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Background: Vitamin B12 is an essential micronutrient, aids in synthesis of neurotransmitters, and vital for cognitive function. In the current younger population with more of electronic gadgets and scientific world seems to slow down critical thinking and impairs the trick of comprehensive subjective learning. Vitamin B12 deficiency has been linked to insulin-resistant state and future cardiovascular risk. Aim: This study compared single-point insulin sensitivity estimator (SPISE) index, cognitive performance, and CVS risk in vitamin B12-adequate and -deficient young adults. Materials and Methods: Study participants were 60 young female participants, 18 to 35 years with the inclusion criteria of BMI more than 22.9 and waist circumference >85 cm. Anthropometric variables were measured. Lipid profile analytes were analyzed in an integrated Beckman Coulter AU series autoanalyzer. Based on SPISE index categorized as insulin resistant Group A

In this study, we evaluated the potential of Lantana camara L. (L. camara L.) fruit extract as a biogenic mediator for the synthesis of enzyme-rich zinc oxide nanoparticles (EZnO) aimed at the detoxification of phenol and its derivatives. The protein extraction yielded a maximum concentration in the 80 % cut fraction, with a protein concentration of 0.96 μg/ml. The highest peroxidase enzyme activity was measured at 41 U/min at 80 % cut using a 250 μg protein concentration, while the highest polyphenol oxidase activity of 7.16 μg/ml was observed in the 40 % cut fraction. The synthesis of EZnO nanoparticles was confirmed through a visible color change and UV–visible spectroscopy with a distinctive absorbance peak at 307. 40 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis at 2θ angle indicated the crystalline structure of the nanoparticles, with characteristic peaks corresponding to the planes of the ZnO crystal lattice. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) characterization revealed the embedding of the peroxidase enzyme within the nanoparticles, evidenced by absorbance peaks at 1708.62 cm−1 corresponding to amide I, 1604.48 cm−1 corresponding to amide II, and 1380 cm−1 corresponding to amide III. Similarly, the presence of polyphenol oxidase was indicated by absorbance peaks at 3185.83 cm−1 and 2981.41 cm−1. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis showed the nanoparticles exhibited polydispersity with a size range of 10–100 nm, with an agglomerated morphology, suggesting successful enzyme-nanoparticle hybridization. The histogram was constructed based on the counting of nanoparticles with size which showed highest number of nanoparticles were in the range of between 10 and 20 nm. The BET analysis showed a surface area of 225.1 m2/g. The EZnO nanoparticles demonstrated effective detoxification capabilities, achieving 86 % removal of synthetic phenol, 63 % removal of synthetic 2-chlorophenol, and 69 % removal of their mixture within 24 h. These findings highlights the potential of L. camara L. fruit extract and EZnO nanoparticles for application in the detoxification of hazardous pollutants, offering a sustainable and efficient approach to environmental remediation.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is a significant cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke, and lower limb amputation. Diabetes is a growing challenge in India, with an estimated 8.7% diabetic population (between 20 and 70 years). The macrovascular disease is the primary pathogenic mechanism underlying coronary heart disease (CHD). Microvascular disease may play a prominent role in CHD development in diabetic individuals. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a specific marker of microvascular disease in type 2 diabetes. It is unclear, however, if the presence of DR signifies an increased risk of CHD. OBJECTIVES: 1. To assess the proportion of DR and 10-year risk of developing CHD among study subjects 2. To assess the relationship between DR and CHD risk. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2021 and November 2023 at a tertiary hospital in Tumkur among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Data were collected using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire, and subjects were examined for DR and 10-year risk of developing CHD and data were analyzed. RESULTS: Among the study subjects, 65% were male, 74.3% were on oral hypoglycemic drugs, and 12.9% had a family history of CHD. DR was seen in 49.3% of study subjects. 10% of study subjects hada ≥ 40% risk of developing CHD. There was a statistically significant association between DR and the risk of CHD (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: DR may be associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk. A careful cardiovascular assessment and follow-up may be required in individuals with DR.

Adropin, a peptide discovered in 2008, has gained recognition as a key regulator of cardiovascular health and metabolic balance. Initially identified for its roles in energy balance, lipid metabolism, and glucose regulation, adropin has also been found to improve cardiovascular health by enhancing endothelial function, modulating lipid profiles, and reducing oxidative stress. These protective mechanisms suggest that adropin may be able to help prevent conditions such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, and other cardiovascular diseases. Research has established connections between adropin and cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia, positioning it as a valuable biomarker for evaluating cardiovascular disease risk. New studies highlight adropin's diagnostic and prognostic significance, showing that higher levels are linked to better cardiovascular outcomes, while lower levels are associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. This review aims to summarize current knowledge on adropin, emphasizing its significance as a promising focus in the intersection of cardiovascular health and metabolic health. By summarizing the latest research findings, this review aims to offer insights into the potential applications of adropin in both clinical practice and research, leading to a deeper understanding of its role in maintaining cardiovascular and metabolic health.

Abstract Inadequate conservation of medicinal plants can affect their productivity. Traditional assessments and strategies are often time-consuming and linked with errors. Utilizing herbs has been an integral part of the traditional system of medicine for centuries. However, its sustainability and conservation are critical due to climate change, over-harvesting and habitat loss. The study reveals how machine learning algorithms, geographic information systems (GIS) being a powerful tool for mapping and spatial analysis, and soil information can contribute to a swift decision-making approach for actual forethought and intensify the productivity of vulnerable curative plants of specific regions to promote drug discovery. The data analysis based on machine learning and data mining techniques over the soil, medicinal plants and GIS information can predict quick and effective results on a map to nurture the growth of the herbs. The work incorporates the construction of a novel dataset by using the quantum geographic information system tool and recommends the vulnerable herbs by implementing different supervised algorithms such as extra tree classifier (EXTC), random forest, bagging classifier, extreme gradient boosting and k nearest neighbor. Two unique approaches suggested for the user by using EXTC, firstly, for a given subregion type, its suitable soil classes and secondly, for soil type from the user, its respective subregion labels are revealed, finally, potential medicinal herbs and their conservation status are visualised using the choropleth map for classified soil/subregion. The research concludes on EXTC as it showcases outstanding performance for both soil and subregion classifications compared to other models, with an accuracy rate of 99.01% and 98.76%, respectively. The approach focuses on serving as a comprehensive and swift reference for the general public, bioscience researchers, and conservationists interested in conserving medicinal herbs based on soil availability or specific regions through maps.

Abstract Metal-rich particles originating from non-ferrous metallurgical activities are the primary source of atmospheric metals in urban environments. These particles vary in size, morphology, and elemental compositions and they undergo weathering processes that alter their composition and affect their toxicity. This study focuses on lead (Pb)-rich particles in settled urban dust within an arid and dusty city, Torreón in North Mexico, affected by Met–Mex Peñoles complex, one of the world's largest Ag–Cd–Pb–Zn smelting and refining facilities in operating since 1901. Torreón is characterized by arid conditions, temperature fluctuations, and low humidity. Dry atmospheric particles were collected in 2015 and 2017 from Torreón's urban area within a 3 km radius of the Met–Mex Peñoles complex. We used various analytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) to determine the size, morphology, elemental composition and mineralogy of Pb-bearing particles. Our analysis revealed a range of Pb-bearing particle sizes and morphologies with varying Pb (0.3 to 51–87.2%) and other element contents, such as As (0.04 to 1–3.4%), Cd (0.4 to 3.3–5.1%), Cu (0.51–14.1%), Hg (ND-0.6%), and Zn (1.7 to 79–90.3%). XRD analysis confirmed the presence of Pb and Zn sulfides, Pb carbonates, Pb sulfate, and Pb oxides in urban dust, both as individual particles and agglomerates. Primary Pb minerals were linked to fugitive feed concentrates and smelter flue gas at Met–Mex Peñoles, while secondary Pb minerals, like Pb carbonates, Pb sulfate, and Pb oxides, resulted from direct emissions and weathering processes. Compared to galena, secondary Pb minerals exhibit higher chemical availability in the environment, posing greater risks to the environment and human health. As the particles analyzed are presumed to be resuspended rather than freshly emitted by Met–Mex, the presence of secondary Pb minerals in settled urban dust is predominantly linked to weathering processes. The physical and chemical transformations in Pb-rich particles contribute to increased Pb bioavailability and toxicity in urban dust, with substantial implications for environmental and human health. These findings highlight the potential consequences of weathered Pb-rich particle in urban areas, particularly in the arid and dusty city of Torreón.

Summary: Background: The benefits of facilitating breastmilk feeding and close contact between mother and neonate (family-centred care; FCC) in the perinatal period are well-established. The aim of this study was to determine how the delivery of FCC practices were impacted for neonates born to mothers with perinatal SARS-CoV-2 infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Neonates born to mothers with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy were identified from the ‘EsPnIC Covid paEdiatric NeonaTal REgistry’ (EPICENTRE) multinational cohort between 10 March 2020 and 20 October 2021. The EPICENTRE cohort collected prospective data on FCC practices. Rooming-in and breastmilk feeding practice were the main outcomes, and factors influencing each were determined. Other outcomes included mother-baby physical contact prior to separation and the pattern of FCC components relative to time and local site guidelines. Findings: 692 mother-baby dyads (13 sites, 10 countries) were analysed. 27 (5%) neonates were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (14 (52%) asymptomatic). Most sites had policies that encouraged FCC during perinatal SARS-CoV-2 infection for most of the reporting period. 311 (46%) neonates roomed-in with their mother during the admission. Rooming-in increased over time from 23% in March–June 2020 to 74% in January–March 2021 (boreal season). 330 (93%) of the 369 separated neonates had no FCC physical contact with their mother prior, and 319 (86%) were asymptomatic. Maternal breastmilk was used for feeding in 354 (53%) neonates, increasing from 23% to 70% between March–June 2020 and January–March 2021. FCC was most impacted when mothers had symptomatic COVID-19 at birth. Interpretation: This is the largest report of global FCC practice during the COVID-19 pandemic to date. The COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted FCC despite low perinatal transmission rates. Fortunately, clinicians appear to have adapted to allow more FCC delivery as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed. Funding: The National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia): Grant ID 2008212 (DGT), Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation: Grant ID 2019–1155 (EJP), Victorian Government Operational Infrastructure Support Program.

Background and Objectives: Virtual Reality (VR) technology is an effective tool to teach various well-known skills and concepts. Teaching and integrating the traffic culture by using modern approaches is an essential fact to control and decrease the damages and costs caused by driving problems. In the past few years, the element of virtual instructor has been added to the intelligent tutoring system to increase the interactivity and learning effectiveness of the learners. Teaching via an instructor or the so-called ‘video modeling’ which is part of multimedia teaching content is referred to as the teaching samples in which an instructor explains how to do something. Examining the effects of using an intelligent virtual instructor in educational multimedia content is one of the special fields of research in education and learning to which enough attention has not been paid . On the other hand, in recent years, using technology and modern approaches in the field of traffic educating has become very popular and various countries have made considerable investments in this area. Based on this issue, in this paper, with the development and testing of a simulator game of teaching traffic rules (traffic-sim) the effect of the presence of an intelligent virtual instructor on the improvement of the users’ learning efficiency as well as enhancing their sense of presence were studied. The goal of this study is determining the effect of the presence of the intelligent virtual instructors in teaching the traffic rules to the learners. We also aim to investigate to what extent the presence of the intelligent virtual instructors can enhance learning ability and the sense of presence in the learning scenarios. Methods: For this aim, to provide the educational content in a game, the ‘traffic-sim’ simulator was designed and implemented in two versions including with a virtual intelligent instructor (instructor-based) and without a virtual intelligent instructor (visual-text).Using a comprehensive user study, we evaluated and compared the sense of presence and performance of players in the instructor-based mode and without the virtual instructor mode. In order to test the objective variables, the statistical population of 20 students from Tabriz Islamic Art University was selected and assigned randomly to either control or experimental groups. The experimental and the control group were respectively trained using the instructor-based simulator and the visual-text-based simulator. Participants were asked to play the simulator while learning the traffic rules. To analyze the effect of the presence of virtual instructor on two variables, namely learning and sense of presence, the data regarding the number of the rules violated during playing the game and the results of the sense of presence questionnaire were used both for the experimental and the control groups, respectively. Findings:The analyses in two levels of descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (independent t-test) confirm that the use of intelligent virtual instructor improves the users’ learning (M=5.00, SD=3.00, t(18) =0.043, p < 0.05) and enhances the sense of the presence in the participants (M=114, SD=6.00, t(18) =0.023, p < 0.05). Conclusion: In the present study, ‘traffic-sim’ simulator was designed and developed to teach the traffic rules. as a serious game to train individuals by scenarios related to the real-world traffic rules. We tested the impacts of intelligent virtual instructor attendance on enhancing users’ learning and their sense of presence. The results of data analysis showed that the presence of the virtual instructor can enhance the participants’ sense of presence while enhancing the efficiency of the process of learning traffic rules. Our findings reveal that the learners would try to choose safer strategies and improve their performance after they have made a mistake . Moreover, the presence of the virtual instructor would lead to social interactions between the user and the virtual instructor that can result in increasing the learners’ sense of presence. Based on the findings of the previous researchers and the present study, it can be concluded that the intervention of a virtual teaching factor can have a positive effect on learning as well as the sense of the learners’ presence in the process of driving traffic simulation. Therefore, virtual instructors can be used to improve the learning process in educational subjects. ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS ©2021 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers. =====================================================================================

The conservation of biodiversity is crucial as many plant species are critically under extinction. The traditional medicinal system, an alternative to synthetic drugs, promote healthy living and mainly depends on the wide repository of plants. A vision-based automatic medicinal plant identification system is proposed using different neural network techniques in computer vision and deep learning. The challenge lies in the unavailability of the medicinal herb dataset. The paper showcases a novel medicinal leaf dataset entitled DeepHerb dataset comprising of 2515 leaf images from 40 varied species of Indian herbs. The efficacy of the dataset is revealed by comparing pre-trained deep convolution neural network architectures such as VGG16, VGG19, InceptionV3 and Xception. The work concentrates on adopting the transfer learning technique on the pre-trained models to extract features and classify using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). The SVM hyperparameters are tuned further by Bayesian optimization to achieve a better performance model. The proposed DeepHerb model learned from Xception and ANN outperformed by 97.5% accuracy. A cross-platform mobile application entitled HerbSnap developed integrating the DeepHerb model identifies the herb image with a prediction time of 1 second per image and reveals the pertinent details of herbs from the database. This research will further focus on expanding the dataset to benefit stakeholders and thus, enriches society with the knowledge of herbs and their medicinal properties.

Social networks are streaming, diverse and include a wide range of edges so that continuously evolves over time and formed by the activities among users (such as tweets, emails, etc.), where each activity among its users, adds an edge to the network graph. Despite their popularities, the dynamicity and large size of most social networks make it difficult or impossible to study the entire network. This paper proposes a sampling algorithm that equipped with an evaluator unit for analyzing the edges and a set of simple fixed structure learning automata. Evaluator unit evaluates each edge and then decides whether edge and corresponding node should be added to the sample set. In The proposed algorithm, each main activity graph node is equipped with a simple learning automaton. The proposed algorithm is compared with the best current sampling algorithm that was reported in the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (KS) and normalized L1 and L2 distances in real networks and synthetic networks presented as a sequence of edges. Experimental results show the superiority of the proposed algorithm.

Background and Objectives: Action recognition, as the processes of labeling an unknown action of a query video, is a challenging problem, due to the event complexity, variations in imaging conditions, and intra- and inter-individual action-variability. A number of solutions proposed to solve action recognition problem. Many of these frameworks suppose that each video sequence includes only one action class. Therefore, we need to break down a video sequence into sub-sequences, each containing only a single action class.Methods: In this paper, we develop an unsupervised action change detection method to detect the time of actions change, without classifying the actions. In this method, a silhouette-based framework will be used for action representation. This representation uses xt patterns. The xt pattern is a selected frame of xty volume. This volume is achieved by rotating the traditional space-time volume and displacing its axes. In xty volume, each frame consists of two axes (x) and time (t), and y value specifies the frame number.Results: To test the performance of the proposed method, we created 105 artificial videos using the Weizmann dataset, as well as time-continuous camera-captured video. The experiments have been conducted on this dataset. The precision of the proposed method was 98.13% and the recall was 100%.Conclusion: The proposed unsupervised approach can detect action changes with a high precision. Therefore, it can be useful in combination with an action recognition method for designing an integrated action recognition system.

This study investigated the effects of various force moulting methods on egg physical and mechanical characteristics, plasma metabolites and performance of Japanese quails from 26 to 36 weeks of age. The treatments were: T1 (control), T2 (feed restriction), T3 (alfalfa powder), T4 (wheat screening powder, a by-product obtained after harvesting and processing of wheat). Egg production ceased completely with feed restriction and alfalfa treatments by days 4 and 3. Also, birds under feed restriction and alfalfa treatments returned to first egg at day 4 of post-moulting period. No significant differences were found in feed intake, egg mass, egg production, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and mortality of quails in response to experimental treatments after moulting (P>0.05). Feed restriction led to significantly higher egg weight in comparison to control and wheat screening treatments (P0.05). The calcium concentration was higher (P

Data analysis in cardiovascular diseases is difficult due to large massive of information. All of features are not impressive in the final results. So it is very important to identify more effective features. In this study, the method of feature selection with binary cuckoo optimization algorithm is implemented to reduce property. According to the results, the most appropriate classification for support vector machine is featured diagnoses heart disease. The main purpose of this article is feature reduction and providing a more precise diagnosis of the disease. The proposed method is evaluated using three measures: accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. For comparison, a data set of Machine Learning Repository database including information about 303 people with 14 features was used. In addition to the high accuracy of current methods, are expensive and time-consuming. The results indicate that the proposed method is superior on other algorithms in terms of Performance, accuracy and run time.

The medieval city of Vlaardingen (the Netherlands) was strategically located on the confluence of three rivers, the Maas, the Merwede, and the Vlaarding. A church of the early 8th century AD was already located here. In a short period of time, Vlaardingen developed in the 11th century AD into an international trading place and into one of the most important places in the former county of Holland. Starting from the 11th century AD, the river Maas repeatedly threatened to flood the settlement. The flood dynamics were registered in Fluvisol archives and were recognised in a multidisciplinary sedimentary analysis of these archives. To secure the future of these vulnerable soil archives an extensive interdisciplinary research effort (76 mechanical drill holes, grain size analysis (GSA), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), archaeological remains, soil analysis, dating methods, micromorphology, and microfauna) started in 2011 to gain knowledge on the sedimentological and pedological subsurface of the settlement mound as well as on the well-preserved nature of the archaeological evidence. Pedogenic features are recorded with soil description, micromorphological, and geochemical (XRF – X-ray fluorescence) analysis. The soil sequence of 5 m thickness exhibits a complex mix of "natural" as well as "anthropogenic" layering and initial soil formation that enables us to make a distinction between relatively stable periods and periods with active sedimentation. In this paper the results of this interdisciplinary project are demonstrated in a number of cross-sections with interrelated geological, pedological, and archaeological stratification. A distinction between natural and anthropogenic layering is made on the basis of the occurrence of the chemical elements phosphor and potassium. A series of four stratigraphic and sedimentary units record the period before and after the flooding disaster. Given the many archaeological remnants and features present in the lower units, in geological terms it is assumed that the medieval landscape was submerged while it was inhabited in the 12th century AD. In reaction to a final submersion phase in the late 12th century AD, the inhabitants started to raise the surface of the settlement. Within archaeological terms the boundary between natural and anthropogenic layers is stratigraphically lower, so that in the interpretation of archaeologists, the living ground was dry during the 12th and the 13th centuries AD. In this discussion, the geological interpretation will be compared with alternative archaeological scenarios.

The PEACH project (Projet en Electricité Atmosphérique pour la Campagne HyMeX – the Atmospheric Electricity Project of the HyMeX Program) is the atmospheric electricity component of the Hydrology cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX) experiment and is dedicated to the observation of both lightning activity and electrical state of continental and maritime thunderstorms in the area of the Mediterranean Sea. During the HyMeX SOP1 (Special Observation Period) from 5 September to 6 November 2012, four European operational lightning locating systems (ATDnet, EUCLID, LINET, ZEUS) and the HyMeX lightning mapping array network (HyLMA) were used to locate and characterize the lightning activity over the northwestern Mediterranean at flash, storm and regional scales. Additional research instruments like slow antennas, video cameras, microbarometer and microphone arrays were also operated. All these observations in conjunction with operational/research ground-based and airborne radars, rain gauges and in situ microphysical records are aimed at characterizing and understanding electrically active and highly precipitating events over southeastern France that often lead to severe flash floods. Simulations performed with cloud resolving models like Meso-NH and Weather Research and Forecasting are used to interpret the results and to investigate further the links between dynamics, microphysics, electrification and lightning occurrence. Herein we present an overview of the PEACH project and its different instruments. Examples are discussed to illustrate the comprehensive and unique lightning data set, from radio frequency to acoustics, collected during the SOP1 for lightning phenomenology understanding, instrumentation validation, storm characterization and modeling.

Most plant-origin fiber sources used in pig production contains a mixture of soluble and insoluble non-starch polysaccharides (NSP). The knowledge about effects of these sources of NSP on the gut microbiota and its fermentation products is still scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of feeding diets with native sources of NSP on the ileal and fecal microbial composition and the dietary impact on the concentration of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and lactic acid. The experiment comprised four diets and four periods in a change-over design with seven post valve t-cecum cannulated growing pigs. The four diets were balanced to be similar in NSP content and included one of four fiber sources, two diets were rich in pectins, through inclusion of chicory forage (CFO) and sugar beet pulp, and two were rich in arabinoxylan, through inclusion of wheat bran (WB) and grass meal. The gut microbial composition was assessed with terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length polymorphism and the abundance of Lactobacillus spp., Enterobacteriaceae, Bacteroides–Prevotella–Porphyromonas and the β-xylosidase gene, xynB, were assessed with quantitative PCR. The gut microbiota did not cluster based on NSP structure (arabinoxylan or pectin) rather, the effect was to a high degree ingredient specific. In pigs fed diet CFO, three TRFs related to Prevotellaceae together consisted of more than 25% of the fecal microbiota, which is about 3 to 23 times higher (P

Prophethood, possesses a profound significance in the Abrahamic religions. Prophets act as mediums, through whom the message of God is received and delivered to people, and thus fulfill two kinds of epistemological and Responsible functions: one related to the prophetic “gnosis” of the divine message and the other to the missionary “responsibility” of enacting it. But do the position and functions of the prophets come to an end with his death? For the Abrahamic religions, the answer is ‘No’. In these religions, we are faced with a phenomenon that can be called the “Transmission of the position and functions of prophets”. This article attempts to explain this phenomenon in the context of the holy texts of these three religions and in the terms of the three mechanisms of Blessedness, Heredity and Successorship. Although, the separation between this mechanisms in analysis, necessarily, they are not separate in instances. The first mechanism of such Transmission, by which the prophet transmits on his position and functions to his Children's, is Blessedness. Blessedness is a special covenant between God and Abraham, and is reported twice in the Old covenant. By this mechanism, God blesses to Abraham and promises to bless his Children's, to make them as many as the dust of the earth, and to make them victorious in the face of their enemies. Thus, the mechanism of blessedness becomes institutionalized in Abraham’s family and household, and passes on from one generation to the next. In the New covenant, Jesus and Virgin Mary are called “the Blessed Ones”, Jesus is described as the Source of Blessedness for everyone, and all the true Christian believers are considered as the heirs to Abraham’s Blessedness. In the noble Quran, not only the covenant of God’s Blessedness with Abraham and Isaac is mentioned, but also Jesus is referred to as “the Blessed One” (“Mubarak”). However, it can be said that mechanism of Blessedness does not transmit the position and functions of Abraham as much as, it paves the way for the other two mechanism by making Abraham’s children countless and victorious. The second mechanism of such transmission is heredity: A father’s properties are inherited by the other members of the family, especially by his children, after his death. Although, this mechanism may be too general in its inclusion to be an exclusive mechanism of the prophets, it undergoes a shift of meaning in theology as far as the prophets are concerned. It becomes something more than the mere inheriting of the father’s properties by his children. In such a mechanism, another factor begins to emerge that can be recognized as a kind of supremacy within the family. It is as if some members of the prophet’s family inherit a greater share than other members, and this can lead to their supremacy over the others. Therefore, it can be said that unlike Blessedness, heredity is a mechanism with a hierarchical nature. Compared to the other family relationships, a direct blood-relationship, especially between a father and his son, has a privileged status in heredity. Like Blessedness, heredity begins with Abraham; but unlike Blessedness which was a mechanism introduced by God, heredity is a mechanism introduced by Abraham. What the reports of the Old covenant indicate is that heredity is a more precious and exceptional mechanism than Blessedness, for here the designation of an heir demands first and foremost God’s approval. It is as if by this mechanism, a share of the father’s position and functions are left to the son. But the question is: What of the father’s position and functions and to what measure are transmitted to the son by mechanism of heredity? The answer to this question is to be sought in Moses. Upon knowing his own imminent death, Moses, according to the Old covenant, asks God to appoint a leader for the Israelites, and God chooses Joshua, the son of Nun as Moses’ successor. But God immediately declares that Joshua can take over only some of the functions Moses. Joshua cannot receive God’s messages directly and for such a purpose, has to go to al-azar, the son of Aaron. This report proves that the position of leadership of Israelites after Moses is not hereditary; for if it was, it must have inevitably gone to a member of Moses’ or Aaron’s family. The functions of Moses’ responsibility cannot be delegated by mechanism of heredity. In the Jewish establishment, neither the prophetic position nor the Judges’ position is not delegated by mechanism of Heredity. In the Jewish tradition, the only thing that can be passed on by mechanism of Heredity is a kind of primal function related to the gnosis, fully manifesting itself in the “divination”. The only eminent example of passing on the function of responsibility by mechanism of Heredity is God’s covenant with David to establish his children forever as the kings to the throne of Israel. After the demise of David’s kingdom, especially during and after the Babylonian Exile, Heredity accrues an ever more significance as a mechanism of transmission. It finds its ultimate reflection in the figure of the Christ. The Christ shall return the glorious days of David’s Kingdom to the Jews, so he must be the rightful heir to David himself. Such a belief works itself in the Christian tradition and in the framework of having faith in Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. The New covenant describes Jesus as “the physical son of David” and renders complete yet inconsistent genealogies of Jesus to recognize him as one of David’s children. Even though Jesus is called “the christ” (“Al-Maseeh”) in Quran, such use of the term cannot be taken as he really having the status of the Messiah. Moreover, the father-son relationship between David and Jesus cannot be construed from any verses of Quran. The holy Quran only mentions Solomon’s Heredity from David. Furthermore, one can recognize not only a literal but also a figurative Heredity from the prophets in the worldviews of the Abrahamic religions. The Jewish thought accepts the figurative inheritance of all Jews from the prophets, and the new covenant also points out the inheritance of the Christians from Abraham; but conditions such inheritance to a belief in Jesus Christ. If it is asked what of Abraham’s position and functions are inherited, the answer shall be Abraham’s Blessedness. But, why isn’t there any mention of inheritance from Jesus himself in the New Covenant? The simplest answer is that Jesus does not have any children in the first place to make any discussion of his true heir possible. Therefore, it is the figurative children, instead of the actual children, of Jesus Christ that inherit from him in the Christian thought. The Quran refers the mechanism of Heredity back to Abraham, but accepts such transmission of leadership only for those children of him who are neither sinner nor oppressors. In the same line of reasoning, Quran refers to the three paradigmatic examples of Heredity from the prophets: Solomon’s Heredity from David, John the Baptist’s Heredity from Zechariah, and John the Baptist’s Heredity from Jacob’s family. Most of the Sunnites scholars describe the Heredity of the prophets as being those functions related to the prophetic gnosis of the divine message, whereas most Shiite scholars consider such Heredity to be the functions related to the prophetic responsibility of enacting the divine message via ruling over people. However, there are Muslim scholars who believe that Prophethood and its Gnostic functions are not things that can be transmitted by mechanism of Heredity. The third mechanism of such transmission is Successorship, which was introduced to Abrahamic religions by Moses. In contrast to the other two mechanisms of Blessedness and Heredity, Successorship’s most distinctive feature is that it is not limited at all to the prophet’s family. The New Covenant does not accept that Jesus Christ has a “successor”, for the concept of Successorship requires death as its necessary condition. But Jesus never dies, and the issue of his Successorship is thus always redundant. The Christian establishment, however, accepts the concept of “successors” of Jesus Christ. Successorship is mentioned only once in the Quran: Before Moses ascends the Mount Sinai with Joshua, he appoints Aaron as his successor to the functions of prophetic responsibility. In the various traditions of Abrahamic religions, Joshua and Peter are respectively recognized as the successors of Moses and Jesus. The figure of Joshua in the Old Covenant is a concoction of the Prophet, the Judge and the War Leader. The most outstanding chapter of Joshua’s life is when Moses asks God to appoint a successor to be the leader of the Israelites in his stead, and God selects Joshua for such an office. But he has to only continue the function of Moses’ responsibility. Joshua is neither from the family of Moses nor even from his tribe. Although, all the Israelites are described as the followers of Joshua in the Old Covenant, some Jewish Scholars harbor suspicions and doubts about such a belief. According to the reports of the Old Covenant, Joshua does not appoint any successor for himself. The New Covenant does mention Joshua, but only in passing as the one who “gives rest” to the Israelites and acts as an agency through which their society is established and maintained. Nevertheless, since the mission of Moses in saving the Israelites is only accomplished through Joshua, he acquires the status of a prefiguration of Jesus, as the Savior, in the Christian thought. The holy Quran also refers to Joshua’s testimony about the Promised Land and his successive attempts to call on his people to fight and enter the Land as the fulfillment of the divine promise. Joshua has such a high status among the Muslim Interpreters of Quran that they equal him to “the Chivalrous Youth” (فَتاهُ) mentioned in the Chapter of the Cave (18:67). Even though the Quran does not speak of Successorship of Moses by Joshua and the Shiite scholars do not consider this to certainly be the case, Joshua’s status as the successor of Moses is generally accepted in the Islamic thought. The Christian establishment considers Peter to be the successor of Jesus, and he is even recognized by the Christian tradition as the first believer in Jesus, although not without some doubts again. What the collective reports of the New Covenant indicate is that Peter isn’t, at least during Jesus’ life, superior to the other Apostles, and that the religious authority of Christians is by no mechanism confined to him. But after Jesus’ death, Peter step by step goes on to acquire a superior status in relation to the other Apostles. He is there at the center of the reports narrated in the Acts of the Apostles; he is the first disciple who sees Jesus after his Resurrection; and finally, becomes the speaker of all the other Apostles and the leader of all Christians. He calls himself the Chosen One by God and is thus recognized as the best disciple of and the closest disciple to Jesus Christ. The only one who dares to stand against him is Paul. Unlike Peter, Paul confines the function of Peter’s missionary responsibility only to the Jews. Historical studies show that the prominence of Peter’s status among the Apostles begins to be highlighted only in the second and third century B.C., but never wins a universally accepted approval. But a question remains to be asked: To which of Jesus’ functions is Peter a successor? The only valid answer is that he is a successor to the gnostic functions of the Old Covenant , for Jesus himself does not have the functions of a universal missionary responsibility, let alone Peter who is just a successor to him. In the Catholic reading of Christianity, the mechanism of Successorship does not end with Peter, for Peter himself has successors who go on to maintain his gnostic status and function within the framework of the Catholic teaching called the Apostolic Successorship. It is in such a reading that the spiritual authority and credibility of the Holy Church, the Pope and all the Bishops come from the Apostles of Jesus Christ in a series of continuous Successorships. Such a mechanism is considered to be a guarantee of the validity of faith and receptivity of divine grace for all Christians. Gradually, the teaching of Successorship is applied and generalized to the Pope and the Bishops in so far as it is fixed as an established procedure of the Catholic Church after St. Augustine. Ultimately, such a teaching ends up in the supremacy of the Roman Church over other Churches as well as of the Pope over his counterparts and colleagues. Furthermore, the Church of Rome also considers itself to be entitled to the Patrimony of St. Peter. However, the followers of the Protestant and Anglican Churches disagree with such a teaching and beg to differ on this issue.

Prophethood, possesses a profound significance in the Abrahamic religions. Prophets act as mediums, through whom the message of God is received and delivered to people, and thus fulfill two kinds of epistemological and Responsible functions: one related to the prophetic “gnosis” of the divine message and the other to the missionary “responsibility” of enacting it. But do the position and functions of the prophets come to an end with his death? For the Abrahamic religions, the answer is ‘No’. In these religions, we are faced with a phenomenon that can be called the “Transmission of the position and functions of prophets”. This article attempts to explain this phenomenon in the context of the holy texts of these three religions and in the terms of the three mechanisms of Blessedness, Heredity and Successorship. Although, the separation between this mechanisms in analysis, necessarily, they are not separate in instances. The first mechanism of such Transmission, by which the prophet transmits on his position and functions to his Children's, is Blessedness. Blessedness is a special covenant between God and Abraham, and is reported twice in the Old covenant. By this mechanism, God blesses to Abraham and promises to bless his Children's, to make them as many as the dust of the earth, and to make them victorious in the face of their enemies. Thus, the mechanism of blessedness becomes institutionalized in Abraham’s family and household, and passes on from one generation to the next. In the New covenant, Jesus and Virgin Mary are called “the Blessed Ones”, Jesus is described as the Source of Blessedness for everyone, and all the true Christian believers are considered as the heirs to Abraham’s Blessedness. In the noble Quran, not only the covenant of God’s Blessedness with Abraham and Isaac is mentioned, but also Jesus is referred to as “the Blessed One” (“Mubarak”). However, it can be said that mechanism of Blessedness does not transmit the position and functions of Abraham as much as, it paves the way for the other two mechanism by making Abraham’s children countless and victorious. The second mechanism of such transmission is heredity: A father’s properties are inherited by the other members of the family, especially by his children, after his death. Although, this mechanism may be too general in its inclusion to be an exclusive mechanism of the prophets, it undergoes a shift of meaning in theology as far as the prophets are concerned. It becomes something more than the mere inheriting of the father’s properties by his children. In such a mechanism, another factor begins to emerge that can be recognized as a kind of supremacy within the family. It is as if some members of the prophet’s family inherit a greater share than other members, and this can lead to their supremacy over the others. Therefore, it can be said that unlike Blessedness, heredity is a mechanism with a hierarchical nature. Compared to the other family relationships, a direct blood-relationship, especially between a father and his son, has a privileged status in heredity. Like Blessedness, heredity begins with Abraham; but unlike Blessedness which was a mechanism introduced by God, heredity is a mechanism introduced by Abraham. What the reports of the Old covenant indicate is that heredity is a more precious and exceptional mechanism than Blessedness, for here the designation of an heir demands first and foremost God’s approval. It is as if by this mechanism, a share of the father’s position and functions are left to the son. But the question is: What of the father’s position and functions and to what measure are transmitted to the son by mechanism of heredity? The answer to this question is to be sought in Moses. Upon knowing his own imminent death, Moses, according to the Old covenant, asks God to appoint a leader for the Israelites, and God chooses Joshua, the son of Nun as Moses’ successor. But God immediately declares that Joshua can take over only some of the functions Moses. Joshua cannot receive God’s messages directly and for such a purpose, has to go to al-azar, the son of Aaron. This report proves that the position of leadership of Israelites after Moses is not hereditary; for if it was, it must have inevitably gone to a member of Moses’ or Aaron’s family. The functions of Moses’ responsibility cannot be delegated by mechanism of heredity. In the Jewish establishment, neither the prophetic position nor the Judges’ position is not delegated by mechanism of Heredity. In the Jewish tradition, the only thing that can be passed on by mechanism of Heredity is a kind of primal function related to the gnosis, fully manifesting itself in the “divination”. The only eminent example of passing on the function of responsibility by mechanism of Heredity is God’s covenant with David to establish his children forever as the kings to the throne of Israel. After the demise of David’s kingdom, especially during and after the Babylonian Exile, Heredity accrues an ever more significance as a mechanism of transmission. It finds its ultimate reflection in the figure of the Christ. The Christ shall return the glorious days of David’s Kingdom to the Jews, so he must be the rightful heir to David himself. Such a belief works itself in the Christian tradition and in the framework of having faith in Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. The New covenant describes Jesus as “the physical son of David” and renders complete yet inconsistent genealogies of Jesus to recognize him as one of David’s children. Even though Jesus is called “the christ” (“Al-Maseeh”) in Quran, such use of the term cannot be taken as he really having the status of the Messiah. Moreover, the father-son relationship between David and Jesus cannot be construed from any verses of Quran. The holy Quran only mentions Solomon’s Heredity from David. Furthermore, one can recognize not only a literal but also a figurative Heredity from the prophets in the worldviews of the Abrahamic religions. The Jewish thought accepts the figurative inheritance of all Jews from the prophets, and the new covenant also points out the inheritance of the Christians from Abraham; but conditions such inheritance to a belief in Jesus Christ. If it is asked what of Abraham’s position and functions are inherited, the answer shall be Abraham’s Blessedness. But, why isn’t there any mention of inheritance from Jesus himself in the New Covenant? The simplest answer is that Jesus does not have any children in the first place to make any discussion of his true heir possible. Therefore, it is the figurative children, instead of the actual children, of Jesus Christ that inherit from him in the Christian thought. The Quran refers the mechanism of Heredity back to Abraham, but accepts such transmission of leadership only for those children of him who are neither sinner nor oppressors. In the same line of reasoning, Quran refers to the three paradigmatic examples of Heredity from the prophets: Solomon’s Heredity from David, John the Baptist’s Heredity from Zechariah, and John the Baptist’s Heredity from Jacob’s family. Most of the Sunnites scholars describe the Heredity of the prophets as being those functions related to the prophetic gnosis of the divine message, whereas most Shiite scholars consider such Heredity to be the functions related to the prophetic responsibility of enacting the divine message via ruling over people. However, there are Muslim scholars who believe that Prophethood and its Gnostic functions are not things that can be transmitted by mechanism of Heredity. The third mechanism of such transmission is Successorship, which was introduced to Abrahamic religions by Moses. In contrast to the other two mechanisms of Blessedness and Heredity, Successorship’s most distinctive feature is that it is not limited at all to the prophet’s family. The New Covenant does not accept that Jesus Christ has a “successor”, for the concept of Successorship requires death as its necessary condition. But Jesus never dies, and the issue of his Successorship is thus always redundant. The Christian establishment, however, accepts the concept of “successors” of Jesus Christ. Successorship is mentioned only once in the Quran: Before Moses ascends the Mount Sinai with Joshua, he appoints Aaron as his successor to the functions of prophetic responsibility. In the various traditions of Abrahamic religions, Joshua and Peter are respectively recognized as the successors of Moses and Jesus. The figure of Joshua in the Old Covenant is a concoction of the Prophet, the Judge and the War Leader. The most outstanding chapter of Joshua’s life is when Moses asks God to appoint a successor to be the leader of the Israelites in his stead, and God selects Joshua for such an office. But he has to only continue the function of Moses’ responsibility. Joshua is neither from the family of Moses nor even from his tribe. Although, all the Israelites are described as the followers of Joshua in the Old Covenant, some Jewish Scholars harbor suspicions and doubts about such a belief. According to the reports of the Old Covenant, Joshua does not appoint any successor for himself. The New Covenant does mention Joshua, but only in passing as the one who “gives rest” to the Israelites and acts as an agency through which their society is established and maintained. Nevertheless, since the mission of Moses in saving the Israelites is only accomplished through Joshua, he acquires the status of a prefiguration of Jesus, as the Savior, in the Christian thought. The holy Quran also refers to Joshua’s testimony about the Promised Land and his successive attempts to call on his people to fight and enter the Land as the fulfillment of the divine promise. Joshua has such a high status among the Muslim Interpreters of Quran that they equal him to “the Chivalrous Youth” (ÙÙتاÙÙ) mentioned in the Chapter of the Cave (18:67). Even though the Quran does not speak of Successorship of Moses by Joshua and the Shiite scholars do not consider this to certainly be the case, Joshua’s status as the successor of Moses is generally accepted in the Islamic thought. The Christian establishment considers Peter to be the successor of Jesus, and he is even recognized by the Christian tradition as the first believer in Jesus, although not without some doubts again. What the collective reports of the New Covenant indicate is that Peter isn’t, at least during Jesus’ life, superior to the other Apostles, and that the religious authority of Christians is by no mechanism confined to him. But after Jesus’ death, Peter step by step goes on to acquire a superior status in relation to the other Apostles. He is there at the center of the reports narrated in the Acts of the Apostles; he is the first disciple who sees Jesus after his Resurrection; and finally, becomes the speaker of all the other Apostles and the leader of all Christians. He calls himself the Chosen One by God and is thus recognized as the best disciple of and the closest disciple to Jesus Christ. The only one who dares to stand against him is Paul. Unlike Peter, Paul confines the function of Peter’s missionary responsibility only to the Jews. Historical studies show that the prominence of Peter’s status among the Apostles begins to be highlighted only in the second and third century B.C., but never wins a universally accepted approval. But a question remains to be asked: To which of Jesus’ functions is Peter a successor? The only valid answer is that he is a successor to the gnostic functions of the Old Covenant , for Jesus himself does not have the functions of a universal missionary responsibility, let alone Peter who is just a successor to him. In the Catholic reading of Christianity, the mechanism of Successorship does not end with Peter, for Peter himself has successors who go on to maintain his gnostic status and function within the framework of the Catholic teaching called the Apostolic Successorship. It is in such a reading that the spiritual authority and credibility of the Holy Church, the Pope and all the Bishops come from the Apostles of Jesus Christ in a series of continuous Successorships. Such a mechanism is considered to be a guarantee of the validity of faith and receptivity of divine grace for all Christians. Gradually, the teaching of Successorship is applied and generalized to the Pope and the Bishops in so far as it is fixed as an established procedure of the Catholic Church after St. Augustine. Ultimately, such a teaching ends up in the supremacy of the Roman Church over other Churches as well as of the Pope over his counterparts and colleagues. Furthermore, the Church of Rome also considers itself to be entitled to the Patrimony of St. Peter. However, the followers of the Protestant and Anglican Churches disagree with such a teaching and beg to differ on this issue.

Background and objective: : Intravenous regional anesthesia (IVRA) for upper limb surgeries with traditional high dose of lidocaine can lead to life threatening side effects. In order to avoid these potential life threatening side effects, many modified techniques of IVRA have been attempted by using a low dose of lidocaine, muscle relaxant and opioid. Method: The present study is carried out in sixty unpremedicated ASA Class 1 and 2 patients to compare the sensory and motor characteristics, cardio-respiratory parameters and side-effects during intra-operative and post-tourniquet deflation period between the patients who received 40 mL of 0.5% lidocaine alone (n = 30) and those who received a combination of 40 mL of 0.25% lidocaine with 0.05 mg fentanyl and 0.5 mg vecuronium (n = 30) in IVRA for upper limb orthopedic surgeries. The results were analyzed for statistical significance using a paired student t test. Results: The difference between the two groups regarding the mean time of onset and complete sensory and motor block was statistically significant. But 15 minutes after the injection of anesthetic solution, there was complete sensory and motor block in both groups. Conclusion: Although the short delay observed in the onset and attainment of complete sensory and motor block may theoretically delay the start of surgery for 10-15 minutes but clinically that time will be spent in the preparation of surgical field. So this combination can be used safely and effectively in intravenous regional anesthesia for upper limb orthopedic surgeries with reduced chance of local anesthetic toxicity. Keywords: Anesthesia, Conduction, Tourniquets, Lidocaine, Fentanyl, Vecuronium Bromide.

This paper describes a semi-automatic system for road update based on high resolution orthophotos and 3D surface models. Potential update regions are identified by an object-wise verification of all existing database records, followed by a scene-wide detection of redevelopment regions. The proposed system combines several road detection and road verification approaches from current literature to form a more general solution. Each road detection / verification approach is realized as an independent module representing a unique road model combined with a corresponding processing strategy. The object-wise verification result of each module is formulated as a binary decision between the classes "correct road" and "incorrect road". These individual decisions are combined by Dempster-Shafer fusion, which provides tools for dealing with uncertain and incomplete knowledge about the statistical properties of the data. For each road detection / verification module a confidence function for the result is introduced that reflects the degree of correspondence of an actual test situation with an optimal situation according to the underlying road model of that module. Experimental results achieved with data from the national Belgian road database in a test site of about 134 km2 demonstrate the potential of the method.

A total of 30 7-week-old pigs were used to evaluate the effects of chicory inclusion on digestibility, digestive organ size and faecal microbiota. Five diets were formulated: a cereal-based control diet and four diets with inclusion of 80 and 160 g/kg chicory forage (CF80 and CF160), 80 g/kg chicory root (CR80) and a mix of 80 g/kg forage and 80 g/kg chicory root (CFR). Generally, the pigs showed a high growth rate and feed intake, and no differences between the different diets were observed. The coefficients of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of energy, organic matter and CP did not differ between the control and CF80, whereas they were impaired in diet CF160. The CTTAD of non-starch polysaccharides and especially the uronic acids were higher (P < 0.05) with chicory inclusion, with highest (P < 0.05) values for diet CF160. Coliform counts were lower and lactobacilli : coliform ratio was higher (P < 0.05) in diet CFR than in the control. Global microbial composition was investigated by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism combined with cloning and sequencing. Analysis of gut microbiota pattern revealed two major clusters where diet CF160 differed from the control and CR80 diet. Chicory forage diets were correlated with an increased relative abundance of one species related to Prevotella and decreased abundance of two other species related to Prevotella. For diet CFR, the relative abundance of Lactobacillus johnsonii was higher than in the other diets. This study shows that both chicory forage and root can be used as fibre sources in pig nutrition and that they modulate the composition of the gut microbiota differently.

We have developed a conceptual design of a next-generation pulsed-power accelerator that is optimized for megajoule-class dynamic-material-physics experiments. Sufficient electrical energy is delivered by the accelerator to a physics load to achieve—within centimeter-scale samples—material pressures as high as 1 TPa. The accelerator design is based on an architecture that is founded on three concepts: single-stage electrical-pulse compression, impedance matching, and transit-time-isolated drive circuits. The prime power source of the accelerator consists of 600 independent impedance-matched Marx generators. Each Marx comprises eight 5.8-GW bricks connected electrically in series, and generates a 100-ns 46-GW electrical-power pulse. A 450-ns-long water-insulated coaxial-transmission-line impedance transformer transports the power generated by each Marx to a system of twelve 2.5-m-radius water-insulated conical transmission lines. The conical lines are connected electrically in parallel at a 66-cm radius by a water-insulated 45-post sextuple-post-hole convolute. The convolute sums the electrical currents at the outputs of the conical lines, and delivers the combined current to a single solid-dielectric-insulated radial transmission line. The radial line in turn transmits the combined current to the load. Since much of the accelerator is water insulated, we refer to it as Neptune. Neptune is 40 m in diameter, stores 4.8 MJ of electrical energy in its Marx capacitors, and generates 28 TW of peak electrical power. Since the Marxes are transit-time isolated from each other for 900 ns, they can be triggered at different times to construct–over an interval as long as 1 μs–the specific load-current time history required for a given experiment. Neptune delivers 1 MJ and 20 MA in a 380-ns current pulse to an 18-mΩ load; hence Neptune is a megajoule-class 20-MA arbitrary waveform generator. Neptune will allow the international scientific community to conduct dynamic equation-of-state, phase-transition, mechanical-property, and other material-physics experiments with a wide variety of drive-pressure time histories.