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Purpose The present digital world’s challenging issue is COVID-19. This paper is related to the process of the COVID-19 treatment based on age, gender, symptoms and previous health issues. This paper gives the deep discussion about the prevention, symptoms, tests and treatment process. In this research work, the discussion is about vaccine invention and the side effects of the consumed medication. Design/methodology/approach This paper gives a clear explanation of the types of vaccine, which are lopinavir, ritonavir, remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine and plasma therapy. Thereafter, the discussion is prolonged to Indian vaccine for COVID-19. Findings This paper examines some of the COVID-19 treatment processes and difficulties, and finally, this paper aims to summarize and give an overview of the present preclinical research and clinical trials of potential candidates for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. Originality/value The required information has been taken from online databases such as PubMed, Science, Nature, PNAS and Cell. Papers included were published between December 2019 and July 2020. The current results indicate the most promising outcomes for dexamethasone as a treatment and vaccine. Further research is needed to identify safe and effective treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.

La presenza di terreni piroclastici influenza significativamente la vulnerabilità del territorio nei confronti di eventi estremi di carattere sia idrogeologico che sismico. I depositi piroclastici hanno generalmente una struttura metastabile e collassabile, che può portare alla loro liquefazione sotto carico monotono, ciclico e dinamico. La loro struttura potrebbe essere in parte attribuita alla natura delle particelle piroclastiche ed al meccanismo di deposizione che conferiscono alle particelle particolari caratteristiche di leggerezza, fragilità e porosità interna. Nella definizione della risposta di tali depositi, particolare attenzione è stata dedicata all’analisi dei meccanismi di accumulo delle sovrappressioni neutre in condizioni non drenate, finalizzata alla definizione della suscettibilità alla liquefazione. La sperimentazione condotta ha indicato la possibilità di inquadrare la risposta dei terreni piroclastici all’interno della teoria dello stato stazionario. Il confronto tra i risultati ottenuti dalle prove triassiali non drenate monotone e cicliche eseguite su diversi terreni piroclastici, ha permesso di spiegare il meccanismo di accumulo delle sovrappressioni neutre in condizioni non drenate utilizzando il parametro di stato Ѱ. Tale parametro sembra essere utile anche per confrontare i risultati ottenuti con quelli ottenuti su sabbie ordinarie. Il parametro di stato Ѱ ha un chiaro significato fisico e può facilmente essere implementato in un modello più affidabile di accumulo di sovrappressione neutra non drenata e di valutazione della liquefazione.

After the bifurcation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh (AP) state in 2014, the Amaravati and adjoining localities has been proposed as a new capital region to the state of AP, India. As per the seismic zonation map of India, the proposed region falls in zone III. However, the prediction of damage level due to earthquakes is highly impossible, as it is influenced by many regional factors. In order to estimate the damage level from the future earthquakes in the present study, the various compositions involved in the regional fields of geological, geomorphological and soil characteristics are evaluated for the selected study region. In addition to this, to understand the seismicity of this region the earthquake catalogue and seismotectonic map have been prepared by collecting the data within 300km radial distance from Velgapudi (16° 52'N, 80° 51'E) as a center. The results of different fields represented in the form of thematic maps for this geographical information system (GIS) software has been used.

Genetic engineering is considered as background for crop protection against pest damage by adding new genes inside the grains. Rice, like other cereals is included in gene engineering experiments. The questions about possible gene transfer related to food safety appear. It is important to find any additional genes or fragments in animal tissues after consumption of genetically modified (GM) food. Therefore, in this study, the remaining of CryIA(b) gene and P35 were assessed in the liver of rats fed with GM rice. This work presents an experimental study with the intervention of GM rice feeding by Sprague Dawley rats. Overall, 20 male and 20 female SD rats were fed by pellets made by GM rice in 50% of needed carbohydrate for 90 days. Then, sampling was done from rats liver. DNA extraction was done based on the protocol. The quality and quantity of the extracted DNA was done by agarose gel electrophoresis and spectrophotometry, respectively. Detection of GM genes residues, including CryIA(b), P35, and T35 was done by Polymerase Chain Reaction using specific primer pairs. The results were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis alongside with 50 bp DNA ladder. The results were compared with the ones in control groups with feeding by standard pellet of non-modified rice. All amplification tests were done in triplicates. Analysis of the amplification of P35, CryIA(b) and T35 showed no residues inside the liver tissue. The results showed no significant difference in the presence of transgenic gene of cryIA(b), T35, and P35 in the liver tissue between the control and experiment groups. Therefore, this study rejects the possibility of gene settle of GM rice gene residues in liver tissue of the animal model studied.

An image may suffer from some degradation such as blurriness. This degradation affects the image contrast. There are various approaches to improve the contrast of the images. Among these approaches, un-sharp masking is a popular method due to its simplicity in implementation and computation. In the un-sharp masking method, the details of the input image are boosted to improve the image quality. In this method, the quality of the enhanced image directly depends on the parameter named gain factor. Since the quality of an image may not be the same throughout the image, in this paper we propose an adaptive un-sharp masking method to locally improve the quality of the images. In this method, at first, the input image is divided into a number of overlapping blocks. Then the appropriate gain factor is estimated for the pixels of each block using the gradient information of the block. Subjective and objective image quality assessments are used to compare the performance of the proposed method with both the classic and the recently developed un-sharp masking methods. The experimental results show that the proposed method has a better performance in comparison to the other existing methods.

Cardiovascular diseases are among the most common disorders in the Netherlands. Dental hygienists will often be confronted with patients who suffer from these diseases. The aim of this research was to explore the current knowledge of dental hygienists in the Netherlands about cardiovascular diseases. 979 dental hygienists in the Netherlands received a written questionnaire by post. The results were tested with the Mann-Whitney tests, the chi-square tests and the Kruskal-Wallis-H tests. A total of 150 dental hygienists participated in the study. Of the 12 case-oriented statements, the dental hygienists answered just over half of the questions correctly (on average 6.59 of 12). Dental hygienists who rated their knowledge about cardiovascular diseases high gave significantly more correct answers (average 7.04 of 12) than dental hygienists who rated themselves lower (average 6.16 of 12). This suggests that dental hygienists' knowledge of cardiovascular diseases, particularly concerning blood clotting, could be improved.Hart- en vaatziekten behoren tot de meest voorkomende aandoeningen in Nederland. Mondhygiënisten zullen hierdoor vaak worden geconfronteerd met patiënten die hieraan lijden. Het doel van dit onderzoek was om meer inzicht te verkrijgen in de actuele kennis van mondhygiënisten in Nederland over hart- en vaatziekten. Per post ontvingen 979 mondhygiënisten in Nederland een schriftelijke vragenlijst. De resultaten zijn getoetst met de Mann-Whitney-toetsen, de chi-kwadraattoetsen en de Kruskal-Wallis-H-toetsen. In totaal namen 150 mondhygiënisten deel aan het onderzoek. Van de 12 casus-georiënteerde stellingen hadden de mondhygiënisten gemiddeld iets meer dan de helft van de vragen correct beantwoord (gemiddeld 6,59/12). Mondhygiënisten die zichzelf een hoge score gaven voor hun kennis over hart- en vaatziekten, hadden significant meer antwoorden correct (gemiddeld 7,04/12) dan mondhygiënisten die zichzelf een lagere score gaven (gemiddeld 6,16/12). De kennis van mondhygiënisten over hart- en vaatziekten, vooral over bloedstolling, lijkt voor verbetering vatbaar.

I depositi piroclastici hanno generalmente una struttura metastabile e collassabile, che può portare alla loro liquefazione sotto carico monotono, ciclico e dinamico. La loro struttura potrebbe essere in parte attribuita alla natura delle particelle piroclastiche, in particolare alle loro caratteristiche quali l’essere leggere, fragili e porose. Confrontando i risultati delle prove triassiali non drenate monotone e cicliche condotte sul terreno di Cervinara, il concetto di stato stazionario viene utilizzato per definire il verificarsi della liquefazione. Una parte significativa del programma sperimentale è stata eseguita sul terreno di Rangiriri per evidenziare il ruolo della fragilità delle particelle piroclastiche sul verificarsi della liquefazione. Il confronto tra i risultati ottenuti sui due tipi di terreni piroclastici mostra la possibilità di spiegare il meccanismo non drenato dell'accumulo di sovrappressione neutra utilizzando il parametro di stato psi. Il parametro psi sembra essere utile anche per confrontare i risultati ottenuti sui terreni piroclastici con quelli ottenuti su sabbie ordinarie. Il parametro di stato ha un chiaro significato fisico che potrebbe essere utilizzato per definire un modello più affidabile del meccanismo non drenato accumulo della sovrappressione neutra per suoli di diversa natura.

This paper presents a comparison of the performance for three configurations of double effect absorption refrigeration systems with single effect one using ammonia lithium nitrate (NH3/LiNO3) and ammonia sodium thiocyanate (NH3/NaSCN) as working solutions. The effect of operating parameters on COP and exergetic efficiency of the cycles is investigated. In order to avoid error in estimation of solutions enthalpy and entropy at high temperatures, linear equations for specific heat of solutions are obtained from correlating the experimental data. Furthermore, the effects of operating parameters on crystallization possibility are studied. The COP of double effect systems are maximum 60% more, but exergetic efficiency is maximum 16% less than those for single effect cycles. The NH3/LiNO3 systems compared to the NH3/NaSCN systems can perform at lower generator temperatures with higher COP and exergetic efficiency. Operating range of NH3/LiNO3 system is wider, since it is limited for NH3/NaSCN cycle because of crystallization occurrence.

The study occurrence time of the phenological stages of agricultural products based on thermal conditions is important. In this study, firstly the relationship between climatic parameters and potato yield was studied based on multivariate regression method. In the following, time of occurrence phonological stages, cropping calendar, and deviation from optimal temperature were determined based on daily temperature statistics from 1989 to 2014. Based on the thermal gradient between low and highlands, the temperature up to 3000 m was estimated. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between temperature components and potato yield. The topographic condition determined the completion time of the thermal units required for potato plant phenology phases. In the study area from the easterly areas to the rugged Western regions, the planting time of 1 month is delayed. The first and last phases of potato plants, called sprouting–leaf development and flowering–ripening, require the smallest and most effective thermal units, respectively. For the sprouting, leaf development, inflorescence emergence, and ripening were 437, 692, 540, and 1126, growth degree days, respectively, required. Estimation of air temperature based on the least-squares regression showed that for the 1000 m height, 1 month of optimum temperature of potato cultivation was delayed. In low and highlands of the region, the planting and harvesting, respectively, occurred in May–June and August–October, respectively. Matching the phonological stages of each product’s growth with thermal conditions in geographical information system is effective for planning in irrigation, spraying, and other agronomic activities.

Seismic surface wave tomography of short-period dispersion curves is a useful method for studying the shallow structures of the Earth. In this research, the continuous records of ten seismographs of the Tehran Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization for a period of 8 months have been used to calculate the Green’s function for Love and Rayleigh waves. Dispersion curves are calculated using the cross-correlation of the ambient noise signal recorded at station pairs. In order to improve the ray coverage in the Tehran region, dispersion curves of Love and Rayleigh waves are derived from the seismic events recorded by a temporary network run by Parsian Company. The epicentral distance and magnitude of earthquakes are less than 100 km and larger than 1.5, respectively. The dispersion curves are calculated in the period range between 2 seconds and 5 seconds, which correspond to the top sedimentary cover. Surface wave tomography has also been performed to estimate the two-dimensional group velocity maps of Love and Rayleigh waves in the region. Based on the ray coverage inside the 0.1° × 0.1° cells in the region, the estimated minimum dimension of distinct heterogeneities was about 6 km. Based on the derived velocity model, the western and the central parts of the Tehran plain show low anomalies that could be due to the large thickness of alluvial sedimentary cover over the basement. The high-velocity anomaly in the southeastern part of the region can be attributed to the tapering of the alluvial cover towards the rock units where the southeastern mountains of Tehran are present.

Energy harvesting using piezoelectric nanomaterial provides an opportunity for advancement toward self-powered electronics. The fabrication complexity and limited power output of these nano/micro generators have hindered these advancements. This paper introduced a flexible and light weight nanogenerator package that was obtained by variety of additives (ZnO, CNT, LiCl, PANI) and try to have comparisons between them to choose appropriate one base on final application. Performances of these additives were evaluated using Fourier Transform Infrared, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Impedance analyzer, and traction-compression machine. The excitation method is based on low velocity impact test by falling down a ball on samples. Results show that for all additives there is a direct connection between β phase formation and output voltage. CNT nanoparticles lead to have more β Phase formation and higher output voltage (0.9 V) for electrospun web with 230 μm thickness. The results imply promising applications...

The piezoelectric excited millimetric sized cantilevers (PEMCs) have excellent advantages to be used in liquid environments for sensory applications since their quality factor decreases less, compared to micro and nano-sized ones. This makes PEMCs very useful for measuring density and viscosity of liquids. The principle is based on the fact that any environmental and/or structural changes lead to a shift in resonant frequency determined by measuring the electro-mechanical impedance of piezoelectric layer attached to cantilever. In this study, a novel measurement method instead of conventional chirp method is proposed, developed and implemented to measure, record and process the impedance signal of piezoelectric patches attached to PEMC using a data acquisition card. In this method, a discrete frequency sinusoidal signal is used to excite PEMC for density measurement in liquid for a wide range of frequency (

To compare the efficacy of sitagliptin versus pioglitazone as add-on drugs in patients with poorly controlled diabetes with metformin and sulfonylureas. This is a randomized, open-label, parallel assignment clinical trial. Patients who had inadequate glycemic control [7% (53 mmol/mol) ≤ A1C

When building a 1D geomechanical model for the Rang Dong field in Cuulong basin, offshore Vietnam, the rock structure was found to be very complex. In addition to inter-bedded shale and sand sequences in the overburden, there is an overpressured stratum immediately below and above the normally-pressured and highly fractured sandstones and volcanic rocks at the target depth. During the drilling of offset wells, multiple tight spots were experienced in the overburden. An inflow was detected in the volcanic rocks, and consequently the mud weight was increased in the deeper section of overpressured zone. Further, severe mud losses occurred in the underlying normally-pressured and highly fractured sandstones, and eventually stuck pipe was experienced. This study shows the development of a field-wide geomechanical model that is able to match all the drilling experiences in the offset wells. A geomechanical model was developed for the field in which in-situ stresses and rock mechanical properties were calibrated with field data and lab measurements. The model predicted different types of borehole failures such as breakouts and drilling-induced fractures that contributed to different types of wellbore instability events in existing wells. Analysis showed that drilling with a significantly high overbalance pressure in the fractured zone increased the risk of tool string differential sticking and stuck pipe. To investigate the root causes of dynamic mud losses in the fractured intervals with major intersecting faults, a Mohr-Coulomb friction sliding criterion was applied. The analysis showed that the majority of natural fractures and faults, which are oriented in the north-east and south-west (NE-SW) direction, are critically stressed and may become conduits for drilling fluid and cause mud losses. The geomechanical model was used to design a mud weight program for an upcoming well. This program was optimized to mitigate the issues experienced during drilling of the offset wells. The results of this study led to an optimized mud program to minimize shale breakouts in the overburden, control the risk of kicks in the overpressured zone, and reduce the risk of mud losses in the fractured formation. Additionally, an optimized casing program and the use of lower mud weight were recommended, with the addition of loss circulation material (LCM), to drill a highly deviated wellbore within the fractured formation. The drilling campaign of the planned well was successful with good drilling practices such as equivalent circulating density (ECD) control, good hole cleaning and use of the recommended mud weight programs and optimised drilling fluids suggested by this study.

Carbonate reservoirs hold 50 to 60% of the world's conventional hydrocarbons and are therefore of major economic significance. Solids production from poorly consolidated carbonate reservoir rocks is a common factor in many wells during production stages and especially in the later life of a reservoir under depletion conditions. While there are several well-estblished technuues to predict sand production in sandstone reservoirs, there are not many field-proven case studies on the applicability of these techniques for solids production assessment in carbonate rocks. In this study, we present a case study on the application of a widely-used sanding evaluation technique in a carbonate gas reservoir, offshore Vietnam. We show production, core and well data from several production and appraisal wells in three nearby gas fields to investigate the cause of well productivity reduction in one well through a systematic geomechanical assessment of solids production. The findings are used to optimize gas production in existing wells, determine maximum solids-free drawdown for a planned infill well, and completion decisions for two new development wells to be drilled and completed in 2018 in a field with no production to date. Rock mechanics tests conducted on several carbonate samples confirmed the low strength and high heterogeneity nature of the reservoir carbonates. Core-log calibration of rock mechanics paramters revealed reasonably strong correlations between rock strength and porosity logs which were used to generate continuous log-derrived rock strength profiles. Applicability of a well-established poro-elastic sanding predction model for carbonate reservoirs was investigated by a logical solids production analysis in a cased and perforated explorationwell and two open hole production wells. Production, well testsand fluid sampling data were used to calibrate and verify the solids production model. Analysis showed no risks of solids production for the weakest reservoirs at initial and current reservoir pressures with the current applied drawdowns, and the drawdown can indeed increase in exsiting wells by another ~200 psi without the risk of solids production. The results however indicated that as the reservoir pressure reduces the solids-free drawdowndecreases rapidly and will approache zero when the reservoir pressure dropsby another600-800 psi. Therefore, solids control measures are essential to prevent solids production at later life of the field. The results of the study and historical knowledge of the field reservoir and production were used for completion design of two vertical infill wells with the aim of increasing production from one of the major gas-producing blocks for Vietnam's domestic gas supply. The infill vertical wells will be completed open hole with external gravel pack and screen as the solids control measures.

In this paper we generalize an infeasible interior-point method for linear optimization to horizontal linear complementarity problem (HLCP). This algorithm starts from strictly feasible iterates on the central path of a perturbed problem that is produced by suitable perturbation in HLCP problem. Then, we use so-called feasibility steps that serves to generate strictly feasible iterates for the next perturbed problem. After accomplishing a few centering steps for the new perturbed problem, we obtain strictly feasible iterates close enough to the central path of the new perturbed problem. The complexity of the algorithm coincides with the best known iteration complexity for infeasible interior-point methods. Keywords: Horizontal linear complementarity problem (HLCP), infeasible-interior-point method, central path. MSC: 90C33, 90C51

In this study, performance of piezoelectric excited millimeter-sized cantilever (PEMC) beams has been studied in applications such as mass and liquid level sensor using finite element analysis. For this purpose, a finite element model is developed and the simulation results are compared with experimental results in order to validate the proposed model. After validation of the proposed model, this model is used to explore the effects of distribution of added mass along beam's length and its pattern and also effect of variation in beams cross section profile on sensor sensitivity. While previous works are focused on conditions in which added mass is coated at the tip of the beam with constant rectangular cross section, in present study uniform and Gaussian distributions of coated mass in different regions of beam are examined. Also, PEMC with a non-uniform beam cross section (trapezoidal shape) as mass sensor is modeled and the improvement of sensor performance has been examined. The results show that both pattern of coated mass distribution and the regions in which the mass is coated have massive effect on performance of sensor. Moreover, the present results indicate that trapezoidal shape sensors are more sensitive comparing to more conventional rectangular ones. In order to extend this work for other sensing applications of PEMC, liquid level detection sensors with trapezoidal shape beam are modeled and studied. The related results indicate that a higher sensitivity can be achieved for this type of sensors using trapezoidal shape beam too.

Piezoelectric-generated Lamb wave in a Timoshenko beam is studied, analytically, experimentally, and using finite element simulation in this article. The governing equations of the beam with the piezoelectric patches are derived based on integration of the piezoelectric transducer vibration equations into the vibration equations of the Timoshenko beam structure. Finite element model of the beam and the piezoelectric patches is then developed in which the Rayleigh damping factors have been estimated using modal analysis. The results obtained by proposed analytical and finite element models are compared with experimental ones. A significant agreement has been observed and three principal sets of signals have been distinguished by experimental, analytical, and finite element method results: the direct emitted waves and reflected waves from the clamped and tip boundaries. The velocity of wave propagation in a brass beam is determined about 4800 m/s with the actuation frequency of 200 kHz using Lamb wave propagation signals. The results show that exciting the structure in high frequency prevents to overlap the emitted waves from the actuator and reflected waves from the boundaries in short structures.

Introduction: Unmet needs are defined as the difference between services judged necessary to deal appropriately with health problems and services actually received. Unmet needs are considered as simple tools in monitoring the accessibility and the extent of inequity in access and use of health care. Methods: This is a cross-section health survey. The sample consists of 792 households living in Tehran. Data were collected by the WHO (households) questionnaire in 2012, and were analyzed using Logistic Model and STATA12 software. Results: The outcomes show that economical problems, lack of time, self-treatment, long distance to reach health facilities, deprivation of insurance coverage, and lack of adequate information about the locations of health care centres are all factors affecting patients’ willingness to refer to these centres. The socio-economic factors which can enhance the probability of fulfilment of health care needs were found to be settlement ownership and poverty reduction Conclusion: Unmet needs can cause detrimental effects, such as worsening health situation and quality of life, increasing the risk of mortality and causing mental and psychosomatic disorders therefore, policy makers should give high priority to eliminating socio-economic barriers, as lack of insurance coverage, as well as reducing the costs and economic inequalities, and payment systems reform. Key words: Equity in health, Health care accessibility, Unmet needs, Tehran households, Logistic Model