease ischemia-reperfusion injury. Conflict of interest and funding: The authors have not received any funding or benefits from industry or elsewhere to conduct this study. 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