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Abstract: Rhododendron is a resourceful, evergreen shrub or a small tree with an ornate display of scarlet red or pale pink flowers that belongs to the family Ericaceae. Rhododendron plants are traditionally used to treat numerous human ailments like blood dysentery, headache, asthma, cough, stomachache, fever, inflammation and fungal infections. Rhododendron also has economic, medicinal, and pharmacological importance. Rhododendron has been regarded as a rich source of secondary metabolites. Apart from aesthetic and sacred values, from past times, Rhododendron juice was prepared from the flowers to curb allergies, treat diabetes and deal with inflammations. Recent studies have shown several promising activities particularly relaxant, digestive enzyme, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antispasmodic, anticancer and antagonistic effects. With the rapidly growing popularity of Rhododendron arboreum, it is important to have a comprehensive reference for its nutritional benefits with the growing search for natural and healthy foods. This work aimed to review the recent advances in research carried out to date for the purposive evaluation of the nutritional quality and potential health benefits of Rhododendron arboreum for its utilization in food processing industries for composing novel value- added products, to achieve high consumer acceptability and health benefits.

Trend for consumption of healthy meat without synthetic additives is blooming globally and has attracted the interest of consumers and research sphere to look for enhancement of quality and safety of food. Chitosan is multi-functional marine biopolymer with several befitting properties such as non-toxicity, ease of modification, antimicrobial activity, biodegradability and bio-compatibility, making it suitable for use in meat based food systems, which are highly prone to putrescence due to availability of high level protein, micronutrients and moisture. Bioactive components from plant extracts on account of their natural lineage are exquisite determinants for meat preservation in association with chitosan to replace synthetic molecules, which are considered to evince toxicological effects. Nanoemulsions are viable systems for integrating a myriad of active constituents framed by microfluidization, high-pressure homogenization, ultra-sonication, phase inversion (PIC and PIT) and spontaneous-emulsification with benefits of droplet size reduction, improved solubility, stability and their biological activity. This article summarizes the most important information on formulation, fabrication and advancements in chitosan-based nanoemulsions highlighting their potential benefit for applications in the muscle food system. Supervising the all-around executions of chitosan nanoemulsions for various food systems, the current review has been framed to lay down understandings regarding improvements made in the production and functionality of chitosan nanoemulsions for quality retention of meat products. Furthermore, it highlights the novel trends in chitosan-nanoemulsions application in meat based food systems from a preservation and shelf-life prolongation perspective.

Kanpur, India, recently witnessed an outbreak of undifferentiated febrile illness among medical students. Several students developed high-grade fever with altered sensorium within 2–3 days after the index case. Surprisingly, this outbreak coincided with the death of several pigs in the vicinity. Acute necrotising encephalitis, although rare, was noted in some patients. When correlated with each other, all of these incidents were suggestive of an outbreak of H1N1.

Risk stratification of COVID‐19 patients is essential for pandemic management. Changes in the cell fitness marker, hFwe‐Lose, can precede the host immune response to infection, potentially making such a biomarker an earlier triage tool. Here, we evaluate whether hFwe‐Lose gene expression can outperform conventional methods in predicting outcomes (e.g., death and hospitalization) in COVID‐19 patients. We performed a post‐mortem examination of infected lung tissue in deceased COVID‐19 patients to determine hFwe‐Lose’s biological role in acute lung injury. We then performed an observational study (n = 283) to evaluate whether hFwe‐Lose expression (in nasopharyngeal samples) could accurately predict hospitalization or death in COVID‐19 patients. In COVID‐19 patients with acute lung injury, hFwe‐Lose is highly expressed in the lower respiratory tract and is co‐localized to areas of cell death. In patients presenting in the early phase of COVID‐19 illness, hFwe‐Lose expression accurately predicts subsequent hospitalization or death with positive predictive values of 87.8–100% and a negative predictive value of 64.1–93.2%. hFwe‐Lose outperforms conventional inflammatory biomarkers and patient age and comorbidities, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) 0.93–0.97 in predicting hospitalization/death. Specifically, this is significantly higher than the prognostic value of combining biomarkers (serum ferritin, D‐dimer, C‐reactive protein, and neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio), patient age and comorbidities (AUROC of 0.67–0.92). The cell fitness marker, hFwe‐Lose, accurately predicts outcomes in COVID‐19 patients. This finding demonstrates how tissue fitness pathways dictate the response to infection and disease and their utility in managing the current COVID‐19 pandemic., A post‐mortem examination of COVID‐19 infected lung tissues and an observational study were performed in order to evaluate whether expression of cell fitness marker hFwe‐Lose in patient's nasopharyngeal swabs could predict hospitalization or death from COVID‐19.

The rejection of chemical additives has attracted the attention of consumers and research personals to continuously improve quality and safety of food. Chitosan is a polyelectrolyte non-toxic, antimicrobial and biocompatible polysaccharide. The annual production of chitin (poly-β-(1-4)-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine), the acetylated form of chitosan has been estimated 105 million tons and is approved by EU for use in plant protection (Reg. EU 2014/563). The film formation presents 20 to 30% of total chitosan activity apart from elicitation (30 to 40%) and antimicrobial activity (35 to 45%). Chitosan polymer scaffolds particularly nanoemulsions provides a protective covering to the fresh produce and acts as a carrier for antimicrobial agents and various functional compounds. The nanoemulsions are designed as smart functional coatings by microfluidization, high-pressure homogenization, ultra-sonication, phase inversion (PIC and PIT) and spontaneous emulsification. Considering the research reports available in the last decade, chitosan film production and related issues alluded to the possibilities for explorations of commercial applications on fresh foods. Chitosan-based biofilms with specific barriers and functional properties can be produced to address specific requirements of target food. Keeping in view the widespread applications of chitosan nanoemulsions for various food applications, the present review has been compiled to provide an insight into the developments and improvements made in the production, functionality, and delivery of bioactive substances for quality retention of fresh horticultural produce.

Sports analysts compile information on a specific sport that involves history, strategies and current scenario and help increase a team’s effectiveness by providing reference to the easily accessible database as well as feedback on the player’s equipment. Sports analytics is a instrument that can provide player assessment (separately and as a squad) for sportsmen. Sports analytics is a sporting tool that can provide player evaluation (individually and as a team) and statistical analysis of in-game activity. It is a tool based on analytics of big data and digital marketing. The artificial intelligence enables involve supporters and gathers significant information at match moment to provide real-time ideas for stronger game enhancement. The information used to drive ideas that will be shared by a mobile app with players and team strategists. These real-time ideas will be implemented to improve the player’s execution and subsequently the crew. Sports commentators can match information related to specific sport, which incorporates documents, schedules and current condition and help to improve a team’s efficiency by enabling link to the immediately available database along with feedback on the instruments given to the sportsperson.

Background: Ongoing opioid analgesic use in patients suffering from chronic nonmalignant pain (CNMP) has been associated with the development of opioid misuse, abuse, addiction, and overdose. To prevent these adverse outcomes, it is important that family nurse practitioners (FNPs) implement recommended risk mitigation practices (RMPs) when treating CNMP patients with opioids. Methods: A national sample of 856 FNPs was invited to answer an online survey about their utilization of opioids and RMPs in treating CNMP. Results: One hundred sixty-eight FNPs responded (20% response rate), of whom 51.2% affirmed that they prescribe opioids for CNMP. Of the 86 FNPs who prescribe opioids, 66.7% said that less than 25% of their patients were receiving ongoing opioid therapy. The most frequently prescribed opioids were hydrocodone (77.9%) and oxycodone (58.1%). With respect to RMPs, 50 of the 86 opioid-prescribing FNPs (58.8%) reported using treatment contracts with their CNMP patients. Far fewer (20.9%) used formal screening tools to gauge the risk of opioid abuse and misuse. Most respondents (54.94%) reported using prescription monitoring programs, whereas only 33.0% reported using urine toxicology to monitor opioid use. Of the prescribing FNPs, 15.1% reported using abuse-deterrent opioid formulations. Age was found to be a correlate for prescribing opioids for CNMP, with those under 40 years of age less likely to use urine toxicology than those over 41 (45.2% vs. 4.2%; χ2(6) = 11.90, P = .06). Additionally, respondents who did not use treatment contracts reported significantly fewer years in practice (10.5 years, SD = 6.1) than those who did (13.6 years, SD = 1.54, df = 2.82, P = .02). Conclusions: Although RMPs are recommended for use in all CNMP patients receiving ongoing opioid therapy, FNPs do not consistently implement them. In the midst of the current opioid epidemic, FNPs must be vigilant about using appropriate opioid prescription practices.

Conventional Sources of energy are depleting at an alarming rate which give us unconventional resources as an only option for energy source. Unconventional sources of energy like Shale gas, Tight gas, Coal bed methane are difficult to exploit as compared to the conventional sources of energy. Hydraulic Fracturing is the well stimulation technique used for exploitation and production of these unconventional resources. Foam fracturing is the the most opted stimulation technique for low permeability shallow wells because of its reduced damage potential to reactive and sensitive formations. This research paper discusses about the evaluation of attempt made to develop an eco-friendly CO2 foam based fracturing fluid which can be used at HPHT conditions for shale reservoirs by Grafting Copolymerization. The graft copolymer was developed by free radical polymerization of Gum Acacia (GA) and Lactic acid (LA) by using Potassium Persulphate (KPS) as an initiator and its characterization was done by FESEM and FTIR analysis. Then, the grafted copolymer (GA-g-LA) was processed with CO2 foam based fracturing fluid as an additive. Lecithin is used to emulsify brine and liquid CO2. The effect of graft copolymer was on rheology and stability of the formulated foam based fracturing fluid is evaluated as a function of surfactant concentration. The results are compared with the conventional foam based fracturing fluids. The results showed that grafted copolymer has increased the stability of the formulated fracturing fluid at high temperatures. Use of grafted copolymer results in higher viscosity and proppant carrying capacity which is beneficial for HPHT fracturing conditions. The results of the core flood studies was evaluated on a shale sample to determine its return permeabilty and it was comparable to non-foam based fracturing fluid.

With the growing popularity of sensors and the advent of Internet of Things (IoT), there is exponential growth in data. Sensors are collecting data for various domains like traffic, predictive maintenance, equipment health, meteorology etc. Mostly, data collected by IoT devices or sensors is of heterogeneous format which is difficult to interpret and integrate. With the rise in applications of sensors there is a need to manage, store and intelligently analyse this data stream. The SSN Ontology can describe sensors in terms of capabilities, measurement processes, observations, and deployments. In this paper, we propose a framework using ontologies and JADE Agents to intelligently analyse and handle the streaming data. Furthermore, JADE Agents allows dynamically monitoring and updating of the knowledge base.

We develop and demonstrate a simple shape-based approach for diffuse optical tomographic reconstruction of coagulative lesions generated during interstitial photothermal therapy (PTT) of the prostate. The shape-based reconstruction assumes a simple ellipsoid shape, matching the general dimensions of a cylindrical diffusing fiber used for light delivery in current clinical studies of PTT in focal prostate cancer. The specific requirement is to accurately define the border between the photothermal lesion and native tissue as the photothermal lesion grows, with an accuracy of ≤ 1 mm , so treatment can be terminated before there is damage to the rectal wall. To demonstrate the feasibility of the shape-based diffuse optical tomography reconstruction, simulated data were generated based on forward calculations in known geometries that include the prostate, rectum, and lesions of varying dimensions. The only source of optical contrast between the lesion and prostate was increased scattering in the lesion, as is typically observed with coagulation. With noise added to these forward calculations, lesion dimensions were reconstructed using the shape-based method. This approach for reconstruction is shown to be feasible and sufficiently accurate for lesions that are within 4 mm from the rectal wall. The method was also robust for irregularly shaped lesions.

Error rates of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals are considered for system using multichannel reception with maximum ratio combining (MRC) receivers in Nakagami-m fading generated by sum of sinusoidal method using Rayleigh and Ricean channel. The paper also discusses the effect of frequency offsets, nakagami-m parameter m on OFDM systems. Also effect of frequency offset on signal to noise plus interference ratio (SINR) for different SNR values is discussed. A closed form expression for probability of error is derived and theoretical and simulated results are compared for various receivers, frequency offsets.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify associations between various inputs in the investment decision process of Saudi Arabian risk managers (RMs).Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports the views of 81 RMs in Saudi Arabia regarding their approach to investment risk and uses these as inputs into conditional independence graphs.FindingsSaudi RMs favour their experience and personal judgment over mathematical projections and statistical models when considering investment risk. A need remains for an efficient risk‐modeling framework for the banking system that has more practical value than those which have emerged to date.Originality/valueThe paper provides novel insights on issues such as the extent to which risk management is dealt with in practice via personal experience rather than statistical‐based projections. The findings also shed light on the level of satisfaction amongst RMs and regulators with the incentives provided in the Saudi Arabian environment, and the importance placed on guidance from the nation's leading regulatory institution.

Wireless communications has witnessed a tremendous growth during the past decade and further spectacular enabling technology advances are expected in an effort to render ubiquitous wireless connectivity a reality. The first step towards high speed digital communication over a wireless media includes the understanding of the channel and its characteristics. In a wireless media we have multipath components because of scattering, diffraction, reflection etc. In this paper we are comparing the performance of BPSK in AWGN and Rayleigh fading channel. We are using Monte Carlo based algorithm for the same. Here we will compare BER using simulated and theoretical results.