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To study the efficacy of swept source optical coherence tomography angiography (SSOCTA) to longitudinally follow-up patients with extrafoveal polyps post-laser photocoagulation and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injection.Observational case series. Four patients diagnosed as polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy with extrafoveal polyps on multimodal imaging were followed up serially on SSOCT, en face and cross-sectional SSOCTA at a month and then 3 monthly for a year. Indocyanine green angiography was repeated at 4 months and 1 year.Anatomical regression of extrafoveal polyps was documented on a combination of en face and cross-sectional SSOCTA, 3 months post-laser photocoagulation and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor. Regression of polyps was maintained at the 12-month follow-up visit in all cases. Changes in branching vascular network morphology post-treatment were well-delineated on en face SSOCTA. Swept source optical coherence tomography angiography findings correlated well with the gold standard indocyanine green angiography.Swept source optical coherence tomography angiography is an effective noninvasive imaging modality to diagnose and longitudinally follow-up extrafoveal polyps postintervention. Laser photocoagulation with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor achieved regression of polyps in all cases and this was maintained over 12 months.

Coronavirus has greatly impacted various aspects of human life, including human psychology & human disposition. In this paper, we attempted to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human health. We propose Human Disposition Analysis during COVID-19 using machine learning (HuDA_COVID), where factors such as age, employment, addiction, stress level are studied for human disposition analysis. A mass survey is conducted on individuals of various age groups, regions & professions, and the methodology achieved varied accuracy ranges of 87.5% to 98%. The study shows people are worried about lockdown, work & relationships. Furthermore, 23% of the respondents have not had any effect. 45% and 32% have had positive and negative effects, respectively. It is a novel study in human disposition analysis in COVID-19 where a novel weighted assignment indicating the health status is also proposed. HuDA_COVID clearly indicates a need for a methodical approach towards the human psychological needs to help the social organizations formulating holistic interventions for affected individuals.

COVID-19 has affected people in nearly 180 countries worldwide. This paper presents a novel and improved Semantic Web-based approach for implementing the disease pattern of COVID-19. Semantics gives meaning to words and defines the purpose of words in a sentence. Previous ontology approaches revolved around syntactic methods. In this paper, semantics gives due priority to understand the nature and meaning of the underlying text. The proposed approach, FaD-CODS, focuses on a specific application of fake news detection. The formal definition is given by depiction of knowledge patterns using semantic reasoning. The proposed approach based on fake news detection uses description logic for semantic reasoning. FaD-CODS will affect decision making in medicine and healthcare. Further, the state-of-the-art method performs best for semantic text incorporated in the model. FaD-CODS used a reasoning tool, RACER, to check the consistency of the collected study. Further, the reasoning tool performance is critically analyzed to determine the conflicts between a myth and fact.

Paper is an excellent medium of expression and knowledge preservation and communication because of its writing, printing, and packaging abilities. It is a thin sheet or web-like structure made by a dilute suspension of cellulosic fibres. Handmade papermaking technology was mass accepted and considered a precious commodity before development of an industrialised wood- pulp based paper industry. This modern papermaking practice harms the environment as it uses enhanced natural resources (ample amount of water, trees as a primary source for wood pulp) and generates pollution due to release of harsh chemicals. This paper reviews the history and process of handmade paper manufacturing from past to present. Along with that, all the pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social) in relation to the handmade paper industry are deep rooted since ancient times and very much relevant for the present era of sustainable development. Various kinds of cellulosic raw materials from plants (Paper mulberry, Kazo, Gampy, hemp, bamboo, banana, etc.) and other used materials (old rags, ropes, nets, newspapers etc.) with the chemical-free production process and products make this industry eco-friendly. Craft based, small scale and labour-intensive guild art gives it social strength; whereas an infinite product range having functional and decorative uses, as well as strong export potential of the industry gives it an economic strength. Due to the present need of sustainable production, waste minimisation, and circular economy, the handmade paper seems to very potential industry to recycle various kind of waste like weedy battles, textiles, tetra packs, currency, plastic etc. This paper is an attempt to review the journey of handmade papers, its recycling potential, various production processes, products, advantages and disadvantages of the industry from past to present.

Background and Aims Ontamalimab, a fully-human monoclonal antibody targeting MAdCAM-1, induced remission in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis [UC] in the TURANDOT study. We aimed to assess long-term safety, tolerability, and efficacy of ontamalimab in TURANDOT II. Methods TURANDOT II was a phase 2, multicentre, open-label [OL] study in patients with moderate-to-severe UC who completed TURANDOT on placebo or ontamalimab (NCT01771809). Patients were randomised to 75 mg or 225 mg ontamalimab every 4 weeks for 72 weeks [OL1]. The dosage could be increased to 225 mg from Week 8 at the investigator’s discretion. All patients then received 75 mg every 4 weeks for 72 weeks [OL2], followed by 6-month safety follow-up. The primary objective was safety, measured by adverse events [AEs], serious AEs [SAEs], and AEs leading to withdrawal. Mucosal healing [MH; centrally read endoscopy] was assessed. Results Of 330 patients, 180 completed OL1; 94 escalated to 225 mg; 127 completed OL2. Overall, 36.1% experienced drug-related AEs. The most common SAE [10.0%] was worsening/ongoing UC; 5.5% of patients had serious infections, the most common being gastroenteritis [0.9%]. One death and four cancers [all unrelated to ontamalimab] occurred. No PML [progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy]/lymphoproliferative disorders occurred. Geometric mean high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP] and faecal calprotectin decreased across OL1 in both dose groups. The proportion of patients assigned to placebo in TURANDOT achieving MH increased from 8.8% [6/68] at baseline to 35.3% at Week 16 [24/68; non-responder imputation]. The corresponding increase in the ontamalimab group was from 23.3% [61/262] to 26.7% [70/262]. Conclusions Ontamalimab was well tolerated up to 144 weeks in patients with moderate-to-severe UC, with good safety and efficacy.

Introduction Rabbit antithymocyte globulin (rATG) dosing strategies for induction in pediatric kidney transplantation vary between centers. It is not known whether a lower rATG induction dose provides safe and effective immunosuppression compared with a “standard” higher dose. Methods We performed a retrospective multicenter study of all isolated first-time kidney transplant recipients 4.5 mg/kg) exposure groups. Outcomes examined included 12 months posttransplant graft function (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR]); the occurrence of acute rejection, donor-specific antibody (DSA), neutropenia, and viral infection (cytomegalovirus [CMV], Epstein-Barr virus [EBV], and BK virus); and 24-month outcomes of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) occurrence and patient and graft survival. Results Two hundred thirty-five patients were included. Baseline features of the low and standard rATG dose groups were similar. By 12 months, the rATG dose group had no significant impact on the occurrence of neutropenia, positive DSA, or viral polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Graft function was similar. Acute rejection rates were similar at 17% (low dose) versus 19% (standard dose) (P = 0.13). By 24 months, graft survival (96.4% vs. 94.6%) and patient survival (100% vs. 99.3%) were similar between the low- and standard-dose groups (P = 0.54 and 0.46), whereas the occurrence of PTLD trended higher in the standard-dose group (0% vs. 2.6%, P = 0.07). Conclusion A low rATG induction dose ≤ 4.5 mg/kg provided safe and effective outcomes in this multicenter low immunologic risk pediatric cohort. Prospective studies are warranted to define the optimal rATG induction dose in pediatric kidney transplantation., Graphical abstract

This article centres on the Hindi sexology writings of a woman, Yashoda Devi, and a Shudra, Santram B.A. In the context of an efflorescence of vernacular sexology literature in early twentieth-cent...

In this paper, a unique smart assistance aid, iSeePlus, for visually impaired people is presented. iSeePlus, as a prototype product, is equipped with smart glasses (iSee Glasses), a smart stick (iS...

This article focuses on vernacular travel writings on America and Europe by Swami Satyadev ‘Parivrajak’ (1879–1961), one of the first persons to systematically write travelogues in Hindi. I argue t...

This collection brings together nine essays, accompanied by nine short translations, that redraw the boundaries of literary histories both temporally and spatially. The essays, rooted in the humani...

India being an agricultural country has a major role of agricultural sector in the Indian economy. The socio-economic background of Indian economy is greatly affected by agriculture. Due to this re...

We compare and report in this work heavy-ion irradiation induced single event transients (SETs) in sub-10nm node SOI multiple gate FETs with the help of calibrated 3-D TCAD simulations. Our analysis includes the nanosheet FET (NSFET), nanowire FET (NWFET), and FinFET along with two different device design modes based on the doping profiles, namely the inversion (INV) and junctionless mode (JL). We have also analyzed the impact of heavy-ion strike direction and angle of incidence on SET performance of various MuGFETs. Heavy-ion induced SET current has also been compared for multiple-sheet/wires of NSFET and NWFET. In addition to this, different locations of heavy-ion strike have also been considered in this work. Further, we have collated the simulation trends to propose empirical models that predict the impact of heavy-ion radiation on various MuGFETs. Our models include some of the device design parameters and heavy-ion exposure conditions as the input to the model. The proposed models are shown to correlate well with the TCAD simulation results for the set of model parameters that we have reported here. These models not only expedite the analysis, but these can also accurately predict SETs in advanced MuGFETs under heavy-ion irradiation.

Application of high-frequency ac stress in the place of conventional dc stress is known to decrease the damage caused by self-heating (SH)-induced hot-carrier injection (HCI) in highly scaled MOSFET devices. However, the effect of hot-carrier degradation on short-channel performance is less explored. In this article, a detailed examination of the drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL) under hot-carrier stress is presented for 14-nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) n-channel FinFETs. In particular, the influence of SH-enhanced HCI on DIBL is thoroughly investigated for devices with different geometrical parameters including a number of fins, gate length, and so on at different ac stress frequencies. The change in dominant degrading mechanism from bulk oxide trapping to interface state generation under dc and ac stress is shown to affect DIBL severely. Interestingly, the effect of SH on DIBL is in contrast to that in ON-current degradation. Furthermore, time evolution of DIBL degradation for asynchronous stress waveforms is studied for accurate reliability analysis for short-channel devices.

XML based attacks are executed in web applications through crafted XML document that forces XML parser to process un-validated documents. This leads to disclosure of sensitive information, maliciou...

Nanosheet field-effect transistors (NSFETs) have emerged as a novel device replacement for sub-7nm CMOS technology nodes. However, due to smaller fin thickness (Tfin = 5nm), NSFETs are more vulnerable to the process-induced variations. Among various types of process-induced variations, Line edge roughness (LER) is becoming a significant concern for multi-gate field-effect transistors (MugFETs) with smaller feature sizes. In this article, we have reported and compared the impact of LER on the electrical characteristics of NSFETs and nanowire field-effect transistors (NWFETs) for the sub-7nm technology node. We have generated a 3-D LER profile using 2-D Auto Covariance Function (ACVF) that considers two degrees of freedom for a realistic roughness analysis at advanced CMOS technology nodes. For a complete study of 3-D LER effect in NSFET, we have considered roughness along the nanosheet's sidewalls as well as top and bottom surfaces. We have shown using 3D TCAD simulations that the sidewall roughness in NSFETs contributes to a negligible mismatch in threshold voltage and ON current. The mismatch performance of NSFET is compared with that of the NWFET for sub-7nm technology node. NSFET appears to be more immune to mismatch in ON current than NWFETs considered in this work. On the other hand, as compared with NSFET, owing to its superior gate all-around control, the NWFET achieves lower mismatch in drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) and subthreshold slope (SS) in presence of LER. In addition to this, FETs with different channel doping modes such as inversion (IM) and Junction less (JL) mode have been compared for their matching performance against 3-D LER. It can be concluded from the results that IM FETs are more immune to 3-D LER as compared to JL FETs.

Pollution due to the industrialization has increased enormously, especially in the developing countries. Different reliable approaches are being used in the remediation of organic and inorganic contaminants. Microbe-mediated phytoremediation is considered as apotential approach for the treatment of mixed pollutants. Studies have reported that microbes, including bacteria and fungi, exhibit beneficial role in growth promotion, stress alleviation, and degradation. Further, microbes help plant species to survive under higher concentrations of pollutants in the soil. Microbes induce various innate plant growth promoting traits, including phytohormone production, siderophores, and chelating substances, thereby indirectly play a role in the bioremediation and microbe-mediated removal of various pollutants. These microbes mobilize the pollutants in the rhizosphere region of plants, which are then taken up by plants. They also help plants to resist against various environmental stresses. Plants, in turn, release the exudates and enzymes that stimulate biochemical and microbial activities in the adjoining soil, thus supporting the bioremediation. The challenge in future for the expansion of the microbe-based phytoremediation is to develop efficient tools for their credibility in predicting their effectiveness in restoration of contaminated sites. The current chapter highlights the specific role of microbes in assisting phytoremediation and challenges associated with plant-microbe interactions.

Security patterns are being used in software applications to mitigate attacks occurring due to software vulnerabilities. However, developer sometimes overlooks best practices while implementing the security pattern in the software application. In this paper, authors propose a formal approach to describe various security constraints using first order predicate logic. This will facilitate the detection of security vulnerabilities at the early stages of software development life cycle. The approach has been verified using Secure Factory Pattern. The effectiveness of the approach has been further validated using Library Management System as a case study. The proposed approach will help in detection of hidden vulnerabilities in software applications.

One of the biggest problems in hyper spectral image analysis is the wavelength selection because of the immense amount of hypercube data. In this paper, we introduce an approach to find out the optimal wavelength selection in predicting the quality of the fruit. Hyper spectral imaging was built with spectral region of 400nm to 1000nm for fruit defect detection. For image acquisition, we used fluorescent light as the light source. Analysis was performed in visible region, which had spectral from 413nm to 642nm it was done because of the low reflectance spectrum found in fluorescent light sources. The captured image in this experiment demonstrates irregular illumination that means half of the fruit has brighter area. Analysis of the hyper spectral image was done in order to select diverse wavelengths that could possibly be used in multispectral imaging system. Selected wavelengths were used to create a separate image and each image went through thresholding. Experiment shows a multispectral imaging system which is able to detect defects in fruits by selecting most contributing wavelengths from the hyper spectral image. Algorithm presented in this paper could be improved with morphology operations so that we could get the actual size of the defect. Sandip Kumar | Parth Kapil | Yatika Bhardwaj | Uday Shankar Acharya | Charu Gupta "Anomaly Detection in Fruits using Hyper Spectral Images" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-3 | Issue-4 , June 2019, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd23753.pdf

A comprehensive study on hot-carrier degradation (HCD) mechanisms in 14 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) n-channel FinFETs is presented. The impact of high-frequency AC stress bias on self-heating (SH) enhanced hot-carrier injection in oxide bulk traps is investigated and compared with the measurement results using the conventional DC stress bias. The influence of SH on electrical parameter degradation due to hot-carriers is shown as an important metric for accurate device reliability analysis. The relative contribution of bulk and interface traps is determined to identify the dominant mechanism responsible for HCD for different device geometries. The device behavior is thoroughly studied under hot-carrier DC and AC stresses for different device design parameters, such as effective oxide thickness, number of fins, and channel length. Based on measured data, we have proposed an empirical model for reliability degradation, which takes into account some of the key device design parameters and stress bias frequency.

This paper reviews the current status of the newer inverted internal limiting membrane flap technique for macular hole surgery. It gives an overview of the importance of patient selection and special considerations along with variations in technique. It discusses the pathophysiology and how the technique has been an important addition in the armamentarium of vitreoretinal surgeons to attain better anatomical as well as functional results in challenging situations.

The influence of hot-carrier degradation (HCD) on lateral trap distribution within the device channel is experimentally investigated for gate-all-around nanowire (NW) nFETs. In particular, using drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL) as the parameter, the damage caused by hot-carriers (HCs) is monitored for devices with different geometries, including fin width and gate length. It is observed that with the change in NW width, different degrading mechanisms alter the trap distribution during the application of hot-carrier stress. The trap distribution profile which is found to peak at the drain for very narrow NWs gradually turns uniform as width increases. Interestingly, the carrier location and localization remain the same irrespective of the gate lengths of the NWs. In order to understand the implications of device scaling on HC reliability of advanced CMOS devices, the relative contribution of degradation caused by single and multi carriers degradation process is studied. Both the mechanisms are shown to significantly affect the HC damage profile by causing either highly localized or uniform damage along the device channel.

Recommender systems recommend items to users based on their interests and have seen tremendous growth due to the use of internet and web services. Recommendation systems have seen escalating growth rate since late 1990’s. A query on Google Scholar (famous research based search engine) gives 175,000 articles for the query “recommender system”. With such a large database of research/application articles, there arises a need to analyses the data so as to fulfill the basic requirements of effectively understanding the potential of the quantum of literature available so far. The study focuses on the topic of recommender system with various soft computing techniques such as fuzzy logic, neural network and genetic algorithm. The major contribution of this work is the demonstration of progressive knowledge for domain visualization and analysis of recommender system with soft computing techniques. The analysis is supported by various scientometric indicators such as Relative Growth Rate (RGR), Doubling Time (DT), Co-Authorship Index (CAI), AuthorProductivity, Degree of Collaboration, Research Priority Index (RPI), Half Life, Country wise Productivity, Citation Analysis, Page Length Distribution, Source Contributors. This research presents first of its kind scientometric analysis on “recommender system with soft computing techniques”. The present work provides useful parameters for establishing relationships between quantifiable data and intangible contributions in the field of recommender systems.

Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are the photosynthetic organisms that are widely grown in all sorts of habitats including aquatic and terrestrial environments. Today, the agricultural sector is highly dependent on chemical fertilizers to enhance the crop production in order to meet the demand for food around the globe which have severe negative effects on both mankind and environment. Due to its pool of properties that are beneficial for sustainable agroecosystem, cyanobacterial biofertilizers are eco-friendly and can be an effective and economical alternative for synthetic fertilizers with less input of cost and energy. They can be explored for producing natural fertilizers, which provide positive alterations for both biotic and abiotic components. Cyanobacteria are potential sources of nitrogen fixation, cost-effective, and a major component of the nitrogen-fixing biomass. They have become paramount microbes for producing natural fertilizers, plant growth-promoting hormones, bioactive compounds, etc. These properties enable them in boosting soil fertility, control the activity of other microorganisms, and also can play a role in bioremediation of pesticides, herbicides, and combating pollution attributed to heavy metals and other toxicants as well. The agricultural importance of cyanobacterial biofertilizers is directly related to their nitrogen fixation ability and other effects for plants and enhances soil fertility. This chapter emphasizes on the use of cyanobacteria as a sustainable microbiome and biofertilizer in agriculture sector to enhance crop production and yield.

Association with the customers is one of the principal elements for businesses. It is essential for these firms to recognize exactly what clients’ opinions about the latest as well as established products and services. One such business is film industry. Movies are a dominant source of entertainment. Yield of a movie relies on a great extent to the reviews on social media, blogs, forums, IMDB, and movie viewing platforms. In this paper, to achieve revolutionary performance in sentiment analysis, attention-based long short-term memory, ‘Senti_ALSTM,’ model is proposed which improves the neural networks by assigning memory to it and further reducing the vanishing gradient problem of recurrent neural network. Senti_ALSTM experiment with attention in long short-term memory model which takes into account the information reflected by the input sequence, thus remembering the context, and establishes the relation between input and output sequence. Further, the success of the benchmark data confirms the efficiency of the proposed model over the other models.

PURPOSE To demonstrate choroidal vascular changes and report a novel choroidal thickness contour in eyes with peripheral exudative hemorrhagic chorioretinopathy (PEHCR). METHODS Retrospective, observational, comparative case series. Fourteen eyes of nine patients with PEHCR and 14 eyes of 14 age-matched and sex-matched controls underwent swept-source optical coherence tomography. Choroidal thickness was measured from posterior edge of the retinal pigment epithelium-Bruch membrane to choroidoscleral interface at 11 points 1,000 µm apart. Large choroidal vessel thickness was also measured. RESULTS In PEHCR group, the choroid was thinnest at 3 mm nasal to fovea (mean 95.3 ± 33.5 µm) and thickest at 7 mm temporal to fovea (mean 272.7 ± 80.2 µm), with gradual increase in choroidal thickness from nasal to temporal periphery. The choroid was thickest subfoveally (259.7 ± 63.8 µm) in the control group. The choroid was significantly thicker in temporal periphery in PEHCR eyes as compared to controls (P = 0.0002). The mean large choroidal vessel thickness was 202.4 ± 50.8 µm in the PEHCR group and 160.6 ± 40.5 µm in the control group (P = 0.0235). CONCLUSION Peripheral exudative hemorrhagic chorioretinopathy eyes showed progressively increasing choroidal thickness toward the temporal periphery, compared with age-matched and sex-matched controls. This gave rise to a club-shaped choroidal contour compared with the bowl-shaped contour seen in control eyes. Thicker choroid and pachyvessels favor inclusion of PEHCR in the pachychoroid disease spectrum.

COVID-19 (also known as SARS-COV-2) pandemic has spread in the entire world. It is a contagious disease that easily spreads from one person in direct contact to another, classified by experts in five categories: asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe, and critical. Already more than 66 million people got infected worldwide with more than 22 million active patients as of 5 December 2020 and the rate is accelerating. More than 1.5 million patients (approximately 2.5% of total reported cases) across the world lost their life. In many places, the COVID-19 detection takes place through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests which may take longer than 48 h. This is one major reason of its severity and rapid spread. We propose in this paper a two-phase X-ray image classification called XCOVNet for early COVID-19 detection using convolutional neural Networks model. XCOVNet detects COVID-19 infections in chest X-ray patient images in two phases. The first phase pre-processes a dataset of 392 chest X-ray images of which half are COVID-19 positive and half are negative. The second phase trains and tunes the neural network model to achieve a 98.44% accuracy in patient classification.

Description Logic elucidates statement using the methodology of reasoning. Description logic combined with semantics, forms the treasured Description logic ontology. Several studies have depicted semantics of Description Logic, using concepts and roles. In this paper, the disease pattern with respect to pandemic COVID-19 is studied. The proposed study aims to give semantically rich meaning to the disease pattern of COVID-19. The outbreak of Coronavirus has deeply devastated all forms of human pursuit. The main aim of our paper is to use Description Logic ontologies and the semantic web-based approach to remove ambiguity developed around spread of COVID-19. Semantics combined with Description Logic, thus serves the purpose of imparting meaning to words, so that their interpretation is correctly done. In this paper, proper reasoning is provided to facts so that they can be trusted without any further doubt or thought.

In accordance to the annual report by the Cisco 2018, web applications are exposed to several security vulnerabilities that are exploited by hackers in various ways. It is becoming more and more frequent, specific and sophisticated. Of all the vulnerabilities, more than 40% of attempts are performed via cross-site scripting (XSS). A number of methods have been postulated to examine such vulnerabilities. Therefore, this paper attempted to address an overview of one such vulnerability: the cookies in the XSS. The objective is to present an overview of the cookies, it’s type, vulnerability, policies, discovering, protecting and their mitigation via different tools/methods and via cryptography, artificial intelligence techniques etc. While some future issues, directions, challenges and future research challenges were also being discussed.

In this paper, we have reported the impact of line edge roughness (LER) on the electrical characteristics of Nanosheet field effect transistors (NSFET). We have generated a 3-D LER profile using 2-D Auto Covariance Function (ACVF) that considers two degrees of freedom for a realistic roughness in fin-type, non-planar MOSFETs. For a complete study of 3-D LER effect in NSFET, we have considered roughness along the nanosheet's sidewalls as well as its top and bottom surfaces. We have shown using 3D TCAD simulations that the sidewall roughness contributes to a negligible mismatch in NSFET characteristics. The mismatch performance of NSFET is compared with that of the nanowire field effect transistor (NWFET) for 5nm technology node. NSFET appears to be more immune to mismatch in ON current than NWFETs considered in this work. On the other hand, as compared with NSFET, owing to its superior gate all-around control, the NWFET achieves lower mismatch in drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) and subthreshold slope (SS) in presence of LER.

Economists’ standard notion of intellectual property rights considers a single patent per product, with a clearly defined scope, certain enforcement, and a fixed term of monopoly protection. Yet common across industries are “imperfect” intellectual property rights: More than one patent may cover a single product, with the scope and enforcement of each uncertain, contributing to an indeterminate period of monopoly protection. Using data on the pharmaceutical industry, I systematically document the presence of imperfect intellectual property rights and provide the first evidence on the extent to which they impact competition. In a sample of novel drugs, I show that roughly 70 percent of drugs are covered by multiple intellectual property rights. I offer evidence on two mechanisms by which the accumulation of such rights for a single drug may delay generic entry: by introducing a binding later patent expiration and by increasing uncertainty in the scope and enforceability of remaining patents. In an instrumental variables analysis, I determine that the accumulation of patents for a single drug product delays generic entry by over 2 years per drug (amounting to 17.5 percent of mean monopoly life), well beyond the expiration of the drug’s initial molecule patent. This research suggests large consequences for consumer welfare in terms of drug pricing and offers an important nuance for future work on optimal patent policy and innovation—that intellectual property rights are less rigid than we typically assume.

Opinion mining for document level has undergone different testing process in the last few years. A lot of research work has contributed for analysis of such reviews to extract the sentiment associated with the texts. Fuzzy technologies and machine learning are the most explored area for sentiment analysis. In this paper, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), an Evolutionary algorithm has been hybridized with Neutrosophic Set concept to generate a ternary classifier. PSO has a simple and robust method for finding out global optima on huge sample points. The sentiment of a large text is classified as a ternary value: Positive, Negative or Neutral. This method is suitable to classify large sized text. This hybridization has not been dealt in the literature. Large sized positive, negative and neutral text have been generated from existing review comments of products and plots of movies. This method will be highly useful for classifying documents like review comments on research papers from different researchers, political analysis on a subject or police verification on any news for sentiment polarity finding and many more.

In this article, we present a detailed analysis of the dependence of hot-carrier (HC) induced damage on the device design parameters in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) gate-all-around (GAA) nanowire (NW) n-field-effect transistors (FETs). Particularly, the HC reliability of NWs at extremely small (5 nm) to large (40 nm) widths is assessed for devices with different gate lengths. A substantial improvement in device reliability is observed at smaller NW widths, which could be due to the quantization effects and reduced effective stress voltages due to the increase in source/drain resistance. The difference in prestress device parameters, such as threshold voltage and source/drain resistance, is shown to affect the HC degradation (HCD) by altering the actual stress voltages applied to the device. Further, the impact of self-heating on the HCD mechanism is studied for devices with different fin density and gates per active region. Consequently, an empirical model is extracted using the measurement results where the empirical prefactors accurately capture the degradation in deeply scaled GAA-NWFETs.

To establish novel and effective treatment combinations for chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) preclinically, we hypothesized that supplementation of CMML cells with the human oncogene Meningioma 1 (MN1) promotes expansion and serial transplantability in mice, while maintaining the functional dependencies of these cells on their original genetic profile. Using lentiviral expression of MN1 for oncogenic supplementation and transplanting transduced primary mononuclear CMML cells into immunocompromised mice, we established three serially transplantable CMML-PDX models with disease-related gene mutations that recapitulate the disease in vivo. Ectopic MN1 expression was confirmed to enhance the proliferation of CMML cells, which otherwise did not engraft upon secondary transplantation. Furthermore, MN1-supplemented CMML cells were serially transplantable into recipient mice up to 5 generations. This robust engraftment enabled an in vivo RNA interference screening targeting CMML-related mutated genes including NRAS, confirming that their functional relevance is preserved in the presence of MN1. The novel combination treatment with azacitidine and the MEK-inhibitor trametinib additively inhibited ERK-phosphorylation and thus depleted the signal from mutated NRAS. The combination treatment significantly prolonged survival of CMML mice compared to single-agent treatment. Thus, we identified the combination of azacitidine and trametinib as an effective treatment in NRAS-mutated CMML and propose its clinical development.

In this work, we have performed numerical simulations of normally-off AlGaN/GaN recessed Metal–Insulator-Semiconductor or MIS-HEMTs. A double-gate double-channel device design is proposed and analy...

Vertically stacked junctionless accumulation mode (JLAM) nanowire field effect transistors (NWFETs) outperform inversion-mode (IM) NWFETs below 10-nm technology nodes, but the vertical stacking of nanowires (NWs) has a constraint of position dependent drain current. This paper encompasses: 1) extensive investigation of the impact of series resistance on IM, JL mode, and JLAM NWFET architectures; 2) a proposed approach to mitigate the series resistance; and 3) linearity assessment of stacked JLAM-NWFET for radio frequency (RF) applications. We have suggested that by decreasing the channel doping in the bottom NW with respect to the top NW in a stack, the current can be significantly improved along with the reduction in series resistance. This improves the overall uniformity of drain current in each NW for stacked JLAM-NWFET. The linearity performance of the device is assessed in terms of following figure of merits (FOMs): IIP3, 1-dB compression point, and higher order derivative of transconductance ${g}_{m\textsf {2}}$ and ${g}_{m\textsf {3}}$ . These FOMs are evaluated through numerical simulations using Sentaurus Technology Computer-Aided Design to confirm the robustness of the device against intermodulation distortion making it suitable for low power radio frequency integrated circuit design applications. The proposed solution allows higher drive current, improved linearity, and thus lower distortion in stacked JLAM-NWFET.

Nanowire field-effect transistors (NWFETs) have emerged as promising candidates for realization of advanced CMOS technology nodes. Due to small nanowire dimensions, NWFETs are vulnerable to the impact of process-induced random local variations, such as the line edge roughness (LER) and random dopant fluctuation (RDF). NWFETs have three different device modes, namely, the inversion mode (IM), the accumulation mode (AM), and the junctionless (JL) mode. In this paper, a 3-D quasi-atomistic LER model is used for the analysis of LER-induced mismatch in JL, IM, and AM NWFETs. We have also compared the impact of 3-D LER with that of 2-D LER. In addition, another emerging simulation methodology known as statistical impedance field method is utilized to analyze the impact of RDF on the three flavors of NWFETs. We show that JL NWFETs have much higher mismatch due to both LER and RDF than their IM and AM NWFET counterparts with otherwise identical device structure.

Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) is increasingly recognized as an important cause of exudative maculopathy in Asians as against Wet age-related macular degeneration in Caucasians. A panel of retinal experts methodically evaluated pertinent updated literature on PCV with thorough PubMed/MEDLINE search. Based on this, the panel agreed upon and proposed the current consensus recommendations in the diagnosis (clinical and imaging), management and follow-up schedule of PCV. Diagnosis of PCV should be based on the gold standard indocyanine green angiography which demonstrates early nodular hyperfluorescence signifying the polyp with additional features such as abnormal vascular network (AVN). Optical coherence tomography is an excellent adjuvant for diagnosing PCV, monitoring disease activity, and decision-making regarding the treatment. Current treatment modalities for PCV include photodynamic therapy, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents, and thermal laser. Choice of specific treatment modality and prognosis depends on multiple factors such as the location and size of PCV lesion, presence or absence of polyp with residual AVN, amount of submacular hemorrhage, presence or absence of leakage on fundus fluorescein angiography, visual acuity, and so on. Current recommendations would be invaluable for the treating physician in diagnosing PCV and in formulating the best possible individualized treatment strategy for optimal outcomes in PCV management.

The natural instinct of human beings is very complex. The understanding of this instinct requires a clear dimensional analysis of the knowledge of discourse. The computer systems are now trained to understand how things work in real-world domain for intelligent analysis. This effort although very progressive has a limitation. There is an intelligence gap which makes human one step above the machine. Fuzzy logic can be used to make a machine understand this intelligence gap in a better way. Fuzzy logic is the science which makes a computer understand and think the way humans do. The aim of this study is two folds: first, to understand fuzzy logic, a computational Intelligence technique, for effective decision making and second, to illustrate through real world examples the existence of this intelligence gap using well known natural language processing applications like Google Search Engine, Google Translator and MIT Start. To the best of our knowledge, there is no work available in the literature which exemplifies this intelligence gap in such a simple manner. The examples are chosen carefully to illustrate and demonstrate the applications of fuzzy logic in natural language processing environment for every reader.

An analytical model of parasitic capacitance in inserted-oxide FinFETs (iFinFETs) is proposed. A comparative study on the parasitic capacitance of contemporary multigate devices conforming to 7-nm technology node targets is presented. The proposed model is validated against 3-D Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) simulations. Dependence of the iFinFET parasitic capacitance on device design parameters, such as the inserted-oxide thickness ( ${T}_{\textsf {iox}}$ ) and inserted-oxide recess ( ${T}_{\textsf {rec}}$ ), is shown using the proposed model and TCAD simulations.

Renal transplantation is the treatment of choice for children with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) since it decreases morbidity and mortality and improves quality of life. Potent immunosuppressive medications have significantly improved the short and medium-term outcomes while long-term outcomes continue to remain a challenge. This article reviews the current practices involved in the care of pediatric renal transplant recipients and challenges faced by them. Here, we provide a brief overview of various aspects of care for pediatric renal transplant recipients that include indications and contraindications, immunologic workup, pre-transplant evaluation, currently used immunosuppressive therapies, long-term complications and graft survival.

Precedence of microbial colorants can be seen in almost all the industrial sectors viz. food, textile, paper, agriculture, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics. These colorants are gaining popularity due to their salient advantages over synthetic and natural dyes. This study deals with the optimization and extraction of such colorants from Penicillium minioluteum for the purpose of dyeing different protein fibers. Penicillium minioluteum was cultured under different growth conditions to optimize the extracellular color production. The extracellular colorant grown under optimized fermentation conditions (medium-sabouraud; pH-5.6; temperature-15 °C; time-20 days; incubation-static) in 3000 ml haffkine flask showed maximum color or highest optical density of 1.014 at λ max=490 nm. Later on, this colorant was extracted using nbutanol. The remaining mycelial mat obtained after filtration was extracted using different chemical and mechanical procedures to get the intracellular colorant. Highest O.D of 0.897 was recorded at λ max=490 nm when desiccated powdered mycelial mat was extracted with methanol. Dyed silk and leather with the extracellular colorant showed color strength (K/S) as 3.88 and 3.81, respectively, whereas silk and leather dyed with the intracellular colorant showed K/S as 0.56 and 0.55, respectively. The color strength of extracellular dyed samples was found to be three times higher as compared to the samples dyed with the intracellular aqueous colorant of the same optical density. After dyeing, two different shades were obtained viz. deep red with the extracellular colorant and beige with the intracellular colorant on mulberry silk and wet blue goat nappa skin leather. Fastness towards rubbing was found to be good for both the samples. Wash fastness was excellent on silk. Fastness towards light was poor for both silk and leather. Furthermore, the color yield of the extracellular colorant (0.62 %) was found to be approximately five times more than the color yield of the intracellular colorant (0.14 %).

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of MI varnish and Clinpro XT varnish in reducing dentinal hypersensitivity. Materials and Methods: Patients with cervical dentinal hypersensitivity were selected for the study. The teeth to be tested were isolated. Then, a blast of air and ice cold water was applied on the tooth surface, and the score was measured by visual analog scale. The patients were randomly assigned to one of the treatment groups (Group 1: MI varnish; Group 2; Clinpro XT varnish). The manufacturer's instructions were followed. The sensitivity scores were recorded immediately and after 1 week of therapy. Statistical Analysis: Mann–Whitney U-test and Wilcoxon-matched pairs test were used for the analysis. Results and Conclusion: Although both varnishes were shown to reduce the dentinal hypersensitivity in patients, according to statistics, MI Varnish was a better agent to reduce dentinal hypersensitivity than Clinpro XT varnish.

The impact of hot-carrier stress on the device performance parameters such as ON-current, threshold voltage and transconductance has been studied extensively in the literature. However, limited work highlighting the impact on OFF-state performance is available. The ever increasing need for device scaling has resulted in severe implications of HCD on stress-induced drain leakage current as well. Therefore, in this work we have investigated through the experiments, the impact of DC stress on Gate-Induced-Drain-Leakage (GIDL) current in 45nm n-channel SOI MOSFETs. The total leakage current in the accumulation region under hot-carrier stress is dominated by GIDL current, which strongly correlates with interface state generation as well as bulk-oxide trapping. At different gate and drain stress-bias combinations, we notice reduction in GIDL current, which may be indicative of increased hole trapping in the bulk of the gate dielectric. This work is intended towards an exclusive investigation of hot-carrier stress induced GIDL degradation mechanisms and compares the trends for different HC energy modes. Based on different energy modes of hot-carrier degradation, we propose presence of two competing mechanisms; negatively charged interface states that cause increase in GIDL current and hole injection into gate dielectric bulk defects that reduces the GIDL current.