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In their seminal 1961 paper, Sudarshan, Mathews and Rau investigated properties of the dynamical A and B maps acting on n-dimensional quantum systems. The nature of dynamical maps in open quantum system evolutions has attracted great deal of attention in the later years. However, the novel paper on the A and B dynamical maps has not received its due attention. In this tutorial article, we review the properties of A and B forms associated with the dynamics of finite dimensional quantum systems. In particular, we investigate a canonical structure associated with the A form and establish its equivalence with the associated B form. We show that the canonical structure of the A form captures the completely positive (not completely positive) nature of the dynamics in a succinct manner. This feature is illustrated through physical examples of qubit channels. Quanta 2021; 10: 34–41.

Goal: This study aims to examine the Gamification application of Productivity with Codeathon, which can make employees more engaging at work. The growing presence of Information technology in the industry is increasing the demand for a skilled workforce and further making them productive. Gamification's growing popularity among the industry and academicians is bringing new emerging forms that are beneficial to influence the user experience. However, there are many areas in which gamification has yet to benefit the user experience. The study analyzed the gathered data using confirmatory factor analysis, and the later section detailed the study analysis using a structural equation method. Design/Methodology/Approach: An online questionnaire gathered data from IT professionals to adopt the exploratory research, where respondents from Pune, India, were the study participants. The statistical approach adopted for this study was factory analysis followed by structural modelling with the help of tools such as IBM SPSS and Amos, which adds to the empirical Gamification contribution. Results: The study indicated a relationship between Gamification and Productivity among IT employees, where Autonomy was a mediator factor. Limitations of the investigation: This study primarily focused on the information technology sector among Generation Z and Y, but future research can explore other industries and countries. Practical Implications: Gamification encourages the participants' motivation level, making them productive at work and bringing sustainability. Companies shall organize gamified events like Codeathon and encourage their employees' participation, and therefore, the human resources team shall include it as part of their annual budget and planning. Originality/value: There is limited study in the Codeathon, and this research contributes by analyzing the Gamification aspects with Competition and Autonomy. It addresses the organization's emerging need for productivity issues, making it one of the limited studies in the Gamification with Codeathon. As a result, this study addresses the sustainable development goal 8 to bring and attain sustainability for work.

The new normal has transformed IT company employees' working styles and patterns to accommodate changing business demands. It brings back the attention required for self-health, and the pandemic has demonstrated the importance of Health. The prominence of Gamification and its adaptation is growing in the education and learning industries. This research paper aims to study, analyze, and understand users' intention to use gamified health monitoring tools or applications with emerging health disruptions in the post-pandemic era. The study gathered data from Indian users as the primary source, where the participants' backgrounds were from Information Technology (IT) companies, and the survey gathered 185 responses online from Gen Z women. This study shows a significant association between the gamified engagement approach and user intention to engage. Considering the ongoing business uncertainty and growing work-from-home hours for IT employees, disruption may persist while creating the need for gamified health engagement.

Background: COVID-19 affects individuals both physically and mentally. The key is to address emerging needs with a modest technique that helps boost the positive approach in individuals. Gamification offers attempts to engage users with the non-game approach, and its growing popularity in other fields, such as finance and retail, is evident. Objective: This research aims to study the available literature that analyzes and understands using the Gamification approach for mental health in the pandemic. Methods: The author performed a systematic literature review using the PRISMA technique among the selected articles published until Jul 2023, focusing on Gamification, mental health, and COVID in highly reputed record databases, which were peer-reviewed studies. Therefore, the studies using the standard international language of English were eligible for this Study. Results: The Study identified elevated articles exploring Gamification through mobile application software, web-based platforms, and other tools since COVID-19 limited in-person social contact for individual safety during peak time. Conclusion: There are limited studies of Gamification in mental health, and the existing studies suggest that Gamification supports the betterment of mental health. Future studies can explore the different areas of mental health with gamification-based applications or gamified approaches.

Abstract Only a third of individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) progress to dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (DAT). Identifying biomarkers that distinguish individuals with MCI who will progress to DAT (MCI-Converters) from those who will not (MCI-Non-Converters) remains a key challenge in the field. In our study, we evaluate whether the individual rates of loss of volumes of the Hippocampus and entorhinal cortex (EC) with age in the MCI stage can predict progression to DAT. Using data from 758 MCI patients in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Database, we employ Linear Mixed Effects (LME) models to estimate individual trajectories of regional brain volume loss over 12 years on average. Our approach involves three key analyses: (1) mapping age-related volume loss trajectories in MCI-Converters and Non-Converters, (2) using logistic regression to predict progression to DAT based on individual rates of hippocampal and EC volume loss, and (3) examining the relationship between individual estimates of these volumetric changes and cognitive decline across different cognitive functions—episodic memory, visuospatial processing, and executive function. We find that the loss of Hippocampal volume is significantly more rapid in MCI-Converters than Non-Converters, but find no such difference in EC volumes. We also find that the rate of hippocampal volume loss in the MCI stage is a significant predictor of conversion to DAT, while the rate of volume loss in the EC and other additional regions is not. Finally, individual estimates of rates of regional volume loss in both the Hippocampus and EC, and other additional regions, correlate strongly with individual rates of cognitive decline. Across all analyses, we find significant individual variation in the initial volumes and the rates of changes in volume with age in individuals with MCI. This study highlights the importance of personalized approaches in predicting AD progression, offering insights for future research and intervention strategies.

Abstract Aromaticity can be assigned by Hückel’s rule, which predicts that planar rings with delocalized (4n + 2) π-electrons are aromatic, whereas those with 4n π-electrons are antiaromatic. However, for neutral rings, the maximal value of “n” to which Hückel’s rule applies remains unknown. Large macrocycles exhibiting global ring current can serve as models for addressing this question, but the global ring current are often overshadowed in these molecules by the local ring current of the constituent units. Here, we present a series of furan-acetylene macrocycles, ranging from the pentamer to octamer, whose neutral states display alternating contributions from global aromatic and antiaromatic ring currents. We find that the odd-membered macrocycles display global aromatic characteristics, whereas the even-membered macrocycles display contributions from globally antiaromatic ring current. These factors are expressed electronically (oxidation potentials), optically (emission spectra), and magnetically (chemical shifts), and DFT calculations predict global ring current alternations up to 54 π-electrons.

This paper aims to study the major pollutants of the four metro cities of India before and after covid 19 first wave. The cities considered for the study are Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. The major pollutants considered for the study are PM2.5, PM10, NO, NO2, NOx, SO2, CO, and Ozone. The basic aim of the study is to find the effect of lockdown and covid restrictions on the level of pollutants across the four major cities of India. We used both parametric and non-parametric tests for the analysis using SPSS. From the study, it is clear that there is a significant decrease in all the major pollutants across India's major cities.

OBJECTIVES:. Children presenting with acute myocarditis may experience rapid clinical deterioration requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO); however, our understanding of best practices and timing of ECMO initiation are lacking. We explored the relationships between pre-cannulation factors and survival in this high-acuity patient population. DESIGN:. Retrospective review of a large international registry. Primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge, stratified by incident cardiac arrest (CA) prior to ECMO and time to cannulation after intubation. SETTING AND SUBJECTS:. The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization registry was queried for patients less than or equal to 18 years old receiving ECMO support for myocarditis between 2007 and 2018. Exclusion criteria included being nonindex runs, non-venoarterial ECMO or missing data points for main variables studied. INTERVENTIONS:. None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:. Population characteristics and survival were compared using t test, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, or Fisher exact test. Multivariable logistic regression was used for significant factors in the unadjusted logistic regression. Among 506 index ECMO runs in pediatric patients with myocarditis, survival for the cohort was 72%, with no difference between early and late eras (2007–2012 vs 2013–2018; p = 0.69). Survivors demonstrated higher pre-ECMO pH levels as well as shorter intubation-to-cannulation (ITC) times (3 hr [interquartile range (IQR)], 1–14 hr vs 6 hr [IQR, 2–20 hr]; p = 0.021). CA occurred within 24 hours prior to ECMO cannulation, including extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation, in 54% of ECMO runs (n = 273). Accounting for the interaction between pre-ECMO CA occurrence and ITC time, longer ITC time remained associated with lower survival for patients who did not experience a CA prior to ECMO, with adjusted odds ratio of 0.09 (IQR, 0.02–0.40; p = 0.002) for ITC time greater than or equal to 18 hours. CONCLUSIONS:. The results of this multicenter analysis of ECMO utilization and outcomes for pediatric myocarditis suggest that patients approaching ECMO cannulation who have not experienced CA may have better survival outcomes if cannulated onto ECMO early after intubation.

In recent years designing new multistable chaotic oscillators has been of noticeable interest. A multistable system is a double-edged sword which can have many benefits in some applications while in some other situations they can be even dangerous. In this paper, we introduce a new multistable two-dimensional oscillator. The forced version of this new oscillator can exhibit chaotic solutions which makes it much more exciting. Also, another scarce feature of this system is the complex basins of attraction for the infinite coexisting attractors. Some initial conditions can escape the whirlpools of nearby attractors and settle down in faraway destinations. The dynamical properties of this new system are investigated by the help of equilibria analysis, bifurcation diagram, Lyapunov exponents’ spectrum, and the plot of basins of attraction. The feasibility of the proposed system is also verified through circuit implementation.

This paper derives new results for the adaptive backstepping controller design for the anti-synchronization of identical WINDMI systems (Wind-Magnetosphere-Ionosphere models) with unknown parameters and also details the SPICE implementation of the proposed adaptive backstepping controller. In the anti-synchronization of chaotic systems, the sum of the outputs of master and slave systems is made to converge asymptotically to zero with time. The adaptive controller design for the anti-synchronization of identical WINDMI systems with unknown parameters has been established by applying Lyapunov stability theory. MATLAB simulations have been shown for the illustration of the adaptive anti-synchronizing backstepping controller for identical WINDMI chaotic systems. Finally, the proposed controller has been implemented using SPICE and circuit simulation results have been detailed.

This research work proposes a seven-term novel 3-D chaotic system with three quadratic nonlinearities and analyses the fundamental properties of the system such as dissipativity, symmetry, equilibria, Lyapunov exponents and Kaplan-Yorke dimension. The phase portraits of the novel chaotic system simulated using MATLAB depict the strange chaotic attractor of the novel system. For the parameter values and initial conditions chosen in this work, the Lyapunov exponents of the novel chaotic system are obtained as �! = 2.71916, �! = 0 and �! = −13.72776. Also, the KaplanYorke dimension of the novel chaotic system is obtained as �!" = 2.19808. Next, an adaptive controller is designed to stabilize the novel chaotic system with unknown system parameters. Also, an adaptive controller is designed to achieve global chaos synchronization of two identical novel chaotic systems with unknown system parameters. Finally, an electronic circuit realization of the novel chaotic system is depicted using LabVIEW to confirm the feasibility of the theoretical chaotic model.

The development of velocity, temperature and concentration fields of an incompressible viscous electrically conducting fluid, caused by impulsive stretching of the surface in two lateral directions and by suddenly increasing the surface temperature from that of the surrounding fluid in a saturated porous medium is studied. The partial differential equations governing the unsteady laminar boundary layer flow are solved analytically. For some particular cases, closed form solutions are obtained, and for large values of the independent variable asymptotic solutions are found. The surface shear stress in x and y directions and the surface heat transfer and surface mass transfer increase with the magnetic parameter and with permeability parameter and the stretching ratio, and there is a smooth transition from the short-time solution to the long-time solution.