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In this paper we show that spectral measures of the Laplacian on ℓ 2 (Z d) are smooth in some regions of its spectrum, a result that extends to parts of the absolutely continuous spectrum of some random perturbations of it. The spectral measures considered are associated with dense sets of vectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study deals with Lyra's geometry in plane symmetric metric discussed in the presence of bulk viscous fluid, and one-dimensional strings are assumed to be loaded with particles and the particle energy density. The variation of Hubble's parameter gives a constant value of decelerating parameter. The exact solution has been found for the plane symmetric model in Lyra's geometry in the framework of bulk viscosity and string cosmology. Also, the bulk viscous pressure is assumed to be proportional to the energy density. The physical and geometrical properties of the model are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While TGF-β signaling is essential for microglial function, the cellular source of TGF-β1 ligand and its spatial regulation remains unclear in the adult CNS. Our data supports that microglia but not astrocytes or neurons are the primary producers of TGF-β1 ligands needed for microglial homeostasis. Microglia-Tgfb1 KO leads to the activation of microglia featuring a dyshomeostatic transcriptome that resembles disease-associated, injury-associated, and aged microglia, suggesting microglial self-produced TGF-β1 ligands are important in the adult CNS. Astrocytes in MG-Tgfb1 inducible (i)KO mice show a transcriptome profile that is closely aligned with an LPS-associated astrocyte profile. Additionally, using sparse mosaic single-cell microglia KO of TGF-β1 ligand we established an autocrine mechanism for signaling. Here we show that MG-Tgfb1 iKO mice present cognitive deficits, supporting that precise spatial regulation of TGF-β1 ligand derived from microglia is required for the maintenance of brain homeostasis and normal cognitive function in the adult brain. TGF-β signaling is required for microglial homeostasis, however the source of ligands in the adult brain is unknown. Here, the authors show that microglial homeostasis relies on microglia-derived TGF-β1 ligand via an autocrine mechanism, which is also important for astrocyte homeostasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discussed the chemical reaction influences on the radiating MHD convective flow of an incompressible viscous electrically conducting fluid past an exponentially accelerated perpendicular surface under the influences of slip velocity in the revolving structure taking Hall and ion slip impacts into account. A steady homogeneous magnetic field is applied under the presumption of less magnetic Reynolds number. The ramped wall temperature and time altering concentration at the plate is constructing into consideration. First order consistent chemical reaction and heat absorption are also regarded. Laplace transformation technique is engaged on the non-dimensional governing equations for the closed form solutions. Supporting on these results, the phrases for non-dimensional shear stresses and rate of heat and mass transport are also found. The graphical profiles are represented to examine the impacts of physical parameters on the important physical flow features. The computational quantities of the shear stress and rate of heat and mass transportations near the surface are tabulated by a variety of implanted parameters. The resulting velocity is growing by an increase in heat and solutal buoyancy force, while rotation and slip parameters have reverse outcomes on this. The resulting velocity is falling by an increasing in the Hartmann number while the penetrability parameters and Hall and ion slip effects have overturn impacts on this. The temperatures and the thickness of thermal boundary layer decrease on an enhancing heat source parameter for together ramped wall temperature and uniformed wall temperature. The heat absorptions increase the Nusselt number near the surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacteria producing urea amidohydrolases (UA) and carbonic anhydrases (CA) are of great importance in civil engineering as these enzymes are responsible for microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICCP). In this investigation, genomic insights of Bacillus paranthracis CT5 and the expression of genes underlying in MICCP were studied. B. paranthracis produced a maximum level of UA (669.3 U/ml) and CA (125 U/ml) on 5th day of incubation and precipitated 197 mg/100 ml CaCO3 after 7 days of incubation. After 28 days of curing, compressive strength of bacterial admixed and bacterial cured (B-B) specimens was 13.7% higher compared to water-mixed and water-cured (W-W) specimens. A significant decrease in water absorption was observed in bacterial-cured specimens compared to water-cured specimens after 28 days of curing. For genome analysis, reads were assembled de novo producing 5,402,771 bp assembly with N50 of 273,050 bp. RAST annotation detected six amidohydrolase and three carbonic anhydrase genes. Among 5700 coding sequences found in genome, COG gene annotation grouped 4360 genes into COG categories with highest number of genes to transcription (435 genes), amino acid transport and metabolism (362 genes) along with cell wall/membrane/envelope biogenesis and ion transport and metabolism. KEGG functional classification predicted 223 pathways consisting of 1,960 genes and the highest number of genes belongs to two-component system (101 genes) and ABC transporter pathways (98 genes) enabling bacteria to sense and respond to environmental signals and actively transport various minerals and organic molecules, which facilitate the active transport of molecules required for MICCP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, investigators have not differentiated between patients with and without hemorrhagic transformation (HT) in large core ischemic stroke at risk for life-threatening mass effect (LTME) from cerebral edema. Our objective was to determine whether LTME occurs faster in those with HT compared to those without. We conducted a two-center retrospective study of patients with ≥ 1/2 MCA territory infarct between 2006 and 2021. We tested the association of time-to-LTME and HT subtype (parenchymal, petechial) using Cox regression, controlling for age, mean arterial pressure, glucose, tissue plasminogen activator, mechanical thrombectomy, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, antiplatelets, anticoagulation, temperature, and stroke side. Secondary and exploratory outcomes included mass effect-related death, all-cause death, disposition, and decompressive hemicraniectomy. Of 840 patients, 358 (42.6%) had no HT, 403 (48.0%) patients had petechial HT, and 79 (9.4%) patients had parenchymal HT. LTME occurred in 317 (37.7%) and 100 (11.9%) had mass effect-related deaths. Parenchymal (HR 8.24, 95% CI 5.46–12.42, p < 0.01) and petechial HT (HR 2.47, 95% CI 1.92–3.17, p < 0.01) were significantly associated with time-to-LTME and mass effect-related death. Understanding different risk factors and sequelae of mass effect with and without HT is critical for informed clinical decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic osteomyelitis resulting from foreign body entrapment in the pediatric mandible presents unique challenges in diagnosis and management. Habitual insertion of objects into the oral cavity by children can lead to serious complications such as discharging sinuses and osteomyelitis. We present a case of a 12-year-old boy with extra-oral pus discharge originating from the mandible, ultimately traced to an embedded iron nail adjacent to a carious first molar. Radiographic imaging played a crucial role in diagnosis, revealing the foreign object and. Long-term follow-up showed successful healing with prompt treatment. Prevention through parent education, meticulous examination, and interdisciplinary collaboration are emphasized to avoid such complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigative paper explores the hydromagnetic liberated convective along with oscillating flow of an optically thinner second grade fluid delimited during two parallel absorbent walls under the influences of an externally applied transverse magnetic field into a permeable medium. The radiative heat flux and radiation absorption effects are taking into account for considered problem. The leading equations are solved for the velocity, temperature, and concentration fields making utilization of Laplace transformation methodology. The impacts of a mixture of relevant flow parameters on concentration, temperature, and velocity distribution, in addition to the friction factor coefficients, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number, are found and explored using graphs along with tabular format. The magnitude of the velocity field is climbs by an augment in penetrability parameter, and enhances with increase in Hall and ion slip parameters and also skin friction factor coefficients uplift by mounting in Hartmann number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Osteoarthritis of the knee is a leading cause of disability and is a multi-factorial disease. Moreover, it is partly considered a mechanically driven disease in which higher abnormally disbursed forces play a prime role. With the progression of the disease, the gait function declines, so a comprehensive and objective evaluation of gait function would help in prognostic evaluation and management. Materials and Methods: This study included two groups: patients with primary knee osteoarthritis and a control group of healthy volunteers. Gait analysis and functional knee scores were evaluated for all the subjects. The KOOS score, temporal parameters excluding the step length, and spatial parameters excluding the stance phase percentage were evaluated for an individual as a whole. The KSS score, kinetic parameters, kinematic parameters, step length, and stance phase percentage were calculated for each knee separately. Each knee of the patient and controls was taken as 1 sample and categorized as per Kellgren–Lawrence score. An asymptomatic control group of subjects were included in group A. Symptomatic patients with KL grades 1, 2 were included in group M, and those with KL grades 3, 4 were included in group S. The kinetic and kinematic parameters and KSS score were compared among the three groups. Results: A total of 60 subjects were included of which 40 were patients and 20 were controls. In the control group, the age ranged from 22 to 48 years with a mean age of 28.6 years. In the patient group, the mean age was 60.3 years. Patients with knee osteoarthritis were significantly obese with slower walking speed, short stride length, longer stride time, and decreased cadence compared to the asymptomatic group. There was a significant difference in spatiotemporal parameters, functional scores, and kinetic and kinematic parameters among the groups. Conclusion: Various spatiotemporal, kinetic, and kinematic parameters like peak knee flexion angle, abduction/adduction angle, peak knee adduction moment, range of knee flexion, peak knee flexion, and gait deviation index along with functional scores varied significantly with the progression of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solution of the Poisson equation raised from large-scale problems requires iterative techniques. Multilevel and Krylov subspace methods have been proven to be the most efficient among various iterative methods. Recently, the scheduled relaxation Jacobi technique has been developed, which can be used as a stand-alone iterative solver as well as a preconditioner to the Krylov subspace methods. The relaxed Jacobi (RJ) method has also been implemented as a smoother in the multigrid method, with no-post smoothening. Here, the focus is to test the performance of relaxed Jacobi when applied to the large scale Poisson problems. Multigrid methods with both post-smoothening and pre-smoothening operations have been conducted in this paper. The methodology is applied to a rectangular domain using structured Cartesian grids. Also, multigrid methods with relaxed Jacobi smoothers are used as preconditioners to Krylov subspace solvers, and their performances are compared with the red-black Gauss-Seidel smoothers. Similar to the results in the literature, RJ smoothers to multigrid techniques provide better results than Gauss-Seidel smoothers when no-post smoothening operations are carried out. However, the use of post-smoothening operations changed the entire dynamic of the RJ smoothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Francis turbines are adversely affected when operated under part load operating conditions. The increase in pressure pulsations and dynamic stresses results in the less efficient operation of turbine components. Flow instabilities in the draft tube, particularly the rotating vortex rope (RVR), are responsible for such adverse effects. Air injection is a widely used mechanism for attenuating pressure pulsations due to RVR formation and has been employed with varied degrees of success. However, the exact mechanism by which the air influences the turbine flow field is still not fully understood. The influence of peripheral air injection in the draft tube is analysed in the present work using numerical simulations. The effect of injected air on the draft tube flow field at the upper and normal part load is investigated qualitatively and quantitatively. The results elucidate the reasons for air to be beneficial only at low injection rates. The simulations show the manner in which the unsteadiness in the flow increased at high injection rates, leading to additional vortices and secondary flow structures. The results further elucidate the effect of injected air on the changes in the effective area and pressure recovery in the draft tube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate crop yield prediction is extremely useful to global food production. On the basis of precise forecasts, timely import and export choices should be made. The model of crop yield prediction facilitates the farmers for making better decision regarding the suitable time for crop cultivation. In this study, the prediction of major crops in India is focused by using weather, soli and rainfall data.This study uses pre-processing, feature selection (FS) and prediction model. Initially, the dataset is normalized and the necessary features are selected by three FS models. The FS models are Lasso Based Feature Selection (LFS), Correlation Based Feature Selection (CFS) and Mutual Information Based Feature Selection (MIFS). Then deep learning (DL) based optimization (Attention with Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (A-BiLSTM)-MayFlyAlgorithm (MFA) is used for crop prediction. This optimization is used to minimize the loss function; thereby achieving better prediction. In India, the crops like Rice, sugarcane, wheat andmaize are the most cultivatable. Hence, in this work, these crops are considered for prediction. The performance of the BiLSTM- MFA is compared with certain DL models on the basis of error measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate nitrogen (PN) export from Indian monsoonal rivers to the north Indian Ocean. Indian monsoonal rivers export approximately 1.2 Tg yr−1 (1Tg = 1012 g) of POC and 0.14 Tg yr−1 of PN, with about two-thirds entering the Bay of Bengal (0.8 and 0.1 Tg yr−1, respectively) and the remaining reaches to the Arabian Sea (0.4 and 0.04 Tg yr−1, respectively). Remarkably, just four rivers from northwest India's black soil-dominated regions contribute about half of the total POC and PN exports (0.64 and 0.06 Tg yr−1, respectively). This is due to substantial erosion in these catchments, resulting in suspended matter concentrations averaging 596 ± 252 mg L−1, significantly higher than catchments dominated by red sandy, red loamy and alluvial soils (54 ± 56 mg l−1). In contrast, rivers originating from catchments with heavy precipitation, a tropical wet climate, red loamy soils (with peaty and marshy characteristics), rich tropical wet evergreen and moist deciduous forests, and higher soil organic carbon content yield more POC and PN (1704 ± 383 kgC km−2 yr−1 and 261 ± 56 kgN km−2 yr−1, respectively) than the other rivers of India (951 ± 508 kgC km−2 yr−1 and 120 ± 57 kgN km−2 yr−1, respectively). These findings stress that the export flux and yield of POC and PN from the Indian monsoonal rivers are primarily influenced by the interplay of hydrological, lithological, environmental, and climatic conditions within the catchment, rather than river size. Moreover, this study highlights the significant impact of incorporating POC data from medium-sized rivers worldwide, as it reveals that yield is independent of river size. This calls for a re-evaluation of global POC export fluxes, taking into account hydrological, lithological, environmental, and climatic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper envisages a technique for enhancing the privacy of multi-antenna wireless networks using Artificial Noise (AN). The artificial noise is a form of interference that is designed to degrade the channel quality of eavesdroppers, thereby making it unfeasible for them to capture and decode the transmitted data. The proposed method uses Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA). It allows multiple users to share a resource block like a time slot or frequency. This increases the spectral efficiency. The paper evaluates the effectiveness of Artificial Noise (AN) in improving the privacy of the system by measuring the Bit Error Rate (BER) and the eavesdropper's secrecy rate. Simulations show the method significantly enhances the security of the system. The paper also investigates the impact of various system parameters, such as the number of antennas and power allocation coefficients, on the system performance. Overall, the proposed method provides a promising approach to enhancing the security of multi-antenna wireless networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Guidelines recommend considering an initial trial of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to treat central sleep apnea (CSA). However, practice patterns vary widely. This study investigated predictors for an initial trial of CPAP in patients with central apneas and whether those factors predict adequate treatment response in patients receiving an initial CPAP trial. Methods: Charts of patients receiving a diagnostic code for CSA following a sleep study during 2016–2018 at a single center were reviewed. Patient factors, initial treatment prescriptions, and subsequent changes to therapy were extracted from electronic health records. Regression models were used to estimate factors associated with an initial CPAP prescription and the likelihood of an adequate CPAP response (no subsequent therapy change and no discontinuation of therapy) among patients prescribed CPAP. Results: 429/588 (73%) patients with central apneas received an initial trial of CPAP. Younger age, diagnosis by home sleep testing, non-opiate etiology of central apneas, and a lower proportion of central apneas at diagnosis were independently associated with a higher likelihood of an initial CPAP trial. A lower proportion of central apneas was associated with a higher probability of adequate response, while current smoking and opiate-related central apneas predicted an unsuccessful CPAP trial. A new finding was that older age predicted a lower likelihood of an initial CPAP prescription but did not predict an unsatisfactory response to CPAP. Conclusion: Clinicians may incorrectly weigh certain clinical and sleep study characteristics when deciding whether to trial CPAP for patients with central apneas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network Slicing in 5G networks enables allocation and sharing of the underlying network resources of an infrastructure provider (INP) among multiple tenants of the INP. Each tenant generates slice requests specifying the resources required and the INP collects revenue from the tenants for hosting the admitted slices. In this paper, we have used the Prioritised Experience Replay-based Deep Q-Network with N step return (N-PERDQN) Reinforcement learning (RL) approach to solve the slice admission control and associated resource allocation problem, in a dynamic environment. The slices are classified as elastic and inelastic, with flexible and rigid service guarantee requirements respectively. We have also used Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to predict the admitted elastic slices’ future resource requirements to share resources among elastic slices more efficiently. This enables the INP to accept more slice requests to increase its revenue while maximizing system utilization. The system has been modeled using the SimPy discrete-event simulator and TensorFlow machine learning. Performance metrics studied include INP revenue generated, class-specific slice acceptance rate and resource utilization were studied on Materna data center trace. The proposed N-PERDQN approach performs better than other RL and heuristic methods by up to 10% on average, in terms of generating INP revenue. Also, N-PERDQN+LSTM accepts around 6% more slice requests than N-PERDQN without LSTM. We have also tested the performance of the proposed algorithm with an offline algorithm, that has complete set of incoming slice request information available beforehand. The proposed algorithm is able to achieve close to 82% to 86% in terms of revenue gain of the offline algorithm. The proposed mechanism was also studied using the Alibaba data center trace and similar improvements were observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic transformation of TiO2 nanoparticles doped zinc phosphate coating systems when a hydrophobic agent is applied. The objective of the reported research was to demonstrate the feasibility of a neutron imaging technique for evaluating the performance of the proposed nano-coating system and reveal the differences in water ingress mechanisms which are specific to plain, superhydrophilic, overhydrophobic, and superhydrophobic specimens. The engineered nano-coatings were designed to improve hydrophobic response with inducing the required roughness pattern and introducing the photocatalytic performance. The effectiveness of the coatings was assessed using high-resolution neutron imaging (HR-NI), SEM, CLSM, and XRD techniques. High-resolution neutron imaging revealed that the superhydrophobic coating effectively prevents water ingress into the porous ceramic substrate, whereas water imbibition was observed for superhydrophilic coating during the test duration. The moisture transport kinetics was modeled based on the Richards equation for plain ceramic and superhydrophilic specimens using obtained penetration depth values from HR-NI. SEM, CLSM, and XRD studies confirm the desired TiO2-doped zinc phosphate coatings with increased surface roughness, photocatalytic reactivity, and chemical bonding. The research results demonstrated that a two-layer superhydrophobic system is capable of creating effective water barriers on the surface with contact angles of 153°, which remained effective even after surface damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Menisci are crescent-shaped fibrocartilagenous structures that increase the tibiofemoral congruity, act as shock absorbers, and provide secondary anteroposterior stability. The root tears affect the biomechanical integrity of the whole meniscus, simulating a total meniscectomy, which can lead to early degeneration of the joint. Most of the root tears affect the posterior part rather than the anterior root. Very few reports have been described in the literature regarding anterior root tears and repairs. We present two such patients with anterior meniscal root tears, one of the lateral meniscus and one of the medial meniscus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discharge from the Indian peninsular rivers is strongly controlled by the intensity of monsoonal rainfall, which is strongly influenced by atmospheric extreme events, such as El Niño, La Niña, and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). To examine the effect of river discharge on concentrations of nutrients, N/P ratios in the estuary and its fluxes to the coastal Bay of Bengal, time-series observations were conducted from 2008 to 2019. An increase in river discharge was observed in recent years due to an increase in monsoon rainfall, expansion of hydropower plant, and siltation of the dam reservoir. The increase in fertilizer application per hectare of agricultural land was observed in recent years. In response to an increase in both river discharge and fertilizer usage, an enhanced concentration of nutrients in the estuary was observed. Low N/P ratios were observed during the peak discharge (June to September) period due to less removal of phosphate through geochemical pathways due to low residence time of water respectively. An increase in N/P ratios, associated with phytoplankton blooms, was observed during moderate and low discharge periods, suggesting faster phosphate removal through biological or geochemical pathways. The flux of nitrogen, phosphate, and silicate increased by 675, 440, and 906% between 2008 and 2019. This study suggested that increases in river discharge and fertilizer application have both contributed to increased nutrient fluxes from the Godavari estuary to the coastal Bay of Bengal. The impacts of these increased fluxes on coastal ecosystems warrant further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we consider the Anderson model on Bethe lattice and prove that the integrated density of states (IDS) is as smooth as the single site distribution (SSD), in high disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biopolymer electrolyte based on gellan gum with various concentrations of lithium chloride salt has been prepared using solution casting technique and optimized with high ionic conductivity of 4.08 × 10–3 S cm−1 for the composition of 1 g gellan gum + 1.2 M wt% of LiCl using AC impedance analysis. XRD has been used to study the crystalline/amorphous nature of the prepared membrane. The complex formation between the polymer and the salt is analyzed using FTIR technique. DSC analysis has been done to evaluate the glass transition temperature of the prepared electrolytes. Transference number measurement was done to confirm that the conduction is due to cations. CV analysis was done to measure the cyclic stability of the prepared membrane which shows an adequate result by reciprocating the pattern for 50 cycles. Primary lithium-ion conducting battery is constructed using highest lithium-ion conducting membrane. It shows an open circuit voltage of 1.88 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/Background: Multiple medical and surgical treatments have been described in the early stages of Avascular Necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head which delay the disease progression. Similarly, multiple studies, trials, reviews, and systematic reviews exist for the various treatments described and their outcomes but with no consensus over which is superior. So in this study, we reviewed the systematic reviews of all the conservative therapies for AVN of the femoral head systematically to identify a single or a combination of non-surgical treatment choices in the initial stages of the disease. Methodology: A thorough literature search has been carried out in January 2022 through the use of Pubmed, EMBASE, and Cochrane electronic databases using PRISMA guidelines. The Mesh words and Keywords used were "femoral head AVN", "Conservative management", and "Systematic Reviews". The inclusion criteria used during the screening were, any systematic reviews which included patients with AVN either idiopathic or secondary, who are managed with conservative therapies like bisphosphonates, Hyper Baric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), Shock wave therapies like Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT), or electrical therapy like Pulsed Electro Magnetic Field (PEMF). The quality of the included systematic reviews was assessed using AMSTAR-2 criteria. Results: The initial search yielded 364 studies which on screening based on our inclusion criteria finally resulted in seven systematic reviews to be included in the present study. There were two systematic reviews for Hyper Baric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), two for Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT), one for electrical stimulation modalities like Pulsed Electro Magnetic Field (PEMF), and two for bisphosphonates. The follow-up of the patients in the included systematic reviews varied from 6 weeks to 10 years. The total number of patients varied from 77 to over 1000 across the systematic reviews. Almost all of the studies included a control group that either received the intended treatment with adjuncts or did not receive any treatment at all. Because of the heterogeneous nature of included articles in the systematic reviews, meta-analysis was performed in only three of the included systematic reviews. Conclusion: Of all the modalities of treatment described, bisphosphonates are easily available and cost-effective and do not require any hospital resources/machinery for delivering the treatment. So they can be used as an initial line of treatment for patients with early stages of AVN (Ficat and Arlet 1–3) and based on the hospital availability of resources could be supplemented with any of the biophysical modalities (ESWT/PEMF/HBOT) for maximum efficacy to delay the disease progression. Level of Clinical Evidence: Systematic review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the ages the world has witnessed the outbreak of many infectious diseases. Emerging microbial diseases pose a serious threat to public health. Increasing resistance of microorganisms towards the existing drugs makes them ineffective. In fact, anti-microbial resistance is declared as one of the top public health threats by WHO. Hence, there is an urge for the discovery of novel antimicrobial drugs to combat with this challenge. Structural diversity and unique pharmacological effects make natural products a prime source of novel drugs. Staggeringly, in spite of its extensive biodiversity, a prominent portion of microorganism species remains unexplored for the identification of bioactives. Microorganisms are a predominant source of new chemical entities and there are remarkable number of antimicrobial drugs developed from it. In this review, we discuss the contributions of microorganism based natural products as effective antibacterial agents, studied during the period of 2010–2020. The review encompasses over 140 structures which are either natural products or semi-synthetic derivatives of microbial natural products. 65 of them are identified as newly discovered natural products. All the compounds discussed herein, have exhibited promising efficacy against various bacterial strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic target detection plays a significant role during war operations. The concept behind automatic target detection in war is military object recognition from the captured images. For object recognition in the given image, convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures are used efficiently. However, CNN suffers from a problem of location invariant and their performance depends mainly on the size of the training set. Generally, the available training data will be in less proportion for military objects due to its operational and security issues. Due to these two issues of CNN, the performance of CNN may degrade abruptly. To address military object recognition, a relatively new neural network architecture based on capsule network (CapsNet) is introduced in this paper. A variant of CapsNet called the multi-level CapsNet framework is projecting in this paper for efficient military object recognition under the case of a small training dataset. The validation of the introduced framework is done on a dataset of military objects collected from the Internet. The dataset contains particularly five different military objects and similar civil ones. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed framework can accomplish a high recognition precision, superior to many other algorithms such as conventional support vector machines and transfer learning-based CNNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel, eco-friendly, and cost-effective biomaterial membranes based on Moringa oleifera (MO) seed as a host medium are fabricated by solution casting technique. Tannic acid (TA) is employed as a stability enhancer, and the addition of NH4SCN increases the proton conduction of the membranes. The particle size of the prepared MO seed powder is obtained by SEM analysis. The amorphous properties of the prepared biomaterial membrane are examined by XRD analysis. The change in vibrational patterns of biomaterial membranes with salts is studied using FTIR analysis. The glass transition temperatures of the prepared biomaterial membranes are measured by DSC measurement. As measured by the AC impedance technique, the biomaterial membrane 1 gm MO seed, 250 mg TA, and 0.8 mol.wt% NH4SCN displays the highest ionic conductivity as 1.83 × 10−2 S/cm at room temperature. By employing the highest ion-conducting biomaterial membrane in the primary proton battery and proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), open circuit voltage and cell potential were 1.68 V and 531 mV observed respectively. It showed the high potential of MO seed-based biomaterial membrane in primary proton battery and PEMFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider Schrödinger operators on M × Z d 2 , with M = { M 1 , ... , M 2 } d 1 ('quantum wave guides') with a ' Γ -trimmed' random potential, namely a potential which vanishes outside a subset Γ which is periodic with respect to a sub-lattice. We prove that (under appropriate assumptions) for strong disorder these operators have pure point spectrum outside the set Σ 0 = σ (H 0 , Γ c ) where H 0 , Γ c is the free (discrete) Laplacian on the complement Γ c of Γ . We also prove that the operators have some absolutely continuous spectrum in an energy region E ⊂ Σ 0 . Consequently, there is a mobility edge for such models. We also consider the case - M 1 = M 2 = ∞ , i.e. Γ -trimmed operators on Z d = Z d 1 × Z d 2 . Again, we prove localisation outside Σ 0 by showing exponential decay of the Green function G E + i η (x , y) uniformly in η > 0 . For all energies E ∈ E we prove that the Green's function G E + i η is not (uniformly) in ℓ 1 as η approaches 0. This implies that neither the fractional moment method nor multi-scale analysis can be applied here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cr and Si thin films were sequentially deposited on fused silica substrates by electron beam evaporation. Two bilayer film geometries, one with Cr thin film at the bottom and the other with it on top of the Si thin film, were investigated. The thin films were deposited at 200, 400 and 500°C followed by annealing in vacuum. Thereafter, the bilayer films were post-deposition annealed at temperatures between 600 and 800°C in 50°C steps. Raman spectroscopy studies showed that the interdiffusion process resulted in the crystallization of the as-deposited amorphous Si films. The temperature at which the crystallization occurred was geometry dependent, being lower when the Si film was at the top and at higher substrate temperature in the reverse case. The onset of crystallization temperature and the extent of crystallization of Si were determined by investigating the Raman spectra of the films recorded after post-annealing at each temperature. In addition to crystalline Si, the formation of CrSi2 and Cr2O3 was also detected. Thus, under favourable conditions the crystallization of Si is not silicide mediated. Bilayers with Cr on top and deposited at 400ºC, the onset of crystallization occurred at 700ºC with a maximum crystallization fraction of 67%. In contrast, in the case of metal at the bottom geometry and deposited at 500ºC, the onset of crystallization occurred at a lower temperature of 600ºC. Significantly, the presence of silicides was detected in the Cr (top)/Si (bottom) geometry and there was absence of silicides in the reverse geometry. This study provides new insights into the behaviour of metal–Si interfaces with implications for semiconductor devices and solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims/hypothesis: People with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of developing obstructive sleep apnoea. However, it is not known whether people with type 1 diabetes are also at an increased risk of obstructive sleep apnoea. This study aimed to examine whether people with type 1 diabetes are at increased risk of incident obstructive sleep apnoea compared with a matched cohort without type 1 diabetes. Methods: We used a UK primary care database, The Health Improvement Network (THIN), to perform a retrospective cohort study between January 1995 and January 2018 comparing sleep apnoea incidence between patients with type 1 diabetes (exposed) and without type 1 diabetes (unexposed) (matched for age, sex, BMI and general practice). The outcome was incidence of obstructive sleep apnoea. Baseline covariates and characteristics were assessed at the start of the study based on the most recent value recorded prior to the index date. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios, based on a complete-case analysis. Results: In total, 34,147 exposed and 129,500 matched unexposed patients were included. The median follow-up time was 5.43 years ((IQR 2.19–10.11), and the mean BMI was 25.82 kg/m2 (SD 4.33). The adjusted HR for incident obstructive sleep apnoea in patients with type 1 diabetes vs those without type 1 diabetes was 1.53 (95% CI 1.25, 1.86; p<0.001). Predictors of incident obstructive sleep apnoea in patients with type 1 diabetes were older age, male sex, obesity, being prescribed antihypertensive or lipid-lowering drugs, atrial fibrillation and depression. Conclusions/interpretation: Individuals with type 1 diabetes are at increased risk of obstructive sleep apnoea compared with people without diabetes. Clinicians should suspect obstructive sleep apnoea in patients with type 1 diabetes if they are old, have obesity, are male, have atrial fibrillation or depression, or if they are taking lipid-lowering or antihypertensive drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of high ionic conducting solid polymer electrolyte is the most challenging and ever-growing research area in science. The present study concentrated on the preparation of gellan gum–based magnesium ion conducting solid biopolymer electrolytes for electrochemical device applications. The magnesium ion conducting solid biopolymer electrolyte has been developed by solution casting technique with 1.0-g gellan gum with different concentrations of Mg (ClO4)2 salts. The prepared polymer electrolytes were characterized by XRD, FTIR, and DSC. The ionic conductivity of the polymer electrolytes has been analyzed by AC impedance analysis; the polymer electrolyte of 1.0-g gellan gum with 0.5 wt % of Mg (ClO4)2 has the maximum ionic conductivity of 1.063 × 10–2 S cm−1 at room temperature. The Mg2+ ion movements have been confirmed by Wagner's planarization method. By using Evan's polarization method, the cationic transference number has been obtained at 0.33 for the high conducting polymer electrolyte. The electrochemical stability of the polymer has been studied by using LSV; the high conducting polymer electrolyte is stable up to 2.86 V. The magnesium primary battery has been fabricated with the help of high conducting polymer electrolyte and its performance also studied. The magnesium battery has an open-circuit voltage of 2.52 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of high ion conducting membrane is in need of present time for efficient battery. The aim of this study is to develop a proton conducting polymer electrolyte using biopolymer sodium alginate (SA) with ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN) salt using solution casting technique. Addition of graphene quantum dot (GQD) with the highest conducting polymer electrolyte resulted with the increase in ionic conductivity of the polymer electrolyte. The prepared composition of SA: NH4SCN analyzed through XRD, FTIR, DSC, Ac impedance technique, LSV. SEM and TGA studies have been undertaken. The amorphous/crystalline natures of the obtained electrolytes were studied using the XRD technique. FTIR confirm the complex formation of salt and polymer. The glass transition temperature Tg has been obtained with the help of DSC. The highest proton conductivity of 8.72 × 10–3 S cm−1 has been obtained for the composition of 30 M.wt%SA: 70 M.wt%NH4SCN. The ionic conductivity has been improved to 2.22 × 10–2 S cm−1 duo to the addition of 0.75 ml GQD with 30 M.wt%SA: 70 M.wt%NH4SCN biopolymer electrolyte. Transference number analysis has been done using the Wagner's polarization technique. Electrochemical stability value of 2.17 V (without GQD) and 2.83 V (with GQD) has been obtained using LSV. Proton conducting battery has been constructed using highest conducting biopolymer electrolyte and the open circuit voltage of 1.45 V (without GQD) and 1.48 V (with GQD) has been obtained. Construction of a single fuel cell has been made using highest proton conducting membrane providing an open circuit voltage 431 mV (without GQD) and 514 mV (with GQD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the local eigenvalue statistics ξ ω , E N associated with the eigenvalues of one-dimensional, (2 N + 1) × (2 N + 1) random band matrices with independent, identically distributed, real random variables and band width growing as N α , for 0 < α < 1 2 . We consider the limit points associated with the random variables ξ ω , E N [ I ] , for I ⊂ R , and E ∈ (- 2 , 2) . For random band matrices with Gaussian distributed random variables and for 0 ≤ α < 1 7 , we prove that this family of random variables has nontrivial limit points for almost every E ∈ (- 2 , 2) , and that these limit points are Poisson distributed with positive intensities. The proof is based on an analysis of the characteristic functions of the random variables ξ ω , E N [ I ] and associated quantities related to the intensities, as N tends towards infinity, and employs known localization bounds of (Peled et al. in Int. Math. Res. Not. IMRN 4:1030–1058, 2019, Schenker in Commun Math Phys 290:1065–1097, 2009), and the strong Wegner and Minami estimates (Peled et al. in Int. Math. Res. Not. IMRN 4:1030–1058, 2019). Our more general result applies to random band matrices with random variables having absolutely continuous distributions with bounded densities. Under the hypothesis that the localization bounds hold for 0 < α < 1 2 , we prove that any nontrivial limit points of the random variables ξ ω , E N [ I ] are distributed according to Poisson distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new class of environmental friendly bio-based electrolytes has been synthesized from natural tree gum of Moringa oleifera by solution casting technique. An ionic salt of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) of varying compositions from 0.2 to 0.6 wt % has been used as an additive to optimize the ionic conductivity of Moringa gum (MG) based biopolymer membranes. X-ray diffractograms affirm the enhancement in amorphous nature of the membranes with the addition of salt, and the high degree of amorphous nature is exhibited by the composition of MG (1 g) with 0.5 wt % NH4NO3. Complex formation between MG and salt has been studied by Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR). Thermal behavioural study by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) authenticates the flexibility of the prepared MG-based membrane with NH4NO3 by low glass transition temperature. The obtained solid polymer electrolyte MG (1 g) with 0.5 wt % NH4NO3 achieved an ionic conductivity as high as 2.66 × 10−3 S cm−1 at room temperature and the high ionic transference number of 0.98 is observed for the same. Primary proton cell has been fabricated with the optimum conducting polymer membrane (with a configuration Zn: ZnSO4.7H2O:C|| MG :0.5 wt % NH4NO3 Membrane || PbO2: V2O5) exhibits an open cell potential of 2.19 V and 1.88 V when shunted through the load resistance of 100 KΩ. Natural tree gum of Moringa oleifera as an electrolyte in the primary proton cell has provided a considerable open cell potential of 2.19 V which authenticates the utility of MG as a successful electrolytic material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density functional theory (DFT) in conjugation with non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) is used to investigate the structural, electronic, and transport properties of the pristine and fluorinated zigzag ZnO nanoribbons (ZnONRs). For the fluorinated nanoribbons, the bond lengths at the edges are increased due to the excessive atomic radius of fluorine (F) relative to hydrogen (H). The stability increases with fluorination at the Zn-rich edge and decreases when F is passivated at the O-rich edge. The structure with fluorination at the Zn-rich edge (F-Zn-ZnONR) is the most stable with a binding energy ( E b ) of about −5.052 eV, and the structure with fluorination at the O-rich edge (F-O-ZnONR) is the least stable with a E b of −4.607 eV. All the structures are semiconducting and the pristine structure has the highest energy band gap ( E g ) of about 0.531 eV followed by the lowest E g of 0.011 eV for the structure with fluorination at both edges (F-ZnO-ZnONR). Partial density of states (PDOS) study depicts that the new energy states introduced closer to the Fermi energy level are due to the F atoms. All the devices except the pristine device exhibit negative differential resistance (NDR) characteristics. A significant NDR mechanism is observed in all the fluorinated ZnONRs. The highest peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) of about 1.79 × 10 2 is reported for the F-ZnO-ZnONR device. ZnONRs with the reported NDR behavior can be used for designing the future nanoelectronic devices, oscillators, frequency converters, switches, rectifiers, resonators etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this present work, a proton-conducting solid biopolymer electrolyte membrane that consists of sodium alginate (SA) incorporated with ammonium formate (NH4HCO2) has been prepared by solution casting technique. Using the highest proton-conducting membrane, electrochemical devices like battery and fuel cell have been constructed. Graphene quantum dot has been used as an additive to highest conducting polymer electrolyte (30 M.wt%SA:70 M.wt%NH4HCO2). The prepared membranes (SA:NH4HCO2) were subjected to various characterization techniques such as XRD, FTIR, DSC, Ac impedance technique, and LSV. On increasing salt concentration, XRD analysis shows that amorphous nature increases. Highest amorphous nature has been found for 30 M.wt%SA:70 M.wt%NH4HCO2. The complex formation between SA and NH4HCO2 has been confirmed by FTIR measurements. The glass transition temperature, Tg, has been measured using DSC (differential scanning calorimetry). 30 M.wt%SA:70 M.wt%NH4HCO2 membrane shows a highest ionic conductivity value of 2.77 × 10−3 S cm−1. The addition of 1.25 ml GQD into the 30 M.wt%SA:70 M.wt%NH4HCO2 biopolymer electrolyte membrane has improved the value of ionic conductivity to 2.01 × 10−2 S cm−1. Transference number analysis reveals that the conductivity is mainly due to the ions in the polymer electrolyte (Wagner's polarization method). LSV technique is used to measure the electrochemical stability of the biopolymer electrolyte membrane which resulted with 1.90 V (without GQD) and 2.08 V (with GQD). Battery constructed with highest ionic conducting membrane shows an open circuit voltage of 1.77 V (without GQD) and 1.79 V (with GQD). A fuel cell has been constructed using highest conducting biopolymer electrolyte membrane and the open circuit voltages of 707 mV (without GQD) and 778 mV (with GQD) have been measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a sustainable ion-conducting solid electrolyte is an intense area of research because of its potential application in all-solid-state batteries. In the present work, ion-conducting electrolyte membranes based on water-soluble biopolymer sodium alginate and sodium perchlorate (NaClO4) are prepared and analyzed. The complexation between NaClO4 and the sodium alginate biopolymer is well established by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The inclusion and the impact of NaClO4 concentration producing changes in the crystalline/amorphous nature of the membrane is recognized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The thermal analysis by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) reveals the changes in glass transition temperature (Tg) for various sodium alginate/NaClO4 compositions. The membrane with 60 wt% NaClO4:40 wt% sodium alginate exhibits maximum ion conductivity of 2.291 × 10–3 S cm−1 at room temperature possessing a transference number of 0.96 and a potential window of 3.4 V. An all-solid-state primary battery has been constructed which is found to manifest an open-circuit potential of 3.14 V. The present investigation is very appropriate and promising for utilizing the prepared biopolymer membranes for the application of the sodium-ion battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-based solid polymer electrolytes are synthesized and characterized for the application of sodium-ion conducting batteries. Biopolymer tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP) has been chosen as the host polymer and ionic dopant of sodium perchlorate (NaClO4) in various compositions (0.5 g to 0.9 g) added to the host polymer as a source of charge carriers. Simple solution casting technique is utilized for the synthesis of solid biopolymer electrolyte membranes. X-ray diffraction analysis has been used to analyze the nature (crystalline/amorphous) of prepared biopolymer membranes. The complex formation between the host biopolymer and sodium perchlorate has been examined with the help of FTIR spectroscopy analysis. Glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the membranes are observed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Ionic conductivities of the membranes are determined from the Ac impedance technique. Among the prepared biopolymer electrolytes, 1 g TSP with 0.8 g of NaClO4 exhibits the optimum ionic conductivity of 1.70 × 10−3 S cm−1. Electrochemical stability window for the optimum conducting biopolymer electrolyte is found to be 3.24 V by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The open-circuit cell potential of 3.15 V is observed by fabricating primary sodium battery using the highest conducting biopolymer electrolyte (1 g TSP: 0.8 g NaClO4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A solid-state biopolymer electrolyte was prepared from the biomaterial Corn Silk Extract (CSE) by blending with polyvinyl alcohol and different concentration of MgCl2 by opting solution casting technique. The maximum ionic conductivity of 1.74 × 10−5 Scm−1 for the blend pure biopolymer (0.9 g CSE + 1 g PVA) and 1.28 × 10−3 Scm−1 for the biopolymer electrolyte was obtained from the AC Impedance analysis. The obtained biopolymer electrolyte is characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to look into the complex formation of the biopolymer blend and the salt. The maximum amorphous nature has been observed for 0.9 g CSE + 1 g PVA + 0.45wt% MgCl2 by the XRD technique. Glass transition temperature of the biopolymer electrolyte was found by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) process. The electrochemical potential window of the biopolymer electrolyte with maximum conductivity is obtained as 2.65 V in linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The transference number is calculated from Wagner's and Evan's polarization techniques. A primary Mg-ion battery is constructed with an open-circuit voltage of 1.95 V at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, lead-free piezoceramics have been developed aiming to replace toxic lead-bearing lead zirconate titanate (PZT). A large number of lead-free piezo systems were explored during this period as evidenced from the huge number of publications. At this juncture, it was felt necessary to publish a review article focusing on material systems and processes delivering high d33 in order to give direction to future research for its further improvement equivalent to or higher than the d33 level delivered by PZT. The important lead-free piezo systems under consideration are: modified barium titanates such as barium calcium titanate zirconate (BCTZ), barium calcium tin titanate (BCSnT), barium calcium hafnium titanate (BCHfT), and potassium sodium niobate (KNN). In this article, an effort has been made to review the high piezoelectric properties achieved on the above lead-free piezo systems explaining the reasons and mechanisms behind high piezo properties and possible future directions of the research for further enhancement of properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main germplasm resource bases used for genetic diversity in disease resistance include wild ancestral species, landraces and commercial varieties. In this study, 585 barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) landraces were evaluated along with 10 checks for resistance to leaf rust (P. hordei) pathotype ETPh7611 under field conditions at Sinana and Goba, Ethiopia, during 2018 and 2019 main cropping seasons. The trial was laid out in augmented design consisting of six blocks and each plot comprised a single row of 1.75 m long and 0.2 m spacing between rows. Data on disease incidence, severity and agronomic traits were recorded. The result showed highly significant variations among landraces for disease incidence, severity, and agronomic traits. The leaf rust incidence and AUDPC varied from 63.7 to 86.3 and 651.5 to 2096.4, respectively. Similarly, the variations among landraces in terms of regions of origin, altitude classes, and kernel row number were significant. Landraces originated from Arsi, Bale and Gonder had significantly lower disease incidence and severity than others. Furthermore, landraces collected from altitude class III (2000–2,500 m) and those with 2-row and irregular kernel type had lower disease severity. Segregation in infection type as well as partial resistance (PR) was observed in some landraces due to a reduction of disease severity and 33 landraces showing lowest disease severity were selected. The resistant landraces identified in the present investigation can be utilized to study the genetics of resistance to leaf rust resistance, which subsequently will help to incorporate the resistant genes into several elite backgrounds of barley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TiN/Si3N4 composite thin films were deposited on Inconel718 (IN718) and flexible Phynox alloy substrates by the co-sputtering process at room temperature and 250 °C. The TiN films were sputtered from a Ti target, while the Si3N4 films were sputtered from either a Si or a Si3N4 target. The aim is to prepare composite thin films of nanocrystalline TiN and amorphous Si3N4 under the same conditions of pressure and temperature. This objective was achieved at room temperature and 250 °C substrate temperature on both the substrates mentioned above, as confirmed from x-ray and selected area electron diffraction patterns when the targets used were Ti and Si3N4. Significantly, crystallization of Si3N4 phase was observed under favorable conditions when Si was the target. All the films exhibit columnar microstructure comprising layers of TiN and Si3N4. Films deposited from the Si target crystallize at a lower thickness than those deposited from the Si3N4 target. There is a substrate type, substrate temperature, and deposition time dependence of grain size. The films on Phynox substrates have smaller grain sizes (50–60 nm) in comparison with films on IN718 substrates (100–120 nm). The films deposited on the IN718 substrates display higher surface roughness than the films deposited on the Phynox substrates which, in turn, depended on the target from which the Si3N4 films were deposited. The hardness of composite films in which the Si3N4 is deposited from the Si target is higher than that for the films deposited from the Si3N4 target. The present work, thus, describes a technique for the single layer nanocomposite thin films deposition with properties that can be tuned by the type of target used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Current literature reveals that up to 88% of individuals undergoing behavioral speech therapy (BST) for chronic refractory cough (CRC) demonstrate benefit at 4–8 weeks post-treatment. However, investigations of BST are confounded by overlapping use of neuromodulators, missing follow-up data, and an absence of long-term outcomes. This study investigated treatment outcomes beyond 6 months in individuals diagnosed with CRC, and whose treatment outcomes were clinically undocumented. Methods: Participants with CRC 6 months or greater beyond treatment completion were recruited. Participants completed a post-treatment Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) and a telephone interview. Demographic data, cough characteristics, treatment adherence, BST outcomes, and pre- and post-treatment LCQ scores were evaluated. Results: 80 individuals met inclusion criteria and 29 consented to participate. Of these, 27 were recommended BST. The majority were female (19/27) with average age of 58 years (SD = 12). Mean cough duration was 60 months (SD = 98) and mean post-BST duration was 20 months (SD = 9). A significant increase in pre- to post-treatment LCQ scores occurred [4.4 (SD = 4.2)] (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: This study addressed long-term BST benefit for CRC and demonstrated a significant improvement in long-term post-treatment LCQ total scores more than a year after BST for CRC. More than half of participants indicated improvement or elimination of their cough. These findings further support the benefit of BST for CRC. Future research should consider patient perspectives about treatment outcomes given that 44% of participants reported no benefit from BST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic COVID-19, caused by SARS-COV-2 virus has shaken the entire world with no such remedy till date. The only possible way to stop transmission of SARS-COV-2 is to take safety precautions including use of facemask. With the ever-increasing concern on the disease, it is necessary to choose facemask components to achieve the performance as good as commercially available N95 masks in a cost-effective way. This investigation compares the effectiveness of five different 3-layered masks with N95 mask in terms of pressure drop and aerosol filtration capabilities. Different combinations of cotton, polypropylene fabric, tissue and high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) were used as mask materials. In comparison to N95 mask, the result shows that the 3-layered cotton mask has much lesser pressure drop but least droplet filtration efficiency, while polypropylene-HEPA-polypropylene mask is seen as the best cost-effective alternative to N95 in terms of droplets filtration efficiency and breathability. These findings are crucial to make the right non-medical facemask to combat COVID-19 and other airborne diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To ascertain the benefits of practicing shunt pumping test on a validated experimental model. Methods: A validated experimental model of shunt was used and 25 medical professionals were asked to assess the block in the model where artificial blocks were created. The assessment was repeated after the participants had practiced on the same model. The performance of participants before and after practice was compared and statistically evaluated. Results: The ability to predict the status of shunt showed an improvement in all scenarios after practice. The odds ratio for predicting a blocked shunt before and after practice was 7.25 (95% credible interval: 1.50–21.01). The odds ratio for predicting a functional shunt before and after practice was 8.81 (95% credible interval of 1.64 to 13.65). Conclusion: Practicing on the experimental model significantly improves the ability to predict the status of shunt. Training of primary caregivers on similar shunt models based on the shunts used in respective centers can improve an early detection of shunt block and reduce reliance on more invasive and expensive evaluation modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Filters are used to achieve frequency selectivity on the spectrum of input signal. Due to the stability of finite impulse response (FIR) filters, they are used in most of the applications. In the conventional FIR filters, the frequency band is fixed and cannot be changed once it is designed. Hence, there is a necessity of an FIR filter with auto-adjustment of band width in modern day communication systems like 5G. The design of FIR filter requires more number of filter coefficients to get the desired bandwidth specification. This results in a large slice for field programmable gate array implementation. Here, it proposed a state machine to select different FIR filters with the designated set of coefficients. Each FIR filter is having different set of coefficients, and based on the frequency of the clock signal, the FIR filter is selected and thereby frequency selectivity can be achieved. The proposed method is to implement reconfigurable FIR (RFIR) filter with control logic for auto-adjustment of frequency selections to achieve better band width requirements. The filter order is initially selected as 4 and presented the simulation results. The order of the filter(n) increased to 24 for verifying the bandwidth selection. The proposed architecture is compared with the existing architecture with 16 bits and 11 taps. The proposed method saves 33.5% of look-up-tables (LUTs) compared to the existing methods. Simulation results presented are verified using Xilinx ISE design suite 14.7. The total number of four-input LUTs utilized are 630 for order(n) of the filter 24. Power consumed by the overall design is 195 mW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antenna arrays have potential applications in Radar, mobile, broadcasting, astronomy and other defense and commercial platforms. The design of antenna arrays is essential as they are capable of controlling the radiation pattern in terms of sidelobe level (SLL), beamwidth (BW), nulls and beam steering. Among several geometries of antenna arrays, the circular antenna arrays have the advantage in terms of inherent capability to control the phase implicitly. In this paper, circular antenna array synthesis is presented using novel metaheuristic techniques like the Social Group Optimization Algorithm (SGOA) and Modified SGOA (MSGOA). The main objective of the synthesis process is to synthesize radiation patterns with suppressed SLL while the BW being equal to the uniform distribution. A comparative study is performed to analyze the performance of various synthesis techniques like amplitude only, inter-element spacing only, and amplitude spacing. The MGSOA and SGOA have proved to be performing well in accomplishing the objective. Further, the CAA synthesis problem is translated into single-variable and multivariable optimization problems following which the obvious advantage associated with the inclusion of additional variable as an additional degree of freedom is demonstrated. The simulation is carried out in Matlab®, and results are analyzed using the plotted radiation patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the biopolymer Gellan gum with ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN) salt, solid electrolyte has been prepared with distilled water as solvent, using solution casting technique. The prepared solid electrolytes are subjected to various characterization techniques such as XRD, FTIR, DSC, and Ac impedance technique. Amorphous/crystalline nature of biopolymer membrane is studied by XRD. The polymer–salt complex formation has been studied by FTIR technique. Biopolymer membrane of 1 g Gellan gum with 1.1 M wt% of NH4SCN exhibits very high amorphous nature with a high proton conductivity of 1.41 × 10−2 S/cm and a glass transition temperature (Tg) of 42.98 °C. Using the highest ionic conducting biopolymer electrolyte, proton battery and fuel cell have been fabricated and their performance is studied. Proton battery constructed shows the open circuit voltage of 1.62 V. A single fuel cell constructed using the highest conducting membrane gives the voltage of 580 mV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, solid biopolymer electrolyte membranes based on sodium alginate are prepared and investigated for their application in sodium-ion batteries. Various concentrations of sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN) are introduced into the matrix of sodium alginate biopolymer. Solution cast route is the method opted to prepare the electrolyte membrane. The complex formation between sodium alginate and NaSCN has been confirmed with the help of X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). On increasing NaSCN concentration, the semi-crystalline nature of the sodium alginate gets abated thus elevating the amorphous domain of the electrolyte membrane. Information about the glass transition temperature (Tg) is acquired from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Decrement in the Tg upon NaSCN addition favors the segmental motion of the polymer chain. The biopolymer host material (30 wt%) can accommodate large amounts of NaSCN salt (70 wt%) exhibiting ionic conductivity of 1.22 × 10−2 S cm−1. The transference number measurement with Wagner's DC polarization method is found to be 0.96 (near unity) which confirms ions are the governing charge carriers. The linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) technique that measures the potential window for the biopolymer electrolyte membrane is 2.7 V, representing it as a potential applicant for electrochemical energy storage devices. An all-solid-state sodium-ion battery is assembled with a high ion–conducting biopolymer electrolyte membrane that displays an open cell potential of 2.87 V. The results highlight the possibilities of sodium ion–conducting solid biopolymer electrolytes to extend their hands in a safe sodium-ion battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Litter degradation influences nutrient cycling in the ecosystem. The present study is focused on the rate of leaf litter degradation in the evergreen forests of Pampadum Shola National Park, southern Western Ghats, India. Three different in-situ experiments which started in November (post-monsoon), March (pre-monsoon) and June (monsoon season) were carried out and the litter bag method was used for degradation study. The carbon dioxide evolution rate was also assessed using soil respirometer. The degradation pattern of the major polymers in leaf litter was in the order cellulose > hemicellulose > lignin. The litter degradation rate was high in the initial stages of decomposition than in the successive stages. The identification of major phytochemical compounds and functional groups present in the initial stage and at the end of the experiment were detected using GC–MS and ATR-FTIR respectively. Certain phytochemical compounds and functional groups which were present in the initial stage were degraded and a few daughter compounds were formed at the end of the experiment. The results indicate that the litter degradation and CO2 evolution rate are high in the evergreen forest of Pampadum Shola National Park. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]