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Blockchain technology era is triggered due to current advancement in the decentralized paradigms via facilitating secure collaboration among untrusted entities consequently superseding the necessity for the trusted third parties’ existence. Notwithstanding its potential, blockchain scalability faces severe limitations such as low throughput, high fees, and confirmation time latency. Several scaling solutions have been proposed, including layer one solutions that substantially require fundamentally amending blockchain underlying infrastructure resulted in further scalability complications. Layer two solutions, specifically Lightning Network, is a successful cryptographic layer built atop of the Bitcoin blockchain that aims to alleviate these implications by deporting transaction processing outside blockchain while ensuring security and consensus inherited from blockchain without compromising its infrastructure. Payment channels form the core of the lightning network, facilitating fast and secure transactions between participants. However, the network encounters substantial obstacles associated with transaction amounts that exceed the current channel capacity, leading to payment failures and limiting its effectiveness. Payment Channel Networks (PCN) have been risen as an evolved replacement that solves payment channel’s issues, seeking to enhance transaction throughput and reduce confirmation delays by solving limited capacities shortages. This paper thoroughly examines PCN efficiency impacting factors that hinder its current adoption growth and avoiding its widespread employment. Additionally, existing solutions are reviewed and categorized based on the PCN building architecture. The research concludes by outlining potential research avenues and future directions to improve the efficiency and practicality of the Lightning Network PCN. This research contribution aids the advent of blockchain layer two technology and participates in its integration into real-world applications.

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Impacts of invasive signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus on native species and ecosystems are widely recognised, but mostly through small‐scale studies and laboratory experiments that may not always reflect impacts in nature. Recorded effects of signal crayfish on fish populations are equivocal. In this study, using the before–after/control–impact and control–impact approaches, the effects of signal crayfish invasion on native fishes, particularly benthic fishes and young‐of‐year (YoY) salmonids, and macroinvertebrate communities, were determined on several spatial and temporal scales through three correlated study elements (S1–S3), in upland streams of the River Tees, England.In S1, we sampled fish and benthic macroinvertebrates of 18 streams identically in 2011 and 2018. These streams were categorised into two groups: (1) uninvaded (without signal crayfish in both sampling years; n = 7); and (2) invaded (with signal crayfish) streams, comprising pre‐invaded (invaded before 2011; n = 8) and newly invaded (invaded between 2011 and 2018, n = 3). Despite similar habitat conditions in both years (all variables p > 0.05) fish and macroinvertebrate communities changed over time in pre‐invaded streams and by comparison to uninvaded streams. A decline in the abundance of benthic fish and YoY salmonids was observed in pre‐invaded and newly invaded streams. Complete disappearance of bullhead Cottus perifretum following signal crayfish invasion was recorded in two pre‐invaded streams.In the second study, S2, we assessed within‐stream differences in fishes and macroinvertebrates in two Tees streams by comparing sections with (invaded) and without (uninvaded) signal crayfish. Compared to uninvaded sections, taxonomic richness and abundance of fish and macroinvertebrates were significantly lower in invaded sections, and the overall communities also differed significantly.In S3, long‐term data series (since 1990) of water quality and macroinvertebrates of six Tees streams comprising those invaded by signal crayfish (n = 3) and uninvaded (n = 3) were analysed. Water quality showed little change, or an improvement, over time but significant changes in the macroinvertebrate taxonomic richness and community structure occurred following signal crayfish invasion. Long‐term changes in macroinvertebrate communities in invaded streams tended to be due to declines in more sedentary taxa such as molluscs and cased trichopterans.Widespread and long‐term ecological disruption is occurring because of signal crayfish invasion in upland streams of the Tees catchment that may lead to a complete disappearance of some benthic fish species, as well as reduced densities of YoY salmonids and a shift towards less diverse macroinvertebrate communities, dominated by more mobile, crayfish‐resistant taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Patients with penetrating abdominal trauma can be treated with invasive procedures such as laparotomy and less invasive procedures such as laparoscopy. Since the management of patients with penetrating abdominal trauma based on non-invasive methods is more important, the present study was performed to compare laparoscopic and laparotomy methods to evaluate the surgical outcomes, complications and costs of patients with penetrating abdominal trauma. METHODS: In this retrospective study, the records of all patients with penetrating abdominal trauma and stable hemodynamics referred to Kowsar Hospital in Sanandaj during one year were reviewed. Patients' information including demographic characteristics, rate of laparotomy or laparoscopy surgery, time of operation, surgical wound infection, incidence of ileus, patients' pain intensity, length of hospital stay and hospital costs were collected and reviewed based on patients' records. FINDINGS: In this study, the medical records of 40 patients were reviewed. The average pain intensity in the laparoscopy group was 2.03±0.69 and in the laparotomy group was 6.77±1.95. Postoperative ileus was seen in 3 patients (16.66%) who underwent laparoscopy and 17 patients (77.2%) who underwent laparotomy. The average number of hospitalization days in the laparoscopy group was 1.38±0.61 days and in the laparotomy group was 5.73±1.78 days. The average cost of surgery in laparoscopic surgery was equal to 532240 Rials and in laparotomy was 1365600 Rials (p=0.0001). CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, it seems that the use of diagnostic laparoscopic method for the management and treatment of patients with penetrating abdominal trauma and stable hemodynamics, significantly reduces complications and minimizes costs and length of hospital stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various speech enhancement Algorithms (SEA) have been developed in the last few decades. Each algorithm has its advantages and disadvantages because the speech signal is affected by environmental situations. Distortion of speech results in the loss of important features that make this signal challenging to understand. SEA aims to improve the intelligibility and quality of speech that different types of noise have degraded. In most applications, quality improvement is highly desirable as it can reduce listener fatigue, especially when the listener is exposed to high noise levels for extended periods (e.g., manufacturing). SEA reduces or suppresses the background noise to some degree, sometimes called noise suppression algorithms. In this research, the design of SEA based on different speech models (Laplacian model or Gaussian model) has been implemented using two types of discrete transforms, which are Discrete Tchebichef Transform and Discrete Tchebichef-Krawtchouk Transforms. The proposed estimator consists of dual stages of a wiener filter that can effectively estimate the clean speech signal. The evaluation measures' results show the proposed SEA's ability to enhance the noisy speech signal based on a comparison with other types of speech models and a self-comparison based on different types and levels of noise. The presented algorithm's improvements ratio regarding the average SNRseq are 1.96, 2.12, and 2.03 for Buccaneer, White, and Pink noise, respectively.

Human being is an indispensable part of the world of existence and there is a deep connection between his/her character and human society. It is important for human beings to know their purpose of existence, the nature of their relationship with the universe, and the kind of behavior in this world. Islam has guided Humans well in this respect and Muslim thinkers have always discussed the constituent elements of human character building. Muslim scholars, like Imam Ghazali in the 5th century AH, Khawja Nasīr al-Din after him, and later Allama Muhammad Iqbal, have discussed internal and external dimensions of Human character in a synthetic way, have identified causes and elements of its internal and external reflections and the diseases and remedies associated with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing countries are far more vulnerable to climate change impacts than industrialised countries. Most of the world's poor live in South Asia where they have limited livelihood options that have become even narrower in recent years, indicating a need for alternative income-generating options. Mud crabs (Scylla spp.) are considered to have promising prospects in different parts of the world including Bangladesh, a well-known region for its vulnerability to climate change. At present, this fishery has become a growing venture in coastal Bangladesh, primarily due to the potential of the export market and availability of seed locally. This study included a calculation of the Human Development Index linked to mud crab fishery (HDIMCF) and a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis to clarify the present status of and strategic directions for the mud crab fishery, for the first time. Results revealed an intermediate level of development of mud crab aquaculture, indicating potential alternative livelihood opportunities for vulnerable coastal communities. The SWOT analysis revealed that positive factors, both internal (strengths) and external (opportunities), predominate over negative factors (weaknesses and threats) and that the fishery can be an alternative livelihood option for vulnerable coastal communities. Despite noticeable diversification of the mud crab fishery, dependence on wild seedstock and possible over-exploitation in the wild appear to constrain sustainable development of the fishery. This study's findings suggest undertaking immediate wild crab stock assessment for determining current status of wild populations. Moreover, modification of the Government of Bangladesh's existing mud crab policy is needed to better meet growing demand and sustainability of the fishery. Recommendations of this study may be of help in guiding responsible integrated coastal fisheries management and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming induced by greenhouse gases (GHGs) is already a reality and will continue to increase resulting in a severe climate change. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, to investigate the GHGs emissions between the year of 2004 and 2016 in four major urban cities, representing the residential band of Kuwait. Results showed a clear steady yearly increase in GHGs emissions, with more emissions in summer compared to winter, possibly due to the high consumption rate of fossil fuel for cooling purposes and traffic activities. Results also revealed a diurnal variation in GHGs emissions, plausibly attributed to the combined effects of busy traffic hours as well as respiration by the living organisms and/or from soils. A second objective in this paper is, to develop a reliable connectionist models such as neural networks for predicting GHGs emissions. Radial basis function (RBF) network due to its known approximation capabilities, localization of its transfer functions and its efficient training algorithms, showed a superior performance in predicting GHGs emissions. Parity and time series plots of the predicted concentrations against the observed concentrations demonstrated the appropriateness of connectionist modelling as a fast and precise tool for monitoring and forecasting the GHGs emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geological and morphostructural lineaments are considered as the surface expression of geological structures and linear features of valleys, ridges and river drainage systems. Lineaments extracted from satellite images have always been effective in understanding the structural context of a region. The lineaments observed on the surface provide information on the tectonic stresses that have affected an area and give a first impression of the probable existence and orientation of geological structures that may constitute oil traps at depth. This study aims to semi-automatically extract lineaments (by combining the use of GIS software, remote sensing and operator intervention) in Boma Trough Block, an oil block located to the east of D.R. Congo Coastal Basin and still poorly explored. The satellite image used in this work is an ALOS PALSAR DEM with a spatial resolution of 12.5m, enhanced in traditional hillshade (solar azimuth of 315° and 45°) and multidirectional hillshade; which allowed the extraction of 3129 lineaments, with lengths ranging from 0.16 to 3.79 km, oriented on multidirectional hillshade at 47.1% along the NW-SE direction, at 44.1% along the NE-SW, 7.3% for N-S and 1.4% for E-W. Lineament density mapping revealed that areas with high and very high densities cover 43% of ??the study area, where the Precambrian basement is largely outcropping, while low and very low density areas represent 41% and contain sedimentary formations. Areas with moderate densities covered ??16%. The lineaments extracted from the DEM image compared to the reality on the field show a positive correlation. This confirms the important contribution of the processing approach used in this study.

Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a group of inherited disorders characterized by increased vulnerability to mechanical stress at the dermo-epidermal junction and basilar layer of the epidermis. Laryngeal EB involvement is a major and life-threatening manifestation of the disease. Due to the nature of EB, granulation tissue and stenosis can occur, usually at the glottic, subglottic, or supraglottic levels, as seen in our patients.We described cases in which four patients with EB presented with supraglottic stenosis and were managed at tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. The clinical and therapeutic characteristics of all patients are discussed.