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To produce chitosan is an interesting research. Chitosan is an important polysaccharide in terms of its various applications in industries and is produced from chitin, an abundant biopolymer in crustacean shell biomass wastes. Traditional processes for chitosan manufacture are commonly based on highly concentrated alkaline or acid solutions which are, however, severely eroding and harmful to the environment. In this study, we have described a ‘greener’ method using 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, [Emim][OAc] ionic liquid (IL), for decrystallization of shrimp crystalline chitin flakes followed by a microwave-mediated NaOH or tetrabutylammonium hydroxide, [TBA][OH], solution-based deacetylation for chitosan production. The decrease in crystallinity in IL pre-treated chitin was confirmed by XRD and SEM analysis which subsequently benefited chitosan production with up to 85% degree of deacetylation (%DDA) in shorter time periods (1-2 hours) and lower alkaline concentrations (20-40%). The %DDA in chitin/chitosan was estimated via FT-IR and NMR analysis. Notably, we could regenerate the ionic liquids: in case of [Emim][OAc] 97 wt.% and in case of [TBA][OH] 83 wt.% could be reused. Roles of ionic liquids in the process were discussed. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations showed the roles of [TBA]+ cations in the molecular driving forces of [TBA][OH]-induced deacetylation mechanism. The strategy promises a sustainable and milder reaction approach to the existing highly corrosive alkaline- or acid-involved processes for chitosan production.

Background: High ambient air temperatures in Africa pose significant health and behavioral challenges in populations with limited access to cooling adaptations. The built environment can exacerbate heat exposure, making passive home cooling adaptations a potential method for protecting occupants against indoor heat exposure. Methods: We are conducting a 2-year community-based stratified cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) implementing sunlight-reflecting roof coatings, known as “cool roofs,” as a climate change adaptation intervention for passive indoor home cooling. Our primary research objective is to investigate the effects of cool roofs on health, indoor climate, economic, and behavioral outcomes in rural Burkina Faso. This cRCT is nested in the Nouna Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS), a population-based dynamic cohort study of all people living in a geographically contiguous area covering 59 villages, 14305 households and 28610 individuals. We recruited 1200 participants, one woman and one man, each in 600 households in 25 villages in the Nouna HDSS. We stratified our sample by (i) village and (ii) two prevalent roof types in this area of Burkina Faso: mud brick and tin. We randomized the same number of people (12) and homes (6) in each stratum 1:1 to receiving vs. not receiving the cool roof. We are collecting outcome data on one primary endpoint - heart rate, (a measure of heat stress) and 22 secondary outcomes encompassing indoor climate parameters, blood pressure, body temperature, heat-related outcomes, blood glucose, sleep, cognition, mental health, health facility utilization, economic and productivity outcomes, mosquito count, life satisfaction, gender-based violence, and food consumption. We followed all participants for 2 years, conducting monthly home visits to collect objective and subjective outcomes. Approximately 12% of participants (n = 152) used smartwatches to continuously measure endpoints including heart rate, sleep an

Background and purpose: Various electrodiagnostic criteria have been developed in Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS). Their performance in a broad representation of GBS patients has not been evaluated. Motor conduction data from the International GBS Outcome Study (IGOS) cohort were used to compare two widely used criterion sets and relate these to diagnostic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis criteria. Methods: From the first 1500 patients in IGOS, nerve conduction studies from 1137 (75.8%) were available for the current study. These patients were classified according to nerve conduction studies criteria proposed by Hadden and Rajabally. Results: Of the 1137 studies, 68.3% (N = 777) were classified identically according to criteria by Hadden and Rajabally: 111 (9.8%) axonal, 366 (32.2%) demyelinating, 195 (17.2%) equivocal, 35 (3.1%) inexcitable and 70 (6.2%) normal. Thus, 360 studies (31.7%) were classified differently. The areas of differences were as follows: 155 studies (13.6%) classified as demyelinating by Hadden and axonal by Rajabally; 122 studies (10.7%) classified as demyelinating by Hadden and equivocal by Rajabally; and 75 studies (6.6%) classified as equivocal by Hadden and axonal by Rajabally. Due to more strictly defined cutoffs fewer patients fulfilled demyelinating criteria by Rajabally than by Hadden, making more patients eligible for axonal or equivocal classification by Rajabally. In 234 (68.6%) axonal studies by Rajabally the revised El Escorial (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) criteria were fulfilled; in axonal cases by Hadden this was 1.8%. Conclusions and discussion: This study shows that electrodiagnosis in GBS is dependent on the criterion set utilized, both of which are based on expert opinion. Reappraisal of electrodiagnostic subtyping in GBS is warranted.

Ayurveda is one of the oldest system of healthcare in the world. In  Ayurveda,‘Amavata’ was mentioned for the first time by AcharyaMadhavakara as a special  disease entity in which both‘Ama’as well as ‘Vata’play a predominant role in the  pathogenesis of this disease.‘Amavata’ is one of the crippling diseases causingthe maximum  loss of human power.It is not only a joint disorder but is also a systemic disease and is named  after it’s chief pathogenic constituent which are ‘Ama’ and ‘Vata’.The disease ‘Amavata’ is  very similar to Rheumatoid Arthritis. It is chronic in nature and effect mostly the middle age  group. Theonset of Rheumatoid arthritis is most frequent during the fourth and fifth decades of life, with 80% of all patients developing the disease between the age of 35 and 50. The incidence of RA is more than six times as great in 60-to-64-year-old women compared to18- to29-year-old women. Soneed of time is to go for cost effective, safe and efficient treatment  of Amavata.Although, there are many drugs available in modern medical science for the  treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis (Amavata) but they are associated with adverse effects, so  there is need of the hour to look into the safe herbal remedy which not only treat the disease  but also helps in reducing the relapse of the disease.Keeping all above points in mind  theAmrita Gugguluhas beenselected to know the effect in treating Amavata (Rheumatoid  arthritis).Amrita Gugguluconsists of6 main contents which have different properties it  consist of Guduchi, Shuddha Guggulu ,Haritaki, Vibhitaka, Aamalaki and Prakshepa  Dravya Danti, Shunthi, Pippali, Maricha, Vidanga ,Guduchi, Haritaki,Vibhitaka,  Aamalaki, Twaka, Trivrit.&nbsp

This Roadmap article provides a succinct, comprehensive overview of the state of electronic structure methods and software for molecular and materials simulations. Seventeen distinct sections collect insights by 51 leading scientists in the field. Each contribution addresses the status of a particular area, as well as current challenges and anticipated future advances, with a particular eye towards software related aspects and providing key references for further reading. Foundational sections cover density functional theory and its implementation in real-world simulation frameworks, Green's function based many-body perturbation theory, wave-function based and stochastic electronic structure approaches, relativistic effects and semiempirical electronic structure theory approaches. Subsequent sections cover nuclear quantum effects, real-time propagation of the electronic structure, challenges for computational spectroscopy simulations, and exploration of complex potential energy surfaces. The final sections summarize practical aspects, including computational workflows for complex simulation tasks, the impact of current and future high-performance computing architectures, software engineering practices, education and training to maintain and broaden the community, as well as the status of and needs for electronic structure based modeling from the vantage point of industry environments. Overall, the field of electronic structure software and method development continues to unlock immense opportunities for future scientific discovery, based on the growing ability of computations to reveal complex phenomena, processes and properties that are determined by the make-up of matter at the atomic scale, with high precision.

The current experiment was conducted during 2020-21 at the Microbiology Laboratory, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Regional Research Station Bawal to examine the impact of bio-inoculants and chemicals seed priming on bael seed germination. There were 15 seed priming treatments i.e., control, IBA @ 100 ppm and 50 ppm for 24 hours, NAA @ 50 and 100 ppm for 24 hours, GA3 @ 50 and 100 ppm for 24 hours, KNO3 @ 1 per cent for 24 hours, Azotobacter (HT 54) for 30 minutes, Trichoderma viride for 30 minutes, Rhizobium (CK 16) for 30 minutes, PSB (P 36) for 30 minutes, hot water for 30 minutes, nitric acid for 3 minutes, sulphuric acid for 3 minutes. Among different seed priming treatments, shortest germination time (12.7 days) was recorded with sulphuric acid for 3 minutes in agar medium at 28 ⁰C under laboratory conditions and the highest germination percentage (83.3 %), dry weight per seedling (153.2 mg), seedling length (12.2 cm) and vigour index I (976) and II (12256) were observed when bael seeds primed with GA3 @ 100 ppm for 24 hours under laboratory conditions.

The tripartite interaction between the chromatin remodeler complex RSC, RNA polymerase subunit Rpb5 and prefoldin-like Bud27 is necessary for proper RNA pol II elongation. Indeed lack of Bud27 alters this association and affects transcription elongation. This work investigates the consequences of lack of Bud27 on the chromatin association of RSC and RNA pol II, and on nucleosome positioning. Our results demonstrate that RSC binds chromatin in gene bodies and lack of Bud27 alters this association, mainly around polyA sites. This alteration impacts chromatin organization and leads to the accumulation of RNA pol II molecules around polyA sites, likely due to pausing or arrest. Our data suggest that RSC is necessary to maintain chromatin organization around those sites, and any alteration of this organization results in the widespread use of alternative polyA sites. Finally, we also find a similar molecular phenotype that occurs upon TOR inhibition with rapamycin, which suggests that alternative polyadenylation observed upon TOR inhibition is likely Bud27-dependent.

The age, evolution, and chemical properties of the Galactic disk can be effectively ascertained using open clusters. Within the large program Stellar Populations Astrophysics at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, we specifically focused on stars in open clusters, to investigate various astrophysical topics, from the chemical content of very young systems to the abundance patterns of lesser studied intermediate-age and old open clusters. We investigate the astrophysically interesting element fluorine (F), which has an uncertain and intriguing cosmic origin. We also determine the abundance of cerium (Ce), as F abundance is expected to correlate with the s-process elements. High-resolution near-infrared spectra were obtained using the GIANO-B spectrograph. The Python version of Spectroscopy Made Easy (PySME), was used to derive atmospheric parameters and abundances. The stellar parameters were determined using OH, CN, and CO molecular lines along with Fe I lines. This paper presents the first F Galactic radial abundance gradient. Our results are also compared with literature estimates and with Galactic chemical evolution models that have been generated using different F production channels. Our results indicate a constant, solar pattern in the [F/Fe] ratios across clusters of different ages, supporting the latest findings that fluorine levels do not exhibit any secondary behavior for stars with solar or above-solar metallicity. By comparing our sample stars with the predictions of Galactic chemical evolution models, we came to the conclusion that both asymptotic giant branch stars and massive stars, including a fraction of fast rotators that increase with decreasing metallicity, are needed to explain the cosmic origin of F., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables, Accepted by A&A

We report the first high resolution, detailed abundances of 21 elements for giants in the Galactic bulge/bar within $1^\circ$ of the Galactic plane, where high extinction has rendered such studies challenging. Our high S/N and high-resolution, near-infrared spectra of 7 M giants in the inner-bulge, located at ($l,b$)=(0,+1$^{\circ}$), are observed using the IGRINS spectrograph. We report the first multi-chemical study of the inner Galactic bulge, by investigating relative to a robust new Solar Neighborhood sample, the abundance trends of 21 elements, including the relatively difficult to study heavy elements. The elements studied are: F, Mg, Si, S, Ca, Na, Al, K, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Ce, Nd, and Yb. We investigate bulge membership of all seven stars using distances and orbital simulations, and find that the most metal-poor star may be a halo interloper. Our investigation shows that the inner-bulge also as close as $1^\circ$ North of the Galactic Center displays a similarity to the inner disk sequence, following the high [$\alpha$/Fe] envelope of the Solar vicinity metal-rich population, though no firm conclusions for a different enrichment history are evident from this sample. We find a small fraction of metal-poor stars (\feh$<-0.5$) but most of our stars are mainly of super-solar metallicity. Fluorine is found to be enhanced at high metallicity compared to the solar neighbourhood, but confirmation with a larger sample is required. We will apply this approach to explore populations of the Nuclear Stellar Disk and the Nuclear Star Cluster., Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We implement a test of MOND and Verlinde's Emergent Gravity using the galaxy cluster SMACS J0723-7327, which has been recently imaged using the eROSITA X-ray telescope as well as with JWST. We test MOND using two independent methods. The first method involves comparing the dynamical MOND mass and baryonic mass, while the second method entails a comparison of the MOND-estimated temperature with the observed temperature. We then compare the unseen mass predicted by Emergent Gravity with the estimated dark matter mass. We find that MOND is able to explain the mass discrepancy at large radii but not in the central regions. The observed temperature profile is also in slight disagreement with that in the MOND paradigm. Likewise the Emergent Gravity Theory shows a marginal discrepancy in accurately accounting for the dynamical mass in the inner regions. Our results are qualitatively consistent with the earlier tests on other clusters., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

Āyurveda is an age old science of health which  emphasize on the health than to cure disease. So,  nowadays people are coming back to the nature from  synthetics, hence, the Āyurveda will be the future  medicinal science of the world, not only the India. In the  era of fast food, there is change or irregularity in diet  and diet timings and also sedentary life style. In addition  to change in diet and life style, one is always under  tremendous mental stress. All these causes disturb in  digestive system which results into many diseases  amongst them ano-rectal disorder constitute an  important group. Herbomineral preparations are  considered in ayurveda as Rasausadhis which are  appreciated for their smaller dosages, quicker effectiveness, long durability etc. Thus the Herbomineral preparations play an important and major role in curing the ailing  human beings. Many of these types of preparations are used to treat anorectal diseases like kasisadi tail, ghrita, arshkuthar rasa, abhayadi modak etc. This article is an attempt to  highlight importance and mode of action of the Herbomineral preparations in anorectal  disease like piles, fistula, fissure in ano etc.   &nbsp

We consider the problem of assigning students to schools, when students have different utilities for schools and schools have capacity. There are additional group fairness considerations over students that can be captured either by concave objectives, or additional constraints on the groups. We present approximation algorithms for this problem via convex program rounding that achieve various trade-offs between utility violation, capacity violation, and running time. We also show that our techniques easily extend to the setting where there are arbitrary covering constraints on the feasible assignment, capturing multi-criteria and ranking optimization.

Contrastive learning is a paradigm for learning representations from unlabelled data that has been highly successful for image and text data. Several recent works have examined contrastive losses to claim that contrastive models effectively learn spectral embeddings, while few works show relations between (wide) contrastive models and kernel principal component analysis (PCA). However, it is not known if trained contrastive models indeed correspond to kernel methods or PCA. In this work, we analyze the training dynamics of two-layer contrastive models, with non-linear activation, and answer when these models are close to PCA or kernel methods. It is well known in the supervised setting that neural networks are equivalent to neural tangent kernel (NTK) machines, and that the NTK of infinitely wide networks remains constant during training. We provide the first convergence results of NTK for contrastive losses, and present a nuanced picture: NTK of wide networks remains almost constant for cosine similarity based contrastive losses, but not for losses based on dot product similarity. We further study the training dynamics of contrastive models with orthogonality constraints on output layer, which is implicitly assumed in works relating contrastive learning to spectral embedding. Our deviation bounds suggest that representations learned by contrastive models are close to the principal components of a certain matrix computed from random features. We empirically show that our theoretical results possibly hold beyond two-layer networks.

Scammers are aggressively leveraging AI voice-cloning technology for social engineering attacks, a situation significantly worsened by the advent of audio Real-time Deepfakes (RTDFs). RTDFs can clone a target's voice in real-time over phone calls, making these interactions highly interactive and thus far more convincing. Our research confidently addresses the gap in the existing literature on deepfake detection, which has largely been ineffective against RTDF threats. We introduce a robust challenge-response-based method to detect deepfake audio calls, pioneering a comprehensive taxonomy of audio challenges. Our evaluation pitches 20 prospective challenges against a leading voice-cloning system. We have compiled a novel open-source challenge dataset with contributions from 100 smartphone and desktop users, yielding 18,600 original and 1.6 million deepfake samples. Through rigorous machine and human evaluations of this dataset, we achieved a deepfake detection rate of 86% and an 80% AUC score, respectively. Notably, utilizing a set of 11 challenges significantly enhances detection capabilities. Our findings reveal that combining human intuition with machine precision offers complementary advantages. Consequently, we have developed an innovative human-AI collaborative system that melds human discernment with algorithmic accuracy, boosting final joint accuracy to 82.9%. This system highlights the significant advantage of AI-assisted pre-screening in call verification processes. Samples can be heard at https://mittalgovind.github.io/autch-samples, Comment: Dataset will be made public by end of March 2024

Standard fine-tuning is considered not as effective as specialized methods for model editing due to its comparatively poor performance. However, it is simple, agnostic to the architectural details of the model being edited, and able to leverage advances in standard training techniques with no additional work (e.g., black-box PEFT for computational efficiency), making it an appealing choice for a model editor. In this work, we show that standard fine-tuning alone can yield competitive model editing performance with two minor modifications. First, we optimize the conditional likelihood rather than the full likelihood. Second, in addition to the typical practice of training on randomly paraphrased edit prompts to encourage generalization, we also train on random or similar unedited facts to encourage locality. Our experiments on the ZsRE and CounterFact datasets demonstrate that these simple modifications allow standard fine-tuning to match or outperform highly specialized editors in terms of edit score., Comment: Findings of ACL 2024

Quantum computing shows great potential, but errors pose a significant challenge. This study explores new strategies for mitigating quantum errors using artificial neural networks (ANN) and the Yang-Baxter equation (YBE). Unlike traditional error correction methods, which are computationally intensive, we investigate artificial error mitigation. The manuscript introduces the basics of quantum error sources and explores the potential of using classical computation for error mitigation. The Yang-Baxter equation plays a crucial role, allowing us to compress time dynamics simulations into constant-depth circuits. By introducing controlled noise through the YBE, we enhance the dataset for error mitigation. We train an ANN model on partial data from quantum simulations, demonstrating its effectiveness in correcting errors in time-evolving quantum states.

This paper explores the design of a balanced data-sharing marketplace for entities with heterogeneous datasets and machine learning models that they seek to refine using data from other agents. The goal of the marketplace is to encourage participation for data sharing in the presence of such heterogeneity. Our market design approach for data sharing focuses on interim utility balance, where participants contribute and receive equitable utility from refinement of their models. We present such a market model for which we study computational complexity, solution existence, and approximation algorithms for welfare maximization and core stability. We finally support our theoretical insights with simulations on a mean estimation task inspired by road traffic delay estimation., Comment: To appear in WWW 2024

Despite the remarkable success of LLMs, they still suffer from tool invocation and tool chaining due to inadequate input queries and/or tool argument descriptions. We propose two novel frameworks, RE-GAINS and EnCHANT, enabling LLMs to tackle tool manipulation for solving complex user queries by making API calls. EnCHANT is an open-source solution that makes use of an LLM format enforcer, an LLM(OpenChat 3.5) and a retriever(ToolBench's API Retriever). RE-GAINS is based on OpenAI models and embeddings using a special prompt based on the RAP paper. Both solutions cost less than $0.01 per query with minimal latency, therefore showcasing the usefulness of the frameworks.

In this paper, we consider classic randomized low diameter decomposition procedures for planar graphs that obtain connected clusters which are cohesive in that close-by pairs of nodes are assigned to the same cluster with high probability. We require the additional aspect of individual fairness - pairs of nodes at comparable distances should be separated with comparable probability. We show that classic decomposition procedures do not satisfy this property. We present novel algorithms that achieve various trade-offs between this property and additional desiderata of connectivity of the clusters and optimality in the number of clusters. We show that our individual fairness bounds may be difficult to improve by tying the improvement to resolving a major open question in metric embeddings. We finally show the efficacy of our algorithms on real planar networks modeling congressional redistricting., Comment: To appear in ICML 2024

Over the past year, there has been a robust debate about the benefits and risks of open sourcing foundation models. However, this discussion has often taken place at a high level of generality or with a narrow focus on specific technical attributes. In part, this is because defining open source for foundation models has proven tricky, given its significant differences from traditional software development. In order to inform more practical and nuanced decisions about opening AI systems, including foundation models, this paper presents a framework for grappling with openness across the AI stack. It summarizes previous work on this topic, analyzes the various potential reasons to pursue openness, and outlines how openness varies in different parts of the AI stack, both at the model and at the system level. In doing so, its authors hope to provide a common descriptive framework to deepen a nuanced and rigorous understanding of openness in AI and enable further work around definitions of openness and safety in AI.

Research on jailbreaking has been valuable for testing and understanding the safety and security issues of large language models (LLMs). In this paper, we introduce Iterative Refinement Induced Self-Jailbreak (IRIS), a novel approach that leverages the reflective capabilities of LLMs for jailbreaking with only black-box access. Unlike previous methods, IRIS simplifies the jailbreaking process by using a single model as both the attacker and target. This method first iteratively refines adversarial prompts through self-explanation, which is crucial for ensuring that even well-aligned LLMs obey adversarial instructions. IRIS then rates and enhances the output given the refined prompt to increase its harmfulness. We find IRIS achieves jailbreak success rates of 98% on GPT-4 and 92% on GPT-4 Turbo in under 7 queries. It significantly outperforms prior approaches in automatic, black-box and interpretable jailbreaking, while requiring substantially fewer queries, thereby establishing a new standard for interpretable jailbreaking methods.

CHC-COMP 2023 is the sixth edition of the Competition of Solvers for Constrained Horn Clauses. The competition was run in April 2023 and the results were presented at the 10th Workshop on Horn Clauses for Verification and Synthesis held in Paris, France, on April 23, 2023. This edition featured seven solvers (six competing and one hors concours) and six tracks, each of which dealing with a class of clauses. This report describes the organization of CHC-COMP 2023 and presents its results., Comment: In Proceedings LSFA/HCVS 2023, arXiv:2404.13672

The exchange of microbes between humans and the built environment is a dynamic process that has significant impact on health. Most studies exploring the microbiome of the built environment have been predicated on improving our understanding of pathogen emergence, persistence, and transmission. Previous studies have demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 presence significantly correlates with the proportional abundance of specific bacteria on surfaces in the built environment. However, in these studies, SARS-CoV-2 originated from infected patients. Here, we perform a similar assessment for a clinical microbiology lab while staff were handling SARS-CoV-2 infected samples. The goal of this study was to understand the distribution and dynamics of microbial population on various surfaces within different sections of a clinical microbiology lab during a short period of 2020 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We sampled floors, benches, and sinks in 3 sections (bacteriology, molecular microbiology, and COVID) of an active clinical microbiology lab over a 3-month period. Although floor samples harbored SARS-CoV-2, it was rarely identified on other surfaces, and bacterial diversity was significantly greater on floors than sinks and benches. The floors were primarily colonized by bacteria common to natural environments (e.g., soils), and benchtops harbored a greater proportion of human-associated microbes, including Staphylococcus and Streptococcus. Finally, we show that the microbial composition of these surfaces did not change over time and remained stable. Despite finding viruses on the floors, no lab-acquired infections were reported during the study period, which suggests that lab safety protocols and sanitation practices were sufficient to prevent pathogen exposures. IMPORTANCE For decades, diagnostic clinical laboratories have been an integral part of the health care systems that perform diagnostic tests on patient's specimens in bulk on a regular basis. Understanding thei

The past decade has witnessed the surge of wireless communication technologies, one of which is massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) which forms a prominent part of 5th generation (5G) and future generations of wireless networks. Among distributed massive MIMO networks, where there are a very large number of antennas physically spread out across a geographical area, one of the degrees of freedom available is access point (AP) placement. In both the traditional small-cell and the more recent cell-free networks, AP placement can be a key enabler of higher throughput or spectral efficiency. Thus, in this dissertation, we study AP placement in both small-cell and cell-free regimes by examining the throughput maximization problem. With the vector quantization (VQ) approach showing similarities to AP placement, we study and utilize it as a starting point for our framework on AP placement formulations.First, the AP placement problem in the small-cell scenario that addresses signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) maximization (as opposed to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) maximization alone) is studied since inter-cell interference (ICI) is a prevalent feature of small-cell systems. By first establishing that the Lloyd algorithm from VQ that utilizes the squared Euclidean distance as the distortion measure forms a good enough solution for AP placement, the distortion is modified to include inter-cell interference (ICI) and a Lloyd-type algorithm is proposed to solve for the AP locations.Second, the placement solution is extended to hybrid networks consisting of both terrestrial (position-fixed) and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) enabled (position-flexible) APs. In this scenario, a Lloyd-type algorithm is used to solve for the positions of the UAV-APs while still accounting for ICI. Additionally, a solution to initialize AP locations for the Lloyd and Lloyd-type algorithms is also discussed. As a further extension, we consider load balancing, which is necessary d

We consider probabilistic embedding of metric spaces into ultra-metrics (or equivalently to a constant factor, into hierarchically separated trees) to minimize the expected distortion of any pairwise distance. Such embeddings have been widely used in network design and online algorithms. Our main result is a polynomial time algorithm that approximates the optimal distortion on any instance to within a constant factor. We achieve this via a novel LP formulation that reduces this problem to a probabilistic version of uniform metric labeling.

This book, one of a series that uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to outline the need for and provision of services (education, health, housing, electricity, roads, telecommunications, postal services, and police services) in each of the nine South African provinces, presents a global view or indicator of the simultaneous influence of the socio-economic status of people and the level of provision of domestic services and public facilities the district of Gauteng. The view in this book encapsulates its social and service profile, obtained, first, by developing indices for the social and service variables for the district. The book uses a single index, or benchmark, of levels of socio-economic status, household services, and public facilities in each magisterial district, created by combining these indices. In order to provide information about local levels of development knowledgeable persons, involved in service delivery in each province, were contacted for their comments. The books in this series contain maps, tables, a bibliography, and contributions from spokespersons in non-governmental organizations, universities, government departments, service providers, parastatals, and research organizations. Demographic information used in the book is based on the 1991 census data. (Contains 39 references.) (BT)

This book, one of a series that uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to outline the need for and provision of services (education, health, housing, electricity, roads, telecommunications, postal services, and police services) in each of the nine South African provinces, presents a global view or indicator of the simultaneous influence of the socio-economic status of people and the level of provision of domestic services and public facilities in the Northern Cape district. The view in this book encapsulates its social and service profile, obtained, first, by developing indices for the social and service variables of the district. The book uses a single index, or benchmark, of levels of socio-economic status, household services, and public facilities in each magisterial district, created by combining these indices. In order to provide information about local levels of development, knowledgeable persons involved in service delivery in each province were contacted for their comments. The books in this series contain maps, tables, a bibliography, and contributions from spokespersons in non-governmental organizations, universities, government departments, service providers, parastatals, and research organizations. Demographic information is based on the 1991 census data. (Contains 33 references.) (BT)

This book, one of a series that uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to outline the need for and provision of services (education, health, housing, electricity, roads, telecommunications, postal services, and police services) in each of the nine South African provinces, presents a global view or indicator of the simultaneous influence of the socio-economic status of people and the level of provision of domestic services and public facilities in the Northern Province. The view in this book encapsulates its social and service profile, obtained, first, by developing indices for the social and service variables for the district. The book uses a single index, or benchmark, of levels of socio-economic status, household services, and public facilities in each magisterial district, created by combining these indices. In order to provide information about local levels of development, knowledgeable persons involved in service delivery in each province, were contacted for their comments. The books in this series contain maps, tables, a bibliography, and contributions from spokespersons in non-governmental organizations, universities, government departments, service providers, parastatals, and research organizations. Demographic data used in the book is based on the 1991 census data. (Contains 32 references.) (BT)

This book, one of a series that uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to outline the need for and provision of services (education, health, housing, electricity, roads, telecommunications, postal services, and police services) in each of the nine South African provinces, presents a global view or indicator of the simultaneous influence of the socio-economic status of people and the level of provision of domestic services and public facilities in the province of Mpumalanga. The view in this book encapsulates its social and service profile, obtained, first, by developing indices for the social and service variables for the district. The book uses a single index, or benchmark, of levels of socio-economic status, household services, and public facilities in each magisterial district, created by combining these indices. In order to provide information about local levels of development, knowledgeable persons involved in service delivery in each province, were contacted for their comments. The books in the series contain maps, tables, a bibliography, and contributions from spokespersons in non-governmental organizations, universities, government departments, service providers, parastatals, and research organizations. Demographic information is based on the 1991 census data. (Contains 32 references.) (BT)

This book, one of a series that uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to outline the need for and provision of services (education, health, housing, electricity, roads, telecommunications, postal services, and police services) in each of the nine South African provinces, presents a global view or indicator of the simultaneous influence of the socio-economic status of people and the level of provision of domestic services and public facilities the North West Province. The view in this book encapsulates its social and service profile, obtained, first by developing indices for the social and service variables for the district. The book uses a single index, or benchmark, of levels of socio-economic status, household services, and public facilities in each magisterial district, created by combining these indices. In order to provide information about local levels of development, knowledgeable persons, involved in service delivery in each province, were contacted for their comments. The books in the series contain maps, tables, a bibliography, and contributions from spokespersons in non-governmental organizations, universities, government departments, service providers, parastatals, and research organizations. Demographic information is based on the 1991 census data. (Contains 30 references.) (BT)

This book, one of a series that uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to outline the need for and provision of services (education, health, housing, electricity, roads, telecommunications, postal services, and police services) in each of the nine South African provinces, presents a global view or indicator of the simultaneous influence of the socio-economic status of people and the level of provision of domestic services and public facilities in one province Free State. The view in this book encapsulates its social and service profile, obtained, first, by developing indices for the social and service variables for the district. The book uses a single index, or benchmark, of levels of socio-economic status, household services, and public facilities in each magisterial district, created by combining these indices. According to the book, to provide information about local levels of development knowledgeable persons involved in service delivery in each province were contacted for their comments. The books in the series contain maps, tables, a bibliography, and contributions from spokespersons in non-governmental organizations, universities, government departments, service providers, parastatals, and research organizations. Demographic information used in the book is based on the 1991 census data. (Contains 29 references.) (BT)

Nanoparticles (NPs) elicit sterile inflammation, but the underlying signaling pathways are poorly understood. Here, we report that human monocytes are particularly vulnerable to amorphous silica NPs, as evidenced by single-cell-based analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells using cytometry by time-of-flight (CyToF), while silane modification of the NPs mitigated their toxicity. Using human THP-1 cells as a model, we observed cellular internalization of silica NPs by nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (nanoSIMS) and this was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. Lipid droplet accumulation was also noted in the exposed cells. Furthermore, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) revealed specific changes in plasma membrane lipids, including phosphatidylcholine (PC) in silica NP-exposed cells, and subsequent studies suggested that lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) acts as a cell autonomous signal for inflammasome activation in the absence of priming with a microbial ligand. Moreover, we found that silica NPs elicited NLRP3 inflammasome activation in monocytes, whereas cell death transpired through a non-apoptotic, lipid peroxidation-dependent mechanism. Together, these data further our understanding of the mechanism of sterile inflammation., Funding Agencies|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research through the MISTRA Environmental Nanosafety program; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation

Quantum transport and localization are fundamental concepts in condensed matter physics. It is commonly believed that in one-dimensional systems, the existence of mobility edges is highly dependent on disorder. Recently, there has been a debate over the existence of an exact mobility edge in a modulated mosaic model without quenched disorder, the so-called mosaic Wannier-Stark lattice. Here, we experimentally implement such disorder-free mosaic photonic lattices using a silicon photonics platform. By creating a synthetic electric field, we could observe energy-dependent coexistence of both extended and localized states in a finite number of waveguides. The Wannier-Stark ladder emerges when the resulting potential is strong enough, and can be directly probed by exciting different spatial modes of the lattice. Our studies provide the experimental proof of coexisting sets of strongly localized and conducting (though weakly localized) states in finite-sized mosaic Wannier-Stark lattices, which hold the potential to encode high-dimensional quantum resources with compact and robust structures., QC 20231113

Edible white-rot mushrooms are organisms that are cultivated at an industrial scale using wood-based substrates. The mushroom industry has an estimated annual production of 34 Mt of edible mushrooms, and approximately 70 wt% of the substrate is left as waste known as spent mushroom substrate (SMS). The huge volumes of SMS generated by mushroom farms hinder proper recycling, meaning that combustion or open-field burning are common disposal practices. This paper shows a concept that could help reduce the environmental impact of the mushroom industry. SMS from the cultivation of shiitake mushroom was used as a carbon precursor for the production of nitrogen-doped activated biochar that was used to remove reactive orange-16 (RO-16) azo dye from water, as well as contaminants from two synthetic effluents and real sewage water. Melamine was used as a nitrogen dopant and phosphoric acid as an activating agent. Samples without the addition of melamine were used for comparison. The doping/impregnation process was carried out in one-step, followed by pyrolysis at 700 and 900 °C for 1 h. BET, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used for the characterization of the biochars. The specific surface area of the doped samples was slightly lower, i.e., 1011 m2/g (SMS-700 °C), 810 m2/g (SMS-700 °C + N), 1095 m2/g (SMS-900 °C), and 943 m2/g (SMS-900 °C + N). Raman spectroscopic analysis showed that the N-doped biochars had more defective carbon structures than the non-doped ones. XPS analysis showed that doping with melamine led to the formation of N-functionalities on the surface of the biochar particles. The kinetics of adsorption were well represented by the Avrami model. The adsorption isotherms were well-fitted by the Liu model. The maximum adsorption capacities (qmax) of RO-16 were much higher for the N-doped biochars, i.e., 120 mg/g (SMS-700 °C), 216 mg/g (SMS-700 °C + N), 168 mg/g (SMS-900 °C), and 393 mg/g (SMS

The Rajeev-Ranken (RR) model is a Hamiltonian system describing screw-type nonlinear waves (screwons) of wavenumber $k$ in a scalar field theory pseudodual to the 1+1D SU(2) principal chiral model. Classically, the RR model based on a quadratic Hamiltonian on a nilpotent/Euclidean Poisson algebra is Liouville integrable. Upon adopting canonical variables in a slightly extended phase space, the model was interpreted as a novel 3D cylindrically symmetric quartic oscillator with a rotational energy. Here, we examine the spectral statistics and dispersion relation of quantized screwons via numerical diagonalization validated by variational and perturbative approximations. We also derive a semiclassical estimate for the cumulative level distribution which compares favorably with the one from numerical diagonalization. The spectrum shows level crossings typical of an integrable system. The $i^{\rm th}$ unfolded nearest neighbor spacings are found to follow Poisson statistics for small $i$. Nonoverlapping spacing ratios also indicate that successive spectral gaps are independently distributed. After displaying universal linear behavior over energy windows of short lengths, the spectral rigidity saturates at a length and value that scales with the square-root of energy. For strong coupling $\lambda$ and intermediate $k$, we argue that reduced screwon energies can depend only on the product $\lambda k$. Numerically, we find power law dependences on $\lambda$ and $k$ with an approximately common exponent $2/3$ provided the angular momentum quantum number $l$ is small compared to the number of nodes $n$ in the radial wavefunction. On the other hand, for the ground state $n = l = 0$, the common exponent becomes 1., Comment: 17 pages, 21 figure files, Discussion section expanded