Assessment of perceptions among Dental faculty members towards online teaching in Dental institutions in Sangli city: A Webbased survey

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the educational system all over the world. As a result, the educational institutions have to solely rely on online method of delivering education in the form of e-lectures, e-presentations and webinars. Elearning has been defined as "an educational method that facilitates learning by the application of information technology and communication providing an opportunity for learners to have access to all the required education programmes."1 The term e-learning has been interchangeably used with the terms web-based learning, online learning or education, computer-assisted or -aided instruction, computer-based instruction, internet based learning, multimedia learning, technology-enhanced learning and virtual learning.2,3 All the institutions are striving to best deliver the content online to engage students effectively and to conduct timely assessments for them. It has led to accelerated development of online learning environment so that learning would not be hindered. Online Learning Management Systems (LMS) are web-based software for distributing, tracking, and managing courses over the Internet. These systems offer an effective solution to deliver the learning content effectively and establish a two-way communication between the faculty and students.

Teacher Evaluation in Primary and Secondary Schools: A Systematic Review of SSCI Journal Publications from 2012 to 2022

This study revealed the current situation and developments in teacher evaluation in primary and secondary schools by reviewing 54 articles published in the recent decade (i.e., from January 2012 to October 2022). The coding scheme was developed based on the three components of effective teacher evaluation systems: "what”, "how”, and "who”. Specifically, we investigated the frameworks used for teacher evaluation, methods of evaluation, and participants in teacher evaluation. Based on our results, most studies evaluated teachers from the dimension of Instructional Support. Evaluation through video recording became popular due to technological advancement. Further, an increasing number of schools invited external experts to conduct teacher evaluations to ensure fairness. We also identified several crucial factors for teacher development: effective use of teaching resources and technology, high-quality feedback and communication, emotional support, classroom organization, and professional responsibilities. Due to COVID-19, many schools adopted distance learning, prompting the need to develop technological skills for teachers. Through the in-depth analysis of the current situation and development trends in the various dimensions of teacher evaluation in primary and secondary education, future research directions and issues were discussed and explored in this review.

Guest editorial: Performance measurement in supply chains during disruptions: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

[...]it becomes essential to understand the PM aspects in the face of emergency situations such as COVID-19. Since the seminal article by Benita Beamon proposing new performance measures for evaluating supply chain performance, the literature has evolved. [...]the guest editors would also like to thank the authors for their contributions and for choosing our special issue as a relevant platform to communicate their research works. The insights drawn from this SI will provide them with effective guidance to help them design, implement and improve performance measurement systems capable of effectively measuring different supply chain processes and issues during unexpected and disruptive events.Table 1 Articles published in this special issue Article Title Purpose 1 Airline catering supply chain performance during pandemic disruption: a Bayesian network modelling approach This study aims to consider the impact of implementing Bayesian network (BN) modelling to measure SC performance in the airline catering during the pandemic context 2 The role of Industry 4.0 technologies on performance measurement systems of supply chains during global pandemics: an interval-valued intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy approach This study aims to investigate supply chain performance measurement systems (SCPMSs) that are suitable and applicable to evaluate SC performance during unexpected events such as global pandemics. [...]it considers the contribution of Industry 4.0 Disruptive Technologies (IDTs) to implement SCPMSs during such black swan events 3 A systematic literature review on supply chain resilience in SMEs: learnings from COVID-19 pandemic This paper presents the state-of-art literature on supply chain resilience in SMEs in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and provides a comprehensive view of insights gained and gaps identified and suggests potential areas of future research 4 A proposed circular-SCOR model for supply chain performance measurement in the manufacturing industry during COVID-19 This study aims to determine which supply chain performance criteria come to the fore for the company under consideration to accelerate the transformation into high performance and circularity in supply chains, considering that the ability to analyse supply chain performances and ensure circularity in supply chains has become one of the factors whose importance has increased rapidly with COVID-19 5 How do food supply chain performance measures contribute to sustainable corporate performance during disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic emergency?

Evaluation of Optimal Mechanical Ventilation Strategies for Schools for Reducing Risks of Airborne Viral Infection

Ventilation systems are one of the most effective strategies to reduce the risk of viral infection transmission in buildings. However, insufficient ventilation rates in crowded spaces, such as schools, would lead to high risks of infection transmission. On the other hand, excessive ventilation rates might significantly increase cooling energy consumption. Therefore, energy-efficient control methods, such as Demand Control Ventilation systems (DCV), are typically considered to maintain acceptable indoor air quality. However, it is unclear if the DCV-based controls can supply adequate ventilation rates to minimize the probability of infection (POI) in indoor spaces. This paper investigates the benefits of optimized ventilation strategies, including conventional mechanical systems (MV) and DCV, in reducing the POI and cooling energy consumption through a detailed sensitivity analysis. The study also evaluates the impact of the ventilation rate, social distancing, and number of infectors on the performance of the ventilation systems. A coupling approach of a calibrated energy model of a school building in Jeddah, KSA, with a validated Wells–Riley model is implemented. Based on the findings of this study, proper adjustment of the DCV set point is necessary to supply adequate ventilation rates and reduce POI levels. Moreover, optimal values of 2 ACH for ventilation rate and 2 m for social distance are recommended to deliver acceptable POI levels, cooling energy use, and indoor CO2 concentration for the school building. Finally, this study confirms that increasing the ventilation rate is more effective than increasing social distancing in reducing the POI levels. However, this POI reduction is achieved at the cost of a higher increase in the cooling energy.

Problems of Regulation and Prospective Development of E-commerce Systems in the Post-coronavirus Era

The article examines the application of e-commerce systems and technologies that have a positive impact on the development of the economy of the post-coronavirus period and the formation of appropriate technical and technological infrastructure for it, as well as promising features and directions of e-commerce. The physical and virtual opportunities created by e-commerce technologies for buyers and sellers are explained. The advantages of e-commerce in the international economic space have been identified. The functions of e-business models in accordance with the commercial stages of enterprises are explained. It was noted that the development of ICT has accelerated the process of transition from traditional commerce to e-commerce, led to the emergence of new global trends in e-commerce. These innovations have raised the issue of the application of modern ICT in the development of e-commerce on the platform of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution. Taking into account these factors, the presented article discusses the application of modern technologies in e-commerce systems, such as 3D modeling, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data. Features of application and regulation mechanisms of E-commerce systems in real economic sectors, which have a direct stimulating effect on economic growth in Azerbaijan, have been studied. Recommendations were given for the modernization and use of e-commerce systems with the application of the latest ICT technologies.The purpose of the research. The main goal of the scientific research carried out in the article was to develop the scientific-methodological basis for the regulation of the application of e-commerce systems and the study of perspective development problems in the so-called post-coronavirus period after 2020. In the article, attention was paid to the problems of regulation of the application of e-commerce systems and the development of recommendations on increasing the efficiency of prospective development directions.Taking into account the characteristics of the relevant electronic business models, applying them in accordance with the commercial stages of the enterprises' activities and obtaining effective results were among the main goals. Attempts have been made to implement e-commerce systems based on the developing technologies of the Industry 4.0 platform. An attempt was made to solve the issue of using modern ICT in the development of trade processes, which corresponds to the 4.0 Industrial revolution platform. The main stages of application of modern technologies such as 3D modeling, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and Big Data in electronic commerce systems are described.The following are included among the goals of the conducted scientific research: investigation of the application features and regulation mechanisms of e-commerce systems that have a stimulating effect on the economic development of Azerbaijan in real economic sectors, development of recommendations on increasing the efficiency of electronic commerce systems using modern ICT technologies, etc.Research methods used. In the post-coronavirus period, the following research methods were used in the study of the problems of regulation of the application of e-commerce systems and prospective development directions and in the development of their scientific and methodological bases: a systematic analysis, correlation, and regression analysis, mathematical and econometric modeling methods, expert evaluation method, measurement theory, algorithmization, ICT tools, and technologies, etc.Achievements of the author. Achievements of the author. In the so-called post-coronavirus period after 2020, a special approach was taken to the application of e-commerce systems and technologies, which have a positive impact on the development of the economy as an innovative element, and to the study of its prospective development features and directions. By providing scientific support to ensure the effective formation of the digital economy and its sustainability, the researcher offered relev nt recommendations to achieve the solution to some of the goals set before the country. It should be noted that the development of e-commerce systems based on technologies relevant to the Industry 4.0 platform can give a serious impetus to the development of the sustainability of the digital economy.Due to the fact that e-commerce technologies create new additional physical and virtual opportunities for buyers and sellers, the scientific-methodological approaches proposed by the author develop them as a special tool for ensuring the stability of both e-commerce systems and the digital economy in general. The proposals presented will lead to more effective results for the economy to be more cyber resilient through the application of e-commerce systems in the so-called post-coronavirus era. The researcher showed that the effective application of electronic business models in the activities of enterprises can help to achieve effective results. In the development of e-commerce, solutions to the issues of application of 4.0 Industrial technologies such as 3D modeling, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and Big Data can be considered as a contribution to the investigation of solutions to existing problems in economic development. For this reason, the means and mechanisms proposed by the author for solving the problems of regulation of the application of e-commerce systems in the post-coronavirus era can be considered one of the main ways to ensure the stability and development of the digital economy.

RBD-Modified Polyaniline-Based Label-Free Immunosensor for Sensitive Impedimetric Detection of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies

The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the associated pandemic has affected the entire human population. Human susceptibility to the virus has highlighted a tremendous need for affordable diagnostic systems to manage the pandemic and monitor the effectiveness of vaccination. We have developed a simple and label-free electrochemical immunosensor for the detection of human anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies, which consists of a supporting screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) modified with an electrodeposited polyaniline film and glutaraldehyde, allowing effective immobilization of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein receptor-binding domain (RBD) as a biorecognition element. The impedimetric immunosensor showed a linear response over a wide concentration range of 0.01–10 μg mL−1, that is, 67 pM–6.7 nM, with a low detection limit of 25.9 pM. A dual working electrode configuration with a built-in negative control unit was demonstrated for practical field applications. The immunosensor was successfully used in a real serum sample from an infected patient and showed good reproducibility and fair agreement with ELISA. An optional amplification step with secondary goat anti-human IgG antibodies was demonstrated, resulting in an extended linear range and a detection limit as low as 0.93 pM.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Trending Mobile Teaching and Learning Research from the Social Sciences

With the development of computer and information technology, mobile teaching has enjoyed pride of place among teaching mediums in the past two decades. To visually explore the mobile learning hotspots and trends present in international journals, this study adopted two science mapping tools (CiteSpace and VOSviewer) to first detect and then visualise emerging trends (i.e., hotspots) in the mobile learning literature. A total of 528 mobile learning articles published between 2003 and 2021 that appeared in 21 international educational technology journals indexed in the SSCI database were retrieved for bibliometric analysis. The results show (1) there was a remarkable increase in academic output in this field starting in 2008 that topped out in 2021;(2) co-authorship with academics from diverse countries/regions and institutions was evident;(3) three trending foci in the literature include defining mobile learning, designing learning systems, and exploring mobile learning effectiveness;and (4) the high-frequency co-cited publications focus on the effectiveness of mobile devices via different research methods. This study provides scholars with an accessible summary of the current trends in mobile learning, identifies the active researchers in this field, and reports on which outlets are most relevant for research produced on this topic. In addition, the findings have direct implications for the education and private sectors. Mobile devices are not widely adopted in classroom settings and are often considered a learning tool more suited for out-of-class assignments or practice. Therefore, it is necessary for information technology educators to invest in actively initiating the integration of mobile technology into the classroom. Those in the technology industry should aim to develop mobile devices and relevant educational applications/software that can be utilised not only within the confines of the classroom but also to bridge in-class and out-of-class learning.

A Framework for Resilient City Governance in Response to Sudden Weather Disasters: A Perspective Based on Accident Causation Theories

With climate change, urban resilience is becoming a critical concept for helping cities withstand disasters and accidents. However, current research often focuses on concept identification, leaving a gap between concept and implementation. This study aims to investigate the lack of urban resilience in the face of sudden weather disasters, with a focus on the inadequate capacity of urban systems to effectively govern such events. The Zhengzhou subway flooding accident on 20 July 2021, serves as a case study for this research, and the accident causation theories, such as the Swiss cheese model, Surry's accident model, and trajectory intersection theory are used to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the accident's causes. Through this analysis, the paper identifies vulnerabilities in the natural, technical, and man-made systems of the urban system, and reveals deficiencies in four aspects of urban resilience: natural, technological, institutional, and organizational. Based on this analysis, the study proposes a resilient city governance framework that integrates the "Natural-Technical-Man-made” systems, offers relevant recommendations for urban resilience governance, and discusses potential challenges to urban resilience implementation.

Real-time face mask position recognition system using YOLO models for preventing COVID-19 disease spread in public places

The COVID-19 pandemic has infected tens of millions of individuals around the world, and it is currently posing a worldwide health calamity. Wearing a face mask in public places is one of the most effective protection strategies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Moreover, their effectiveness has declined due to incorrect use of the face mask. In this scenario, effective recognition systems are anticipated to ensure that people's faces are covered with masks in public locations. Many people do not correctly wear the masks due to inadequate practices, undesirable behaviour, or individual vulnerabilities. As a result, there has been an increase in demand for automatic real-time face mask detection and mask position detection to substitute manual reminders. This proposed work classifies people into three categories such as with mask, without mask and mask with incorrect position. The dataset is tested using three different variants of object detection models, namely YOLOv4, Tiny YOLOv4, and YOLOv5. The experimental result shows that YOLOv5 model outperforms with the highest mAP value of 99.40% compared to the other two models.

Q&A: Africa's new order for achieving health security

Known as the new public health order for Africa, the roadmap, which was created by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), could make the continent emerge successfully from the bitter pain of the COVID-19 pandemic, and respond adequately to continuing and future health threats. The new public health order is guided by principles of local ownership and leadership, equity, sustainable investment in health systems, innovation and self-reliance to position the continent to effectively address its health security challenges. Disease outbreaks have health, social and economic consequences. [...]if we can strengthen public health institutions to be better prepared to respond to disease outbreaks, more lives could be saved when the next pandemic comes.

Investigating the Factors That Impact E-Learning Systems in Oil and Gas Industry

The use of digital media such as audio and video as a teaching media helps to achieve teaching goals better than following traditional teaching. It improves the engagement with the lecture and helps to deliver the education by lower cost and shorter time. Many companies use electronic Learning (e-learning) as an effective way to improve the knowledge, skills, and performance of their employees. For that, it became essential to investigate the factors that affect the usage of these systems. Many researches have performed on the factors affecting e-learning systems in different sectors, but studies into e-learning systems for Oil and Gas industry is limited. In this study, the Oil and Gas sector is targeted since we have found the use of distance training and learning is projected to increase in this industry especially with current unprecedented circumstances and the lockdown that are associated with Coronavirus 2019 Disease (COVID-19). Human factors that influence e-learning systems for Oil and Gas companies are targeted and investigated. An investigation had conducted in order to gain insights into human factors. Questionnaires were collected from 76 employees from the field. The findings show that learner’s education, system interface, computer literacy, organization support, and teaching methods were identified as factors affecting e-learning systems. This research will play an essential role in helping oil and gas companies to develop and improve the use of their e-learning systems. © 2022 American Institute of Physics Inc.. All rights reserved.

Shoring Up the Frontline of Prevention: Strengthening Curricula With Community and Public Health Nursing

Hailed by some as a paradigm shift in nursing education and practice, this emphasis is not new for public health nurse educators. Since 1965, community and public health nursing content has been part of the required baccalaureate nursing curriculum.11 However, advancing the quality and augmenting the impact of community and public health nursing education, practice, and research is critical for improved local to global health outcomes. [...]we assert the need for the clinical core of the nursing curriculum to include opportunities for intervention at all levels of practice: preparing nurses to design and deliver care at the level of the individual, family, community, systems, and populations.12 To implement this directional change, essential knowledge and skills in systems awareness, change management, cost containment, resource allocation, communication, team building, equity, and inclusion are required for competent, evidence-based practice, as is the development of competencies in informatics, data science, design, and systems thinking. Additionally, effective advocacy requires consideration of the social needs of individuals, which are inextricably connected to structural determinants at the community, society, and policy level. [...]to affect the health of populations, nurses are called upon to make this broader, more integral connection between policies, systems, and environmental impact. Many community and public health nurses work in small, local public health departments unaffiliated with large academic institutions or hospitals and have limited access to evidence-based resources or financial support for professional development. Since 2017, the Nursing Experts Translating the Evidence project, an interprofessional collaborative effort between nurses and librarians, has been educating public health nurses on the acquisition, translation, and application of evidence to inform their practice.19 Through active community-academic-practice partnerships, community and public health nursing educators and governmental and nongovernmental public health agencies can build capacity for community and public health nursing practice for the future, as we continue to apply evidence-based, data-driven problem solving through the pandemic and beyond.

Mobilizing Support for the Future of Advanced Public Health Nursing Education

As a public health nurse educator, I was deeply disappointed when our advanced public health nursing (APHN) master's program shuttered in the late 2010s. I therefore found Harris et al.'s description (p. S231) of the evolution oftheir APHN program and health policy specialty at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) to be an inspiring example that should compel nursing education leaders nationwide to consider how they can garner support for APHN education in their own institutions and communities. As evidence mounts regarding the influence of social determinants of health and our world continues to endure a time of upheaval that has magnified inequities on multiple fronts (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, racial injustice, violent geopolitical conflicts), our moral obligation to prepare a workforce that can effectively address structural drivers of health is stronger than ever. If nursing is to reach its potential in influencing health equity, we must teach nurses how systems outside the human bodywork (e.g., political systems) as well as how systems within the human body work (e.g., the cardiovascular system). We cannot do this without nursing faculty who have advanced preparation in public and population health nursing.1,2Although analyzing the future of APHN education is not their primary purpose, Harris et al. briefly recommend expandingthe number of APHN and policy programs nationwide. Their recommendation-which I wholeheartedly support-compels me to reflect on and amplify what others have said regardingthe state of APHN education, including our struggle within nursing to recognize the value of the APHN specialty.2,3 If nurses are to effectively step up as the systems-level practitioners that this pivotal point in history demands, we must begin by advocating for support for APHN education and the value of the specialty from both within and outside the profession.

Exploring Environmental and Geographical Factors Influencing the Spread of Infectious Diseases with Interactive Maps

Environmental problems due to human activities such as deforestation, urbanisation, and large scale intensive farming are some of the major factors behind the rapid spread of many infectious diseases. This in turn poses significant challenges not only in as regards providing adequate healthcare, but also in supporting healthcare workers, medical researchers, policy makers, and others involved in managing infectious diseases. These challenges include surveillance, tracking of infections, communication of public health knowledge and promotion of behavioural change. Behind these challenges lies a complex set of factors which include not only biomedical and population health determinants but also environmental, climatic, geographic, and socioeconomic variables. While there is broad agreement that these factors are best understood when considered in conjunction, aggregating and presenting diverse information sources requires effective information systems, software tools, and data visualisation. In this article, we argue that interactive maps, which couple geographical information systems and advanced information visualisation techniques, provide a suitable unifying framework for coordinating these tasks. Therefore, we examine how interactive maps can support spatial epidemiological visualisation and modelling involving distributed and dynamic data sources and incorporating temporal aspects of disease spread. Combining spatial and temporal aspects can be crucial in such applications. We discuss these issues in the context of support for disease surveillance in remote regions, utilising tools that facilitate distributed data collection and enable multidisciplinary collaboration, while also providing support for simulation and data analysis. We show that interactive maps deployed on a combination of mobile devices and large screens can provide effective means for collection, sharing, and analysis of health data.

A Model of Motivational and Technological Factors Influencing Massive Open Online Courses’ Continuous Intention to Use

Massive open online courses have been regarded as effective technological innovations that improve educational systems in the era of digitalisation. However, only 10% of the registered students complete their courses. This study aims to examine the motivational and technological factors and contextual features on students’ continuous intention to use. A questionnaire was gathered from 315 of students in the UAE and revealed that social motivational and technological factors driven by the technology acceptance model and technology task fit theory significantly influenced the students’ continuance intention to use. This study also revealed that contextual features including language use and course accreditation are important indicators determining students’ behaviours toward the use. Hence, this study proposed an integrative model to explain ways to improve continuance intention to use. This study contributes to the sustainable use of massive open online courses in developing countries through an integrative model.

COVID-19 Cross Contamination through Energy Recovery Ventilation Devices

Airborne diseases are a current concern. Infections can spread through the air even when a disease may not be characterized as "airborne" in medical terms. Some installed HVAC systems can spread infectious agents to those who are not currently infected. Cross contamination through leakage in energy recovery ventilation (ERV) devices can provide a pathway for infection. Energy recovery devices are currently required in many new buildings codes and standards. They are often installed in retrofit projects in older buildings in order to save energy. The risk from cross-contamination can be estimated using the Wells-Riley infection model. Energy recovery ventilation device applications can be designed, specified, and installed to effectively eliminate the risk of cross contamination in new systems using current technology so this is an avoidable risk.. A framework for evaluating currently installed ERV systems is providedfor facilities managers and HVAC systems operators to identify and minimize cross contamination infection risk.

Editorial: “Digital innovation to tackle business opportunities in the digital age”

Contents of issue 3 Issue 3 of this year presents a collection of nine papers addressing important topics like national innovation systems, mobile banking, biometric point-of-sale terminal for payments to the role of information technologies in manufacturing and health care. The aim of this paper has supported the objectives to identify the role of mobile banking practices in enhancing sustainable growth and development of Palestine SMEs;determining the factors that influence the SMEs as a service and products providers’ intention to adopt mobile banking;and proposing a conceptual model for adoption mobile banking development by SMEs sectors in Palestine. The paper titled “A decision support system to solve the problem of healthcare priority-setting” (Micaela Pinho and Ana Moura) offers “a decision support tool to deal with the problem of setting priorities among patients competing for limited health-care resources. [...]the authors can name Australia, Qatar and Russia as countries with effective but inefficient innovation systems”.

Application of Silver Nanoparticles as a New Alternative Antiviral Agent for SARS-CoV-2: A Review

Background: Today, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), a viral disease caused by the novel coronavirus (a tiny crowned virus), has become one of the threats for human beings all over the world and caused the death of millions of people worldwide. Many vaccines have been developed and administered to people in several countries;however, due to their propensity to create new strains, it appears that curing all corona strains will be challenging. So, it is necessary to identify the structure of the virus, mechanism of action, and its antiviral activities against drugs and other functional materials. Methods: AgNPs have unique physicochemical and antimicrobial properties. This review describes the structure and nature of the virus and the mechanism of action of an antiviral drug such as silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with the virus. In addition, different methods for synthesis of AgNPs, application of AgNPs as an antiviral agent against influenza virus, human immuno deficiency virus (HIV), herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), hepatitis B virus (HBV), polio virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), are discussed. Also, the most probable applications and properties of AgNPs that can help prepare it as an antiviral agent are discussed. Results: The use of AgNPs against various viruses, including the coronavirus family, is found to be effective;therefore, it can be considered for the development of antiviral agents, disinfectants, antiviral coated mask, and their therapeutic use against the treatment of novel coronavirus with minimum side effect and great efficiency. Conclusion: AgNPs were successfully used for the treatment of various viral diseases of the coronavirus family such as H1N1, H3N2, influenza, even for SARS and MERS coronaviruses. AgNPs coated masks, disinfectants, fabrics, wipes, and inhalation systems are effective for the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Since sanitizers have a temporary effect, the development of some other potential alternatives having low toxicity, ease of use, long lasting efficiency, health cautiousness, minimum side effect, sustainable fabrics is required.

A Review on Current Designation of Metallic Nanocomposite Hydrogel in Biomedical Applications

In the past few decades, nanotechnology has been receiving significant attention globally and is being continuously developed in various innovations for diverse applications, such as tissue engineering, biotechnology, biomedicine, textile, and food technology. Nanotechnological materials reportedly lack cell-interactive properties and are easily degraded into unfavourable products due to the presence of synthetic polymers in their structures. This is a major drawback of nanomaterials and is a cause of concern in the biomedicine field. Meanwhile, particulate systems, such as metallic nanoparticles (NPs), have captured the interest of the medical field due to their potential to inhibit the growth of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and viruses). Lately, researchers have shown a great interest in hydrogels in the biomedicine field due to their ability to retain and release drugs as well as to offer a moist environment. Hence, the development and innovation of hydrogel-incorporated metallic NPs from natural sources has become one of the alternative pathways for elevating the efficiency of therapeutic systems to make them highly effective and with fewer undesirable side effects. The objective of this review article is to provide insights into the latest fabricated metallic nanocomposite hydrogels and their current applications in the biomedicine field using nanotechnology and to discuss the limitations of this technology for future exploration. This article gives an overview of recent metallic nanocomposite hydrogels fabricated from bioresources, and it reviews their antimicrobial activities in facilitating the demands for their application in biomedicine. The work underlines the fabrication of various metallic nanocomposite hydrogels through the utilization of natural sources in the production of biomedical innovations, including wound healing treatment, drug delivery, scaffolds, etc. The potential of these nanocomposites in relation to their mechanical strength, antimicrobial activities, cytotoxicity, and optical properties has brought this technology into a new dimension in the biomedicine field. Finally, the limitations of metallic nanocomposite hydrogels in terms of their methods of synthesis, properties, and outlook for biomedical applications are further discussed.

A Comprehensive Comparison of the Performance of Metaheuristic Algorithms in Neural Network Training for Nonlinear System Identification

Many problems in daily life exhibit nonlinear behavior. Therefore, it is important to solve nonlinear problems. These problems are complex and difficult due to their nonlinear nature. It is seen in the literature that different artificial intelligence techniques are used to solve these problems. One of the most important of these techniques is artificial neural networks. Obtaining successful results with an artificial neural network depends on its training process. In other words, it should be trained with a good training algorithm. Especially, metaheuristic algorithms are frequently used in artificial neural network training due to their advantages. In this study, for the first time, the performance of sixteen metaheuristic algorithms in artificial neural network training for the identification of nonlinear systems is analyzed. It is aimed to determine the most effective metaheuristic neural network training algorithms. The metaheuristic algorithms are examined in terms of solution quality and convergence speed. In the applications, six nonlinear systems are used. The mean-squared error (MSE) is utilized as the error metric. The best mean training error values obtained for six nonlinear systems were 3.5×10−4, 4.7×10−4, 5.6×10−5, 4.8×10−4, 5.2×10−4, and 2.4×10−3, respectively. In addition, the best mean test error values found for all systems were successful. When the results were examined, it was observed that biogeography-based optimization, moth–flame optimization, the artificial bee colony algorithm, teaching–learning-based optimization, and the multi-verse optimizer were generally more effective than other metaheuristic algorithms in the identification of nonlinear systems.