Smart City (SC) – Smart Village (SC) and the ‘Rurban’ Concept from a Malaysia-Indonesia perspective

This article attempts to break down the dualism of the village-urban development phenomenon in the modernization era. In the post-2020 development transformation era such as the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2030, the development of SC (smart city-SC) and smart village (SV) is very important and needs to be discussed. Issues and questions of the SC and SV discussions are the extent to which these two development models can break the tradition of dual-city development dualism phenomena as happened in the modernization era. Through the completeness of information and communication technology (ICT) and the comprehensive development strategy of SC and SV, the phenomenon of development dualism can be solved through the concept of Rurban. The concept of Rurban greatly opens up opportunities for mutual advancement between SC and SV based on hyperlinked networks, whether in terms of socio-political, socio-economic and/or socio-cultural development. This means the Rurban concept can be realized through network links from all aspects of SC and SV progression with perfect aspirations for wellbeing, equality, quality of life, empowerment, competitiveness, resilience and independence. This discussion attempts to see the breakdown of the dual-village urban dualism tradition through Rurban SC and SV concepts by using quantitativeapproaches and case studies in Malaysia. The findings show that there are elements of this dualism solving tradition with the existence of the SC and SV as network links from the point of use of ICT and other communication facilities between the rural and urban sectors

Model Pure Community-smart Cities (PCSC) Components Assessment in Lembah Klang, Malaysia from Society 5.0 to Madani Society

Pure community is one of the elements that must be present to create a holistic smart city that is not only focused on economic development. This study aims to measure the level of development of the pure community in the cities of the Klang Valley, Malaysia. The research was conducted at the Klang Valley, Peninsular Malaysia. This study uses cluster sampling to select the respondents. Stratified sampling is a technique used for dividing the population into specific characteristics, and then using simple random sampling, samples are taken from each population. Overall, the level of pure community in Malaysia’s Klang Valley shows that they have a high value of good citizens. Despite this, it is crucial to put a guideline that allows the involvement of urban citizens to carry out mutual responsibilities in the location of their residence to be more organized. The government should be able to create an appropriate task force in the housing area that involves shared responsibility between the city’s residents. Keywords: smart city development, pure community, Model PCS

A new cyclopentylidene and other chemical constituents from Malaysian Crotalaria pallida

Crotalaria pallida Aiton is an herbaceous legume from the family Fabaceae. In the present study, one new cyclopentyliene, crotolidene (1) and seven known compounds, i.e. hydroxydihydrobovolide (2), octacosane (3), trans-phytyl palmitate (4), linoleic acid (5), methyl oleate (6), ethyl palmitate (7), and palmitic acid (8) were isolated from the C. pallida collected from Perak, Malaysia. These compounds were isolated and characterized using extensive chromatographic and spectroscopic methods

Criminal Network Mining and Analysis for Forensic Investigations

Criminal network analysis tools are widely used by law enforcement, mainly in cases of organized crime. The data required for a majority of these tools are police records and databases. In many cases, forensically collected data contains valuable information about the suspect’s social network. This information is normally obtained by manual inspection of the collected documents using forensic tools’ queries and other basic search features. The information is then manually entered in the police database. There are no known tools that provide methods to automatically extract social networks from raw documents on behalf of the investigator add them to a knowledge base and then analyze them. In this thesis, we propose a method that is capable of performing these tasks. In our proposed system, we claim three distinct contributions to cyber forensics investigations. The first is by constructing the social network of one or multiple suspects from documents in a file system. Secondly, we provide an analysis of the interactions and structures of these social networks and the communities comprising them. Thirdly, potential evidence and leads are identified by extracting conceptual links between members of the social network across the document set. Finally, the proposed method is implemented and experimental results are obtained to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach

Supported CuII Single-Ion Catalyst for Total Carbon Utilization of C2 and C3 Biomass-Based Platform Molecules in the N-Formylation of Amines

The shift from fossil carbon sources to renewable ones is vital for developing sustainable chemical processes to produce valuable chemicals. In this work, value-added formamides were synthesized in good yields by the reaction of amines with C2 and C3 biomass-based platform molecules such as glycolic acid, 1,3-dihydroxyacetone and glyceraldehyde. These feedstocks were selectively converted by catalysts based on Cu-containing zeolite 5A through the in situ formation of carbonyl-containing intermediates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example in which all the carbon atoms in biomass-based feedstocks could be amidated to produce formamide. Combined catalyst characterization results revealed preferably single CuII sites on the surface of Cu/5A, some of which form small clusters, but without direct linking via oxygen bridges. By combining the results of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spin-trapping, operando attenuated total reflection (ATR) IR spectroscopy and control experiments, it was found that the formation of formamides might involve a HCOOH-like intermediate and .NHPh radicals, in which the selective formation of .OOH radicals might play a key role. © 2021 The Authors. Chemistry - A European Journal published by Wiley-VCH Gmb

A minimally invasive option for the treatment of persistent postoperative esophageal leak

Persistent postoperative leaks in esophageal surgery in children are highly morbid. They usually require technically difficult major reoperations. A less invasive approach is always desirable. During the period 2003 to 2007, we used a minimally invasive approach for the treatment of persistent postoperative esophageal leaks in two children by injection of fibrin glue into the leak site through a small catheter that was introduced through the chest tube. The procedure was successful in one case. We introduce this approach as an alternative to surgery. We found it to be a safe and viable option for the treatment of persistent postoperative esophageal leaks.Keywords: chest tube, esophageal leak, fibrin glu

Mechanistic studies of water soluble fullerenes as free radical scavengers, biological antioxidants and NF-kappaB inhibitors

Since their discovery, fullerenes and fullerene derivatives have been the subject of intense research because of their unique properties and potential applications. The combination of a network of conjugated double bonds with high electron affinity makes them good electron acceptors, so that, despite being described commonly as antioxidants in the biological literature, they may act mechanistically as oxidants. Because of their ability to accept electrons, fullerenes can quench reactive oxygen species (ROS), particularly free radicals, by accepting their unpaired electron. Overproduction of ROS interferes with cell signaling and apoptosis, as well as causing generalized damage to biomolecules, through their interaction with lipids, DNA and proteins, thereby contributing to chronic diseases. The pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-?B is known to be activated by ROS; modulation of NF-?B signaling is well established as a way to control inflammatory immune responses. Although there are numerous studies on the biological roles of fullerenes, their mechanism of action is poorly understood. The main focus of this research is to clarify redox properties and bioactivity of fullerene derivatives, including their fundamental redox properties, their interaction with NF-?B and their biocompatibility involving the possibility of ROS generation vs. elimination by free radical scavenging. Different C60 and C70 fullerene derivatives used in these studies include hydroxylated fullerenes (C60OHx and C70OHx), carboxyfullerene (C3), amphiphilic liposomal malonylfullerene (ALM), fullerene-tetraglycolate TGA and TTA, which were studied in comparison to common antioxidants such as ascorbic acid and N-acetyl cysteine. The results from the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay demonstrate that fullerenes are very poor reducing agents, whereas the results of electro-paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) confirmed their radical scavenging properties vs. superoxide ion. Taken together, the results of both studies (FRAP and EPR) emphasize the need to distinguish between antioxidant and antiradical properties of fullerenes, as the latter can occur via oxidation of free radical species. Regarding their potential future use in clinical applications, an important finding is that hydroxy and carboxy fullerene derivatives exposed to ambient conditions in living cells neither produce ROS nor cause any cytotoxicity at nanomolar to micromolar concentrations, as shown using proliferation assays and redox sensitive fluorescent dyes. On the other hand, TTA and C60OHx fullerenes were found to have a distinct effect on mitochondrial function of cells, implying their interference with proton transfer process of mitochondrial membrane. However, this effect is apparently not sufficient to decrease cell viability. The activity of fullerenes as potential anti-inflammatory drugs was investigated using several cell-based assays involving an NF-?B reporter gene assay, coupled with visualization of nuclear translocation of exogenous (transfected) NF-?B, achieved via a construct with the NF-?B p65 gene fused to green fluorescent protein. The fullerene derivatives C3 and C60OHx were found to be effective inhibitors of NF-?B driven gene expression at micromolar concentrations. However, unlike some antioxidants such as a-lipoic acid, they did not inhibit PMA-induced nuclear translocation of exogenous NF-?B even at high concentration (40 µM). Along with western blot analysis, this result strongly suggests that fullerene derivatives block NF-?B signaling downstream of the cytosolic activation pathway (the site of action of many antioxidants), possibly inhibiting NF-?B activation at a step penultimate to DNA binding in the nucleus (e.g., by interfering with the mandatory reduction of NF-?B by thioredoxin). These studies suggest that the molecular basis of action of water soluble fullerenes has both similarities and differences to typical antioxidants. Like many antioxidants, they are active as NF-?B inhibitors, suggesting a potential role as novel anti-inflammatory agents, as they have low overall toxicity. However, they have a distinct mechanism of action, such as scavenging free radicals by oxidation, and lack activity as direct reducing agents

Practical Catalytic Cleavage of C(sp3)−C(sp3) Bonds in Amines

The selective cleavage of thermodynamically stable C(sp3)−C(sp3) single bonds is rare compared to their ubiquitous formation. Herein, we describe a general methodology for such transformations using homogeneous copper-based catalysts in the presence of air. The utility of this novel methodology is demonstrated for Cα−Cβ bond scission in >70 amines with excellent functional group tolerance. This transformation establishes tertiary amines as a general synthon for amides and provides valuable possibilities for their scalable functionalization in, for example, natural products and bioactive molecules. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA

Multivariate Analysis of Coupled Operando EPR/XANES/EXAFS/UV–Vis/ATR-IR Spectroscopy: A New Dimension for Mechanistic Studies of Catalytic Gas-Liquid Phase Reactions

Operando EPR, XANES/EXAFS, UV-Vis and ATR-IR spectroscopic methods have been coupled for the first time in the same experimental setup for investigation of unclear mechanistic aspects of selective aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol by a Cu/TEMPO catalytic system (TEMPO=2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxyl). By multivariate curve resolution with alternating least-squares fitting (MCR-ALS) of simultaneously recorded XAS and UV-Vis data sets, it was found that an initially formed (bpy)(NMI)CuI- complex (bpy=2,2′-bipyridine, NMI=N-methylimidazole) is converted to two different CuII species, a mononuclear (bpy)(NMI)(CH3CN)CuII-OOH species detectable by EPR and ESI-MS, and an EPR-silent dinuclear (CH3CN)(bpy)(NMI)CuII(μ-OH)2⋅CuII (bpy)(NMI) complex. The latter is cleaved in the further course of reaction into (bpy)(NMI)(HOO)CuII-TEMPO monomers that are also EPR-silent due to dipolar interaction with bound TEMPO. Both Cu monomers and the Cu dimer are catalytically active in the initial phase of the reaction, yet the dimer is definitely not a major active species nor a resting state since it is irreversibly cleaved in the course of the reaction while catalytic activity is maintained. Gradual formation of non-reducible CuII leads to slight deactivation at extended reaction times. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA