Planet Earth Strikes Back: Landscapes of Toxicity in Latin American Fiction

This essay discusses how contemporary Latin American literature (Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia) employs the discourse of toxicity—condensed in the metaphor of bio-engineering and mutation—to process and interrogate what Jason Moore has called the “Capitolecene.” Moore proposes to understand the “accumulation of capital, the pursuit of power, and the co-production of nature in dialectical unity.” This essay considers how the co-production of nature, impelled by greed (a recurring allegory of capitalism) goes terribly wrong by generating toxic biomes. As such, these texts function as ecocritical allegories of the Capitolecene (specifically in its iteration as biocapitalism) and its human and environmental consequences.

Mechanical analysis of heterogeneous materials with higher-order parameters

Even though heterogeneous porous materials are widely used in a variety of engineering and scientific fields, such as aerospace, energy-storage technology, and bio-engineering, the relationship between effective material properties of porous materials and their underlying morphology is still not fully understood. To contribute to this knowledge gap, this paper adopts a higher-order asymptotic homogenization method to numerically investigate the effect of complex micropore morphology on the effective mechanical properties of a porous system. Specifically, we use the second-order scheme that is an extension of the first-order computational homogenization framework, where a generalized continuum enables us to introduce length scale into the material constitutive law and capture both pore size and pore distribution. Through several numerical case studies with different combinations of porosity, pore shapes, and distributions, we systematically studied the relationship between the underlying morphology and effective mechanical properties. The results highlight the necessity of higher-order homogenization in understanding the mechanical properties and reveal that higher-order parameters are required to capture the role of realistic pore morphologies on effective mechanical properties. Furthermore, for specific pore shapes, higher-order parameters exhibit dominant influence over the first-order continuum.

COVID-19 Infodemic: A New Historicist Analysis of Atwood’s Oryx and Crake

This research intends to explore the current calamitous situation of Covid-19 in the context of <i>Oryx and Crake</i>, mirroring how Covid-19 and <i>Oryx and Crake</i> are linked through the perception of unification and the consciousness of the world as a whole by holding the entire world hostage. It vigorously examines the disease being presented as a weapon of mass destruction, followed by a conspiracy theory, the reality of the present and fancy of the future, generating a feeling of mingled contradiction, a psychological aspect, and stout human response to the unpredicted as some shared themes between the two. The potential strength of the New Historicism was found applicable in contextualizing COVID-19 and <i>Oryx and Crake</i>, which explore and project forward the biotechnological, social, political, cultural, economic, and climatic givens of the pandemic ridden world. It involves a parallel study of a literary work, interpreting events as the products of time. The textual interpretation was based on observation of historical context to see how following pandemics of the past may allow today’s world to detect the fundamental causes of such diseases. Understanding the pandemic through intellectual history highlighted the consequences of unscrupulous exploitation of bio-engineering threats, a sense of uncertainty, fear, and insecurity, biotech corporations, and marketing genetically engineered life forms.

COVID-19 Infodemic: A New Historicist Analysis of Atwood’s Oryx and Crake

This research intends to explore the current calamitous situation of Covid-19 in the context of <i>Oryx and Crake</i>, mirroring how Covid-19 and <i>Oryx and Crake</i> are linked through the perception of unification and the consciousness of the world as a whole by holding the entire world hostage. It vigorously examines the disease being presented as a weapon of mass destruction, followed by a conspiracy theory, the reality of the present and fancy of the future, generating a feeling of mingled contradiction, a psychological aspect, and stout human response to the unpredicted as some shared themes between the two. The potential strength of the New Historicism was found applicable in contextualizing COVID-19 and <i>Oryx and Crake</i>, which explore and project forward the biotechnological, social, political, cultural, economic, and climatic givens of the pandemic ridden world. It involves a parallel study of a literary work, interpreting events as the products of time. The textual interpretation was based on observation of historical context to see how following pandemics of the past may allow today’s world to detect the fundamental causes of such diseases. Understanding the pandemic through intellectual history highlighted the consequences of unscrupulous exploitation of bio-engineering threats, a sense of uncertainty, fear, and insecurity, biotech corporations, and marketing genetically engineered life forms.

Computational Study on Three-Dimensional Convective Casson Nanofluid Flow past a Stretching Sheet with Arrhenius Activation Energy and Exponential Heat Source Effects

The effective applications of Casson fluid in drilling processes, biological treatments, food processing, and bio-engineering activities have caught the interest of a wide range of researchers. The suitable knowledge of heat transfer via non-Newtonian fluid is essential for the achievement of best quality products in industry. Thus, the three-dimensional Casson nanofluid flow over a stretching sheet with Arrhenius activation energy and exponential heat source effects is investigated in this paper using a computational process based on iterative power series (IPS) method. To provide useful insights into the physical and dynamic examinations of this topic, convective heat and convective mass boundary conditions are used. The developed model of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) has been transformed into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) using similarity transformations. The numerical solution of the transformed ODEs is obtained by employing the IPS technique combined with shooting iteration approach. The results of this study are validated with the previous studies, and excellent agreements have been obtained. The behavior of various capable physical parameters is analyzed. It is observed that the thermal and concentration fields show an enhancement with respect to the exponential heat source parameter and thermal and concentration Biot numbers. Further, the Arrhenius activation energy parameter has shown a significant effect on the concentration field.

Controlling fibroblast fibrinolytic activity allows for the bio-engineering of stable connective tissue equivalents

In tissue engineering, cell origin is important to ensure outcome quality. However, the impact of the cell type chosen for seeding in a biocompatible matrix has been less investigated. Here, we investigated the capacity of primary and immortalized fibroblasts of distinct origins to degrade a gelatin/alginate/fibrin (GAF)-based biomaterial. We further established that fibrin was targeted by degradative fibroblasts through the secretion of fibrinolytic matrix-metalloproteinases (MMPs) and urokinase, two types of serine protease. Finally, we demonstrated that besides aprotinin, specific targeting of fibrinolytic MMPs and urokinase led to cell-laden GAF stability for at least several days. These results support the use of specific strategies to tune fibrin-based biomaterials degradation over time. It emphasizes the need to choose the right cell type and further bring targeted solutions to avoid the degradation of fibrin-containing hydrogels or bioinks.

Development of Extracellular Vesicle Therapeutics: Challenges, Considerations, and Opportunities

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) hold great promise as therapeutic modalities due to their endogenous characteristics, however, further bioengineering refinement is required to address clinical and commercial limitations. Clinical applications of EV-based therapeutics are being trialed in immunomodulation, tissue regeneration and recovery, and as delivery vectors for combination therapies. Native/biological EVs possess diverse endogenous properties that offer stability and facilitate crossing of biological barriers for delivery of molecular cargo to cells, acting as a form of intercellular communication to regulate function and phenotype. Moreover, EVs are important components of paracrine signaling in stem/progenitor cell-based therapies, are employed as standalone therapies, and can be used as a drug delivery system. Despite remarkable utility of native/biological EVs, they can be improved using bio/engineering approaches to further therapeutic potential. EVs can be engineered to harbor specific pharmaceutical content, enhance their stability, and modify surface epitopes for improved tropism and targeting to cells and tissues in vivo. Limitations currently challenging the full realization of their therapeutic utility include scalability and standardization of generation, molecular characterization for design and regulation, therapeutic potency assessment, and targeted delivery. The fields’ utilization of advanced technologies (imaging, quantitative analyses, multi-omics, labeling/live-cell reporters), and utility of biocompatible natural sources for producing EVs (plants, bacteria, milk) will play an important role in overcoming these limitations. Advancements in EV engineering methodologies and design will facilitate the development of EV-based therapeutics, revolutionizing the current pharmaceutical landscape.

CluSem: Accurate Clustering-based Ensemble Method to Predict Motor Imagery Tasks from Multi-channel EEG Data

Background: The classification of motor imagery electroencephalogram (MI-EEG) is a pivotal task in the biosignal classification process in brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. Currently, this bio-engineering-based technology is being employed by researchers in various fields to develop cutting-edge applications. The classification of real-time MI-EEG signals is the most challenging task in these applications. The prediction performance of the existing classification methods is still limited due to the high dimensionality and dynamic behaviors of the real-time EEG data. Proposed Method: To enhance the classification performance of real-time BCI applications, this paper presents a new clustering-based ensemble technique called CluSem to mitigate this problem. We also develop a new brain game called CluGame using this method to evaluate the classification performance of real-time motor imagery movements. In this game, real-time EEG signal classification and prediction tabulation through animated balls are controlled via threads. By playing this game, users can control the movements of the balls via the brain signals of motor imagery movements without using any traditional input devices. Results: Our results demonstrate that CluSem is able to improve the classification accuracy between 5% and 15% compared to the existing methods on our collected as well as the publicly available EEG datasets. The source codes used to implement CluSem and CluGame are publicly available at https://github.com/MdOchiuddinMiah/MI-BCI_ML.

Effect of Hot Air, Microwave and Freeze Drying on Drying Characteristics of Button Mushroom Slices (Agaricus bisporus)

Aims: Button mushrooms, rich in vitamins and minerals, are very highly perishable and therefore, it has been very necessary to develop a value-added product. The aim of the research work is to study the effects of blanching on air-dried, microwave oven dried, and freeze dried mushroom samples and also to study the characterization of dried samples. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Agricultural Engineering, School of Agricultural and Bio-Engineering, Centurion University of Technology & Management, between February 2021 to June 2021 Methodology: Three different drying techniques like hot air, microwave, and freeze drying were taken to study the drying effect on dried mushroom slices. The quality parameters like dehydration and rehydration potential, density, ascorbic acid, color, and organoleptic properties were studied. Results: The rehydration ratio of freeze dried mushroom samples were high having low density than the other dried samples. Less color deterioration was also found in freeze drying. Moreover, ascorbic acid, color, texture, and overall acceptability of sensory analysis were found to be maximum in freeze dried samples. The freeze dried product was found to be attractive in flavour and texture and got highest score in sensory analysis. Conclusion: The freeze drying can be an effective drying method to dry fresh mushroom compared to hot air and microwave drying.