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N,N‐Dimethylaniline.borane (DMAB) is a stable, multifaceted electrophilic boron agent that displays hydroboration of C = C as well as selective reduction of functional groups under reflux, microwave, and ultrasound conditions. Natural products contain a plethora of functional groups that govern the specific bioactivity. It will be interesting to correlate the change in a functional group with the concern for change in bioactivity. Current research emphasizes the influence of microwave irradiation on moderately reactive DMAB reagent towards the functional group modification of selected limonoid‐phytochemicals of Meliaceae family viz. cedrelone, azadirone, nimbin, and azadiradione. DMAB conveniently reduces the ketone, epoxide group into alcohol, and does a hydroboration reaction on the C = C bond. It does not show interest to reduce the ester group irrespective of 30 min of MW irradiation. Except for these reducing properties, the reagent DMAB unveils chemo‐selective nature in respect of different functional groups and utilizes in an asymmetric synthesis. The coalescence of amine.borane with microwave irradiation brings forth a commodious and prompt method for the selective reduction of functional groups. The bioactive efficacy of modified phytochemicals is further taken for the antimicrobial studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: AURORA 2 evaluated the long‐term safety, tolerability, and efficacy of voclosporin compared to placebo in patients with lupus nephritis (LN) receiving an additional two years of treatment following completion of the one‐year AURORA 1 study. Methods: Enrolled patients continued their double‐blinded treatment of voclosporin or placebo randomly assigned in AURORA 1, in combination with mycophenolate mofetil and low‐dose glucocorticoids. The primary objective was safety assessed with adverse events (AEs) and biochemical and hematological assessments. Efficacy was measured by renal response. Results: A total of 216 patients enrolled in AURORA 2. Treatment was well tolerated with 86.1% completing the study and no unexpected safety signals. AEs occurred in 86% and 80% of patients in the voclosporin and control groups, respectively, with an AE profile similar to that seen in AURORA 1, albeit with reduced frequency. Investigator reported AEs of both glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decrease and hypertension occurred more frequently in the voclosporin than the control group (10.3% vs 5.0%, and 8.6% vs 7.0%, respectively). Mean corrected estimated GFR (eGFR) was within the normal range and stable in both treatment groups. eGFR slope over the two‐year period was −0.2 mL/min/1.73 m2 (95% confidence interval [CI] −3.0 to 2.7) in the voclosporin group and −5.4 mL/min/1.73 m2 (95% CI −8.4 to −2.3) in the control group. Improved proteinuria persisted across three years of treatment, leading to more frequent complete renal responses in patients treated with voclosporin (50.9% vs 39.0%; odds ratio 1.74; 95% CI 1.00–3.03). Conclusion: Data demonstrate the safety and efficacy of long‐term voclosporin treatment over three years of follow‐up in patients with LN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-signal model of the MOSFET is an equivalent circuit of its electric components, which defines the electrical characteristics of a MOSFET. The non-quasi-static (NQS) model is one of the most accurate small-signal models used for designing analog/RF circuits. Electronic circuits designed for advanced high-frequency analog/RF applications like (Long-Term Evolution) LTE and (Internet-of-Things) IoT applications, the proper selection of MOSFET is essential. The MOSFETs with lower static power dissipation and high linearity are best suitable for low-power high-frequency analog/digital circuit applications. In this paper, a cylindrical silicon-on-insulator (SOI) Schottky Barrier (SB) MOSFET is investigated, and analog/RF parameters such as transconductance (gm), intrinsic-voltage gain (AV), ION/IOFF ratio, cutoff-frequency (fT), maximum oscillation frequency (fmax), transconductance-generation factor (TGF), gain-frequency product (GFP), transconductance-frequency product (TFP), gain-bandwidth product (GBWP) and gain-transconductance frequency product (GTFP) are extracted. Also, the NQS small-signal model parameters of SOI-SB MOSFET are extracted for the analog circuit application for the frequency range up to 500 GHz. The analog/RF parameters and NQS small-signal parameters of cylindrical SOI-SB MOSFET are compared with cylindrical SB-MOSFET and cylindrical dielectric-pocket (DP) SB-MOSFET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A facile synthesis of rGO–CuO nanocomposite was carried out using hydrothermal method. rGO–CuO nanocomposite was incorporated in aerosol forming composite (AFC) for the first time in order to develop the fast fire extinguishant materials. Synthesized nanocomposites were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive Xray spectroscopy (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Catalytic activity of rGO–CuO was analysed considering the parameters such as combustion temperature, activation energy, burn rate, combustion efficiency, minimum fire extinguishing concentration (MEC) and fire extinguishing time. Addition of rGO–CuO to base AFC remarkably enhanced the performance of AFC by increasing the combustion efficiency (11.36%) and decreasing the combustion temperature (16.14%) and MEC (19.78%). A tremendous increase in burn rate (47.1%) boosted the fast extinguishment of fire by reducing the fire extinguishment time 78.2%. Developed AFC found promising to meet the faster fire extinguishment requirement of futuristic fire suppression systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hematite nanoparticles (α‐Fe2O3) were successfully synthesised using facile and eco‐friendly hydrothermal method. Synthesised hematite nanoparticles were characterized using X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, surface area analysis and transmission electron microscopy. Nano/micro particles of Hematite (1, 3&5 %, w/w) were incorporated in aerosol forming composite (AFC). For the first time, catalytic effect of nano and micro size hematite on performance of AFC has been creatively investigated with respect to combustion and fire extinguishment parameters. Incorporation of nano hematite (5 %, w/w) in AFC reduced the combustion temperature (by 11 %) and tremendously boosted the burn rate & combustion efficiency by 30&7.5 % respectively. This in turn produced the aerosols in less time and put out the fire quickly (<5 s). Hematite nano counterpart was discovered to be more promising than its micro equivalent. This exploratory study is valuable in the field of development of futuristic ultra‐fast fire extinguishants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

rGO/Fe2O3 nanocomposites were synthesized using facile and inexpensive hydrothermal route. For the first time, these nanocomposites were incorporated in aerosol forming composites (AFCs), characterized and investigated for ultra-fast fire extinguishing applications. The morphological and structural characteristics were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). AFCs were also characterized for burn rate, combustion efficiency, minimum fire extinguishing concentration, fire extinguishing time, combustion temperature and activation energy. Characterization revealed successful synthesis of rGO/Fe2O3 nanocomposites having Fe2O3 nanoparticles (25–50 nm) over and in-between the graphene oxide nanosheets. Increase in combustion efficiency (9%) and burn rate (35%) and reduction in onset temperature (17.16%), combustion temperature (13.46%) and activation energy (37.71%) were observed on addition of 3% rGO/5.0Fe2O3 nanocomposite to base AFC. Increase in burn rate by 35% led to ultra-fast aerosol generation and faster (50% reduction in fire extinguishing time) fire extinguishment. AFCs found promising for incorporation in condensed aerosol-based fire extinguishing systems to comply futuristic quicker fire extinguishment requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol forming composite (AFC) is an important component of condensed aerosol-based fire extinguishing system (CAFES). As per literature no attempts have been made so far for the detailed study of AFCs. Therefore, for the insight AFCs were prepared with potassium nitrate as an oxidizer and phenol formaldehyde resin as a combustible binder. Five metal oxides, namely MnO2, Fe2O3, NiO, CuO and CeO2, (3%, w/w) were added as catalysts in AFC. The catalytic effect of these metal oxides was investigated for various parameters such as combustion efficiency, burn rate, minimum fire extinguishing concentration (MEC), decomposition temperature and activation energy. Addition of CuO, 3%, w/w increased the burn rate of AFC by 51.4% and reduced the MEC by 29.4%. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry analysis clearly indicated the reduction in decomposition temperature from 445.65 to 396.48 °C while adding CuO. Activation energies of decomposition for base AFC and AFC-CuO calculated using model-free methods of Kissinger, Ozawa–Flynn–Wall and Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose were found to be 181.12, 183.50 and 180.75 kJ/mol and 146.61, 149.98 and 163.18 kJ/mol, respectively. The functions 1−(1−α)2/3 (model F1/3: One-third order) and [1−(1−α)1/2] (model R3, F2/3: power law) were found as the most probable mechanism for the thermal decomposition of base AFC and CuO-AFC, respectively. Aerosol characterization with X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and particle counter indicated mostly 2 µm particles of potassium carbonate/bicarbonate. Total flooding and dispersion characteristics of aerosols were confirmed using pH measurements at various locations. Overall, prepared AFCs were found promising for use within CAFES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation of Montreal Protocols-1987 enforced phase wise ban on production and application of ozone depleting chemicals (Halons). Since then, condensed aerosol-based fire extinguishing technology as an alternative to Halons has been a subject for numerous investigations for its research and applications worldwide. It has come up as the most efficient halon alternative technology in comparison to other alternatives such as water mist, dry powders, inert gases, hydro fluorocarbons, and carbon dioxide. Even it is three times more efficient than that of Halon 1301 on weight to volume basis. Over other Halon alternatives, it has many advantages, e.g., zero ozone depletion potential -atmospheric lifetime -global warming potential, modular structure, low space requirements, easy & cost-effective installation & maintenance, no requirement of piping & pressurized cylinders, no oxygen depression etc. Condensed aerosol based fire extinguishing systems (CAFES) have found versatile fire safety applications worldwide in many areas such as power generation, transportation, storage rooms, public buildings, heavy industries, battery storage systems, defence etc. This review mainly focuses on applications of CAFES for extinguishment of: class A fires in libraries, archives, storage rooms etc.; class B fires in machinery spaces, gas turbine enclosures, combat vehicles, chemical storage rooms; electrical fires occurring in control rooms, UPS rooms, electrical/power substations & panels. Various reports and case studies demonstrating its testing and implementation methodologies have also been covered. The future prospects of aerosol technology and potential research/applications areas are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everything has changed after outbreak of COVID-19. Its the time to take precautions and do every possible effort to mitigate the effects of pandemic and curb the chances of any future outbreak. Recently Moradabad city was listed among one of the highest polluted city of the India. One of the major contributor to the pollution was found the use of coal furnaces in local industries for casting of Metal. As per the latest report of National Green Tribunal (NGT) and central pollution control board, Moradabad city is the highly polluted city of India and the average Air Quality Index (AQI) is 489 g/m3 during November 01, 2020 to November 16,2020 [1]1. Therefore, a systematic replacement of coal furnace with smart electric furnace is proposed in the given paper. The study suggests that replacement of coal furnace with smart electric furnace will not only result in better environment for Moradabad city but will also be beneficial in many other ways by exploiting inherent advantages of electric furnace over coal furnaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GenoVault is a cloud-based repository for handling Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) data. It is developed using OpenStack-based private cloud with various services like keystone for authentication, cinder for block storage, neutron for networking and nova for managing compute instances for the Cloud. GenoVault uses object-based storage, which enables data to be stored as objects instead of files or blocks for faster retrieval from different distributed object nodes. Along with a web-based interface, a JavaFX-based desktop client has also been developed to meet the requirements of large file uploads that are usually seen in NGS datasets. Users can store files in their respective object-based storage areas and the metadata provided by the user during file uploads is used for querying the database. GenoVault repository is designed taking into account future needs and hence can scale both vertically and horizontally using OpenStack-based cloud features. Users have an option to make the data shareable to the public or restrict the access as private. Data security is ensured as every container is a separate entity in object-based storage architecture which is also supported by Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) for data upload and download. The data is uploaded by the user in individual containers that include raw read files (fastq), processed alignment files (bam, sam, bed) and the output of variation detection (vcf). GenoVault architecture allows verification of the data in terms of integrity and authentication before making it available to collaborators as per the user's permissions. GenoVault is useful for maintaining the organization-wide NGS data generated in various labs which is not yet published and submitted to public repositories like NCBI. GenoVault also provides support to share NGS data among the collaborating institutions. GenoVault can thus manage vast volumes of NGS data on any OpenStack-based private cloud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-linearity and static power consumption are major challenges in the designing of digital and analog circuits. To improve the performance of digital and analog circuits, a proper selection of MOSFET device architecture is essential. The MOSFET device architecture with low static power dissipation and high linearity results in improves overall performance at the circuit level. In this work, a detailed analysis of cylindrical Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Schottky Barrier (SB) MOSFET is done for analog and digital circuit applications. The analog device parameters and device non-linearity parameters for SOI SB MOSFET are extracted and compared with SB MOSFET and Dielectric Pocket (DP) SB MOSFET. The SOI SB MOSFET shows an improvement of 6.905% in output conductance (gds), 130.513% in early voltage (Vea), 240.74% in transconductance generation factor (TGF), 35.901% in transconductance frequency product (TFP), 23.529% in the gain-bandwidth product (GBWP), 25.542% in voltage gain (Av), 130.968% in gain frequency product (GFP), and 179.964% in gain transconductance frequency product (GTFP). Third-order extrapolated voltage (VIP3), third-order extrapolated power (IIP3), and extrapolated intermodulation power (IMD3) have also improved in comparison to SB MOSFET. The Atlas 3-D device simulation tool is used for numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol forming compositions (AFCs) have come up as one of the most efficient fire extinguishing Halon alternative since the implementation of Montreal protocol-1987 on ozone layer depleting substances. These aerosol based systems have gained much attention in recent years because of higher fire extinguishing efficiencies, modular nature, non pressurized container, less maintenance requirement, extended shelf-life and negligible ODP, GWP and ALT values. Aerosols are traditionally produced using pyrotechnique compositions having mostly metal salts of group IA or IIA. Potassium nitrate has been used predominantly as oxidizing agent (40–75%, w/w), whereas for electric and electronics systems, strontium nitrate (15–70%, w/w) has been recommended. Versatile reducing agent, binders, gas forming agents, burn rate modifiers and many such functional additives have been used recently for preparations of AFCs. AFCs indicated variable burn rate values, 2–7 mm/s. AFCs were found highly efficient with minimum fire extinguishing concentrations mostly ranging between 30 g/m3 and 200 g/m3. Moreover, the development of highly efficient, non-corrosive, non-toxic and environmentally benign AFC is still an elusive goal. This review mainly focuses on advances of aerosol forming chemical compositions, its future prospects and potential research areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research focuses on the design, method development, characterization, and clinical assessment of novel irbesartan medication compounds. The objective of synthetic modification of a drug molecule is to achieve the desired properties such as enhancing the pharmacological properties and minimizing the side effects. It is a biphenyl tetrazole and an aza‐spiro compound, a highly selective, potent nonpeptide compound that belongs to the sartan group, an authorized type‐1 angiotensin II receptor (AT1), dilates the blood vessels and is used in curing of to treat high blood pressure, cardiac arrest, and renal disease in diabetics. To achieve the structural modification of the irbesartan drug, the researcher prepared the FeCl3/SiO2 catalyst and successfully used it for the acetylation, chloro acetylation reaction of irbesartan with acetyl chloride and chloroacetyl chloride. Further, the reaction is performed in presence of the catalyst and without a catalyst to elucidate the role of the catalyst. With the aid of TLC, FT‐IR, and UV–visible spectral methods, the structural interpretation of synthesized derivatives is completed. The present work illustrates a novel method of synthesis of irbesartan derivatives through safe and convenient procedures. The pharmacological evaluation of synthetic derivatives and green chemistry protocol of synthesis is under progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) spread mainly through respiratory droplets and contact routes. Long-term use of spectacles may prevent repeated touching and rubbing of the eyes. Aim: To know the association between infection with SARSCoV-2 and wearing of spectacles. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in which 304 patients of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) were selected. Their spectacles wearing behaviour were assessed through a questionnaire. Spectacles wearing behaviour of general population were obtained from older studies (for comparison). Risk of COVID-19 was calculated in long-term spectacles wearers as well as in persons not using spectacles. Chi-Square test was used for statistical analysis. Results: In this study, total 58 patients showed the behaviour of using spectacles continuously during day time and always on outdoor activities. The risk of COVID-19 was found 0.48 in spectacles wearing population as compared to 1.35 in population not using spectacles. The calculated Risk Ratio (RR) was 0.36. It indicates that the risk of COVID-19 was 2-3 times less in spectacles wearing population than the population not using spectacles. The protective effectiveness of the spectacles was found statistically significant (p-value=0.00113). Conclusion: The present study showed that the risk of COVID-19 was about 2-3 times less in spectacles wearing population than the population not wearing those. The nasolacrimal duct may be a route of virus transmission from conjunctival sac to the nasopharynx. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) especially surfactant slug injection has received a great attention as an oil recovery technique. Surfactants are capable in reducing the interfacial tension (IFT) and altering the wettability of rock from subsurface reservoir. Here, a new anionic surfactant was synthesized from Madhuca longifolia (Mahua) oil. The surfactant was characterized using FTIR, GC–MS, FE-SEM and EDX analysis and tested rigorously using IFT, wettability and flooding experiments for its application in EOR. The surfactant showed an ultralow IFT value around 1 × 10−2 at optimal salinity. Thermodynamic parameters were calculated using surface tension as a function of temperature and the studies showed that adsorption of molecules at the interface is favorable over micellization. The surfactant was found to be thermally stable by TGA analysis for its application at high temperature reservoir conditions. It showed the ability to alter the wettability of oil-wet sandstone rock surface to water-wet. The core-flooding experiments were conducted using individual surfactant slug and surfactant-polymer slug injection, which showed an additional recovery of almost 20% over convention water flooding. The experimental results were simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The results obtained after simulation study and core-flooding experiment results are very much comparable. The comprehensive evaluation of thermal, interfacial and oil recovery studies provides grounds for potential application in EOR. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Synthesis of natural surfactant from Madhuca longifolia • Ultralow IFT achieved by surfactant in presence of salt and alkali • Rock wettability is altered using surfactant from oil-wet to water-wet. • Core flooding experiments recovered up to 20% additional recoveries. • Simulation studies of experimental data using computational fluid dynamics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper aims to predict compressional and shear sonic travel time logs using conventional logs that are easier and less expensive to acquire during the development cycle. The study uses a gradient boosting algorithm and incorporates a novel method of using statistical feature engineering with wavelet transform to improve prediction accuracy across thin beds in hydrocarbon reservoirs. The approach uses a discrete wavelet transform over the neutron log, a prominent feature, to identify thin layers and enhance prediction accuracy. The detailed coefficients are analyzed using Daubechies and Haar wavelets to reconstruct newly transformed data with an enhanced thin-layer signal. The Haar wavelet with three levels is the most optimum wavelet and decomposition levels. The algorithm for the reconstructed log shows an increased thin layer resolution, with an accuracy improvement of 6.8% for the prediction. The proposed approach significantly contributes to geologists, geophysicists, and reservoir technologists for reservoir characterization and safe drilling operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Breast is an appendage of skin, breast lumps are very common complaint for women of all ages, but are particularly common during the reproductive years. Breast lumps may occur spontaneously or gradually, evaluating a breast mass can be a difficult task. Aim and Objective: To assess the distribution of various cytomorphological patters of clinically palpable breast lumps by Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology technique. Materials and Method: A retrospective study over a period of 1 year 135 breast aspirates who attended the surgery outpatient department in Saraswathi institute of medical sciences and hospital from July 2015 to June 2016 was studied with clinical correlation and cytological analysis with FNAC. Smears were stained with H &E stain, and correlation with imaging studies, including mammography was done. Results: Total of 135 cases were studied, out of these 96 (71.11%) were found benign and 25 (18.52%) were malignant. 10 (7.41%) cases given unsatisfactory results. Out of 135 cases of analysis, Fibroadenoma was the most common benign lesion found in 66 (48.89%) patients, followed by fibrocystic disease 14(10.37%) and mastitis/Breast abscess 4(2.96%) were common breast lesions on cytology. Malignant breast lesions constitute 25(18.51%) cases, among which Duct cell carcinoma 21(15.55%) cases were commonest type. Conclusion: Benign breast lesions are common than malignant lesions, fibroadenoma and fibrocystic disease are more common in benign disease. Fine-needle aspiration cytology is a rapid and effective method for the primary categorization of palpable breast lumps into benign, malignant, atypical, suspicious, and unsatisfactory categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive study on clustering: exiting methods and developments made at various times. Clustering is defined as an unsupervised learning where the objects are grouped on the basis of some similarity inherent among them. There are different methods for clustering the objects such as hierarchical, partitional, grid, density based and model based. The approaches used in these methods are discussed with their respective states of art and applicability. The measures of similarity as well as the evaluation criteria, which are the central components of clustering, are also presented in the paper. The applications of clustering in some fields like image segmentation, object and character recognition and data mining are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The high frequency of iron deficiency anaemia in the developing world has substantial health and economic costs. Women in developing countries are always in a state of precarious iron balance during their reproductive years. Their iron stores are not well developed because of poor nutritional intake, recurrent infections, menstrual blood loss, and repeated pregnancies. Gender discrimination in a country like India resulting in girls lacking access to a balanced diet, adequate health care and proper education. Aim: 1) To study the coagulation profile in iron deficiency anemia in ante-natal patients. 2) To compare changes in coagulation profile of control without iron deficiency anemia with iron deficiency anemia patients. Material & Method: From February 2015 to July 2016 was carried out in the Department of Pathology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Saraswathi Institute of Medical Sciences and associated Hospital, Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, India, Which included 200 patients of anemia presenting in obs and gyne department. Results: Out of two hundred pregnant females mean age was 29.84+-7.87with reference range between 19-45. Fifty % of total cases had normal Hb 23.5% had mild anemia where as 11.5% had severe anemia. Mean PT was 11.80+-2.99 with a reference range of 3-21. Mean APTT was 30.35 +-5.08 with reference range of 2.9-40. Mean ferritin was 52.86 +/- 59.28 with reference range of 1-174. Conclusion: Iron plays a role in alteration of coagulation profile in iron deficiency anemic pregnancies. Changes in RBC indices are more pronounced in iron deficiency anemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silica nanoparticles with a surface area of 673.60 m2/g and particle size of 8-12 nm were prepared using aerogel process (AP) followed by super critical drying. Zero valent Fe, Co, Pt, and bimetallic Fe/Pt and Fe/Co were loaded using an incipient wetness impregnation technique and subsequent reduction. Scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) and transmission electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray (TEM-EDX) characterizations indicated fine dispersion of iron on AP-SiO2 +Fe system. Prepared nanoparticles were evaluated for the adsorptive removal of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) from water. Surface area normalized rate constant values indicated the adsorptive removal potential of prepared nanoparticles to be: AP-SiO2 + Fe/Co>AP-SiO2 + Fe>CM (commercial) SiO2 + Fe>AP-SiO2 + Co> AP-SiO2 + Fe/Pt> AP-SiO2 + Pt. Lower pH helped in accelerating the reactive removal of TNT on zero valent iron loaded silica. AP-SiO2 + Fe/Co system showed the maximum adsorption potential (74 mg/g) after five cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the infarcted myocardium, necrotic cardiomyocytes activate innate immune pathways, stimulating pro-inflammatory signaling cascades. Although inflammation plays an important role in clearance of the infarct from dead cells and matrix debris, repair of the infarcted heart requires timely activation of signals that negatively regulate the innate immune response, limiting inflammatory injury. We have previously demonstrated that Interleukin receptor-associated kinase (IRAK)-M, a member of the IRAK family that suppresses toll-like receptor/interleukin-1 signaling, is upregulated in the infarcted heart in both macrophages and fibroblasts, and restrains pro-inflammatory activation attenuating adverse remodeling. Although IRAK-M is known to suppress inflammatory activation of macrophages, its role in fibroblasts remains unknown. Our current investigation examines the effects of IRAK-M on fibroblast phenotype and function. In vitro , IRAK-M null cardiac fibroblasts have impaired capacity to contract free-floating collagen pads. IRAK-M loss reduces transforming growth factor (TGF)-β-mediated α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression. IRAK-M deficient cardiac fibroblasts exhibit a modest reduction in TGF-β-stimulated Smad activation and increased expression of the α-SMA repressor, Y-box binding protein (YB)-1. In a model of non-reperfused myocardial infarction, IRAK-M absence does not affect collagen content and myofibroblast density in the infarcted and remodeling myocardium, but increases YB-1 levels and is associated with attenuated α-SMA expression in isolated infarct myofibroblasts. Our findings suggest that, in addition to its role in restraining inflammation following reperfused infarction, IRAK-M may also contribute to myofibroblast conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Cardiac manifestations of neonatal lupus (cardiac NL) include congenital heart block and cardiomyopathy. Several candidate biomarkers were evaluated in cases at risk for cardiac NL on the basis of potential roles in inflammation, fibrosis, and cardiac dysfunction: C-reactive protein (CRP); NT-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP); troponin I; matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2; urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA); urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR); plasminogen; and vitamin D. Objectives Identification of maternal and fetal biomarkers associated with development and morbidity of cardiac NL should provide clues to pathogenesis with translational implications for management. Methods Cord (139) and maternal (135) blood samples collected during pregnancies at risk for cardiac NL were available for study. Levels of cord and maternal CRP, cord NT-proBNP, and cord troponin I were evaluated using multiplex assays. Cord and maternal vitamin D were assessed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. MMP-2, uPA, uPAR, and plasminogen were evaluated using ELISA. Results Cord CRP, NT-proBNP, MMP-2, uPA, uPAR, and plasminogen levels were higher in cardiac NL-affected fetuses than in unaffected cases, independent of maternal rheumatic disease, season at highest risk of cardiac NL development, and medications taken during pregnancy. These biomarkers were positively associated with a disease severity score derived from known risk factors for mortality in cardiac NL. Maternal CRP and cord troponin I levels did not differ between the groups. Cord and maternal vitamin D levels were not significantly associated with cardiac NL, but average maternal vitamin D level during pregnancy was positively associated with longer time to postnatal pacemaker placement. Conclusions These data support the association of fetal reactive inflammatory and fibrotic components with development and morbidity of cardiac NL. Following CRP and NT-proBNP levels after birth can potentially monitor severity and progression of cardiac NL. MMP-2 and the uPA/uPAR/plasminogen cascade provide therapeutic targets to decrease fibrosis. Although decreased vitamin D did not confer increased risk, given the positive influence on postnatal outcomes, maternal levels should be optimized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underbalanced drilling fluid plays a vital role in the field of exploration of coal bed methane and tight gas reservoirs. It is used to minimize the formation damage and other drilling associated problems. Foam is considered as a popular alternative over the air in underbalanced drilling operations. Development of stable and uniform foam and prediction of its rheological behaviour under dynamic borehole conditions are real challenges in the successful drilling operations. If not designed properly, drilling fluid will fail to transport the cuttings to the surface efficiently. The present study focuses on the development of an empirical correlation for settling velocity of solid cuttings through gelled foams. A number of solids such as coal, sand and shale with variable particle sizes were selected for the present study. Foam fluids prepared with different compositions were characterized. Effects of various parameters such as foam density, composition, viscosity, gel strength, stability and quality, which control the hydrodynamic behaviour during drilling, were studied in detail. The settling velocities of cuttings were experimentally determined for foams with variable compositions. An empirical model has been developed for settling velocity of solid cuttings through gelled foams. This correlation is validated using different solid-fluid experimental data. The model is found to satisfactorily trace the experimental data. This model can be used in designing and characterizing the gelled foam better than the existing models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foamfluid, the new domain for drilling unconventional reservoirs,is facing challenges before being implemented in the drilling industrybecause of its complex nature under dynamic borehole conditions. Itscompressible nature makes the study of its rheology a complicatedaffair. Rheology helps in the design of an efficient drilling fluid,which depends on various other variables. In the present study, foamsof variable quality were prepared from a base fluid consisting ofsurfactant and polymer in water. The stability, quality, and rheologicalbehavior of the foams were observed to vary with the ionic characteristicsof the surfactant, quality of the foam, and concentration of chemicalsadded to the base fluid. The microscopic structure of the foams reflectedthe variations in the foam structure with changes in different variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a pivotal role in suppressing immune responses regulating behavior and gene expression in effector T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Tregs infiltrate the infarcted myocardium; however, their role the inflammatory and reparative response after myocardial infarction remains poorly understood. We used FoxP3EGFP reporter mice to study Treg trafficking in the infarcted heart and examined the effects of Treg depletion on postinfarction remodeling using an anti-CD25 antibody. Moreover, we investigated the in vitro effects of Tregs on cardiac fibroblast phenotype and function. Low numbers of Tregs infiltrated the infarcted myocardium after 24-72 h of reperfusion. Treg depletion had no significant effects on cardiac dysfunction and scar size after reperfused myocardial infarction but accelerated ventricular dilation and accentuated apical remodeling. Enhanced myocardial dilation in Treg-depleted animals was associated with increased expression of chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 and accentuated macrophage infiltration. In vitro, Tregs modulated the cardiac fibroblast phenotype, reducing expression of a-smooth muscle actin, decreasing expression of matrix metalloproteinase-3, and attenuating contraction of fibroblast-populated collagen pads. Our findings suggest that endogenous Tregs have modest effects on the inflammatory and reparative response after myocardial infarction. However, the anti-inflammatory and matrix-preserving properties of Tregs may suggest a role for Treg-based cell therapy in the attenuation of adverse postinfarction remodeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims The CXC chemokine CXCL10 is up-regulated in the infarcted myocardium and limits cardiac fibrosis by inhibiting growth factor-mediated fibroblast migration. CXCL10 signals by binding to its receptor CXCR3; however, recently CXCR3-independent CXCL10 actions have been suggested. Our study explores the role of CXCR3 signalling in myocardial infarction and investigates its involvement in mediating the anti-fibrotic effects of CXCL10. Methods and results Wild-type and CXCR3 null mice underwent reperfused infarction protocols. CXCL10 was markedly induced in the infarct; in contrast, expression of the other two CXCR3 ligands, CXCL9 and CXCL11 was extremely low. CXCR3 loss did not affect scar size, geometric ventricular remodelling, collagen deposition, and systolic dysfunction of the infarcted heart. CXCR3 null mice had increased peak neutrophil recruitment and delayed myofibroblast infiltration in the infarcted heart, but exhibited comparable myocardial expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. In vitro, CXCL10 did not modulate Transforming Growth Factor (TGF)-β signalling, but inhibited basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-induced cardiac fibroblast migration in both wild-type and CXCR3 null cells. Treatment of fibroblasts with heparinase and chondroitinase to cleave glycosaminoglycan chains abrogated the inhibitory effects of CXCL10 on cell migration. Conclusion CXCR3 signalling does not critically regulate cardiac remodelling and dysfunction following myocardial infarction. The anti-fibrotic effects of CXCL10 in the healing infarct and in isolated cardiac fibroblasts are CXCR3-independent and may be mediated through proteoglycan signalling. Thus, administration of CXCR3-defective forms of CXCL10 may be an effective anti-fibrotic strategy in the remodelling myocardium without activating a potentially injurious, CXCR3-driven T cell response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanostructured SnO2 thin films are synthesized by the chemical Spray pyrolysis method in presence of air and nitrogen as carrier gas. The study has emphasized on the impact of carrier gas on the underlying, electrical, and optical properties of the deposited thin films. XRD studies uncover that there is no variation in the crystalline structure of the film. The SnO2 thin films prepared using nitrogen as carrier gas is found more conductive as compared to the film prepared using air as a carrier gas. The change in conductivity is due to the increased oxygen deficiency in the nitrogen atmosphere. The HBM and EMA models are used to calculate particle radius by optical absorption data, showing the particle diameter is low for nitrogen as compared to air as carrier gas. The activation energy is also found to decrease in presence of nitrogen as carrier gas. This may be due to shallow donor and deep acceptor levels of semiconductors. The decrease in particle size increases the number of surface atoms, responsible for a decrease in activation energy of films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the optimal feature set is a challenging problem, especially in an unsupervised domain. To mitigate the same, this paper presents a new unsupervised feature selection method, termed as densest feature graph augmentation with disjoint feature clusters. The proposed method works in two phases. The first phase focuses on finding the maximally non-redundant feature subset and disjoint features are added to the feature set in the second phase. To experimentally validate, the efficiency of the proposed method has been compared against five existing unsupervised feature selection methods on five UCI datasets in terms of three performance criteria, namely clustering accuracy, normalized mutual information, and classification accuracy. The experimental analyses have shown that the proposed method outperforms the considered methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For low-power circuit applications, the performance of the circuit is significantly influenced by the MOSFET's analog/RF and non-linearity properties. Gate-all-around junction-less accumulation mode MOSFETs (JAM) are now the perfect choice for low-power circuit applications. In the present work, the gate-stack engineering method is used for gate-all-around junction-less accumulation mode MOSFET (GSJAM) to improve the analog/RF characteristics. The analog/RF and linearity parameter analyses are numerically performed for a 20 nm channel length gate-all-around gate-stacked junction-less MOSFET using an ATLAS 3D device simulator. The comparative analysis of these analog/RF and linearity parameters is also done. The gate stack engineering shows significant improvements in analog/RF parameters, i.e., trans-conductance (gm), output resistance (Rout), early voltage (Vea), intrinsic gain (AV), trans-conductance frequency product (TFP), gain frequency product (GFP), trans-conductance generation factor (TGF), gain bandwidth product (GBWP), gain trans-conductance frequency product (GTFP), and cut-off frequency (fT). The results of the simulation investigation show that when GSJM is compared to JAM MOSFET, the values of gm, Rout, Vea, and TGF are all 26.37%, 2.24 times, 22.38%, and 20.78% higher, respectively. Also, the gate-stack junction-less MOSFET improves the linearity parameters, i.e., 2nd -order trans-conductance (gm2), 3rd -order trans-conductance (gm3), VIP2, VIP3, IIP3, IMD3, and 1-dBCP. When comparing GSJAM to JAM MOSFET, the values of VIP2 are 81.63% higher, VIP3 is 1.77 times higher, IIP3 is 6.72 times higher, and 1-dBCP is twice as high. Further, for analog/RF applications, a 20 nm CMOS common-source voltage amplifier circuit using gate-stake junction-less MOSFET has also been designed for a 20 mV and 1 GHz sinusoidal input signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel approach for selecting a subset of features in semi-supervised datasets where only some of the patterns are labeled. The whole process is completed in two phases. In the first phase, i.e., Phase-I, the whole dataset is divided into two parts: The first part, which contains labeled patterns, and the second part, which contains unlabeled patterns. In the first part, a small number of features are identified using well-known maximum relevance (from first part) and minimum redundancy (whole dataset) based feature selection approaches using the correlation coefficient. The subset of features from the identified set of features, which produces a high classification accuracy using any supervised classifier from labeled patterns, is selected for later processing. In the second phase, i.e., Phase-II, the patterns belonging to the first and second part are clustered separately into the available number of classes of the dataset. In the clusters of the first part, take the majority of patterns belonging to a cluster as the class for that cluster, which is given already. Form the pairs of cluster centroids made in the first and second part. The centroid of the second part nearest to a centroid of the first part will be paired. As the class of the first centroid is known, the same class can be assigned to the centroid of the cluster of the second part, which is unknown. The actual class of the patterns if known for the second part of the dataset can be used to test the classification accuracy of patterns in the second part. The proposed two-phase approach performs well in terms of classification accuracy and number of features selected on the given benchmarked datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the comparative study of electrical characterization for Si/C60/CuI dispersed composite polymer electrolyte thin films. Thin polymer films are prepared for different wt% of dispersoid with the host polymer electrolyte (PEO: NaI) matrix. Si and CuI are used as procured and C60 is prepared in the laboratory and the same has been verified with NMR data sheet. Furthermore, the prepared films are subjected to structural and electrical characterization. The composite nature of the films is verified with the X‐ray diffraction and Fourier Transform Infrared. The complex impedance spectroscopy is used to analyze the electrical conductivity of the samples. The polarization technique is performed to calculate the transference of ion (T¬ion). The concentration and mobility of charge carries are calculated to explain and to support the change in conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gate-all-around (GAA) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) Schottky barrier (SB) nano-wire (NW) MOSFET was recently proposed for low-power and high-frequency analog and radio frequency (RF) circuits. But their use in low-power and high-frequency analog/RF circuits is still under investigation. In this work, basic analog signal processing circuits using gate-all-around SOI-SB-NW MOSFETs are designed for low-power and high-frequency applications. These basic and necessary analog processing circuits are designed for ± 0.3 V and ± 0.25 V power supplies to work on frequencies up to 10 GHz. The analog/RF characteristics of the GAA SOI-SB MOSFET are compared with those of the GAA SB NW MOSFET. The SOI-SB NW MOSFET shows improvements in early voltage, output resistance, and transconductance generation factor. The Silvaco TCAD simulator is used to obtain the results and perform numerical simulations. Simulation results show good analog/RF performance of the analog processing circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neonatal sepsis significantly contributes to neonatal mortality and morbidity in developing countries. The delay in diagnosis due to the time-consuming gold standard blood culture necessitates rapid, accessible, and cost-effective diagnostic markers. Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of Micro-ESR for early neonatal sepsis diagnosis and compare its effectiveness with other standard markers. Methodology: Conducted at D.Y. Patil Hospital's Department of Pediatrics in Navi Mumbai, this prospective observational study included 200 neonates suspected of sepsis. Blood samples were analyzed for CBC, CRP, Micro-ESR, and bacterial culture before antibiotic initiation. Micro-ESR's diagnostic performance was assessed against other markers based on confirmed sepsis cases via blood culture. Results: Among 200 neonates, 16 had a positive blood culture. Micro-ESR showed a sensitivity of 87.5% and specificity of 28.80%. In comparison, Total Leucocyte Count (TLC) and Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) demonstrated higher specificity (91.25% and 70% respectively) but lower sensitivity. Platelet count and CRP indicated high specificity (94.56%) and sensitivity (100%) respectively, albeit with low predictive values. Conclusions: While CRP exhibited the highest sensitivity, TLC and platelet count showed superior specificity. Despite its lower specificity, Micro-ESR's high sensitivity suggests its utility as a supportive early diagnostic marker alongside CBC, CRP, and ANC. Blood culture remains the definitive diagnostic standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial waste locks are used as raw materials to reduce harmful effects on the environment and improve environmental performance. Marble clay powder can be used as a filling aid and can fill voids in concrete structures. This article will show you how to use a maximum natural sand alternative in concrete with marble powder and quarry dust. The challenge of the 21st century is to change to a new form that can support the natural system. This necessitates a radical rethinking of how to give the community infrastructure and housing. Making a concerted effort to develop novel, innovative, and alternative construction materials may be necessary. Jungles of concrete around cause's impact on the Environment and it would result in climate change. Mankind must avoid the use of things that are detrimental to the environment. So in this paper, it is decided to address the issue by adopting the use of the green concrete concept which is environmentally friendly. Green concrete is concrete made up using industrial wastes such as marble powder, quarry dust, wood ash, paper pulp, etc. Green concrete, which is capable of sustainable development, helps to reduce the consumption of natural resources, energy use, and environmental pollution. Green concrete is more cost‐effective than ordinary concrete and reduces the cost of resultant concrete by 14%–20%. It is also observed that the alkali‐aggregate reaction and sulfate attack resistance of concrete are both significantly improved. Green concrete is a useful tool for lowering environmental pollution and enhancing concrete's resistance to harsh conditions. All stages of infrastructure construction and rehabilitation will follow this trend of using new cement and techniques. Green concrete's adaptability and its performance derivatives will meet a variety of future needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in the construction industry is inevitable. The huge production of OPC and its use in infrastructural development pose an environmental impact. Greenhouse gas emitted increases the global temperature and it is an alarming sign to everybody on the planet. Concrete is the most consuming material which is produced by using OPC and it is proven that OPC contributes a lot to CO2 emission. Hence in this study attempt is made to produce concrete by using environment‐friendly material like fly ash along with alkaline activators, which is termed Geo polymer concrete. The by‐product fly ash is widely available worldwide. It is a by‐product of thermal power plants. The use of fly ash in concrete produces less expensive and more cost‐effective concrete than concrete made up using OPC. Due to its high silicate and alumina content, fly ash reacts with an alkaline solution to create an aluminosilicate gel that binds the aggregate and results in high‐quality concrete. Fly ash is finer than cement, it occupies the pores of cement after hydration. This would result in denser concrete which gives higher strength. In comparison to ordinary concrete, fly ash‐based geopolymer concrete offers better resistance to aggressive environments and high temperatures. In the present study, an alkaline activator of molarity 8 is used to prepare geopolymer concrete. The test specimens are cast and cured for 28 days. Test results indicate that an alkaline liquid fly‐ash ratio (0.4) produces higher mechanical properties. Hence, geopolymer concrete produced in this study is found to be cost‐effective and environment friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate long‐term safety and tolerability of anifrolumab, a human monoclonal antibody to the type I interferon (IFN) receptor subunit 1, in patients with moderate‐to‐severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: This 3‐year, multinational, open‐label extension study included adult patients who completed treatment (48 weeks of anifrolumab or placebo; 12‐week follow‐up) in the MUSE phase IIb randomized controlled trial (RCT). Patients initially received 1,000 mg of anifrolumab intravenously every 4 weeks, which was reduced to 300 mg every 4 weeks based on the benefit/risk profile established in the MUSE trial. Adverse events (AEs) were assessed monthly. Exploratory end points included the SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI‐2K), Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index (SDI), pharmacodynamics, and health‐related quality of life (HRQoL). Results: Of the 246 patients who completed the RCT, 218 (88.6%) enrolled in the open‐label extension study, of which 139 (63.8%) completed 3 years of treatment. Approximately 69.7% of patients reported ≥1 AE during the first year of open‐label extension treatment. Frequency and patterns of serious AEs and AEs of special interest over 3 years were consistent with those reported for 1 year of treatment in the RCT. Few patients (6.9%) discontinued treatment due to AEs. No new safety signals were identified. Improvement in the SLEDAI‐2K was sustained over 3 years. SDI and Short Form 36 health survey scores remained stable. Neutralization of type I IFN gene signatures was maintained in the IFN‐high population, and C3, C4, and anti–double‐stranded DNA showed trends toward sustained improvement. Conclusion: Long‐term anifrolumab treatment demonstrates an acceptable safety profile with sustained improvement in SLE disease activity, HRQoL, and serologic measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In oil and gas exploration, it is vital to acquire information about the bottom hole conditions. This is done in the field using wireline logging. The sonic log is one of the most prolific logs as it assists in porosity determination, cement evaluation and identification of lithology and gas‐bearing intervals. However, sonic logging tools are not always a part of the wireline logging arrangement. Still, there are sections where the logging data are missing, and in some cases, these are dependent upon old tools. The tool is incapable of recording shear wave transit times. This study explores the possibility of substituting the sonic log using machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques. These techniques can also predict the sonic log data in sections where these are missing or unreliable. Artificial neural networks, decision tree regression, random forest regression, support vector regression and extreme gradient boosting are the most popular tools available at our disposal for making these estimations. This study has compared these different techniques for their effectiveness and accuracy in making sonic transit time predictions based on other available well logs. The obtained results suggest that despite all the attention on artificial neural networks, eXtreme gradient boosting and the random forest regression outperform it for the given purpose. In the case of missing shear transit time data, random forest regression made predictions with a root mean squared error of 1.03 × 10–4 and a root mean squared error of 0.97 while eXtreme gradient boosting regression did so with a root mean squared error of 1.36 × 10–4 and the same regression coefficient (0.97). When no sonic data were available, random forest regression estimated shear transit time with a root mean squared error of 6.41×10–4 and a regression coefficient of 0.95, and compressional transit time with a root mean squared error of 9.06×10–5 and a root mean squared error of 0.94. The root mean squared error of shear transit time and compressional transit time predictions made using eXtreme gradient boosting were found to be the same as those of random forest regression. The root mean squared error, however, was observed to be slightly less for the compressional transit time predictions and somewhat more for the shear transit time predictions. As data analysis, in general, is a better method for estimation than the use of empirical correlations, these machine learning‐based predictions can serve as powerful tools in the oil and gas exploration industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The small signal model of MOSFET is a must for implementation of analog/digital circuits. The non-quasi-static (NQS) model is well known and provides accurate parameters for MOSFET. In the present work, extrinsic and intrinsic NQS model parameters were extracted for 20 nm Gate Stacked Junction-less Accumulation Mode (GSJAM) MOSFET using two-port admittance parameters. Further, for analog/RF applications, the first order active high pass filter (HPF), low pass filter (LPF) and second order active HPF, LPF are implemented using 20 nm GSJAM MOSFET. The first order and second order active filters are implemented for 10 GHz circuit applications. For amplifying the processed filtered input signal, a CMOS single stage common source voltage amplifier is used in the output circuit. Filter circuits use GSJAM N-type MOSFET as an active load in conjunction with a passive capacitor. With cut-off frequency, further bode-plot analysis of the low pass filter and high pass filter circuits is conducted. For numerical simulation, the well-known silvaco CAD tool is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that causes brain cells to degenerate, resulting in decreased physical and mental abilities and, in severe cases, permanent memory loss. It is considered as the most common and fatal form of dementia. Although mild cognitive impairment (MCI) precedes Alzheimer's disease (AD), it does not necessarily show the obvious symptoms of AD. As a result, it becomes challenging to distinguish between mild cognitive impairment and cognitively normal. In this paper, we propose an ensemble of deep learners based on convolutional neural networks for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The proposed approach utilises simple averaging ensemble and weighted averaging ensemble methods. The ensemble-based transfer learning model demonstrates enhanced generalization and performance for AD diagnosis compared to traditional transfer learning methods. Extensive experiments on the OASIS-3 dataset validate the effectiveness of the proposed model, showcasing its superiority over state-of-the-art transfer learning approaches in terms of accuracy, robustness, and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The boreal forests of Alberta have extensive networks of legacy seismic exploration lines that have been linked to the decline of boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) populations throughout the region. In order to improve habitat quality for caribou, energy companies are investing significant resources in the restoration of many of these seismic lines in key areas, however, frequent large and intense wildfires may compromise the effectiveness of these conservation measures. To minimize the wildfire risk, managers need to know the likelihood of wildfire and the effectiveness of mitigation measures. We undertook a wildfire risk assessment across the Cold Lake caribou range where we used the Burn-P3 model to determine: a) burn probability; b) wildfire risk to restored seismic line areas; and c) the effectiveness of mitigation measures. The burn probability of the landscape was highly heterogeneous, and recent large burns and some waterbodies provided "shields" that reduced burn probability on their leeward sides. We designed mitigation scenarios to mimic the shielding effect of waterbodies and large recent burns by modeling the effects of increase suppression activity and fuel conversion within intensive management zones upwind of the resources to be protected. We found that these intensive management zones reduced the burn probability and wildfire hazard in the restored habitat areas but the effect declined rapidly as distance from the treatment zones increased. If land managers want to minimize the risk of losing their investments in caribou conservation to wildfire, it would be preferable to have mitigation measures spatially targeted closer to the conservation areas. Furthermore, it would be advisable to have redundancy in any conservation measures and wildfire-risk mitigations to ensure that losses due to wildfire on one area do not jeopardize all conservation projects within the landscape. Highlights • Locations for conservation often based on current landscape conditions. • Assessments often ignore wildfire risk, which can destroy habitat restoration. • Use Burn Probability Modeling to examine fire risk to caribou conservation projects. • Intensive management reduces burn probability and fire hazard. • These effects decline as the distance from the treated area increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is considered to be a prototypical autoimmune disorder. Several mechanisms have been proposed for the known pathologic function of B cells in RA, including antigen presentation, cytokine secretion, and humoral immunity. The aim of this study was to address the function of B lymphocytes in experimental arthritis. Methods: We mapped the adaptive immune response following collagen‐induced arthritis (CIA). We subsequently monitored these responses and disease outcomes in genetically modified mouse strains that lack mature B cell or germinal center (GC) functionality in a B cell–intrinsic manner. Results: Following primary immunization, the draining lymph nodes broadly reacted against type II collagen (CII) with the formation of GCs and T cell activation. Mice that lacked mature B cell function were fully protected against CIA and had a severely attenuated ability to mount isotype‐switched humoral immune responses against CII. Almost identical results were observed in mice that were selectively deficient in GC responses. Importantly, GC‐deficient mice were fully susceptible to collagen antibody–induced arthritis. Conclusion: We identified GC formation and anticollagen antibody production as the key pathogenic functions of B cells in CIA. The role of B cells in RA is likely to be more complex. However, targeting the GC reaction could allow for therapeutic interventions that are more refined than general B cell depletion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A family of tri-β-substituted porphyrins, MTPP(CH3)2X (M = 2H, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn; X = NO2 or CHO; TPP = tetraphenylporphyrin), was synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic techniques. The single-crystal X-ray structures of NiTPP(CH3)2CHO and H2TPP(CH3)2NO2 revealed ruffled and saddle conformations of the porphyrin core, respectively. The effects of the β substituents were reflected in bathochromic shifts of the electronic spectral features and positive or negative shifts of the redox potentials. H2TPP(CH3)2NO2 and H2TPP(CH3)2CHO exhibited very high dipole moments (5.76-7.59 D) compared with that of H2TPP (0.052 D) owing to the push-pull effect. These push-pull porphyrins exhibited lower HOMO-LUMO gaps than those of MTPP(NO2) and MTPP. The redox tunability was achieved through the introduction of electron donor and acceptor groups at the porphyrin backbone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant quantity of hydrocarbons remains in the reservoir after production using primary and secondary techniques. Traditional recovery techniques produce about 33 % of the original oil in place. However, the utilization of chemicals such as surfactants and polymers facilitate the additional recovery of one‐third of this oil. Researchers are currently aiming at mixing surfactant and nanoparticles for their potential applications in petroleum industry. In this work, authors claimed to be the first to study usage of synthesized Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles (MSN) with Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS) surfactant to understand its applicability in Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery through evaluation of the surface tension & Interfacial tension, surfactant adsorption, contact angle, and core flooding experiments. Surface tension studies revealed a synergistic interaction between MSN and anionic surfactant molecules. With the introduction of 2500 ppm of anionic surfactant, the surface tension of deionized water reduces to 34.5 mN/m from 72.4 mN/m. The surface tension of the mixture was further lowered by ∼9.8 % with the addition of 300 ppm MSN. The Interfacial Tension results also showed the same trend. When 300 ppm of MSN was introduced, then IFT values decreases from 8.13 mN/m to 3.91 mN/m at 2500 ppm of anionic surfactant. Contact angle measurements after MSN injection went from 77.98° for SDS (2500 ppm) to 73.36°, 66.54°, and 41.95° for 100, 200, and 300 ppm of MSN, respectively. This demonstrates that the shift toward water‐wet behavior increased along with the MSN concentration. Additionally, adding 300 ppm of MSN lowered surfactant adsorption by ∼80 % at a surfactant concentration of 2500 ppm. Up to 72.27 % of the OOIP could be recovered using the chemical slug made of SDS surfactant, polymer, and MSN. The research data suggests that the MSN can increase the effectiveness of the chemical injection approach, which can be used to recover more oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times Gallbladder cancer (GBC) incidences increased many folds in India and are being reported from arsenic hotspots identified in Bihar. The study aims to establish association between arsenic exposure and gallbladder carcinogenesis. In the present study, n = 200 were control volunteers and n = 152 confirmed gallbladder cancer cases. The studied GBC patient's biological samples-gallbladder tissue, gallbladder stone, bile, blood and hair samples were collected for arsenic estimation. Moreover, n = 512 gallbladder cancer patients blood samples were also evaluated for the presence of arsenic to understand exposure level in the population. A significantly high arsenic concentration (p < 0.05) was detected in the blood samples with maximum concentration 389 µg/L in GBC cases in comparison to control. Similarly, in the gallbladder cancer patients, there was significantly high arsenic concentration observed in gallbladder tissue with highest concentration of 2166 µg/kg, in gallbladder stones 635 µg/kg, in bile samples 483 µg/L and in hair samples 6980 µg/kg respectively. Moreover, the n = 512 gallbladder cancer patient's blood samples study revealed very significant arsenic concentration in the population of Bihar with maximum arsenic concentration as 746 µg/L. The raised arsenic concentration in the gallbladder cancer patients' biological samples—gallbladder tissue, gallbladder stone, bile, blood, and hair samples was significantly very high in the arsenic exposed area. The study denotes that the gallbladder disease burden is very high in the arsenic exposed area of Bihar. The findings do provide a strong link between arsenic contamination and increased gallbladder carcinogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, scientific community has shown immense interest in the synthesis of novel, bioactive molecules with few adverse effects. Instead of painstaking multistep synthesis with hazardous synthetic reagents, also for clinical studies, it is better to enhance the activity and tuning by structural modification of the commercial drugs based on their structural and biological properties. It is demonstrated that diclofenac (DCF) be an effective analgesic and anti‐pyretic in the treatment of cancer‐related pain, but it has limitations and adverse effects as gastrointestinal irritation, small intestine damage, nausea, platelet dysfunction, and vertigo. Wherefore the main objective of the current research is to investigate new, novel, green methods of preparation of DCF derivatives, and structural characterization with the help of FT‐IR, UV‐Visible spectroscopy, MS spectrometry techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solid polymer electrolytes (SPE) based electrochemical devices are an area of attention for more than two decades. The ability of thin‐film preparation and leakage proof over the liquid counterpart are the key factors of SPE. In the present work, two different compositions, 80–20 and 85–15, of PVA:KI has been used as a host polymer complex. Where further 10 wt% of p‐Si dispersed with PVA:KI complexes. Polymer films have been prepared with standard solution cast techniques, which are further characterized for their electrical conductivity by Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Also, the humidity effect on the ionic conductivity of these thin films is calculated. It is observed that the ionic conductivity of these polymer electrolytes films increases with 58%, 74%, and 89% humidity. To understand the change in this ionic conductivity, the concentration and mobility of ions are also calculated, and it is found that the change in conductivity are predominately influenced due to the mobility of charge carriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel approach is proposed to improve the classification performance of a polynomial neural network (PNN). In this approach, the partial descriptions (PDs) are generated at the first layer based on all possible combinations of two features of the training input patterns of a dataset. The set of PDs from the first layer, the set of all input features, and a bias constitute the chromosome of the real-coded genetic algorithm (RCGA). A system of equations is solved to determine the values of the real coefficients of each chromosome of the RCGA for the training dataset with the mean classification accuracy (CA) as the fitness value of each chromosome. To adjust these values for unknown testing patterns, the RCGA is iterated in the usual manner using simple selection, crossover, mutation, and elitist selection. The method is tested extensively with the University of California, Irvine benchmark datasets by utilizing tenfold cross validation of each dataset, and the performance is compared with various well-known state-of-the-art techniques. The results obtained from the proposed method in terms of CA are superior and outperform other known methods on various datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]