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The present study asks whether repeated self-assessment can shape performance, self-assessment accuracy, and confidence in students whose past entails an instructor-centered education. Eighty-eight classes were assigned to either a control condition or a self-assessment practice condition. In the latter, students estimated their final class grades at the start and at the end of the semester, as well as grades before and after the midterm and the final test. Subjective confidence ratings accompanied estimates. At the end of the semester, the practice condition exhibited higher class and final test grades. The accuracy of students’ predictions also improved as knowledge of test and class demands increased over time. Poor performers made the most optimistic estimates but with the lowest confidence. The accuracy of their estimates also showed the largest gains from knowledge of test and class demands. These results suggest that not only repeated self-assessment may benefit performance, but also those who benefit the most from knowledge of class and test demands may be those whose performance is less than satisfactory.

Access to dependable and environmentally friendly energy sources is critical to a country's economic growth and long-term development. As countries seek greener energy alternatives, the interaction of environmental elements, temperature, and sunlight becomes more critical in utilizing renewable energy sources such as wind and bioenergy. Solar power has received much attention due to extraordinary efficiency advances. under this context, the present work focus on solar radiation and chemical processes in the presence of modified ternary hybrid nanofluids (THNFs) circulating over an exponentially stretched surface in both aiding flow (A-F) and opposing flow (O-F) circumstances. The primary objective of this investigation is to dive into the complicated dynamics of these structures, which are distinguished by complex interactions involving radiation, chemical reactions, and the movement of fluids. We construct reduced ordinary differential equations from the governing equations using suitable similarity transformations, which allows for a more in-depth examination of the liquid's behavior. Numerical simulations using the Runge–Kutta Fehlberg (RKF) approach and shooting techniques are used to understand the underlying difficulties of these reduced equations. The results show that thermal radiation improves heat transmission substantially under O-F circumstances in contrast to A-F conditions. Furthermore, the reaction rate parameter has an exciting connection with concentration levels, with greater rates corresponding to lower concentrations. Furthermore, compared to the O-F scenario, the A-F scenario promotes higher heat transfer in the context of a modified nanofluid. Rising reaction rate and solid fraction volume enhanced mass transfer rate. The rate of thermal distribution in THNFs improves from 0.13 to 20.4% in A-F and 0.16 to 15.06% in O-F case when compared to HNFs. This study has real-world implications in several fields, including developing more efficient solar water heaters, solar thermal generating plants, and energy-saving air conditioners.

National and international organizations are working together with the World Health Organization to control vector-borne diseases. The extensive uses of synthetic insecticides have led to the development of insect resistance and cause adverse health effects on humans and ecosystem. The current study aimed to study the potential larvicidal activity of microalgae (Amphora coffeaeformis and Scenedesmus obliquus) against the mosquito Culex pipiens. Toxicity on rats and an eco-toxicology study using the Microtox® test was performed. Liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) showed that A. coffeaeformis and S. obliquus extracts have high concentrations of polyphenolic compounds and unsaturated fatty acids. Both A. coffeaeformis and S. obliquus extracts had larvicidal activity with different mechanisms of toxic action against C. pipiens and the LC50 was 513.63 and 855.66 μg mL−1 compared with 173.16 μg mL−1 of the insecticide lambda-cyhalothrin. From toxicological studies on male rats and acute toxicity on bacterial strain of Vibrio fischeri using Microtox toxicity test, the A. coffeaeformis extract can be considered non-toxic to experimental animals and eco-friendly. Therefore, these findings propose the prospect use extracts of microalgae such as A. coffeaeformis as a safe and eco-friendly larvicide against C. pipiens.

Task offloading is a key strategy in Fog Computing (FC). The definition of resource-constrained devices no longer applies to sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) embedded system devices alone. Smart and mobile units can also be viewed as resource-constrained devices if the power, cloud applications, and data cloud are included in the set of required resources. In a cloud-fog-based architecture, a task instance running on an end device may need to be offloaded to a fog node to complete its execution. However, in a busy network, a second offloading decision is required when the fog node becomes overloaded. The possibility of offloading a task, for the second time, to a fog or a cloud node depends to a great extent on task importance, latency constraints, and required resources. This paper presents a dynamic service that determines which tasks can endure a second offloading. The task type, latency constraints, and amount of required resources are used to select the offloading destination node. This study proposes three heuristic offloading algorithms. Each algorithm targets a specific task type. An overloaded fog node can only issue one offloading request to execute one of these algorithms according to the task offloading priority. Offloading requests are sent to a Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller. The fog node and controller determine the number of offloaded tasks. Simulation results show that the average time required to select offloading nodes was improved by 33% when compared to the dynamic fog-to-fog offloading algorithm. The distribution of workload converges to a uniform distribution when offloading latency-sensitive non-urgent tasks. The lowest offloading priority is assigned to latency-sensitive tasks with hard deadlines. At least 70% of these tasks are offloaded to fog nodes that are one to three hops away from the overloaded node.

Our study was carried out between May 5 and the end of October 2020. It included all patients requiring admission to Ain Shams University hospitals. An interview questionnaire was used to collect demographic and clinical data. Laboratory tests for all participants included RT-PCR and total antibody assay for SARS-CoV-2. A total of 4,313 subjects were enrolled in our study, with females representing 56% of the sample. Adults and middle-aged individuals represented around 60% of the study sample. The positivity rate of SARS-CoV-2 PCR was 3.84% (95% CI 3.29-4.48), and the SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence was 29.82% (95% CI: 28.16-31.51). Males showed a higher risk for getting the COVID-19 infection, while middle-age group had significantly higher antibody seroprevalence rates. SARS-CoV-2 infection imposes a high burden on the community as detected by high seroprevalence rates.

Severe Acute Respiratory Infection poses a significant threat to human health being a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The rate of co-infection among the underlying pathogens is unknown. During COVID-19 pandemic, reports for respiratory pathogens co-circulations in developing countries were limited. Identification of respiratory pathogens is paramount for effective patient management as early detection decreases the risk of mortality and morbidity. This is the first report to investigate the incidence of respiratory pathogens co-infection among patients with SARI during COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt. Clinically SARI patients were recruited from October 2020 to June 2022. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected to detect SARS-CoV-2 followed by 33 respiratory pathogens identification using RT-PCR. Of 599 samples tested, 27% (158/599) patients were positive for COVID-19, in which 75.9% (120/158) patients were co-infected with other respiratory pathogens. In total, 31 pathogens were identified with a detection rate of 75% (450/599) among positive and negative COVID-19 patients. Bacterial co-infections rate was 39%, in which Klebsiella pneumoniae (5.3%) is the most common, while viral co-infections rate was 61%, in which Human Coronavirus HKU1 (6.2%) is the most common. Adenovirus, human rhinovirus and RSV were only detected in 70/11.7%, 50/8.3% and 41/6.8% of cases, respectively. Early detection and management of respiratory pathogens co-infection are crucial for effective patient management and preparedness for future pandemics.

Chemical insecticides have many harmful effects, including as foodborne residues and environmental contaminants, as well as side effects on natural enemies and serious risks for human health. The use of plant-derived essential oils (EOs) as effective bio-agents has become an essential component of integrated pest management. In this study, the contact toxicity, deterrent, and repellent activities were evaluated for essential oils obtained from Mentha piperita, Mentha longifolia, Salvia officinalis, and Salvia rosmarinus, grown at high altitudes in the Taif region, KSA, on Aphis punicae. Furthermore, the toxicity of these EOs against the predator Coccinella undecimpunctata was estimated. A total of 17, 14, 16, and 26 compounds were identified in the EOs of M. piperita, M. longifolia, S. officinalis, and S. rosmarinus, respectively. They showed a variation in the major compounds: M. piperita (Carvone, 61.16%), M. longifolia (Pulegone, 48.6%), S. officinalis (Eucalyptol, 33.52%), and S. rosmarinus (α-pinene, 36.65%). A contact toxicity test on A. punicae imago and C. undecimpunctata larvae showed that LC50 were approximately four-fold greater for all tested EOs towards aphids compared to towards the predator, while the two species of Salvia sp. were more effective than the other two species of Mentha sp. The LC50 values on A. punicae ranged from 1.57 to 2.97 µg/mL, while on C. undecimpunctata larvae, they ranged from 5.96 to 10.33 µg/mL. Furthermore, the EOs of two species of Salvia sp. showed excellent repellence and deterrence against A. punicae. In conclusion, the tested EOs, especially those from Salvia sp., have been shown to be promising natural aphicides, repellent, and deterrent against A. punicae, and they are safe for important insect predators.

The pyrethroid imiprothrin is widely used worldwide for control of insects in the agriculture and public health sectors. No sufficient information is however available concerning detoxification gene expression, i.e., cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) and metallothionein 1a gene, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and organ injury induced by imiprothrin in mammals. This study is designed to explain the mechanism of imiprothrin induced detoxification gene expression, DNA damage, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and organ toxicity in male rats. The benchmark dose (BMD) was calculated to find the best sensitive markers to imiprothrin toxicity. Imiprothrin was injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) into male rats once a day for 5 days with doses of 19, 38, and 75 mg/kg body weight (b.wt.). Imiprothrin caused a significant increase in lipid peroxidation and changes in oxidative stress biomarkers in treated rats. Significant dose-dependent changes in the liver and kidney biomarkers were observed. Histopathological alterations were seen in the liver and kidney tissue of male rats. Imiprothrin also significantly increased chromosomal aberrations (CA) and micronuclei in bone-marrow cells, and induced lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress, cytotoxicity, and liver and kidney dysfunction, and damage. Imiprothrin induced DNA damage and over detoxification gene expression of CYP1A2 and metallothionein 1a gene in hepatocytes of male rats. Imiprothrin thus shows clastogenic and genotoxic potential. The mechanism for hepatorenal toxicity and injury, genotoxicity/cytotoxicity of imiprothrin might be due to enhanced lipid peroxidation, and oxidative stress associated with overproduction of free radicals, especially reactive oxygen species, and an imbalance in redox status. From the BMD models, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total protein, uric acid, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and micronuclei (MPEs) were very sensitive markers to imiprothrin toxicity.

This study sought to ascertain the actual effects of different dietary levels of pomegranate peel biochar on the performance, antioxidant capacity, intestinal and liver histology, and expression of growth, antioxidant, and immune-related genes, as well as the economics of Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ). One hundred and twenty fingerlings (3.15 ± 0.15 g/fish) were randomly distributed into 4 triplicate groups (10 fish/replicate). The pomegranate peel was added to the fish diet at 1, 3, and 5 g/kg diet as Bp1%, Bp3%, and Bp5%. They were given to Nile tilapia for 60 days. Fish fed a diet supplemented with pomegranate peel displayed higher growth ( P  < 0.05) and antioxidants with normal histology of the liver and spleen. Additionally, the intestinal villi length and goblet cells increased ( P  < 0.05) with increasing levels of biochar with the overexpression of the growth, antioxidant, and immune-related genes. The return parameters also showed the same trend, as the highest total return, net profit and rate of return on investment were recorded for fish-fed pomegranate peel-supplemented diets. Thus, pomegranate peel biochar could be considered a promising cost-effective supplement with the potential to improve Nile tilapia’s growth performance, antioxidant status, and economic feasibility.