Design and Development of Magnetic Iron Core Gold Nanoparticle-Based Fluorescent Multiplex Assay to Detect Salmonella

Salmonella is a bacterial pathogen which is one of the leading causes of severe illnesses in humans. The current study involved the design and development of two methods, respectively using iron oxide nanoparticle (IONP) and iron core gold nanoparticle (ICGNP), conjugated with the Salmonella antibody and the fluorophore, 4-Methylumbelliferyl Caprylate (4-MUCAP), used as an indicator, for its selective and sensitive detection in contaminated food products. Twenty double-blind beverage samples, spiked with Salmonella enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli, were prepared in sterile Eppendorf® tubes at room temperature. The gold layer and spikes of ICGNPs increased the surface areas. The ratio of the surface area is 0.76 (IONPs/ICGNPs). The comparative sensitivity and specificity of the IONP-based and the ICGNP-based methods to detect Salmonella were determined. The ICGNP method shows the limit of detection is 32 Salmonella per mL. The ICGNPs had an 83.3% sensitivity and a 92.9% specificity value for the presence and detection of Salmonella. The IONP method resulted in a limit of detection of 150 Salmonella per mL, and a 66.7% sensitivity and 83.3% specificity for the presence and detection of Salmonella. The higher surface area of ICGNPs increases the efficiency of detection. The monitoring of Salmonella can thus be achieved by a rapid magnetic fluorescent assay using a smartphone for image capture and analyze, providing quantitative results. The findings from the present study would help to detect Salmonella rapidly in water. It can improve the microbial quality of water and food safety due to the presence of Salmonella in the water environment

Tazuko Sakane

Tazuko Sakane was the first female director in Japan. By 1936, Sakane had taken a variety of positions at virtually all stages of film production, ranging from director and editor to script supervisor and assistant director. She remained the only female director in Japan until 1953, when the actress-turned-director Tanaka Kinuyo made her first film. Not only is Sakane’s life illustrative of the constricting roles enforced by Japanese society almost vengefully upon women, but her involvement at Manchuria Film Association further poses questions pivotal in theorizing the mutual implications of feminism, imperialism, and colonialism. That being said, Sakane has long been marginalized, if not erased, from the history of Japanese cinema

Grid-Aware On-Route Fast-Charging Infrastructure Planning for Battery Electric Bus with Equity Considerations: A Case Study in South King County

The transition from traditional bus fleets to zero-emission ones necessitates the development of effective planning models for battery electric bus (BEB) charging infrastructure. On-route fast charging stations, distinct from on-base charging stations, present unique challenges related to safe operation and power supply capacity, making it difficult to control grid operational costs. This paper establishes a novel framework that integrates the bus route network and power network, which leverages the inter-dependency between both networks to optimize the planning outcomes of on-route BEB charging stations in South King County. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer second-order cone programming model, aiming to minimize the overall planning cost, which includes investments in charging equipment, power facility, and grid operation. Furthermore, fairness measurements are incorporated into the planning process, allowing for the consideration of both horizontal transit equity and vertical transit equity based on different zone merging criteria within the county's existing census tracts. The results of this planning model offer valuable insights into achieving both economic efficiency and social justice in the design of on-route charging facilities for BEBs in South King County.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figure

Design of Microwave Superconducting Resonators for Materials Characterization

A resonator is a specialized device capable of storing and transferring energy at precise frequencies. Resonators find widespread use in various fields, such as electrical engineering, physics, and material science, owing to their exceptional ability to accurately measure, filter, and amplify signals. Different types of resonators exist, but coplanar waveguide (CPW) and coupled coplanar waveguide (CCPW) resonators are popular due to their high-frequency operation and easy integration into microfabrication processes

Feminismo en prosa de Lucía Etxebarria

Resumen Esta tesis gira en torno al feminismo en la prosa de una de las escritoras españolas más polifacéticas: Lucía Etxebarria. A través de su creación literaria, aborda el problema de la búsqueda de la identidad femenina. La autora no solo crea modelos femeninos tradicionales, sino que también moldea personajes simbólicos, alternativos de la mujer española y nuevas identidades femeninas que no se insertan en estándares patriarcales, y al mismo tiempo, el trasfondo social forma parte importante de sus obras literarias. Este trabajo, se realiza desde una perspectiva metodológica feminista, aplicando el análisis de género o, más concretamente, el feminismo en la narrativa contemporánea que le sirve de marco conceptual-filosófico, ofrece una nueva visión del feminismo de Lucía Etxebarria. Con estas premisas, nuestra investigación se ha presentado de forma general a lo particular. El primer capítulo se ha planteado como una contextualización socio-literaria. Se describe cómo se situaba Lucía Etxebarria en aquel periodo histórico, haciendo especial hincapié en la narrativa hecha por mujeres en la España de dicha época. El segundo y tercer capítulo se centran en dos temas principales: la relación madre-hija y el cuerpo femenino, que es la piedra angular de la escritura feminista de Lucía Etxebarria, teniendo en cuenta su vínculo con las condiciones sociohistóricas de la mujer española. Esta investigación examina tres novelas suyas para mostrar cómo la idiosincrasia histórica y sociocultural española ha producido diferentes modos de representación del vínculo madre-hija y actitudes distintas hacia el cuerpo femenino. El análisis de estos dos temas, de las tres obras seleccionadas, intenta mostrar el propósito de la autora de romper con las construcciones que conducen a la desigualdad entre hombres y mujeres y con la ideología patriarcal para crear un nuevo tipo de literatura a partir de un discurso femenino que da preferencia a la mujer como sujeto narrativo. Ella crea un espacio con su escritura, en él se puede obtener sus ideas feministas reflexionando sobre el contenido de sus obras que nos sitúan en un periodo que refleja los problemas a los que se enfrenta la mujer del tiempo al que se refiere. A través del análisis de los dos temas principales, este trabajo ha dado respuesta al objetivo de interpretar el feminismo en la prosa de Lucía Etxebarria y también ha dado forma a su tratamiento de la ideología de género, la concepción de lo femenino que se transmite en sus creaciones literarias. Este trabajo ha mostrado cómo Lucía Etxebarria reclama sus valores feministas, con su escritura, en todos los aspectos y cómo su feminismo, a través de sus obras, defiende los derechos universales de las mujeres a su libertad, personalidad, e independencia. A lo largo de su trayectoria narrativa, se puede notar su afán por reivindicar unas condiciones de vida de la mujer de una manera más completa y humana, tal y como se ha pretendido mostrar en el presente trabajo de investigación.This thesis is mainly concerned with feminism in the prose of one of Spain’s most versatile writers, Lucía Etxebarria. She tries to solve the problem of finding female identity through her literary works. The author not only creates traditional female models, but also forms symbolic and alternative characters of Spanish women and new female identities that do not conform to the norms of patriarchy. At the same time, social background is an important component of her literary works. This work is conducted from the perspective of feminist methodology, using gender analysis, more specifically, feminism in contemporary narrative, as a conceptual philosophical framework, and offers a new vision for Lucía Etxebarria’s feminism. With these premises, we have developed our research from a general to a concrete approach. The first chapter is the introduction to the socio-literary background. It describes how Lucía Etxebarria is situated in that historical period, with special attention to the narratives of women in Spain at that time. The second and third chapters mainly focus on two main themes: the motherdaughter relationship and the female body, cornerstone of Lucía Etxebarria’s feminist writing, considering their connection with the social and historical conditions of Spanish women. This study examines her three novels to show how the historical and sociocultural characteristics of Spain have produced different representations of the mother-daughter bond and different attitudes towards the female body. The analysis of these two themes of the three selected works attempts to show that the author wants to break the structure that leads to gender inequality and patriarchal ideology in order to create a new kind of literature based on a feminine discourse that foregrounds women as narrative subjects. She uses her writings to create a space where we can receive her feminist thoughts and learn about the problems of women in the era she mentions by reflecting on the content of her works. Through the analysis of the two main themes, this work has achieved the goal of interpreting feminism in Lucía Etxebarria’s prose and also shaped her treatment of gender ideology. In this study, we have shown how Lucía Etxebarria embodies her feminist values in all aspects through her works and how her feminism defends women’s universal rights such as freedom, individuality and independence. In her narratives, it is clear that she calls for a more inclusive and humane way of life for women, as we wanted to show in this research