The present study demonstrates the effect of direct solar drying (DSD) and hot air drying (HAD) on the quality attributes of Fuji apple slices. DSD samples took a longer time (150–180 min) to dry and simultaneously reached higher equilibrium moisture content at the end of rehydration than HAD samples. DSD samples have higher rehydration ability, dry matter holding capacity, and water absorption capacity than HAD samples. Among several empirical models, the Weibull model is the best fit with higher R² (0.9977), lower root mean square (0.0029), and chi-square error (0.0031) for describing the rehydration kinetics. Rehydrated HAD samples showed better color characteristics than DSD in terms of overall color change, chroma, and hue angle values. Whereas the hardness and chewiness of rehydrated DSD samples were better than HAD samples because of higher dry matter holding capacity in DSD. Apart from color retention, the DSD samples showed better rehydration capacity and a good texture upon rehydration than HAD slices.

This article reports the development of an index of culturality in Chile. Fifteen quantitative variables indicative of local cultural development are used to measure the access to cultural opportunities in each Chilean district. This approach was adopted from the theoretical framework of cultural materialism theorized by Marvin Harris in the seventies. Using this framework, a ranking is developed among 164 districts to determine the degree of cultural development exists in each and the variables that are the influential on the enhancement of this indicator. The results showed that the districts of Rancagua, Providencia, La Reina, El Bosque, and Valparaíso have better cultural opportunities based on their material forms, which are mainly driven by obtaining funds for cultural projects, workers’ salaries, civic activity, and public libraries. Based on the results of this ranking, a baseline is proposed to develop it using new data. In addition, recommendations are provided regarding public policies that have promoted cultural development in the communities with unsuccessful results. The article provides significant information for decision makers in Chile and a quantitative method for exploring cultural materialism in specific territories.

Iran has one of the oldest civilizations in the world, and many elements of today’s urban planning and design have their origins in the country. However, mass country-city migration from the 1960s onwards brought enormous challenges for the country’s main cities in the provision of adequate housing and associated services, resulting in a range of sub-standard housing solutions, particularly in Tehran, the capital city. At the same time, and notably in the past decade, Iran’s main cities have had significant involvement in the smart city movement. The Smart Tehran Program is currently underway, attempting to transition the capital towards a smart city by 2025. This study adopts a qualitative, inductive approach based on secondary sources and interview evidence to explore the current housing problems in Tehran and their relationship with the Smart Tehran Program. It explores how housing has evolved in Tehran and identifies key aspects of the current provision, and then assesses the main components of the Smart Tehran Program and their potential contribution to remedying the housing problems in the city. The article concludes that although housing related issues are at least being raised via the new smart city technology infrastructure, any meaningful change in housing provision is hampered by the over centralized and bureaucratic political system, an out of date planning process, lack of integration of planning and housing initiatives, and the limited scope for real citizen participation.

The H3N2 influenza virus is spiking dramatically, which is a major concern worldwide and in India. The multifunctional hetero-trimer influenza virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) is involved in the generation of viral mRNA and is crucial for viral infectivity, which is directly related to the virus’s ability to survive. The goal of the current work was to use molecular docking to determine how the RdRP protein might be affected by powerful bioactive chemicals found in Calotropis gigantia latex. By applying CB-dock 2 analysis and 2D interactions, an in-silico docking study was conducted using a GC-FID (gas chromatography with flame-ionization detection) based composition profile. Tocospiro A (15%), Amyrin (7%), and Gombasterol A were found by GC-FID to be the main phytocompounds in the latex of Calotropis gigantia. The docking result showed that ligands were effectively bound to RdRP. According to interaction studies, RdRP/ligand complexes create hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, pi-alkyl bonds, alkyl bonds, and pi-Sigma bonds. Therefore, it was suggested that Calotropis gigantia latex may represent a possible herbal remedy to attenuate H3N2 infections based on the above findings of the fragrance profile and docking.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the combined effect of bovine manure, Pseudomonas putida and Trichoderma aureoviride on the development of lettuce (Lactuca sativa). The promotion of plant growth by microorganisms may be a viable and sustainable alternative for lettuce crop management. The experimental design was entirely randomized with five treatments: T0 (witness without fertilization, P. putida and T. aureoviride), TE (cattle manure), TEB (cattle manure + P. putida), TEF (cattle manure + T. aureoviride), TEFB (cattle manure + P. putida + T. aureoviride) and ten repetitions each. The following variables were analyzed: germination velocity index (GVI), first count (FC), germination percentage (GP), leaf area index and productivity. The TEFB treatment proved to be a viable alternative for the production of lettuce, especially for small producers, since all the vegetable production in the region comes from family farming.

A theoretical investigation of the effect of an inverse parabolic potential on third harmonic generation in cylindrical quantum wires is presented. The wave functions are obtained as solutions to Schrödinger equation solved within the effective mass approximation. It turns out that peaks of the third harmonic generation susceptibility (THGS) associated with nanowires of small radii occur at larger photon energies as compared to those associated with quantum wires of larger radii. The inverse parabolic potential red-shifts peaks of the THGS, and suppresses the amplitude of the THGS. THGS associated with higher radial quantum numbers is diminished in magnitude and blue-shifted, as a function of the photon energy. As a function of the inverse parabolic potential, the THGS still characterized by peaks, and the peaks shift to lower values of the potential as the photon energy increases.