Students preferences for teaching and exam delivery modes in accounting education post COVID 19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a revolution in the delivery of modules in higher education. This paper aims to answer the research question: What are the preferences of undergraduate accounting and finance students regarding teaching delivery and exam modes following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown? Specifically, we focus on campus, online synchronous, and hybrid synchronous teaching delivery and exam modes. To address this research question, we conducted an online questionnaire surveying students at a U. K. university. Our data show that modules involving calculations, such as financial accounting, are preferred to be taught on campus, whereas theoretical modules like business law are preferred to be taught online. Additionally, the data reveal reasons for these preferences, including community learning, isolation, concentration, and access to recordings. This research contributes valuable insights into optimising accounting education. We advocate for flexibility in both teaching and exam delivery within accounting education, recognising the diverse needs of students

A study on prescribing errors in in-patients of a corporate tertiary care hospital in North India

Background: Prescribing errors are a subset of medication errors which have a potential for grave harm to the patient. Identification and acknowledgement of such errors can ameliorate much of this danger. Studies of prescribing errors are sparse in India. Such studies, whatever have been conducted, mainly focus on the out-patients or the patients on discharge. Hence, this study was undertaken to study the prescribing errors in prescriptions generated for patients admitted in wards of a corporate hospital in North India.Methods: The prescriptions for in-patients admitted in wards were analyzed for different types of prescribing errors in individual drug orders and prescription as a whole.Results: The prescribing error rate was found to be 3.3% in this study. Of all errors, errors leading to delays in patient care (i.e. Errors of prescription writing) (54.54%) and erroneous copying of the prescription to the drug chart by junior/ resident doctors (Transcription errors) (31.31%) were found to be the major causes of prescribing errors in this study. Of the former category, prescribing a wrong strength (24.24%) and illegible drug orders (12.12%) were the most numerous error subtypes. Errors leading to sub-optimal patient care (i.e. Errors of decision making) were least identified of which Therapeutic duplication (12.12%) was the most common subtype.Conclusions: The error rate found in this study is comparable to the data available from developed countries. However, there are significant differences in the occurrences of error subtypes found in this study as compared to the studies of the west

Dendrimer Conjugation Enhances Tumor Penetration and Cell Kill of Doxorubicin in 3D Coculture Lung Cancer Models

Background: Doxorubicin (DOX) is a potent chemotherapeutic widely used for solid tumors (1). Despite high efficacy in 2D cell culture, DOX efficacy does not translate to in vivo lung cancer models (2). Major side effects such as cardiotoxicity may be alleviated with nano-based drug delivery systems (nanoDDS). However, tumor penetration of DOX and DOX-nanoDDS is largely unknown and is an additional barrier to effective clinical therapy (3). Here we describe a nanoDDS capable of enhancing the penetration of DOX. Methods: DOX was conjugated to generation 4 poly(amido-amine) dendrimers through (GFLG) tumor- liable bond. G4SA-GFLG-DOX was synthesized/characterized. spheroids were formed of (A549) lung adenocarcinoma cells and (3T3) fibroblasts. Spheroids were characterized for ECM components with immunohistochemistry. Confocal microscopy was used to evaluate the penetration, internalization, and colocalization of DOX and G4SA-GFLG-DOX. MTT assay and Caspase 3/7 to assess 2D and 3D cytotoxicity. Flow cytometry to determine cells uptake. Results: DOX conjugation to dendrimer resulted in G4SA-GFLG-DOX with ~5.5 DOX, 10±1 nm hydrodynamic diameter, and a -17±3 mV zeta-potential. Spheroids of (A549:3T3) were ECM- rich, developed ECM containing collagen-I, hyaluronan, laminin, and fibronectin. While DOX and G4SA-GFLG-DOX had similar toxicities in 2D model, G4SA-GFLG-DOX demonstrated a 3.1-fold greater penetration into spheroids compared to DOX and correlated to a greater efficacy as measured by caspase 3/7 activity. Also, flow cytometry showed higher uptake of G4SA- GFLG-DOX in cancer cells compared to fibroblasts. Conclusion: The work demonstrates enhanced penetration of DOX, via dendrimer conjugation, into an ECM- rich 3D lung cancer model. The enhanced penetration of G4SA-GFLG-DOX correlated with greater antitumor efficacy. Acknowledgements: We acknowledge partial financial support from the Center for Pharmaceutical Engineering and Sciences - School of Pharmacy at VCU. This study was supported by VCU Quest for Distinction and NSF (DRM #1508363). Microscopy was performed at the VCU Microscopy Facility, supported, in part, by funding from NIH-NCI Cancer Center Support Grant P30 CA016059. RA would like to acknowledge King Faisal University (KFU) and Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) for a scholarship.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1091/thumbnail.jp

Microbial community dynamics and their relationships with organic and metal pollutants of sugarcane molasses-based distillery wastewater sludge

Distillery sludge is a major source of aquatic pollution, but little is known about their microbial community and their association with the organic and metal pollutants. Sugarcane molasses-based distillery is an important industry in India, although the waste is usually treated prior to disposal, the treatment is often inadequate. The adverse effects of the organic and metal pollutants in sugarcane molasses-based distillery sludge on the microbial biodiversity and abundance in the disposal site have not been elucidated. This study aims to address this gap of knowledge. Samples were collected from the discharge point, 1 and 2 km downstream (D1, D2, and D3, respectively) of a sugarcane distillery in Uttar Pradesh, India, and their physico-chemical properties characterised. Using QIIME, taxonomic assignment for the V3 and V4 hypervariable regions of 16S rRNA was performed. The phyla Proteobacteria (28-39%), Firmicutes (20-28%), Bacteriodetes (9-10%), Actinobacteria (5-10%), Tenericutes (1-9%) and Patescibacteria (2%) were the predominant bacteria in all three sites. Euryechaeota, were detected in sites D1 and D2 (1-2%) but absent in D3. Spirochaetes (5%), Sinergistetes (2%) and Cloacimonetes (1%) were only detected in samples from site D1. Shannon, Simpson, Chao1, and Observed-species indices indicated that site D1 (10.18, 0.0013, 36706.55 and 45653.84, respectively) has higher bacterial diversity and richness than D2 (6.66, 0.0001, 25987.71 and 49655.89, respectively) and D3 (8.31, 0.002, 30345.53 and 30654.88, respectively), suggesting the organic and metal pollutants provided the stressors to favour the survival of microbial community that can biodegrade and detoxify them in the distillery sludge. This study confirmed that the treatment of the distillery waste was not sufficiently effective and provided new metagenomic information on its impact on the surrounding microbial community. It also offered new insights into potential bioremediation candidates

Unveiling Long-Lived Hot-Electron Dynamics via Hyperbolic Meta-antennas

publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Hot Electron Dynamics in Ultrafast Multilayer Epsilon-Near-Zero Metamaterial

Realizing remarkable tunability in optical properties without sacrificing speed is critical to obtain all optical ultrafast devices. In this work, we investigate the ultrafast temporal behavior of optically tunable epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials, operating in the visible spectral range. To perform this the ultrafast dynamics of the hot electrons is acquired by femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy and studied based on two-temperature model (2TM). We show that pumping with femtosecond pulses changes the effective permittivity of the metamaterial more than 400 %. This significant modulation is more pronounced in ENZ region and we confirm this by the 2TM. The realized ultrafast modulation in effective permittivity, along with the ultrashort relaxation time of 3.3 ps, opens a new avenue towards ultrafast photonic applications.Comment: 5 figure

Yeast Features: Identifying Significant Features Shared Among Yeast Proteins for Functional Genomics

Background
High throughput yeast functional genomics experiments are revealing associations among tens to hundreds of genes using numerous experimental conditions. To fully understand how the identified genes might be involved in the observed system, it is essential to consider the widest range of biological annotation possible. Biologists often start their search by collating the annotation provided for each protein within databases such as the Saccharomyces Genome Database, manually comparing them for similar features, and empirically assessing their significance. Such tasks can be automated, and more precise calculations of the significance can be determined using established probability measures. 
Results
We developed Yeast Features, an intuitive online tool to help establish the significance of finding a diverse set of shared features among a collection of yeast proteins. A total of 18,786 features from the Saccharomyces Genome Database are considered, including annotation based on the Gene Ontology’s molecular function, biological process and cellular compartment, as well as conserved domains, protein-protein and genetic interactions, complexes, metabolic pathways, phenotypes and publications. The significance of shared features is estimated using a hypergeometric probability, but novel options exist to improve the significance by adding background knowledge of the experimental system. For instance, increased statistical significance is achieved in gene deletion experiments because interactions with essential genes will never be observed. We further demonstrate the utility by suggesting the functional roles of the indirect targets of an aminoglycoside with a known mechanism of action, and also the targets of an herbal extract with a previously unknown mode of action. The identification of shared functional features may also be used to propose novel roles for proteins of unknown function, including a role in protein synthesis for YKL075C.
Conclusions
Yeast Features (YF) is an easy to use web-based application (http://software.dumontierlab.com/yeastfeatures/) which can identify and prioritize features that are shared among a set of yeast proteins. This approach is shown to be valuable in the analysis of complex data sets, in which the extracted associations revealed significant functional relationships among the gene products.
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Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity of Rutile-TiO2 ‎Nano Powder Prepared by Hydrothermal Process ‎

حضر اوكسيد التيتانيوم النانوي نوع روتايل (r-TiO2) بتقنية الحراره المائيه في الأوتكليف، حصل التفاعل بين رباعي كلوريد التيتانيوم ومزيج متكون من ماء لاايوني وايثانول بنسبة (37:) على التوالي. جفف الناتج ولدن عند 400 °م.  التركيب وطوبوغرافية السطح لاوكسيد التيتانيوم تم تشخيصها بواسطة قياسات حيود الاشعة السينية (XRD) ، المجهر الألكتروني الماسح (SEM), مجهر القوة الذرية (AFM) ومطيافية الأشعة تحت الحمراء (FT-IR) والأشعة فوق البنفسجية/المرئية (UV/Visible). تم دراسة تاثير الاوكسيد المخصر على نوعين من البكتريا الغرامية السالبة (Escherichia coli) والموجبة (Staphylococcus aurous ). بينت الدراسة ان اوكسيد التيتانيوم النانوي نوع الروتايل (r-TiO2) له فعالية مضادة للبكتريا ويمكن استخدامه كمضاد بكتيري لمختلف الاغراضRutile titanium dioxide (r-TiO2) Nano powder has been synthesized by hydrothermal method in autoclave. The reaction took place between titanium tetrachloride (TiCI4) and mixture solution consisted of deionized water and ethanol, in the ratio (3:7) respectively. The product has been dried and annealed at 400°C. The structure, morphology and the particle size of the Nano powder were investigated by X-ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), FT-IR and UV/visible spectroscopy measurements. The effect of r-TiO2 on gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) and gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aurous (S. aureus) has been studied. This study showed that rutile TiO2 Nano powder has efficient antibacterial activity, and can use as an antibacterial agent for different purpose

Power allocation for D2D communications using max-min message-passing algorithm

The approach of factor-graphs (FGs) is applied in the context of power control and user pairing in Device-to-Device (D2D) communications as an effective underlay concept in wireless cellular networks. D2D communications can increase the spectral efficiency of wireless cellular networks by establishing a direct link between devices with limited help from the evolved node base stations (eNBs). A well-designed user pairing and power allocation scheme with low complexity can remarkably improve the system’s performance. In this paper, a simple and distributed FG based approach is utilized for power control and user pairing implementation in an underlay cellular network with D2D communications. A max-min criterion is proposed to maximize the minimum rate of all active users in the network, including the cellular and multiple D2D co-channel links in the uplink direction. An associated message-passing (MP) algorithm is presented to distributedly solve the resultant NP-hard maximization problem, with a guaranteed convergence compared to game-theoretic and Q-learning based methods. The complexity and convergence of the proposed method are analyzed and numerical results confirm that the proposed scheme outperforms alternative algorithms in terms of complexity, while keeping the sum-rate of users nearly the same as centralized counterpart methods