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In this paper, we explore a secure multiuser multiple-input single-output (MISO) satellite downlink communication system, enhanced by the integration of a hybrid reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS). The study formulates a robust joint design for satellite and RIS beamforming, aimed at maximizing the secrecy rate of the overall system. Both the active and passive elements of the RIS are optimized, taking into account practical models that reflect real-world constraints, such as outdated channel state information (CSI) and the power consumption of the system. To address the highly complex, dynamic, and multidimensional nature of the beamforming design problem, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) techniques are employed. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed beamforming strategy, highlighting significant performance improvements when utilizing hybrid-RIS compared to traditional passive RIS solutions in wireless communication systems.

This work encompasses a novel highly compact Split Ring Resonator (SRR) based quad-band Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) for 4G and 5G applications. The proposed antenna comprises of an extended rectangular feedline and a rectangular DR in combination with two SRRs. The DRA uses the extended rectangular microstrip feedline for providing better impedance matching and enhanced performance. Remarkably, the introduction of SRRs on either side of the feedline enables the DRA to resonate at four distinct frequency bands, i.e., 1.62 GHz, 3.03 GHz and 4.7 GHz and 6.56 GHz respectively. The two lower operating bands with narrow band response are due to SRRs while two upper bands with wide band characteristics are due to rectangular DR. The simulated performance of the rectangular DRA is validated through measurements, performed on a fabricated prototype. At the corresponding resonance frequencies, the suggested design exhibits −10 dB impedance bandwidths of 9.2%, 5%, 8.3%, and 5.6%. With a notable peak gain of 2.3 dBi and an efficiency of 93%, the suggested design has excellent radiation pattern stability. To the best of authors knowledge, this is the first design where SRRs are incorporated with rectangular DR to achieve multiband operations. The simulated and measured findings show a strong agreement, highlighting the SRR-based DRA appropriateness for multiband wireless applications (such as satellite television, radio astronomy, Bluetooth, WiFi, and 6G), while demonstrating its significant contribution to the field.

The growing demand for wireless communication in biomedical engineering has opened new research frontiers. This paper introduces an innovative miniaturized ( $4\times 9$ mm2) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) circularly polarized (CP) implantable antenna for a wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) system. The presented device features two Hilbert curve-shaped meandered resonators. The space-filling characteristic inherent in the Hilbert curve contributes to miniaturization and bandwidth enhancement of up to 250 MHz to cover possible detuning between diverse organs. Simultaneously, employing the curve’s inherent natural symmetry and adopting an orthogonal port arrangement led to a noteworthy improvement in isolation up to 27 dB with an enhanced gain of −27.9 dBi. Comprehensive simulation analysis of antenna-integrated WCE systems in homogeneous and hetrogenous environments is conducted in the stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. Without the need for an external decoupling structure, the system demonstrated good MIMO characteristics with isolation of 27 dB. A fabricated prototype has been tested in a saline solution and minced pork. A good match between the measured and simulated results has been observed. At both ports, the axial ratio (

Abstract This study investigates the photodegradation of Acid Violet 49 in an aqueous medium under UV, UV/H2O2, and combined with photo catalyst (UV/H2O2/TiO2, UV/H2O2/ZnO, and UV/H2O2/SnO2). The impact of all operational parameters including catalytic dosage, peroxidation (H2O2), pH and dye concentration were evaluated. The degradation efficiency of AV49 was enhanced up to 96% with the alternative photocatalyst UV/H2O2/ZnO under the circumstances of 0.6mL H2O2, 0.9 g ZnO, 50 mg/L initial dye concentration, and pH 9 after 90 min. Hemolytic test were used to check the toxicity level of products. FTIR spectroscopy of UV/ZnO/H2O2 was applied to identify the functional group of AV49 before and end product of the degradation. Moreover, the analytical technique LC-MS provided valuable information regarding the degradation products of AV 49. A proposed pathway was identified based on the findings of the degradation product.

Synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) using green nanotechnology has gained enormous attention due to their extensive range of antibacterial applications such as in the food packaging industry. In this study, Ag-NPs were successfully synthesized using Goji Berry (a fruit of wolfberry) extract. The basic aim of this study is to analyze the antibacterial response of Ag-NPs in gelatin scaffolds. Positively, the reducing agents that are already present in the Goji Berry extract behave as capping and stabilizing agents, so there is no need to add additional constituents from outside. This was then followed by the characterization of samples. The crystallinity of Ag-NPs was determined by X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) that revealed the FCC structure of the sample. The formation of silver particles was confirmed by Ultraviolet–Visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. The surface morphology of Ag-NPs was found to be almost spherical, which was determined by a transmission electron microscope and showed spherical particles having an average diameter of 22 nm. Moreover, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed the presence of hydrocarbon groups bonded with Ag-NPs. The antibacterial properties of samples were analyzed by the gram-positive disk diffusion method. It was enhanced when Ag-NPs concentration in gelatin scaffolds increased, thereby producing an 18 mm zone of inhibition.

The widespread use of the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to significant breakthroughs in various fields but has also exposed critical vulnerabilities to evolving cybersecurity threats. Current Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) often fail to provide real-time detection, scalability, and interpretability, particularly in high-speed optical network environments. This research introduces XIoT, which is a novel explainable IoT attack detection model designed to address these challenges. Leveraging advanced deep learning methods, specifically Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), XIoT analyzes spectrogram images transformed from IoT network traffic data to detect subtle and complex attack patterns. Unlike traditional approaches, XIoT emphasizes interpretability by integrating explainable AI mechanisms, enabling cybersecurity analysts to understand and trust its predictions. By offering actionable insights into the factors driving its decision making, XIoT supports informed responses to cyber threats. Furthermore, the model’s architecture leverages the high-speed, low-latency characteristics of optical networks, ensuring the efficient processing of large-scale IoT data streams and supporting real-time detection in diverse IoT ecosystems. Comprehensive experiments on benchmark datasets, including KDD CUP99, UNSW NB15, and Bot-IoT, demonstrate XIoT’s exceptional accuracy rates of 99.34%, 99.61%, and 99.21%, respectively, significantly surpassing existing methods in both accuracy and interpretability. These results highlight XIoT’s capability to enhance IoT security by addressing real-world challenges, ensuring robust, scalable, and interpretable protection for IoT networks against sophisticated cyber threats.

Cupola slag is a waste material of the steel and iron industries. Its composition is determined by the cupola furnace and other elements used in steel and iron manufacturing. This paper investigates the characterization behavior of various cupola slag materials. As a result, x-ray fluorescence (XRF), x-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry differential thermal analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods were used to characterize three cupola slag samples from distinct origins. In addition, various physical properties were used to compare different cupola slags. The specific gravity values of CS-1 (cupola slag-1 sample), CS-2 (cupola slag-2 sample), and CS-3 (cupola slag-3 sample) are 1.36, 2.5, and 2.917, respectively. The density and water absorption for CS-1, CS-2, and CS-3 are 1414.86, 1477.71, and 1796 kg/m3, and 0.37%, 0.32%, and 0.26%, respectively. Cupola slag also includes a larger percentage of lime, according to XRF data, which contributes to its improved binding characteristics. A higher calcium oxide content in CS-3 could facilitate the pozzolanic process. The presence of angular particles that aid in material binding is seen in the SEM image. Compounds with a nanostructure are then flawlessly blended into the mixture and grouped with calcium alumina silicates formed by cement hydration. The XRD pattern of cupola slag exhibits high peaks, indicating that the material is crystalline in character and can be utilized as sand. It also shows the presence of other chemical compounds, such as silica, which ranges from 30% to 45%. CS-1 and CS-2 have comparable XRD patterns. However, CS-3 has a somewhat different pattern because of the greater CaO content. Weight loss begins at higher temperatures, which shows that the material is stable at higher temperatures, according to a thermo-gravimetric study. The differential thermal analysis curve of CS-3 indicates that the material remains stable up to a temperature of 600 °C. The physical characteristics of all cupola slag samples show that cupola slag may be utilized to make sustainable building materials because of its lower specific gravity, density, and water absorption.

Waspaloy, a nickel-based super alloy, has much potential in gas turbine component production. Machining this type of material using the traditional manufacturing method is very hard. Hence, electrical discharge machining (EDM) was selected for the investigation of the machining characteristics of Waspaloy by choosing the control parameters, namely, current, voltage, pulse on time, pulse off time, and spark gap. Gray relational analysis is carried out using 18 experiments according to an orthogonal array (L18) to determine the gray relation grade for this machining process with multiple machining characteristics such as material removal rate (MR), tool wear rate (TW), and surface roughness (SR). The significant objective of the multi objective optimization to attain high MR, low TW, and low SR is found out. From gray relation optimization, the optimum machining conditions for EDM, namely, current: 26 A, voltage: 200 V, pulse on time: 120 μs, pulse on time: 10 μs, and spark gap: 0.15 m, have been identified. The foremost parameter affecting the responses was found to be peak current.

Rain attenuation poses a significant challenge for high-throughput communication systems. In response, this paper introduces an artificial intelligence (AI) model designed for predicting and mitigating rain-induced impairments in high-throughput satellite (HTS) to land channels. The model is based on three AI algorithms developed using 3D antenna design to characterize, analyze, and mitigate rain-induced attenuation, optimizing channel quality specifically in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study evaluates various parameters, including rain-specific attenuation, effective slant path through rain, rain-induced attenuation, signal carrier-to-noise ratio, and symbol error rate, for five conventional modulation schemes: Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying (QPSK), 8-Phase Shift Keying (8-PSK), 16-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (16-QAM), 32-QAM, and 64-QAM. Additionally, the paper introduces a new database detailing rain-induced attenuation in HTS channels in the UAE at different frequencies using measured rainfall intensities. The paper concludes by proposing a smart antenna design with a frequency diversity technique for fade mitigation. Results indicate that rain-induced attenuation varies significantly based on rainfall rate and frequency. Specifically, at 25 GHz and a rainfall rate of 100 mm/h, the rain-induced attenuation can reach as high as 15 dB, resulting in a significant decline in signal quality and link performance. The

In this paper, a compact endfire antenna array with low-profile, small clearance, and wideband operation is proposed for millimeter-wave (mmWave) fifth-generation (5G) mobile terminals. The wideband operation is achieved by exciting two identical bow-tie dipoles inserted on both sides of a multilayer substrate fed by an asymmetric open-end stripline to slotline transition. The antenna performance is significantly improved by introducing a set of vertical metallic vias. The proposed antenna element can achieve 29 % from 24.2 GHz to 32.4 GHz with a peak realized gain that varies from 3.5 dBi to 4.5 dBi. A linear 4-element antenna array is arranged and fabricated to verify the proposed antenna beamforming capabilities. The simulated and measured bandwidth achieves a wide range of 34.4 % (24-34 GHz) to support 26, 28, and 30 GHz 5G mmWave bands with an isolation level better than 20 dB and a peak realized gain over the interested bands ranging from 7.56 to 8.14 dBi. The simulated array scanning angle is ± 68° at 28 GHz within 3-dB gain deterioration. Furthermore, the simulated spherical coverage has met the requirements of 3GPP standards which make the proposed antenna array a promising candidate to be integrated within mmWave 5G mobile devices.

In this paper, a reconfigurable Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna array is presented for 5G portable devices. The proposed array consists of four radiating elements and an Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) structure. Planar monopole radiating elements are employed in the array with Coplanar Waveguide Ports (CWPs). Each CWP is grounded on one side to a reflecting L-shaped structure that has an effect of improving the antenna’s directivity. It is shown that by inductively connecting Minkowski fractal structure of $1^{st}$ order to the radiating element, the impedance matching is improved that results in enhancement in the array’s bandwidth performance. The EBG structure is used to provide the isolation between antenna elements in the MIMO array. The fractal structure is connected to the L-shaped reflector through four photosensitive light dependent resistor (LDR) switches. The effect of various LDR switching configurations on the performance of the antenna is investigated. The proposed array provides a novel performance in terms of S-parameters with enhancements in the radiation properties. Such enhancements

This study highlights the potential of employing terahertz metamaterial structures as dual-band biosensors for the early detection of cancerous biological tissue. The fundamental principle leveraged here is the alteration of the effective dielectric constant of biological tissue by cancerous cells. The change in the dielectric constant, in turn, induces a shift in the resonance frequency of the metamaterial sensor. One notable advantage of the terahertz metamaterial sensor is its relatively compact size compared to other sensor types, as its dimensions are independent of the wavelength. This property translates into a requirement for a much smaller biopsy sample, facilitating less invasive testing procedures. Beyond the size advantage, the proposed biosensor demonstrates efficacy in detecting abnormalities within biological tissue.

The design and development of fluorescent materials for detecting cancer-related enzymes are crucial for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Herein, we present a substituted rhodamine derivative for the chromogenic and fluorogenic detection of the cancer-relevant enzyme γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT). Initially, the probe is non-chromic and non-emissive due to its spirolactam form, which hinders extensive electronic delocalization over broader pathway. However, selective enzymatic cleavage of the side-coupled group triggers spirolactam ring opening, resulting in electronic flow across the rhodamine skeleton, and reduces the band gap for low-energy electronic transitions. This transformation turns the reaction mixture from colorless to intense pink, with prominent UV and fluorescence bands. The sensor’s selectivity was tested against various human enzymes, including urease, alkaline phosphatase, acetylcholinesterase, tyrosinase, and cyclooxygenase, and showed no response. Absorption and fluorescence titration analyses of the probe upon incremental addition of GGT into the probe solution revealed a consistent increase in both absorption and emission spectra, along with intensified pink coloration. The cellular toxicity of the receptor was evaluated using the MTT assay, and bioimaging analysis was performed on BHK-21 cells, which produced bright red fluorescence, demonstrating the probe’s excellent cell penetration and digestion capabilities for intracellular analytical detection. Molecular docking results supported the fact that probe-4 made stable interactions with the GGT active site residues.

Designing and developing small organic molecules for use as urease inhibitors is challenging due to the need for ecosystem sustainability and the requirement to prevent health risks related to the human stomach and urinary tract. Moreover, imaging analysis is widely utilized for tracking infections in intracellular and in vivo systems, which requires drug molecules with emissive potential, specifically in the low-energy region. This study comprises the synthesis of a Schiff base ligand and its selected transition metals to evaluate their UV/fluorescence properties, inhibitory activity against urease, and molecular docking. Screening of the symmetrical cage-like ligand and its metal complexes with various eco-friendly transition metals revealed significant urease inhibition potential. The IC50 value of the ligand for urease inhibition was 21.80 ± 1.88 µM, comparable to that of thiourea. Notably, upon coordination with transition metals, the ligand–nickel and ligand–copper complexes exhibited even greater potency than the reference compound, with IC50 values of 11.8 ± 1.14 and 9.31 ± 1.31 µM, respectively. The ligand–cobalt complex exhibited an enzyme inhibitory potential comparable with thiourea, while the zinc and iron complexes demonstrated the least activity, which might be due to weaker interactions with the investigated protein. Meanwhile, all the metal complexes demonstrated a pronounced optical response, which could be utilized for fluorescence-guided targeted drug delivery applications in the future. Molecular docking analysis and IC50 values from in vitro urease inhibition screening showed a trend of increasing activity from compounds 7d to 7c to 7b. Enzyme kinetics studies using the Lineweaver–Burk plot indicated mixed-type inhibition against 7c and non-competitive inhibition against 7d.

Offering intended products at an affordable price is a highly challenging task in a business environment. To meet such challenges, industrial experts and researchers have different approaches, such as shifting the purchase of materials from import mode to local vendors and optimizing machining cost by optimizing process parameters, waste reduction, rework reduction, and technological improvements. The novelty of this study lies in reducing material cost by accurate materials forecasting to minimize storage cost, ablation cost, average annual consumption cost, etc. This study aims to compare the efficacy of the Seasonal Decomposition Method (SDM) against Multi-Echelon Inventory Optimization (MEIO) for minimizing inventory through accurate materials forecasting. Through rigorous evaluation and analysis, this research seeks to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, thereby providing insights into their applicability and effectiveness in addressing inventory management challenges across diverse seasonal demand patterns. The sample size was taken as 50 per group. The G-power applied is about 80%. The significance value obtained is 0.001 (p < 0.05), indicating a statistically significant difference between the two algorithms used for inventory reduction and materials forecasting. SDM (63.43) outperforms MEIO (48.57) in terms of accuracy. SDM yielded a better accuracy when compared to MEIO for inventory minimization and materials forecasting.

Poor planning and scheduling increase buying, storage, and obsolescence expenses. Material shortages increase labor, machine optimum time, etc. Industrial raw materials, semi-finished items, spares, and consumables have distinct consumption patterns, reorder points, purchase lead times, quantity limits, discounts, etc. To save money, machine learning predicts demand and prepares materials. This study employs ARIMA or Support Vector Machine (SVM) machine learning-based forecasting approaches to forecast materials for less inventory. Feature engineering eliminates seasonality, time series, and external demand and ignores data irregularities, missing figures, and disparities. This approach needs to adapt traits to factors, separate test and training data, and consider many future models to represent the best forecasts. Forecast reliability and consistency were examined for each model. Inventory management systems were evaluated for computational complexity and installation ease and found implementation issues. Both models’ input data and resilience were examined using sensitivity analysis. Accurate prediction SVM and ARIMA predict material demand differently. Meaningful statistics show the optimal model. Performance differences between SVM and ARIMA enhance model selection. Thinking about the execution of high inventory system integration and computational complexity, response surface methodology chooses factorial variables with the highest or lowest responses. Analysis of variance, factor analysis, and effect modeling expansions demonstrated for the response.

Abstract Millimeter wave (mm-Wave) wireless communication systems require high gain antennas to overcome path loss effects and thereby enhance system coverage. This paper presents the design and analysis of an antenna array for high gain performance of future mm-wave 5G communication systems. The proposed antenna is based on planar microstrip technology and fabricated on 0.254 mm thick dielectric substrate (Rogers-5880) having a relative permittivity of 2.2 and loss tangent of 0.0009. The single radiating element used to construct the antenna array is a microstrip patch that has a configuration resembling a two-pronged fork. The single radiator has a realized gain of 7.6 dBi. To achieve the gain required by 5G base stations, a 64-element array antenna design is proposed which has a bore side gain of 21.2 dBi at 37.2 GHz. The 8 × 8, 8 × 16, and 8 × 32 antenna array designs described here were simulated and optimized using CST Microwave Studio, which is a 3D full-wave electromagnetic solver. The overall characteristics of the array in terms of reflection-coefficient and radiation patterns makes the proposed design suitable for mm-Wave 5G and other communication systems.

A compact quad-port Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna with an electrical dimension of $0.28\lambda _{0}\times 0.28\lambda _{0}$ and impedance bandwidth of 5.03GHz (2.42-7.45GHz) is proposed. By combining a tapered feed line and stubs in the ground plane, which serve as open circuit stubs and whose dimensions are properly tuned to compensate for the antenna’s input impedance, as the inductance and capacitance values are dependent on it, the bandwidth and isolation are improved. The MIMO antenna has a 15dB average isolation and a group delay < 1nsec. In terms of the envelop correlation coefficient (ECC), diversity gain (DG), mean effective gain (MEG), and total active reflection coefficient (TARC), the proposed antenna’s diversity performance characteristics are investigated, and the obtained values are 0.004, 9.99dB, ±3dB, -10dB respectively. Further the channel capacity of the MIMO antenna is also calculated. The maximum channel capacity of the four elements is 21.34bits/sec./Hz. Equivalent circuit of the proposed MIMO is discussed in this article and S-parameter has been compared with simulated results and found good agreement between simulated and circuit results. A prototype was created to compare the calculated parameters with the measured ones to validate the suggested design. In addition, the scattering matrix, which includes the reflection coefficient (S11) and transmission coefficient (S21) between two elements, and other antenna parameters are all advantageous for applications in the Bluetooth (2.400-2.483GHz), ISM band (2.40-2.483GHz, 5.725-5.850GHz), WLAN/Wi-Fi, and 5G (sub-6GHz) bands.

With the advent of 5G communication networks, many novel areas of research have emerged and the spectrum of communicating objects has been diversified. Network Function Virtualization (NFV), and Software Defined Networking (SDN), are the two broader areas that are tremendously being explored to optimize the network performance parameters. Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) is one such example of where end-to-end communication is developed with the aid of intervening network slices. Adoption of these technologies enables a shift towards Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) across various domains including autonomous vehicles that demand a hundred percent Quality of Service (QoS) and extremely low latency rates. Due to the limitation of resources to ensure such communication requirements, telecom operators are profoundly researching software solutions for network resource allocation optimally. The concept of Network Slicing (NS) emerged from such end-to-end network resource allocation where connecting devices are routed toward the suitable resources to meet their requirements. Nevertheless, the bias, in terms of finding the best slice, observed in the network slices renders a non-optimal distribution of resources. To cater to such issues, a Deep Learning approach has been developed in this paper. The incoming traffic has been allocated network slices based on data-driven decisions as well as predictive network analysis for the future. A Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) time series prediction approach has been adopted that renders optimal resource utilization, lower latency rates, and high reliability across the network. The model will further ensure packet prioritization and will retain resource margin for crucial ones.

Information and communication technology has gradually become one of the most important pillars of the economy. In addition to economic growth, environmental pollution is a product of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well. However, whether and how ICTs may affect these systems is unclear. Based on a more comprehensive measurement of ICTs, the current study has investigated the impact of ICTs, education, and economic performance on environmental sustainability from 2000 to 2019 across 93 countries categorized as low-income, middle-income, and high-income. Contrary to preceding studies, this research has used advanced econometric techniques to counter heterogeneities and dependencies in the data and, thus, has produced more trustworthy and efficient results. The finding obtained from the Bias-corrected method of the moment’s estimator and Driscoll and Kraal’s standard error techniques are consistent. According to the results, ICTs have a heterogenous effect on environmental sustainability across low-, middle- and high-income countries. Further results have revealed that education plays a significant role in maintaining environmental sustainability across middle—and high-income groups but does not seem to do so for lower—income groups. Environmental education for all should be part of the policy measures to tackle climate change across all income groups.

Objective: To determine the Carcinoembryonic Antigen Levels among patients with epithelial carcinoma presenting at a tertiary care hospital. Study Design: Prospective longitudinal study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medical Oncology, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi Pakistan, from May 2019 to May 2020. Methodology: Two hundred six patients presenting with a confirmed diagnosis of epithelial carcinoma, aged more than 15 years and of either gender were enrolled in the study. The CEA levels in all the patients were measured using an ELISA kit. The CEA levels were classified as 0-3.0 ng/mL, 3.1-5.0 ng/mL, 5.1-10 ng/mL and >10ng/mL. Results: The mean age of the cancer patients was estimated as 47.30±14.10 years. Most patients had rectum carcinoma 28(13.59%), followed by CA sigmoid 25(12.14%), respectively. The median CEA level was estimated as 5.80ng/mL ranging from 0.82 to 1000 ng/mL. About 76 patients had CEA level >10ng/mL (36.9%), 55 had CEA level 0-3.0 ng/mL (26.7%), 43 had CEA level 3.1-5.0ng/mL (20.9%), and 32 had CEA level 5.1-10.0ng/mL (15.5%). A statistically significant difference in proportions of CEA levels was found for histological type (p=0.001), type of cancer (p=0.001) and number of Mets (p=0.003). Conclusion: Rectal cancer profoundly expressed carcinoembryonic antigen levels, followed by sigmoid, colon, and ovarian cancer. Moreover, there is a significant association among carcinoembryonic antigen levels, histology, type and metastasis of cancer.

Intestinal parasitic infections pose a grave threat to human health, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. The traditional manual microscopy system of intestinal parasite detection remains the gold standard procedure for diagnosing parasite cysts or eggs. This approach is costly, time-consuming (30 min per sample), highly tedious, and requires a specialist. However, computer vision, based on deep learning, has made great strides in recent years. Despite the significant advances in deep convolutional neural network-based architectures, little research has been conducted to explore these techniques’ potential in parasitology, specifically for intestinal parasites. This research presents a novel proposal for state-of-the-art transfer learning architecture for the detection and classification of intestinal parasite eggs from images. The ultimate goal is to ensure prompt treatment for patients while also alleviating the burden on experts. Our approach comprised two main stages: image pre-processing and augmentation in the first stage, and YOLOv5 algorithms for detection and classification in the second stage, followed by performance comparison based on different parameters. Remarkably, our algorithms achieved a mean average precision of approximately 97% and a detection time of only 8.5 ms per sample for a dataset of 5393 intestinal parasite images. This innovative approach holds tremendous potential to form a solid theoretical basis for real-time detection and classification in routine clinical examinations, addressing the increasing demand and accelerating the diagnostic process. Our research contributes to the development of cutting-edge technologies for the efficient and accurate detection of intestinal parasite eggs, advancing the field of medical imaging and diagnosis.

In this paper, a radiating element consisting of a modified circular patch is proposed for MIMO arrays for 5G millimeter-wave applications. The radiating elements in the proposed 2 × 2 MIMO antenna array are orthogonally configured relative to each other to mitigate mutual coupling that would otherwise degrade the performance of the MIMO system. The MIMO array was fabricated on Rogers RT/Duroid high-frequency substrate with a dielectric constant of 2.2, a thickness of 0.8 mm, and a loss tangent of 0.0009. The individual antenna in the array has a measured impedance bandwidth of 1.6 GHz from 27.25 to 28.85 GHz for S11 ≤ −10 dB, and the MIMO array has a gain of 7.2 dBi at 28 GHz with inter radiator isolation greater than 26 dB. The gain of the MIMO array was increased by introducing frequency-selective surface (FSS) consisting of 7 × 7 array of unit cells comprising rectangular C-shaped resonators, with one embedded inside the other with a central crisscross slotted patch. With the FSS, the gain of the MIMO array increased to 8.6 dBi at 28 GHz. The radiation from the array is directional and perpendicular to the plain of the MIMO array. Owing to the low coupling between the radiating elements in the MIMO array, its Envelope Correlation Coefficient (ECC) is less than 0.002, and its diversity gain (DG) is better than 9.99 dB in the 5G operating band centered at 28 GHz between 26.5 GHz and 29.5 GHz.

In this article, a compact printed monopole dual-band antenna using artificial magnetic conductor (AMC)-plane with improved gain and broader bandwidth, applicable for off-body internet of things (IoT) devices is presented. The monopole antenna consists of two C-shaped resonators connected through a U-shaped monopole, parasitic elements, discrete ground circular rings and a co-planar waveguide (CPW) feedline. Each artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) unit cell consists of a slotted circular and a square stubs, designed with two zero-crossing phases for improving the radiation characteristics and to achieve the high gain. The overall size of the proposed AMC-backed antenna is 44.4 mm $\times44.4$ mm $\times1.6$ mm with electrical dimensions of $0.75\lambda _{g}\,\,\times \,\,0.75\lambda _{g}\,\,\times \,\,0.027\lambda _{g}$ . This AMC-backed antenna featured measured bandwidths of 9.6% and 12.4% with improved measured gain values of 4.88 dB and 4.73 dB at 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively. The specific absorption rate (SAR) values are analysed and found to be 1.58 W/kg at 2.45 GHz and 0.9 W/kg at 5.8 GHz. Therefore, the proposed AMC-backed antenna is useful for off-body IoT devices operating at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band applications.

Background and Study Aim: The main purpose behind the study was to establish the challenges in relation to the acquisition of life skills among university student-athletes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The study assessed the extent to which the concern existing resources, facilitators, and trainer attitude influences life skills acquisition among student-athletes. Material and Methods: Descriptive survey research design was followed to obtain desirable results. The target population of this study consisted of all those who participated in different sport at the university level of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Amongst them, we selected a representative sample (n=389 fifty 50% of the total population) with the help of a simple random sampling technique. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version, 24 was used to code and analyse the data. The hypotheses were tested by applying statistical tests like Step-wise regression and independents sample t-test. The significance level of 0.05 was fixed to accept or reject the set hypotheses. Results: Findings of the study indicated that existing resources, facilitators, and trainer/coach attitude significantly influences life skills acquisition among student-athletes (.001, .001 & .000 < .05). The analysed data revealed no significantly difference regarding extent to which specific challenges such as existing resources, facilitators, and trainer attitude influences the acquisition of life skills (.500, .133 & .149 > .05). Conclusions: The findings of the study revealed that all participants have agreed upon the importance of life skills. Therefore, the life skills course might be considered as an integral part of every educational curriculum of Pakistan. It is suggested that a minimum of 2 hours per week may be included in the educational curriculum of each discipline.

Human brucellosis, also termed as Malta fever or Mediterranean fever, is prevalent globally having heavy repercussions in the form of reproductive losses and infertility, arthritis, mastitis, and severe pathologic lesions. This research aimed to analyze the seroprevalence of brucellosis in Alkharj region of Saudi Arabia and identify significant risk factors and their impact on prevalence of brucellosis in patients of the region. This research was however confined to investigating the seroprevalence of human brucellosis in such patients that complained prolonged fever. The study used a cross-sectional survey method to identify patients complaining Pyrexia of Unknown Origin (PUO) with tested and proven presence of clinical characteristics of brucellosis. The results confirmed Brucellosis in 38/278(13.6 %) patients and a strong relationship was also observed between its prevalence and the risk factors such as direct contact with animal, consumption of raw milk and animal products. A proactive approach is required to sensitize people about human brucellosis and to exercise severe discipline. The study recommends introducing awareness programs among livestock community and highlight risk factors. Serological surveillance units may also be established at all district headquarters. In order to diagnose the disease at early stages, valid and reliable serological tests should be made readily available. [ J Adv Biotechnol Exp Ther 2020; 3(1.000): 70-76]

The ecological system is being threatened by the environmental risks related to soil and water pollution. The ecological integrity and environmental quality mandate the approaches and efforts to ensure safer monitoring of health system. A number of technologically advanced methodologies have been ameliorating the impact of toxic chemicals and heavy metals pollutants in the environment. In this regard, the colorimetric monitoring of heavy metal based analytes have extensively been investigated in a variety of fields including, environmental science biomedicine and food industry. Their wide range of applications owes from their ability to offer detection of these analytes with bare eye, high selectivity and sensitivity, facile synthesis and easy operating conditions. Herein, the recent advancement in the field of colorimetric detection based on chemically and biologically synthesized nanomaterials has been reviewed. Emerging biologically synthesized nanomaterials via eco-friendlier green routes and chemically synthesized nanomaterials offers a number of desirable features for the detection of target analyte.

In this paper, a low-profile, compact size, inexpensive, and easily integrable frequency reconfigurable antenna system is proposed. The proposed antenna consists of an inverted-F shape antenna, capacitors, and switching PIN diodes. The designed antenna element is fabricated on easy available and less expensive FR-4 substrate (εr = 4.4, tan δ = 0.02). The switching diodes are incorporated within the radiating structure of the antenna design, and by changing the different states of PIN diodes, frequency reconfigurable response is achieved. While adjusting the different states of the diodes, the antenna resonates between 0.841 GHz and 2.12 GHz and covers six different frequency bands. The proposed system has compact size of 44×14×3.2 mm3. The gain of the antenna is between 1.89 and 2.12 dBi. The measurement results shows the good agreement with simulated results for different key performance parameters. Additionally, the proposed antenna shows omni-directional far-field characteristics for various different frequencies.

Background : In Pakistan, the performance of the university athletes is not satisfactory with reference to preparedness for such kind of athletes to compete in international level. Therefore, this study intends to focus upon the role of proper coaching and training as factor in the production and preparedness of university level athletes to participate at international level sports. Purpose: The main purpose of the current study was to investigate the existence of coaching and training as factor influencing sport participation and performance of the athletes at universities level. Material : The total 671 athletes and 31 director sports were selected from both public and private sector universities as sample through random sampling technique. Data was collected through Self-administered, Likert type questionnaire. Results: Our results revealed that improper coaching and training affect sport performance of the athletes both in public and in private sector universities. Furthermore, the influence of coaching and training were found more at private sector universities in comparison with public sector universities. Also, there were no significant gender-wise (male, female) as well as category-wise (director sports, athletes) responsive differences were observed. Conclusion: It was concluded that improper coaching and deficit facilities, lack of responsible coaching, negative reinforcement and unavailability of trained coaches negatively affect the sports performance of athletes. In addition, insulting, shouting, verbal abusing of coaches and trainers, as well as discrimination and nepotism hinder sports activities at universities.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate knowledge and attitudes towards first aid (FA) measures among medical students at the Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between September and December 2016 among 600 medical students in different academic years at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University. Knowledge and attitudes towards FA measures were evaluated using a modified version of a previously validated questionnaire. Data were compared between students with previous FA training and those without previous FA training. Results: A total of 259 medical students were included (response rate: 43%). Of these, 43% had previously received FA training and 63% had witnessed an emergency first-hand. Mean theoretical (5.93 ± 2.50 versus 4.49 ± 2.08; P

Objective: To determine the frequency of family history of breast cancer among women with breast cancer. Study type settings & duration: This cross sectional study was carried out at the Department of Medical Oncology, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Karachi from January 2019 to July 2019. Methodology: Total 176 females of age 26-74 years suffering from histopathological proven breast carcinoma were included in the study. The socio-demographics data and clinicopathological characteristics were recorded on the predesigned proforma. Family history regarding number and age of family members suffering from breast cancer at the time of diagnosis and degree of relationship with the patient was also obtained. The data was analysed via SPSS version 23. Results: Out of 176 enrolled patients, 42 females had family history of breast cancer (23.8%). Among them almost all (95.2%) had one family member affected and only 2 patient had 2 family members affected by breast cancer. Out of 42, 30 patients had history in their 1st degree of relationship, followed by 2nd (n = 9) and 3rd (n = 3) degree. The most common relation affected by breast cancer was mother (47.6%), followed by sister (26.2%). Conclusion: Family history plays a significant role in breast cancer. Positive relationship between age of the patients and age at diagnosis of breast cancer with family history showed statistical significant difference.

Sound health is considered a prerequisite for performing any action, whether it is participation in sports or performing any other activity of life. From the perspective of Islam, health and fitness are imperative for the appropriate performance of various religious obligations. Sports and other physical activities are considered very effective means to achieve good health. In this paper, the researchers analyzed diverse Islamic standards and rules with reference to participation in games. Moreover, researchers also analyzed the preservation and maintenance of health in the light of the teachings of Islam. After a brief discussion, it was concluded that the Islamic approach is very clear and Islam endorses the upkeep and maintenance of health, fitness and physical power. It was also concluded that sports and other physical activities of today are variations of such activities performed in the past. The study also claims that Islam promotes involvement in leisure sports and other physical activities carried out to strengthen the body and to retain fitness, while observing Islamic teachings, formulated rules and regulations. It can be inferred that the Holy Prophet (SAW) not only took part in different games but also convinced and encouraged his disciples to take part in sporting activities.

The design of a 4 × 4 MIMO antenna for UWB communication systems is presented in this study. The single antenna element is comprised of a fractal circular ring structure backed by a modified partial ground plane having dimensions of 30 × 30 mm2. The single antenna element has a wide impedance bandwidth of 9.33 GHz and operates from 2.67 GHz to 12 GHz. Furthermore, the gain of a single antenna element increases as the frequency increases, with a peak realized gain and antenna efficiency of 5 dBi and >75%, respectively. For MIMO applications, a 4 × 4 array is designed and analyzed. The antenna elements are positioned in a plus-shaped configuration to provide pattern as well as polarization diversity. It is worth mentioning that good isolation characteristics are achieved without the utilization of any isolation enhancement network. The proposed MIMO antenna was fabricated and tested, and the results show that it provides UWB response from 2.77 GHz to over 12 GHz. The isolation between the antenna elements is more than 15 dB. Based on performance attributes, it can be said that the proposed design is suitable for UWB MIMO applications.

Purpose:It is generally believed that sports can play an important role in developing life skills and positive youth development. The purpose of this study was to determine the views of Gomal University students’ athletes on the role that sports played in developing the important life skill of decision making. The time management, planning, dealing with adversity and adapting new situation were taken as decision-making skills. Materials:A sample of n=375 (male=334, female=41 completed questionnaires. The researchers collected the required information with the help of self-administered structured questionnaire encompassing the selected variables of the study. The responses were tabulated and analyzed with the help of computer software. Results:The results showed participants attributed a significant role for sports in developing decision-making skills such as time management, planning, dealing with adversity and adapting new situation (603** at 0.01) and significant correlation between sports participation and the development of various decision-making skills among its participants (603** at 0.01). The results indicated that demographic characteristic such as gender, age, and level of sports participation of the athletes brings variations in the mean score of research variables (0.003, 0.004 & 0.001 < 0.05). conclusions:Results of the study indicated that sports provide an excellent opportunity for students to learn skills that can help them in taking positive as well as effective decision. The present exploration affirmed that students can acquire a) time management skill, b) proper planning, c) dealing with adversity, and d) the ability to adjust in a new situation through active participation in sports activities. However, some demographic characteristics of the sports participants such as gender, sports experience, and format of sports have an influence upon the development of these skills through sports.

This paper aims to design a compact broadband antenna for wireless local area network (WLAN) and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WIMAX) applications. The suggested antenna consists of an octagonal radiator with Vicsek fractal slots and a partial ground plane, it is printed on FR-4 dielectric substrate, and its global dimension is 50 × 50 × 1.6 mm3. The antenna is designed and constructed using both CST MICROWAVE STUDIO® and CADFEKO electromagnetic solver, and in order to validate the acquired simulation results, the antenna is manufactured and tested using vector network analyzer E5071C. The measurement results show that the designed antenna attains a broadband bandwidth (S11 < −10 dB) from 2.48 to 6.7 GHz resonating at 3.6 and 5.3 GHz, respectively. The broadband bandwidth covers the two required bands: WiMAX at the frequencies 2.3/2.5/3.3/3.5/5/5.5 GHz and WLAN at the frequencies 3.6/2.4–2.5/4.9–5.9 GHz. In addition, the suggested antenna provides good gains of 2.78 dBi and 5.32 dBi, omnidirectional measured radiation patterns in the E-plane and the H-plane and high efficiencies of 88.5% and 84.6% at the resonant frequencies. A close agreement of about 90% between simulation and measurement results is noticed.

In this work, a new prototype of the eight-element MIMO antenna system for 5G communications, internet of things, and networks has been proposed. This system is based on an H-shaped monopole antenna system that offers 200 MHz bandwidth ranges between 3.4–3.6 GHz, and the isolation between any two elements is well below −12 dB without using any decoupling structure. The proposed system is designed on a commercially available 0.8 mm-thick FR4 substrate. One side of the chassis is used to place the radiating elements, while the copper from the other side is being removed to avoid short-circuiting with other components and devices. This also enables space for other systems, sub-systems, and components. A prototype is fabricated and excellent agreement is observed between the experimental and the computed results. It was found that ECC is 0.2 for any two radiating elements which is consistent with the desirable standards, and channel capacity is 38 bps/Hz which is 2.9 times higher than 4 × 4 MIMO configuration. In addition, single hand mode and dual hand mode analysis are conducted to understand the operation of the system under such operations and to identify losses and/or changes in the key performance parameters. Based on the results, the proposed antenna system will find its applications in modern 5G handheld devices and internet of things with healthcare and high rate delivery. Besides that, its design simplicity will make it applicable for mass production to be used in industrial demands.

The reported work demonstrates the design and realization of an integrated mid-band (sub-6 GHz) and mmWave multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) antenna for 5G handheld devices. The proposed prototype consists of the two-port MIMO configuration of the mid-band antenna placed at the top and bottom of the substrate, while the 4-port mmWave MIMO antenna is placed sideways. The MIMO configuration at the top and bottom consists of a two-element array to achieve high gain at the mid-band spectrum, while the antennas placed sideways are optimized to cover the 5G-mmWave band spectrum. The overall dimensions of the board were selected the same as the of smartphones, i.e., 151 mm × 72 mm. The mid-band antenna has an operational bandwidth of 2.73 GHz, whereas the mmWave antenna has an impedance bandwidth of 3.85 GHz with a peak gain of 5.29 and 8.57 dBi, respectively. Furthermore, the design is analyzed for the various MIMO performance parameters; it was found that the proposed antennas offer high performance in terms of envelop correlation coefficient (ECC), diversity gain (DG), mean effective gain (MEG) and channel capacity loss (CCL) within operational range. A fabricated prototype was tested and measured results show strong agreement with predicted results. Moreover, the proposed work is compared with state-of-the-art work for the same applications to demonstrate its potential for targeted application.

This article presents a broadband optical nano-antenna, which covers a broader range of optical communication wavelengths (666 to 6000 nm), used in nano-photonic applications. The proposed design is modeled and analyzed to obtain a satisfactory gain of up to 11.4 dBi for a single element-based antenna. The unique feature of the proposed antenna is the hybrid plasmonic waveguide-based feed, which receives the optical signal from the planar waveguide and redirects the signal out of the plane. The proposed antenna provides highly directional radiation properties, which makes it a suitable candidate for inter- and intra-chip optical communications and sensing applications. Moreover, an extension of the work is performed for an array configuration of the order 2 × 1 and 64 × 1, to increase the gain and directionality. Therefore, this shows that it can be equally useful for optical energy harvesting applications with a significant gain up to 26.8 dBi.

Gardnerella spp. are hallmarks of bacterial vaginosis, a clinically significant dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiome. Gardnerella has four subgroups (A, B, C, and D) based on cpn60 sequences. Multiple subgroups are often detected in individual women, and interactions between these subgroups are expected to influence their population dynamics and associated clinical signs and symptoms of bacterial vaginosis. In the present study, contact-independent and contact-dependent interactions between the four Gardnerella subgroups were investigated in vitro. The cell free supernatants of mono- and co-cultures had no effect on growth rates of the Gardnerella subgroups suggesting that there are no contact-independent interactions (and no contest competition). For contact-dependent interactions, mixed communities of 2, 3, or 4 subgroups were created and the initial (0 h) and final population sizes (48 h) were quantified using subgroup-specific PCR. Compared to the null hypothesis of neutral interactions, most (69.3%) of the mixed communities exhibited competition. Competition reduced the growth rates of subgroups A, B, and C. In contrast, the growth rate of subgroup D increased in the presence of the other subgroups. All subgroups were able to form biofilm alone and in mixed communities. Our study suggests that there is scramble competition among Gardnerella subgroups, which likely contributes to the observed distributions of Gardnerella spp. in vaginal microbiomes and the formation of the multispecies biofilms characteristic of bacterial vaginosis.

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of intravenous administration of Berberis vulgaris root bark aqueous extract (BRBD) on the cardiovascular and renal functions of healthy normotensive rats. The different doses of BRBD 1, 10 and 20 mg/kg were administered intravenously (i.v) in normal rats. Blood pressure, diuretic activity and serum renal profile were analyzed. Intravenous injection of BRBD at the different doses of 1, 10 and 20 mg/kg showed a dose-dependent reduction in mean arterial blood pressure (P