Search results for: simple sequence repeat markers

Authors: Rachel Karasenty Saltoun, Charlotte Roddick, Chelsea D. Christie, Frances Chen

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Moving has become an integral part of many people’s lives. This research explores whether relocating to a new city is associated with an increase in loneliness and cardiovascular disease risk and if this increased risk diminishes with continued residency. To test this, various psychosocial variables and three cardiovascular disease risk markers (C-reactive protein, albumin, blood pressure) were assessed on two groups of individuals: those who have moved to Vancouver, Canada in the previous 6 weeks (‘Movers’) and those who have lived in Vancouver for at least five years (‘Non-Movers’). It was hypothesized that individuals who had recently relocated would have heightened levels of loneliness, blood pressure (BP), albumin, and C-reactive protein (CRP) compared to those who had not recently relocated. Length of residency was hypothesized to moderate these effects, such that after a few months, loneliness levels and cardiovascular disease risk would decrease among those who had recently relocated. Correlational analysis indicated a trend between the change in CRP and albumin levels and loneliness overtime on an individual level. However, these results must be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size. As Vancouver’s immigration rates continue to grow, this study has important implications regarding the social support resources offered to new immigrants, as well as bringing awareness at the healthcare level of the potential increase in cardiovascular disease risk among those who have recently relocated.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease risk, loneliness, moving, residential mobility

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Authors: Bharatendra Rai

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The sequence of words in text data has long-term dependencies and is known to suffer from vanishing gradient problems when developing deep learning models. Although recurrent networks such as long short-term memory networks help to overcome this problem, achieving high text classification performance is a challenging problem. Convolutional recurrent networks that combine the advantages of long short-term memory networks and convolutional neural networks can be useful for text classification performance improvements. However, arriving at suitable hyperparameter values for convolutional recurrent networks is still a challenging task where fitting a model requires significant computing resources. This paper illustrates the advantages of using convolutional recurrent networks for text classification with the help of statistically planned computer experiments for hyperparameter tuning.

Keywords: long short-term memory networks, convolutional recurrent networks, text classification, hyperparameter tuning, Tukey honest significant differences

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Authors: Kalpana Singh, Nikita Katiyar

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This research investigates the impact of Raga Bhairavi, a prominent musical scale in Indian classical music, on the mood and basic physiological parameters of research scholars at the University of Lucknow - India. The study focuses on the potential therapeutic effects of listening to Raga Bhairavi during morning hours. A controlled experimental design is employed, utilizing self-reporting tools for mood assessment and monitoring physiological indicators such as heart rate, oxygen saturation levels, body temperature and blood pressure. The hypothesis posits that exposure to Raga Bhairavi will lead to positive mood modulation and a reduction in physiological stress markers among research scholars. Data collection involves pre and post-exposure measurements, providing insights into the immediate and cumulative effects of the musical intervention. The study aims to contribute valuable information to the growing field of music therapy, offering a potential avenue for enhancing the well-being and productivity of individuals engaged in intense cognitive activities. Results may have implications for the integration of music-based interventions in academic and research environments, fostering a conducive atmosphere for intellectual pursuits.

Keywords: bio-musicology, classical music, mood assessment, music therapy, physiology, Raga Bhairavi

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Authors: Tapas Kumar Sinha, Joseph Mathew

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At the moment earth is in grave danger due to threats of global warming. The temperature of the earth has risen by almost 20C. Glaciers in the Arctic have started to melt. It would be foolhardy to think that this is a small effect and in time it would go away. Global warming is caused by a number of factors. However, one sure and simple way to totally eliminate this problem is to put programmable shields in space. Just as an umbrella blocks sunlight, a programmable shield in space will block sun rays from reaching the earth as in a solar eclipse and cause cooling in the penumbral region just as it happens during an eclipse.

Keywords: glaciers, green house, global warming space, satellites

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Authors: Hazha Hidayat, Shayma Ibrahim

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Folate metabolism plays a crucial role in the normal development of the neonatal central nervous system. It is regulated by MTHFR gene polymorphism. Any factors, which will affect this metabolism either by hereditary or gene mutation will lead to many mental disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether MTHFR gene mutation contributes to the development of mental retardation and CP combined with mental retardation in Erbil city. DNA was isolated from the peripheral blood samples of 40 cases suffering from mental retardation (MR) and CP combined with MR were recruited, sequence the 4, 6, 7, 8 exons of the MTHFR gene were done to identify the variants. Exons were amplified by PCR technique and then sequenced according to Sanger method to show the differences with MTHFR reference sequences. We observed (14) mutations in 4, 6, 7, 8 exons in the MTHFR gene associated with Cerebral Palsy combined with mental retardation included deletion, insertion, Substitution. The current study provides additional evidence that multiple variations in the MTHFR gene are associated with mental retardation and Cerebral Palsy.

Keywords: methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene, SNPs, homocysteine, sequencing

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Authors: Acheampong Addo, Emmanuel Odartei Armah, Seth Koranteng Agyakwah, Ruby Asmah, Emmanuel Tetteh-Doku Mensah, Rhoda Lims Diyie, Sena Amewu, Catherine Ragasa, Edward Kofi Abban, Mike Yaw Osei-Atweneboana

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The study investigated genetic variation and relationships among populations of Nile tilapia cultured in small-scale fish farms in selected regions of Ghana. A total of 700 samples were collected. All samples were screened with five microsatellite markers and results were analyzed using (Genetic Analysis in Excel), (Molecular and Evolutionary Genetic Analysis software, and Genpop on the web for Heterozygosity and Shannon diversity, (Analysis of Molecular Variance), and (Principal Coordinate Analysis). Fish from the 16 populations (made up of 14 farms and 2 selectively bred populations) clustered into three groups: 7 populations clustered with the GIFT-derived strain, 4 populations clustered with the Akosombo strain, and three populations were in a separate cluster. The clustering pattern indicated groups of different strains of Nile tilapia cultured. Mantel correlation test also showed low genetic variations among the 16 populations hence the need to boost seed quality in order to accelerate aquaculture production in Ghana.

Keywords: microsatellites, small- scale, Nile tilapia, akosombo strain, GIFT strain

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Authors: Gauravi Agarkar, Mahendra Rai

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Endophytic fungi from medicinal plants are important source of numerous pharmacologically important compounds. In the present investigation, the endophytic fungi were isolated from three medicinal plants; Andrographis paniculata, Rauwolfia serpentina and Tridax procumbens. Endophytic Colletotrichum sp. were identified on the basis of cultural and morphological characteristics as well as internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence analysis. Antibacterial and antifungal activity of the ethyl acetate and methanol extract of endophytic Colletotrichum sp. was evaluated against seven different human pathogenic bacteria and six Candida sp. The extracts were effective and showed significant activity against all the test pathogens. In case of yeast Candida, the combined effect of extracts and standard antibiotic was enhanced greatly showing synergistic activity. Further, the extracts were assayed for Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal/Fungicidal Concentration (MBC/MFC) where, MIC values were in the range of 100-250 μg/ml. These results suggest that the endophytic Colletotrichum sp. isolated from the medicinal plants are capable of producing promising antimicrobial metabolites.

Keywords: antimicrobial, colletotrichum, endophytic fungi, medicinal plants

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Authors: A. Zahra, G. de Cesare, D. Caputo, A. Nascetti

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PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) polymer is a suitable material for biological and MEMS (Microelectromechanical systems) designers, because of its biocompatibility, transparency and high resistance under plasma treatment. PDMS round channel is always been of great interest due to its ability to confine the liquid with membrane type micro valves. In this paper we are presenting a very simple way to form round shape microfluidic channel, which is based on reflow of positive photoresist AZ® 40 XT. With this method, it is possible to obtain channel of different height simply by varying the spin coating parameters of photoresist.

Keywords: lab-on-chip, PDMS, reflow, round microfluidic channel

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Authors: Ait Hamlet Smina, Bensoltane Samira, Djekoun Mohamed, Berrebbah Houria

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In Algeria, the use of insecticides and other phytosanitary products are considerably spreading with the development of agriculture. But, the analyses of the residues of pesticides are not systematically made. In this context, we estimated through an experimental study, the effect of a neonicotinoid insecticide, the thiamethoxam which is used as a commercial preparation on the land snail Helix aspersa. This snail is one of the most abundant gastropod in North-East Algeria. Little information is available in the literature concerning the study of the biochemical markers of mollusks which are exposed to insecticides and especially, thiamethoxam.In this work, adult snails Helix aspersa were used to estimate the effect of a neonicotinoid insecticide (thiamethoxam) on the acetylcholinesterase (AChE), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and catalase (CAT) activities in this gastropod after a treatment of 6 weeks. During this period, snails were exposed by ingestion and contact to fresh lettuce leaves which were soaked with an insecticide solution. The thiamethoxam test solutions were 0, 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/L, which are lower or equal to the concentrations that are applied in field. The results showed that the enzymatic activities of AChE and GST and CAT increased significantly with a dose-dependent manner. These results confirmed the toxic effect of thiamethoxam on snails exposed to the lettuce contaminated with this neonicotinoid insecticide, likely to be used as biomarker of exposure, at first to thiamethoxam then to other insecticides belonging to the same chemical family, currently present in the environment.

Keywords: helix aspersa, insecticide, thiamethoxam, AChE, GST, CAT

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Authors: Md. Moniruzzaman

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The energy of ocean waves across a large part of the earth is inexhaustible. The whole world will benefit if this endless energy can be used in an easy way. The coastal countries will easily be able to meet their own energy needs. The purpose of this article is to use the infinite energy of the ocean wave in a simple way. i.e. a method of efficient use of wave energy. The paper starts by discussing various forces acting on a floating object and, afterward, about the method. And then a calculation for a 73.39MW hydropower from the tidal wave. Used some sketches/pictures. Finally, the conclusion states the possibilities and advantages.

Keywords: anchor, electricity, floating object, pump, ship city, wave energy

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Authors: Sung-Hee Hwang, Michael Lee

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Upregulated Src activity has been implicated in a variety of cancers. Thus, Src family tyrosine kinase (SFK) inhibitors are often effective cancer treatments. Here, we investigate the role of autophagy in ATG5 knockout cell lines generated by the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas mediated genome editing. The CRISPR-associated protein Cas9 is an RNA-guided DNA endonuclease that uses RNA–DNA complementarity to identify target sites for sequence specific double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) cleavage. Interestingly, ATG5 KO cells clearly showed a greater proliferation rate than WT NIH 3T3 cells, implying that autophagy induction is cytotoxic. Also, the clonogenic survival of ATG5 KO cells was greater than WT cells. The MTT assay revealed that the cytotoxic effect of PP2 was weaker on ATG5 knockout cells than that WT cells. The conversion of non-autophagic LC3-I to autophagic LC3-II and RT-PCR confirmed the functional gene knockout. Furthermore, Cyto-ID autophagy assay also revealed that PP2 failed to induce autophagy in ATG5 knockout cells. Together, our findings suggest that the resistance to PP2 in ATG5 knockout cells is associated with defective autophagy.

Keywords: ATG5 knockout, Autophagy, CRISPR/Cas9, PP2

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Authors: Saeed Khodabakhshi, Alimorad Rashidi, Ziba Tavakoli, Sajad Kiani, Sadegh Dastkhoon

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Alumina nanoparticles (γ-Al2O3 NPs) were prepared via a new and simple synthetic route and characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The catalytic activity of prepared γ-Al2O3 NPs was investigated for the one-pot, four-component synthesis of fused tri-heterocyclic compounds containing pyrazole, pyran, and pyrimidine. This procedure has some advantages such as high efficiency, simplicity, high rate and environmental safety.

Keywords: alumina nanoparticles, one-pot, fused tri-heterocyclic compounds, pyran

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Authors: Claudio Burguez, María Castelló, Mikaela Pisani, Marcos Umpiérrez

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BIOFEEDBACK exhibition offers a unique experience for each visitor, combining art, neuroscience, and technology in an interactive way. Using a headband that captures the bioelectric activity of the brain, the visitors are able to generate sound and images in a sequence loop, making them an integral part of the artwork. Through this interactive exhibit, visitors gain a deeper appreciation of the beauty and complexity of the brain. As a special takeaway, visitors will receive an NFT as a present, allowing them to continue their engagement with the exhibition beyond the physical space. We used the EEG Biofeedback technique following a closed-loop neuroscience approach, transforming EEG data captured by a Muse S headband in real-time into audiovisual stimulation. PureData is used for sound generation and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for image generation. Thirty participants have experienced the exhibition. For some individuals, it was easier to focus than others. Participants who said they could focus during the exhibit stated that at one point, they felt that they could control the sound, while images were more abstract, and they did not feel that they were able to control them.

Keywords: art, audiovisual, biofeedback, EEG, NFT, neuroscience, technology

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Authors: Abhishek Oswal

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Background: Inconsistencies between the guidelines for childhood asthma can pose a diagnostic challenge to clinicians. NICE guidelines are the most commonly followed guidelines in primary care in the UK; they state that to be diagnosed with asthma, a child must be more than 5 years old and must have objective evidence of the disease. When diagnoses are coded in general practice (GP), these guidelines may be superseded by communications from secondary care. Hence it is imperative that diagnoses are correct, as per up to date guidelines and evidence, as this affects follow up and management both in primary and secondary care. Methods: A snapshot audit at a general practice surgery was undertaken of children (less than 16 years old) with a coded diagnosis of 'asthma', to review the age at diagnosis and whether any objective evidence of asthma was documented at diagnosis. 50 cases of asthma in children presenting to the emergency department (ED) were then audited to review the age at presentation, whether there was evidence of previous asthma diagnosis and whether the patient was discharged from ED. A repeat audit is planned in ED this winter. Results: In a GP surgery, there were 83 coded cases of asthma in children. 51 children (61%) were diagnosed under 5, with 9 children (11%) who had objective evidence of asthma documented at diagnosis. In ED, 50 cases were collected, of which 4 were excluded as they were referred to the other services, or for incorrect coding. Of the 46 remaining, 27 diagnoses confirmed to NICE guidelines (59%). 33 children (72%) were discharged from ED. Discussion: The most likely reason for the apparent low rate of a correct diagnosis is the significant challenge of obtaining objective evidence of asthma in children. There were a number of patients who were diagnosed from secondary care services and then coded as 'asthma' in GP, without having objective documented evidence. The electronic patient record (EPR) system used in our emergency department (ED) did not allow coding of 'suspected diagnosis' or of 'viral induced wheeze'. This may have led to incorrect diagnoses coded in primary care, of children who had no confirmed diagnosis of asthma. We look forward to the re-audit, as the EPR system has been updated to allow suspected diagnoses. In contrast to the NICE guidelines used here, British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines allow for a trial of treatment and subsequent confirmation of diagnosis without objective evidence. It is possible that some of the cases which have been classified as incorrect in this audit may still meet other guidelines. Conclusion: The diagnosis of asthma in children is challenging. Incorrect diagnoses may be related to clinical pressures and the provision of services to allow compliance with NICE guidelines. Consensus statements between the various groups would also aid the decision-making process and diagnostic dilemmas that clinicians face, to allow more consistent care of the patient.

Keywords: asthma, diagnosis, primary care, emergency department, guidelines, audit

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Authors: William Batson, Yunsik Song, Abel Simie

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Recent trends in suburban design and planning have centered on economic efficiency in construction and completion. In doing so, developers, builders, and architects have bypassed free and reliable sustainable solutions to minimize the carbon footprint and improve the environment. Often, suburban areas are designed without landscape features, sidewalks, parks, adequate lighting, or walking space. Much of the design concern involves minimizing construction costs and streamlining streets and utilities. A new development in creating retention ponds to mitigate flooding and slow runoff is one step in the positive direction. However, "if you build them (suburbs), they (fauna) will come." The inevitable flora and fauna that soon propagate and take refuge within these artificial retention ponds create an additional dilemma. Architects, planners, and developers know the requirements and current strategies to provide residents and wildlife with a viable and sustainable environment. This includes habitat for hibernating animals and facilitating opportunities, especially for cold-blooded mammals. Many species that migrate to these artificial ponds struggle to survive, especially during flooding and when the water table drains below the artificial rim, preventing aquatic mammals from climbing on land. This flooding often results from large areas of impervious asphalt and concrete. These impervious surfaces retain and dispense large amounts of rainwater and contaminants that carry industrial pollutants, oil, plastics, animal waste, and fertilizers into storm drains and then deposited in these retention ponds. This paper will identify and show how simple and logical solutions are used to create a sustainable suburb and reduce the carbon footprint using landscape architectural strategies and cost-free design solutions. We will also demonstrate simple changes in the present suburban design model to provide a viable and sustainable suburb for the 21st century.

Keywords: sustainavilty, suburban, flora, fauna, carbon footprint

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Authors: Borys Stegniy, Anton Gerilovych, Oleksii Solodiankin, Vitaliy Bolotin, Anton Stegniy, Denys Muzyka, Claudio Afonso

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New APMV was isolated from white fronted goose in Ukraine. This isolate was tested serologically using monoclonal antibodies in haemagglutination-inhibition tests against APMV1-9. As the results obtained isolate showed cross reactions with APMV7. Following investigations were provided for the full genome sequencing using random primers and cloning into pCRII-TOPO. Analysis of 100 transformed colonies of E.coli using traditional sequencing gave us possibilities to find only 3 regions, which could identify by BLAST. The first region with the length of 367 bp had 70 % nucleotide sequence identity to the APMV 12 isolate Wigeon/Italy/3920_1/2005 at genome position 2419-2784. Next region (344 bp) had 66 % identity to the same APMV 12 isolate at position 4760-5103. The last region (365 bp) showed 71 % identity to Newcastle disease virus strain M4 at position 12569-12928.

Keywords: APMV, Newcastle disease virus, Ukraine, full genome sequencing

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Authors: Priyanka Ghosh, Priti Kumar Roy

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Every year a considerable number of people die due to methyl alcohol poisoning, in which most of them die even before proper treatment. This work gives a simple and cheap first aid to those affected individuals by the administration of activated charcoal. In this article, we emphasise on the adsorption capability of activated charcoal for the treatment of poisoning and use an impulsive differential equation to study the effect of activated charcoal during adsorption. We also investigate the effects of various parameters on the adsorption which are incorporated in the model system.

Keywords: activated charcoal, adsorption, impulsive differential equation, methanol poisoning

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Authors: Rania A. R. Soudan, Easter Joury

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Introduction: Psoriasis is a common chronic dermatologic disease. It may affect the mucous membranes. The presence of oral mucosal lesions has been a subject of controversy. The aim: To determine possible association between oral mucosal lesions and psoriasis, and to correlate the same with different types of psoriasis and severity of the disease. Materials and Methods: The oral mucosa was clinically examined in 100 randomly selected Syrian psoriatic patients presented to the Dermatological Diseases Hospital in Damascus University, Syria (February 2009 - December 2010), and in 100 matched controls. PASI index was used to evaluate the disease severity. Chi-square and Student t-test were used to compare differences between groups. Results: Oral mucosal lesions were observed in 72% of the psoriasis cases, while 46% of the control group’s subjects had oral lesions. Fissured tongue, geographic tongue, and red lesions were detected in 36%, 25%, and 7% of the examined psoriatics, respectively. These lesions were significantly more frequent in the psoriatics than in the controls. A correlation was found between furred tongue and the age of the psoriasis patients. However, an association was observed for fissured tongue, furred tongue with the severity of the disease, and for fissured tongue, white lesions, cheilitis with nail involvement. However, no correlation with the psoriasis types was recorded. Conclusion: Some oral mucosal lesions were associated with psoriasis, so these lesions may be considered as oral manifestations of this disease, and should be taken into account in new studies as possible predictors or markers of this dermatitis. Further studies are recommended to confirm these oral manifestations.

Keywords: psoriasis, tongue, mucosa, lesions

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Authors: Weisi Guo

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It is well established that there may be running correlations in sequential exam marks due to students sitting in the order of course registration patterns. As such, a random and non-sequential sampling of exam marks is a standard recommended practice. Here, the paper examines a large number of exam data stretching several years across different modules to see the degree to which it is true. Using the real mark distribution as a generative process, it was found that random simulated data had no more sequential randomness than the real data. That is to say, the running correlations that one often observes are statistically identical to chance. Digging deeper, it was found that some high running correlations have students that indeed share a common course history and make similar mistakes. However, at the statistical scale of a module question, the combined effect is statistically similar to the random shuffling of papers. As such, there may not be the need to take random samples for marks, but it still remains good practice to mark papers in a random sequence to reduce the repetitive marking bias and errors.

Keywords: data analysis, empirical study, exams, marking

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Authors: Irina Astrova, Arne Koschel, Thole Schneider, Johannes Westhuis, Jürgen Westerkamp

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The main purpose of this paper was to find a simple solution for load balancing and fault tolerance in OSGi. The challenge was to implement a highly available web application such as a shopping cart system with load balancing and fault tolerance, without having to change the core of OSGi.

Keywords: fault tolerance, load balancing, OSGi, shopping cart system

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Authors: Olatunji Sabitu Alimi

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This study investigated the extent to which administrators’ information storage, retrieval and processing capacities influence decisions on staff promotion in the Teaching Service Commissions (TESCOMs) in The South-West, Nigeria. One research question and two research hypotheses were formulated and tested respectively at 0.05 level of significance. The study used the descriptive research of the survey type. One hundred (100) staff on salary grade level 09 constituted the sample. Multi- stage, stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 100 staff from the TESCOMs in The South-West, Nigeria. Two questionnaires titled Administrators’ Information Storage, Retrieval and Processing Capacities (AISRPC), and Staff Promotion Effectiveness (SPE) were used for data collection. The inventory was validated and subjected to test-re-test and reliability coefficient of r = 0.79 was obtained. The data were collected and analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficient and simple percentage. The study found that Administrators at TESCOM stored their information in files, hard copies, soft copies, open registry and departmentally in varying degrees while they also processed information manually and through electronics for decision making. In addition, there is a significant relationship between administrators’ information storage and retrieval capacities in the TESCOMs in South – West, Nigeria, (r cal = 0.598 > r table = 0.195). Furthermore, administrators’ information processing capacity and staff promotion effectiveness were found to be significantly related (r cal = 0.209 > r table = 0.195 at 0.05 level of significance). The study recommended that training, seminars, workshops should be organized for administrators on information management, while educational organizations should provide Information Management Technology (ICT) equipment for the administrators in the TESCOMs. The staff of TESCOM should be promoted having satisfied the promotion criteria such as spending required number of years on a grade level, a clean record of service and vacancy.

Keywords: information processing capacity, staff promotion effectiveness, teaching service commission, Nigeria

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Authors: Pratyasha Patnaik, A. V. Asha

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Laminated composite plates are made up of plates consisting of layers bonded together and made up of materials chemically different from each other but combined macroscopically. These have an application in aircrafts, railway coaches, bridges etc. because they are easy to handle, have got improved properties and the cost of their fabrication is low. But their failure can lead to catastrophic disasters. And generally, the failure of these structures is due to the combined effect of excessive stresses on it and buckling. Hence, the buckling behavior of these kinds of plates should be analyzed properly. Holes are provided either at the center or elsewhere in the laminar plates for the purpose of pipes for electric cables or other purposes. Due to the presence of holes in the plates, the stress concentration is near to the holes and the stiffness of the plates is reduced. In this study, the effect of a cut-out, its shape, different boundary conditions, length/thickness ratio, stacking sequence, and ply orientation has been studied. The analysis was carried out with laminated composite plates with circular, square and triangular cut-outs. Results show the effect of different cut-out shapes, boundary conditions, the orientation of layers and length/thickness ratio of the buckling load

Keywords: buckling, composite plates, cut-out, stress

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Authors: K. Tejasri, K. Suvarna Vani, S. Prathyusha, S. Ramya

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Proteins are chained sequences of amino acids which are brought together by the peptide bonds. Many varying formations of the chains are possible due to multiple combinations of amino acids and rotation in numerous positions along the chain. Protein structure prediction is one of the crucial goals worked towards by the members of bioinformatics and theoretical chemistry backgrounds. Among the four different structure levels in proteins, we emphasize mainly the secondary level structure. Generally, the secondary protein basically comprises alpha-helix and beta-sheets. Multi-class classification problem of data with disparity is truly a challenge to overcome and has to be addressed for the beta strands. Imbalanced data distribution constitutes a couple of the classes of data having very limited training samples collated with other classes. The secondary structure data is extracted from the protein primary sequence, and the beta-strands are predicted using suitable machine learning algorithms.

Keywords: proteins, secondary structure elements, beta-sheets, beta-strands, alpha-helices, machine learning algorithms

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Authors: S. Dey, T. Mukhopadhyay, S. Adhikari

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This paper presents an exhaustive comparative investigation on sampling techniques of polynomial regression model based stochastic natural frequency of composite plates. Both individual and combined variations of input parameters are considered to map the computational time and accuracy of each modelling techniques. The finite element formulation of composites is capable to deal with both correlated and uncorrelated random input variables such as fibre parameters and material properties. The results obtained by Polynomial regression (PR) using different sampling techniques are compared. Depending on the suitability of sampling techniques such as 2k Factorial designs, Central composite design, A-Optimal design, I-Optimal, D-Optimal, Taguchi’s orthogonal array design, Box-Behnken design, Latin hypercube sampling, sobol sequence are illustrated. Statistical analysis of the first three natural frequencies is presented to compare the results and its performance.

Keywords: composite plate, natural frequency, polynomial regression model, sampling technique, uncertainty quantification

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Authors: Kamaljit Pati, Manas Kumar Mohanty, Sanjib Sadhu

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A heuristic has been designed to generate a random simple monotone polygon from a given set of ‘n’ points lying on a 2-Dimensional plane. Our heuristic generates a random monotone polygon in O(n) time after O(nℓogn) preprocessing time which is improved over the previous work where a random monotone polygon is produced in the same O(n) time but the preprocessing time is O(k) for n < k < n2. However, our heuristic does not generate all possible random polygons with uniform probability. The space complexity of our proposed heuristic is O(n).

Keywords: sorting, monotone polygon, visibility, chain

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Authors: Nurcihan Kiris

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Restricted sleep is common in young adults and adolescents. The results of a few objective studies of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance were not clarified. In particular, the effect of sleep deprivation on the cognitive functions associated with frontal lobe such as attention, executive functions, working memory is not well known. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of partial sleep deprivation experimentally in adolescents on the cognitive tasks of frontal lobe including working memory, strategic thinking, simple attention, continuous attention, executive functions, and cognitive flexibility. Subjects of the study were recruited from voluntary students of Cukurova University. Eighteen adolescents underwent four consecutive nights of monitored sleep restriction (6–6.5 hr/night) and four nights of sleep extension (10–10.5 hr/night), in counterbalanced order, and separated by a washout period. Following each sleep period, cognitive performance was assessed, at a fixed morning time, using a computerized neuropsychological battery based on frontal lobe functions task, a timed test providing both accuracy and reaction time outcome measures. Only the spatial working memory performance of cognitive tasks was found to be statistically lower in a restricted sleep condition than the extended sleep condition. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the performance of cognitive tasks evaluating simple attention, constant attention, executive functions, and cognitive flexibility. It is thought that especially the spatial working memory and strategic thinking skills of adolescents may be susceptible to sleep deprivation. On the other hand, adolescents are predicted to be optimally successful in ideal sleep conditions, especially in the circumstances requiring for the short term storage of visual information, processing of stored information, and strategic thinking. The findings of this study may also be associated with possible negative functional effects on the processing of academic social and emotional inputs in adolescents for partial sleep deprivation. Acknowledgment: This research was supported by Cukurova University Scientific Research Projects Unit.

Keywords: attention, cognitive functions, sleep deprivation, working memory

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Authors: Ridwaan N. Milase, Leonardo J. Van Zyl, Marla Trindade

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American foulbrood (AFB) is the world’s most devastating honeybee disease that has drastically reduced the population of Apis mellifera capensis since 2009. The outbreak has jeopardized the South African bee keeping industry as well as the agricultural sector dependent on honeybees for honey production and pollination, leading to significant economic losses. AFB is caused by Paenibacillus larvae, a spore-forming, Gram positive facultative anaerobic and flagellated bacterium. The use of antibiotics within beehives has selected for resistant strains of P. larvae, while the current practice of burning spore contaminated beehives and equipment contributes to the economic losses in the honeybee-keeping industry. Therefore, phage therapy is proposed as a promising alternative to combat P. larvae strains affecting A. mellifera capensis. The genomes of two P. larvae strains isolated from infected combs in the Western Cape have been sequenced and annotated using bioinformatics tools. Genome analyses has revealed that these P. larvae strains are lysogens to more than 6 different prophages and possess different type of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPRs) regions per strain. Active prophages from one of the two P. larvae strains were detected and identified using PCR. Electron microscopy was used to determine the family of the identified active prophages. Lytic bacteriophages that specifically target the two P. larvae strains were purified from sewage wastewater, beehive materials, and soil samples to investigate their potential development as anti-P. larvae agents. Another alternative treatment being investigated is the development of a prophage endolysin cocktail. Endolysin genes of the prophages have been targeted, cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The heterologously expressed endolysins have been purified and are currently being assessed for their lytic activity against P. larvae strains and other commensal microorganisms that compose the honeybee larvae microbiota. The study has shown that phage therapy and endolysins have a great potential as alternative control methods for AFB disease affecting A. mellifera capensis.

Keywords: American foulbrood, bacteriophage, honeybee, Paenibacillus larvae

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Authors: Kherafa Abdennasser

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A literature review was conducted to gather as much information. Concerns the phenomenon of swelling clays, as well as a presentation of some bibliographic findings on factors affecting the swelling potential. Citing the various techniques of stabilization of clays as well as a presentation of some literature results on the stabilization of swelling. Then a characterization of the materials was carried out at basic bibliographic study. These are standard mechanical geotechnical testing. Simple practical, economical and efficient to minimize the phenomenon swelling.

Keywords: stabilization, expansive soils, cement, lime, oedometer

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Authors: Nael Hirzallah, Sana Nseir

Abstract:

Merchants are competing to offer the use of mobile payment to encourage shopping. many mobile payment systems were made available in various locations worldwide; however, they have various drawbacks. This paper proposes a new mobile payment system that discusses the main drawbacks of these systems, namely security and speed of transaction. The proposal is featured by being simple to use by customers and merchants. Furthermore, the proposed system depends on a new authentication factor that is introduced in this paper and called by Two-Factors Authentication Plus, (2FA+).

Keywords: electronic commerce, payment schemes, mobile payment, authentication factors, mobile applications

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Shazia Anwer Bukhari, Waseem Akhtar Shamshari, Mahmood-Ur-Rahman, Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq, Hawa Z. E. Jaafar

Abstract:

Diabetes mellitus is a life threatening disease and scientists are doing their best to find a cost effective and permanent treatment of this malady. The recent trend is to control the disease by target base inhibiting of enzymes or proteins. Secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4) is found to cause five times more risk of diabetes when expressed above average levels. This study was therefore designed to analyze the SFRP4 and to find its potential inhibitors. SFRP4 was analyzed by bio-informatics tools of sequence tool and structure tool. A total of three potential inhibitors of SFRP4 were found, namely cyclothiazide, clopamide and perindopril. These inhibitors showed significant interactions with SFRP4 as compared to other inhibitors as well as control (acetohexamide). The findings suggest the possible treatment of diabetes mellitus type 2 by inhibiting the SFRP4 using the inhibitors cyclothiazide, clopamide and perindopril.

Keywords: bioscreening, clopamide, cyclothiazide, diabetes mellitus, perindopril, SFRP4

Procedia PDF Downloads 452