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This work proposes a new architectural approach to enhance the security, privacy, and scalability of VANETs through threshold key management and Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), such as homomorphic encryption and secure multiparty computation, integrated with Decentralized Ledger Technologies (DLTs). These advanced mechanisms are employed to eliminate centralization and protect the privacy of transferred and processed information in VANETs, thereby addressing privacy concerns. We begin by discussing the weaknesses of existing VANET architectures concerning trust, privacy, and scalability and then introduce a new architectural framework that shifts from centralized to decentralized approaches. This transition applies a decentralized ledger mechanism to ensure correctness, reliability, accuracy, and security against various known attacks. The use of Layer 2 DLTs in our framework enhances key management, trust distribution, and data privacy, offering cost and speed advantages over Layer 1 DLTs, thereby enabling secure vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. The proposed framework is superior to other frameworks as it improves decentralized trust management, adopts more efficient PETs, and leverages Layer 2 DLT for scalability. The integration of multiparty threshold key management and homomorphic encryption also enhances data confidentiality and integrity, thus securing against various existing cryptographic attacks. Finally, we discuss potential future developments to improve the security and reliability of VANETs in the next generation of networks, including 5G networks.

In the Changthang region of Ladakh, India, pastoralism serves as the cornerstone of both the local economy and the local way of life. However, recent socioeconomic shifts and environmental constraints put this economic structure, which has been expertly adapted to the difficult trans-Himalayan geography, in danger of becoming unsustainable. To explore methods for balancing development, ecology, and Indigenous culture, this review analyzes pastoralism in Changthang. The sole dependable method of food production for generations has been mobile pastoralism, supported by high-elevation rangelands. Breeds of native livestock adapted to scant vegetation and seasonal variation have been selectively bred by generations of pastoralists. Sale of wool and cashmere provides financial stability for pastoralist families, mitigating income vulnerability to climate shocks and market fluctuations that would otherwise disrupt predominantly livestock-rearing livelihoods. However, traditional transhumance cycles and collective resource management have been hampered by sedentarization, population growth, conservation constraints, and market integration. Climate change and unrestricted grazing contribute to grassland degradation. Promising programs combine conventional methods with innovations like mobile veterinary services and satellite forecasting to preserve breeds and grazing resources while increasing productivity and climate resilience. These initiatives seek to support regulated grazing practices. Comanagement practices that involve communities in conservation planning are essential. This production system and culture can be maintained through integrated strategies respecting pastoralists' stewardship.

Objective: The current study's objective is to highlight the value of using plant resources to identify key bioactive molecules and implement green chemistry in research and development to meet market demand. Materials and Methods: The black cumin seeds (Saudi and Syria originated) were utilized to make silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs), which were subsequently confirmed using a UV spectrophotometer and color analysis of reaction mixtures. The antibacterial activity of Ag-NPs was tested against E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and S. aureus, and antioxidant activity was measured using the DPPH assay. Swiss-ADME, pkCSM, and ProTox-II were also used to assess the pharmacokinetics, oral bioavailability, toxicity, and safety endpoints of molecules. Result: The antibacterial effect of Ag-NPs from Saudi-origin black cumin seeds was observed higher. In comparison to the standard, the Saudi and Syrian Ag-NPs combined displayed synergistic antibacterial effects and were found to be more susceptible to S. aureus. In comparison to the reference, the antioxidant activity of Ag-NPs indicated 60–85% radical scavenging. All molecules passed the Lipinski rule, the filter (Veber, Egan, and Muegge), PAINS, and the Brenk structural alert (zero violations), and the synthetic score was also found to be in the easy limit (1 to 2). The compounds were found to be non-substrate for p-glycoprotein, high GIA% (>90%), non-inhibitor for CYP3A4, CYP2C19, CYP2C9, CYP2D6 (except 5 and 10), Log Po/w (1.71 to 3.26), TPSA 150 2 and MR 155. The compounds likewise had high Caco2 values (log Papp >0.9) with the exception of 4 and 9 (log Papp 0.9), were non-inhibitors of P-gp-I and II and hERG I and II, and showed no AMES toxicity. Except for molecule 11, no organ damage (hepatotoxicity) or endpoint toxicity (mutagenicity, immunotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and cytotoxicity) was identified in ProTox-II. Conclusion: The current study sheds new light on the significance of bioactive molecules found in black cumin seeds, with molecules 3 and 6 identified as potential leads (highest GIA%, no AMES toxicity, oral rat acute and chronic toxicity, lack of renal OCT2 substrate, high total clearance, and lack of organ toxicity) for further research for a variety of medical applications.

The importance of membrane technology development in our daily life cannot be overemphasized. Over the past decades, membrane technology has become very popular in providing potable water for mankind. However, old technologies (such as reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration) which are highly energy intensive are still very common in water treatment industries. In this review, the capability of low energy consumption membrane distillation (MD) technology is reviewed with emphasis on material development and energy requirement. We begin by reviewing the history of the MD process, configurations, module types, membrane materials, material fabrication methods, material properties, material modification techniques, application, and energy requirements. Factors which influence the performance of MD – both design and operating conditions – are then extensively discussed. Furthermore, we report desalination and wastewater treatment as the hottest areas of application where MD has gained significant interest. Membrane hydrophobicity and fouling resistance are identified as pivotal areas where improvement in MD performance is being sought. We then discuss various industries where MD is presently being applied. We conclude by highlighting the energy requirements of MD and identify solar energy as a renewable energy resource which could meet the energy requirement of MD technology. It is hoped that this review paper will foster interest in and provide insights on material development for membrane distillation application. HIGHLIGHTS Material selection is pivotal to membrane performance for MD application.; MD strongly depends on both membrane properties and operating conditions.; Both energy efficiency and water flux are important factors in MD performance evaluation.; Water desalination and wastewater treatment have received significant attention in MD application.;

This paper presents the use of machine learning (ML) to facilitate the design of dielectric-filled Slotted Waveguide Antennas (SWAs) with specified sidelobe level ratios (SLR). Conventional design methods for air-filled SWAs require the simultaneous solving of complex equations to deduce the antenna’s design parameters, which typically requires further manual simulation-based optimization to reach the desired resonance frequency and SLR. The few works that investigated the design of filled SWAs, did not optimize the design for a specified SLR. For an accelerated design process in the case of specified SLRs, we formulate the design of dielectric-filled SWAs as a regression problem where based on input specifications of the antenna’s SLR, reflection coefficient, frequency of operation, and relative permittivity of the dielectric material, the developed ML model predicts the filled SWA’s design parameters with very low error. These parameters include the unified slots length and the non-uniform slot displacements required to achieve the desired performance. We experiment with several regressive ML algorithms and provide a comparative study of their results. Our numerical evaluations and validation experiments with the best performing ML models demonstrate the high efficiency of the proposed ML approach in estimating the dielectric-filled SWA’s design parameters in only a few milliseconds. A comparison to the design obtained through conventional optimization using the Genetic Algorithm also indicates superiority of the ML models in computation time and resulting antenna performance.

With the prevalence of breast cancer among women and the shortcomings of conventional techniques in detecting breast cancer at its early stages, microwave breast imaging has been an active area of research and has gained momentum over the past few years, mainly due to the advantages and improved detection rates it has to offer. To achieve this outcome, specifically designed antennas are needed to satisfy the needs of such systems where an antenna array is typically used. These antennas need to comply with several criteria to make them suitable for such applications, which most importantly include bandwidth, size, design complexity, and cost of manufacturing. Many works in the literature proposed antennas designed to meet these criteria, but no works have classified and evaluated these antennas for the use in microwave breast imaging. This paper presents a comprehensive study of the different array configurations proposed for microwave breast imaging, with a thorough investigation of the antenna elements proposed to be used with these systems, classified per antenna type, and per the improvements that concern the operational bandwidth, the size of the antenna, the radiation characteristics, and the techniques used to achieve the improvement. At the end of the investigation, a qualitative evaluation of the antenna designs is presented, providing a comparison between the investigated antennas, and determining whether a design is suitable or not to be used in antenna arrays for microwave breast imaging, based on the performance of each. An evaluation of the investigated arrays is also presented, where the advantages and limitations of each array configuration are discussed.

Summary This article presents a complete design procedure for planar slotted waveguide antennas (SWA). For a desired sidelobe level ratio (SLR), the proposed method provides a pencil shape pattern with a narrow half power beamwidth, which makes the proposed system suitable for high power microwave applications. The proposed planar SWA is composed of only two layers, and uses longitudinal coupling slots rather than the conventional inclined coupling slots. For a desired SLR, the slots excitation in the radiating and feeder SWAs are calculated based on a specified distribution. Simplified closed‐form equations are then used to determine the slots nonuniform displacements, for both the radiating and feeder SWAs, without the need to use optimization algorithms. Using simplified equations, the slots lengths, widths, and their distribution along the length of the radiating and feeder SWAs can be found. The feeder dimensions and slots positions are deduced from the dimensions and total number of the radiating SWAs. An 8 × 8 planar SWA has been designed and tested to show the validity of the proposed method. The obtained measured and simulated results are in accordance with the design objectives.

Three adult Corriedale cryptorchid sheep were subjected to laparoscope-assisted orchiectomy of the retained testicles. One (n = 2) or both (n = 1) the testicles were missing in their scrotal sac and inguinal regions. Ultrasonography was used to locate the retained testicles and their distance from the abdominal surface. The animals were restrained in dorsal recumbency and Trendlenburg posture under lumbosacral epidural anaesthesia using 2% lignocaine hydrochloride. Two laparoscopic ports were created in the caudal abdomen adjacent to the retained testicles. They were identified by their ovoid shape, white glistening surface (Tunica albuginea) and typical vasculature. Laparoscope-assisted exteriorization of the testicles after enlarging the ports, ligation of their blood supply and resection of the spermatic cord was performed successfully. The scrotal testes in two rams were then subjected to routine Burdizzoo castration. The laparoscopic port sites healed without complications and all the animals continued to do well subsequently. From this case report, it is concluded that in sheep the laparoscopy; a minimally invasive procedure can confirm abdominal retention of testicle/s and may also be used for their retrieval in a single sitting. Although total laparoscopic procedure is expected to reduce the incision size further but requires advanced laparoscopic instruments and expertise.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of the Broselow™ Pediatric Emergency Tape (BT) for estimating weight in an Omani paediatric population at a tertiary care hospital. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted during July 2015. The electronic medical records of Omani outpatients

Our objective is to determine the incidence, etiology, risk factors and outcome of acute kidney injury (AKI) after open heart surgery. A prospective study was conducted on 62 patients who underwent open heart surgery and were followed-up for the development of AKI and to determine its incidence, etiology and outcome. Post-operative AKI was considered when the post-operative serum creatinine was >1.5 mg/dL or there was doubling of serum creatinine above the baseline (pre-operative) with a prior normal renal function. The incidence of AKI in the post-operative period in our study was 17.7%. The common etiological factors for AKI in our study were sepsis, hypotension, prolonged need for ventilator and inotropic support and drugs given in the post-operative period. The important risk factors for the development of AKI in the post-operative period were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, gout, prolonged total bypass time and prolonged aortic cross-clamp time. The overall mortality in our study subjects was 11.3% (seven of 62 died) and the mortality in the patients who developed post-operative AKI was 71.4%.

Shamir O Cawich,1 Peter B Johnson,2 Sundeep Shah,2 Patrick Roberts,2 Milton Arthurs,2 Trevor Murphy,2 Kimon O Bonadie,2 Ivor W Crandon,1 Hyacinth E Harding,1 Mohammed Abu Hilal,3 Neil W Pearce3 1Department of Clinical Surgical Sciences, University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago; 2Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston, Jamaica; 3University Surgical Unit, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, United Kingdom Introduction: By providing a structured forum to exchange information and ideas, multidisciplinary team meetings improve working relationships, expedite investigations, promote evidence-based treatment, and ultimately improve clinical outcomes. Methods: This discursive paper reports the introduction of a multidisciplinary team approach to manage hepatobiliary diseases in Jamaica, focusing on the challenges encountered and the methods used to overcome these obstacles. Conclusion: Despite multiple challenges in resource-limited environments, a multidisciplinary team approach can be incorporated into clinical practice in developing nations. Policy makers should make it a priority to support clinical, operational, and governance aspects of the multidisciplinary teams. Keywords: decision-making, cancer, health care policy

Abstract:As part of research into document image processing, an algorithm has been developed to detect and correct the degree of skew in a scanned image. The principal components of the algorithm are the wavelet and radon transforms. The wavelet transform is used as a form of down-sampling process to reduce the amount of data to be processed. The performance of the algorithm has been evaluated using a sample size of several images taken from different types of document. Evaluation shows that a skew angle may be detected and corrected.

Abstract Background Splenosis is a heterotropic implantation of splenic fragments onto exposed vascularised peritoneal and intrathoracic surfaces, following splenic injury or elective splenectomy. Case presentation A 60 year old cirrhotic patient was referred to us with a hepatic mass, suspected to be HCC in a cirrhotic liver. A computerized tomography scan (CT) demonstrated a cirrhotic liver with a 2 × 2.7 cm focal hypervascular nodule, lying peripherally at the junction of segment 7 and 8. Diagnostic laparoscopy demonstrated a 3 cm exofitic dark brown splenunculus attached to the diaphragm and indenting the surface of segment 7 of the liver. The lesion was easily resected laparoscopically and shaved from the live surface with no need for a liver resection. The histopathological assessment confirmed the diagnosis of splenunculus, with no evidence of neoplasia. Conclusion Hepatic splenosis is not a rare event and should be suspected in patients with a history of splenic trauma or splenectomy. Correct diagnosis is essential and will determine subsequent management plans. In doubtful cases laparoscopic investigation can offere essential information and should be part of the standard protocol for investigating suspected splenosis.