Search

This article presents a flexible wearable KIT monopole antenna for biomedical application. A metamaterial unit cell is proposed to improve the antenna performance. The proposed antenna and the metamaterial are fabricated on 1 mm-thick polydimethylsiloxane substrate to operate in the ISM frequency band of 2.45 GHz. Integration of the metamaterial improves the gain and reduces the specific absorption rate (SAR) of the antenna. The overall dimension of the antenna with the metamaterial is 49 × 49 × 19 mm3. The designed antenna is investigated for the loading effect of the body by placing on the hand phantom model. Bending tolerances are also analyzed for x and y direction with various bend radii. Gain and SAR of the proposed antenna are 4.61 dBi and 0.868 W/kg. The results of the fabricated prototype show that the proposed wearable antenna is safe for biomedical applications.

Renewable, low-carbon biofuels offer the potential opportunity to decarbonize marine transportation. This paper presents a comparative techno-economic analysis and process sustainability assessment of four conversion pathways: (1) hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of wet wastes such as sewage sludge and manure; (2) fast pyrolysis of woody biomass; (3) landfill gas Fischer-Tropsch synthesis; and (4) lignin-ethanol oil from the lignocellulosic ethanol biorefinery utilizing reductive catalytic fractionation. These alternative marine biofuels have a modeled minimum fuel selling price between $1.68 and $3.98 per heavy fuel oil gallon equivalent in 2016 U.S. dollars based on a mature plant assessment. The selected pathways also exhibit good process sustainability performance in terms of water intensity compared to the petroleum refineries. Further, the O and S contents of the biofuels vary widely. While the non-HTL biofuels exhibit negligible S content, the raw biocrudes

This research concentrated on material characteristics such as tensile property (TS) and hardness (HV) for AA-5083 manufactured using the stir casting (SC) process. The reinforcing elements silicon carbide (SiC-7.5%) and flyash (FA-5%) in the form of powders will be added to Al alloy to improve the characteristics of composites. Response surface methodology (RSM) was a scientific technique to make optimizing task at stir casting parameters. As per central composite design (CCD), 20 samples (L1-L20) were fabricated at a variation of factors such as stirrer speed (A) 350-550 rpm, stir time (B) 15-35 min, and stir temperature (C) 750-950°C. The result presented that best TS and HV exhibited at experiments L5 (A2-450 rpm, B1-15min, and C1-750°C) and L6 (A1-350 rpm, B1-15min, and C1-750°C). Design expert software (DES) is one of the optimization tools that employed to determine analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the best optimal parameter levels of SC. ANOVA helped to check contribution of SC factors on TS and HV, and it was noticed that mechanical properties were improved with increasing stir speed and stir time but it was reduced with rising of temperature.

Objectives To evaluate the objective response rate (ORR), time to progression (TTP), and overall survival (OS) in patients with unresectable solitary HCC less than 5 cm who were treated with 90Y glass microspheres infused at a segmental level. Materials and Methods Single-institution retrospective study of 35 patients with unresectable HCC deemed not suitable for percutaneous ablation who underwent segmental transarterial radioembolization (TARE) treatment. Eligibility criteria included patients with solitary, unilobar, Statistical Analysis Patient demographics, baseline characteristics, and treatment characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Predictors of survival were analyzed with Cox proportional hazards regression. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used to evaluate OS. Results Median tumor size was 3 cm (range: 1.0-4.8 cm) in the 35 patients studied, with 25.7% (9/35) being the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) 0 and 62.9% (22/35) ECOG 1. Most patients (88.5%, 31/35) were of the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage C, with one patient each classified as BCLC-A and BCLC-0, respectively. For 34.2% (12/35), TARE functioned as a bridge to transplantation. Transplanted patients exhibited a median pathologic necrosis of 98% (IQR 7.5). Combined ORR for local and overall mRECIST at 12 months post-TARE was 94.3% and 85.7%, respectively. All patients had a mean local TTP of 11.9 months (CI: 2.7–21.0) and global TTP of 13.2 months (CI: 6.4–20.0). Among the 14.3% (5/35) of patients who experienced AEs following treatment, 80% (4/5) were Grade 1, one patient experienced a Grade 4, and all events resolved within 1 month of treatment. Total OS at 1 year was 97%, whereas patients who underwent OLT had an OS of 100%. Conclusion Segmental TARE was a safe and effective treatment for solitary unresectable HCC less than 5 cm. When used as a bridge to transplant, explants showed near complete pathologic necrosis of treated lesions.

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains incurable. Although early diagnosis improves outcomes, it has been unclear which populations to target for screening with serum electrophoresis, serum free light chains and urine electrophoresis. Here, we assessed the value of MM screening in a Fracture Liaison Service, finding that 1 per 195 fragility fractures has undiagnosed MM, which can be expedited to Haematology Services. Purpose A key role of the Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) is screening for secondary causes of osteoporosis. In 2019, the Royal Osteoporosis Society recommended that all patients attending FLS who are recommended anti-osteoporosis therapy have universal screening for myeloma based on serum electrophoresis, serum free light chains and urine electrophoresis. Here, we examined the impact of universal myeloma screening within an FLS. Methods We sampled all patients seen by the Oxfordshire FLS between January and April 2018. The completion rates and outcomes of screening were checked using the hospital and FLS databases. Results Of 950 patients identified by the FLS, 628 were eligible for MM screening; 473 (75%) of these were female, and the average age was 78.4 years. Overall, 584 had some form of myeloma screening, of which 577 (92%) had serum electrophoresis, 525 (84%) had serum free light chains and 407 (65%) had urine electrophoresis measured. A total of 327 (59%) patients had complete screening. Three patients (0.5%) had newly diagnosed myeloma and were urgently referred to Haematology Services. Furthermore, 46 (8%) patients had a detectable serum paraprotein with a likely diagnosis of monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance (MGUS) and referred for community annual surveillance according to local guidelines. Conclusion Addition of universal myeloma screening to laboratory testing identified myeloma in 1 per 195 patients, and its precursor state MGUS in 1 per 13 patients, which may have otherwise been missed. Further analysis with long-term follow-up is needed to clearly define the value of diagnosing MGUS within the FLS setting and establish the benefits vs. costs and methods to improve screening completion rates.

Renewable energy sources and EV growth brings new challenges for grid stabilization. Smart grid techniques are required to reconfigure and compensate for load fluctuation and stabilize power losses and voltage fluctuation. Numerical tools are available to equip the smart grid to deal with such challenges. Distribution Feeder reconfiguration and reactive voltage injection to the disturbed grid are some of the techniques employed for the purpose. However, either reconfiguration or injection alone is used commonly for this purpose. In this study, both techniques are applied to EV penetration as load and compared. A balanced IEEE 33 Radial network is used in this study and selected branches with high power losses are targeted for the reactive voltage injection and Minimum Spanning tree techniques (MST). EV charging loads are usually modelled with time base distribution which requires times base power flow analysis for reactive power injection. A comparison between coordinated, reconfiguration, and reactive voltage injection shows differences in power losses, voltage distortion, and cost saving. The analysis is carried out with an integer linear programming technique for coordinated charging, a minimum spanning tree for network reconfiguration, and genetic optimization for reactive power injection. Besides, all power flow analyses are carried out with the Backward/Forward sweep method. The information would help lowering power losses, grid stabilization, and charging station infrastructure planning.

Ferumoxytol is an ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticle, originally approved in 2009 by the FDA for IV treatment of iron deficiency in adults with chronic kidney disease. Subsequently, its off-label use as an MRI contrast agent has increased in clinical practice, particularly in pediatric patients in North America. Unlike conventional MRI contrast agents that are based on the rare earth metal gadolinium [gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs)], ferumoxytol is biodegradable and carries no potential risk of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. At FDA-approved doses, ferumoxytol demonstrates no long-term tissue retention in patients with intact iron metabolism. Ferumoxytol provides unique MRI properties including long-lasting vascular retention (facilitating high-quality vascular imaging) and retention in reticuloendothelial system tissues, thereby supporting a variety of applications beyond those possible with GBCAs. This Clinical Perspective describes clinical and early translational applications of ferumoxytol-enhanced MRI in children and young adults through off-label use for a variety of settings, including vascular, cardiac, and cancer imaging, drawing on the authors' institutional experience. In addition, we describe current preclinical and clinical research advances using ferumoxytol with regard to cellular and molecular imaging, and also as a novel potential cancer therapeutic agent.

The IoT systems transfer highly sensitive data in a network and majority of the people needs IoT technology in real time applications like smart home, smart health care etc., A number of security algorithms exists to protect the IoT systems but with some time complexity. Deep learning is considered to be an efficient technique to analyze threats and respond to attacks and security incidents instantly and accurately. Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (CGAN) is one of the deep learning technique that protects data based on conditions created by generator and discriminator models. CGANs are useful for getting features of choice in generated data. This work use the CGAN feasibility to controllable the data encryption and decryption part in GAN network. This work solve the time complexity issues using Algebraic Matrix in Conditional GAN (AMCGAN) and Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) algorithm. The advantage of using algebraic matrix is to reduce the time complexity and input complexity in cryptography process. It performs both addition and multiplication at the same time, and can compute any operation instantly. There are many encryption techniques used to encrypt the data but the same time they have more time to decrypt the result. Because the mathematical evaluation are complex to derived in encryption part and otherwise. So, this work considered to address the time complexity problem by solving the easiest mathematical derivations in encryption and decryption part. Also we noticed that the fully homomorphic encryption algorithm have less encryption time compared to Chaotic Algorithm and it has minimal time complexity than existing algorithms such as RSA algorithm.

The mammalian skeletal system shows sex differences in structure, functions, aging and disease incidences. The role of blood vessels in physiological, regenerative and pathological bone functions indicates the requisite to understanding their sex specificity. In this study, we found that estrogen regulates blood vessel physiology during pregnancy and menopause through estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor-1 (GPER1) but not ERβ-dependent signaling in mice. Estrogen regulates the lipid use of bone endothelial cells (BECs) and promotes lipolysis of adipocytes and fatty acid (FA) uptake from the microenvironment. Low estrogen conditions skew endothelial FA metabolism to accumulate lipid peroxides (LPOs), leading to vascular aging. High ferrous ion levels in female BECs intensify LPO accumulation and accelerate the aging process. Notably, inhibiting LPO generation using liproxstatin-1 in aged mice significantly improved bone heath. Thus, our findings demonstrate the effects of estrogen on BECs and suggest that LPO targeting could be an efficient strategy to manage blood and bone health in females.

This paper proposed two PWM control scheme which is the Voltage Oriented Control (VOC) and Direct Power Control (DPC) on a heavy loaded LV-distribution network with photovoltaic (PV) integration in Malaysia. The surge in demand of power supply is overcome by deploying more PV to fulfil the load demand. However, this could give rise to power quality issues that can affect the stability of the grid. The focus in this work is to solve voltage dynamic concern which results in over and undervoltage problems within the distribution network and at the same time to evaluate on the performance of both control schemes under a heavy loaded condition. A 33 kV Malaysian LV-Distribution model integrated with PV is constructed to serve as a base model in this paper. From the base model, a load flow analysis is conducted in order to locate the weakest bus. The two proposed control schemes are introduced into the weakest bus in the grid system, and its performance of the controller will be evaluated based on three aspects such as compensation margin, voltage and current total harmonics distortion (vTHD and iTHD) and lastly the compensated voltage levels. It is shown that VOC control scheme has outperformed DPC due to a wider compensation margin and its ability to achieve the desired reference voltage with a faster settling time under heavy loaded condition. Therefore, the proposed PWM control scheme of both VOC and DPC under a heavy load scenario could be set as a benchmark to provide impactful insights and findings towards an actual implementation of the application within a distribution network or distributed generation.

A series of multicyclic hydrocarbons were synthesized in high yield and under mild conditions from 2,5-hexanedione, cyclohexanone and cyclopentanone, on a scale of 200 g. Aldol products were obtained with conversions of 95% (2,5-hexanedione), 80–90% (cyclopentanone) and 75–80% (cyclohexanone), based on the consumption of starting materials. Cyclopentanone and cyclohexanone aldol condensations resulted in mixtures containing mainly bicyclic products (90%) as well as tricyclic analogs (

The recent emergence of a robust renewable ethanol industry has provided a sustainable platform molecule toward the production of value-added chemicals and fuels; what is lacking now are viable conversion processes from ethanol that can displace the current production pathways from non-renewable pathways. Here in the work, we demonstrate the highly selective conversion of ethanol to higher alcohols over low copper loaded MgAl mixed oxide catalysts, with 50% improvement in higher alcohol yields over the current state of the art. At these copper concentrations, atomically dispersed Cu1+ were found to be stable even at highly reductive conditions and highly active towards higher alcohol products (e.g. butanol, hexanol) while suppressing side reaction pathways and leading to extended lifetimes of over 150 hours time on stream. Technoeconomic analysis conducted based on these experimental results demonstrate that this catalytic system is cost-competitive with the conventional process. This marks significant progress in the development of Guerbet coupling of ethanol as a viable renewable process and offers a pathway toward sustainable chemical and fuel production.

Both lignin and waste plastic are refractory polymers whose oxidation can produce feedstocks for the manufacture of chemicals and fuels. This brief review explores how renewably generated electricity could provide energy needed to selectively activate the endothermic depolymerization reactions, which might assist the production of hydrogen. We identify mediated electrochemistry as a particularly suitable approach to contending with these refractory, sparingly soluble materials.

Bone vasculature and bone marrow vascular niches supply oxygen, nutrients, and secrete angiocrine factors required for the survival, maintenance, and self-renewal of stem and progenitor cells. In the skeletal system, vasculature creates nurturing niches for bone and blood-forming stem cells. Blood vessels regulate hematopoiesis and drive bone formation during development, repair, and regeneration. Dysfunctional vascular niches induce skeletal aging, bone diseases, and hematological disorders. Recent cellular and molecular characterization of the bone marrow microenvironment has provided unprecedented insights into the complexity, heterogeneity, and functions of the bone vasculature and vascular niches. The bone vasculature is composed of distinct vessel subtypes that differentially regulate osteogenesis, hematopoiesis, and disease conditions in bones. Further, bone marrow vascular niches supporting stem cells are often complex microenvironments involving multiple different cell populations and vessel subtypes. This review provides an overview of the emerging vascular cell heterogeneity in bone and the new roles of the bone vasculature and associated vascular niches in health and disease. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).

Light olefins (C2–C5) are high-value platform chemicals used to produce plastics, lubricants, coating material, and surfactants, and can be intermediates to produce transportation fuels. In this study we report on the development of a Co-based catalyst for direct conversion of fossil as well as biomass derived syngas into light olefins that enables high conversion and olefin/paraffin (O/P) product ratio, minimal selectivity to CO2 (