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Context: At present, commonly encountered infections like urinary tract infections (UTIs) are becoming more and more difficult to treat. UTIs caused by extended‑spectrum β‑lactamase (ESBL) organisms tend to lead to uncertain outcomes and prolong hospitalization as these organisms are multidrug resistant. Such a situation has forced clinicians to reconsider the use of old antibiotics like fosfomycin. Aims: To determine fosfomycin susceptibility among ESBL‑producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates causing UTI in a tertiary care center in Western India. Settings and Design: This is a cross‑sectional study done in the Department of Microbiology between July 2021 and July 2022. Methods and Material: Urine samples from all outpatients and inpatients with suspected UTI which were received in the microbiology laboratory were inoculated in appropriate culture media. Pure growth of bacteria with a significant colony count was identified and antibiotic susceptibility testing was done as per standard guidelines. Statistical Analysis Used: The collected data were entered in a Microsoft Excel sheet and analyzed. Results: A total of 437 urine samples were collected from which 39 isolates of ESBL E. coli and 10 isolates of ESBL Klebsiella pneumoniae were obtained. All the E. coli isolates were sensitive to fosfomycin, while two of the Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were resistant to fosfomycin. Conclusions: Older antibiotics like fosfomycin and nitrofurantoin attain high concentrations in the urinary tract, have a minimal impact on gastrointestinal flora, and do not develop resistance as compared to many other antibiotics. Therefore, fosfomycin should be preferred for the treatment of uncomplicated UTIs caused by resistant strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dual-band printed monopole antenna backed with an electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) array for LTE, WLAN, Wi-MAX, and ISM band applications. The antenna is comprised of a T-shaped monopole, 50 Ω microstrip feed line, and a rectangular-shaped partial ground plane. The printed monopole antenna is supported by a 6 × 6 array of EBG unit cells, with each unit cell composed of square and circular rings, resulting in a wide impedance bandwidth and improved gain. The EBG-backed printed monopole antenna with partial ground plane offers an impedance bandwidth of 57.8% (1.6–2.9 GHz) and a maximum radiation efficiency of 95.4% with a peak gain of 6.9 dB in the first band, and an impedance bandwidth of 53.24% (3.39–5.85 GHz) and a maximum radiation efficiency of 95.2% with a peak gain of 8.7 dB in the second band. The proposed monopole antenna design is miniaturised, has less design complexity, and does not require vias for EBG realisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new generalised boost integrated multilevel inverter (MLI) with reduced components. The proposed MLI is developed by using a modified boost integrated switched capacitor unit, which provides four-level output from each cell. The operation of the proposed MLI for symmetrical 17-level operation with sinusoidal pulse width modulation & nearest level control and asymmetrical 31-level operation with NLC is explained and validated experimentally. The experimental results of static and dynamic load conditions are analysed and discussed in detail. In addition, the proposed topology is compared with recent boost MLI topologies in terms of component count, device stress, efficiency, capacitor size and cost. From the comparative study, it is evident that the proposed MLI provides features such as reduced component count, capacitors size, overall cost and improved voltage gain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background To investigate the efficacy of "dapagliflozin" in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus when combined with insulin &/or other OHAs Methods At this investigation, 130 subjetcs with uncontrolled T-2 DM combined with various OHAs &/or insulin were studied at the department of medicine. Pre-made questionnaires were used to record specifics regarding each patient's family history, medical history, clinical examination, & course of therapy. In this study, dapagliflozin was administered as an adjuvant medication to all patients who have received standard treatment for their diabetes. After three months of Dapagliflozin medication, differences in HbA1c & FBS levels were assessed. Results At baseline, the study subjects' mean HbA1C was 8.31%, mean FBS was 184.7 mg/dl, & mean PPBS was 279.25 mg/dl. These were the diabetic values. Following the intervention, the study participants' mean HbA1C was 7.05%, mean FBS was 131.73 mg/dl, & mean PPBS was 204.98 mg/dl. These were the diabetic parameters. Therefore, both FBS & PPBS significantly decreased. Conclusion In ordinary clinical practice, this research offers compelling real-world proof supporting the untimely use of "dapagliflozin" in Indian subjects with type 2 diabetes to improve glucose control & gain additional benefits including weight loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The yield levels in mung bean reached a plateau, which emphasizes breeding for varieties with improved productivity. The basic requirements of any breeding include the understanding of different genetic parameters of various yield related traits along with the knowledge with regards to interrelationships and cause and effect of those relations among the quantitative traits. Methods: In the present investigation, sixty germplasm lines were evaluated using augmented randomized complete block design in respect of eleven quantitative traits for three years i.e., during kharif seasons of 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 to understand the genetic architecture of different genetic parameters along with associations and their cause and effects of different traits on grain yield. Result: The pooled analysis revealed significant variability for majority of traits. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed in case of pods per plant, clusters per plant, plant height, test weight, seeds per pod, pods per cluster and grain yield indicating probable operation of additive gene action in inheritance of these traits. Clusters per plant and pods per plant which registered high GCV, high heritability and high genetic advance as percent of mean. The association studies revealed significant associations of pods per plant, clusters per plant, pods per cluster, branches per plant, days to maturity, pod length with grain yield per plant at both phenotypic and genotypic levels in desirable direction. Further, it was found that all these six traits which had significant association with yield also established significant magnitude of direct effects in desirable direction which contributed to the significant associations hence, can be considered simultaneously during selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The infrastructure of the Internet of Things (IoT) is made up of wireless communication and sensing devices that are highly vulnerable. The authentication of the participating nodes, the confidentiality of the information transferred through an insecure channel, and access control are the major issues to be resolved in the IoT infrastructure. The security protocols used in the IoT are based on integer factorization (IF) and discrete logarithm problems (DLP), which have been proven vulnerable to quantum attacks. This paper proposes a model for a quantum-secure node-to-node authentication protocol for the Internet-of-Things (IoT) infrastructure. The protocol is modeled, and its correctness is proved formally based on the hardness of the inhomogeneous short integer solution (ISIS) problem on lattices. The security of the protocol model is verified against known attacks on the IoT infrastructure. We considered the well-known three-party protocol model to analyze the performance of the proposed model. It is analyzed for a 100-bit security level with specified security parameters. The average computation cost is computed for the number of hash functions(h(.)) and polynomial multiplication (PM) operations. The proposed model, required 2 h (.) + 3 PM for the IoT node, 1 h (.) + 2 PM for the Gateway device, and in total 3 h (.) + 5 PM operations are needed. We also compare our protocol model to similar protocols and demonstrate that it is both computationally efficient and quantum-safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silk-based biomaterials have gained significant importance making them a promising choice for the future of medical technology due to their versatility and biocompatibility. They can be fabricated and tailored through various processing methods such as electrospinning, freeze-drying, and 3D printing, to achieve specific properties and structures namely sponges, hydrogels, films, and scaffolds that can be utilized for different biomedical applications. Biocompatibility, a unique property of silk-based biomaterials, has been demonstrated through both in vivo and in vitro studies and to date many studies have reported the successful use of these silk-based biomaterials in different fields of medicine. In this review, we have elaborately discussed different types of silk, their structural composition, and biophysical properties. Also, the current review focuses on highlighting various biomedical applications of engineered and fabricated silk-based biomaterials which aid in the treatment of certain infections and diseases related to skin, eyes, teeth, bone, heart, nerves, and liver. Furthermore, we have consolidated the advancements of silk-based biomaterials in the different fields of biotechnology such as sensors, food coating and packaging, textiles, drug delivery, and cosmetics. However, the research in this field continues to expand and more significant observations must be generated with feasible results for their reliable use in different biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Etoricoxib (ETO) is a selective cyclooxygenase‐2 inhibitor, used as a nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drug. In this study, a detailed investigation was conducted on the degradation behavior of ETO under acidic, basic, neutral, photolytic, oxidative, and thermal degradation conditions as per the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guideline Q1A (R2). A gradient "ultra‐performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)" method was developed for separating the degradation products formed under various degradation conditions along with process‐related impurities. Acquity BEH phenyl column was used for the separation of analytes and 0.1% formic acid in water and 0.05% formic acid in acetonitrile:methanol (8:2 %v/v) were used as mobile phase‐A and mobile phase‐B. A major degradant namely, N‐oxide impurity was observed in oxidative degradation along with two minor degradants where N‐oxide was confirmed based on LC‐mass spectrometry (LC‐MS) studies. Further, the major degradant was enriched and isolated using preparative HPLC and the conformation of the N‐oxide impurity was established using nuclear magnetic resonance techniques including two‐dimensional studies and high‐resolution MS. In addition, the method for related substances by UPLC has been validated by considering a major degradant, namely N‐oxide along with process‐related impurities as per the ICH guidelines validation parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's cybersphere, cryptography plays a vital role in various fields. Image encryption is an integral part for securing information because of its vast application areas such as military (defense), multimedia, healthcare and so forth. In this article, an image encryption algorithm for both grayscale and color image is proposed based on Tangential Delay‐Ellipse Reflecting Curve System (TD‐ERCS) chaotic map system and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) coding. Chaotic map is used to scramble the pixel positions; to achieve confusion and for creation of mask image, and DNA coding is used for changing the pixel values; to achieve diffusion. Upon experimental analysis, proposed work achieved significantly high mean square error and low peak signal to noise ratio, almost zero correlation, high number of pixel change rate and unified averaged changed intensity values, and resistance to noise and data loss attacks. In addition, the decryption is possible without loss in quality of image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Glioblastoma is the most prevalent intracranial tumor in adults, and simultaneously the most aggressive. Surgical resection constitutes the initial step in the therapeutic approach, and is also highly significant, as studies have demonstrated that overall survival is markedly influenced by the extent of resection or residual tumor volume. Over the past few decades, various techniques for preoperative planning and intraoperative functional monitoring have been introduced to enhance the extent of resection, particularly in the case of functionally eloquent tumors. In this study, we conducted a monocentric investigation into the impact of various intraoperative surgical techniques within the realm of neurophysiological monitoring and mapping, introduced sequentially, on the overall survival of glioblastoma patients. In our cohort of 631 patients, each technique described did not exhibit a significant influence on overall survival. BACKGROUND: The resection of brain tumors can be critical concerning localization, but is a key point in treating gliomas. Intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM), awake craniotomy, and mapping procedures have been incorporated over the years. Using these intraoperative techniques, the resection of eloquent-area tumors without increasing postoperative morbidity became possible. This study aims to analyze short-term and particularly long-term outcomes in patients diagnosed with high-grade glioma, who underwent surgical resection under various technical intraoperative settings over 14 years. METHODS: A total of 1010 patients with high-grade glioma that underwent resection between 2004 and 2018 under different monitoring or mapping procedures were screened; 631 were considered eligible for further analyses. We analyzed the type of surgery (resection vs. biopsy) and type of IONM or mapping procedures that were performed. Furthermore, the impact on short-term (The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, NIHSS; Karnofsky Performance Scale, KPS) and long-term (progression-free survival, PFS; overall survival, OS) outcomes was analyzed. Additionally, the localization, extent of resection (EOR), residual tumor volume (RTV), IDH status, and adjuvant therapy were approached. RESULTS: In 481 patients, surgery, and in 150, biopsies were performed. The number of biopsies decreased significantly with the incorporation of awake surgeries with bipolar stimulation, IONM, and/or monopolar mapping (p < 0.001). PFS and OS were not significantly influenced by any intraoperative technical setting. EOR and RTV achieved under different operative techniques showed no statistical significance (p = 0.404 EOR, p = 0.186 RTV). CONCLUSION: Based on the present analysis using data from 14 years and more than 600 patients, we observed that through the implementation of various monitoring and mapping techniques, a significant decrease in biopsies and an increase in the resection of eloquent tumors was achieved. With that, the operability of eloquent tumors without a negative influence on neurological outcomes is suggested by our data. However, a statistical effect of monitoring and mapping procedures on long-term outcomes such as PFS and OS could not be shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reversible oxidation of methionine plays a crucial role in redox regulation of proteins. Methionine oxidation in proteins causes major structural modifications that can destabilize and abrogate their function. The highly conserved methionine sulfoxide reductases protect proteins from oxidative damage by reducing their oxidized methionines, thus restoring their stability and function. Deletion or mutation in conserved methionine sulfoxide reductases leads to aging and several human neurological disorders and also reduces yeast growth on nonfermentable carbon sources. Despite their importance in human health, limited information about their physiological substrates in humans and yeast is available. For the first time, we show that Mxr2 interacts in vivo with two core proteins of the cytoplasm to vacuole targeting (Cvt) autophagy pathway, Atg19, and Ape1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Deletion of MXR2 induces instability and early turnover of immature Ape1 and Atg19 proteins and reduces the leucine aminopeptidase activity of Ape1 without affecting the maturation process of Ape1. Additonally, Mxr2 interacts with the immature Ape1, dependent on Met17 present within the propeptide of Ape1 as a single substitution mutation of Met17 to Leu abolishes this interaction. Importantly, Ape1 M17L mutant protein resists oxidative stress-induced degradation in WT and mxr2Δ cells. By identifying Atg19 and Ape1 as cytosolic substrates of Mxr2, our study maps the hitherto unexplored connection between Mxr2 and the Cvt autophagy pathway and sheds light on Mxr2-dependent oxidative regulation of the Cvt pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ni1−xEuxFe2O4 (x =.02–.08) (NEF) nanoparticles are prepared using the low‐temperature hydrothermal method. The X‐ray diffraction patterns evidenced the cubic structure of NEF having the increasing trend of lattice constants from.8971 to.8984 nm as a function of Eu‐content. The microstructure reveals the asymmetrical spheres like nanosized grains and particles. The particle size seemed to be increasing from 67.3 to 103.7 nm with x. The magneto‐dielectric and magneto‐loss natures are studied as a function of frequency and composition at the varying magnetic field of.0–1.5 T. The hysteresis nature of NEF is observed from magnetization versus (M–H) curves. The results ensured that the x =.08 content provided the highest magnetization of 89.03 emu/g. The mass loss (Δm) and transition temperatures are determined using TG–DSC curves. The endothermic and exothermic temperatures are clearly noticed for x =.02–.08. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature evidence describes various treatment protocols that have been employed for the effectiveness in improving survival and addressing associated symptoms of cracked teeth. This systematic review investigates the survivability of endodontically treated cracked teeth and associated assessments, focusing on various treatment protocols. The PRISMA guidelines were utilised for guiding the article selection framework of this review. A comprehensive search of relevant literature was conducted in May 2023 across various databases, and studies meeting the inclusion criteria were selected. Data extraction, guided by a standardized form, captured crucial details, including study characteristics, treatment protocols, and treatment outcomes, enhancing the consistency and accuracy of information collection. Data extraction and synthesis was done by two reviewers independently. The Newcastle Ottawa tool was used to measure the methodological quality of the study. Six observational studies were eventually included. Mandibular molars are particularly prone to developing cracks, with research indicating a heightened susceptibility to this dental issue. Studies reveal that endodontically treated cracked teeth boast robust overall survival rates ranging from 75.8% to 100%. The risk of bias assessment, utilizing the Newcastle Ottawa scale, indicated a moderate risk across studies, highlighting the necessity for careful interpretation of findings. Endodontically treated cracked teeth show marked success in survival, with the incorporation of crowns post-endodontic treatment significantly enhancing longevity and resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst the unprecedented 2019 coronavirus outbreak and the substantial loss of lives due to the scarcity of information about the virus and lack of viable drugs, understanding the impact of the nCoV Main Protease (Mpro) on the endocrine system has emerged as a critical topic to pursue. This study explores the potential interactions between four key hormones (cortisol, cortisone, estradiol, and estrone) and the Mpro of nCoV using various in‐silico methodologies. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations scrutinized the electron density delocalization of these hormones. Through molecular docking, the molecular‐level binding of Mpro of nCoV with these hormones was studied, revealing cortisol as the hormone exhibiting the most promising binding affinity (−100.05 kcal/mol). Furthermore, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, emulating human body conditions at distinct temperatures, were employed to study the implications of these interactions. The study analysed the various trajectories such as root mean square deviation (RMSD), root mean square fluctuations (RMSF), radius of gyration (Rg), and H‐bond trajectories to understand the potential impact on biological systems. The findings demonstrate the binding potential of the Mpro of nCoV with these hormones, raising plausible concerns regarding consequential physiological changes within the human body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistically, the cool loop's footpoints are diagnosed using Si  iv resonance lines observations provided by Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The intensity and full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the loop's footpoints in β–γ active regions (ARs) are higher than the corresponding parameters of footpoints in β ARs. However, the Doppler velocity of footpoints in both ARs are almost similar to each other. The intensities of footpoints from β–γ AR is found to be around nine times that of β AR when both ARs are observed nearly at the same time. The same intensity difference reduces nearly to half (four times) when considering all ARs observed over 9 yr. Hence, the instrument degradation affects comparative intensity analysis. We find that Doppler velocity and FWHM are well correlated while peak intensity is neither correlated with Doppler velocity nor FWHM. The loop's footpoints in β–γ ARs have around four times more complex Si  iv spectral profiles than that of β ARs. The intensity ratios (Si  iv 1393.78 Å/1402.77 Å) of the significant locations of footpoints differ, marginally, (i.e. either less than 1.9 or greater than 2.10) from the theoretical ratio of 2, i.e. 52 per cent (55 per cent) locations in β (β–γ) ARs significantly deviate from 2. Hence, we say that more than half of the footpoint locations are either affected by the opacity or resonance scattering. We conclude that the nature and attributes of the footpoints of the cool loops in β–γ ARs are significantly different from those in β ARs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the age of data science, voice data can be treated as one of the crucial assets used for strengthening biometrics technologies and biomedical applications. However, voice biometrics is still at emergence state facing voice variability, cross‐linguistic variations, and voice spoofing challenges. These long‐standing issues are proposed to be solved by deploying an organic, flexible, and printed piezoelectric polymeric interface exhibiting several unique features such as strong directionality, stability over a large operating temperature range (30–90 ˚C), broad frequency (6 kHz), ultra sensitivity (5.77 V Pa−1) and high signal‐to‐noise ratio (38–55 dB). By analyzing speech processing parameters acquired by the voice sensor, an individual voiceprint is established, which is further utilized to train a neural network model for deploying artificial intelligence (AI)‐driven voice biometrics, resulting in a remarkable accuracy of >96% for population identification and speaker recognition and >93% for healthcare assessment. Featuring a versatile printing fabrication process, innovative voiceprint approach, and a robust neural network, the programmable polymeric acoustic interface proposes a promising complementary tool to the existing biometrics technologies and plays a vital role in healthcare monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current review describes different annulation strategies reported with electrophilic benzannulated heterocycles for accessing heteroacenes. For the past two decades, the chemistry of electrophilic benzannulated heterocycles was extensively investigated, and several dipolar cycloadditions, metal and organo-catalyzed transformations were introduced for the generation of fused heterocycles. In this review, we have collected all the reports where the annulation of electrophilic benzannulated heterocycles results in a fully aromatic system, viz. heteroacenes with tri-, tetra-, and pentacyclic rings. We reviewed every paper on the synthesis of fused heterocycles that was accessible and categorized the review into several parts based on the electrophilic benzannulated heterocycle used in the heteroacene synthesis such as electrophilic indole, electrophilic benzothiophene, and so forth. The generality and mechanistic postulates of each methodology are highlighted. In addition, we have also tried to feature the advantages or shortcomings of each method and have mentioned the possible applications of these methodologies for accessing heteroacenes for material applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although innovation from analytics is surging in the manufacturing sector, the understanding of the data-driven innovation (DDI) process remains a challenge. Drawing on a systematic literature review, thematic analysis and qualitative interview findings, this study presents a seven-step process to understand DDI in the context of the UK manufacturing sector. The findings discuss the significance of critical seven-step in DDI, ranging from conceptualisation to commercialisation of innovative data products. The results reveal that the steps in DDI are sequential, but they are all interlinked. The proposed seven-step DDI process with solid evidence from the UK manufacturing and research implications based on dynamic capability theory, institutional theory and TOE framework establish the building blocks for future studies and industry practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on rare earth elements (REEs) of river sediments from Kerala, India indicate that the average total REE (SREE) of clay and silt-sized fractions is much higher than in Post-Archaean average Australian Shale (PAAS). Peak high SREE for the clay fraction is found in the rivers of central Kerala and, for the silt fraction, it is in south and central Kerala. SREE shows a moderate to strong correlation with Mn and P and, no correlation with Al, Fe and Ti in both size fractions. SREE also shows no correlation with heavy metals in the clay fraction but a strong correlation in silt fraction. PAASnormalized REE shows MREE-enrichment in almost all the samples. Further, LREE-enriched and HREEdepleted REE patterns are characteristic of sediments from south and central Kerala, and HREE-enriched or flat REE patterns are characteristic of sediments from north Kerala. Weak positive or weak negative Ce anomalies are characteristic of the sediments. The Eu anomaly is negative in a few silt fractions from south Kerala and positive in all other sediments. Sm/Nd ratios are high in the clay fraction and decrease with increasing SREE for the sediments of central Kerala. REE enrichment and REE patterns are related to the felsic component and heavy mineral content in the sediments of south Kerala, adsorbed REE associated with the weathering products of laterites in the sediments of central Kerala, and the dominance of mafic component in the sediments of north Kerala. The river sediments of central Kerala may serve as a viable REE deposit because of their high REE content, inexpensive mining, easy recovery and extraction of REE. Only 21 out of 41 rivers of Kerala were analysed in this study. Detailed exploration in other rivers may expand and confirm the potential REE deposits and their economic viability. This REE deposit is different from the placer sand deposits on the beaches of south Kerala. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preparing highly active and stable bifunctional electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reactions (HER/OER) in alkaline conditions is essential to reducing energy losses in the water-alkali industry but challenging undertaking. A simple room-temperature boronization approach is projected to fabricate boronated CuCo 2 O 4 /NiO nanoarrays for bifunctional catalytic activities. Herein, a modest hydrothermal process is applied to cultivate heterostructure CuCo 2 O 4 /NiO nanoarrays by spanning ternary metal (Cu–Co–Ni) oxides followed by a boronization strategy on a self-supporting nickel foam substrate. The outcome of the experiment revealed that ultra-surface optimization with boron permits accelerated electron transfer and multiplies the access of surface coordinative unsaturated active sites. As a result, B–CuCo 2 O 4 /NiO nanoarrays supported on nickel foam (NF) require fewer overpotentials of 52 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction and 294 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction to achieve a current density of 20 mA cm−2. Surprisingly, employing B–CuCo 2 O 4 /NiO@NF as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting empowers an alkaline electrolyzer with a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and a cell voltage of 1.54 V. The current study could pave the groundwork for the rise of boron-induced Cu–Co–Ni oxides hetero-assemblies for electrocatalysis. [Display omitted] • Electrocatalytic HER/OER were tested on synthesized heterostructured B–CuCo 2 O 4 /NiO nanoarrays. • The improved electrode needs reduced overpotentials of 52 mV for HER and 294 mV for the OER to attain 20 mA cm−2. • Boron doping allows faster electron transfer and increase the access to surface coordinative unsaturated active sites. • Long-lasting and incredibly powerful electrocatalytic materials are produced by boronization and interface effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractSegmented grinding wheels, with active abrasive regions and passive slots, have been reported as a promising choice for controlling the grinding force via an intermittent cutting scheme. With an appropriate selection of feed and other operating variables, segmented grinding could mark its merits of improved thermal performance and grinding efficiency, typically in difficult-to-machine aerospace materials. However, the formation of a boundary layer around a rotating grinding wheel is always a barrier to effective cutting fluid delivery in the grinding zone. This article attempts to investigate the boundary layer characteristics of segmented grinding wheels, typically with a comparison of 8-segmented and 32-segmented grinding wheels with a non-porous electroplated structure and its comparison with traditional porous grinding wheel configuration. The regression model proposed in this article can predict boundary layer thickness and tangential air velocity in the grinding zone during the rotation of the wheel. A closer look at flow aspects has been covered using computational fluid flow modeling/simulation, followed by experimental assessments through particle image velocimetry and shadowgraphs. The influence of segmentation and its configuration (typically the number of segments) have been illustrated through a case study of wet grinding on Ti6Al4V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work details the development of a two-port arc-shaped Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna with enhanced isolation characteristics. The proposed dual-port MIMO provides a wide impedance bandwidth of 3.28–5.93 GHz and a maximum isolation of 27 dB between elements in the operating frequency band. A reduced ground plane is utilized to obtain the wideband characteristics for the proposed antenna. The major applications covered by the antenna include sub-6 GHz: n77/n78/n79 and WiFi-5 bands. The important MIMO parameters such as Envelope Correlation Coefficient (ECC), Mean Effective Gain (MEG), Diversity Gain (DG) and Total Active Reflection Coefficient (TARC) are presented to estimate the performance of the developed antenna in the MIMO environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The R,S‐enantiomer impurity and diastereomer impurities (S,S‐isomer and R,R‐isomer) of the solifenacin (S,R‐enantiomer) were effectively separated and quantified simultaneously utilizing normal‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography with a chiral stationary phase consisting of amylose tris (3,5‐dimethylphenylcarbamate) coated on silica‐gel (Chiralpak, AD‐H). The enantiomeric and stereo‐selective separation was achieved within a run time of 35 minutes using a mobile phase of 'n‐hexane, ethanol, and diethylamine' in an isocratic elution mode with a detection wavelength of 220 nm. The validation attributes assessed were accuracy (which showed excellent recoveries between 97.5% and 100.4%) and linearity (which was proven in the range of 0.081–1.275 μg.mL−1, with a linear regression of 0.999). The stress testing experiments proved that the developed methodology by the HPLC technique has stability‐indicating characteristics, as all closely eluting peak pairs were separated well with a resolution of 2.3 and without any interference. The proposed methodology was highly efficient in separating and simultaneously determining the chiral impurities (enantiomers and diastereomers) of the solifenacin in the release and stability sample analyses of drug substances and tablets in pharmaceutical formulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study has been carried out to improve the overall efficiency of a conventional flat plate solar collector (FPSC) using two different heat storage phase change materials (PCMs). Two grades of paraffin wax—Paraffin‐P116 (PCM‐1) and Paraffin‐5838 (PCM‐2) as PCM are selected for the analysis based on their high heat fusion rate, low thermal conductivity, and suitable phase transition temperature. The present code has been validated with experimental results and it showed a maximum error of 6.43% in predicting the water outlet temperature. Absorber plate temperature, useful heat transfer rate, water outlet temperature and efficiencies are estimated to improve the performance of FPSC with and without PCM for various flow rates (15 lph and 30 lph) with two different weights of PCM (9 kg and 14 kg) for three different locations in India, [Chennai (13.0827° N, 80.2707° E), Bengaluru (12.9716° N, 77.5946° E), and Delhi (28.7041° N, 77.1025° E)]. The maximum increment in the efficiency of FPSC with the use of PCM‐1 is 19.59% and with the use of PCM‐2 is 16.53%. Using 14 kg of PCM‐1 with the conventional FPSC at water inlet flow rate of 15 lph increases the overall thermal efficiency up to 19.59% compared with conventional FPSC. The maximum increase in the percentage of efficiency with PCM‐1 from conventional FPSC for different cases of 15 lph‐09 kg is 16.34%, 15 lph‐14 kg is 19.59%, 30 lph‐09 kg is 14.57% and 30 lph‐14 kg is 18.45%. From the present study, it can be concluded that the overall efficiency of FPSC is increased with the use of 14 kg of PCM‐1 with conventional FPSC at the inlet water flow rate of 15 lph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present digital era, vast amounts of data are generated by millions of Internet users in the form of unstructured text documents. The clustering and organizing of text documents play a crucial role in the applications of data analysis and market research. In this research manuscript, a new modified version of metaheuristic-based optimization technique is proposed with k-means for clustering the text documents. In the initial phase, the input data are acquired from the three-benchmark databases such as Reuters-21578, 20-Newsgroup and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)-sport. Further, the data denoising is accomplished by using the common techniques: stemming, lemmatization, tokenization, and stop word removal. In addition to this, the denoised data are transformed into feature vectors by utilizing Term Frequency (TF)-Inverse Document Frequency (IDF) technique. The computed feature vectors are given to the Modified Particle Swarm Optimization (MPSO) with k-means to group the closely related text documents by minimizing the similarity in different clusters. The experimental examination showed that the proposed MPSO with k-means model achieved accuracy of 0.85, 0.85 and 0.86 on the Reuters-21578, 20-Newsgroup and BBC-sport databases, which are superior to the comparative models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The convergence of healthcare and deep learning has engendered transformative solutions for myriad medical challenges. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, innovative strategies are imperative to mitigate the propagation of misinformation and myths, which can exacerbate the crisis. This study embarks on a pioneering research quest, harnessing advanced deep learning methodologies, including the novel Vision Transformer (ViT) model and state-of-the-art (SOTA) models, to predict and quell the dissemination of rumors within the COVID-19 milieu. By synergizing the capabilities of Vision Transformers (ViTs) with cutting-edge SOTA models, the proposed approach strives to elevate the precision of information disseminated through traditional and digital media platforms, thereby cultivating informed decision-making and public awareness. Central to this inquiry is the development of a bespoke vision transformer architecture, adeptly tailored to scrutinize CT images associated with COVID-19 cases. This model adeptly captures intricate patterns, anomalies, and features within the images, facilitating precise virus detection. Extending beyond conventional methodologies, the model adroitly harnesses the scalability and hierarchical learning intrinsic to deep learning frameworks. It delves into spatial relationships and finer intricacies within CT scans. An extensive dataset of COVID-19-related CT images, encompassing diverse instances, stages, and severities, is meticulously curated to fully exploit the innovative potential of the vision transformer model. Thorough training, validation, and testing refine the model's predictive prowess. Techniques like data augmentation and transfer learning bolster generalization and adaptability for real-world scenarios. The efficacy of this research is gauged through comprehensive assessments, encompassing sensitivity, specificity, and prediction accuracy. Comparative analyses against existing methods underscore the superior performance of the novel model, highlighting its transformative influence on predicting and mitigating rumor propagation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enhanced interpretability sheds light on the decision-making process, augmenting the model's utility within real-world decision support systems. By harnessing the transformative capabilities of vision transformers and synergizing them with advanced SOTA models, this study offers a robust solution to counter the dissemination of misinformation during the pandemic. The model's proficiency in discerning intricate patterns in COVID-19-related CT scans signifies a pivotal leap toward combating the infodemic. This endeavor culminates in more precise public health communication and judicious decision-making, ushering in a new era of leveraging cutting-edge deep learning for societal well-being amidst the challenges posed by the COVID-19 era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance lead-free Barium Zirconium Titanate (BZT) based ceramics have emerged as a potential candidate for applications in energy storage, catalysis for electro chemical energy conversion and energy harvesting devices as presented in this work. In the present study hybrid microwave sintered BZT are studied for dielectric, ferroelectric and phase transition properties. BZT ceramic exhibits tetragonal structure as confirmed by the Retvield refinement studies. XPS studies confirms the elemental composition of BZT and presence of Zr. Polarization versus electric field hysteresis loops confirms the ferroelectric behaviour of BZT ceramic. Encouragingly, the BZT showed a moderate energy storage efficiency of 30.7 % and relatively good electro chemical energy conversion (HER). Excellent catalytic activity observed for BZT electrode in acid medium with low Tafel slope 77 mV dec-1. Furthermore, electrospun nanofibers made of PVDF-HFP and BZT are used to make flexible piezoelectric nano generators (PENGs). FTIR studies show that the 16 wt% BZT composite ink exhibits a higher electroactive beta phase. The optimized open-circuit voltage and short circuit current of the flexible PENG exhibits 7Vpp and 750 nA under an applied force of 3N. Thus, flexible and self-powered BZT PENGs are alternative source of energy due to its reliability, affordability and environmental-friendly nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CSF (Cerebro Spinal Fluid) rhinorrhoea occurs when the fluid leaks from subarachnoid space into the nasal cavity. The study aims to find out the prevalence and demographic distribution of CSF leak and to describe the site of the CSF leak along with the management. We did a prospective study on 180 patients admitted with head injury in neurosurgery department, along with the patients who came to ENT department with unilateral nasal discharge during the time period from March 2017 to March 2021. A total of 36 cases of CSF leak were obtained during the time period. The etiology in 18 cases was head injury & the other 18 cases were either due to infectious or nontraumatic causes. In our study, 26(72.22%) patients were aged less than 50 years. Incidence was more among males compared to females. The most common etiology was head injury - 18(50%) patients followed by the spontaneous leak- 16 (44.44%) patients with the most common site as the cribriform plate. Endoscopic repair using a hadad flap was done in most of the patients. Trauma due to head injury is the most common etiology in CSF rhinorrhea with more number of patients aged less than 50 years. Most of the leaks can be repaired successfully with the use of endoscope with excellent illumination & localizing the exact site of the leak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective management of microgrids, which incorporate DERs such as generators and batteries, is crucial for ensuring stability and efficiency in the power system. By evenly distributing the load across modules' capabilities, frequencies, and voltages, a network of micropower systems can be created, capable of transitioning between various states such as islanding, leaving, and reentering the grid. Synchronizing controllers play a vital role in regulating these transitional phases and maintaining system stability, and we propose a Deep Learning approach for power regulation and optimization. By monitoring voltages, phases, and frequencies on both sides of the fixed switch, these controllers employ various control strategies to stabilize the system. Effective control mechanisms are necessary for achieving a sustainable energy economy as renewable energy sources become increasingly prevalent. Our analysis emphasizes the importance of such control methods in developing a reliable and efficient micropower system network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on modelling of Heat sink for thermoelectric Generator which requires a heat sink to achieve high electrical output efficiency. Thermoelectricity refers to a phenomenon in which a temperature gradient causes a flux of the electric charge. This work deals with models of different geometries, based on heatsinks designed to improve thermoelectric generator performance. The thermo-electric generator efficiency increased with the temperature gradient ΔT with the cooling junction. Here comparing of the conventional and analytical heat sinks, from analytical heat sinks, we can choose the beat efficient heat sink for thermoelectric generator high performance. The heat sink, whose device is to be improved by the geometry of the Heat sink models designed with different shapes of Fins, provides this cooling junction. After analyzing the various heat sink models, with different geometrical Heat sink fins, cylindrical-shaped fins's-height at 10 mm temperature cooled to 6.7℃ and pressure loss to 1.8Pa from high temperature were found to be most effective for thermoelectric generator efficiency. The improvement in temperature and pressure loss was achieved using the optimized cylindrical heat sink with 10mm fins height design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Propofol is the drug of choice for procedural sedation. The addition of α2 agonist dexmedetomidine may improve the safety profile of the procedure by providing stable hemodynamics, better sedation quality, and decreasing the side effects of each drug during elective endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreaticography (ERCP). Materials and Methods: Eighty patients aged between 18 and 60 years were distributed randomly into two groups. The dexmedetomidine + propofol group (group DP) received an injection of dexmedetomidine at the dose of 1 mcg/kg in 100 mLsaline, and the propofol group (group P) received plain 100 mL normal saline over 10 min. Subsequently, both groups received a bolus dose of injection propofol 1 mg/kg as sedation, and a modified observer's assessment of alertness/sedation score (MOASS) score was assessed, followed by infusion at the rate of 50 mcg/kg/min during the procedure. A rescue bolus dose (20 mg) of propofol was administered when the patient showed signs of inadequate sedation or analgesia in both groups. Cardiovascular and respiratory parameters were recorded every 10 min throughout the procedure. Post-procedure modified Aldrete score was evaluated for 30 min, and the endoscopist's score was noted at the end of the procedure. Results: There was a significant difference (P = 0.001) in the additional number of rescue doses of propofol administered in group DP (3.47 ± 0.77) as compared to group P (8.78 ± 1.11). The total dose of propofol was lower in group DP (316.59 ± 43.29 mg) than in group P (443 ± 41.1 mg) with P value = 0.001. Statistically significant differences in the hemodynamic values were observed in group DP during infusion (P value < 0.05) of dexmedetomidine and throughout the procedure (P < 0.05) when compared with group P. Endoscopists graded the satisfaction score as very high (3.477 ± 0.77) in group DP. Conclusion: The addition of dexmedetomidine to propofol during ERCP provided better and safer sedation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Laparoscopic surgeries are routinely performed because it's minimally invasive and early recovery for patients. The preferred mode of anesthesia is general anesthesia with an endotracheal tube (ETT). The creation of the pneumoperitoneum and various positions cause cuff pressure (CP) changes. Aims and Objectives: We aim to study the CP changes and post-operative complications related to it. The secondary objective was to observe the post-operative complications such as sore throat, hoarseness of voice, and blood-streaked expectoration after extubation at 12 h, and at the time of discharge from the post-anesthesia care unit. Materials and Methods: One hundred and fifty patients undergoing elective open abdominal and laparoscopic surgeries were enrolled. Three groups (open abdominal [group A], n=50; lap head up [group B], n=50; and lap head down [group C], n=50) were compared for CP changes before and after pneumoperitoneum and position change. CP changes and post-operative complications were recorded and analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 19. Results: Mean differences in CP after intubation at 5 min were similar in all three groups. At 45 min onward, the mean CP in group C was found to be elevated and continued to increase till the end of surgery. However, at 90 min, group B also showed some increase in CP. There was a mild increase in CP in groups B and A. The mean difference between groups was found to be remarkable. During the post-operative period, there were 0.7% and 3.3% of cases with throat pain in group B and group C, and 2% of patients in group C had blood streak expectoration. Conclusion: In laparoscopic surgery, especially in a head-down position, a considerable increase in CP is associated with postoperative complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A preliminary study of the odonate fauna of Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala, southern India was carried out from August 2020 to November 2020. Ponds, streams, and swamps in the sanctuary were sampled using Visual Encounter Surveys (VES). A total of 85 species (49 dragonflies and 36 damselflies) from 11 families were recorded, out of which 14 species are endemic to the Western Ghats. Orthetrum pruinosum was found to be the most common species in the sanctuary. Indolestes pulcherrimus, an endemic species with no recent records, is being reported for the first time with photographs from the wild. The highest number of species was recorded in the ponds (56 species), followed by streams (46 species) and swamps (33 species). However, the number of endemic species was highest in the streams (8 species), followed by swamps (3 species) and ponds (2 species). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Viral keratitis is one of the leading cause of corneal blindness leading to corneal scarring and subsequent visual impairment. Improved understanding of presentation, early diagnosis and treatment, precipitating factors of viral keratitis can help in the prevention of permanent loss of visual acuity. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out on 50 patients who are clinically diagnosed with viral keratitis in department of ophthalmology at Government General Hospital, Ananthapuramu for a period of 6 months from January 2023 to June 2023. These patients were examined for visual acuity, slit-lamp examination to know the size, shape of ulcer. Flourescein staining done to know the activity of the lesion, corneal sensations were checked, and anterior chamber reaction to rule out uveitis. Then these patients were kept on antiviral treatment for 2 weeks and followed up for determining visual improvement Results Out of 50 patients, 25 (50%) patients were diagnosed with HSV keratitis, followed by 15(30%) cases of HZO keratitis, 10 cases(20%) were of adenoviral keratitis. Most common clinical presentation was epithelial keratitis (70%), followed by subepithelial keratitis(20%), stromal keratitis with ulceration(6%) and neurotrophic keratitis (4%). Fever (50%) was the most common precipitating factor followed by URTI (20%), Steroid instillation (16%), trauma (10%), spontaneous (4%). Out of 50 patients most of them had visual acuity in the range of 6/6 to 6/36 which was improved to the range of 6/6 to 6/12 after 2 weeks of antiviral treatment. Conclusion Herpes simplex keratitis is the most common viral keratitis encountered in our study and epithelial keratitis in the form of dendritic ulcer is the most common clinical presentation seen. Fever was the major precipitating factor. All these patients had significant improvement in the visual outcome following treatment for 2 weeks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To identify the genetic etiology of neonatal diabetes in an infant and to elucidate the molecular mechanism of the identified mutation underlying the pathogenesis. Methods: Genetic analysis was carried out by sequencing of known etiological genes associated with NDM. Molecular characterization was performed by constructing a identified mutation in NKX2-2 gene and functional aspects was tested using transactivation, protein expression, DNA binding, nuclear localization assays. Structural analysis was performed by modeling the NKX2-2 protein structure. Results: A novel homozygous frameshift mutation c.772delC, p.Q258SFs*59 in the NKX2-2 gene was identified in a patient with neonatal diabetes. Functional studies revealed that this mutation resulted in an elongated protein sequence, affecting DNA binding activity and transcriptional function. Structural analysis suggested alterations in the protein's tertiary structure, likely contributing to its dysfunction. Conclusion: This study presents the first report of a stop-loss mutation in the NKX2-2 gene associated with NDM. Our findings emphasize the importance of functional and structural characterization to understand the biological consequences of such mutations. This comprehensive analysis provides insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying NDM and its clinical phenotype, which may aid in better diagnosis and management of patients with similar variants in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated the immunologic response to a novel vaccine regimen that included 2 doses of NVX-CoV2373 (Novavax) followed by 1 dose of BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) monovalent booster vaccine. A durable neutralizing antibody response to Omicron BA.4/BA.5 and BA.1 variants was observed at month 6 after the booster, while immune escape was noted for the XBB.1.5 variant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates landfill leachate treatment using aluminum (Al-Al) and iron (Fe-Fe) electrodes in electrocoagulation (EC). Aluminum experiments revealed COD removal percentages of 22% (pH 7.4) and 20% (pH 6.0), while iron demonstrated higher efficiency at 32% (pH 7.4) and 30% (pH 6.0). Both processes excelled at neutral pH, with Fe-Fe EC displaying superior removal efficiency. To address electrode passivation, external aeration improved COD removal (31% to 61%) under specific conditions (3 V, pH 7.4, 60 min). The EC process established a neutralization mechanism, eliminating the need for further treatment before discharge. External aeration and polarity changes at intervals mitigated passivation, enhancing COD removal (61% to 69%). Voltage testing (1 V, 3 V, 5 V, 7 V) revealed a direct correlation, peaking at 91% efficiency with 5 V. Specific energy consumption was 2.34 kWh g−1, and sludge generation varied with voltage. The combined use of external aeration and polarity shifts resulted in 270 ml of sludge, demonstrating improved efficiency in the EC process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the sustainability of the current account deficit (CAD) and validity of the intertemporal budget constraint of India for the period of 1980 to 2019. The cointegration results show that exports and imports are not cointegrated and the current account (CA) series is not mean reverting during the study period. Therefore, the results refute the sustainability of CAD and the validity of the intertemporal budget constraint in the Indian context. Furthermore, the study also emphasised the testing of the disaggregated CA and found that while the goods account is not sustainable, the services account found to be sustainable in the long run. Our findings thus indicate the potential for aggregation bias to have an impact on the overall CA sustainability results. Therefore, policies that help in achieving self‐sufficiency on the one hand and export promotion in goods on the other may eventually contribute to CA sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iris recognition method is the most significant biometric modality for human identification. Currently, multiple deep structured architectures have been employed in biometric recognition with various features like robust generalization ability, high accuracy, and automatic learning. It is also considered as a more emerging area in biometrics along with machine learning approaches. Deep CNN is a conventional approach of image processing broadly utilized in several fields, however, it is simply influenced by slight disturbances and also includes bad anti-noise capacity in image classification. The major scope of this work is to implement adaptive deep learning-aided iris recognition. The key contribution of this paper relies on enhancing iris segmentation and iris recognition. Initially, the iris images are pre-processed, which are subjected to segmentation. The segmentation approach focuses on a Hough transform with K-Means Clustering (HT-KMC). Once the segmentation of the iris is done, the "Enhanced Faster Region-Convolutional Neural Network (E-Faster-RCNN)" is developed for the recognition purpose. The number of suitably hidden neurons of the conventional Faster-RCNN is optimized by the Adaptive-Sail Fish Optimization (ASFO) algorithm to obtain the highest efficiency. The simulation findings of the recommended approach proved that the method is effective in iris recognition by experimenting on a benchmark dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conduct numerical simulations of multiple nova eruptions in detached, widely separated symbiotic systems that include an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) companion to investigate the impact of white dwarf (WD) mass and binary separation on the evolution of the system. The accretion rate is determined using the Bondi–Hoyle–Lyttleton method, incorporating orbital momentum loss caused by factors such as gravitational radiation, magnetic braking, and drag. The WD in such a system accretes matter coming from the strong wind of an AGB companion until it finishes shedding its envelope. This occurs on an evolutionary time-scale of ≈3 × 105 yr. Throughout all simulations, we use a consistent AGB model with an initial mass of 1.0 M⊙ while varying the WD mass and binary separation, as they are the critical factors influencing nova eruption behaviour. We find that the accretion rate fluctuates between high and low rates during the evolutionary period, significantly impacted by the AGB's mass loss rate. We show that unlike novae in cataclysmic variables, the orbital period may either increase or decrease during evolution, depending on the model, while the separation consistently decreases. Furthermore, we have identified cases in which the WDs produce weak, non-ejective novae and experience mass gain. This suggests that provided the accretion efficiency can be achieved by a more massive WD and maintained for long enough, they could potentially serve as progenitors for type Ia supernovae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Two fundamental aspects of wireless communication, which make it challenging and interesting, are fading and interference. Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) techniques when utilized together effectively combat fading and interference thereby achieving the requirement of high data rate and high performance. In this paper, a 2 × 1 MIMO‐OFDM baseband model of the physical layer according to IEEE 802.16.1 standard employing 256 subcarriers capable of transmitting 192 Mbps in a 21‐MHz bandwidth frequency selective fading channel is designed. All essential blocks of the communication system like channel coding, modulation, time synchronization, frequency synchronization, channel estimation, residual carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation, and channel decoding are covered at the algorithm level. A two‐step time synchronization method is used in this work to avoid any ambiguity in frame detection. A long preamble, consisting of three short preambles, is designed to aid in time synchronization, frequency synchronization, and channel estimation. To evaluate the performance of the proposed design, simulations were carried out in MATLAB‐SIMULINK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen has been identified as a clean and renewable energy source that has a significant potential to replace fossil fuels. The effective production of hydrogen on a commercial scale, however, presents a vital obstacle in today's world. Water splitting electrolysis, which offers high energy conversion and storage capabilities, has emerged as a promising approach for achieving the efficient hydrogen production to address this issue. This experimental research focuses on the production of hydrogen-oxygen gas through the electrolysis process. HHO gas provides promising benefits in terms of better combustion and lower emissions. Therefore, it also focuses on how best HHO gas can be utilized in diesel engines to improve the performance and to reduce the emissions. HHO gas produced at 60 L per hour through electrolysis process is mixed with air in a mixing chamber. Also, Palm munja methyl ester of 10% and diesel fuel of 90% was volumetrically blended to get B10 biodiesel. Therefore, totally four test fuels (Diesel, Diesel + HHO, B10, and B10 + HHO) were tested on a single-cylinder Kirloskar water-cooled direct injection diesel engine under different engine speeds ranging from 1447 to 1550 rpm. The engine injector pressure was varied from 200, 220, and 240 bar during the experiments with an interval of 20 bar. The engine has been modified for hydrogen and oxygen inlet at the entrance manifold 6 cm away at an angle of 30°. The results shows that at 200 bar injection pressure with B10 + HHO blend exhibits better performance and released lower emissions. The performance results also show that the brake thermal efficiency was improved up to 14.16%, and the brake power was increased by 3.22%, while the brake-specific fuel consumption is reduced by 11.53%. The emission results show that CO, HC, NOx, and CO 2 emissions were reduced by 20.87%, 11.47%, 1.96%, and 5.22%, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that B10 + HHO provides better performance and the lowest emissions compared with other blends. • Hydroxyl gas HHO gas was produced by the electrolysis process. • Produced HHO gas introduced to the diesel engine. • Performed the variation of injection pressure and engine loads. • Detailed discussion on the engine performance, and emission behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the formation and accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles and plaques, which result from the aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ) induced by oxidative stress. The effectiveness of Alzheimer's disease (AD) therapeutics significantly hinges on the drug's bioavailability and its ability to penetrate neuronal cells. The current investigation was designed as a first attempt to examine bio-fabricated Lepidium sativum (LS) seed-extract-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNps) to increase bioavailability and bioefficacy for the prevention of undifferentiated SH-SY5Y neuronal cells from oxidative stress induced by H2O2 and amyloid-β peptide (Aβ,1-42). The SLNps were fabricated using LS extract as a water phase and hyaluronic acid and chia seed fatty acids as a lipid phase, then confirmed and characterized using UV, Zeta size, and SEM methods. The biological safety of synthesized LS-SLNps has been determined using MTT assay and PI staining (nuclear damage) in hMSCs. LS-SLNp-pretreated neuronal cells were induced with oxidative stress and 2 µM of beta-amyloid (Aβ,1-42) fibrils; furthermore, the neuroprotective potential of LS-SLNps was determined through the quenching of oxidative stress, enhancing mitochondrial oxidative capacity, and immunoregulatory potential. Observations found that cells treated with both H2O2 and beta-amyloid (Aβ,1-42) fibrils showed decreased neuronal cell growth, nuclear damage, and mitochondrial membrane potential due to oxidative stress. However, SH-SY5Y cells pretreated with LS-SLNps for 24 h showed an increase in cell proliferation with uniform morphology and increased mitochondrial membrane potential compared to cells pretreated with LS alone. Gene expression analysis found that LS-SLNps increased the expression of Wnt 3a and 5a, which stimulated the canonical, β-catenin, and non-canonical Camk-II expressions of nerve cell growth factors, confirming the molecular-level reversal of neurodegenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mullite's inherent qualities have made it a potential material for the application of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) for diesel engine components. Hot corrosion at 600–800 °C can cause TBC degradation, thus significantly affecting the performance of engine components and reducing their service life. This work examines the hot corrosion behaviour of atmospheric plasma-sprayed (APS) mullite coating over NiCrAlY bond coat on mild steel substrates. The coated specimen surface was covered with a mixture of Na 2 SO 4 (sodium sulphate) and V 2 O 5 (vanadium pentoxide) in the form of paste and heated in a muffle furnace at 700 °C for up to 300 h. SEM, EDS, and XRD characterisations were used to investigate the mechanism of hot corrosion. Coatings remained intact after corrosion tests; however, it had reacted with corrosive salts, particularly sodium sulphate. This was evidenced by the removal of amorphous silica, followed by the formation of nosean as a major phase. During the reaction between sodium sulphate and mullite coating, vanadium pentoxide was found to be acting as a flux and mineraliser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript describes reflectance-based vicarious calibration exercise of the Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer - Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) sensor during its second phase of observation campaigns over the Indian subcontinent. Vicarious calibration methods are one of the significant approaches that have been practiced successfully for the absolute radiometric calibration of various spaceborne and airborne sensors to ascertain its desired performance in terms of data quality and its accuracy. Calibration campaigns were performed for AVIRIS-NG sensor during its phase-2 campaign overpass at the Desalpar (25th March 2018) and Amarapur (27th March 2018) calibration sites of Gujarat, India. Results from ground-based measurements of atmospheric conditions and surface reflectance including descriptions of the test sites are summarized in this work. Based on the in-situ data and images from the AVIRIS-NG sensor, the at-sensor apparent radiances are simulated using the 6SV radiative transfer model. The comparison shows good agreement between AVIRIS-NG measured radiance and 6SV simulated apparent radiance at the two calibration sites using desert aerosol model. The gains (spectrally) derived agree to within ∼ 2 % each other. Furthermore, an analysis is performed to determine or identify systematic and random errors, and the overall uncertainty is evaluated for reflectance-based method (total uncertainty of less than 4 % spectrally). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Nowadays, future workload prediction is an important requirement in cloud data centers to maintain flexibility and scalability of resources. However, due to unexpected peaks, drops in workload, noise, and redundancy in user requests, there is a considerable variance in resource demands, making it difficult to accurately predict workloads. Therefore, a self‐attention‐based progressive generative adversarial network (SAPGAN) optimized with Giza Pyramids Construction Algorithm (GPCA)‐based workload prediction is proposed for Sustainable Cloud Data Centers (CDC). At first, redundant data in historical data obtained through CDC are filtered utilizing Markov chain random field (MCRF) co‐simulation method. These pre‐processed historical data are supplied to the SAPGAN. The SAPGAN weight parameters are optimized by GPCA. The proposed method is analyzed using 2 benchmark datasets: HTTP traces from Saskatchewan and NASA. The simulation is implemented in JAVA. The performance metrics is examined to verify the efficacy of the proposed technique. The performance of the proposed approach provides 28.70%, 11.87%, and 14.79% higher accuracy; 30.15%, 11.72%, and 18.34% lesser energy consume for the dataset of NASA; and 5.32%, 2.45%, and 5.67% higher accuracy; 12.36%, 24.24%, and 34.16% lesser energy consume for the dataset of Saskatchewan HTTP traces compared with existing methods, such as auto‐adaptive learning in a dynamic cloud environment (AADEA‐WLP‐CDC), a neural network model depending on biphase adaptive learning for anticipating cloud data center workload (BALNN‐WLP‐CDC) and multiple scale ensemble of deep learning framework for multistep‐ahead cloud workload prediction (EMD‐LSTM‐GAN‐WLP‐CDC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-cell multi-omics technology has catalyzed a transformative shift in contemporary cell biology, illuminating the nuanced relationship between genotype and phenotype. This paradigm shift hinges on the understanding that while genomic structures remain uniform across cells within an organism, the expression patterns dictate physiological traits. Leveraging high throughput sequencing, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has emerged as a powerful tool, enabling comprehensive transcriptomic analysis at unprecedented resolution. This paper navigates through a landscape of dimensionality reduction techniques essential for distilling meaningful insights from the scRNA-seq datasets. Notably, while foundational, Principal Component Analysis may fall short of capturing the intricacies of diverse cell types. In response, nonlinear techniques have garnered traction, offering a more nuanced portrayal of cellular relationships. Among these, Pairwise Controlled Manifold Approximation Projection (PaCMAP) stands out for its capacity to preserve local and global structures. We present an augmented iteration, Compactness Preservation Pairwise Controlled Manifold Approximation Projection (CP-PaCMAP), a novel advancement for scRNA-seq data visualization. Employing benchmark datasets from critical human organs, we demonstrate the superior efficacy of CP-PaCMAP in preserving compactness, offering a pivotal breakthrough for enhanced classification and clustering in scRNA-seq analysis. A comprehensive suite of metrics, including Trustworthiness, Continuity, Mathew Correlation Coefficient, and Mantel test, collectively validate the fidelity and utility of proposed and existing techniques. These metrics provide a multi-dimensional evaluation, elucidating the performance of CP-PaCMAP compared to other dimensionality reduction techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its significant applications in security, the iris recognition process has been considered as the most active research area over the last few decades. In general, the iris recognition framework has been crucially utilized for various security applications because it includes a set of features as well as does not alter its character according to the time. In recent times, emerging deep learning techniques have attained huge success, particularly in the field of the iris recognition framework model. Moreover, in considering the field of iris recognition, there is no possibility for the remarkable capability of the deep learning model as well as to attain superior performance. To handle the issues in the conventional model of iris recognition, a novel heuristic-aided deep learning framework has been implemented for recognizing the iris system. Initially, the required source iris images are gathered from the data sources. It is then followed by the pre-processing stage, where the pre-processed image is obtained. Consequently, the image segmentation process is carried out by Adaptive Deeplabv3+layers, in which the parameters are optimized using the Modified Weighted Flow Direction Algorithm (MWFDA). Finally, the iris recognition is accomplished by hybrid Hybridization of Multiscale Dilated-Assisted Learning (MDAL) that will be composed of both a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and a Residual Network (ResNet). To achieve optimal recognition results, the parameters in CNN and ResNet are tuned optimally by using MWFDA. The experimental results are estimated with the help of distinct measures. Contrary to conventional methods, the empirical results prove that the recommended model achieves the desired value to enhance the recognition performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall performance of PV-PCM integrated with rectangular straight fins is analysed by threedimensional transient numerical simulations. The influence of fin lengths, number of fins (n), and inclination (1) of the system is investigated and compared with the PV-only system, and an optimal system configuration is then identified. Finite element analysis is used to conduct the simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0. The PV front surface is subjected to a constant flux of 1000 W/m2 for 180 min, and the PCM employed is RT25HC. The results indicate that the average PV temperature tends to drop with increasing inclination and fin length, thereby enhancing the PV efficiency, with maximum improvement attained for the full fin case for a given inclination and number of fins. Compared to the PV-only system, the highest PV temperature reduction and PV efficiency enhancement are 59.65 °C and 45.1%, respectively, for the horizontal system of full-length fins with a number of fins equal to 6. The full-fin PV-PCM system with 6 fins and 45° inclination gives the highest instantaneous power output of 14.16 W. The melting rate of PCM is strongly related to the heat transfer rate inside PCM, and the lowest melting time is obtained for the 8-finned PV-PCM system with = 45°. The peak velocity magnitude for all systems with different fin lengths is also examined to analyse the extent of convection levels within PCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kenya Ministry of Health instituted movement cessation measures and limits on face-to-face meetings. We explore the ways in which female sex workers (FSWs) in Nairobi were affected by the COVID-19 control measures and the ways they coped with the hardships. Forty-seven women were randomly sampled from the Maisha Fiti study, a longitudinal study of 1003 FSWs accessing sexual reproductive health services in Nairobi for an in-depth qualitative interview 4–5 months into the pandemic. We sought to understand the effects of COVID-19 on their lives. Data were transcribed, translated, and coded inductively. The COVID-19 measures disenfranchised FSWs reducing access to healthcare, decreasing income and increasing sexual, physical, and financial abuse by clients and law enforcement. Due to the customer-facing nature of their work, sex workers were hit hard by the COVID-19 restrictions. FSWs experienced poor mental health and strained interpersonal relationships. To cope they skipped meals, reduced alcohol use and smoking, started small businesses to supplement sex work or relocated to their rural homes. Interventions that ensure continuity of access to health services, prevent exploitation, and ensure the social and economic protection of FSWs during times of economic strain are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]