The non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of civil infrastructure has been an active area of research in recent decades. The traditional inspection of civil infrastructure mostly relies on visual ...inspection using human inspectors. To facilitate this process, different sensors for data collection and techniques for data analyses have been used to effectively carry out this task in an automated fashion. This review-based study will examine some of the recent developments in the field of autonomous robotic platforms for NDE and the structural health monitoring (SHM) of bridges. Some of the salient features of this review-based study will be discussed in the light of the existing surveys and reviews that have been published in the recent past, which will enable the clarification regarding the novelty of the present review-based study. The review methodology will be discussed in sufficient depth, which will provide insights regarding some of the primary aspects of the review methodology followed by this review-based study. In order to provide an in-depth examination of the state-of-the-art, the current research will examine the three major research streams. The first stream relates to technological robotic platforms developed for NDE of bridges. The second stream of literature examines myriad sensors used for the development of robotic platforms for the NDE of bridges. The third stream of literature highlights different algorithms for the surface- and sub-surface-level analysis of bridges that have been developed by studies in the past. A number of challenges towards the development of robotic platforms have also been discussed.
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and Shariah non-compliant risk (SNCR) that is unique for Islamic banks. The study examines the roles of Shariah ...committee along with the board of directors in mitigating SNCR.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper empirically investigates the implications of characteristics of board of directors and Shariah committee on the SNCR by using a sample of 29 full-fledge Islamic banks from Malaysia and Indonesia over the period 2007-2017. All data is hand collected from the Islamic banks' annual reports with the exception of country-level data collected from the World Bank database.
Findings
The results show that banks with a smaller board size and higher proportion of independent board members are likely to have lower SNCR. The findings also indicate that the financial expertise and higher frequency of Shariah committee meetings reduces the SNCR. Collectively, the analysis shows that banks with strong corporate governance environments reduce SNCR.
Practical implications
The findings of the study shed light on the relationship between corporate governance practice, Shariah committee characteristics and SNCR. The results can be used by different stakeholders such as policymakers, boards of directors and senior management of Islamic banks to mitigate SNCR.
Originality/value
This study extends the literature on corporate governance and risk-taking by including additional dimensions of governance and risk type. The corporate governance mechanism at the board level is complemented by including the Shariah committee characteristics and SNCR which is relevant to Islamic financial institutions is examined.
Ring chromosomes are circular chromosomal abnormalities that have been reported in association with some genetic disorders and cancers. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, lack of function of protection of ...telomere 1 (Pot1) or telomerase catalytic subunit (Trt1) results in survivors with circular chromosomes. Hitherto, it is poorly understood how cells with circular chromosomes survive and how circular chromosomes are maintained. Fission yeast Cut17/Bir1, Ark1, Pic1, and Nbl1 is a conserved chromosome passenger complex (CPC) functioning mainly throughout mitosis. Here, using a temperature-sensitive mutant of CPC subunits, we determined that CPC is synthetically lethal in combination with either Pot1 or Trt1. The pot1Δ pic1-T269 double mutant, which has circular chromosomes, showed a high percentage of chromosome mis-segregation and DNA damage foci at 33°C. We furthermore found that neither Shugoshin Sgo2 nor heterochromatin protein Swi6, which contribute to the centromeric localization of CPC, were required for the survival in the absence of Pot1. Both the pot1Δ sgo2Δ and pot1Δ swi6Δ double mutants displayed a high percentage of DNA damage foci, but a low percentage of chromosome mis-segregation, suggesting the link between the high percentage of chromosome mis-segregation and the lethality of the CPC pot1Δ double mutant. Our results suggest that CPC is required for the survival of cells with circular chromosomes and sheds light on the possible roles of CPC in the maintenance of circular chromosomes.
Cancer metastasis results from the suppression of adhesion between cancer cells and the extracellular matrix, causing their migration from the primary tumor location and the subsequent formation of ...tumors in distant organs. This study demonstrates the potential use of nano-sized clay mineral particles to modulate adhesions between tumor cells and with the surrounding extracellular matrix. Atomic force microscopy studies of live cell cultures reveal a significant increase in adhesion between tumor cells and their environment after treatment with different types of electrically charged clay nanoparticles. The enhancement of adhesion among cancer cells was further confirmed through scratch type of wound healing assay studies. To provide insight into the adhesion mechanisms introduced by the clay nanoparticles, we performed a molecular-level computer simulation of cell adhesions in the presence and absence of the nanoparticles. Strong van der Waals and electrostatic attractions modelled in the molecular simulations result in an increase in the cohesive energy density of these environments when treated with clay crystallites. The increase in the cohesive energy density after the sorption of clay crystallites on cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix complexes lends weight to our strategy of using clay nanoparticles for the restoration of adhesion among cancer cells and prevention of metastasis.
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•The first spectrofluorimetric method for determination of favipiravir which is a potential treatment of COVID-19 virus.•The developed method is simple, rapid, robust and ...sensitive.•Experimental design has been applied during optimization to ensure robustness of the method.•The excellent sensitivity of the method allowed the determination of favipiravir in human plasma.•Assessment of greenness of the proposed method using the analytical eco-scale.
The present work describes development of rapid, robust, sensitive and green spectrofluorimetric method for determination of favipiravir (FAV). Different factors affecting fluorescence were carefully studied and Box Behnken Design was applied to optimize experimental parameters. The proposed method is based on measuring native fluorescence of FAV in 0.2 M borate buffer (pH 8.0) at 432 nm after excitation at 361 nm. There was a linear relationship between FAV concentration and relative fluorescence intensity over the range 40–280 ng/mL with limit of detection of 9.44 ng/mL and quantitation limit of 28.60 ng/mL. The method was successfully implemented for determination of FAV in its pharmaceutical formulation with mean % recovery of 99.26 ± 0.87. Moreover, the high sensitivity of the method allowed determination of FAV in spiked human plasma over a range of 48–192 ng/mL. The proposed spectrofluorimetric method was proved to be eco-friendly according to analytical eco-scale.
Despite several efforts, the development of an effective vaccine for COVID-19 may take a much longer time. Traditional/natural medicine, already experienced by humans, could be an earlier solution. ...Considering the research team’s experience in using nano-clays as high-affinity material for cancer metastasis, melanoma treatment, and bone regeneration, we propose to use these nano-clays for the prevention/treatment of COVID-19. Owing to high affinity, nano-clays would capture the viruses before the latter get engaged with human hACE2. In this study, molecular-level simulations and modeling of the interaction of coronavirus spike and hACE2 proteins were performed with and without nano-clays. The results showed a very high level of affinity/cohesiveness among SARS-CoV-2 spike and nano-clays as compared to the one between the former and hACE2. We premise that these nano-clays since already being used as drug carriers could also be injected as “clays-alone” medicine. Recommendations have also been provided for future in vitro and in vivo studies.
This study explores the connection between business strategies, ESG performance, and the probability of bankruptcy. Using a sample comprising 1970 U.S. firm-year observations from 2016 to 2020, this ...study adopts several techniques to achieve its goals, including the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) algorithm and additional analyses. The results demonstrate that a firm with a better cost leadership strategy has higher ESG performance. A sound cost leadership strategy and ESG performance negatively influence a firm’s likelihood of financial distress. Using a mediating analysis model, we also find that financial and ESG performance mediate and mitigate the probability of experiencing financial distress through a cost leadership strategy, indicating that these are essential factors that cannot be ignored when mitigating bankruptcy probability. Financial performance also mediates and mitigates the probability of experiencing financial distress through the ESG path. This study adds to the existing body of knowledge by revealing the role of sound business strategies and ESG performance in mitigating the likelihood of financial distress, an under-explored topic. It also analyzes the mediation roles of financial and ESG performance to provide significant insights to companies' decision-makers in order to support them in their endeavors toward performance improvement and achieving best practices.
Circular chromosomes have frequently been observed in tumors of mesenchymal origin. In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, deletion of pot1+ results in rapid telomere loss, and the resulting ...survivors have circular chromosomes. Fission yeast has 2 bromodomain and extra-terminal (BET) proteins, Bdf1 and Bdf2; both are required for maintaining acetylated histones. Here, we found that bdf2, but not bdf1, was synthetically lethal with pot1. We also obtained a temperature-sensitive bdf2-ts mutant, which can grow at high temperatures but becomes camptothecin sensitive. This suggests that Bdf2 is defective at high temperatures. The cell cycle of the pot1 bdf2-ts mutant was delayed in the G2 and/or M phase at a semipermissive temperature. Furthermore, a temperature-sensitive mutant of mst1, which encodes histone acetyltransferase, showed a synthetic growth defect with a pot1 disruptant at a semipermissive temperature. Our results suggest that Bdf2 and Mst1 are required for the growth of cells with circular chromosomes.
The incidence of malignant melanoma has rapidly increased in the last two decades. There are many challenges associated with the current conventional therapies, including tumour size and location, ...the specificity of treatments, tumour resistance, non-mutually exclusive mutations, drug resistance, and many adverse side effects. Due to conventional therapies having several limitations, we have explored an alternative therapy such as nano-clays; nano-sized natural materials originating from clay fraction of the soil. Recently, clay nanoparticles have increasingly been used as a drug carrier for cancer treatment due to their high absorption, ability to engulf microbes, and low toxicity. In this study, we evaluated the effects of a nano-clays mix on melanoma cell proliferation and cell viability in vitro and melanoma growth in vivo xenograft animal model. The in vitro study revealed that nano-clay treatments significantly reduced melanoma cell proliferation and cell viability in a dosage-dependent manner. The in vivo tumour xenograft model demonstrated that nano-clay mix treatment led to significantly reduced tumour size and weight, decreased tumour cell mitosis, and induced tumour necrosis. These processes owe to the most probable changes in the membrane potential of the cancer cells once nano-clays bind with the former through the high non-specific adhesion characteristic of the cancer cells. As the data suggest an important role of nano-clays as an inhibitor of melanoma cell proliferation and survival, these prove to be a natural and effective medicine for the treatment of melanoma. The proven compatibility of nano-clays with the human cells with little side-effects makes them a highly preferred choice for the treatment of melanoma and probably other types of cancers.
A green, robust and fast stability indicating chromatographic method has been developed for concomitant analysis of fluorescein sodium and benoxinate hydrochloride in the presence of their ...degradation products within four minutes. Two different designs including fractional factorial and Box-Behnken designs were implemented for screening and optimization steps, respectively. The optimum chromatographic analysis was achieved using a mixture of isopropanol and 20 mM potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution (pH 3.0) in the ratio 27:73 as mobile phase. The flow rate was 1.5 mL/min and column oven temperature was 40 °C. Chromatographic analysis was performed on Eclipse plus C18 (100 mm × 4.6 mm × 3.5 μm) column with DAD detector set at 220 nm. A linear response was acquired over the range of 2.5-60 μg/mL and 1-50 μg/mL for benoxinate and fluorescein respectively. Stress degradation studies were executed under acidic, basic, and oxidative stress conditions. The method was implemented for quantitation of cited drugs in ophthalmic solution with mean percent recovery ± SD of 99.21 ± 0.74 and 99.88 ± 0.58 for benoxinate and fluorescein respectively. The proposed method is more rapid and eco-friendly compared to the reported chromatographic methods for determination of cited drugs.
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