Remediation of Pesticides by Microalgae as Feasible Approach in Agriculture: Bibliometric Strategies

Pesticide treatment dramatically reduces crop loss and enhances agricultural productivity, promoting global food security and economic growth. However, owing to high accrual and persistent tendency, pesticides could create significant ecological consequences when used often. Lately, the perspective has transitioned to implementing biological material, environmentally sustainable, and economical strategies via bioremediation approaches to eradicate pesticides contaminations. Microalgae were regarded as a prominent option for the detoxification of such hazardous contaminants. Sustainable application and remediation strategies of pesticides pollutants in the agriculture system by microalgae from the past studies, and recent advancements were integrated into this review. Bibliometric strategies to enhance the research advancements in pesticide bioremediation by microalgae between 2010 and 2020 were implemented through critical comparative analysis of documents from Scopus and PubMed databases. As a result, this study identified a growing annual research trend from 1994 to 2020 (nScopus > nPubMed). Global production of pesticide remediation by microalgae demonstrated significant contributions from India (23.8%) and China (16.7%). The author’s keyword clustering was visualized using bibliometric software (VOSviewer), which revealed the strongest network formed by “microalgae”, “bioremediation”, “biodegradation”, “cyanobacteria”, “wastewater”, and “pesticide” as significant to the research topic. Hence, this bibliometric review will facilitate the future roadmap for many scholars and authors who were drawing attention to the burgeoning research on bioremediation of pesticides to counteract environmental impacts while maintaining food sustainability.

CRESS: Framework for Vulnerability Assessment of Attack Scenarios in Hardware Reverse Engineering

Trust and security of microelectronic systems are a major driver for game-changing trends like autonomous driving or the internet of things. These trends are endangered by threats like soft- and hardware attacks or IP tampering -- wherein often hardware reverse engineering (RE) is involved for efficient attack planning. The constant publication of new RE-related scenarios and countermeasures renders a profound rating of these extremely difficult. Researchers and practitioners have no tools or framework which aid a common, consistent classification of these scenarios. In this work, this rating framework is introduced: the common reverse engineering scoring system (CRESS). The framework allows a general classification of published settings and renders them comparable. We introduce three metrics: exploitability, impact, and a timestamp. For these metrics, attributes are defined which allow a granular assessment of RE on the one hand, and attack requirements, consequences, and potential remediation strategies on the other. The system is demonstrated in detail via five case studies and common implications are discussed. We anticipate CRESS to evaluate possible vulnerabilities and to safeguard targets more proactively.

CRESS: Framework for Vulnerability Assessment of Attack Scenarios in Hardware Reverse Engineering

Trust and security of microelectronic systems are a major driver for game-changing trends like autonomous driving or the internet of things. These trends are endangered by threats like soft- and hardware attacks or IP tampering -- wherein often hardware reverse engineering (RE) is involved for efficient attack planning. The constant publication of new RE-related scenarios and countermeasures renders a profound rating of these extremely difficult. Researchers and practitioners have no tools or framework which aid a common, consistent classification of these scenarios. In this work, this rating framework is introduced: the common reverse engineering scoring system (CRESS). The framework allows a general classification of published settings and renders them comparable. We introduce three metrics: exploitability, impact, and a timestamp. For these metrics, attributes are defined which allow a granular assessment of RE on the one hand, and attack requirements, consequences, and potential remediation strategies on the other. The system is demonstrated in detail via five case studies and common implications are discussed. We anticipate CRESS to evaluate possible vulnerabilities and to safeguard targets more proactively.

Glyphosate Pollution Treatment and Microbial Degradation Alternatives, a Review

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide extensively used worldwide to eliminate weeds in agricultural areas. Since its market introduction in the 70’s, the levels of glyphosate agricultural use have increased, mainly due to the introduction of glyphosate-resistant transgenic crops in the 90’s. Glyphosate presence in the environment causes pollution, and recent findings have proposed that glyphosate exposure causes adverse effects in different organisms, including humans. In 2015, glyphosate was classified as a probable carcinogen chemical, and several other human health effects have been documented since. Environmental pollution and human health threats derived from glyphosate intensive use require the development of alternatives for its elimination and proper treatment. Bioremediation has been proposed as a suitable alternative for the treatment of glyphosate-related pollution, and several microorganisms have great potential for the biodegradation of this herbicide. The present review highlights the environmental and human health impacts related to glyphosate pollution, the proposed alternatives for its elimination through physicochemical and biological approaches, and recent studies related to glyphosate biodegradation by bacteria and fungi are also reviewed. Microbial remediation strategies have great potential for glyphosate elimination, however, additional studies are needed to characterize the mechanisms employed by the microorganisms to counteract the adverse effects generated by the glyphosate exposure.

Processing speed and clinical features of schizophrenia: comparison between men and women

Evidence about differences in processing speed (PS) performance between men and women with schizophrenia is inconclusive. Moreover, PS deconstruction into its subcomponents has not been compared among sexes. The aim of this study was to compare PS and its subcomponents (i.e., response processing – RP; accuracy – AC; and psychomotor speed - PmS) performance between men and women with schizophrenia and to explore its associations with clinical variables. Fiftysix patients (36 men, 20 women) were recruited. The PS domain tasks from the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery were used. Women outperformed men in RP and AC but were slower in PmS. For men, correlations were found between functionality, RP and AC; age of onset was associated with AC; in women, illness duration and symptomatology correlated with AC. Sex-related differences regarding PS performance in schizophrenia resemble those observed in healthy individuals. Remediation strategies should consider sex differences in PS for more accurate interventions.