Markers have become essential in school and work life due to their great usefulness for teaching and homework. Despite the benefits they have brought, markers are the cause of great contamination from the ink manufacturing process to the excessive production of plastic. Ecological inks in markers and the innovative design of a refillable marker, allow to generate less pollution without having to stop using this product. From dyes created with coffee, fruits and vegetables that pass through different processes, natural inks arise that replace the use of polluting dyes. Likewise, implementing recycling plans in different institutions, markers that were no longer used were collected to be filled with ecological inks and used again. In addition, the excessive production of plastic is reduced by selling and refilling markers and ink kits.

Swimming pools are one of the transmission routes of superficial and cutaneous fungal infections. Maintenance of environmental hygiene in different parts of swimming pools is of great importance, especially the hygiene of water (1). The conventional fungal detection methods include direct smear preparation, culture, and pathological examinations. However, these methods are not fast enough or do not have sufficient sensitivity (2). Therefore, the present research introduces a novel method for detecting Aspergillus niger in pool water through creating optimal conditions for this fungus, which leads to the citric acid production by the fungus and pH changes of the related culture medium. Four experiments in 10 steps were performed to find the optimal conditions for fungal growth. According to our results, adding each of the variables sucrose, soy, and ferrous sulfate can lead to favorable results. Moreover, the shaker speed increase and fungal aeration are important. Also, we showed that soybean led to the best results compared to other variables. Considering the obtained results, including the shortened detection duration and cost-effectiveness, this method can be presented to the swimming pool owners and pathobiology laboratories as the method of choice for Aspergillus niger detection.

Nowadays, cooling open spaces in hot seasons without using fossil fuels has gained a lot of attention. In this regard, natural air conditioning is a great method for conserving energy that can be used for reducing energy consumption and environmental pollution. Structures like windcatchers are used for natural air conditioning as a building component in warm climates since they are placed in the path of the wind and direct the wind to play a significant role in reducing the temperature. The main objective of the current study is to explore air conditioning in open spaces based on sustainable architecture. The current study reviews the relevant literature from credible journals, and it includes studies with relevant subjects published from 1851 to 2021. The findings show that implementing this design project can result in significant advances in terms of reducing humidity, removing dust and insects from the air, conserving energy, reducing the global temperature, using renewable energies, and producing conditioned air for the area

In Singapore’s evolving cyber landscape, 96% of organisations have suffered at least one cyber attack and 95% of organisations have been reporting more sophisticated attacks in the frame of one year according to a 2019 report[1] by Carbon Black. As such, more tools must be utilised to counter increasingly refined attacks performed by malicious actors. Honeypots are effective tools for studying and mitigating these attacks. They work as decoy systems, typically deployed alongside real systems to capture and log the activities of the attacker. These systems are useful as they can actively detect potential attacks, help cybersecurity specialists study an attacker’s tactics and even misdirect attackers from their intended targets. Honeypots can be classified into two main categories: 1. Low-interaction honeypots merely emulate network services and internet protocols, allowing for limited interaction with the attacker. 2. High-interaction honeypots emulate operating systems, allowing for much more interaction with the attacker. Although honeypots are powerful tools, its value diminishes when its true identity is uncovered by attackers. This is especially so with attackers becoming more skilled through system fingerprinting or analysing network traffic from targets and hence, hindering honeypots from capturing more experienced attackers. While substantial research has been done to defend against system fingerprinting scans (see 1.1 Related Work), not much has been done to defend against network traffic analysis. As pointed out by Symantec[2][3], when attackers attempt to sniff network traffic of the system in question, the lack of network traffic raises a red flag, increasing the likelihood of the honeypot’s true identity being discovered. In addition, the main concern with regards to honeypot deployment being their ability to attract and engage attackers for a substantial period of time, an increased ability to interest malicious actors is invaluable. Producing human-like network activity on a honeypot would appeal to more malicious actors. Hence, this research aims to build an intelligent web-surfer which can learn and thus simulate human web-surfing behaviour, creating evidence of human network activities to disguise the identity of honeypots as production systems and luring in more attackers interested in packet sniffing for malicious purposes.

Food sustainability is key to human survival. Robotic solutions have started playing large roles in automating farming tasks in order to assist with crop yield and the efficiency of production. Due to the unreliability of and lack of manual labour in many parts of the world, Agribots are playing bigger roles. One of the biggest advantages of Agribots is that they can operate 24/7, 365 days a year without payment. Agribots are being used more often in dairy farms to milk cows while others are used to shear sheep. Agribots are fast becoming very important to farmers by gathering valuable data; milking cows; automating animal feed; measuring the right amount of pest control, detecting weeds and pests, harvesting and ploughing with unmanned tractors. In many parts of the world farm labour is scarce and difficult to come by. In 南非 for example farm labourers endure gruesome attacks. These attacks on farmers result in the closure of the farm for an extended period of time resulting in the loss of large quantities of crops. Food sustainability is dire in Africa and many parts of the world. “Each day, 25,000 people, including more than 10,000 children, die from hunger and related causes. Some 854 million people worldwide are estimated to be undernourished, and high food prices may drive another 100 million into poverty and hunger. . 90 percent of the world’s farms produce over 80 percent of the world’s food. They also manage about 75 percent of farmland worldwide. Yet, paradoxically, these farmers are often poor and food insecure themselves. Due to the increase in the world’s population annually, there is a growing demand for food. This has led to increasing pressure on farmers to produce crops. In order to meet this demand, farming innovations are vital for the future of food and agriculture. Constant innovations in agriculture is thus needed to constantly feed a growing and increasing population. Innovation in agriculture is also critical to help farmers use resources in better and more efficient ways. “Innovation is one of our best tools for creating a #ZeroHunger world.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly emerged infectious disease caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). In less than one year, the virus has spread around the entire world, killing millions of people and disrupting travel and business worldwide. During infection, the virus uses its Spike protein to dock onto the Ace2 protein on the surface of its human host cell. Spike is 1273 amino acids long and only a short fragment of Spike (319-541) is sufficient to bind Ace2. We hypothesized that the remaining protein sequences of Spike might have functions for viral replication beyond the binding of Ace2. We have performed Split-Ubiquitin protein-protein interaction screens to isolate human proteins by their ability to bind to Spike, and we have identified Annexin2A2 and Cytochrome b as novel human protein interaction partners of Spike. Annexin2A2 is involved in both endocytosis and exocytosis, and the protein interaction with Spike might help the virus to enter and exit its host cell. The presence of the mitochondrial Cytochrome b protein inside the cytosol promotes apoptosis, and the protein interaction with Spike could speed up sapoptosis of the infected human cell. The Nub cDNA libraries that we have generated also allowed us to screen for synthetic peptides that interact with Spike. We have isolated two synthetic peptides, FL1a and FL7a, derived from the non-coding parts of human mRNAs by their ability to interact with Spike. We found that both FL1a and FL7a interact with the C-terminal half of the Spike protein. We also found that FL7a is able to block the Spike-Spike self-interaction at the C-terminal half of the Spike protein and we think that this could block the reassembly of the Spike protein in the host cell during viral reassembly. We hope that those synthetic peptides could be used as drugs due to their ability to block protein-protein interactions of Spike with human host proteins that are essential for viral replication.

Nowadays, all blind people are able to read any type of text thanks to The Braille system, which is a system of reading by touch. The Braille system provides a good and important help to blind people but it’s not enough. They try to integrate into society, try to read and write the same as those blessed with sight. However, only 18% of people can actually write in Braille and doing so takes a lot of effort. While Braille techniques have existed for many years now, there isn’t one that takes advantage of the comfort and easiness of modern technology. To be fair and give more chances to the blind people, and with all the available technologies nowadays, we must find solutions and innovative ideas to fulfill this objective. And this is how our project was born. To be honest, it’s not just a project, for us it’s a dream. Our focus in this project is creating an automatic machine based on transforming our language to their language and transforming this new invention to assist the blind in writing whole texts through speaking. It will be easier than the traditional way. This part of the project will help us print Braille on paper automatically in the cheapest, fastest and easiest way, unlike the traditional method that not only takes a lot of time but also needs a professional. Our printer will only cost approximately 250$ compared to regular printers that cost 6500$! the principles of the code of the speech recognition are voice pickup in all languages as first step, second speech recognition, then speech translation, after that speech analysis and finally translation into Braille and printing it. As for the future, we will work on face, object and image recognition as a scanner to make the visually impaired people read the name of the object and recognize people’s faces like anyone else.

The growth of the internet is propelling an ever-increasing need for faster communication. Modern telecommunication data is mainly carried through fibre-optic cables, with pulses of light representing bits of data; the main factor limiting data transfer speed is the rate at which the optical receiver at the opposite end of the cable can detect light pulses. Graphene-silicon Schottky photodiodes are a promising alternative to traditionally-used germanium photodiodes, promising higher detection frequency and better contrast between light and dark. To make it less susceptible to erroneous measurements due to graphene having a low band gap, hydrogen functionalisation was used to increase the barrier potential of the Schottky diode so that a higher voltage would be required to allow current to pass through in forward voltage bias and trigger the sensor. This study seeks to determine the optimal conditions — of physical proximity, duration of exposure, and plasma power — for hydrogen functionalisation using radio frequency plasma. Graphene was synthesised using low pressure chemical vapour deposition, then transferred onto P-type silicon to create a photodiode. The graphene-silicon photodiode was then doped with hydrogen plasma to introduce defects in the graphene layer to increase the barrier potential of the photodiode. To assess the effectiveness of hydrogen functionalisation, photocurrent measurements were conducted while light was shone onto the photodiode in pulses of increasing frequency to find the magnitude and spontaneity of the response. Light was shone in pulses of 100ms, and was successfully detected by the photodiode. The pulse spacings were gradually decreased and it was found that the diode was able to detect pulse spacings as low as 1µs, significantly better than germanium photodetectors. The sample demonstrated clear optoelectronic response and was sensitive to changes in frequency. Results show that the intensity of the optoelectronic response in graphene-silicon diodes is inversely related to its physical proximity to the plasma source during hydrogen functionalization; and directly related to the power of the plasma and to the duration of exposure up to a point, after which it will deteriorate. Thus, it can be concluded that graphene-silicon Schottky diodes offer much promise in electronic communication.

This work is devoted to solving the problem of orientation in the space of visually impaired people. Working on the project, a new way of transmitting visual information through an acoustic channel was invented. In addition, was developed the device, which uses distance sensors to analyze the situation around a user. Thanks to the invented algorithm of transformation of the information about the position of the obstacle into the sound of a certain tone and intensity, this device allows the user to transmit subject-spatial information in real time. Currently, the device should use a facette locator made of 36 ultrasonic locators grouped in 12 sectors by the azimuth and 3 spatial cones by the angle. Data obtained in such a way is converted into its own note according to the following pattern : the angle of the place corresponds to octave, the azimuth corresponds to the note and the distance corresponds to the volume. The choice of the notes is not unambiguous. However, we used them for the reason that over the centuries, notes have had a felicitous way of layout on the frequency range and on the logarithmic scale. Therefore, the appearance of a new note in the total signal will not be muffled by a combination of other notes. Consequently, a blind person, moving around the room with the help of the tone and volume of the sound signals, will be able to assess the presence and location of all dangerous obstacles. After theoretical substantiation of the hypothesis and analysis of the available information, we started the production of prototypes of the devices that would implement the idea of transmitting information via the acoustic channel.

Commercially available bandages such as hydrocolloid are neither biodegradable nor anti-bacterial. Chitin is known to be the second most naturally available polysaccharide which could be transformed to chitosan which is known to be anti-bacterial (Hasan, 2018) (Chao, 2019) and haemostatic (Okamoto, 2003) (Hu, 2018). Chitosan can be further converted to hydrogel which is bio-degradable and has good water absorbance. Anti-bacterial crab bio-bandages and crab bio-dressings should be bio-degradable as it took 42 days and a month for complete bio-degradation respectively, so they should be better than commercial bandages such as Nexcare Hydrocolloid as the disposal of anti-bacterial crab bio-bandages with bio-dressings would no longer pose burden to landfilling or threat to our environment. Anti-bacterial crab bio-bandages with bio-dressings are anti-bacterial with degree of deacetylation of DD% (measured using FTIR Spectrum II) 82.6% (due to the presence of chitosan) even without the application of other anti-bacterial agents and hence can provide complete protection of wounds from skin and soft tissues infections and haemostatic (due to the presence of chitosan). After testing and certification based on IS997:2004 and BS EN 13726-1, they should meet many requirements specified. Anti-bacterial crab bio-bandages should be eligible for marketing. Some results were as follows: 1.4 Anti-bacterial effect of crab hydrogels and roasted crab hydrogels Pure chitosan, crab chitosan, crab hydrogels and roasted crab hydrogels showed significant anti-bacterial effect. NO oral bacterial colonies were present in drinking water with crab hydrogels. Thus crab hydrogels could serve as effective anti-bacterial wound dressings. 1.6 Basing on IS997:2004 standard, the load per unit of area of anti-bacterial bio-bandages was 342g/m2 which met the minimum requirement of 36g/m2, the anti-bacterial bio-bandages had stronger tension strength (>20N both in dry and wet conditions) than commercial hydrocolloid. (2.7N dry 2.8N wet) which was comparable with that required (50-67N) and pH of about 7 which met the pH range of 4.5-8. 1.7 The FSA Free-Swell Absorbency of synthetic blood of crab hydrogel bio-dressings was 1.86g per 5cm x 5cm dressing which was much higher than that of commercial hydrocolloid (0.299g per 5cm x 5cm dressing) based on BS EN 13726-1.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly emerged infectious disease caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). In less than one year, the virus has spread around the entire world, killing millions of people and disrupting travel and business worldwide. During infection, the virus uses its Spike protein to dock onto the Ace2 protein on the surface of its human host cell. Spike is 1273 amino acids long and only a short fragment of Spike (319-541) is sufficient to bind Ace2. We hypothesized that the remaining protein sequences of Spike might have functions for viral replication beyond the binding of Ace2. We have performed Split-Ubiquitin protein-protein interaction screens to isolate human proteins by their ability to bind to Spike, and we have identified Annexin2A2 and Cytochrome b as novel human protein interaction partners of Spike. Annexin2A2 is involved in both endocytosis and exocytosis, and the protein interaction with Spike might help the virus to enter and exit its host cell. The presence of the mitochondrial Cytochrome b protein inside the cytosol promotes apoptosis, and the protein interaction with Spike could speed up sapoptosis of the infected human cell. The Nub cDNA libraries that we have generated also allowed us to screen for synthetic peptides that interact with Spike. We have isolated two synthetic peptides, FL1a and FL7a, derived from the non-coding parts of human mRNAs by their ability to interact with Spike. We found that both FL1a and FL7a interact with the C-terminal half of the Spike protein. We also found that FL7a is able to block the Spike-Spike self-interaction at the C-terminal half of the Spike protein and we think that this could block the reassembly of the Spike protein in the host cell during viral reassembly. We hope that those synthetic peptides could be used as drugs due to their ability to block protein-protein interactions of Spike with human host proteins that are essential for viral replication.

The project is devoted to the study of the Seymour’s Second Neighborhood conjecture by determining the properties of possible counterexamples to it. This problem has remained unsolved for more than 30 years, although there is some progress in its solution. The vector of the research is aimed at the analysis of possible counterexamples to the conjecture with the subsequent finding of some of their characteristic values. In addition, attention is focused on the generalized Seymour’s conjecture for vertex-weighted graphs. Combinatorial research methods and graph theory methods were used in the project. The author determines the values ​​of densities and diameters of possible counterexamples, considers separately directed graphs of diameter 3. The conditions under which specific graphs cannot be counterexamples to the Seymour’s conjecture with the minimum number or vertices are defined. The relationship between the Seymour’s conjecture and vertex-weighted Seymour’s conjecture is explained. It is proved that if there exists at least one counterexample, then there exist counterexamples with an arbitrary diameter not less than 3. Under the same condition, the existence of counterexamples with a density both close to 0 and close to 1 is also proved. The equivalence of the above two conjectures is substantiated in detail. It can be concluded that if the Seymour’s Second Neighborhood Conjecture is true for a directed graph of diameter 3, then it is true for any digraph, so that problem will be solved. Moreover, if the conjecture is true, then vertex-weighted version of this conjecture is true too. That is why a digraph of diameter 3 needs further research.