J, Volume 2, Issue 3 (September 2019) – 9 articles

Topological indices are numeric quantities that describes the topology of molecular structure in mathematical chemistry. An important area of applied mathematics is the chemical reaction network theory. Real-world problems can be modeled using this theory. Due to its worldwide applications, chemical networks have attracted researchers since their foundation. In this report, some silicate and oxide networks are studied, and exact expressions of some newly-developed neighborhood degree-based topological indices named as the neighborhood Zagreb index ( $M_N$ ), the neighborhood version of the forgotten topological index ( $F_N$ ), the modified neighborhood version of the forgotten topological index ( $F_N^{\ast }$ ), the neighborhood version of the second Zagreb index ( $M_2^{\ast }$ ), and neighborhood version of the hyper Zagreb index ( $H{M}_N$ ) are obtained for the aforementioned networks. In addition, a comparison among all the indices is shown graphically. Full article

In this study, we examine the consumers’ attitudes toward Gmarket online shopping in Korea. We use a model to explain that consumers’ attitudes toward online shopping are influenced by psychological, personal, and technological characteristics. We hypothesize that three major behavioral beliefs; perceived trust (psychological), perceived benefits (personal), and perceived website quality (technological) influence consumers’ attitudes toward online shopping. A questionnaire was designed and administered by surveying the Gmarket online shoppers in Korea. A total of 338 valid responses were collected and Partial Least Squares (PLS) Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used for data analysis. The findings indicate that consumers’ online shopping attitudes are a function of perceived benefits, trust, and perceived website quality. We found that 57.9 percent of the variation in online shopping attitudes results from perceived benefits, trust, and perceived website quality. Trust was found to be the most important predictor of consumers’ online shopping attitudes. We offer academic and practical implications that are useful in designing e-marketing strategies for competing in the online shopping cyberspace market in Korea. We recommend for the replication of a similar model in other parts of the world like Uganda (Jumia), China (Taobao), Japan (Rakuten), and the United States of America (eBay). Full article

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder leading to loss of autonomy and a decline in quality of life. Qigong, a practice rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, has been positively reported on a variety of complaints of chronically ill patients and on gait imbalance in the elderly. PubMed and B-On databases were accessed during March 2018 to carry out an inventory of relevant scientific papers relating PD to Qigong. Fifteen articles were found and analyzed allowing us to highlight that: (1) in addition to medication, Qigong shows potential gains in PD management; (2) there is a stabilizing effect of motor symptoms and positive results in several frequent autonomy symptoms; (3) Qigong is highly accepted by patients, and is a cost-effective treatment that can be self-practiced, improving sleep quality, gait speed, functional mobility and quality of life, thus reducing the risk of falling; (4) Qigong improves muscle hardness, functional ability to walk, hand–eye coordination and balance. Despite the promising results, the limitations and the disparity of experimental designs of the included studies do not allow us to have a conclusive answer to the question whether Qigong benefits the management of PD or not. Full article

The honorary Chernobyl Liquidator Medal depicts pathways of alpha, gamma, and beta rays over a drop of blood, signifying the human health impacts of the Chernobyl accident. A relativistic analysis of the trajectories depicted on the Chernobyl Liquidator Medal is conducted assuming static uniform magnetic and electric fields. The parametric trajectories are determined using the energies of alpha (α) and beta (β) particles relevant to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident and compared with the trajectories depicted on the liquidator medal. For minimum alpha particle velocity of 0.0512c, the beta particle trajectory depicted on the medal is highly unlikely to have come from a naturally occurring nuclear decay process. The parametric equations are used to determine the necessary beta energies to reproduce the depicted trajectories. This article documents the unfortunate misrepresentation of a famous scientific experiment on an honorary medal and illustrates the importance of better communication between artists and scientists. Full article

Background and objectives: Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) is a structural component of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) that induces severe infection disease and skin inflammation such as atopic dermatitis (AD); the biological function of LTA is still unclear. Dendritic cells (DC) are important regulators in the immune system, and the cells ectopically recognize agents that have an influence on the host immune response. We aimed to reveal the DC-based immune response against LTA to understand the novel mechanism in S. aureus related acute skin inflammation. Materials and Methods: Different doses of LTA were applied on the epidermal barrier dysfunction mice in order to evaluate the epidermal thickness, DC activation, and subsequent immunological response such as effector T-cell (Teff) activation. In addition, bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) were also treated with LTA, and the immunoregulatory mechanism was investigated. Results: A low dose of LTA did not induce skin inflammation at all; however, a high dose of LTA induced severe skin inflammation on epidermalba rrier dysfunction mice. Those symptoms were correlated with the DC and Teff activation status. The low-dose treatment of LTA showed a suppressive effect in pro-inflammatory cytokine production via a Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2)-dominant manner, and the effect was significant regarding the co-treatment with another stimulatory signal such as TLR4 by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Meanwhile, a high-dose treatment of LTA completely abolished the suppressive effect of a low-dose treatment. This phenomenon was based on C-type lectin receptors (CLRs), because the high dose of LTA greatly enhanced the expression of CLRs in the activated DCs. Conclusions: DCs sensed the dose difference of LTA, and the mechanism contributed to regulating immune responses such as effector T-cell activation, which was directly correlated with inflammatory response. This finding might provide an understanding for the novel immunological effect of LTA and S. aureus pathogenesis under inflammation, as well as the mechanism of symbiosis. Full article

This research work proposes a method for the securing and monitoring of petroleum product distribution records in a decentralized ledger database using blockchain technology. The aim of using this technique is to secure the transaction of distributed ledgers in a database and to protect records from tampering, fraudulent activity, and corruption by the chain participants. The blockchain technology approach offers an efficient security measure and novel advantages, such as in the transaction existence and distribution ledger management between the depot, transporter, and retailing filling station. Others advantages are transparency, immunity to fraud, insusceptibility to tampering, and maintaining record order. The technique adopted for this secure distributed ledger database is crypto hash algorithm-1 (SHA-1)-based public permissioned blockchain and telematics, while this telematics approach is an embedded system integrated into an in-vehicle model for remote tracking of geolocation (using Global Positioning System (GPS)), monitoring, and far-off data acquisition in a real-time. The scope of the data in the secure distributed ledger database (using blockchain) developed are identification (ID) of the tanker operator, Depot name, Source station ID, Destination station ID, Petroleum product volume, Transporter ID, and Geographic automobiles location. This system proved to be efficient, secure, and easy to maintain as it does not permit any individual for records tampering, but supports agreement of ~75% of participants in the chain to make changes. Full article

Most of the studies of Bontok songs in Bontoc, Mountain Province, Philippines have focused on the need to preserve an aspect of the “Ifuntok” (people of Bontoc) society, but the major aim of this paper first proposes an understanding of the Tokwifi’s “Antoway”, Bacwaden’s “Ayyoweng”, and Khensay’s “Chag-ay”, commonly regarded as songs of the Bontoks during wakes and funerals, taking into consideration its intrinsic potential on literary themes and musicality. This paper then organizes the framework of Prototype and Relevance Theory and applies it to the selected songs found in the three collections. It attempts to express how prototype and relevance theory can improve not only a thematic analysis of the selected songs, but also the extra-textual interpretations that can be drawn from them. In doing so, it adds to the contemporary thoughtful understanding of Bontok indigenous tradition, as they are deceptively eliminated of the impression of the past, recontextualized in today’s literature and music curriculum, and associated in contemporary free issues and concerns in the Bontok community. Full article

The General Dental Council expects United Kingdom graduating dentists to be competent at providing crown and bridge treatments and graduating students should feel confident to undertake these treatments. The aim of this study was to explore the confidence of undergraduate dental students when providing crown and fixed dental prosthesis treatments. An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to all (n = 198) undergraduate students in Years 3 to 5 at Bristol Dental School. The questionnaire comprised confidence interval ranked responses, and respondents’ data was analysed using SPSS. The response rate was 76%. Undergraduate perception of confidence increased throughout the three years of study (p < 0.01). There was a strong association between the amount of exposure students had to certain treatment stages and their perceived confidence levels. Confidence levels may be increased further with increased clinical experience. Full article

Small-signal models of DC-DC converters are often based on a state-space averaging approach, from which both control-oriented and other frequency-domain characteristics, such as input or output impedance, can be derived. Updating these models when extending the converter by filters or non-trivial loads, or adding control loops, can become a tedious task, however. To simplify this potentially error-prone process, a modular modeling approach is being proposed in this article. It consists of small state-space models for certain building blocks of a converter system on the one hand, and standardized operations for connecting these subsystem models to an overall converter system model on the other hand. The resulting state-space system model builds upon a two-port converter description and allows the extraction of control-oriented and impedance characteristics at any modeling stage, be it open loop or closed loop, single converter or series connections of converters. The ease of creating more complex models enabled by the proposed approach is also demonstrated with examples comprising multiple control loops or cascaded converters. Full article