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In the era of web 2.0, online forums, blogs and Twitter are becoming primary sources for sharing views, opinions and comments about different topics. Classifying these views, opinions and comments is known as sentiment analysis which is an active research area. Sentiment analysis has vast applications in different fields of life, such as marketing, e-commerce and business. Under the umbrella of sentiment analysis, sentiment quantification that deals with estimating relative frequency of class of interest is being investigated by researchers nowadays. In sentiment quantification, exploring effect of new features and comparison of diverse types of classifiers to assess their effectiveness needs further investigation. In this paper, we explore diverse feature sets and classifiers for sentiment quantification. In addition, empirical performance analysis of conventional machine learning techniques, ensemble-based methods and state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms on basis of features set, is performed. The computed results show that the diverse features sets affect the performance of classifiers in sentiment quantification. The results also confirm that the deep learning techniques perform better than the conventional machine learning algorithms.

Objective: To determine the effect of variable traction forces on discogenic low back pain. Method: The experimental study was conducted at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Combined Military Hospital, Okara, Pakistan, from July to December 2018, and comprised patients of low back pain who were randomised into group 1 treated with high-force lumbar traction, hot pack and lumbar stabilisation exercises, and group 2 treated with low-force lumbar traction, hot pack and lumbar stabilisation exercises. There were a 3 sessions per week for 3 weeks for a total of 9 sessions. Modified Oswestry disability index and visual analogue scale were used to measure outcomes. Data was analysed using SPSS 20. Result: Of the 30 patients, there were 15(50%) in each of the two groups. There were 18(60%) females and 12(40%) males, with an overall mean age of 30+5.5 years. There was significant improvement in pain in both groups (p

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major human pathogen that requires a better understanding of its interaction with host cells. There is a close association of HCV life cycle with host lipid metabolism. Lipid droplets (LDs) have been found to be crucial organelles that support HCV replication and virion assembly. In addition to their role in replication, LDs also have protein-mediated antiviral properties that are activated during HCV infection. Studies have shown that HCV replicates well in cholesterol and sphingolipid-rich membranes, but the ways in which HCV alters host cell lipid dynamics are not yet known. In this study, we performed a kinetic study to check the enrichment of LDs at different time points of HCV infection. Based on the LD enrichment results, we selected early and later time points of HCV infection for global lipidomic study. Early infection represents the window period for HCV sensing and host immune response while later infection represents the establishment of viral RNA replication, virion assembly, and egress. We identified the dynamic profile of lipid species at early and later time points of HCV infection by global lipidomic study using mass spectrometry. At early HCV infection, phosphatidylinositol phospholipids (PIPs), lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), triacyl glycerols (TAG), phosphatidylcholine (PC), and trihexosylceramides (Hex3Cer) were observed to be enriched. Similarly, free fatty acids (FFA), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), N-acylphosphatidylethanolamines (NAPE), and tri acylglycerols were enriched at later time points of HCV infection. Lipids enriched at early time of infection may have role in HCV sensing, viral attachment, and immune response as LPA and PIPs are important for immune response and viral attachment, respectively. Moreover, lipid species observed at later infection may contribute to HCV replication and virion assembly as PE, FFA, and triacylglycerols are known for the similar function. In conclusion, we identified lipid species that exhibited dynamic profile across early and later time points of HCV infection compared to mock cells, which could be therapeutically relevant in the design of more specific and effective anti-viral therapies.

The Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ) is a member of the nuclear receptor family of transcription factors. In addition to its role in lipid and glucose metabolisms, PPARγ has possible roles in tumor suppression. One of the most common variations in PPARγ is the Pro12Ala polymorphism. It is the change of proline amino acid to alanine amino acid by the conversion of cytosin (C) to guanine (G) at 34th nucleotide of the 12th codon PPARγ gene. Several recent studies have shown that Pro12Ala polymorphism may be associated with many diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and some types of cancer. Moreover, Pro12Ala polimorphism has been shown to affect PPARγ mRNA expression in the context of obesity. However, there have been no studies investigating the relationship Pro12Ala polymorphism and PPARγ mRNA expression in cancer. In this study, Pro12Ala polymorphism in PPARγ gene was investigated in cancer and normal cell lines via using restriction fragment length polymorphism and Sanger Sequencing. Depending on the Pro12Ala status, the effect of the polymorphism on PPARγ mRNA expression was investigated via using Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction. In conclusion; amongst 13 cell lines that were screened, heterozygous Pro12Ala polymorphism was detected only in AGS and Caki-1 cancer cell lines. PPARγ mRNA expression in these cell lines was found to be lower than PPARγ mRNA expression in cell lines without Pro12Ala polymorphism such as MCF10A, SK-BR-3, MDA-MB-468. Taken together, Pro12Ala polymorphism may modulate the mRNA expression level of PPARγ. The role of this modulation in cancer should further be investigated. [Med-Science 2019; 8(4.000): 841-6]

The study’s objective is to explore the predictors of organic food purchase intention in a nascent organic market in one of the developing countries in South Asia. Further, the study also attempts to establish the mediating role of trust in organic food purchase intention. The quantitative data is collected from two cities of Pakistan through a structured questionnaire. A total of 325 responses are collected, out of which 312 responses are considered for further analysis. Structural equation modeling technique is used to test the hypothesis. “Personal attributes” is found to be a more significant predictor of organic food purchase intention than other attributes. Trust in organic food partially mediate personal attributes and product attributes with organic food purchase intention. The study contributes to understanding the primary attributes responsible for the purchase of organic food in a nascent organic market and establishes trust. This study also provides guidelines for the policymakers to shift their focus to organic farming, which will bring considerable benefits to health and the environment and a profitable business because consumer’s intentions coincide.

Aims and Objectives: To determine the effect of Blood Flow Restriction with strengthening exercises on Knee Osteoarthritis patients. Subjects and Method: This case-control study was conducted at Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Combined Military Hospital Okara after signing ethical approval letter by ethical committee from June 2018 to December 2018 with 30 Knee Osteoarthritis participants selected by non-purposive consecutive sampling among which 15 participants were assigned to group A (strengthening exercises with blood flow restriction) and 15 to group B (strengthening exercises without blood flow restriction) using lottery method. 16 sessions were arranged for both groups with 4 sessions per week for 4 weeks with 5 minutes warm up on a stationary bike. Visual Analogue Scale and Kujala Scoring Questionnaire were applied for outcome measures. Results were analyzed by paired-t test and independent-t test using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 20. Result: Most of participants were female i.e. 66.7% with 70% had BMI value > 25 kg/m2. Significant improvement in pain on Visual Analogue Scale (p-value 0.00 for group A and 0.01 for group B) and disability on Kujala Scoring Questionnaire (p-value 0.00 for both groups) was found, but for Muscle Girth, group A showed significant improvement with p-value 0.01 as compared to group B with p-value 0.33. However, inter-group analysis showed no significant difference between outcome measures. Conclusion: Strengthening exercises reduce pain and disability. However, addition of blood flow restriction also improves muscle size and strength. Keywords: Knee Osteoarthritis, Strengthening Programs, Vascular Occlusion, Tourniquet, Continuous...

This research was aimed at knowing the implementation of Collaborative Learning promotes students’ speaking skill at the second semester English Education Department Muhammadiyah University of Makassar. This research applied a quasi-experimental design; the non-equivalent control group design. The sample was taken by using purposive random sampling technique. The total number of samples was 38 students of two classes consisting of class II G was experimental class and II C was the control class. There was speaking test as the instrument. The statistical result analysis of SPSS 25 showed that in accuracy sig 2-tailed = 0.000 is less than 0.05 and in fluency sig 2-tailed = 0.000 is less than 0.05. This result rejects the first null hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference between the mean score of pretests and posttest of the students’ speaking skills. This research concluded that the use of Collaborative Learning in teaching speaking promote the students’ speaking skills in terms of accuracy and fluency.

Abstract The tropical armyworm, Spodoptera litura Fabricius (Noctuidae; Lepidoptera), is among the most harmful pests causing economic loss in the quality and production of a variety of crops, particularly cotton. Entomopathogens play an important role in insect pest management. The nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) isolate of S. litura (V-SpltNPV) was isolated from infected larvae in a cotton crop, and viral occlusion bodies were confirmed, using an inverted microscope. The pathogenicity of V-SpltNPV against 2nd, 3rd, and 4th larval instars of S. litura was evaluated at various concentrations (1 × 104 to 1 × 108 OBs/ml). Mortality rate was high (37.65–96.82%) in early instar larvae against tested concentrations. LC50 and LT50 values increased with increasing larval age. There was 689,865 times increase in LC50 value (1.35 × 102 OBs/ml) for 2nd instar larvae to LC50 value (6.90 × 105 OBs/ml) for 4th instar larvae. LT50 values enhanced from 4.99 days for 2nd instar larvae to 7.49 days for 4th instar larvae, due to a decrease in efficacy of NPVs with the increasing age of larvae. In a greenhouse experiment, a combined application of spinosad with V-SpltNPV (1 × 108 OBs/ml) caused (100%) mortality of 2nd instar larvae. A single application of V-SpltNPV (1 × 108 OBs/ml) resulted to mean mortality (52.63%) of tested larvae. The native isolate V-SpltNPV seems to have a potential to be used in integrated manner with other IPM tactics to significantly reduce the use of toxic chemical pesticides.

The purpose of this study was to predict psychological resilience based on social support and attachment style mediated by self-efficacy and meaning in life. The methodology of research was structural equation modeling. From among undergraduate female students of Isfahan University, 300 subjects were selected by multi-stage cluster random sampling method. Then they were asked to complete the Connor and Davidson's Resilience Scale, Zimet et al.’s Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Hazan and Shaver’s Attachment Style Questionnaire, Schwarzer and Jerusalem's Self-efficacy Questionnaire, and Steger et al’s Meaning in Life Questionnaire. The results indicated that psychological resilience is predictable directly by social support, secure attachment style, self-efficacy and meaning in life, and it is also predicted by social support indirectly through self-efficacy and meaning in life. In addition, the results showed psychological resilience is indirectly predicted by secure attachment style through self-efficacy but it is not predictable through meaning in life.

The purpose of the present study is to identify the actors of formulating a public policy affecting the implementation of administrative health policies in the executive agencies of Khuzestan province in order to present a model. In this study, a public policy formulation questionnaire with 51 questions and Cronbach's alpha of 0.815 and a questionnaire of administrative system health with Cronbach's alpha of 0.790 with 74 questions were used. The statistical population consisted of 15 experts in the formulation stage of policy actors and 10377 executives in the policy implementation section who were selected by simple stratified sampling of 382 individuals. Spss 22 and Amos 22 software were used for data analysis. Findings showed that public policy formulation actors included thirteen actors divided into formal and informal actors and administrative system health policies consisted of fourteen policies. The results also showed that there is a significant relationship between the actors of public policy formulation and implementation of administrative policies. Finally, the optimal model was presented.

Trans radial artery access (TRA) is considered a relatively safe approach for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), by virtue of its fewer access related peripheral vascular complications. Central arterial complications are rare. We are presenting a case report wherein thyrocervical trunk (TT), a branch of first part of right subclavian artery (RSA) was perforated during intervention through right radial approach, resulting in deep neck hematoma, compressing the trachea and surrounding structure. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of TT perforation by a hydrophilic wire during a staged cardiac catheterization after primary PCI through right radial approach. Knowledge of such a rare complication, its early recognition, and endovascular treatment might spare a patient with recent acute coronary syndrome on double antiplatelet medications, from surgical intervention and fatal outcome. Keywords: Right radial artery access, Thyrocervical trunk perforation, Tracheal compression

Background and Aim: This study was conducted due to the increasing importance of ethics in providing nursing care and also due to the role of nurseschr('39') moral intelligence in quality of care; meanwhile, the role of authentic leadership (AL) in enhancing the moral intelligence of nurses working in Kerman University of Medical Sciences hospitals was investigated. Materials and Methods: This is a mixed methods research. In this study, after defining nurses’ moral intelligence model qualitatively, the relationship between nurses’ moral intelligence and authentic leadership (AL) was tested quantitatively. In order to study authentic leadership, the AL standard questionnaire of Walumbwa & et al (2008) with a reliability of 0.917 was used; moreover, a researcher-made questionnaire was used for investigating moral intelligence with overall validity (81%) and reliability (0.961). The statistical population of the study consisted of 400 hospital nurses selected by stratified sampling method. SPSS20 and Amos24 software, and statistical methods of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis as well as structural equation modeling were used to analyze the research hypotheses. Results: The results showed a positive and significant relationship between AL and moral intelligence of nurses (0.575). In addition, all components of AL, i. e., self-awareness (0.322), internalized moral perspective (0.360), relational transparency (0.408), balanced processing (0.394) showed a positive and significant relationship with moral intelligence. Conclusion: Applying suitable strategies for enhancing moral intelligence of nurses and improving the quality of nursing care can have a positive effect on the quality of services. The AL in the hospitalschr('39') nursing system is one of the most suitable ways for developing the moral intelligence of nurses.

In this research, the valuation criteria based on knowledge management maturity level in executing systems of Khuzestan province In order to provide a native model, it has been studied. Accordingly, one of the two questionnaires on evaluation criteria was used with 51 questions with Cronbach's alpha of 0.94 and the other about the level of knowledge management maturity with 0. 93 with alpha of 0.89 with 98 questions. Content validity and structure were used to assess the validity of the questionnaires. The statistical population of the study consisted of employees of executive organizations in Khuzestan province, using 389 people as the statistical sample using the Cochran formula. SPSS 22 and Amos 22 software were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the valuation criteria included 17 components, the technical component had the highest average rating (11.09), and the maintenance component with the lowest average rating (6.79) among other components in the statistical population Research has been done. The level of maturity of knowledge management consists of 13 components, which in general, it can be said that this variable is more than satisfactory. The results also showed that there is a meaningful relationship between the criteria of valuation and the level of maturity of knowledge management.

The interferon-induced host cell protein shiftless (SFL) was reported to inhibit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection by blocking the –1 programmed ribosomal frameshifting (–1PRF) required for expression of the Gag-Pol polyprotein. However, it is not clear how SFL inhibits –1PRF. To address this question, we focused on a 36 amino acids comprising region (termed required for antiviral activity (RAA)) that is essential for suppression of –1PRF and HIV infection and is missing from SFL short (SFLS), a splice variant of SFL with unknown function. Here, we confirm that SFL, but not SFLS, inhibits HIV –1PRF and show that inhibition is cell-type-independent. Mutagenic and biochemical analyses demonstrated that the RAA region is required for SFL self-interactions and confirmed that it is necessary for ribosome association and binding to the HIV RNA. Analysis of SFL mutants with six consecutive amino-acids-comprising deletions in the RAA region suggests effects on binding to the HIV RNA, complete inhibition of –1PRF, inhibition of Gag-Pol expression, and antiviral activity. In contrast, these amino acids did not affect SFL expression and were partially dispensable for SFL self-interactions and binding to the ribosome. Collectively, our results support the notion that SFL binds to the ribosome and the HIV RNA in order to block –1PRF and HIV infection, and suggest that the multimerization of SFL may be functionally important.

We re-processed spectroscopic echelle data on 1999 S4 (LINIER), a catastrophically disintegrated comet, and 2001 Q4 (NEAT) obtained at not quite favorable circumstances. Photometric conditions at the observations were good but measurements of the spectra for the first one were performed at a large zenith distance and the second - with a relatively low spectral resolution. Nevertheless, we succeeded in detection and identification of fluorescent emission lines of 9 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and simpler molecules in the spectra of both comets. Our results are in accordance with those of other authors and substantiate present notions about origin of the comets.

Objective: To examine the effects of delayed admission to rehabilitation on functional outcomes in post stroke patients. Study Design: Observational study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of Combined Military Hospital Kohat, from Sep 2016 to Sep 2017. Material and Methods: A total of 55 patients with age ranging from 20-80 years who were diagnosed with first ever stroke and reported within 150 days of the onset of stroke to rehabilitation setup were selected through non-probability purposive sampling. The patients were divided into 2 groups as early (group-A ≤30 days) and delayed admission group (group-B=30-150 days) based on the length of time from stroke onset to admission to inpatient rehabilitation facility. Reasons for delay admission were identified and noted. Functional independence measure (FIM) score was used to assess functional status of the patient at admission. Patients in both groups underwent identical eight weeks of regular rehabilitation program with therapy sessions 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. Functional independence measure score was noted again at eight week of indoor rehabilitation. Results: Total 52 patients completed the study with 27 (51.9%) male and 25 (48.1%) female. Lack of awareness of Rehabilitation was the most common patient related factor found in 11 (34.4%) while Lack of care giver support was most common external factor reported in 6 (18.7%). The patients with early admission to inpatient rehabilitation facility had a better functional independent measurement scores gain than the patients with delayed admission to inpatient rehabilitation facility (40.4 ± 11.4 vs. 11.9 ± 8.4, p=0.01). However, FIM scores at admission in both groups were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Delayed admission to inpatient rehabilitation facility after stroke event caused poorer functional outcomes in stroke patients.

A high proportion of breast tumors are hormone-dependent, implying that endogenous estrogens play a critical role in cancer cell proliferation. One of the most effective strategies for the treatment of breast cancer is reduction of estrogens level by inhibiting aromatase enzyme which is responsible for catalyzing the rate-limiting step in estrogen biosynthesis. A series of azole derivatives as potential aromatase inhibitors were subjected to two different drug design methodologies, QSAR and molecular docking simulation. MLR, FA-MLR, PCR and GA-PLS were employed to make connections between the structural parameters and aromatase inhibitory activity. GA-PLS represented superior results and a model with a high statistical quality (R2 = 0.86 and Q2 = 0.83) for predicting the inhibitory activity. The results can provide useful information for the development of more potent aromatase inhibitors.

Liver fibrosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide due to chronic liver damage and leading to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure. To date, there is no effective and specific therapy for patients with hepatic fibrosis. As a result of their various advantages such as biocompatibility, imaging contrast ability, improved tissue penetration, and superparamagnetic properties, magnetic nanoparticles have a great potential for diagnosis and therapy in various liver diseases including fibrosis. In this review, we focus on the molecular mechanisms and important factors for hepatic fibrosis and on potential magnetic nanoparticles-based therapeutics. New strategies for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis are also discussed, with a summary of the challenges and perspectives in the translational application of magnetic nanoparticles from bench to bedside.

This study examines the impact of behavioral factors over investment decision making and their performance. The primary data set collected through survey questionnaires from active investors of Pakistan stock exchange was used for the analysis. Furthermore the study analyzed the role of financial literacy as a moderator variable between behavioral factors and investment decision making as the financial literacy help investors to avoid behavioral biases and make the rational decision that increase their wealth. Collected data are analyzed by using AMOS software to test the hypotheses. The analysis shows that behavioral factors including Heuristic, Prospect, Market and Herding have found highest strong impact on investment decision making of investors. The findings of the study reveal that Prospect and herding have positive impact on investment performance whereas heuristic and market variable has negative impact on investment performance. The results indicate that financial literacy enhanced the relationship between behavioral factors (heuristic, prospect, market) and investment decision making of investors and lessened the relationship with herding variable and investment decision making. The analysis of this study is expected to contribute significantly in the development of the field of behavioral finance. Keywords: Behavioral factors, Investment decisions, Investment performance, Pakistan Stock Exchange. JEL Classifications: G, G01 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.10112

Abstrak Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menghasilkan media pembelajaran yaitu multimedia interaktif berbasis web pada mata kuliah Ilmu Ukur Tanah pada Program Studi Pendidikan Teknik Bangunan. Multimedia interaktif yang dikembangkan adalah model tutorial dengan fungsi sebagai pelengkap dalam pembelajaran. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah Research and Development yang mengacu pada model desain pembelajaran Lee and Owens. Model Lee dan Owens terdiri dari lima tahap, meliputi penilaian/analisis, desain, pengembangan, implementasi, dan evaluasi. Teknik analisis data dalam penelitian ini menggunakan kuesioner untuk mengumpulkan data dari analisis kebutuhan, validasi ahli media dan materi, serta evaluasi produk oleh pengguna. Hasil penelitian pengembangan ini berupa lima multimedia interaktif, multimedia interaktif divalidasi oleh dua ahli media dan dua ahli materi. Berdasarkan hasil validasi ahli media diperoleh nilai sebesar 81% dikategorikan sangat layak, dan berdasarkan hasil validasi ahli materi diperoleh skor sebesar 84,41%. Hasil penilaian pengguna mendapatkan nilai 4,79 termasuk dalam kategori sangat baik. Berdasarkan nilai-nilai tersebut multimedia interaktif ini sudah dapat digunakan dalam mata kuliah Ilmu Ukur Tanah. Kata kunci: Multimedia Interaktif, Pengukuran Tanah Abstract This study aims to produce learning media, namely interactive multimedia with web-based, in the Soil Measuring Science course in Building Engineering Education Study Program. Interactive multimedia developed is a tutorial model with a function as a complement in learning. The method used in this research is research and development that refers to the Lee and Owens instructional design model. The Lee and Owen model consists of five stages, including assessment / analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Data analysis techniques in this study used a questionnaire (questionnaire) to collect data from needs analysis, validation of media and material experts, and product evaluation by users. The results of this development research in the form of five interactive multimedia, interactive multimedia is validated by two media experts and two material experts. Based on the results of the validation by media experts, a value of 81% is categorized as very feasible, and based on the results of the validation by the material experts, a score of 84.41% is obtained. The user assessment results get a value of 4.79 included in the excellent category. Based on these values this media can already be used in the Soil Measuring Science course. Keywords: Interactive Multimedia, Soil Measuring

Background and objectives: The pandemic of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has severely impacted human society with a massive death toll worldwide. There is an urgent need for early and reliable screening of COVID-19 patients to provide better and timely patient care and to combat the spread of the disease. In this context, recent studies have reported some key advantages of using routine blood tests for initial screening of COVID-19 patients. In this article, first we present a review of the emerging techniques for COVID-19 diagnosis using routine laboratory and/or clinical data. Then, we propose ERLX which is an ensemble learning model for COVID-19 diagnosis from routine blood tests. Method: The proposed model uses three well-known diverse classifiers, extra trees, random forest and logistic regression, which have different architectures and learning characteristics at the first level, and then combines their predictions by using a second level extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) classifier to achieve a better performance. For data preparation, the proposed methodology employs a KNNImputer algorithm to handle null values in the dataset, isolation forest (iForest) to remove outlier data, and a synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) to balance data distribution. For model interpretability, features importance are reported by using the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) technique. Results: The proposed model was trained and evaluated by using a publicly available data set from Albert Einstein Hospital in Brazil, which consisted of 5644 data samples with 559 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The ensemble model achieved outstanding performance with an overall accuracy of 99.88% [95% CI: 99.6–100], AUC of 99.38% [95% CI: 97.5–100], a sensitivity of 98.72% [95% CI: 94.6–100] and a specificity of 99.99% [95% CI: 99.99–100]. Discussion: The proposed model revealed better performance when compared against existing state-of-the-art studies (Banerjee et al., 2020; de Freitas Barbosa et al., 2020; de Moraes Batista et al., 2020; Soares et al., 2020) [3,22,56,71] for the same set of features employed by them. As compared to the best performing Bayes Net model (de Freitas Barbosa et al., 2020) [22] average accuracy of 95.159%, ERLX achieved an average accuracy of 99.94%. In comparison with AUC of 85% reported by the SVM model (de Moraes Batista et al., 2020) [56], ERLX obtained AUC of 99.77% in addition to improvements in sensitivity, and specificity. As compared with ER-COV model (Soares et al., 2020) [71] average sensitivity of 70.25% and specificity of 85.98%, ERLX model achieved sensitivity of 99.47% and specificity of 99.99%. The ERLX model obtained a considerably higher score as compared with ANN model (Banerjee et al., 2020) [3] in all performance metrics. Therefore, the model presented is robust and can be deployed for reliable early and rapid screening of COVID-19 patients.

Abstract Conventional wound dressings are difficult to apply to large total body surface area (TBSA) wounds, as they typically are prefabricated, require a layer of adhesive coating for fixation, and need frequent replacement for entrapped exudate. Large TBSA wounds as well as orthopedic trauma and low‐resource surgery also have a high risk of infection. In this report, a sprayable and intrinsically adhesive wound dressing loaded with antimicrobial silver is investigated that provides personalized fabrication with minimal patient contact. The dressing is composed of adhesive and biodegradable poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PLGA/PEG) blend fibers with or without silver salt (AgNO3). in vitro studies demonstrate that the PLGA/PEG/Ag dressing has antimicrobial properties and low cytotoxicity, with antimicrobial silver controllably released over 7–14 days. In a porcine partial‐thickness wound model, the wounds treated with both antimicrobial and nonantimicrobial PLGA/PEG dressings heal at rates similar to those of the clinical, thin film polyurethane wound dressing, with similar scarring. However, PLGA/PEG adds a number of features beneficial for wound healing: greater exudate absorption, integration into the wound, a 25% reduction in dressing changes, and tissue regeneration with greater vascularization. There is also modest improvement in epidermis thickness compared to the control wound dressing.

In open-pit mines, the blast operation should be effectively optimized, leading to minimization of production costs through the application of specific technical specifications. However, there is inadequate information in the literature to link blasting to comminution stages. To this end, the effective parameters for the performance of mining unit operations were scrutinized in this work. In this regard, the rock fragmentation distribution (RFD) caused by blasting was considered the main determinative criterion for providing the optimum conditions for the blasting operation at Sarcheshmeh copper mine. By carrying out a statistical analysis of the experimental data, operational parameters affecting the blasting were optimized. The relationship between parameters was obtained using the technique of regression and in accordance with the evaluation criterion under which correlation coefficient (R2) was used to determine the best fitting model. A high correlation coefficient of the loading cycle of the machine’s bucket (Cl) with the independent variables showed that the C1 was more affected by the RFD, as well as the dimensions of the blast block. Because of the wide variations in the nature and structure of rock mass in different mines, in each case, sufficient data should be collected, and these relationships should be analyzed statistically for each individual mine showing wide ranges of fractures and cracks. Therefore, due to these wide variations of ore characteristics, with the current data it seems very difficult to quickly find a significant operational relationship between downstream processes such as crushing efficiency and blasting operations. Therefore, the focus of this research was limited to the effective parameters for blast efficiency. According to the analysis of the data obtained from 20 blasts under different operating conditions, the diameter of the hole was 241.3 mm (such as blast number 20), the ratio of length to width of the explosive block was about 6 (average blasts with high fragmentation efficiency), and the best index of mining operations was 0.22 (such as blast number 20).

Several factors that significantly affect the reproduction of powder post beetles were food, moisture content, temperature, humidity, light, air/aeration, and the presence of natural enemies. This paper reviews the environment of the components that affect the reproduction of the powder post beetles Sitophilus zeamasi Motsch. Carbohydrates (sucrose and fructose) are the most significant energy source for the reproductive system and life span. In contrast, proteins consisting of amino acids such as arginine, lysine, leucine, isoleucine, tryptophan, histidine, phenylalanine, methionine, valine, and threonine, as well as components of fat, fatty acids, and sterols, are needed by insects for their energy supply and wing growth. The development of the powder post beetle population is rapid if the moisture content of the stored material is more than 15%. Temperature is also very influential on the reproduction of powder post beetles. The optimum humidity for this pest is around 75%. The next component is light, whereas light (dark and bright conditions) affects insect behavior in choosing food and reproducing (copulation and laying eggs). Another component is oxygen, whereby oxygen levels in the air must be more than 2%. If the CO2 level in the storage room is above 40%, then the pest in all stages will perish.

In this research, the layers of the sedimentary environment of the Pabdeh formation, which have different variation amounts of phosphate minerals (Apatite), were studied. The XRF and XRD analyses were performed for determination of the minerals and the radioactive elements, REEs and compounds for 54 selected samples (with high amounts of P2O5). According to the importance of the geochemical elements relations and their interpretation, the statistical analysis methods cluster analysisand principal component analysis, (PCA) were used. According to the results of the component correlation matrix, after rotation through the direct oblimin method, and normalizing with Kaiser method, the amounts of components and the ratio between them are well illustrated and the XRF results were divided into two principal components.

The technological advancement has tremendously evolved over the last two decades with continuing changes throughout their system and communication practices. The association between the elements of communication technology and service performance, however, has yet to be explored with special focus on employee empowerment from an organizational behavior point of view. This research’s main aim is examine the impact of communication technology practices on service performance in the Information Technology (IT) sector. Therefore the mixed method research approach has been selected for the purposes of this study. 20 interviews have been conducted with experts in the field from the Iran Telecommunication Research Centre. 254 data samples were collected from IT sector employees in Iran. Data was used to test the conceptually developed model via the structural equation modeling-partial least square (SEM-PLS) approach. Based on the qualitative data, communication technology practices can be grouped into six areas including technology application, technology of equal opportunity, individual ability in technology, individual knowledge and attitudes towards technology, technological infrastructure, and security. The results show that among other factors, those variables related to technology application, individual knowledge and attitudes towards technology, organizational infrastructure for technology, and technology security have a positive impact on employees’ empowerment; whereas technology application has a reverse effect. Moreover, the present study’s results show that employee empowerment has a significant relationship to service performance in the ITsector.

Objective: To compare the intra-articular corticosteroid versus physiotherapy in the management of adhesive capsulitis in terms of mean pain score. Study Design: Randomized controlled trial. Place and Duration of Study: Outpatient department, at Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, from Jul 2013 to Jul 2015. Material and Methods: A total of 90 patients with adhesive capsulitis were enrolled as per inclusion criteria by non probability consecutive sampling. Forty five patients were assigned to group “A” and were given intra-articular injection of triamcinolone 40mg (2ml) and bupivacain 2ml into the shoulder joint. Group “B”, having forty five patients received eight session of physiotherapy on alternate day. Outcome measure included mean pain score using visual analogue scale at six week follow-up. Results: Statistically significant improvement in pain score on visual analogue scale was found in patients with group “A”, with improvement in score from 7.2 ± 0.91 at the start of the study to 5.6 ± 0.18 at six week follow-up (p

Background and objectives: Self-medication is commonly practiced throughout the world. The aim of this study was to ascertain the use prevalence and knowledge of harmful effects of self-medication among college students of health professions and non-health professions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among 1,167 students from 12 faculties of a public university and two private universities in Kuwait. Data were collected using a self-administered pretested questionnaire containing 32 questions. Results: Among the participants, 70.4% (822/1,167) used self-medication. The prevalence of self-medication was significantly higher among students of non-health professions compared with those of health professions (35.9% vs. 25.9%, p = 0.004, 95% CI, 6.28% to 13.73%, respectively). Pain killer medicines (52.9%), vitamins/minerals (13.1%), and antihistamines (9.0%) were the most commonly used non-prescription medications. Antibiotics and sleeping pills were used without a prescription in 2.9% and 2.1%, respectively. Older age, non-Kuwaiti national, and students of 5th to 7th year of study were significant predictors of self-medication. Knowledge scores of harmful effects of self-medication were about two-fold higher among females than their male counterparts. Similarly, students of higher years of study (5th to 7th year) had higher knowledge score compared with others. Conclusions: The prevalence of self-medication was alarmingly high among young adults in Kuwait. People should be informed about adverse effects of self-medication through mass and social media campaign. IMC J Med Sci 2018; 12(2): 57-68. EPub date: 19 June 2018 Address for Correspondence: Prof. Amal K. Mitra, Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Jackson State University, 350 W. Woodrow Wilson Dr., PO Box 17038, Jackson, MS 39213, E-mail: amal.k.mitra@jsums.edu