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Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is an emerging and commonest type of heart disease resulting in morbidity and mortality globally. Coronary angiography is a diagnostic modality used to diagnose the coronary artery disease or the extent of blockage of coronary arteries. The multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) technology such as 64-slice, 128-slice, 256-slice, and now 320-slice MSCT has produced a high diagnostic accuracy of CT coronary angiography. This prospective-cross sectional study was done in Department of Cardiology in Medanta, the Medicity, from November 2017 to December 2018 with the aim to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 256 slice CT coronary angiogram in measuring the percentage diameter stenosis compared to invasive angiography and to determine the sensitivity and specicity of CT coronary angiography in detection of coronary artery stenosis among symptomatic patients. A total of 60 patients presented with acute or chronic chest pain with risk for CAD were included. The mean age of the participants was 57.35±10.16 years and 88.3% participants were male and 11.7% participants were females. 56.6% participants had BMI >25, 11.7% were alcoholic, 40% were smoker, 16.7% had diabetes and 38.3% had hypertension. The study concluded that CCTA should be considered initial test of choice in patients presenting with chest pain with low to intermediate probability of CAD because the time required for diagnosis is signicantly shorter, high sensitivity, specicity, PPV and NPV on per vessel and per segment basis, determination of LVEF and has the ability to rule out causes of atypical chest pain including pulmonary embolism and aortic dissection.

The aim of this study was to determine the metabolic status, stress and ovarian activity through progesterone profile in dairy buffalo as influenced by post-partum days, body condition score (BCS) and lactation number. A total of 45 dairy buffaloes were involved and divided into three factors based on their BCS (2.5, 3.0 and 3.5, respectively), lactation number (1, 2 and 3, respectively), and post-partum intervals (14, 28, 42 and 56, respectively). Based on findings, from day 14 to day 56 after parturition, blood glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride levels increased significantly (p .01), while malondialdehyde (MDA) and cortisol levels decreased significantly (p .05) on day 56 of the trial. With increased BCS levels, milk yield, blood metabolites and progesterone improved significantly (p .05), whereas stress indicators decreased significantly (p .01). Blood metabolites, progesterone and milk production were significantly (p .01) higher and stress indicators (MDA and cortisol) were significantly (p .01) lower in lactation stage. Buffaloes with a greater lactation stage and growing post-partum stage had better blood metabolite and progesterone concentrations and less stress. It was concluded that better BCS and increased lactation stage have significant impact on milk yield, stress reduction and restoration of ovarian activity in buffaloes during post-partum period.

Objective: The goal of our study was to determine the magnitude, prevalence and severity of iron deficiency anemia among children in Doda (J&K) India. Methods: It was a prospective, cross-sectional, multistage hospital-based and outpatient department (OPD) study of apparently healthy children who visited our Hospital/OPD clinic for follow-up from different regions of district Doda from February 1, 2021, to February 28, 2022. Five hundred children aged 6 months–12 years were included in our study. The sociodemographic data of subjects were collected using a structured questionnaire. 5 mL of venous blood sample was collected for complete blood count. Hemoglobin level was estimated, along with indices. Anemia was classified into mild (≤12 g/dl – >10 g/dl), moderate (≤10 g/dl – >7 g/dl), and severe (≤7 g/dl), respectively. Microcytic hypochromic picture using indices was considered for labeling iron deficiency. The dietary pattern of children was assessed using questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were done. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20. Results: Overall, the prevalence of anemia was 77.6%. Out of the total vegetarians, 60.1% were anemic. Poor family status particularly families with low income

Background: Acute subdural hematoma is a lesion caused by traumatic brain injury. Computed topography, hematoma thickness and midline shift analysis are important factors in evaluating its prognosis. Aim: To evaluate the factors involved in prognosis of acute subdural hematoma. Study design: Retrospective study Place and duration of study: Department of Neurosurgery, Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana from 1st October 2020 to 30the June 2021. Methodology: One hundred patients from both genders and between age 18-55 years were enrolled. Clinical examination and radiological complete examination was done in each patient. Zumkeller Index (ZI) was calculated and Glasgow scoring was performed. Results: The mean age were 44.1±15.8 years with 87% males having major reasoning of head injury as a motor cycle accident. Traumatic brain injury was recorded as >3mm ZI in 10 cases. The mean midline shift was 12.4±6.06 mm with a significant difference between three categories. Conclusion: Midline shift and hematoma thickness are useful predictors of prognosis related to acute subdural hematoma. Keywords: Prognostic factor, Acute subdural hematoma, Computed tomography (CT)

Computation offloading is a prominent exposition for the mobile devices that lack the computational power to execute applications that require a high computational cost. There are several criteria on which computational offloading can be performed. The common measures’ being load harmonizing at the servers on which task is to be computed, energy management, security and privacy of tasks to be offloaded and the most important being the computational requirement of the task. That being said more and more solutions for offloading use various machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) algorithms for predicting the best nodes off to which task is to be offloaded improving the performance of offloading by reducing the delay in computing the tasks. We present various computational offloading techniques which use ML and DL. Also, we describe numerous middleware technologies and the criteria's that are crucial for offloading in specific developments.

In this paper, a routing protocol based on energy temperature degree-low energy-adaptive clustering hierarchy (ETD-LEACH) is proposed. In the protocol, nodes consume less energy when transmitting data, which improves the network lifetime. The proposed protocol selects the cluster heads (CHs) on the bases of degree, temperature, and energy to perform routing. Moreover, for solving the issue of a single point of failure, the blockchain is utilized. The data transactions are also housed in the blockchain, which is deployed on the CHs and BSs, as, in blockchain, multiple nodes take part. Therefore, to perform a consensus between them, a proof-of-authority (PoA) consensus mechanism is used in the underlying work. In the blockchain, the secure hashing algorithm-256 (SHA-256) is used for secure hashing of data transactions. Furthermore, malicious nodes are detected during the routing using the real-time message content validation (RMCV) scheme in the ETD-LEACH protocol. The proposed model is evaluated under the denial-of-service (DoS) attack, the man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack, and the smart contract analysis performed by the Oyente tool. The performance of the proposed model is evaluated through simulations. The ETD-LEACH and energy threshold-low energy-adaptive clustering hierarchy (ETH-LEACH) protocols are compared using different parameters like number of alive nodes, energy consumption, throughput, and delay. ETD-LEACH consumes less energy and has a better network lifetime as compared to ETH-LEACH. In addition, the RMCV-ETD-LEACH network performance is better than that of both DoS-ETD-LEACH and MITM-ETD-LEACH. Moreover, PoA transaction cost is less than that of proof of work. Also, the execution time of SHA-256 is less than the execution time of SHA-512. Moreover, the value of the packet delivery ratio (PDR) is found to be 89.9% and 99.9% with and without the malicious nodes, respectively.

There is a long history of natural products for the treatment of infections and diseases. The objective of present study was to investigate the organoleptic, microscopic, physico-chemical, phytochemical, antidiarrheal and antidiabetic potential of leaf, flowering bud and stem bark of Moringa oleifera L. Macroscopic, microscopic, physico-chemical parameters and phytochemical screening were carried out. Diarrhea was induced with castor oil (10ml/kg), verapamil (3, 10 and 30mg/kg) were used as standard antidiarrheal drug and extract of Moringa oleifera at (100, 300 and 1000mg/kg) was used for treatment. Alpha glucosidase inhibitory assay was carried out by using acarbose (0.5mM) and extracts (5.0 mg/Ml). Diabetes was induced by alloxan (150mg/kg), while glibenclamide (10mg/kg) was used as standard drug, and extracts (at the doses of 500mg/kg) were used to determine the antidiabetic activity. Results showed the presence of primary and secondary metabolites, treatment at the dose of 1.0g/kg of leaf, flowering bud and stem bark showed 94 ±2.527, 85.42±5.460 and 84.58±6.138% protection respectively whereas verapamil (10mg/kg) showed 94.84±3.27% protection. Alpha glucosidase inhibition of stem bark (0.5mg/ml) was 95.43±1.47 and flowering bud 94.78±1.25 whereas acarbose (5mM) inhibition was 92.23±0.14%. Stem bark and flowering bud extract (500mg/kg) decreases the blood glucose level from 388.5±35.83 to 226.3±47.10 and 322.5±48.35 to 173.8±29.5 respectively whereas glibenclamide (10 mg/kg) decreases the blood glucose level from 320.7±22.9 to 146.3±17.7 and increases the body weight of the experimental animal. It was concluded from the results that stem bark has strong antidiabetic potential while leaves of the plant have promising antidiarrheal effect.

Recent years have witnessed huge growth in Android malware development. Colossal reliance on Android applications for day to day working and their massive development dictates for an automated mechanism to distinguish malicious applications from benign ones. A significant amount of research has been devoted to analyzing and mitigating this growing problem; however, attackers are using more complicated techniques to evade detection. This paper proposes a framework, AdDroid; for analyzing and detecting malicious behaviour in Android applications based on various combinations of artefacts called Rules. The artefacts represent actions of an Android application such as connecting to the Internet, uploading a file to a remote server or installing another package on the device etc. AdDroid employs an ensemble-based machine learning technique where Adaboost is combined with traditional classifiers in order to train a model founded on static analysis of Android applications that is capable of recognizing malicious applications. Feature selection and extraction techniques are used to get the most distinguishing Rules. The proposed model is created using a dataset comprising 1420 Android applications with 910 malicious and 510 benign applications. Our proposed system achieved an accuracy of 99.11% with 98.61% True Positive (TP) and 99.33% True Negative (TN) rate. The high TP and TN rates reflect the efficacy on both major and minor class. Since the proposed solution has exceptionally low computational complexity, therefore, making it possible to analyze applications in real-time.

Objective:Radical surgery for rectal tumours has high morbidity. Local excision of such tumours can be achieved without compromising oncologic safety. However tumours that are not accessible to local excision can be approached using Transanal Minimal Invasive Surgery (TAMIS). The aim of our study was to assess feasibility of TAMIS procedure in terms of complications, operating time, resection margin positivity, hospital stay and local recurrence rate.Material and Methods:Forty eight patients with benign adenomas or early stage adenocarcinoma, within 4 to 12 cm from anal verge who were subjected to TAMIS over a period of 3 years were included in the study. Short and long term outcomes were assessed.Results:TAMIS was performed for 36 benign adenomas and 12 adenocarcinomas, which were located at an average distance of 6.2 cm from anal verge. The mean operating time was 72 minutes. There were no intraoperative complications.1 (2.08%) patient suffered post operative bleeding, which was managed conservatively. 2 (4.16%) patients developed acute urinary retention who required indwelling catheterisation. Resection margin was positive in 3 (6.25%) benign cases. Average hospital stay was 2.7 days. Local recurrence occurred in 2 (4.16%) villous adenoma patients (after 11 and 13 months), whereas in malignant patients there was no recurrence at a follow up period ranging between 12 to 36 months.Conclusion:TAMIS is a safe and feasible procedure for benign tumours and early rectal cancers, located in low and middle rectum.

Determination of thermostability of enzymes is of prime importance for their successful industrial applications and, yet, the published data has often been incompletely analyzed to assess the suitability of enzymes. It is possible to determine meaningful thermostability parameters from the routinely acquired data through a straightforward method that is not only more informative but also provides a means to compare thermostability of enzymes from different sources. Here, we describe a simple, effective, and economical way to determine enzyme thermostability. In our opinion, including this method in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology curricula will encourage students to include thermostability analysis in their future work, leading to a more meaningful approach to evaluate and compare enzymes. Furthermore, as the method requires minimum specialized equipment, the analysis will be particularly suitable for labs that cannot afford expensive setup. © 2018 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 46:398-402, 2018.

The traditional paper-based voting is severely criticized after having found evidence of rigging in elections, leading to the uncertainty in the fairness of the election process. Traditional voting systems have severe issues in either user’s privacy or voting procedures. To counter these issues, e-voting systems have emerged as a potential solution. In this work, we proposed Internet e-voting protocol that fulfills the core properties like anonymity, verifiability, eligibility, privacy, receipt-freeness and fairness using dual signature. We prove the effectiveness and validity of our system using formal methods. A rigorous performance evaluation shows that our system clearly outperforms the existing state-of-the-art blind signature Internet e-voting protocols.

The postpartum period in high-yielding dairy cows creates an enormous drain of nutrients in favor of milk yield which antagonizes the resumption of ovulatory cycles. Therefore, a study was undertaken to evaluate the association of changes in postpartum serum metabolites with resumption of ovarian cyclicity. A total of 24 clinically healthy, freshly parturated primiparous (P-1) and multiparous (P-2) Holstein Frisian cows was selected. Cows were further divided on the basis of body condition score (BCS) 1 and 2 having BCS 3 or above 3, respectively. Weekly blood samples were collected and serum glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, progesterone, and cortisol concentrations were determined for a period of 7 weeks. The glucose concentration was significantly (P

The application of in situ optical spectroscopy in battery research has rapidly grown in popularity in the past few decades, yielding considerable new understanding of battery electrochemistry. Most recently, researchers have focused on developing optically-accessible battery cells and spectroscopic techniques suitable for studying batteries under commercially-relevant conditions. These "operando" spectroscopic studies have led to better understanding of the complex electrochemical mechanisms and transport behaviors that are critical to improve battery performance and develop new battery chemistries. The growth in popularity and sophistication as well as the multidisciplinary nature of these studies motivates this comprehensive summary of operando optical battery research, including recent advances upon which to build further investigation. In that interest, this review covers the development of operando optical spectroscopy, the spectroscopic methods used, the various approaches to building optically-accessible cells, recent technical advances, and their application to specific battery phenomena, including: solid electrolyte interphases, polysulfide shuttling, lithium intercalation, plating and transport, electrode structure, electrode surface reactions, and electrolyte decomposition. The review concludes by surveying emerging techniques and identifying promising areas for further development.

A new in operando spectro-electrochemical Li-S cell has been demonstrated. The novel design allows investigations of the liquid electrolyte phase, in a commercial coin cell geometry, at C rates much higher than conventional in situ cells. We use ATR FT-IR spectroscopy, coupled with a previously developed polysulfide diagnostic to quantify the evolution of lithium polysulfides during the discharge and charge cycles of a Li-S cell. The trends observed in the polysulfide order and concentration with respect to state of charge are consistent with prevailing understanding of the electrochemical mechanisms of Li-S battery operation. During discharge, we observe the reduction of elemental sulfur to dissolved Li 2 S 8 polysulfides, and their cascading conversion to smaller polysulfides until insoluble species ( Li 2 S 2 and Li 2 S ) are formed. During cell charging, we observe the oxidation of insoluble polysulfides to larger, soluble polysulfides ( Li 2 S n , n > 3 ), and infer an eventual recovery of crystalline sulfur, from changes in polysulfides. Long-term evolution of polysulfides is observed over 7 discharge/charge cycles. Capacity fading is evident in the decay of polysulfide order and concentration at the same state of charge between cycles. Sulfur is not recovered by charging the cell in the latter cycles, and the active material is lost as solid Li 2 S .

Evidence from many countries suggests a close association between school absenteeism and high rates of school drop-out, grade repetition and low academic achievement, and health and psychological disorders. In rural Bangladesh, school absenteeism is a major issue. Many children who are enrolled do not attend school regularly. Our own calculation using the Multiple Indicator Survey (MICS) 3 2005-06 data shows that more than a quarter of children aged 7-14 years missed at least one day of school in a six-day school week in the rural areas of Bangladesh. In addition, Bangladesh has a very high incidence of child labor. In 2005-06, 41% of children aged 7-14 years participated in the labor market activities in the rural areas. In this paper, we empirically examine the major determinants of school absenteeism and child labor among children aged 7-14 years and number of hours worked by them in rural Bangladesh using the MICS 3 2005-06 data. Since, data on school absenteeism and number of hours worked are censored, we estimate a bivariate Tobit model. Our empirical analysis shows that parental educational level has a significant negative effect on both school absenteeism and number of hours worked by children. The negative effect of education level of mother on school absenteeism is twice as large as that of father. We find that children belonging to poorer households have higher level of school absenteeism and work greater number of hours. Our results suggest that low income and financial constraints continue to act as important barriers to improving schooling outcomes in rural Bangladesh. We also find evidence of gender bias against female children regarding child labor. Female children work significantly greater number of hours than male children. In addition, the gender differential in number of hours worked increases with age. Finally, we find that school absenteeism is lower among children enrolled in higher grades. Results show that low parental education level and significant resource constraints both in terms of wealth and time are main obstacles in improving schooling outcomes for children in rural Bangladesh. There is continuing need to provide financial support to poor households and increase their access to credit market. Reducing school absenteeism in lower grades can help in reducing school drop-outs and improving academic achievement. There is need to target government assistance and aid programs towards children in lower grades and their parents.

During the 2017-2018 year, Citizens Energy Group partnered with the R.B. Annis school of engineering to develop a portable system to distribute water to people at outdoor events. During that academic year, initial designs and a small scale, functional prototype were completed. This year we built the full scale version. Throughout this project, we have implemented the Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methodology to guide the design process. Within the R.B. Annis School of Engineering, this methodology has been adapted into the DesignSpine process. It’s a gate based process that uses gateways at key points in the design process to make sure the students are on track. New designs were generated based off of client feedback of the prototype, and a final design was decided upon. We chose an ADA accessible design that has eight spigots, two main storage IBC tanks, 275 gallons each, and a cooling system that uses ice to chill the water. This new version safely and efficiently transports, stores, and distributes water. It is also educational, eco-friendly, and provides good advertising for Citizens Energy Group. The system contains enough water to fill 3,500 water bottles before needing refilling. There is also an option for a continuous flow system that allows the user to hook the system up to a fire hydrant and have a continuous flow of water. Our system will be mobile enough to be towed by a pickup truck, not requiring a special operators license to be transported on public roads

A transportable “endless pool” device to improve the speed, endurance, and stroke techniques of swimmers is being developed. To guide our design processes, we used the implementation of the Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methodology. The “endless pool” will create a non-turbulent swim current that allows stationary swimming. It will be a high-volume propellor system which has a variable speed to help all ranges of swimmers. After researching existing devices, we created CAD designs that were used in computational fluid dynamics simulations to optimize performance parameters like backflow, turbulence, and device dimensions. From the initial simulation results, we addressed the backflow by creating a novel design. We then 3D printed a scaled model of our design and plan to test whether the scaled numbers are reliable, and the flow is laminar. To test this we had created a scaled model of the pool. Inside the scaled model we installed false walls to attempt to create a circular flow that will keep it as laminar as possible. If the false walls in the models simulation are reliable, we plan to use them in our final design. In the new UIndy “endless pool” swimmers can view their mirror reflection and video replays to analyze and improve their own technique. In addition to swimmer improvement, the University of Indianapolis Kinesiology department will be able to conduct research on the swimmers’ stroke technique.

We present a pneumatic autocutter to help workers with disabilities for reduced operator fatigue, increased efficiency, thereby giving enhanced capabilities when working on a production line without worrying about their ability to effectively do their jobs. We are students in a sophomore level six sigma based course through the R.B. Annis School of Engineering at the University of Indianapolis. The specific process of production being discussed involves cutting bulky cardboard frames with a metallic wire-mesh covering. The current process requires a considerable amount of physical labor from the operator; prolonged work results in gradial operator debility and injury. For Gateway 1, we analyzed the given customer requirements and converted them into specific engineering requirements and created specifications based on these requirements. We proceeded to rank the specifications based on the goals of the client and used this to create potential designs in the Gateway 2. During the second phase, we took the requirements and constraints we were given to come up with ten separate designs that fulfilled those requirements. We then decided on the top three designs that best fit the specifications and created CAD drawings, a failure-mode and effects analysis, and a cost analysis for each design. We then chose the best design according to our client’s requirements and presented all three designs and reasoning for choosing to pursue the best design to our client. For Gateway 3, we will begin fabricating the testing system and then perform trials and optimize critical parameters.

Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) have found a wide use in safety management specially in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). The use of such a system in decision making vary from industry to industry depending on the objectives and scope. In this paper we will limit ourselves to NPPs. Furthermore the objective of the SPIs will be limited to safety management. One issue in using the SPIs is to determine the weightage of each SPI. The paper attempts to discuss this issue and provides guidelines to obtain weighting factors (WF) for the SPIs.

A coke sensor designed to detect the early stages of catalyst coking in methane reforming systems has been developed. The sensor is made up of catalytic, non-percolating cermet resistive elements printed using an inkjet printer. As carbon is deposited on the catalytic surface, the electrical conductivity of the catalytic material increases, which results in a change in the continuously monitored bridge output voltage. The sensor has been designed to reduce unwanted gas-phase response and increase coking response in methane reforming environments. Voltage change due to gas-phase composition was reduced by a factor of ten from an SLT (strontium-doped lanthanum titanate)-based sensor by using YSZ (yttria-stabilized zirconia) to print all bridge elements. Steam and dry reforming tests were conducted at 600 °C with low steam-to-carbon and CO 2 -to-carbon feed ratios to promote coking. The sensor showed strong response (on the order of several hundred millivolts) to carbon formation on the surface under both reforming environments studied. Field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) imaging showed surface catalyst (Ni) particles encapsulated in films of carbon. Impedance spectroscopy of Ni-YSZ revealed resistive and capacitive behavior, both decreasing with the progression of coking. Sensors were regenerated using steam and then demonstrated similar, but smaller, responses to the same coking conditions. Investigation of regenerated sensor surfaces showed the presence of fewer catalyst sites compared to fresh sensors, indicating that the loss of nickel particles leads to a degradation in the sensor response.