scholarly journals Current Status, Issues, and Challenges of Blockchain Applications in Education

Author(s):  
Yan Ma ◽  
Yiming Fang

Due to the unique characteristics of decentralization and security, blockchain is believed to have considerable potential to provide a wide range of benefits for ed-ucation development. Its application in education is relatively new but increasing very quickly. This paper introduced the typical blockchain techniques and charac-teristics briefly. Then, recent applications of blockchain in education were sum-marized comprehensively, especially those regarding learning record keeper, cer-tificate issue and management, and decentralized education ecosystem. Finally, technical and non-technical challenges were discussed. It is hoped to provide an in-depth look at the perspectives of blockchain in evolving education and help to the development of new application systems.

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 1227-1243
Author(s):  
Hina Qamar ◽  
Sumbul Rehman ◽  
D.K. Chauhan

Cancer is the second leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although chemotherapy and radiotherapy enhance the survival rate of cancerous patients but they have several acute toxic effects. Therefore, there is a need to search for new anticancer agents having better efficacy and lesser side effects. In this regard, herbal treatment is found to be a safe method for treating and preventing cancer. Here, an attempt has been made to screen some less explored medicinal plants like Ammania baccifera, Asclepias curassavica, Azadarichta indica, Butea monosperma, Croton tiglium, Hedera nepalensis, Jatropha curcas, Momordica charantia, Moringa oleifera, Psidium guajava, etc. having potent anticancer activity with minimum cytotoxic value (IC50 >3μM) and lesser or negligible toxicity. They are rich in active phytochemicals with a wide range of drug targets. In this study, these medicinal plants were evaluated for dose-dependent cytotoxicological studies via in vitro MTT assay and in vivo tumor models along with some more plants which are reported to have IC50 value in the range of 0.019-0.528 mg/ml. The findings indicate that these plants inhibit tumor growth by their antiproliferative, pro-apoptotic, anti-metastatic and anti-angiogenic molecular targets. They are widely used because of their easy availability, affordable price and having no or sometimes minimal side effects. This review provides a baseline for the discovery of anticancer drugs from medicinal plants having minimum cytotoxic value with minimal side effects and establishment of their analogues for the welfare of mankind.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 38-44
Author(s):  
Mizuya Fukasawa

At the second Dialysis Access Symposium held in Nagoya, Japan, a proposal was made to investigate the differences in vascular access methods used in different countries. In this article, we describe the management of vascular access in Japan. The Japanese population is rapidly aging, and the proportion of elderly patients on dialysis is also increasing. There were 325,000 dialysis patients in Japan at the end of 2015, of whom 65.1% were aged 65 years or above. The number of patients with diabetic nephropathy or nephrosclerosis as the underlying condition is also increasing, whereas the number with chronic glomerulonephritis is steadily decreasing. The Japanese health insurance system enables patients to undergo medical treatment at almost no out-of-pocket cost. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty suffers from a severe device lag compared with other countries, but although there are limitations on permitted devices, the use of those that have been authorized is covered by medical insurance. One important point that is unique to Japan is that vascular access is performed and managed by doctors involved in dialysis across a wide range of disciplines, including nephrologists, surgeons, and urologists. This may be one factor contributing to the good survival prognosis of Japanese dialysis patients.


Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 611
Author(s):  
Waldemar Gawron ◽  
Jan Sobieski ◽  
Tetiana Manyk ◽  
Małgorzata Kopytko ◽  
Paweł Madejczyk ◽  
...  

This paper presents the current status of medium-wave infrared (MWIR) detectors at the Military University of Technology’s Institute of Applied Physics and VIGO System S.A. The metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique is a very convenient tool for the deposition of HgCdTe epilayers, with a wide range of compositions, used for uncooled infrared detectors. Good compositional and thickness uniformity was achieved on epilayers grown on 2-in-diameter, low-cost (100) GaAs wafers. Most growth was performed on substrates, which were misoriented from (100) by between 2° and 4° in order to minimize growth defects. The large lattice mismatch between GaAs and HgCdTe required the usage of a CdTe buffer layer. The CdTe (111) B buffer layer growth was enforced by suitable nucleation procedure, based on (100) GaAs substrate annealing in a Te-rich atmosphere prior to the buffer deposition. Secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) showed that ethyl iodide (EI) and tris(dimethylamino)arsenic (TDMAAs) were stable donor and acceptor dopants, respectively. Fully doped (111) HgCdTe heterostructures were grown in order to investigate the devices’ performance in the 3–5 µm infrared band. The uniqueness of the presented technology manifests in a lack of the necessity of time-consuming and troublesome ex situ annealing.


2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-240

AbstractThis article explains the provisions of the Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and its subsidiary marine wildlife instruments as they relate to bycatch management. The CMS was primarily developed with the purpose of protecting and conserving migratory species and their habitats. The Convention was initially regarded as little more than a paper accord. Since its inception the CMS has undergone gradual significant changes not only in its scope but also in its geographical coverage. There are ten subsidiary instruments currently in force under the CMS which include regional accords on a wide range of marine species such as cetaceans, marine turtles and pinnipeds. These agreements have considerable potential for regulating the incidental capture of marine wildlife in fisheries. Issues of interest in regard to these agreements include the use of non-binding instruments, and mechanisms for coordination between accords. This article examines the CMS and its subsidiary instruments; it identifies challenges facing the Convention, and provides options for the development of more comprehensive approaches to the management of bycatch.


2017 ◽  
Vol 474 (17) ◽  
pp. 2953-2976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lasse Stach ◽  
Paul S. Freemont

The AAA+ (ATPases associated with diverse cellular activities) ATPase p97 is essential to a wide range of cellular functions, including endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation, membrane fusion, NF-κB (nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells) activation and chromatin-associated processes, which are regulated by ubiquitination. p97 acts downstream from ubiquitin signaling events and utilizes the energy from ATP hydrolysis to extract its substrate proteins from cellular structures or multiprotein complexes. A multitude of p97 cofactors have evolved which are essential to p97 function. Ubiquitin-interacting domains and p97-binding domains combine to form bi-functional cofactors, whose complexes with p97 enable the enzyme to interact with a wide range of ubiquitinated substrates. A set of mutations in p97 have been shown to cause the multisystem proteinopathy inclusion body myopathy associated with Paget's disease of bone and frontotemporal dementia. In addition, p97 inhibition has been identified as a promising approach to provoke proteotoxic stress in tumors. In this review, we will describe the cellular processes governed by p97, how the cofactors interact with both p97 and its ubiquitinated substrates, p97 enzymology and the current status in developing p97 inhibitors for cancer therapy.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 5826
Author(s):  
Yinming Zhao ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Yongqian Li ◽  
Qun Hao

Resistance strain force sensors have been applied to monitor the strains in various parts and structures for industrial use. Here, we review the working principles, structural forms, and fabrication processes for resistance strain gauges. In particular, we focus on recent developments in resistance stress transfer for resistance strain force sensors and the creep effect due to sustained loads and/or temperature variations. Various error compensation methods to reduce the creep effect are analyzed to develop a metrology standard for resistance strain force sensors. Additionally, the current status of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN), and other wide band gap semiconductors for a wide range of strain sensors are reviewed. The technical requirements and key issues of resistance strain force sensors for future applications are presented.


Author(s):  
Christodoulos Asiminidis* ◽  
Sotirios Kontogiannis ◽  
George Kokkonis ◽  
Nikolaos Zinas ◽  
Charis Papadopoulos

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxime Legros ◽  
Egide G. Karuranga ◽  
Marie-France Lebouc ◽  
Muhammad Mohiuddin

This paper seeks to examine the evolution of determinants under scrutiny by academics publishing on performance of ethnic companies in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Using the systematic literature review method, we first provide a descriptive analysis of articles gathered, and then make an in-depth examination of the determinants focused on. A database of 40 papers published between 2002 and 2011 was collected the topic was precise enough to yield only a few articles from a wide range of journals. We provide a systemized summary of the current status of this body of work, examine areas where research is lacking, and explain why further study of the role of cultural and ethical values as determinants of ethnic entrepreneurship is critical.


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