Isolation and characterization of mercury and multidrug-resistant Citrobacter freundii strains from tannery effluents in Kolkata, India.

Mercury (Hg) is one of the most potent toxic heavy metals that distresses livestock, humans, and ecological health. Owing to uncontrolled exposure to untreated tannery industrial effluents, metals such as Hg are increasing in nature and are, therefore, becoming a global concern. As a result, understanding the thriving microflora in that severe condition and their characteristics becomes immensely important. During the course of this study, two Hg-resistant bacteria were isolated from tannery wastewater effluents from leather factories in Kolkata, India, which were able to tolerate 2.211 × 10- 3 M (600 µg/ml) Hg. 16 S rDNA analysis revealed strong sequence homology with Citrobacter freundii, were named as BNC22A and BNC22C for this study. In addition they showed high tolerance to nickel (Ni) and Chromium (Cr) at 6.31 × 10- 3 M (1500 µg/ml) and 6.792 × 10- 3 M (2000 µg/ml) respectively. However, both the isolates were sensitive to arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd). Furthermore, their antibiotic sensitivity profiles reveal a concerning trend towards resistance to multiple drugs. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics in healthcare systems and agriculture has been identified as two of the main reasons for the decline in efficacy of antibiotics. Though their ability to produce lipase makes them industrially potent organisms, their competence to resist several antibiotics and metals that are toxic makes this study immensely relevant. In addition, their ability to negate heavy metal toxicity makes them potential candidates for bioremediation. Finally, the green mung bean seed germination test showed a significant favourable effect of BNC22A and BNC22C against Hg-stimulated toxicity.

The Effect of Economic Growth on the Utilisation of Childhood Immunisation: New Evidence From 50 African Countries.

Africa bears the greatest brunt of under-five mortality in the world. Among the major approaches used in tackling under-five deaths is childhood immunisation. While income is regarded as a major determinant of demand for child health inputs including immunisation, the existing studies are microlevel analyses, which do not provide a bigger picture of how an enhancement in economic growth (aggregate income) contributes to the utilisation of childhood immunisation in an economy as a whole. Since Africa has experienced economic growth in the recent decades, this study aims to fill this gap in the literature by examining the contribution of economic growth to the utilisation of childhood immunisation in selected African countries. The study uses a panel design involving data on 50 African countries over the period, 2002 to 2019. Utilisation of DPT (diphtheria, pertussis (or whooping cough) and tetanus) and measles immunisation are used as proxies for childhood immunisation while the system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) regression is used as the estimation technique. We find economic growth to have a positive significant effect on the utilisation of childhood immunisation. Thus, it is imperative to intensify the enablers of economic growth in Africa in order to increase the utilisation of childhood immunisation.

PAM-flexible Engineered FnCas9 variants for robust and ultra-precise genome editing and diagnostics.

The clinical success of CRISPR therapies hinges on the safety and efficacy of Cas proteins. The Cas9 from Francisella novicida (FnCas9) is highly precise, with a negligible affinity for mismatched substrates, but its low cellular targeting efficiency limits therapeutic use. Here, we rationally engineer the protein to develop enhanced FnCas9 (enFnCas9) variants and broaden their accessibility across human genomic sites by ~3.5-fold. The enFnCas9 proteins with single mismatch specificity expanded the target range of FnCas9-based CRISPR diagnostics to detect the pathogenic DNA signatures. They outperform Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9) and its engineered derivatives in on-target editing efficiency, knock-in rates, and off-target specificity. enFnCas9 can be combined with extended gRNAs for robust base editing at sites which are inaccessible to PAM-constrained canonical base editors. Finally, we demonstrate an RPE65 mutation correction in a Leber congenital amaurosis 2 (LCA2) patient-specific iPSC line using enFnCas9 adenine base editor, highlighting its therapeutic utility.

Survey data on socioeconomic demographics of drug-free families living in high-risk drug environments in East Coast States of Peninsular Malaysia.

The dataset represents the socioeconomic demographic of drug-free families living in a high-risk drug environment in East Coast states of Peninsular Malaysia. The purposive sampling technique was used to choose among drug free families living in high drug environment, have children aged between 13 and 17 and none of the family members involved in any substance abuse cases via face-to-face interview questionnaires between 3rd April 2021 and 8th April 2021, gathering a total of 200 responses. The survey assessing socioeconomic demographic information (14 items) and involvement in drug prevention programs (8 items). The survey data was analyzed using descriptive analysis through frequencies and percentages. The data will assist the government, policymakers, and researchers to improve the content and delivery of family-based drug prevention programs and improve family awareness on risk and protective factors towards preventing drug abuse among youths.

Fine-tuning of organic optical double-donor NLO chromophores with DA-supported functional groups.

New strategic chromophores with updated fine-tuning of previously reported BLD1 and BLD3 chromophores were designed. BLD1 and BLD3 have silicon functional groups on the donor unit, and the bridge has a good chance of self-assembling, so in the present study we fine-tuned the isolating groups to the bulky cyclic alkene to improve their dipole moment and organic electro-optic (OEO) properties as well. To demonstrate the impact of cyclic alkenes on the electron-donating groups in sensible NLO chromophore designs, a thorough analysis and comparison of the chromophore synthesis, UV-Vis calculations, solvatochromic behavior of the chromophore, DFT quantum mechanical calculations, thermal stabilities, and much lower dipole moments was conducted.

A comparison of psychiatric inpatient admissions in youth before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The current understanding of the effect of COVID-19 on child and youth admissions to psychiatric inpatient units over time is limited, with conflicting findings and many studies focusing on the initial wave of the pandemic. Objectives: This study identified changes in psychiatric inpatient admissions, and reasons for admission, including suicidality and self-harm, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: This time series study analyzed 3,723 admissions of youth (ages 0-18.88 years) admitted to four major psychiatry inpatient units in a large Canadian city between January 1st, 2016 and December 31st, 2021. Pre-pandemic (before March 11, 2020) and during-pandemic (after March 11, 2020) trends of admissions were explored using a Bayesian structural time series model (BSTS). Results: The model revealed that overall admissions during the pandemic period exceeded what would have been predicted in the absence of a pandemic, a relative increase of 29%. Additionally, a rise in the total number of admissions due to self-harm and suicidality (29% increase), externalizing/behavioral issues (69% increase), and internalizing/emotional issues (28% increase) provided strong evidence of increased admissions compared to what might have been expected from pre-pandemic numbers. Conclusions: There was strong evidence of increases in psychiatric inpatient admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to expected trends based on pre-pandemic data. To ensure accessible and continuous mental health supports and services for youth and their families during future pandemics, these findings highlight the need for rapid expanse of inpatient mental health services, similar to what occurred in many intensive care units across Canada.

Contexte: La compréhension actuelle de l'effet de la COVID-19 sur les enfants et jeunes patients admis aux unités d'hospitalisation psychiatrique avec le temps est limitée, avec des conclusions contradictoires et des études portant sur la vague initiale de la pandémie. Objectifs: La présente étude a identifié les changements dans les admissions de patients hospitalisés en psychiatrie, et les raisons de l'admission, notamment la suicidabilité et l'automutilation, avant et durant la pandémie de la COVID-19. Méthode: Cette étude de séries chronologiques a analysé 3 723 admissions de jeunes (de 0 à 18,88 ans) admis à quatre grandes unités d'hospitalisation en psychiatrie dans une grande ville canadienne entre le 1er janvier 2016 et le 31 décembre 2021. Les tendances des admissions pré-pandémiques (avant le 11 mars 2020) et pendant la pandémie (après le 11 mars 2020) ont été explorées à l'aide d'un Modèle bayésien de séries chronologiques structurelles (BSTS). Résultats: Le modèle a révélé que globalement, les admissions durant la période pandémique excédaient ce qui aurait été prédit en l'absence d'une pandémie, une hausse relative de 29%. En outre, une hausse du nombre total d'admissions attribuables à l'automutilation et à la suicidabilité (hausse de 29%), à des problèmes de comportement/d'externalisation (hausse de 69%), et à des problèmes d'internalisation/émotionnels (hausse de 28%) a fourni des preuves solides des admissions accrues comparé à ce qu'on aurait pu attendre des chiffres pré-pandémiques. Conclusions: Il y avait des preuves solides des augmentations des admissions de patients hospitalisés en psychiatrie durant la pandémie de la COVID19 comparé aux tendances prévues selon les données pré-pandémiques. Afin d'assurer des soutiens et des services de santé mentale accessibles et continus pour les jeunes et leur famille durant les futures pandémies, ces résultats soulignent la nécessité d'une expansion rapide des services de santé mentale pour patients hospitalisés, pareillement à ce qui s'est produit dans de nombreuses unités de soins intensifs du Canada.

Identifying and ranking of CMIP6-global climate models for projected changes in temperature over Indian subcontinent.

Selecting the best region-specific climate models is a precursor information for quantifying the climate change impact studies on hydraulic/hydrological projects and extreme heat events. A crucial step in lowering GCMs simulation-related uncertainty is identifying skilled GCMs based on their ranking. This research performed a critical assessment of 30 general circulation models (GCMs) from CMIP6 (IPCC's sixth assessment report) for maximum and minimum temperature over Indian subcontinent. The daily temperature data from 1965 to 2014 were considered to quantify maximum and minimum temperatures using a gridded spatial resolution of 1°. The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), correlation coefficient (CC), Perkins skill score (PSS), normalized root mean square error (NRMSE), and absolute normalized mean bias error (ANMBE) were employed as performance indicators for two different scenarios, S1 and S2. The entropy approach was used to allocate weights to each performance indicator for relative ranking. Individual ranking at each grid was achieved using a multicriteria decision-making technique, VIKOR. The combined ranking was accomplished by integrating group decision-making, average ranking perspective, and cumulative percentage coverage of India. The outcome reveals that for S1 and S2, NRMSE and NSE are the most significant indicators, respectively whereas CC is the least significant indicator in both cases. This study identifies ensemble of KIOST-ESM, MRI-ESM2-0, MIROC6, NESM3, and CanESM5 for maximum temperature and E3SM-1-0, NESM3, CanESM5, GFDL-CM4, INM-CM5-0, and CMCC-ESM2 for minimum temperature.

Management of Hypertension in the Asia-Pacific Region: A Structured Review.

This article reviews available evidence regarding hypertension management in the Asia-Pacific region, focussing on five research questions that deal with specific aspects: blood pressure (BP) control, guideline recommendations, role of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors in clinical practice, pharmacological management and real-world adherence to guideline recommendations. A PubMed search identified 2537 articles, of which 94 were considered relevant. Compared with Europeans, Asians have higher systolic/diastolic/mean arterial BP, with a stronger association between BP and stroke. Calcium channel blockers are the most-commonly prescribed monotherapy in Asia, with significant variability between countries in the rates of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEis)/angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) and single-pill combination (SPC) use. In clinical practice, ARBs are used more commonly than ACEis, despite the absence of recommendation from guidelines and clinical evidence supporting the use of one class of drug over the other. Ideally, antihypertensive treatment should be tailored to the individual patient, but currently there are limited data on the characteristics of hypertension in Asia-Pacific individuals. Large outcome studies assessing RAAS inhibitor efficacy and safety in multi-national Asian populations are lacking. Among treated patients, BP control rates were ~ 35 to 40%; BP control in Asia-Pacific is suboptimal, and disproportionately so compared with Western nations. Strategies to improve the management of hypertension include wider access/availability of affordable treatments, particularly SPCs (which improve adherence), effective public health screening programs targeting patients to drive health-seeking behaviours, an increase in physician/patient awareness and early implementation of lifestyle changes. A unified Asia-Pacific guideline on hypertension management with pragmatic recommendations, particularly in resource-limited settings, is essential.

The investigation of diesel soot emission using instrument combination of multi-wavelength photoacoustic spectroscopy and scanning mobility particle sizer.

The parallel measurements of wavelength dependent optical absorption, particle number size distribution have made by a multi wavelength photoacoustic spectrometer (4λ-PAS) and scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) respectively at different modes of a diesel engine using two different types of fuel. The thermal evolution of the emission was also investigated using posterior temperature treatment of emission. The bimodal size distribution of emitted particles at a set reference temperature has been observed regardless of the applied fuel at idle. However, the emitted particulate assembly had lognormal size distribution falls into the accumulation mode at all other defined engine modes and both fuel types. The total number- and volume concentration (TNC and TVC) showed retrograde tendency with the increasing torque and rpm independently of the applied fuel types. The TNC values decreased up to 50% for both fuels with engine operation changes from idle engine mode(em#1) to low engine mode(em#2). With further increase in torque and rpm of engine, the change in TNC is negligible. On the other hand, the TVC remains more or less the same for idle to low engine mode transition and increased more than 60% for high mode (em#3) transition. The Optical Absorption Coefficient (OAC) values measured at the operational wavelengths of the 4λ-PAS instrument decreased at all wavelengths with increasing rpm and torque. The wavelength dependency quantified by Aerosol Ängström Exponent (AAE) was applied here for qualitative analysis of the carbonaceous emission and showed decreased values towards the higher engine speed and torque output of the engine. The proposed technique can be used as real-time, precise and accurate measurement of light absorption by DPM aerosols, which opens up novel possibilities for the volatility and thermal evolution investigation of diesel emissions.

Tetrahydrobenzothiophene derivatives ameliorate Mia PaCa-2 cell progression and induces apoptosis via inhibiting EGFR2 tyrosine kinase signal.

A series of new thiophene analogues with acarbonitrile-basedmoiety were designed and synthesized via structural optimization. The conjugates were assessed for their in-vitro cytotoxic activity against a human pancreatic cancer cell line (Mia PaCa-2) and among them compound 5b showed IC50 value of 13.37 ± 2.37 µM. The compounds 5b (20 µM & 25 µM) and 7c (30 & 35 µM) also showed reduced clonogenicity, enhanced ROS and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential in Mia PaCa-2 cells. Treatment with these compounds also increased apoptotic population as evident with the double staining assay. Among the evaluated series, compounds 5b, 5g, 7c, and 9a attained a greater inhibitory potency than first generation's reversible EGFR inhibitor, Gefitinib. EGFR2 enzyme inhibitory studies revealed that 5b efficiently and arbitrarily suppressed the development of EGFR2 dependent cells and inhibited the enzymatic activity with an IC50 value of 0.68 µM; interestingly, the most effective molecule 5b with N-methyl piperazine substitution, has 1.29-fold greater potency than well-known EGFR inhibitor Gefitinib and increased Gefitinib's anti-growth impact with 2.04 folds greater against Mia PaCa-2. The in-vitro studies were validated with in-silico docking studies wherein compounds 5b and 7c exhibited binding energies of -8.2 and -7.4 Kcal/mol respectively. The present study reveals that tetrahydrobenzothiophene based analogues could be a promising lead for the evolution of potent chemo preventives over pancreatic cancer.

Z-scan model for Laguerre-Gaussian excitation in mode-mismatched thermal lens spectrometry.

In this work, we have introduced a Z-scan thermal lens (TL) model based on Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) L G10 laser induced excitation in a mode-mismatched dual-beam configuration. The analytical expression of the TL signal and its dependence on sample to detector distance as well as the Z-scan have been derived. The theoretical analysis shows that the phase shift and TL signal are higher than the values obtained using an excitation with the T E M 00 Gaussian profile. The experimental demonstration of the theoretical approach has been performed using the L G10 and T E M 00 Gaussian beams, respectively. Experimental proofs of the model are presented and found to be in agreement, demonstrating that Laguerre-Gaussian induced excitation is more sensitive than the Gaussian one.

Pre-treatment inflammatory and immune system parameters predicting cervical cancer metastasis.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between mannose-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2 as an immune system parameter and neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as an inflammatory parameter to predict cervical cancer metastasis. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 70 patients diagnosed with cervical cancer between January 2022 and February 2023 at Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital, Hasanuddin University Hospital, and Ibnu Sina Hospital, Makassar, Indonesia. Blood samples taken before therapy as well as clinical and histological data were gathered and examined. MASP-2 levels and NLR were measured by ELISA and flow cytometry respectively. Results: The median age of the patients was 46 years (range, 24-72 years), with the majority of patients aged between 41 and 52 years. Statistical analysis showed that MASP-2 was associated with cervical cancer stage (p≤0.000), organ metastasis (p=0.011), and lymphovascular invasion (p=0.036). In addition, NLR was associated with cervical cancer stage (p=0.004), histopathology type (p=0.031), tumor size (p=0.019), and organ metastasis (p=0.013). Conclusion: Pretreatment with MASP-2 as an immune system parameter and NLR as an inflammatory parameter is associated with cervical cancer metastasis. The NLR indicator can be applied in clinical practice because it is simple and reasonably priced.

Real-Time Robotic Presentation Skill Scoring Using Multi-Model Analysis and Fuzzy Delphi-Analytic Hierarchy Process.

Existing methods for scoring student presentations predominantly rely on computer-based implementations and do not incorporate a robotic multi-classification model. This limitation can result in potential misclassification issues as these approaches lack active feature learning capabilities due to fixed camera positions. Moreover, these scoring methods often solely focus on facial expressions and neglect other crucial factors, such as eye contact, hand gestures and body movements, thereby leading to potential biases or inaccuracies in scoring. To address these limitations, this study introduces Robotics-based Presentation Skill Scoring (RPSS), which employs a multi-model analysis. RPSS captures and analyses four key presentation parameters in real time, namely facial expressions, eye contact, hand gestures and body movements, and applies the fuzzy Delphi method for criteria selection and the analytic hierarchy process for weighting, thereby enabling decision makers or managers to assign varying weights to each criterion based on its relative importance. RPSS identifies five academic facial expressions and evaluates eye contact to achieve a comprehensive assessment and enhance its scoring accuracy. Specific sub-models are employed for each presentation parameter, namely EfficientNet for facial emotions, DeepEC for eye contact and an integrated Kalman and heuristic approach for hand and body movements. The scores are determined based on predefined rules. RPSS is implemented on a robot, and the results highlight its practical applicability. Each sub-model is rigorously evaluated offline and compared against benchmarks for selection. Real-world evaluations are also conducted by incorporating a novel active learning approach to improve performance by leveraging the robot's mobility. In a comparative evaluation with human tutors, RPSS achieves a remarkable average agreement of 99%, showcasing its effectiveness in assessing students' presentation skills.

Community physician perceptions of managing complex child and adolescent psychiatric patients: a self-determination theory perspective.

Children and adolescents with complex mental health needs often require a level of care that is unsustainable in tertiary settings. Yet, the psychological impact of this on community physicians, who are tasked with providing quality care to this population, is not well understood. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the present study explores how the challenges of caring for these patients is affecting community physicians' basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) and intrinsic motivation. Participants from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, were invited to complete an anonymous online survey containing questions about managing complex child and adolescent psychiatric patients. We used SDT's needs-based framework and 22-item Intrinsic Motivation Inventory as a component of our pilot study, to explore and understand their ideas. Community physicians reported moderate-high interest/enjoyment and moderate perceived competence in managing complex child and adolescent patients, but little perceived choice and high tension/pressure in carrying out this task. Physician remarks provided meaningful insights into how these clinical experiences are impacting them, psychologically, and where opportunities may exist for interventions to support them and their patients. Findings from this study suggest that the participating community physicians feel interested and adequately skilled to manage complex child and adolescent psychiatric patients, but that systemic barriers are hindering their basic psychological needs and intrinsic motivation to do so. Potential explanations and implications for these findings are discussed.

Les enfants et les adolescents dont les besoins de santé mentale sont complexes nécessitent souvent un niveau de soins insoutenable dans les milieux tertiaires. Et pourtant, l'impact psychologique de ce fait sur les médecins communautaires, qui sont chargés de procurer des soins de qualité à cette population, n'est pas bien compris. Ancrée dans la théorie de l'autodétermination (TAD), la présente étude explore comment les difficultés de soigner ces patients affectent les besoins psychologiques de base des médecins communautaires (autonomie, compétence, et interaction) et la motivation intrinsèque. Les participants de Calgary, Alberta, Canada, ont été invités à remplir un sondage anonyme en ligne contenant des questions sur la prise en charge de patients complexes enfants et adolescents. Nous avons utilisé un cadre TAD basé sur les besoins et 22 items d'inventaire de motivation intrinsèque comme élément de notre étude pilote, afin d'explorer et de comprendre leurs idées. Les médecins communautaires déclaraient un intérêt-plaisir modéré-élevé et une compétence perçue modérée dans la prise en charge des patients enfants et adolescents complexes, mais peu percevaient un choix et une pression/tension élevée en s'acquittant de cette tâche. Les remarques des médecins ont fourni des idées intéressantes sur la manière dont ces expériences cliniques influaient sur eux, psychologiquement, et où il pouvait se trouver des interventions pour soutenir eux et leurs patients. Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent que les médecins communautaires participants se sentent intéressés et adéquatement compétents pour prendre en charge des enfants et adolescents patients psychiatriques complexes, mais que des barrières systémiques entravent leurs besoins psychologiques et leur motivation intrinsèque de ce faire. Des explications et implications potentielles de ces résultats sont discutées.

Seroprevalence and haemato-biochemical effects of bovine leucosis in buffalo, Punjab, Pakistan.

Enzootic bovine leucosis is caused by bovine leukaemia virus (BLV), a Deltaretrovirus belonging to the family Retroviridae. BLV causes huge economic losses to the dairy industry in the form of decreased milk production, premature culling, and poor reproductive performance of the animals. The aim of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of BLV infection in buffalo in two districts of Punjab, Pakistan. A total of 384 samples were collected and analysed using a commercial indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to investigate the seroprevalence of BLV through the detection of the anti-BLV gp51 antibody. A predesigned data questionnaire proforma was employed to find out the association of risk factors with disease. Overall, 18.2% of buffaloes were seropositive for BLV in the study population. The results revealed a significant association (P < 0.05) of age with BLV infection. Furthermore, milk yield and pregnancy had a significant association with the seroprevalence of BLV infection in buffalo whereas no significant association was found with sex, breeding, and health status. Biochemical and oxidative stress markers revealed a significant decrease in liver enzymes alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in seropositive animals as compared to healthy animals. It is concluded that BLV has a considerable prevalence in buffalo in Punjab, Pakistan and there is a dire need to investigate the disease epidemiology at both national and international levels and strategies should be developed to implement an effective control program.

COVID-19 and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities: Examining the Impact of the First 2 Years of the Pandemic on the Demand for Pediatric Inpatient Care.

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained the resources of the world's healthcare systems. Most individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) experience significant mental health issues and face substantial barriers in accessing appropriate supports which have been exacerbated during the pandemic. It is unknown the extent to which COVID-19 impacted the demand for and effectiveness of inpatient care for those with NDDs. The impact of COVID-19 on the number of admissions of youth with NDDs to pediatric inpatient psychiatry units, as well as their functioning and length of stay during the first two years of the pandemic was analyzed using Bayesian structural time series models. Admission data of youth with NDDs from four pediatric inpatient units in Alberta, Canada (n = 2144) was examined. Inpatient admissions of youth with NDDs significantly increased following the onset of the pandemic. Compared to the period prior to the pandemic, patients with NDDs had significantly worse overall functioning and received fewer days of treatment. These findings highlight the need for increased resources to support the mental health needs of this vulnerable population and are consistent with other studies in the general population examining the utilization of inpatient psychiatric units during the pandemic.

Semantic visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) using deep learning for dynamic scenes.

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is a fundamental problem in robotics and computer vision. It involves the task of a robot or an autonomous system navigating an unknown environment, simultaneously creating a map of the surroundings, and accurately estimating its position within that map. While significant progress has been made in SLAM over the years, challenges still need to be addressed. One prominent issue is robustness and accuracy in dynamic environments, which can cause uncertainties and errors in the estimation process. Traditional methods using temporal information to differentiate static and dynamic objects have limitations in accuracy and applicability. Nowadays, many research trends have leaned towards utilizing deep learning-based methods which leverage the capabilities to handle dynamic objects, semantic segmentation, and motion estimation, aiming to improve accuracy and adaptability in complex scenes. This article proposed an approach to enhance monocular visual odometry's robustness and precision in dynamic environments. An enhanced algorithm using the semantic segmentation algorithm DeeplabV3+ is used to identify dynamic objects in the image and then apply the motion consistency check to remove feature points belonging to dynamic objects. The remaining static feature points are then used for feature matching and pose estimation based on ORB-SLAM2 using the Technical University of Munich (TUM) dataset. Experimental results show that our method outperforms traditional visual odometry methods in accuracy and robustness, especially in dynamic environments. By eliminating the influence of moving objects, our method improves the accuracy and robustness of visual odometry in dynamic environments. Compared to the traditional ORB-SLAM2, the results show that the system significantly reduces the absolute trajectory error and the relative pose error in dynamic scenes. Our approach has significantly improved the accuracy and robustness of the SLAM system's pose estimation.

Role of sustainable development goals in advancing the circular economy: A state-of-the-art review on past, present and future directions.

The purpose of this study is to review the relationship between the highly anticipated concept of circular economy (CE) and sustainable development goals (SDGs). These two sustainability principles have transformed organizations and countries in their quest to achieve sustainable development. Despite their importance to the business and corporate realm, the discussion of these two concepts has been developed in silos, arbitrarily connected. Through a bibliometric approach, this study reviewed 226 journal publications and 16,008 cited references from the Web of Science (WoS) to understand the past, present and future trends of the two concepts and their impact on the sustainability development. The bibliometric approach of citation, co-citation and co-word analysis uncovers the relevant and significant themes and research streams. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed within the broader business and governance perspective to develop a substantial triple bottom line in creating a sustainable future for civil society.

Mergers and acquisitions: does performance depend on managerial ability?

Companies in difficult financial situations may seek to survive through mergers and acquisitions. Managers must be able to use company resources efficiently to maintain and improve competitiveness and sustainable advantages. Managers' ability to make strategic decisions may determine whether a merger and acquisition is successful. This study aims to reveal the role of the acquirer's managerial ability in mergers and acquisitions based on short- and long-term performance as well as the type of M&A. Two metrics are used to assess short- and long-term performance: the market-to-book ratio (MTBR) as an indicator of operating performance and the buy-and-hold abnormal return (BHAR) as an indicator of stock return performance. The research sample consists of 153 M&A cases conducted by companies registered with the Business Competition Supervisory Commission in Indonesia between 2010 and 2017, and the performance till 2020. We used regression and difference analysis to analyze the data. We find that managerial ability has a positive impact on MTBR operating and BHAR stock performance. This result confirms that the higher ability of the acquirer's manager will ensure a successful M&A in the long run. Investors and potential investors might consider managerial ability in choosing investments in companies after an M&A. This study contributes to the M&A literature by examining the role of MA in the short- and long-term performance of acquiring firms following M&As in Indonesia.