Background: Since the previous study dealing with the case fatality ratio and infection fatality ratio caused by COVID-19, the author has received many comments that prompted the question: "Why did an optimistic prognosis fail?" To answer this question, a more detailed and expanded analysis was carried out in a new study. Objective: To evaluate the dynamics of monthly numbers of cases, deaths, tests and CFR worldwide during three phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: Twenty three sets of databases, dated the 22nd of each month from January 2020 to November 2021, for 213 countries were collected from the Worldometer website. The number of cases, deaths, tests, CFR, IFR, etc. were counted for various periods of time for each of the 213 countries, then results related to different periods of time were compared. Results: The analysis of the main epidemiological parameters led to the division of three phases of the global pandemic evolution. The first phase (23.01.20-22.07.20), the second phase (23.07.20-22.01.21) and the third phase (23.01.21-22.07.21) were different in terms of the number of tests performed, new cases, and mortality due to COVID-19. By the end of the second phase, the worldwide statistics indicated the imminent end of the pandemic, but the third phase was characterized by a sudden rise in the number of new cases and deaths that could not be explained rationally. The most dramatic evolution of the epidemic curve occurred in the countries where doctors had successfully battled COVID-19 during the first two phases of the pandemic. Conclusions: Despite the decrease in overall death numbers during the latest months analyzed, additional study is necessary to identify the cause for the increase in the number of new cases and deaths during the third phase of the pandemic. Only complete information regarding the positive and negative impact of medical and non-medical methods of diagnostics and prophylaxis of COVID-19 can help to organize effective measures to end the current pandemic and prevent a similar one from occurring in the future. Presumably, there are several causes of the negative evolution of the current pandemic, including the overreliance on PCR tests, application of non-specialized premises for quarantine and treatment, decrease in herd and individual immunity, inadequate change of therapeutic protocols, and ignoring prophylactic treatment. It can be suggested that the use of immunemodulatory drugs, for example, thymus extract or thymic peptides, in groups of people with compromised immunity is necessary, and prophylactic and therapeutic protocols should be changed from the 'standard' types to 'personalized' ones.

The highest efficiency solar cell won in the efficiency race does not always give the most excellent annual energy yield in the real world solar condition that the spectrum is ever-changing. The study of the radiative coupling of the concentrator solar cells implied that the efficiency could increase by the recycle of the radiative recombination generated by the surplus current in upper junction. Such configuration is called by a super-multi-junction cell. We expanded the model in the concentrator solar cell to non-concentrating installation. It was shown that this super-multi-junction cell configuration was found robust and can keep the maximum potential efficiency (50 % in realistic spectrum fluctuation) up to 10 junctions. The super-multi-junction cell is also robust in the bandgap engineering of each junction. Therefore, the future multi-junction may not be needed to tune the bandgap for matching the standard solar spectrum, as well as relying upon artificial technologies like ELO (Epitaxial lift-off), wafer-bonding, mechanical-stacking, and reverse-growth, but merely uses up-right and lattice-matching growth technologies. We have two challenging techniques; one is the optical cap layer that may be the directional photon coupling layer in the application of the photonics technologies, and another is the high-quality epitaxial growth with almost 100 % of the radiative efficiency.

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of capital structure on firms’ profitability with special emphasis on Ethiopian Large Private Manufacturing Firms using panel data of five consecutive years (2006/07-2010/11G.C). The secondary data sources (audited financial statements) have been collected from the randomly selected thirty three large private manufacturing firms in Ethiopia. Linear regression model has been employed to analyze the relationship between firms’ profitability and capital structure. Specifically, Random-effect Generalized Least Square of panel data regression model has been selected to empirically test the literature driven hypotheses. Finally, the findings of this study revealed that a significant positive relationship between firms’ profitability and total debt ratio which indicate firm’s capital structure.

GaN ultraviolet photodetector with metal-semiconductor-metal structure is achieved by growing on a periodic trapezoid column-shape patterned sapphire substrate using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Under 5-V reverse bias, the photodetector fabricated on such patterned sapphire substrate exhibits a lower dark current, a higher photocurrent, and a 476 % enhancement in the maximum responsivity as compare with those of the photodetector fabricated on conventional flat sapphire substrate. It is also found that the much larger UV-to-visible rejection ratio and the fact that responsivity drops in a smaller cut-off region are observed from photodetector fabricated by using a periodic trapezoid column-shape patterned sapphire substrate. These phenomena may all be attributed to the reduction of threading dislocation density and the improved quality of GaN film, as well as the internal reflection and/or scattering effect on the interface between GaN film and the periodic trapezoid column-shape pattern of the substrate.

In the paper, the author presents explicit and unified expressions for a sequence of improper integrals in terms of the beta functions and the Wallis ratios. Hereafter, the author derives integral representations for the Catalan numbers originating from combinatorics.

Identifying the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been a unique challenge for the scientific community. In this paper, we discuss a practical solution to help guide clinicians with interpretation of the probability that a positive, or negative, COVID-19 test result indicates an infected person, based on their clinical estimate of pre-test probability of infection.The authors conducted a small survey on LinkedIn to confirm that hypothesis that that the clinical pre-test probability of COVID-19 increases relative to local prevalence of disease plus patient age, known contact, and severity of symptoms. We examined results of PPA (Positive Percent Agreement, sensitivity) and NPA (Negative Percent Agreement, specificity) from 73 individual laboratory experiments for molecular tests for SARS-CoV-2 as reported to the FIND database ¹, and for selected methods in FDA EUA submissions^2,3. Authors calculated likelihood ratios to convert pre-test to post-test probability of disease and designed an online calculator to create graphics and text to report results. Despite best efforts, false positive and false negative Covid-19 test results are unavoidable^4,5. A positive or negative test result from one laboratory has a different probability for the presence of disease than the same result from another laboratory. Likelihood ratios and confidence intervals can convert the physician or other healthcare professional’s clinical estimate of pre-test probability to post-test probability of disease. Ranges of probabilities differ depending on proven method PPA and NPA in each laboratory. We recommend that laboratories verify PPA and NPA and utilize a the “Clinician’s Probability Calculator” to verify acceptable test performance and create reports to help guide clinicians with estimation of post-test probability of COVID-19.

Background: The COVID-19 transmission has been established to occur through respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing. Health agencies have strongly recommended the use of facemask as a precaution from cross-transmission. Objective: This study investigated the prevalence of facemask use among visitors to the hospital. This study also investigated the demographic factors contributing to unacceptable facemask practice. Setting: This prospective observational study was done among hospital visitors to a district specialist hospital during COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Methods: Individuals entering through dedicated entry point were observed for the type, category and practice of wearing personal protective equipment. Inclusion criteria for this study were any individual's ≥ 2 years old entering the treatment facility from selected entry points. Patients were categorized into two groups of acceptable and unacceptable facemask practice. The Pearson chi-square was used to test for differences in investigated variables in the univariate setting and Binary Logistic regression model was used in the multivariate setting. Main Outcome Measure: Prevalence, acceptance practice and odds ratio of unacceptance of facemask use. Results: Among 1652 individuals included in the final analysis, 1574 (96.9%) was observed wearing facemask with 1269 (72.0%) of individuals worn medical-grade facemask. However, among them, only 1397 (88.8%) individuals' facemask practice was acceptable while the reaming 177 (11.2) individuals were perceived with unacceptable facemask practice. Male individuals, Malay ethnic and high risk age group are 1.47 times (Odds Ratio: OR=1.47; 95% CI, 1.06-2.06; p=.023), 2.18 times (OR=2.18; 95% CI, 1.55-3.08; p<.001) and 1.99 times (OR=2.18; 95% CI, 1.42 - 2.77; p<.001) more likely to exhibit unacceptable facemask practice respectively. Conclusion: Extensive use of facemasks coupled with environmental hygiene measures is a public health strategy which can help to mitigate the COVID-19 epidemic impact. However, a targeted comprehensive strategy to improve compliance to proper facemask practice among the high-risk population is needed to achieve maximal protective benefit.

This paper presents an overview of the smart electro-clothing systems (SeCSs) targeted at health monitoring, sports benefits, fitness tracking, and social activities. Technical features of the available SeCSs, covering both textile and electronic components, are thoroughly discussed and their applications in the industry and research purposes have been highlighted. In addition, it also presents the developments in the associated areas of wearable sensor systems and textile-based dry sensors. As it became evident during the literature research, such a review on SeCSs covering all relevant issues has not been presented before. This paper will be particularly helpful for new generation researchers investigating the design, development, function and comforts of the sensor integrated clothing materials.

In eastern part of Ethiopia groundnut is very commonly intercropped with sorghum. Even though intercropping of sorghum with groundnut is practiced in the eastern part of Ethiopia the population density at what ratio should not be known. Therefore determining the population ratio is found to be crucial to draw management options. The study was conducted at two locations at Fadis (on station) and Babile (sub- station). Sorghum variety (Teshale) and groundnut (Fetene) were used as planting materials. All agronomic data were collected and analyzed by using GenStat software. Significant different were obtained among the treatments. The research result showed that, there were significance difference for both sorghum and ground nut yield per hectare in the years (2014 and 2015) among treatments. The result over time(in 2014 and 2015) at Fadis and Erer showed that the highest sorghum and groundnut yield per hectare were obtained/harvested from the intra row spacing of 25cmx20cm and 30cmx20cm intercropping sorghum with ground nut system with (1.27 and 1.31) respectively. The highest LER (1.31) and highest GMV (10218.00 ETBr/ha) were obtained from the intercropping of 30cmx20cm (Sorghum & groundnut). Clearly showed that, with intercropping of sorghum and Groundnut, it is possible to produce additional yield of sorghum without significant reduction in groundnut yield. As a result of this, the intra spacing of the main crop (sorghum) 25cm and 30cm and for the subsidiary crop (groundnut) 20cm was recommended for further production in the study areas of eastern Harerghe zone and similar agro-ecologies.

The ratio of males to females with ASD is generally quoted as 4:1 though it is believed that there are biases preventing females being diagnosed and that the true ratio is lower. These biases have not been clearly identified or quantified. Starting with a clinical dataset of 1711 children <18 years old four different methods were employed in an inductive study to identify and quantify the biases and calculate the proportion of females missed. A mathematical model was constructed to compare the findings with current published data. The true male to female ratio appears to be 3:4. Eighty per cent of females remain undiagnosed at age 18 which has serious consequences for the mental health of young women.

Some studies have demonstrated that in vivo degradation processes are influenced by the material’s physico-chemical properties. The present study compares two hydroxyapatites manufactured on an industrial scale, deproteinized at low and high temperatures, and how physico-chemical properties can influence the mineral degradation process of material performance in bone biopsies retrieved 6 months after maxillary sinus augmentation. Residual biomaterial particles were examined by field scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) to determine the composition and degree of degradation of the bone graft substitute material. According to the EDX analysis, the Ca/P ratio significantly lowered in the residual biomaterial (1.08±0.32) compared to the initial composition (2.22±0.08) for the low-temperature sintered group, which also presented high porosity, low crystallinity, low density, a large surface area, and poor stability and a high resorption rate compared to the high-temperature sintered material. This demonstrates that variations in the physico-chemical properties of bone substitute material clearly influence the degradation process. Further studies are needed to determine whether the resorption of deproteinized bone particles proceeds slowly enough to allow sufficient time for bone maturation to occur.

In recent experimental studies, we reported the aggravating effects of Asian sand dust (ASD) on male reproductive function in mice. However, the effects of fetal ASD exposure on male reproductive function have not been investigated. The present study investigated the effects of fetal ASD exposure on reproductive function in male offspring. Using pregnant CD-1 mice, ASD was administered intratracheally on days 7 and 14 of gestation, and the reproductive function of male offspring was determined at 5, 10, and 15 weeks after birth. The secondary sex ratio was significantly lower in the fetal ASD-exposed mice than in the controls. Histologic examination showed partial vacuolation of seminiferous tubules in immature mice. Moreover, daily sperm production (DSP) was significantly less in the fetal ASD-exposed mice than in the controls. DSP in the fetal ASD-exposed mice was approximately 10% less than the controls at both 5 and 10 weeks. However, both the histologic changes and the DSP decrease were reversed as the mice matured. These findings suggest that ASD exposure affects both the fetal development and the reproductive function of male offspring. In the future, it will be necessary to clarify the onset mechanisms of ASD-induced male fetus death and male reproductive disorders.

The application of the sensors optical fiber in the areas of scientific instrumentation and industrial instrumentation is very attractive due to its numerous advantages. In the industry of civil engineering for example, quasi-distributed sensors made with optical fiber are used for reliable strain and temperature measurements. Here, a quasi-distributed sensor in the frequency domain is discussed. The sensor consists of a series of low-finesse Fabry-Perot interferometers where each Fabry-Perot interferometer acts as a local sensor. Fabry-Perot interferometers are formed by pairs of identical low reflective Bragg gratings imprinted in a single mode fiber. All interferometer sensors have different cavity length, provoking the frequency-domain multiplexing. The optical signal represents the superposition of all interference patterns which can be decomposed using the Fourier transform. The frequency spectrum is analyzed and sensor´s properties were defined. Following, a quasi-distributed sensor was numerically simulated. Our sensor simulation considers sensor properties, signal processing, noise system and instrumentation. The numerical results show the behavior of resolution vs. signal-to-noise ratio. From our results, the Fabry-Perot sensor has high resolution and low resolutions. Both resolutions are conceivable because the FDPA algorithm elaborates two evaluations of Bragg wavelength shift

Finding a good MIMO system model also major issue in Wireless Communication system. It is facing with so many problem, one of the major problem is finding good system model in terms of capacity and transmitting antenna system. In this paper, we analyze the channel capacity of various MIMO system model with some constant SNR level and outage probability. We establish a novel idea for MIMO system models as consider as 2^N- MIMO system model and find-out change in channel capacity when different transmitting antennas with constant SNR and outage probability. The channel capacity ratio CC_R is presented here on the basis of 2^N- MIMO channel capacity model. Number of transmitted antenna presented in MIMO system is increases is well-known however paper shows change in capacity in simple form.

Upper Blue Nile basin (UBNB) is the water tower of Ethiopia and downstream countries. It contributes significant moistures to the surrounding atmosphere. However, the contribution of the moisture from the basin to the precipitation in the area is not well documented. Therefore, this paper is aimed at seasonal variation of upper Blue Nile basin moisture budget and the global moistures in the role of temporal and spatial precipitation variability. To this end, we used European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) data from 1979-2017. The UBNB moisture contributed precipitation in the central parts of the study area during the summer season, while in spring; it contributed in southern part of the study area. Northwest part of the study area got precipitation from the basin moistures during autumn season. The recycling ratios for four seasons (summer, autumn, spring and winter) were 9.70%, 16.33%, 19.01%, and 35.30% respectively. The maximum amount of precipitation is extracted from the local moistures during winter season. The annual average value of recycling ratio was found 20.11%. Hence, we concluded that UBNB moisture budget had lesser contribution of precipitation over the study area. It rather contributed a significant precipitation to the neighboring countries such as Egypt and Sudan. Further studies on moisture budget are required to explain this phenomenon in the context of Ethiopia.

The geometry of Poincare disk itself is interpreted without any mapping to dierent spaces. Our approach might be one of the shortest and is intended for educational contribution.

Male obesity secondary hypogonadism (MOSH) impairs fertility, sexual function, bone mineralization, fat metabolism, cognitive function, deteriorates muscle mass and alters body composition. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effect of dietary intervention and physical activity on the MOSH patient’s hormonal profile after a 10% weight loss compared to baseline. Fourteen male patients were enrolled. Hormonal, lipid, glycemic profiles and body composition were determined at baseline and after a 10% weight loss. Aging Male Symptoms Scale (AMS) and Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) were administered to patients in order to investigate hypogonadal symptoms and food addiction. Compared to baseline, a significant increase of Total Testosterone (TT) (300.2 ± 79.5 ng/dl vs 408.3 ± 125.9, p = 0.002, 95% CI 26.8; 167.7) and a reduction of 17-Beta Estradiol level (48.3 ± 14.9 pg/mL vs 39.2 ± 15.2, p = 0.049, 95% CI 3.1; 0.0) were observed. Total Fat Mass (FM) percentage, android and gynoid fat mass percentage (39.2 ± 6.4% vs 36.2 ± 5.8%, p = 0.0001, 95% CI 22.5; 62.3; 51.5 ± 6.8% vs 47.6 ± 6.8%, p = 0.001, 95% CI 0.6; 1.8, vs 39.2 ± 6.2% vs 36.5 ± 6.3% p= 0.0001, 95% CI 0.9; 2.0 respectively) were significantly decreased after nutritional intervention. In addition, total Fat Free Mass (FFM) in kg was significantly reduced after 10% weight loss (62.3± 2.8 kg vs 60.3± 7.7 kg, p = 0.002, 95% CI 45.0; 93.0). Lifestyle changes, specifically dietotherapy and physical activity, induce positive effects on hypogonadism due to obesity.

During the conceptual and preliminary design stage of a ship, designers need to ensure that the selected principal dimensions and parameters are good enough to deliver a stable ship (statically and dynamically) besides deadweight and speed. To support this, the initial intact stability of the proposed ship is required to be calculated, and in doing so, the lightship weight and its detailed breakdown are necessary to be known. After hull steel weight, machinery weight, mainly, marine propulsion and power generation machinery, play a vital role in the lightship weight estimate of a ship due to its robustness. The correct estimation of respective weights improves the accuracy of calculating a ship's initial stability typically to be designed and built. Hence, it would be advantageous for the designer to convince the ship owner. A total of 3006 marine propulsion (main marine diesel) engines and 348 power generation (auxiliary marine diesel) engines/generators of various power output (generators output for auxiliary engines), engine RPM and cylinder number of different engine makers are collected. These are analyzed and presented in both tabular and graphical forms to demonstrate the possible relationship between marine propulsion engine weight and power generation engine weight, and their respective power output, RPM, cylinder number, power-RPM ratio and power-RPM ratio per cylinder.In this article, the authors have attempted to investigate the behavior of marine propulsion engine weight and power generation engine/generator weight regarding engine power output, generator power output, engine RPM and cylinder number (independent variables). Further attempts have been made to identify those independent variables that influence the weight of the marine propulsion engine and power generation engine/generator (dependent variables), and their interrelationships. A mathematical model has thus been developed and proposed, as a guiding tool, for the designer to estimate the weight of main and auxiliary engines more accurately during the conceptual and preliminary design stage.

In the paper, by virtue of some properties for the Riemann zeta function, the author finds a double inequality for the ratio of two consecutive Bernoulli numbers with even indexes and analyzes the approximating accuracy of the double inequality.

The aim of this research was to investigate the mass, substances and energy flow through two-stroke low speed Diesel engines. For this reason, a zero-dimensional model of the combustion in the engine was developed with a calculated amount and composition of exhaust gases. Due to the large amount of oxygen in the exhaust gases, a ratio of real air consumption and stoichiometric amount of air required for combustion of injected fuel was set. The calculated ratio showed that the engine consumes four times more air than needed for combustion in AFR_stoich. In this work it is called the Air Consumption Factor or Ratio and has not been mentioned in scientific literature before. Air Consumption Ratio is defined as a factor of dry or humid air. To be more comprehensive, a modified diagram of composition of the flow in and out of a two-stroke fuel injection engine and the cylinder was drawn.

Aeroponics is a relatively new soilless culture technology, which may produce food in space limited cities or non-arable land with high water use efficiency. The shoot and root growth, root characteristics, mineral contents of two lettuce cultivars were measured in aeroponics, as compared with hydroponics and substrate culture. The results showed that aeroponics remarkably improved the root growth with a significant greater root biomass, root/shoot ratio, and several times higher total root length, root area and root volume. However, the greater root growth did not lead to a better shoot growth compared with hydroponics, due to the limited availability of nutrients and water. It can be concluded that aeroponics systems may be better for high value true root crops production. Further research is necessary to figure out the suitable pressure, droplet size, and misting interval in order to improve the continuously availability of nutrients and water in aeroponics, if it is used to grow crops like lettuce for harvesting above-ground parts.

Within an Internet of Multimedia Things, the risk of disclosing streamed video content, such as arising from video surveillance, is of heightened concern. This leads to the encryption of that content. To reduce the overhead and lack of flexibility arising from full encryption of the content, a good number of selective-encryption algorithms have been proposed in the last decade. Some of them have limitations, in terms of significant delay due to computational cost, or excess memory utilization, or, despite being energy efficient, do not provide a satisfactory level of confidentiality, due to their simplicity. To address such issues, this paper presents a lightweight selective encryption scheme, in which encoder syntax elements are encrypted with the innovative EXPer (EXtended Permutation with exclusive OR). The selected syntax elements are taken from the final stage of video encoding that is during entropy coding. As a diagnostic tool, the Encryption Space Ratio measures encoding complexity of the video relative to the level of encryption so as to judge the success of the encryption process, according to entropy coder. A detailed comparative analysis of EXPer with state-of-the-art algorithms confirms that the EXPer provides significant confidentiality with a small computational cost and negligible encryption bitrate overhead. Thus, the results demonstrate that the proposed security scheme is a suitable choice for constrained devices in an Internet of Multimedia Things environment.

Among all the active confinement techniques, the use of pre-tensioned stainless steel straps has recently gained much attention. The flexibility of the stainless steel straps allows us to bend and pass them through the thickness of the masonry, thus creating a three-dimensional strengthening system between the two opposite facings. The use of the same perforation for the passage of several straps closed in a loop generates a continuous strengthening system that prevents parts of the structure from falling and injuring the occupants during seismic events. However, the perforations can nullify the in-plane strengthening, as they act as cylindrical hinges and make the reinforcement system labile for certain strap arrangements. Diagonal compression tests on square masonry panels performed in the present study show that the straps improve neither strength nor ductility when running along the mortar head and bed joints, arranged in square meshes. Conversely, they improve both strength and ductility when the straps make angles of 45° with the mortar joints. Furthermore, the experimental results show that the straps exert an anisotropic effect that decreases the apparent in-plane Poisson ratio. They also provide new insights into the diagonal compression test and allow formulating a new proposal for the pseudo-ductility factor.

Our matter universe is made up of four components of dark energy (DE), dark matters (DMs), leptons and quarks which are created from the decay of the primary black hole through the inflation after big bang. In the three-dimensional quantized space model, the sum (DER) of the dark energy (DE) and radiations (R) is the flat photon space and there are 39 particles of 3 dark matters, 9 leptons and 27 quarks. Generally speaking, the mass ratio of the quarks with the 27 particles is smallest and the mass ratio of the DER photon space with the 1 massless photon is largest. Therefore, the mass ratios of DER, DMs, leptons and quarks are inversely proportional to the particle numbers of DER, DMs, leptons and quarks as the first assumption. This simple rule is called as the universe mass ratio golden rule in Fig. 12. This simple rule is successfully applied to the observed mass ratios of the Planck and WMAP missions. The best particle number combination (1, 3, 9, 27) of the four components (DER, DMs, Leptons, Quarks) to explain the Planck 2018 and WMAP results is the same as the particle number combination (1, 3, 9, 27) of the 3-dimensional quantized space model. The calculated mass ratios of DER, DMs, leptons and quarks are 67.5 %, 22.5 %, 7.5 % and 2.5 %, respectively. And the calculated mass ratios of neutrinos and ordinary matters are 5.0 % and 5.0 %, respectively. The mass ratios of the dark energy (68.47(23) %) and matters (31.53(23) %) obtained from the Planck 2018 results are consistent with the calculated mass ratios of the DER (67.5 %) and matters (32.5 %). The mass ratio of the dark energy (72.1(15) %) obtained from the WMAP 9 year results is explained as the summed mass ratio (72.5 %) of DER (67.5 %) and neutrinos (5.0 %). The universe evolution including the super-massive black holes (SMBHs) is shown in Fig. 4. The accelerated space expansion of our universe requires the addition of the new dark energy. If this new dark energy is added, the mass ratio of the dark energy is a little bit increased. The difference (0.97 %) between the observed value (68.47(23) %) and calculated value (67.5 %) is explained by adding the new dark energy in Figs. 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. The corrected mass ratios of DER, DMs, leptons and quarks are 68.47 %, 21.8286 %, 7.2762 % and 2.4254 %, respectively. The corrected mass ratios of the neutrinos (called as cosmic background neutrinos) and ordinary matters (OMs) are 4.8508 % and 4.8508 %, respectively. These corrected mass ratios can explain the mass ratios obtained from the WMAP and Planck missions. In other words, the mass ratios calculated from the best particle number combination support the elementary particles, dark matters and dark energy (photon space) proposed by the three-dimensional quantized space model based on the 10-D Euclidean space.

The main objective of this paper is to find a close link between the adaptive level of significance, presented here, and the sample size. We, statisticians, know of the inconsistency, or paradox, in the current classical tests of significance that are based on p-value statistics that is compared to the canonical significance levels (10%, 5% and 1%): "Raise the sample to reject the null hypothesis" is the recommendation of some ill-advised scientists! This paper will show that it is possible to eliminate this problem of significance tests. The Bayesian Lindley's paradox – "increase the sample to accept the hypothesis" – also disappears. Obviously, we present here only the beginning of a possible prominent research. The intention is to extend its use to more complex applications such as survival analysis, reliability tests and other areas. The main tools used here are the Bayes Factor and the extended Neyman-Pearson Lemma.

Abstract: This paper is focusing on the stabilisation of soil using jute fibre as soil stabilizer. Stabilisation is the process of modifying the properties of a soil to improve its engineering performance and used it for a variety of engineering works. This study examines the potential of soil stabilization with jute fibre when it is cut into roughly 30mm lengths as stabilizer. The varying percentages like 0.5%, 1%, 1.5 and 2% of pieces of jute fibre were used and mixed it with soil. The laboratory tests such as California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test, modified compaction tests and direct shear strength tests have been conducted to observe the change in engineering properties of soil. On the basis of the experiments performed, it can be concluded that the stabilization of soil using 30mm pieces of jute as stabilizer improves the strength characteristics of the soil so that it becomes usable as one of the reinforcing material for the construction of roadways, parking areas, site development projects, airports and many other situations where sub-soils are not suitable for construction.

All empirical water column correction methods have consistently been reported to require existing depth sounding data for the purpose of calibrating a simple depth retrieval model; they yield poor results over very bright or very dark bottoms. In contrast, we set out to (i) use only the relative radiance data in the image along with published data, and several new assumptions, (ii) in order to specify and operate the simplified radiative transfer equation (RTE), (iii) for the purpose of retrieving both the satellite derived bathymetry (SDB) and the water column corrected spectral reflectance over shallow seabeds. Sea truth regressions show that SDB depths retrieved by the method only need tide correction. Therefore it shall be demonstrated that, under such new assumptions, there is no need (i) for formal atmospheric correction, (ii) nor for conversion of relative radiance into calibrated reflectance , (iii) nor for existing depth sounding data, to specify the simplified RTE and produce both SDB and spectral water column corrected radiance ready for bottom typing. Moreover, the use of the panchromatic band for that purpose is introduced. Altogether, we named this process the Self-Calibrated Supervised Spectral Shallow-sea Modeler (4SM). This approach requires a trained practitioner, though, to produce its results within hours of downloading the raw image. The ideal raw image should be a “near-nadir” view, exhibit homogeneous atmosphere and water column, include some coverage of optically deep waters and bare land, and lend itself to quality removal of haze, atmospheric adjacency effect, and sun/sky glint.

Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is an important index to evaluate radiation performance and image quality of optical imaging systems under low illumination background. Under the nighttime lighting condition, the illumination of remote sensing objects is low and varies greatly, usually ranging from several lux to tens of thousands of lux. Nighttime light remote sensing imaging requires high sensitivity and large dynamic range of detectors. Luojia 1-01 is the first professional nighttime light remote sensing satellite in the world. In this paper, we took the nighttime light remote sensing camera carried on the satellite as research object, proposed an in-orbit SNR test method based on time series images to overcome the problem of low spatial resolution. We first analyzed the process of luminous flux transmission between objects and satellite and established a radiative transfer model. By combining the parameters of large relative aperture optical system and high sensitivity CMOS device, we established SNR model and specially analyzed the effect of exposure time and quantization bits on SNR. Finally we used the proposed in-orbit test method to calculate SNR of lighting images acquired by satellite. And the measured result is in good agreement with the model predicted data. Under the condition of 10lx illumination, the SNR of typical objects can reach 27.02dB, which is much better than the requirement of 20dB for engineering application.

Malaria is endemic in Nigeria and remains a major public health problem, taking its greatest toll on children under age 5 and pregnant women, although it is preventable, treatable, and curable. This study investigates the Impact of socio-economic factors and indoor mosquito control on malaria prevalent among pregnant women in Nigeria using logistic regression. To achieve this, secondary data obtained from 2015 Nigeria Malaria Indicator survey, executed by the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) and the National Population Commission (NPopC), with a nationally representative sample of more than 8,000 consisting of 7,745 households. The results from the logistic regression with odds ratio revealed that pregnant women are more like to be affected by malaria fever (though not significant) compared to women that are not pregnant. The income levels of the household does not significant reduce the incidence of malaria fever among pregnant women in Niger. Concerning the malaria presenting measure, only dwelling sprayed by private company significantly reduce the incidence of malaria fever among pregnant women (P-value=0.020<0.05) compared to dwelling sprayed by government and NGOs and also to Insecticide Treated Net. Also pregnant women in the urban centers are less likely to have malaria fever compared to pregnant women in rural communities in Nigeria. Also, pregnant women with atleast a secondary school level of education are less likely to be affected by malaria fever compared to pregnant women with no formal education. The fitted logistic model passed the goodness-of-test fit; the classification test for the logistic model was correctly classified at about 67.02%. Therefore, this study recommends that government and NGOs should intensify their efforts in the area of dwelling spraying, awareness campaign of the danger of malaria fever among pregnant women and infants, engaged in effective distribution of insecticide treated net in order to reduce the incidence of malaria fever among pregnant women living in rural communities in Nigeria.

The water-rich liquid layer immobilized on the surface of the polar stationary phases is critical to the retention of polar compounds in hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC). Although the presence of the adsorbed water layer has been investigated and confirmed by multiple techniques, there is a lack of quantitative measure that can be easily determined and linked to chromatographic parameters. This study proposes a simple measure termed volume ratio (the ratio of the adsorbed water layer volume and the mobile phase volume) that provides a relative, but quantitative information on the adsorbed water layer and may be linked to the phase ratio. The volume ratio can be easily determined using toluene elution volume. The volume ratio values are measured in 25 polar stationary phases in various mobile phase conditions. In addition to the acetonitrile content in the mobile phase, ammonium acetate concentration in the mobile phase and column temperature also have significant influences on the volume ratio and the adsorbed water layer.

Noise reduction in medical images is a perplexing undertaking for the researchers in digital image processing. Noise generates maximum critical disturbances as well as touches the medical images quality, ultrasound images in the field of biomedical imaging. The image is normally considered as gathering of data and existence of noises degradation the image quality. It ought to be vital to reestablish the original image noises for accomplishing maximum data from images. Medical images are debased through noise through its transmission and procurement. Image with noise reduce the image contrast and resolution, thereby decreasing the diagnostic values of the medical image. This paper mainly focuses on Gaussian noise, Pepper noise, Uniform noise, Salt and Speckle noise. Different filtering techniques can be adapted for noise declining to improve the visual quality as well as reorganization of images. Here four types of noises have been undertaken and applied on medical images. Besides numerous filtering methods like Gaussian, median, mean and Weiner applied for noise reduction as well as estimate the performance of filter through the parameters like mean square error (MSE), peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), Average difference value (AD) and Maximum difference value (MD) to diminish the noises without corrupting the medical image data.

A number of experimental and numerical studies point out that incorporating a rotating cylinder can superiorly enhance the aerofoil performance, especially for higher velocity ratios. Yet, there have been less or no studies exploring the effects of lower velocity ratio at a higher Reynolds number. In the present study, we investigated the effects of Moving Surface Boundary-layer Control (MSBC) at lower velocity ratios (i.e. cylinder tangential velocity to free stream velocity) and higher Reynolds number on a symmetric aerofoil (e.g. NACA 0021) and an asymmetric aerofoil (e.g. NACA 23018). In particular, the aerodynamic performance with and without rotating cylinder at the leading edge of the NACA 0021 and NACA 23018 aerofoil was studied on the wind tunnel installed at Aerodynamics Laboratory. The aerofoil section was tested in the low subsonic wind tunnel, and the lift coefficient and the drag coefficient were studied for different angles of attack. The experiments were conducted for two Reynolds numbers: 200000 and 250000 corresponding to two free stream velocities: 20 m/s and 25 m/s, respectively, for six different angle of attacks (-5°, 0°, 5°, 10°, 15° and 20°). This study demonstrates that the incorporation of a leading edge rotating cylinder results in an increase of lift coefficient at lower angle of attacks (maximum around 33%) and delay in stall angle (from 10° to 15°) relative to the aerofoil without rotating cylinder.

Introduction: Studies conducted in real-life scenarios on vaccine protection against COVID-19 constitute an important global priority, but one that is currently mostly neglected in low- and middle-income countries such as Angola. Here, we analyze for the first-time vaccine protection against COVID-19 in a real-life scenario after 6 months of implementing a multi-vaccination plan in Angola, providing estimation of odds ratios in vaccinated individuals and vaccine efficacy against infection by SARS-CoV-2 in a period that coincided with the identification of the Omicron variant in the country. Methods: We used a negative test case-control design to assess the effectiveness of vaccination against confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. A total of 4.232 vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals with the result of a rapid antigen diagnostic test against SARS-CoV-2 performed from December 27 to 28, 2021 were included in the study. Data were extracted from the Digital Vaccination Record Platform (Rediv) of the Ministry of Health of Angola. All ethical procedures related to the authorization necessary to carry out the study were followed. Statistical analyzes were performed using version 7.5.2.0 of CDC's Epi Info. Frequency distributions and measures of central tendency were used to characterize the study universe. The general and sex-adjusted and age-adjusted odds ratios, were evaluated by comparing the chances of vaccination between cases and controls, and their associated 95% CI, which were calculated using the Mantel-Haenszel stratification method. The risk classification of Axel Kroeger, Piscoya and Alarcon was used to interpret the odds ratio. The Breslow-Day statistic was used to assess the homogeneity of the odds ratios. Vaccine efficacy was calculated using the odds ratio applying the accepted statistical vaccine efficacy formula:(1 − odds ratio) × 100. For all estimates, a P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The population consisted of 63.63% male and 36.37% female. The mean age was 36 years with a standard deviation of 13. 83. Regarding vaccination status, 83.27% of individuals were vaccinated and 16.73% were unvaccinated, with 21.81% positive and 78.19% negative for SARS -CoV-2. The odds of SARS-CoV-2 infection were 0.85 (95% CI 0.70 – 1.03) times lower in vaccinated compared to unvaccinated individuals, with P=0.09. The overall vaccine efficacy (VE) was 15% (95% CI -3 – 30). Conclusion: There was no statistically significant decrease in the chances of SARS-CoV-2 infection in vaccinated versus unvaccinated individuals. However, the overall vaccine efficacy was 15%.

Abstract: As a low-input crop, Miscanthus offers numerous advantages that, in addition to agricultural applications, permits its exploitation for energy, fuel, and material production. Depending on the Miscanthus genotype, season, and harvest time as well as plant component (leaf versus stem), correlations between structure and properties of the corresponding isolated lignins differ. Here, a comparative study is presented between lignins isolated from M. x giganteus, M. sinensis, M. robustus and M. nagara using a catalyst-free organosolv pulping process. The lignins from different plant constituents are also compared regarding their similarities and differences regarding monolignol ratio and important linkages. Results showed that the plant genotype has the weakest influence on monolignol content and interunit linkages. In contrast, structural differences are more significant among lignins of different harvest time and/or season. Analyses were performed using fast and simple methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Data was assigned to four different linkages (A: b-O-4 linkage, B: phenylcoumaran, C: resinol, D: b-unsaturated ester). In conclusion, A content is particularly high in leaf-derived lignins at just under 70 % and significantly lower in stem and mixture lignins at around 60 % and almost 65 %. The second most common linkage pattern is D in all isolated lignins, the proportion of which is also strongly dependent on the crop portion. Both stem and mixture lignins, have a relatively high share of approximately 20 % or more (maximum is M. sinensis Sin2 with over 30 %). In the leaf-derived lignins, the proportions are significantly lower on average. Stem samples should be chosen if the highest possible lignin content is desired, specifically from the M. x giganteus genotype, which revealed lignin contents up to 27 %. Due to the better frost resistance and higher stem stability, M. nagara offers some advantages compared to M. x giganteus. Miscanthus crops are shown to be very attractive lignocellulose feedstock (LCF) for second generation biorefineries and lignin generation in Europe.

The importance and near ubiquity of the Golden Ratio in disciplines like chemistry and biology is well known, but only recently has it come to light in areas pertaining to the Quantum domain. By using a modified tool-kit of hyper-complex numbers (known as Dimensional Gate Operators) and numerical analysis, we uncover a connection between hyper-dimensional objects, the Fibonacci sequence and that of quasiparticles and excitations. The results show that dimensionality increases in step with the Fibonacci sequence.

As a renewable industrial crop, Miscanthus offers numerous advantages, namely high photosynthesis activity (as a C4 plant) and exceptional CO2 fixation rate. These properties make Miscanthus very attractive for industrial exploitation, such as lignin generation. Here, we present a systematic study analyzing the correlation of the lignin structure with Miscanthus genotype and plant portion (stem versus leaf). Specifically, the ratio of the three monolignols and corresponding building blocks as well as the linkages formed between the units have been studied. Depending on the Miscanthus genotype and plant component (leaf versus stem), correlations between chemical structure and properties of the lignins have been determined, i.e. correlations in molecular weight, polydispersity and decomposition temperature. Lignin isolation was performed using non-catalyzed organosolv pulping and the structure analysis includes NREL, FTIR, UV-Vis, HSQC-NMR, TGA, pyrolysis GC/MS. Structural differences were found for stem and leaf-derived lignins. Compared to beech wood lignins, Miscanthus lignins possess lower molecular weight and narrow polydispersities (< 1.5 Miscanthus vs. > 2.5 beech) corresponding to improved homogeneity. In addition to conventional univariate analysis of FTIR spectra, multivariate chemometrics revealed distinct differences for aromatic in-plane deformations of stem versus leaf-derived lignins. These results emphasize the potential of Miscanthus as low-input resource and Miscanthus-derived lignin as promising agricultural feedstock.

Research with deuterium-depleted water (DDW) in the last two decades proved that deuterium/hydrogen ratio has a key role in cell cycle regulation and cellular metabolism. The present study aimed to investigate the possible effect of deuterium-depleted organic compounds (DDOC) alone and in combination with DDW on cancer growth in two in vivo mouse models. To produce DDOC, drinking water of laying hens was replaced with DDW (25 ppm) for 6 weeks, resulting in 60 ppm D level in dried egg yolk that was used as deuterium-depleted food additive. In one model, 4T1, a cell line with high metastatic capacity to the lung, was inoculated in the mice’s mammary pad. After three weeks of treatment with DDW and/or DDOC, the tumor volume in the lungs was smaller in all treated groups vs. controls with natural D level. Tumor growth and survival in mice transplanted with MCF-7 breast cancer cell line showed that the anticancer effect of DDW was enhanced by food containing the deuterium-depleted yolk. The study confirmed the importance of D/H ratio not only in consumed water but also in metabolic water produced by the mitochondria while oxidizing nutrient molecules. This is in line with the concept that initiation of cell growth requires the cells to generate a higher D/H ratio, but DDW, DDOC, or the naturally low-D lipids in a ketogenic diet, have significant effect on tumor growth by preventing the cells from raising D/H ratio to the threshold.

This paper reports the overall thermal performance of a cylindrical parabolic concentrating solar water heater (CPCSWH) with inserting nail type twisted tape (NTT) in the copper absorber tube for the nail twist pitch ratios 4.787, 6.914 and 9.042 respectively. The experiments are conducted for a constant volumetric water flow rate and during the time period 9:00 h to 15:00 h. The useful heat gain, hourly solar energy collected and hourly solar energy stored of this solar water heater are found higher for nail twist pitch ratio 4.787. The above said parameters are found to be a peak at noon and observed to follow the path of variation of solar intensity. At the starting of the experiment, the value of charging efficiency is observed to be maximum. Whereas the maximum value of instantaneous efficiency and overall thermal efficiency are observed at noon. The key finding is that the nail twist pitch ratio enhances the overall thermal performance of the CPCSWH.

Natural capital is the wealth of nations that give them the economic status they represent. Worldwide, vulnerable people depend on natural capital for employment, salaries, wealth, and livelihoods and, in turn, determine the developmental index of the nation to which they belong. The availability of ecological services is crucial for clean water and air, food and fodder, and agricultural development. In this short commentary, we have tried to sum up the ideas and discussions over natural capital's role in ascribing economic status to countries. We have discussed how the prosperity of humans is intertwined with the services ecosystems provide and how poor natural resource management (NRM) has adversely cost human well-being. The paper concludes that to ensure the current and future human well-being, an in-depth understanding of the services ecosystems provide, is essential.

This paper intends to examine whether a company’s policy of dividend would impact or influence the price fluctuation of respective common stock in the designated stock market particularly in Hong Kong. Hence, there are 354 companies in Hong Kong which are all listed company on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX), were chosen as sample data for analysis with their audited financial information ranged from 2001 to 2020. Two proxies, the yield and the ratio of pay-out of dividend were widely adopted for the measurement of the effect of dividend policy and the possible influence on the volatility of respective common stock price by employing two statistical models, which are the model of fixed and random effects to provide accurate regression coefficients. With the results from the model of fixed effects, the yield and the pay-out ratio of dividend have been found statistically associated to the price volatilization of respective common stock in Hong Kong. The statical results in this study also find the yield and the ratio of pay-out of dividend are apparently and negatively associated to the price volatilization of respective common stock in Hong Kong. The research outcomes will be a reference for further study on different variables may have effects or volatilize the price of common stock price particularly in Hong Kong capital market.

Good data analysis is required for the optimal design of water resources projects. However, data are not regularly collected due to material or technical reasons, which results in incomplete-data problems. Available data and data length are of great importance to solve those problems. Various studies have been conducted on missing data treatment. This study used data from the flow observation stations on Yeşilırmak River in Turkey. In the first part of the study, models were generated and compared in order to complete missing data using ANFIS, multiple regression and Normal Ratio Method. In the second part of the study, the minimum number of data required for ANFIS models was determined using the optimum ANFIS model. Of all methods compared in this study, ANFIS models yielded the most accurate results. A 10-year training set was also found to be sufficient as a data set.

Currently, for the serious air pollution and global warming effect caused by the substance released from the present vehicle, it is expected that the regulatory requirements for the emission will become more stringent. A new concept of the combustion technology that can reduce the NOx and PM related to combustion is urgently needed. To cope with such social demands, many developed countries are efforts to develop the environment friendly vehicle engine at the national lever in order to satisfy with strengthening emission control. As a main combustion technology among new combustion technology for the new generation engine, the homogenous charge compression engine (HCCI) is expanding its application range by employing multiple combustion mode, catalyst, direct fuel injection and partially premixed combustion. In this paper, a multi-injection method in order to apply the HCCI combustion method without mainly altering engine specifications and practicality by referring to the results of the HCCI engine was investigated. Applied with forced charging, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and compression ratio change, it was evaluated to the possibility of securing optimum fuel economy and emission reduction in the IMEP 0.8 MPa range.

In attempting to predict the further course of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, mathematical models of different types are frequently employed and calibrated to reported case numbers. Among the major challenges in interpreting these data is the uncertainty about the amount of undetected infections, or conversely: the detection ratio. As a result, some models include assumptions about the percentage of detected cases among total infections while others completely neglect undetected cases. Here, we illustrate how model projections about case and fatality numbers vary significantly under varying assumptions on the detection ratio. Uncertainties in model predictions can be significantly reduced by representative testing, both for antibodies and active virus RNA, to uncover past and current infections that have gone undetected thus far.

There is high prevalence of hypertension and is rapidly increasing around the world, despite the intervention programme implemented, this study aimed at estimating the prevalence rate, test of association between hypertension and risk factors and model hypertension rate. Data used was obtained from the health record of Federal Medical Centre, Keffi from January 2016 – January 2019. Ordinal logistic regression model was used; Model Fitting Information, Goodness-of-Fit, Pseudo R-Square and Test of Parallel Lines are fitted to the data sets to test the accuracy and correctness of the model. The results indicated that the overall prevalence of hypertension rate is high at 36.4%, among the adult population, body mass index and gender are statistically significant, and Age is not significant in the study. Individuals that are overweight are more likely to be hypertensive compare to other weights. At age 40 – 49 years which have the highest rate of 26.5% and the odd ratio is 0.75 compared to others. One year increase in age 30 – 39, the cumulative odd of being hypertensive is 0.91 while other independent variables are held constant. The odd ratio of female being hypertensive is 0.85, therefore the females are more likely to be hypertensive with 54.4% compared to the males at 45.6% . There is no presence of multicolinearity among the variables and Logit models were formulated to calculate probabilities of the various possible outcomes.

Citrullinemia is the earliest identifiable biochemical abnormality in neonates with intrahepatic cholestasis due to a citrin deficiency (NICCD) and it has been included in newborn screening panels using tandem mass spectrometry. However, only one neonate was positive among 600,000 infants born in Sapporo city and Hokkaido, Japan between 2006 and 2017. We investigated 12 neonates with NICCD who were initially considered normal in newborn mass screening (NBS) by tandem mass spectrometry, but were later diagnosed with NICCD by DNA tests. Using their initial NBS data, we examined citrulline concentrations and ratios of citrulline to total amino acids. Although their citrulline values exceeded the mean of the normal neonates and 80 % of them surpassed +3SD, all were below the cutoff of 40 nmol/mL. The ratios of citrulline to total amino acids significantly elevated in patients with NICCD compared to the control. By evaluating two indicators simultaneously, we could select about 80% of patients with missed NICCD. Introducing an estimated index comprising citrulline values and citrulline to total amino acid ratios could assure NICCD detection by NBS.

Yogic and meditative traditions have long held that the fluctuations of the breath and the mind are intimately related. While respiratory modulation of cortical activity and attentional switching are established, the extent to which electrophysiological markers of attention exhibit synchronization with respiration is unknown. To this end, we examined 1) frontal midline theta-beta ratio, an indicator of attentional control state known to correlate with mind wandering episodes and functional connectivity of the executive control network; 2) pupil diameter (PD), a known proxy measure of locus coeruleus (LC) noradrenergic activity; and 3) respiration for evidence of phase synchronization and information transfer (multivariate Granger causality) during quiet restful breathing. Our results indicate that both TBR and PD are simultaneously synchronized with the breath, suggesting an underlying oscillation of an attentionally relevant electrophysiological index that is phase-locked to the respiratory cycle which could have the potential to bias the attentional system into switching states. We highlight the LC’s pivotal role as a coupling mechanism between respiration and TBR, and elaborate on its dual functions as both a chemosensitive respiratory nucleus and a pacemaker of the attentional system. We further suggest that an appreciation of the dynamics of this weakly coupled oscillatory system could help deepen our understanding of the traditional claim of a relationship between breathing and attention.

The shoulder region has the highest incidence of acute injuries in the sport of surfing. Little is known about the strength profile at the shoulder in a surfing cohort. The primary aim of this study was to establish the reliability of a rotator cuff strength testing procedure for surfers with a secondary aim of providing a profile of internal (IR) and external rotation (ER) strength in a competitive surfing cohort. Shoulder IR and ER isometric strength was measured using a hand-held dynamometer in 13 competitive surfers. Intra-class coefficient values ranged from 0.97 to 0.98 for intra rater reliability and were lower for inter rater reliability ranging from 0.80 to 0.91. Normalised force (N/Kg) for IR strength was significantly greater than ER strength bilaterally (dominant, p= 0.007, non-dominant, p<0.001). No significant differences (p< 0.79) were found in IR strength (N/Kg) between the dominant and non-dominant arms. ER strength (N/Kg) was significantly weaker on the non-dominant arm compared with the dominant arm (p<0.02). The non-dominant arm ER to IR ratio (0.82 ± 0.15) was significantly (p=0.025) lower than the dominant (0.88 ± 0.14) The current procedure is reliable with the same clinician, results indicate musculature asymmetry specific to the external rotators.

Vitamin D and ω-3 fatty acids (ω-3) co-supplementation potentially improve type 1 diabetes (T1D) by attenuating autoimmunity and counteracting inflammation.This cohort study preliminary to a randomized control trial (RCT) is aimed to evaluate, in a series of T1D children assuming Mediterranean diet and taking cholecalciferol 1000U/day fromT1D onset, if ω-3 co-supplementation preserves the residual endogen insulin secretion (REIS).Therefore, 22 new onsets of 2017 received ω-3 [eicosapentenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), 60mg/kg/day], and were compared retrospectively vs. 37 previous onsets without ω-3 supplementation. HbA1c%, daily insulin demand (IU/Kg/day) and IDAA1c, a composite index (calculated as IU/Kg/dayx4 + HbA1c%) as surrogate of REIS, were evaluated at recruitment (T0) and 12 months later (T12). In the ω-3 supplemented group, dietary intakes were evaluated at T0 and T12. As outcome, decreased insulin demand (p<0.01), particularly pre-meal boluses (p<0.01), and IDAA1c (p<0.05), were found in the ω-3 group while HbA1c% were not different in the two groups. Diet analysis, at T12 vs. T0, showed that the intake of arachidonic acid (AA) was decreased (p<0.01) in the ω-3 supplemented group while other nutrients were unchanged; at T0, the AA intake was inversely correlated with HbA1c% (p<0.05; r;.0.411). In conclusion, the results suggest that vitamin D plus ω-3 co-supplementation and AA reduction in Mediterranean diet display benefits for T1D children and deserve further investigation.

Monitoring drought impacts in forest ecosystems is a complex process, because forest ecosystems are composed of different species with heterogeneous structural compositions. Even though forest drought status is a key control on the carbon cycle, very few indices exist to monitor and predict forest drought stress. The Forest Drought Indicator (ForDRI) is a new monitoring tool developed by the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) to identify forest drought stress. ForDRI integrates 12 types of data, including satellite, climate, evaporative demand, ground water, and soil moisture, into a single hybrid index to estimate tree stress. The model uses Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to determine the contribution of each input variable based on its covariance in the historical records (2003–2017). A 15-year time series of 780 ForDRI maps at a weekly interval were produced. The ForDRI values at a 12.5km spatial resolution were compared with normalized weekly Bowen ratio data, a biophysically based indicator of stress, from nine AmeriFlux sites. There were strong and significant correlations between Bowen ratio data and ForDRI at sites that had experienced intense drought. In addition, tree ring annual increment data at eight sites in four eastern U.S. national parks were compared with ForDRI values at the corresponding sites. The correlation between ForDRI and tree ring increments at the selected eight sites during the summer season ranged between 0.46 and 0.75. Generally, the correlation between the ForDRI and normalized Bowen ratio or tree ring increment are reasonably good and indicate the usefulness of the ForDRI model for estimating drought stress and providing decision support on forest drought management.

We propose a wave-like design on the surface of cathode channels (wave form cathode channels) to improve oxidant delivery to gas diffusion layers (GDLs) [1-2]. We performed experiments using PEMFCs combined with wave form surface design on cathodes. We varied the factors of the distance between wave-bumps (the Adhesive distance, AD), and the size of the wave-bumps (the Expansion ratio, ER). The ADs are 3, 4, and 5 times the size of the half-circle bump’s radius, and the ERs are 1/1.5, 1/2, and 1/3 times the channel’s height. We evaluated the performances of the fuel cells, and compared the current-voltage (I-V) relations. For comparison, we prepared PEMFCs with conventional flat-surfaced oxygen channels. Our aim in this work is to identify fuel cell operation by modifying the surface design of channels, and ultimately to find the optimal design of cathode channels that will maximize fuel cell performance.

This study presents a new form of velocity distribution in laminar liquid flow in rectangular microchannels using the eigenfunction expansion technique. Darcy friction factor and Poiseuille number are also obtained analytically. Due to the symmetry of the solutions, the effects of changing the aspect ratio from 0 to ∞ are also discussed. Using finite element method (FEM), the obtained analytical results are further compared with the 3D numerical simulations for the rectangular microchannels with different range of aspect ratio and pressure gradient, and excellent agreements were found. These findings provide additional insights in interpreting the results of the pressure-driven flows in finite aspect ratio microchannels, in which very precise comparison with the macroscale theory is crucial.

Why are pieces of spaghetti generally broken into three to ten segments instead of two as one thinks? How can one obtain the desired number of fracture segments? For these problems, in this paper a strand of spaghetti is considered an elastic rod, and the finite-element software ABAQUS is used to simulate the detailed fracture dynamics of the elastic rod. By changing the size (length and diameter) of the rod, the relevant data on the fracture limit curvature and the number of fractured segments of the elastic rod are obtained. The ABAQUS simulation results confirm the scientific judgment of B. Audoly and S. Neukirch (Fragmentation of rods by cascading cracks: Why spaghetti does not break in half. Phys Rev Lett 95: 095505). Using dimensional analysis to fit the finite-element data, two relations of the elastic rod fracture dynamics are obtained: (1) the relationship between the fracture limit curvature and the diameter, and (2) the relationship between the number of fracture segments and the diameter-length ratio. Results reveal that when the length is constant, the larger the diameter (the smaller the diameter-length ratio D/L), the smaller the limit curvature; and the larger the diameter-length ratio D/L, the fewer the number of fractured segments. The relevant formulations can be used to obtain the desired number of broken segments of spaghetti by changing the diameter-to-length ratio.

Glaucoma is a disease associated with retina of eye. Presently, millions of human being is suffering from this disease. Early detection of these diseases can save the people from blindness. Therefore, various methods have been developed for its detection. In this paper, we have studied the reported methods and summarized their performance in terms of accuracy of detection.

This paper is the continuation of a previous study, which highlighted some inconsistencies in the RILEM guidelines for the interpretation of the diagonal compression test. Although improved compared to the ASTM guidelines, in fact, the RILEM guidelines underestimate the state of hydrostatic stress induced by the diagonal compression test at the center of the wallette. The new interpretation of the diagonal compression test proposed in this article shows that the RILEM guidelines actually underestimate both the hydrostatic and the deviatoric stress states at the center of the wallette. The new formulation complies with the linear elastic theory and allows us to use the the diagonal compression test to identify the three elastic coefficients of masonry. In particular, it allows the identification of the Poisson ratio, which instead takes on a conventional value in the RILEM and ASTM guidelines. The difference of one order of magnitude between the conventional and proposed Poisson’s ratio is in agreement with the experimental results on another brittle material, namely concrete. Finally, the new proposal fills the gap between the results provided by the two tests usually performed to identify the shear behavior of masonry: the diagonal compression test and the shear-compression test.

In this paper, we provide some enlightening examples of the application of Clifford algebra in geometry, which show the concise representation, simple calculation and profound insight of this algebra. The definition of Clifford algebra implies geometric concepts such as vector, length, angle, area and volume, and unifies the calculus of scalar, spinor, vector and tensor, so that it is able to naturally describe all variables and calculus in geometry and physics. Clifford algebra unifies and generalizes real number, complex, quaternion and vector algebra, converts complicated relations and operations into intuitive matrix algebra independent of coordinate systems. By localizing the basis or frame of space-time and introducing differential and connection operators, Clifford algebra also contains Riemann geometry. Clifford algebra provides a unified, standard, elegant and open language and tools for numerous complicated mathematical and physical theories. Clifford algebra calculus is an arithmetic-like operation that can be well understood by everyone. This feature is very useful for teaching purposes, and popularizing Clifford algebra in high schools and universities will greatly improve the efficiency of students to learn fundamental knowledge of mathematics and physics. So Clifford algebra can be expected to complete a new big synthesis of scientific knowledge.

The experiments of Project 8 have been excellent, but the expected goals still difficult to achieve. So much so that some of the results at your fingertips were also missing. In view of this, the focus of this article is to clarify several easy confused concepts. Only in this way, we can reasonably explain the experimental data. The main points are as follows: 1. The value c of the light speed in vacuum and a particle with zero static mass, both of which do not exist in the reality. That is to say, the so-called a photon's static mass is equal to zero but has energy, which is a paradox that confuses two different definitional domains. 2. In the reality, photons are high-speed particles generated by electromagnetic radiation. They must have the characteristics of (static) mass, energy and wave, in order to describe the main body to aim at photons from different angles. 3. After any main body comes into being electromagnetic radiation, its static mass will inevitably decrease accordingly. 4. The charge-mass ratio of an electron is a physical constant, which is the ratio of its charge to the amount of matter, and is not affected by relativistic effects and electromagnetic radiation. 5. The uncertainty of moving electrons is caused by random electromagnetic radiations. Finally, it is pointed out that if the cyclotron frequency of a single electron is measured, and at the same time, its de Broglie wavelength or frequency can also be measured, then its static mass can be obtained. Even so, the expected goals are still difficult to achieve, because random electromagnetic radiations are always taking away continually the matter composition of the single electron being measured. However, this was precisely a result of the research obtained by Project 8, and had universality, which should be reflect on.

The purpose of this study is nutrient resources recovery by achieving the optimal chemical oxygen demand (COD) and carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N) in co-composting wastewater treatment plant sludge with Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW). In this effort, the co-composting has been conducted in form of a case study in the northern region of Iran. In this research, 192 tests were carried out on four series of samples examined in terms of waste to sludge ratio, different aeration period, the percent of porous materials and the moisture content. This study was carried out at a temperature of 50 °C for a 15 day period by application of the in-vessel system and shows that the best ratio for waste to sludge is 2:1, while the 8 hour period is the best aeration period. The porous material which can be added to the composting process is limited to 15% in weight. In other words, any more or less amount of this material will adversely impact the process. Moreover, this research suggests that the sludge dewatering is not required in such processes. In Addition, the efficiency of both COD and C/N reductions equals to about 40%.

Classical k-ratio models, e.g. ZAF and phi(rho z), used in electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) assume a homogeneous or multi-layered material structure, which essentially limits the spatial resolution of EPMA to the size of the interaction volume where characteristic x-rays are produced. We present a new model for characteristic x-ray emission that avoids assumptions on the material structure to not restrict the resolution of EPMA a-priori. Our model bases on the spherical harmonic (PN) approximation of the Boltzmann equation for electron transport in continuous slowing down approximation. PN models have a simple structure, are hierarchical in accuracy and well-suited for efficient adjoint-based gradient computation, which makes our model a promising alternative to classical models in terms of improving the resolution of EPMA in the future. We present results of various test cases including a comparison of the PN model to a minimum entropy moment model as well as Monte-Carlo (MC) trajectory sampling, a comparison of PN-based k-ratios to k-ratios obtained with MC, a comparison with experimental data of electron backscattering yields as well as a comparison of PN and Monte-Carlo based on characteristic X-ray generation in a three-dimensional material probe with fine structures.

Background Telomere shortening is related to aging and unfavourable health outcomes. Obesity and metabolic diseases are important factors for accelerating aging. This study aimed to find out the association between obesity, metabolic disease, and telomere length in metabolically healthy adults. Methods 237 adults were enrolled with written consents at a health promotion centre of a tertiary hospital from February 2014 to March 2015. After excluding 99 subjects who met the exclusion criterion, a total of 130 metabolically healthy subjects were selected for final analysis. The subjects were divided into quartile groups according to the telomere lengths of their oral mucosal cells. Results The subjects consisted of 66 (50.8%) males with a mean age of 58.59 years. The body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) increased significantly along with the quartile groups (Q1, 23.00; Q2, 23.96; Q3, 23.70; Q4, 25.20; P-for trend=0.008). Waist circumference (WC, P-for trend=0.022), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR, P-for trend=0.005), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR, P=0.001) also increased along with the quartile groups. Obesity prevalence (BMI ≥25 kg/m2), abdominal obesity (WC ≥90 cm for men, ≥85 cm for women), WHR 〉1.0 for men or 〉0.85 for women, and WHtR ≥0.5 increased significantly as the telomere length increased (P-for trend <0.05). After adjusting for covariates, the ORs for each obesity markers increased as the telomere length increased (P-for trend <0.05); and the ORs of WHtR were especially meaningful (Q1, 1.00; Q2, 2.53; Q3, 2.97; Q4, 7.81; P-for trend = 0.001). There were no significant trends for metabolic syndrome and its components along with the prevalence of fatty liver disease. Conclusion Obesity markers and telomere length had significant positive correlation despite the established theory. The obesity paradox may exist in metabolically healthy adults with regard to telomere length, However, further studies with larger sample sizes for the association between obesity and telomere length are needed.

Segmentation of a region of interest is an important pre-processing step for many colour image analysis techniques. Similarly segmentation of plant in digital images is an important preprocessing step in phenotying plants by image analysis. In this paper we present an analytical study to statistically determine the suitability of colour space representation of an image to best detect plant pixels and separate them from background pixels. Our hypothesis is that the colour space representation in which the separation of the distributions representing plant pixels and background pixels is maximized would be the best for detection of plant pixels. The two classes of pixels are modelled as a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). In our GM modelling we don't make any prior assumption about the number of Gaussians in the model. Rather a constant bandwidth mean-shift filter is used to cluster the data and the number of clusters and hence the number of Gaussians is automatically determined. Here we have analysed following representative colour spaces like $RGB$, $rgb$, $HSV$, $Ycbcr$ and $CIE-Lab$. This is because these colour spaces represent several other similar colour spaces and also an exhaustive study of all the colour space will be too voluminous. We also analyse the colour space feature from the two-class variance ratio perspective and compare the results of our hypothesis with this metric. The dataset for this empirical study consist of 378 digital images of plants and their manual segmentation. Dataset consist of various species of plants (arabidopsi, tobacco, wheat, rye grass etc.) imaged under different lighting conditions, indoor and outdoor, controlled and uncontrolled background. In results we obtain better segmentation of the plants in $HSV$ colour space, which is supported by its Earth mover distance (EMD) on the GMM distribution of plant and background pixels.

By combing continuum topology optimization (TO) method and lattice structure technique, a sandwich aircraft spoiler with a high stiffness-to-weight is designed. TO method is served to produce the shell of the aircraft spoiler and the lattice structure, used as cores, is employed to support the shell. TO problem is established as maximizing the stiffness of the structure with limited material volume. Density-based method is utilized to achieve a 0/1 solution. We then empirically replace the core of the aircraft spoiler by using 3D kagome lattice structure. Two different materials, i.e., aluminum alloy and titanium alloy, are synthetically applied to further reduce the weight and simultaneously improve the strength of the aircraft spoiler. Numerical simulations are conducted to show that the designed aircraft spoiler can meet the service environment with a reduction of its weight by approximately 80% when compared with that of the initial design model. Finally, we have fabricated the designed model with photosensitive resin by using 3D printing technique.

In this work, numerical simulations for the absorption and scattering efficiencies of spheroid core–shell nanoparticles (CSNs) were conducted and studied using the discrete-dipole approximation method. The characteristics of surface plasmon resonances (SPR) depend upon shell thickness, the compositions of the core and shell materials, and the aspect ratio of the constructed CSNs. We used different core@shell compositions, specifically Au@SiO₂, Ag@SiO₂, Au@TiO₂, Ag@TiO₂, Au@Ag, and Ag@Au, for extinction spectra analysis. We also investigated coupled resonance mode wavelengths by adjusting the composition’s layer thickness and aspect ratio. In this study, we show that the extinction efficiency of the Ag@TiO₂ core–shell nanoparticles (CSNPs) was higher than that of the others, and we examined the impact of TiO₂ shell thickness and Ag core radius on SPR peak positions. From the extinction spectra we found that the Ag@TiO₂ nanoparticle had better refractive index sensitivity and figure of merit when the aspect ratio was set to 0.3. All of the experimental results proved that the tunability of these plasmonic resonances was highly dependent on the material used, the layer thickness, and the aspect ratio of the core@shell CSNPs.

Control of nutrients, mainly nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), plays a significant role in preventing cyanobacterial blooms (harmful algal blooms (HABs)). This study aimed at evaluating changes in the risk of the occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms and advancing the understanding of how N and P affect the growth of cyanobacteria in a eutrophic lake, Lake Vombsjön, in southern Sweden. Statistical analysis was used to demonstrate the pattern of cyanobacterial blooms, that the highest content present in September and the later that algal blooms occur, the more likely it is a cyanobacterial bloom as cyanobacteria became dominating in October and November (90%). Two hypothesises tested in Lake Vombsjön confirmed namely that a high total phosphorus (TP) level correlates with an abundance of cyanobacteria and that low N:P ratio (total nitrogen/total phosphorus < 20) favours the growth of cyanobacteria. To control the growth of cyanobacteria in Lake Vombsjön, the TP level should be kept below 20 µg/L and the N:P ratio be maintained at a level of over 20. The two species Planktothrix agardhii, and Pseudanabaena spp. should be carefully monitored especially in late autumn. Future work should consider any high degree of leakage from the sediment of the dissolved phosphorus available there.

The purpose of this article is to simulate data transmission and calculate traffic parameters in SAGIN air segment for which Ad Hoc network of flying drones is considered as a model. Traffic modeling is based on the manet-routing-compare example from the ns3 simulator library, which has been supplemented with the code for calculation packet losses, throughput/goodput, and message transmission delays. The program allowed considering drones movement at both low and high speeds from 3.6 km/h to 72 km/h. The dependences of traffic losses on data transmission power, transaction sizes and data transmission rate are obtained and analyzed. The distribution of the average effective arrival rate λ and the throughput/goodput for drones has been studied. Comparing traffic characteristics in models with different numbers of drones allows judging how the required quality of service can be achieved by choosing the right transmission parameters.

Recent advancements in Software Defined Networking (SDN) makes it possible to overcome the management challenges of traditional network by logically centralizing control plane and decoupling it from forwarding plane. Through centralized controllers, SDN can prevent security breach, but it also brings in new threats and vulnerabilities. Central controller can be a single point of failure. Hence, flow-based anomaly detection system in OpenFlow Controller can secure SDN to a great extent. In this paper, we investigated two different approaches of flow-based intrusion detection system in OpenFlow Controller. The first of which is based on machine-learning algorithm where NSL-KDD dataset with feature selection ensures the accuracy of 82% with Random Forest classifier using Gain Ratio feature selection evaluator. In the later phase, the second approach is combined with Gated Recurrent Unit Long Short-Term Memory based intrusion detection model based on Deep Neural Network (DNN) where we applied an appropriate ANOVA F-Test and Recursive Feature Elimination feature selection method to improve the classifier performance and achieved an accuracy of 88%. Substantial experiments with comparative analysis clearly show that, deep learning would be a better choice for intrusion detection in OpenFlow Controller.

Honeycomb-like CO₃O₄ nanosheets with high specific surface area were successfully synthesized on porous nickel foam by the facile hydrothermal method followed by an annealing treatment (300 °C), which were used as high-performance supercapacitor electrodes. The effects of mole ratio of hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) and Co(NO₃)₂ (1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1 and 6:1）as the reactants on morphological evolution and electrochemical performance of the electrodes were investigated in detail. X-ray diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were applied to characterize the structure and morphology of the products. The electrochemical performance was measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge/discharge. The results indicated that phase constituents were almost unaffected with the change in mole ratio of HMT and Co(NO₃)₂. However, the significant morphological evolution of Co₃O₄ was observed with increasing the mole ratio, which was described as followed: the nanosheets accompanied with a large number of spherical nanoparticles→the formation of some strip-like particles due to the agglomeration of spherical nanoparticles→the formation of new nanosheets resulting from the growth of strip-like particles→the formation of coarse flower-like particles owing to the connection among the nanosheets→the nanosheets gradually covered with flower-like particles. Accompanied with the change, the specific surface area was increased firstly, and then decreased. A maximum was obtained in the HMT and Co(NO₃)₂ mole ratio of 4:1, which was further validated by CV and galvanostatic charge/discharge tests. The specific capacitance value was 743.00 F·g^-1 at 1 A·g^-1 in the galvanostatic charge/discharge test, which was apparently higher than those in the other mole ratios (139.11 F·g^-1 in 1:1, 280.46 F·g^-1 in 2:1, 503.29 F·g^-1 in 3:1, 463.75 F·g^-1 in 5:1 and 363.74 F·g^-1 in 6:1). The change was also observed in the CV test with a scanning rate of 5 mV·s^-1 (121.32 F·g^-1 in 1:1, 217.33 F·g^-1 in 2:1, 559.86 F·g^-1 in 3:1, 693.56 F·g^-1 in 4:1, 423.35 F·g^-1 in 5:1 and 321.64 F·g^-1 in 6:1). Co₃O₄ synthesized in the mole ratio of 4:1 also demonstrated an excellent cyclic performance, in which about 97% of the initial specific capacitance was remained at 1 A·g^-1 for 500 cycles in the galvanostatic charge/discharge test. This excellent electrochemical performance was ascribed to high specific surface area of Co₃O₄ nanosheets that provide enough channels and space for ions transportion.

The bulk backscattering ratio ($\tilde{b_{bp}}$) is commonly used as a descriptor of the bulk real refractive index of the particulate assemblage in natural waters. Based on numerical simulations, we analyze the impact of heterogeneity of phytoplankton cells on $\tilde{b_{bp}}$. $\tilde{b_{bp}}$ is modeled considering viruses, heterotrophic bacteria, phytoplankton, detritus, and minerals. Three study cases are defined according to the relative abundance of these different components. Two study cases represent typical situations in open ocean, outside (No-B/No-M) and inside bloom (B/No-M). The third study case is typical of coastal waters with the presence of minerals. Phytoplankton cells are modeled by a two-layered spherical geometry representing a chloroplast surrounding the cytoplasm. The $\tilde{b_{bp}}$ values are higher when heterogeneity is considered because the contribution of coated spheres to backscattering is higher than homogeneous spheres. The impact of heterogeneity is however strongly conditioned by the hyperbolic slope $\xi$ of the particle size distribution. Even if the relative concentration of phytoplankton is small (<1%), $\tilde{b_{bp}}$ increases by about 60% (for $\xi=4.3$ and for the No-B/No-M water body), when the heterogeneity is taken into account, in comparison with a particulate population only composed by homogeneous spheres. As expected, heterogeneity has a much smaller impact (about 5$\%$ for $\xi=4.3$) on $\tilde{b_{bp}}$ when minerals are added.

Restricted feeding is well known to affect expression profiles of both clock and metabolic genes. However, it is unknown whether these changes in metabolic gene expression result from changes in the molecular clock or in feeding behavior. Here we eliminated the daily rhythm in feeding behavior by providing 6-meals evenly distributed over the light/dark-cycle. Animals on this 6-meals-a-day feeding schedule retained the normal day/night difference in physiological parameters including body temperature and locomotor activity. The daily rhythm in respiratory exchange ratio (RER), however, was significantly phase-shifted through increased utilization of carbohydrates during the light phase and increased lipid oxidation during the dark phase. This 6-meals-a-day feeding schedule did not have a major impact on the clock gene expression rhythms in the master clock but did have mild effects on peripheral clocks. By contrast, genes involved in glucose and lipid metabolism showed differential expression. Concluding, eliminating the daily rhythm in feeding behavior in rats does not affect the master clock and only mildly affects peripheral clocks, but disturbs metabolic rhythms in liver, skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue in a tissue-dependent manner. Thereby a clear daily rhythm in feeding behavior strongly regulates timing of peripheral metabolism, separately from circadian clocks.

In the present scenario of increased industrialization and transportation in the world leads to increased consumption of fossil fuels which in turns leads to depletion of fossil fuels at a faster rate. Fossil fuels combustion is the dominant source for greenhouse gases and global warming. In view of energy crisis raised in 1970’s and environmental concern, many researches are directed towards search of alternative fuels which can replace consumption of fossil fuels as well as reduce pollution. In developing countries like India which is agriculture land the best alternative fuels are biodiesel and ethanol as they are produced from renewable feedstocks like sugarcane, corn etc. and they are also less hazardous to environment because of lower emission property. Ethanol blends results in significant reduction of emissions of hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulates matter but increase in nitrogen oxides (NOx). The main purpose of ethanol addition is to reduce the viscosity of biodiesel blends. This paper represents significance of Compression Ratio(CR) on performance, combustion and emission of single cylinder four stroke CI diesel engine by using various compression ratios such as 17.5:1, 18.5:1 and 19.5:1. Experimental research has been conducted with four types of ethanol blends, namely E10, E20, E30 and E40. Ethanol-biodiesel mixture mixed with 2% emulsifier 1% diethyl carbonate and 1% ethyl acetate to maintain similarity and to avoid phase separation. Ethanol subjected to high compression ratio has been used to increase brake thermal efficiency (BTE). The compression ratio has been increased to improve the combustion and performance of the diesel engine.

Laboratory experiments were performed to measure the supercritical CO2 (scCO2) storage ratio (%) of the conglomerate and sandstone in Janggi Basin, which are classified as rock in Korea available for CO2 storage. The scCO2 storage capacity was evaluated by direct measurement of the scCO2 amount replacing pore water in a reservoir rock core. The scCO2 sealing capacity of the cap rock (i.e., tuff and mudstone), was also compared by measuring the initial scCO2 seepage pressure (Δp) into the rock core. The measured average scCO2 storage ratio of the conglomerate and the sandstone in Janggi Basin was 30.7 % and 13.1 %, respectively, suggesting that the scCO2 storage capacity is greater than 360,000 metric tons in the Janggi Basin. The initial scCO2 seepage pressure of the tuff in the Janggi Basin was 15 bar and continuous scCO2 injection into the tuff core occurred at Δp higher than 20 bar. For the mudstone, the initial scCO2 seepage pressure was higher than 150 bar (10 times higher than that of the tuff), demonstrating that the mudstone is more suitable than the tuff to shield scCO2 leakage from the reservoir rock in the Janggi Basin.

Modern gas turbines firing temperatures (1500-2000K) are well beyond the maximum allowable blade material temperatures. Continuous safe operation is made possible by cooling the HP turbine first stages -nozzle vanes and rotor blades- with a portion of the compressor discharge air, a practice that induces a penalty on the cycle thermal efficiency. Therefore, a current issue is to investigate the real advantage, technical and economical, of raising maximum temperatures much further beyond current values. In this paper, process simulations of a gas turbine are performed to assess HP turbine first-stage cooling effects on cycle performance. A new simplified and properly streamlined model is proposed for the non-adiabatic expansion of the hot gas mixed with the cooling air within the blade passage, which allows for a comparison of several cycle configurations at different TIT (turbine inlet temperature) and max (total turbine expansion ratio) with a realistically acceptable degree of approximation.. The calculations suggest that, at a given max, the TIT can be increased in order to reach higher cycle efficiency up to a limit imposed by the required amount and temperature of the cooling air. Beyond this limit, no significant gains in thermal efficiency are obtained by adopting higher max and/or increasing the TIT, so that it is convenient in terms of cycle performance to design at lower rather than higher max. The small penalty on cycle efficiency is compensated by lower plant cost. The results of our model agree with those of some previous much more complex and computationally expensive studies, so that the novelty of this paper lies in the original method adopted on which the proposed model is based, and in the fast, accurate and low resource intensity of the corresponding numerical procedure: all advantages that can be crucial for industry needs. The presented analysis is purely thermodynamic, with no investigation on the effects of the different configurations on plant costs, so that future work addressing a thermo-economic analysis of the air-cooled gas turbine power plant is the next logical step.

P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a membrane-bound transporter, can eliminate xenobiotics by transporting them out of the cells or blood-brain barrier (BBB) at the expense of ATP hydrolysis. Thus, P-gp mediated efflux plays a pivotal role in altering the absorption and disposition of a wide range of substrates. Nevertheless, the mechanism of P-gp substrate efflux is rather complex since it can take place through active transport and passive permeability in addition to multiple P-gp substrate binding sites. A nonlinear quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model was developed in this study using the novel machine learning-based hierarchical support vector regression (HSVR) scheme to explore the perplexing relationships between descriptors and efflux ratio. The predictions by HSVR were found to be in good agreement with the observed values for the molecules in the training set (n = 50, r² = 0.96, q²_CV = 0.94, RMSE = 0.10, s = 0.10) and test set (n = 13, q² = 0.80–0.87, RMSE = 0.21, s = 0.22). When subjected to a variety of statistical validations, the developed HSVR model consistently met the most stringent criteria. A mock test also asserted the predictivity of HSVR. Consequently, this HSVR model can be adopted to facilitate drug discovery and development.

The oil and gas sector has recognised structural integrity assessment of ageing platform for prospective life extension as a rising concern, particularly in encountering the randomness of the harsh ocean environments. This condition leads to uncertainty in wave-in-deck load estimates and a high load level being imposed on offshore structures. This emphasises the necessity of enhanced reliability, as failure might result in inaccessibility because of the uncertainties related to long-distance services, such as accuracy of predictions of loads and responses. Even though the established guidelines present a fundamental assessment, additionally, comprehensive rules are required. This paper performed a reliability analysis incorporating practical approaches that can more accurately represent time-dependent structural deterioration. The following two procedures have been adopted by a majority of significant oil and gas operators to monitor the safety and integrity of these structures: a) Ultimate Strength Assessment (USA) method and b) Reliability Design Assessment (ReDA) method. A comparison of these two reliability approaches was performed on selected ageing jacket structures in the region of the Malaysian sea. The comparative findings, namely, reserve strength ratio (RSR) at various years of the return period (RP) and ratio value for risk of failure regarding the probability of failure (POF), provided a check and balance in strengthening confidence in the results. The findings showed that the structural components might safely survive either using the USA and ReDA method in such conditions, as the reliability indexes were determined to be satisfactory compared to allowable values from ISO 19902 design specifications. Therefore, these evaluations were determined to control the risk level of the structure during the remaining of its lifetime and undertake cost-effective inspections or mitigation strategies when necessary.

In the present study, the performance of a 70 L photobioreactor, operating outdoors, was investigated using a purple bacterial strain as Rhodopseudomonas sp. S16-VOGS3 for producing poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB). The novel photobioreactor was equipped with 5L-shaped rows; the bottom of every row was placed in a stainless-steel tank containing water with controlled temperature. The photofermentation trials were carried out under fed-batch mode and under a semi-continuous regimen using lactic acid as carbon source. The effect of the irradiance and the C/N ratio on the PHB accumulation was investigated, in order to evaluate the optimal bacterial growth. The results showed the feasibility of the prototype photobioreactor for the production of PHB by Rhodopseudomonas sp. S16-VOGS3 under the natural light/dark cycle. During the fed-batch growth (144 h long), the cumulative PHB increased quickly reaching the maximum value of 377 mg/L and decreased to 255 mg/L during the semi-continuous regimen (336 h long).

The basic equation for estimating the aerodynamic power captured by an Anderson Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (AVAWT) is a solution of the Navier-Stokes(N-S) equations for a baroclinic, inviscid flow. In a nutshell, the pressure difference across the AVAWT is derived from Bernoulli’s equation; an upshot of the integration of the N-S momentum equation for a baroclinic inviscid flow, Euler’s momentum equation. The resulting expression for the pressure difference across the AVAWT rotor is plotted as a function of freestream speed. Experimentally determined airstream speeds at the AVAWT inlet and outlet, coupled with corresponding freestream speeds are used in estimating the aerodynamic power captured. The aerodynamic power is subsequently used in calculating the aerodynamic power coefficient of the AVAWT. The actual power coefficient is calculated from the power generated by the AVAWT at various free stream speeds and plotted as a function of the latter. Experimental results show that, at all free stream speeds and tip speed ratios, the aerodynamic power coefficient is higher than the actual power coefficient of the AVAWT. Consequently, the power generated by the AVAWT prototype is lower than the aerodynamic power captured, given the same inflow wind condition.

The Chang’e-4 (CE-4) lunar rover, equipped with The Visible and Near-IR Imaging Spectrometer(VNIS) which based on acousto-optic tunable filter spectroscopy, was launched to the far side of the moon on December 8, 2018. The detection band of VNIS ranges from 0.45 to 2.4μm. Because of the weak reflection of infrared radiation from the lunar surface, a static electronic phase-locked acquisition method is adopted in the infrared channel for signal amplification. In this paper, full-link simulations and modeling are conducted of the infrared channel information flow of the instrument. The signal/noise characteristics of VNIS are analyzed in depth, and the signal-to-noise(SNR) ratio prediction and laboratory verification are presented. On January 4, 2019, the VNIS started working successfully and acquired high-resolution spectrum data of the far side of the moon for the first time. Through analysis, the SNR ratio is in line with predictions, and the data obtained by VNIS in orbit are consistent with the information model proposed in this paper.

In this paper, the Fourier-based synchrosqueezing transform (FSST) method is introduced into the power system to realize low frequency oscillation identification. Firstly, the modal components of low frequency oscillation signal are separated by FSST, and calculating the instantaneous parameters including magnitude, frequency and phase of every mode component with Hilbert transform. Then , calculating the damping ration of every modal component based on above parameters and derived the formulas. Thus, it realized effective identification of of modal parameters of low frequency oscillation signal. The experimental results of simulated data and 16-generator system demonstrate the validity and correctness of the FSST method. Comparing with the classical Prony method shows that the FSST method is better in the identification accuracy when the low frequency oscillation signal is polluted by noise. Finally, the effectiveness of the FSST in Actual power grid is verified based on the real data from Sichuan power grid.

Liquefaction risk assessment is critical for the safety and economics of structures. As the soil strata of Ramsar area in north Iran is mostly composed of poorly graded clean sand and the ground water table is found at shallow depths, it is highly susceptible to liquefaction. In this study, a series of isotropic and anisotropic consolidated undrained triaxial tests are performed on reconstituted specimens of Ramsar sand to identify the liquefaction potential of the area. The specimens are consolidated isotropically to simulate the level ground condition, and anisotropically to simulate the soil condition on a slope and/ or under a structure. The various states of soil behavior are studied by preparing specimens at different initial relative densities and applying different levels of effective stress. The critical state soil mechanics approach for identifying the liquefaction susceptibility is adopted and the observed phenomena are further explained in relation to the micro-mechanical behavior. As only four among the 27 conducted tests did not exhibit liquefactive behavior, Ramsar sand can be qualified as strongly susceptible to liquefaction. Furthermore, it is observed that the pore pressure ratio is a good indication of the liquefaction susceptibility

1) Background: Ultrasound-based strain imaging is now available in several ultrasound (US) scanners. Strain ratio (SR) can be used to quantify strain recorded simultaneously in two different user-selected areas, ideally exposed to the same amount of stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate SR variability when assessed in an in-vitro setup with a tissue-mimicking phantom, on resected tissue samples and in live tissue scanning with endoscopic applications. 2) Material and methods: Retrospective analysis of SR for quantification of elastic contrasts in a tissue-mimicking phantom containing four homogenous inclusions, in 38 resected bowel wall lesions and in 48 focal pancreatic lesions examined in vivo. Median SR and the inter-quartile range (IQR) was calculated on all external and endoscopic US-applications. The IQR/median provides a measure of the SR variability focusing on the two percentiles of the data closest to the median value. 3) Results: The overall variability of SR was lowest in a tissue-mimicking phantom (mean QR/median SR: 0.07). In resected bowel wall lesions representing adenomas, adenocarcinomas or Crohn lesions, the variability increased (mean IQR/Median: 0.62). During an endoscopic examination of focal pancreatic lesions in vivo, the variability increased further (mean IQR/Median: 2.04). 4) Conclusion: SR variability increased when assessed on different targets with growing heterogeneity and biological variability as one moved from homogeneous media to live tissues and endoscopic application. This may indicate a limitation for the accuracy SR evaluation in clinical applications.

An experimental study was carried out to evaluate the ductility of reinforced concrete beams longitudinally reinforced with hybrid FRP-Steel bars. The specimens were fourteen reinforced concrete beams with and without hybrid reinforcement. The test variables were bars position, the ratio of longitudinal reinforcement, and the type of FRP bars. The beams were loaded up to failure using a four-point bending test. The performance of the tested beams was observed using the load-deflection curve obtained from the test. Numerical analysis using the fiber element model was used to examine the growth of neutral axis depth due to the effect of test variables. The neutral axis curves were then used to further estimate the neutral axis angle and neutral axis displacement index. The test results show that the position of the reinforcement greatly influences the flexural behavior of the beam with hybrid reinforcement. It was observed from the test that the flexural capacity of beams with hybrid reinforcement is 4% to 50% higher than that of the beams with conventional steel bars depending on bars position and the ratio of longitudinal reinforcement. The ductility decreases as the hybrid reinforcement ratio (Af/As) increases. This study also showed that a numerical model developed can predict the flexural behavior of beams with hybrid reinforcement with reasonable accuracy.

Titanium’s accelerating usage in global markets is attributable to its distinctive combination of physical and metallurgical properties. The key to best utilizing titanium is to exploit these characteristics, especially as they complement one another in a given application, rather than to just directly substitute titanium for another metal. Titanium alloy are extensively used in aerospace applications such as components in aero-engines and space shuttles, mainly due to their superior strength to weight ratio. For these demanding applications functionality and reliability of components are of great importance. To increase flight safety, higher sensitivity inspections are sought for rotating parts. Increased sensitivity can be applied at the billet stage, the forging stage, or both. Inspection of the forging geometry affords the opportunity to apply the highest sensitivity due to the shorter material paths when compared to those required for billet inspections. Forging inspection is typically performed for titanium (Ti) rotating parts with immersion inspection and fixed-focus, single-element transducers. Increased gain is required with depth because the ultrasonic beam attenuates with distance and diverges beyond the focus position that is placed near the surface. The higher gain that is applied with depth has the effect of increasing the UT noise with depth. The relationships between the UT noise, selection of the examination technique and the smallest detectable defect are presented in this material.

Stroke is one of the leading cause of adult disability and the second leading cause of death worldwide. The immune system actively participates in the pathobiological process of AIS, during the index event and during the repair process despite the limited attention drawn to this aspect in the existing stroke guidelines globally. The similar clinical course and similar circulating innate and adaptive immune cell counts in AIS and COVID-19 has created a renewed interest in these easily available biomarkers innate and adaptive immunological changes in AIS with potential diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic implications. The current scoping review aimed to assess the significance of circulating neutrophil and lymphocyte counts and their ratio (NLR) in AIS and explore their association with post-stroke recovery trajectory. The Arksey and O'Malley methodological framework was employed to review the published papers on the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and AIS in late November 2020. Only studies published in English from 2000-2020 were included in this scoping review. Fifty-three published papers were reviewed. This review's key finding is that a canonical inflammatory response occurs in AIS just as in the case of COVID-19 and neurological involvements well described in the recent literature. An excessive circulating innate immune cells (neutrophils) and reduced circulating adaptive immune cells (lymphocytes ) are associated with poorer outcomes during the acute interventions ( reperfusion therapies) as well as the recovery trajectory. Main representatives of innate and adaptive immunity follow a canonical course in AIS and COVID-19. Exaggerated circulating innate ( elevated neutrophils and elevated NLR) and reduced adaptive immune response (lymphopenia) correlate with the worse outcome in AIS and COVID-19. This scoping review's findings make the strongest case for a systems biology-based approach to the standard operating procedures in stroke care urgently.

Waterbomb structures are origami-inspired deformable structural components used in new types of robots. They have a unique radially deployable ability that enables robots to better adapt to their environment. In this paper, we propose a series of new waterbomb structures with square, rectangle, and parallelogram base units. Through quasi-static axial and radial compression experiments and numerical simulations, we prove that the parallelogram waterbomb structure has a twist displacement mode along the axial direction. Compared with the square waterbomb structure, the proposed optimal design of the parallelogram waterbomb structure reduces the critical axial buckling load-to-weight ratio by 55.4% and increases the radial stiffness-to-weight ratio by 67.6%. The significant increase in the radial stiffness-to-weight ratio of the waterbomb structure and decrease in the critical axial buckling load-to-weight ratio make the proposed origami pattern attractive for practical robotics applications.

The energy efficient problem of parallel-connected pumps in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems has received an increasing attention in recent years. While many pump optimization methods are proposed and show great performance, pumps are not always energy efficient and lack flexibility. In this paper, we propose a distributed control algorithm for parallel pumps in HVAC system in a peer-to-peer setting. Based on a spanning tree of the network of the intelligent nodes and a population of potential solutions randomly sampled, the algorithm makes optimal control decision for pumps to minimize energy consumption and meet the system demand. The theoretical analysis on convergence of the algorithm is established. Unlike traditional control structure, the whole system is fully distributed and each pump is controlled by an intelligent node that runs identical control code and coordinates with other nodes through direct data exchange. Simulation experiments on 6 parallel-connected pumps are provided for different working cases to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and compare with other four methods. The results show that our method strictly satisfies the demand constraint and presents a good energy saving potential, the convergence guarantee, the flexibility. The maximum energy saving can be up to 29.92%. Besides, the hardware test clearly presents that our method can perform on low-cost Raspberry Pi3 and reduce system cost.

In this experimental work, pure nickel oxide and Al-doped NiO thin films have successfully been elaborated onto glass substrates by solar spray pyrolysis technique. The substrates were heated at around 450°C using a solar heater (furnace). The structural, optical and electrical properties of the elaborated Al-doped films have been studied at different atomic percentage ratios (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 at. %). The results of Al-doped NiO films XRD patterns were, the formation of (NiO) phase under a cubic crystalline structure (polycrystalline) with a strong favored orientation along (111) plane were noticed at all sprayed films. When Al doping ratio reaches 1 at.%, an growth in crystallite size over 31.9 nm was obtained denoting the nano-structure of the product, which confirmed by SEM images. In addition, aluminum oxide Al₂O₃ was clearly observed at 1.5 at.% Al ratio. Otherwise, all thin films have a good optical transmission in the visible region of about 65%, the optical band gap energy decreased from 3.69 to 3.64 eV with increasing Al doping ratio. It is shown that the layer deposited with 0.5 at.% has less disorder with few defects. The investigation on electrical properties of elaborated thin films confirmed that the conductivity of NiO films was improved, after doping them with Al which affirms their p-type character of semiconductor. However, an addition of an excessive quantity of Al content causes the formation of Al₂O₃ which leads to a decrease in the conductivity. It is worth mentioning that the Al content of 0.5 at.% is the optimum ratio in terms of electrical conductivity and formation defect. Al-doped NiO can be used in various optoelectronic devices due to its good transparency and high electrical conductivity.

Molecular overtone transitions provide optical frequency transitions sensitive to variation in the proton-to-electron mass ratio (μ = m_p/m_e). However, robust molecular state preparation presents a challenge critical for achieving high precision. Here, we characterize infrared and optical-frequency broadband laser cooling schemes for TeH⁺, a species with multiple electronic transitions amenable to sustained laser control. Using rate equations to simulate laser cooling population dynamics, we estimate the fractional sensitivity to μ attainable using TeH⁺. We find that laser cooling of TeH⁺ can lead to significant improvements on current μ variation limits.

The use of wind energy has been developing fast over the last years. The global cumulative wind power capacity increased by 10.5% in 2019, most of which comes from onshore wind farms. One of the consequences of this continuous increase is the use of land for onshore wind farms. There are already cases worldwide where lack of well-established plans and strategies have caused delays in projects. The need for efficiently using land for wind farms will be mandatory in the short term. In this work, we present a numerical analysis to evaluate wind farm land-use. By defining the ratio between mechanical output power over an area as a parameter called land-use ratio, this work focused on comparing several cases of aligned and staggered layouts. Mechanical output power was estimated using a validated code based on Blade Element Momentum code, and the wake velocities and wake interaction effects were estimated using a validated wind turbine CFD model. In terms of output power, staggered designs are more efficient than aligned designs. However, the results showed that even though staggered designs produced higher output power, aligned farms with tight lateral spacing could be as efficient as staggered ones in terms of land-use but using fewer turbines. In summary, tightly aligned designs should be a tendency in the future towards efficient use of land in wind farms.

Many studies have found that future predicted CO2 levels (< 800 ppm) can increase plant mass but dilute N content in leaves, impacting antiherbivore compounds. Nitrogen-fixing plants may balance leaf C:N ratio under elevated CO2, counteracting this dilution effect. The aim of this study was to look at how nitrogen-fixing plants grow and respond to herbivore damage at different CO2 levels. Alnus incana ssp. rugosa was grown at 400, 800, or 1600 ppm CO2 in soil collected from the field, inoculated with Frankia and exposed to herbivores (Orgyia leucostigma). Elevated CO2 increased nodulated plant biomass and stimulated the nitrogen fixation rate in the early growth stage. However, nitrogen-fixing plants were not able to balance the C:N ratio under elevated CO2 after grown 19 weeks. When plant were grown at 400 and 1600 ppm CO2, herbivores preferred to feed on leaves of nodulated plants. At 800 ppm CO2, nodulated plants accumulated more total phenolic compounds in response to herbivore damage than plants in the non-Frankia and non-herbivore treatments. Our results suggest that plant leaf defence, not leaf nutritional content, is the dominant driver of herbivory and nitrogen fixing plants have limited ability to balance C:N ratios at elevated CO2 in natural soil.

Ensuring equal access to affordable higher education for women and men has become a crucial target of UNESCO’s SDG4-Education 2030. Currently, about one-third of the world's college-age population participates in higher education, while the gender disparity persists in various systems. This study employed GDP per capita, gross enrollment ratio (GER), and the gender parity index (GPI) to demonstrate how the education systems have expanded resulting in the transformation of gender parity. We selected Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the UK as research targets using a cross-correlation function and trend analysis to detect concurrent relationships and future trends with GDP per capita, GER, and GPI. The findings suggest Japan, Korea, and the UK continue to show gender disparity and need to respond to this issue in their policy intervention for SDG4-Education 2030. The results reveal a potential problem in the UK when GPI growth might become unlimited with females dominated. This study suggests the higher education expansion phenomenon and gender diversity in mass and universal systems can be detected by the trend analysis with GDP per capita, GER, and GPI in different settings. The design of the study provides an example to explore the gender diversity patterns in higher education systems for sustainable development.

Backgroundː Previous studies have shown that both serum creatinine and D-dimer levels were associated with atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD). We aimed to determine whether DCR is associated with coronary Gensini score in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methodsː 337 STEMI patients with complete D-dimer and creatinine and other necessary information were included in the analysis. According to the values of the DCR, patients were divided into the lower DCR group (DCR ≤ 1.42, n = 173) and the higher DCR group (DFR > 1.42, n = 174), and the differences between the two groups were compared. Multivariate linear and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine independent predictors of Gensini score. Resultsː High DCR group had higher Gensini score compared with low DCR group (P < 0.05). DCR was positively correlated with Gensini score (r=0.493, P < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that Previous MI (r=11.312, P=0.035) and DCR (r=5.129, P<0.001) were independent risk factors associated with Gensini score. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that, compared to the group 1, DCR is independent risk factor for Group 2, Group 3, Group 4 (P <0.001). DCR is positively correlated with coronary Gensini score in STEMI patients and can be used as an independent predictor of higher Gensini score. Conclusionsː As a new and useful clinical marker, DCR is positively correlated with coronary Gensini score in STEMI patients and can be used as an independent predictor of higher Gensini score.

Although carbon (C) efflux from soils treated with organic wastes was widely covered in temperate and cold regions, still such data is not sufficient from arid and semi-arid regions. Saudi Arabia produces more than 335,000 tons/year of cow manure (CM), this CM either left as raw manure or being composted. The application of high C/N amendments is expected to increase soil organic carbon and reduce CO₂ fluxes. A 90-day incubation experiment was conducted to study CO₂ efflux, organic C microbial biomass C, available NH₄+and NO₃-when added to agricultural soil. Six manure types were added: cow manure, cow manure compost, cow manure biochar, cow manure stripped ammonia at pH 12 with a temperature of 95oC, cow manure stripped ammonia at pH 9 with a temperature of 95oC and control. The application of CM resulted in a considerable increase in soil available nitrogen, CO₂ efflux compared to other treatments. Cow manure biochar showed the lowest CO₂ efflux. Cumulative CO₂ effluxes of cow manure effluents were lower than CM this possibly due to the relatively high C:N ratio of manure effluent. The content of, P, Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn were decreased as incubation time increased. microbial biomass C of cow manure stripped ammonia at pH 12 with a temperature of 95oC were increased at 7 and 60 days illustrating to temperature effect on the decomposing of manure materials.

This study provides a contribution to the research field of 3D printed earthen buildings, focusing, for the first time, on the load-bearing capacity of these structures. The study involves the entire production and testing process of the earthen elements, from design, to the preparation of the mixture and the 3D printing, up to the uniaxial compression test on a wall segment. The results indicate that 3D printed earthen elements have a compressive strength of 2.32 MPa, comparable to that of rammed earth structures. The experimental data also made it possible to draw conclusions on the action of the infill, which seems to have the function of stopping the propagation of cracks. This has a positive effect on the overall behavior of 3D printed earthen elements, since it avoids the onset of dilative behavior in the final stages of the load test and maintains ultimate load values higher than 50% of the maximum load.

A long-term investigation of D. suzukii dynamics in wild blueberry fields from 2012 - 2018 demonstrates relative abundance is still increasing seven years after initial invasion. Relative abundance is determined by physiological date of first detection and air temperatures the previous winter. Date of first detection of flies does not determine date of fruit infestation. The level of fruit infestation is determined by year, fly pressure, and insecticide application frequency. Frequency of insecticide application is determined by production system. Non-crop wild fruit and predation influences fly pressure; increased wild fruit abundance results in increased fly pressure. Increased predation rate reduces fly pressure, but only at high abundance of flies, or when high levels of wild fruit are present along field edges. Male sex ratio might be declining over the seven years. Action thresholds were developed from samples of 92 fields from 2012 - 2017 that related cumulative adult male trap capture to the following week likelihood of fruit infestation. A two-parameter gamma density function describing this probability was used to develop a risk-based gradient action threshold system. The action thresholds were validated from 2016-2018 in 35 fields and were shown to work well in two of three years (2016 and 2017).

Since identified as the pathogen responsible for an outbreak of severe respiratory distress in Wuhan, China, the 2019-nCoV coronavirus has caused over 30M cases and 1M deaths globally. Sporadic cases were identified in several states in the US from early January, and large-scale community transmission is believed to have started in late February, leading to a first spike in COVID-19 deaths and overall mortality in late April, and a second spike later in the summer. I show here that the dynamics of the pandemic were different in different regions of the US, showing a north-south pattern, with a first pandemic wave mainly in northern regions, followed by a second wave mainly in southern regions. Analysis of overall mortality data shows that the increase in mortality correlates well with COVID-19 incidence in most regions, and that from April through August COVID-19 deaths accounted for a substantial proportion of all deaths in all parts of the US.

Alpine forest gaps can distribute snowfall, solar radiation and rainfall, thus inducing a heterogeneous hydrothermal microenvironment between the inside and outside areas of forest gaps. Additionally, the characteristics of the heterogeneous microenvironment could vary greatly across the gap location properties during winter and the growing season. To determine the response of total phenol loss (TPL) from the litter to alpine forest gap disturbance during decomposition, we conducted a field litterbag experiment within a representative fir (Abies faxoniana Rehd.) forest based on the gap location properties. The TPL and abundances of fungi and bacteria from two typical shrub species (willow, Salix paraplesia Schneid., and bamboo, Fargesia nitida (Mitford) Keng f.) were measured during the following periods over two years: snow formation (SF), snow cover (SC) snow melting (ST), the early growing season (EG) and the later growing season (LG). At the end of the study, we found that the snow cover depth, frequencies of the freeze-thaw cycle and the fungal copy g-1 to bacterial copy g-1 ratio had significant effects on the litter TPL. The abundances of fungi and bacteria decreased from the gap center to the closed canopy during the two SF, SC, ST and LG periods and reversed during the two EG periods. The TPL closely followed the same trend as the microbial abundance during the first year of incubation. In addition, both species had larger TPLs in the gap center during the first winter, first year and entire two years. These findings suggest that alpine forest gap formation accelerates litter TPL and plays a dual role during specific critical periods by distributing abiotic and biotic factors directly and indirectly. In conclusion, reduced snow cover depth and duration during winter warming under current climate change scenarios or as gaps vanish may slow litter TPL in alpine biomes.

Most existing flexible count regression models allow only approximate inference. Balanced discretization is a simple method to produce a mean-parametrizable flexible count distribution starting from a continuous probability distribution. This makes easy the definition of flexible count regression models allowing exact inference under various types of dispersion (equi-, under- and overdispersion). This study describes maximum likelihood (ML) estimation and inference in count regression based on balanced discrete gamma (BDG) distribution and introduces a likelihood ratio based latent equidispersion (LE) test to identify the parsimonious dispersion model for a particular dataset. A series of Monte Carlo experiments were carried out to assess the performance of ML estimates and the LE test in the BDG regression model, as compared to the popular Conway-Maxwell-Poisson model (CMP). The results show that the two evaluated models recover population effects even under misspecification of dispersion related covariates, with coverage rates of asymptotic 95% confidence interval approaching the nominal level as the sample size increases. The BDG regression approach, nevertheless, outperforms CMP regression in very small samples (n = 15 − 30), mostly in overdispersed data. The LE test proves appropriate to detect latent equidispersion, with rejection rates converging to the nominal level as the sample size increases. Two applications on real data are given to illustrate the use of the proposed approach to count regression analysis.

late in December 2019 2019-nCoV was identified as the pathogen responsible for an outbreak of severe respiratory distress in Wuhan, China. The virus was detected in multiple countries during January, but it is believed widespread community transmission began late in February or early March. Since March the virus has caused over 100k confirmed deaths in the US, with some states more severely impacted, notably NY and NJ. Here I examine excess mortality at the national and state level from January through July 2020. I find that the increase in excess mortality began in late February, suggesting the pathogen was circulating undetected earlier than assumed. The timing and intensity of the increase in excess mortality varied across states, with two patterns emerging: an early, sharp increase reaching a peak during April-May, best exemplified by NY and NJ, and a shallower, sustained increase, reaching a peak in late July, observed mostly in the southern regions of the US.

While sex ratios at birth (SRB) have been shown to vary within and across populations, after over a century of research, explanations have remained elusive. A variety of ecological, demographic, economic, and social variables have been evaluated, yet their association with SRB has been equivocal. Here, in an attempt to shed light on this unresolved topic within the literature, we approach the question of what drives variation in SRB using detailed longitudinal data spanning the frontier-era to the early 20th century in a US population. Using several measures of environmental harshness, we find that fewer boys are born during challenging times. However, these results hold only for the frontier-era and not into a period of rapid industrialization. We argue that the mixed state of the literature may result from the impact and frequency of exogenous stressors being dampened in post-industrial societies.

This study numerically analyzed the effect of composition and temperature and oxygen concentration changes on the selfignition characteristics of n-heptane/methane blended fuels in order to cope with development of alternative fuels and international environmental regulations. CHEMKIN-PRO is used as the analysis program and the LLNL model is used as the reaction model. The numerical results revealed that on autoignition and ignition delay time were sensitive to changes in fuel composition and oxygen concentration. As the methane ratio increases, OH radicals causing ignition are delayed in generation and the concentration is lowered, thus longer the ignition timing. The oxygen concentration in the mixed fuels are changed to simulate the exhaust gas recirculation and a numerical analysis in then performed. As the oxygen concentration decreases, the ignition delay time longer because the nitrogen gas acts as a thermal load in the combustion chamber.

The article deals with auxetic structures made on the basis of suitably connected rigid rotating squares (from Grima and Evans), with axes of rotation on the squares’ surface. The geometric model and the resulting relationships that allow for the determination of Poisson’s ratio are considered in detail. It is demonstrated that changing the rotation axis position does not affect the negative Poisson’s ratio, equal to -1. The models built confirm the initial considerations and can offer new application possibilities.