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Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection may be associated with a prothrombotic state, predisposing patients for a progressive disease course. We investigated whether rivaroxaban, a direct oral anticoagulant factor Xa inhibitor, would reduce coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) progression. Methods Adults (N = 497) with mild COVID-19 symptoms and at high risk for COVID-19 progression based on age, body mass index, or comorbidity were randomized 1:1 to either daily oral rivaroxaban 10 mg (N = 246) or placebo equivalent (N = 251) for 21 days and followed to day 35. Primary end points were safety and progression. Absolute difference in progression risk was assessed using a stratified Miettinen and Nurminen method. Results The study was terminated after 497 of the target 600 participants were enrolled due to a prespecified interim analysis of the first 200 participants that crossed the futility boundary for the primary efficacy end point in the intent-to-treat population. Enrollees were 85% aged <65 years; 60% female; 27% Hispanic, Black, or other minorities; and 69% with ≥2 comorbidities. Rivaroxaban was well tolerated. Disease progression rates were 46 of 222 (20.7%) in rivaroxaban vs 44 of 222 (19.8%) in placebo groups, with a risk difference of –1.0 (95% confidence interval, −6.4 to 8.4; P  = .78). Conclusions We did not demonstrate an impact of rivaroxaban on disease progression in high-risk adults with mild COVID-19. There remains a critical public health gap in identifying scalable effective therapies for high-risk people in the outpatient setting to prevent COVID-19 progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The absorption efficiency of a solar collector using different types of nanofluids was improved. Experimental work was carried out to investigate the flat‐plate and evacuated‐tube collectors under outdoor conditions to produce distilled water. A pilot plant was designed and installed. The yield of distilled water at different seawater flow rates and the physical properties of nanofluids were determined. Solar intensity, water mass flow rate, and temperature were measured. The performance of the desalination unit was evaluated in the presence of carbon nanotubes in paraffin wax and ethylene glycol nanofluids. The evaporation efficiency of the flat‐plate collector was improved up to 36 % in the presence of ethylene glycol nanofluid at 80–100 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)-based techniques have dominated state-of-the-art results in most problems related to computer vision, audio recognition, and natural language processing in the past few years, resulting in strong industrial adoption from all leading technology companies worldwide. One of the major obstacles that have historically delayed large-scale adoption of ANNs is the huge computational and power costs associated with training and testing (deploying) them. In the mean-time, Neuromorphic Computing platforms have recently achieved remarkable performance running the bio-realistic Spiking Neural Networks at high throughput and very low power consumption making them a natural alternative to ANNs. Here, we propose using the Random Neural Network, a spiking neural network with both theoretical and practical appealing properties, as a general purpose classifier that can match the classification power of ANNs on a number of tasks while enjoying all the features of being a spiking neural network. This is demonstrated on a number of real-world classification datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanomaterials‐strengthened diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy resin and aramid fiber composites were investigated for 0.16 wt% and 0.32 wt% of industrial and COOH‐functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Epoxy/Kevlar fiber/MWCNT hybrid composites were prepared using a vacuum resin‐infusion molding method (VRIM) based on 0.68 aramid fiber mass fractions. The effects of MWCNTs on the viscoelastic, mechanical, and thermal properties of composites were investigated. The chemical structure of composites was studied using Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy. Samples with COOH‐functionalized nanotubes showed a strong impact on thermogravimetric analysis, in contrast to composites having the equivalent amount of industrial grade MWCNTs. The outcomes show that addition of MWCNTs to epoxy has a substantial influence on viscoelastic properties. The viscoelastic and thermal analyses show that storage modulus escalates with the addition of functionalized MWCNTs. Micrographs of MWCNTs‐enriched epoxy and Kevlar/epoxy samples revealed the uniform distribution of COOH‐functionalized MWCNTs in epoxy (as compared to industrial grade MWCNTs), resulting in increased interfacial strength between fiber/matrix. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:E2064–E2073, 2018. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were modified to covalently attach the carboxylic moiety with their surfaces. Variant concentrations of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (F-MWCNTs) were introduced into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) adopting solution mixing technique. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirms the carboxy functionalization presence on the surface of the nanotubes. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns for both MWCNTs and F-MWCNTs illustrate that the crystallinity does not alter with surface modification of the nanotubes. Experimental results simulated that electrical conductivity of the nanocomposites was augmented with increasing filler concentration in the host matrix. Thermal conductivity and thermal impedance of the nanocomposite specimens were evaluated according to developed methodologies and the accumulative data revealed the nanocomposites thermal transport dependence on the F-MWCNTs doping concentration in the host polymer matrix. Thermal stability enhancement with increasing filler incorporation into the polymer matrix was observed in thermogravimetric/differential thermal analyzer (TG/DTA) contours. Crystallization, glass transition, and melting temperatures were examined using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and it was observed that phase transition temperatures of the composite specimens can be tuned by varying the nanotubes to matrix ratio. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy were carried out to analyze the surface morphology/composition of the fabricated nanocomposites and dispersion of functionalized and pristine MWCNTs in the polymer matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]