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The coherent manipulation and control of bright and dark solitons through sodium atomic medium have been investigated in this manuscript. Dark soliton is reported for reflection and bright soliton is reported for transmission pulses with variation in position and driving field parameters through sodium atomic medium. Further the transmission pulse is periodic dark and bright solitonic behaviors and reflection pulse is periodic bright solitonic behavior with variation in the incident angle and Rabi frequency of the control field. Elliptical dark and bright solitons as well as breather types solitons are also investigated for reflection and transmission pulses. The dark soliton in reflection is due to slow light propagation and bright soliton is obtained due to fast light propagation of transmission through the medium. The modified results of the dark and bright solitons are useful for telecommunication and ultra-fast signal routing system.

This study investigates and analyzes the effect of flux intensification due to the propeller shaft and rudder on the 3D mapped induced magnetic signature of marine vessels. The study was designed to extrapolate the 3D induced magnetic signature and to analyze the difference between signature components in two different cases: a vessel without propeller shaft or rudder and a vessel with the propeller shaft and rudder attached. Numerical modeling was conducted using full-scale vessel dimensions and finite-element analysis (FEA) modeling software. Measurements on a 1:100 properly scaled and designed physical scale model (PSM)were conducted in a magnetically clean area. To enrich the analysis, both signature components from the numerical evaluation and experimental measurements were 3D mapped. Both the scaling technique and scaling effect on magnetic signature were investigated. The signature measurements of the scaled vessel model were performed to verify the numerical model. Both the numerical and experimental results are both discussed and shown to be consistent. The extrapolated signature components revealed that the studied effect became prominent as the saliency of the 3D mapped signature components increased. Consequently, this effect increases the magnetic susceptibility of the vessel to detection or destruction. Finally, this study suggests solutions to reduce this effect.

Abstract Background Despite being a priority population for HIV prevention and harm reduction programs, the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of women who inject drugs are being overlooked. Furthermore, models for providing integrated SRH, HIV, and harm reduction services for women who inject drugs are rare. This article reports the development of community-based outreach services that integrated family planning and other SRH interventions with HIV and harm reduction services for this population in coastal Kenya. Methods Using mixed-methods implementation research, a qualitative baseline needs assessment was conducted with women who inject drugs and harm reduction stakeholders using a combination of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The qualitative data from participants was subjected to thematic analysis using Nvivo. Based on the baseline needs assessment, integration of SRH into existing HIV and harm reduction services was implemented. After two years of implementation, an evaluation of the program was conducted using a combination of qualitative interviews and review of quantitative service delivery records and other program documents. The process, impacts, and challenges of integrating SRH into a community-based HIV prevention and harm reduction program were identified. Results This article highlights: 1) low baseline utilization of family planning services among women who inject drugs, 2) improved utilization and high acceptability of outreach-based provision of SRH services including contraception among this population, 3) importance of training, capacity strengthening, technical support and financial resourcing of community-based organizations to integrate SRH into HIV prevention and harm reduction services, and 4) the value of beneficiary involvement, advocacy, and collaboration with other partners in the planning, designing and implementing of SRH interventions for women who inject drugs. Conclusions Women who inject drugs in this study had low utilization of family planning and other SRH services, which can be improved through the integration of contraceptive and other SRH interventions into existing outreach-based HIV prevention and harm reduction programs. This integration is acceptable to women who inject drugs, and is programmatically feasible. For successful integration, a rights-based beneficiary involvement, coupled with sustainable technical and financial capacity strengthening at the community level is essential.

The initial fault signal of rolling element bearing is extremely weak and could be easily masked by strong background noise. Different features of vibration signal can be different sensitivity to initial fault and performance degradation. Moreover, individual features cannot reflect bearing fault rationally and these features reveal non-monotonic behavior when the bearing condition deteriorates. A Health Indicator (HI) is proposed based on Mahalanobis Distance and Cumulative Sum (MD-CUMSUM). The time-frequency domain features extracted through Singular Value Decomposition based on Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD-SVD) and several optimal time domain features are used to calculate Mahalanobis Distances (MDs). The coarse-to-fine diagnosing strategy is proposed to determine the initial fault of rolling bearing. The obtained HI is utilized to estimate the different performance degradation stages of the bearing depending on the thresholds. This method is verified by utilizing two different experiments. The results demonstrate that the approach has the capability of estimating initial fault and determining degradation stages of bearing.

Severe acute alcoholic liver disease (SAAH) unresponsive to medical therapy shows one-year-mortality rates of up to 90%. Most transplant centers request six months of alcohol abstinence prior to transplantation, the so-called “6-month rule.” This regulation is not based on strong evidence, repeatedly making it a topic of controversial debates. The majority of patients with SAAH will die before fulfilling the 6-month rule. Therefore, liver transplantation (LT) protocols are becoming more flexible towards the rigid abstinence regulation, especially concerning SAAH patients. We conducted a literature review regarding LT in SAAH and its outcomes, including post-transplant mortality and recidivism. We studied available data on PubMed from 2011 and onwards whilst including articles dealing with genetic components, medical therapy and historic snapshots of alcoholism. Emerging studies recommend LT in SAAH not responding to medical therapies even without realizing the required abstinence period, since the majority of these patients would die within 6 months. SAAH without response to medical therapy has one-year-mortality rates of up to 90%. The 6-month rule is not based on strong evidence and is repeatedly a topic of controversial debates. There is genetic linkage to alcoholism and medical therapy is not as effective as estimated, yet. The 6-months-regulation has not shown to evidently decrease the risk of recidivism post-LT, which is a lifesaving treatment in SAAH patients. Insisting on rigid sobriety rules results in excluding patients with a low risk of recidivism from being transplanted. Moreover, the genetic linkage of alcoholism must be recognized.

Abstract Background Obesity presents one of the leading causes of many chronic liver disorders and injuries. Nowadays, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) demonstrates a challenging issue for the global health system. NASH can progress to life-threatening conditions such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular or cholangio carcinoma. Currently, NASH cirrhosis is a major indication for liver transplant (LT). Case presentation We present the case of a 37 year-old male who has lost 74 kg after undergoing successful laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (SG) four years ago. Recently, he underwent right hepatectomy in the course of living-donor liver transplantation for his sick father in our clinic. Before the SG was conducted four years ago, his weight was at 157 kg and his Body Mass Index (BMI) at 49 kg/m2. At that time, Ultrasound examination showed severe fatty liver changes and intraoperative inspection of the liver was consistent with that observation. At the time of surgery, he weighed 83 kg and his BMI was at 27 kg/m2. An effective weight reduction after bariatric surgery might protect NASH patients from further deterioration of their medical condition. Conclusion To our knowledge, we report the first successful case of a right lobe living-donor hepatectomy in a patient who previously underwent successful laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG).

The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of stimulating ovarian follicle development in order to improve fertility in water buffalo cows by immunization against inhibin. The experiment was carried out in early summer (May) and included 24 multi-parity crossbred Murrah-Swamp buffaloes that were divided into immunized (n=11) and control (n=13) groups. Each immunized cow was administered with a 2-mL immunogen of mineral oil adjuvant containing 2 mg of recombinant inhibin α-subunit fusion protein. The controls were treated with the adjuvant only. All animals received Ovsynch protocol treatment, starting on the day of the antigen administration, and they were artificially inseminated upon behavioral estrus. As a result, all of the immunized buffaloes generated antibodies against inhibin during the experimental period and had higher plasma concentrations of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), activin, and estradiol (E2) related to estrous expression. A higher proportion of immunized animals expressed estrus behavior than did the controls (72% vs. 30%, P0.05). These results demonstrate that immunization against inhibin, coupled with the treatment with the Ovsynch protocol, can constitute a new technique to increase fertility in water buffalo cows.