King Abdulaziz University

The potential of nanotechnology is a vast field that includes a variety of technologies in modernization in the agricultural and food industries. Diverse nanosensor types are being produced to gratify the altering agri/food industry load, comprising food components, elegant packaging, and speedy detection systems. It paves the new path for the latest research and directs the utilization of green nanomaterials for various applications, primarily in biotechnology and agricultural areas. It is mandatory for the understanding of mechanisms and their toxic properties. Quite a few nations around the globe have consequently been worried about testing their governmental outlines' suitability to deal with nanotechnologies. Environmental issues, socio-ethical issues, health and safety risks, issues connected to the receiving of goods via consumers, and market exact may prevail through the manufacturing and creation of green nanomaterials. We review the most recent nanosensor developments, concentrate on the vastly difficult assignments, and show potential possibilities from the preferred newest research in the agri-food sector. The significant points are (1) knowledge gaining and improvement of nanosensor life cycle techniques, risk assessment, toxicity, bioaccumulation, beneficial, and unconstructive crash assessment. (2) The toxicological essentials and the exposure risk linked with the procedure of nanosensors in agri/food and the environment are moreover addressed. (3) Regulation and laws are crucial for ruling nanosensor production, processing, implementation, and disposal. This chapter summarizes green nanomaterials, environmental impact, legal, health, and safety issues, and their purpose in the agricultural sector.

Over the past decades, significant revolutions have occurred on electricity market to reduce the electricity cost and increase profits. In particular, the novel structures facilitate the electricity manufacturers to participate in the market and earn more profit by cooperate with other producers. This paper presents a three-level gameplay-based intelligent structure to evaluate individual and collaborative strategies of electricity manufacturers, considering network and physical constraints. At the Level I, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is implemented to determine the optimum power of distributed energy resources (DERs) in the power grid, to maximize the profits. Further, the fuzzy logic algorithm is applied to model the intermittent nature of the renewable sources and implement load demand in the power grid. At the Level II, DERs are classified into two different fuzzy logic groups to secure the fairness between every participant. Finally, at the Level III, the DERs in each group are combined each other by cooperative game theory-based algorithms to increase the coalition profits. Thereafter, Shapley, Nucleolus, and merge/split methods are applied to allocate a fair profit allocation by coalition formation. Ultimately, the results verify the proposed model influence electric players to find effective collaborative strategies under different conditions and environments.

Candida albicans is the fungus responsible for oral candidiasis, a prevalent disease. The development of antifungal-based delivery systems has always been a major challenge for researchers. This study was designed to develop a nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) of sesame oil (SO) loaded with miconazole (MZ) that could overcome the solubility problems of MZ and enhance its antifungal activity against oral candidiasis. In the formulation of this study, SO was used as a component of a liquid lipid that showed an improved antifungal effect of MZ. An optimized MZ-loaded NLC of SO (MZ-SO NLC) was used, based on a central composite design-based experimental design; the particle size, dissolution efficiency, and inhibition zone against oral candidiasis were chosen as dependent variables. A software analysis provided an optimized MZ-SO NLC with a particle size of 92 nm, dissolution efficiency of 88%, and inhibition zone of 29 mm. Concurrently, the ex vivo permeation rate of the sheep buccal mucosa was shown to be significantly (p < .05) higher for MZ-SO NLC (1472 µg/cm²) as compared with a marketed MZ formulation (1215 µg/cm²) and an aqueous MZ suspension (470 µg/cm²). Additionally, an in vivo efficacy study in terms of the ulcer index against C. albicans found a superior result for the optimized MZ-SO NLC (0.5 ± 0.50) in a treated group of animals. Hence, it can be concluded that MZ, through an optimized NLC of SO, can treat candidiasis effectively by inhibiting the growth of C. albicans.

Anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies and vaccines have shown improvement in lowering viral burden and hospitalization. However, emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants contain neutralizing antibody-escape mutations. Therefore, several reports have suggested the administration of recombinant angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (rACE2) as a soluble receptor trap to block SARS-CoV-2 infection and limit viral escape potential. Several strategies have been implemented to enhance the efficacy of rACE2 as a therapeutic agent. Fc fusions have been used to improve pharmacokinetics and boost the affinity and avidity of ACE2 decoys for the virus spike protein. Furthermore, the intrinsic catalytic activity of ACE2 can be eliminated by introducing point mutations on the catalytic site of ACE2 to obtain an exclusive antiviral activity. This review summarizes different evolution platforms that have been used to enhance ACE2-Fc (i.e., immunoadhesins) as potential therapeutics for the current pandemic or future outbreaks of SARS-associated betacoronaviruses.

Radiotherapy is one of the extensively used therapeutic modalities in glioblastoma and other types of cancers. Radiotherapy is either used as a first-line approach or combined with pharmacotherapy or surgery to manage and treat cancer. Although the use of radiotherapy significantly increased the survival time of patients, but its use has been reported with marked neuroinflammation and cognitive dysfunction that eventually reduced the quality of life of patients. Based on the preclinical and clinical investigations, the profound role of increased oxidative stress, nuclear translocation of NF-kB, production of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-6, IL-β, increased level of MMPs, increased apoptosis, reduced angiogenesis, neurogenesis, and histological aberrations in CA1, CA2, CA3 and DG region of the hippocampus have been reported. Various pharmacotherapeutic drugs are being used as an adjuvant to counteract this neurotoxic manifestation. Still, most of these drugs suffer from systemic adverse effect, causes interference to ongoing chemotherapy, and exhibit pharmacokinetic limitations in crossing the blood-brain barrier. Therefore, various phytoconstituents, their nano carrier-based drug delivery systems and miRNAs have been explored to overcome the aforementioned limitations. The present review is focused on the mechanism and evidence of radiotherapy-induced neuroinflammation and cognitive dysfunction, pathological and molecular changes in the brain homeostasis, available adjuvants, their limitations. Additionally, the potential role and mechanism of neuroprotection of various nanocarrier based natural products and miRNAs have been discussed. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The radial artery supplies various locoregional flaps used for elbow reconstruction. A reverse lateral arm flap is a reliable choice, despite sacrificing the radial artery in some cases. We describe using a reverse lateral arm flap for elbow soft tissue reconstruction in a patient with a previously harvested radial artery.

Recently, the demand for a faster , low-latency, and full-coverage Maritime Communication Network (MCN) has gained attention as marine operations have increased substantially. Using modern information network technologies and integrating space, air, ground, and sea network segments, MCN may be able to offer worldwide coverage and diverse Quality-of-Service (QoS) provisioning. These network segments are expected to provide not only traditional communication services, but also processing, caching, sensing, and control capabilities when linked via Sixth Generation (6G) mobile networks. However, this development in infrastructure growth is subjected to new security and privacy concerns due to open links, moving nodes, and diverse collaborative algorithms. In this paper, we propose an improved and resource friendly authentication scheme for the space-air-ground-sea integrated maritime communication network using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). To validate the security hardness of the proposed scheme, formal security assessment method such as Random Oracle Model (ROM) is used. Finally, comparisons with relevant authentication schemes are provided in terms of computation and communication costs. The findings support the viability of the proposed scheme.

Basic uncertain information is a newly proposed normative formulation to express and model uncertain information. This study further generalizes this concept by introducing the concept of refined interval of discourse in which the true value is known to be included. Hence, we define some new definitions of relative basic uncertain information, relative certainty/uncertainty degree and comprehensive certainty/uncertainty with some related measurements and analysis. With the introduced uncertain data type, we define two corresponding aggregation operators, namely, the relative basic uncertain information valued weighted arithmetic mean operator and the interval induced relative basic uncertain information valued ordered weight averaging operator. An application of the proposed concepts and methods in multi-agents evaluation is provided.

The large number of online product and service review websites has created a substantial information resource for both individuals and businesses. Researching the abundance of text reviews can be a daunting task for both customers and business owners; however, rating scores are a concise form of evaluation. Traditionally, it is assumed that user sentiments, which are expressed in the text reviews, should correlate highly with their score ratings. To better understand this relationship, this study aims to determine whether text reviews are always consistent with the combined numeric evaluations. This paper reviews the relevant literature and discusses the methodologies used to analyse reviews, with suggestions of possible future research directions. From surveying the literature, it is concluded that the quality of the rating scores used for sentiment analysis models is questionable as it might not reflect the sentiment of the associated reviews texts. Therefore, it is suggested considering both types of sources, reviews’ texts and scores in developing Online Consumer Reviews (OCRs) solution models. In addition, quantifying the relationship degree between the text reviews and the scores might be used as an instrument to understand the quality of rating scores, hence its usefulness as labels for building OCRs solution models.

In this study, a facile, environmentally friendly, room-temperature synthesis of Ag-coated on microporous TiO 2-based catalysts and their application as a photocatalyst to degradation of penicillin as an antibiotic from pharmaceutical wastewater was investigated. The sol-gel method was used for the preparation of SiO 2 and SiO 2 @TiO 2. Then, the SiO 2 @TiO 2 was wrinkled using hydrothermal treatment. Finally, Ag as plasmonic material was doped on wrinkled photocat-alyst via wet chemistry approach. The synthesised photocatalysts were characterized using different analyses such as XRD, FTIR, RAMAN, FESEM, TEM, XPS. The results showed that the Ag was successfully coated on the wrinkled TiO 2 layer. The performance of the synthesised photocatalyst * Corresponding authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). was studied in terms of penicillin antibiotic removal from pharmaceutical wastewater in the range of visible light. The band gap energy (E g) of SiO 2 and after addition of TiO 2 and Ag was obtained 4.5 and 2.8-3.2 eV. Specific surface of SiO 2 and SiO 2 @WS-TiO 2 was found 293 and 329 m 2 /g respectively. The results indicated that wrinkling and coating Ag can enhance the SiO 2 @TiO 2 photocat-alyst activity for degradation of penicillin. Furthermore, the operating parameter of degradation of penicillin such pH, contact time, initial penicillin concentration, temperature, and the amount of synthesized photocatalyst was optimized. Finally, it was found that Langmuir isotherm model is well fitted with experimental data to predict kinetic of penicillin degradation. Ó 2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Low-speed wind tunnel experiments are conducted to study the aerodynamic performance of a half-span delta wing with 45° leading-edge sweep at subsonic flow regime. The experiments are carried out at a Reynolds number of 8.37 × 10⁵, a free-stream Mach number of 0.1 and angles of attack up to 25°, in steps of 5°. The test model was designed with thirty-two pressure taps fixed on its surfaces (sixteen on each side). Multi-tube manometers were connected to these taps using long tubes to enable recording the pressure readings. Surface pressure distributions and aerodynamic characteristics were calculated at different span-wise locations along the non-dimensional chord-wise distance. Results exhibited that most lift on the studied wing is generated in the region close to the leading edge for all the studied incidence angles. Additional lift is created in the region close to the root chord rather than the tip chord, whereas drag forces increases from tip to root. This can be attributed to the formation of trailing edge vortexes due to the flow separation at the wing leading edge that produces more drag, hence suppressing lift. The study showed also that angle of attack increases the drag coefficient from tip to root, especially at high angle of attack, indicating unfavourable behaviour for manoeuvring. Moreover, the angle of attack increased the pitching moment coefficient up to 10° before it drops sharply until it reaches the tip of the wing model.

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is immensely beneficial for diagnosing the arrhythmias that may lead to serious complications in the heart health. In this paper, the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) was used for electrocardiogram arrhythmias detection. The natural arrhythmias were: Supra-ventricular arrhythmias (SV), atrioventricular (AV) and Normocardia (NC) were chosen for detection as well as for testing the proposed method The Natural signals were taken from MIT-BIH database to be used for testing. The continuous wavelet transform was connected to the standard deviation (SD) and Shannon entropy (SE) for feature extraction stage. For classification a safe threshold has been suggested to discriminate between the different arrhythmias. Several combinations of the CWT application were testing. The wavelet packet transform was used for comparison. All combinations have given reasonable results, but continuous wavelet transform with standard deviation taken for the third sub signal have given the superior results. The results of our study will open the door for choosing the continuous transform for detection that has been neglected by the researchers for this task.