Search results for: antimicrobial sensitivity

Authors: Markus Bredel, Sindhu Nair, Hoa Q. Trummell, Rajani Rajbhandari, Christopher D. Willey, Lewis Z. Shi, Zhuo Zhang, William J. Placzek, James A. Bonner

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Purpose: EGFR-targeted monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) provide clinical benefit in some patients with H&N squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but others progress with minimal response. Missense mutations in the EGFR ectodomain (ECD) can be acquired under mAb therapy by mimicking the effect of large deletions on receptor untethering and activation. Little is known about the contribution of EGFR ECD mutations to EGFR activation and anti-EGFR response in HNSCC. Methods: We selected patient-derived HNSCC cells (UM-SCC-1) for resistance to mAb Cetuximab (CTX) by repeated, stepwise exposure to mimic what may occur clinically and identified two concurrent EGFR ECD mutations (UM-SCC-1R). We examined the competence of the mutants to bind EGF ligand or CTX. We assessed the potential impact of the mutations through visual analysis of space-filling models of the native sidechains in the original structures vs. their respective side-chain mutations. We performed CRISPR in combination with site-directed mutagenesis to test for the effect of the mutants on ligand-independent EGFR activation and sorting. We determined the effects on receptor internalization, endocytosis, downstream signaling, and radiation sensitivity. Results: UM-SCC-1R cells carried two non-synonymous missense mutations (G33S and N56K) mapping to domain I in or near the EGF binding pocket of the EGFR ECD. Structural modeling predicted that these mutants restrict the adoption of a tethered, inactive EGFR conformation while not permitting association of EGFR with the EGF ligand or CTX. Binding studies confirmed that the mutant, untethered receptor displayed a reduced affinity for both EGF and CTX but demonstrated sustained activation and presence at the cell surface with diminished internalization and sorting for endosomal degradation. Single and double-mutant models demonstrated that the G33S mutant is dominant over the N56K mutant in its effect on EGFR activation and EGF binding. CTX-resistant UM-SCC-1R cells demonstrated cross-resistance to mAb Panitumuab but, paradoxically, remained sensitive to the reversible receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor Erlotinib. Conclusions: HNSCC cells can select for EGFR ECD mutations under EGFR mAb exposure that converge to trap the receptor in an open, constitutively activated state. These mutants impede the receptor’s competence to bind mAbs and EGF ligand and alter its endosomal trafficking, possibly explaining certain cases of clinical mAb and radiation resistance.

Keywords: head and neck cancer, EGFR mutation, resistance, cetuximab

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Authors: Neha Batra Bali, Monika Tomar, Vinay Gupta

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A reagentless biosensor for detection of urea based on ZnO-CuO composite thin film is presented in following work. Biosensors have immense potential for varied applications ranging from environmental to clinical testing, health care, and cell analysis. Immense growth in the field of biosensors is due to the huge requirement in today’s world to develop techniques which are both cost effective and accurate for prevention of disease manifestation. The human body comprises of numerous biomolecules which in their optimum levels are essential for functioning. However mismanaged levels of these biomolecules result in major health issues. Urea is one of the key biomolecules of interest. Its estimation is of paramount significance not only for healthcare sector but also from environmental perspectives. If level of urea in human blood/serum is abnormal, i.e., above or below physiological range (15-40mg/dl)), it may lead to diseases like renal failure, hepatic failure, nephritic syndrome, cachexia, urinary tract obstruction, dehydration, shock, burns and gastrointestinal, etc. Various metal nanoparticles, conducting polymer, metal oxide thin films, etc. have been exploited to act as matrix to immobilize urease to fabricate urea biosensor. Amongst them, Zinc Oxide (ZnO), a semiconductor metal oxide with a wide band gap is of immense interest as an efficient matrix in biosensors by virtue of its natural abundance, biocompatibility, good electron communication feature and high isoelectric point (9.5). In spite of being such an attractive candidate, ZnO does not possess a redox couple of its own which necessitates the use of electroactive mediators for electron transfer between the enzyme and the electrode, thereby causing hindrance in realization of integrated and implantable biosensor. In the present work, an effort has been made to fabricate a matrix based on ZnO-CuO composite prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique in order to incorporate redox properties in ZnO matrix and to utilize the same for reagentless biosensing applications. The prepared bioelectrode Urs/(ZnO-CuO)/ITO/glass exhibits high sensitivity (70µAmM⁻¹cm⁻²) for detection of urea (5-200 mg/dl) with high stability (shelf life ˃ 10 weeks) and good selectivity (interference ˂ 4%). The enhanced sensing response obtained for composite matrix is attributed to the efficient electron exchange between ZnO-CuO matrix and immobilized enzymes, and subsequently fast transfer of generated electrons to the electrode via matrix. The response is encouraging for fabricating reagentless urea biosensor based on ZnO-CuO matrix.

Keywords: biosensor, reagentless, urea, ZnO-CuO composite

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Authors: Maryam Mohammadi, Mohammadjavad Mahdavinejad, Mojtaba Ansari

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The main driving force for increasing movement towards the design of High-Performance Buildings (HPB) are building codes and rating systems that address the various components of the building and their impact on the environment and energy conservation through various methods like prescriptive methods or simulation-based approaches. The methods and tools developed to meet these needs, which are often based on building performance simulation tools (BPST), have limitations in terms of compatibility with the integrated design process (IDP) and HPB design, as well as use by architects in the early stages of design (when the most important decisions are made). To overcome these limitations in recent years, efforts have been made to develop Design Decision Support Systems, which are often based on artificial intelligence. Numerous needs and steps for designing and developing a Decision Support System (DSS), which complies with the early stages of energy-efficient architecture design -consisting of combinations of different methods in an integrated package- have been listed in the literature. While various review studies have been conducted in connection with each of these techniques (such as optimizations, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, etc.) and their integration of them with specific targets; this article is a critical and holistic review of the researches which leads to the development of applicable systems or introduction of a comprehensive framework for developing models complies with the IDP. Information resources such as Science Direct and Google Scholar are searched using specific keywords and the results are divided into two main categories: Simulation-based DSSs and Meta-simulation-based DSSs. The strengths and limitations of different models are highlighted, two general conceptual models are introduced for each category and the degree of compliance of these models with the IDP Framework is discussed. The research shows movement towards Multi-Level of Development (MOD) models, well combined with early stages of integrated design (schematic design stage and design development stage), which are heuristic, hybrid and Meta-simulation-based, relies on Big-real Data (like Building Energy Management Systems Data or Web data). Obtaining, using and combining of these data with simulation data to create models with higher uncertainty, more dynamic and more sensitive to context and culture models, as well as models that can generate economy-energy-efficient design scenarios using local data (to be more harmonized with circular economy principles), are important research areas in this field. The results of this study are a roadmap for researchers and developers of these tools.

Keywords: integrated design process, design decision support system, meta-simulation based, early stage, big data, energy efficiency

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Authors: Jayanwita Sarkar, Usha Chakraborty, Bishwanath Chakraborty

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Plants are constantly interacting with various abiotic and biotic stresses. In changing climate scenario plants are continuously modifying physiological processes to adapt to changing environmental conditions which profoundly affect plant-pathogen interactions. Spot blotch in wheat is a fast-rising disease in the warmer plains of South Asia where the rise in minimum average temperature over most of the year already affecting wheat production. Hence, the study was undertaken to explore the role of elevated temperature in spot blotch disease development and modulation of antioxidative responses by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) for biocontrol of spot blotch at high temperature. Elevated temperature significantly increases the susceptibility of wheat plants to spot blotch causing pathogen Bipolaris sorokiniana. Two PGPR Bacillus safensis (W10) and Ochrobactrum pseudogrignonense (IP8) isolated from wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and blady grass (Imperata cylindrical L.) rhizophere respectively, showing in vitro antagonistic activity against Bipolaris sorokiniana were tested for growth promotion and induction of resistance against spot blotch in wheat. GC-MS analysis showed that Bacillus safensis (W10) and Ochrobactrum pseudogrignonense (IP8) produced antifungal and antimicrobial compounds in culture. Seed priming with these two bacteria significantly increase growth, modulate antioxidative signaling and induce resistance and eventually reduce disease incidence in wheat plants at optimum as well as elevated temperature which was further confirmed by indirect immunofluorescence assay using polyclonal antibody raised against Bipolaris sorokiniana. Application of the PGPR led to enhancement in activities of plant defense enzymes- phenylalanine ammonia lyase, peroxidase, chitinase and β-1,3 glucanase in infected leaves. Immunolocalization of chitinase and β-1,3 glucanase in PGPR primed and pathogen inoculated leaf tissue was further confirmed by transmission electron microscopy using PAb of chitinase, β-1,3 glucanase and gold labelled conjugates. Activity of ascorbate-glutathione redox cycle related enzymes such as ascorbate peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione reductase along with antioxidants such as carotenoids, glutathione and ascorbate and osmolytes like proline and glycine betain accumulation were also increased during disease development in PGPR primed plant in comparison to unprimed plants at high temperature. Real-time PCR analysis revealed enhanced expression of defense genes- chalcone synthase and phenyl alanineammonia lyase. Over expression of heat shock proteins like HSP 70, small HSP 26.3 and heat shock factor HsfA3 in PGPR primed plants effectively protect plants against spot blotch infection at elevated temperature as compared with control plants. Our results revealed dynamic biochemical cross talk between elevated temperature and spot blotch disease development and furthermore highlight PGPR mediated array of antioxidative and molecular alterations responsible for induction of resistance against spot blotch disease at elevated temperature which seems to be associated with up-regulation of defense genes, heat shock proteins and heat shock factors, less ROS production, membrane damage, increased expression of redox enzymes and accumulation of osmolytes and antioxidants.

Keywords: antioxidative enzymes, defense enzymes, elevated temperature, heat shock proteins, PGPR, Real-Time PCR, spot blotch, wheat

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Authors: Gousilin Leandra Rocha Da Silva, Stéfani T. A. Dantas, Bruna F. Rossi, Erika R. Bonsaglia, Ivana G. Castilho, Terue Sadatsune, Ary Fernandes Júnior, Vera l. M. Rall

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Kidney failure causes decreased diuresis and accumulation of nitrogenous substances in the body. To increase patient survival, hemodialysis is used as a partial substitute for renal function. However, contamination of the water used in this treatment, causing bacteremia in patients, is a worldwide concern. The Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc), a group of bacteria with more than 20 species, is frequently isolated from hemodialysis water samples and comprises opportunistic bacteria, affecting immunosuppressed patients, due to its wide variety of virulence factors, in addition to innate resistance to several antimicrobial agents, contributing to the permanence in the hospital environment and to the pathogenesis in the host. The objective of the present work was to characterize molecularly and phenotypically Bcc isolates collected from the water and dialysate of the Hemodialysis Unit and from the blood of patients at a Public Hospital in Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil, between 2019 and 2021. We used 33 Bcc isolates, previously obtained from blood cultures from patients with bacteremia undergoing hemodialysis treatment (2019-2021) and 24 isolates obtained from water and dialysate samples in a Hemodialysis Unit (same period). The recA gene was sequenced to identify the specific species among the Bcc group. All isolates were tested for the presence of some genes that encode virulence factors such as cblA, esmR, zmpA and zmpB. Considering the epidemiology of the outbreak, the Bcc isolates were molecularly characterized by Multi Locus Sequence Type (MLST) and by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The verification and quantification of biofilm in a polystyrene microplate were performed by submitting the isolates to different incubation temperatures (20°C, average water temperature and 35°C, optimal temperature for group growth). The antibiogram was performed with disc diffusion tests on agar, using discs impregnated with cefepime (30µg), ceftazidime (30µg), ciprofloxacin (5µg), gentamicin (10µg), imipenem (10µg), amikacin 30µg), sulfametazol/trimethoprim (23.75/1.25µg) and ampicillin/sulbactam (10/10µg). The presence of ZmpB was identified in all isolates, while ZmpA was observed in 96.5% of the isolates, while none of them presented the cblA and esmR genes. The antibiogram of the 33 human isolates indicated that all were resistant to gentamicin, colistin, ampicillin/sulbactam and imipenem. 16 (48.5%) isolates were resistant to amikacin and lower rates of resistance were observed for meropenem, ceftazidime, cefepime, ciprofloxacin and piperacycline/tazobactam (6.1%). All isolates were sensitive to sulfametazol/trimethoprim, levofloxacin and tigecycline. As for the water isolates, resistance was observed only to gentamicin (34.8%) and imipenem (17.4%). According to PFGE results, all isolates obtained from humans and water belonged to the same pulsotype (1), which was identified by recA sequencing as B. cepacia¸, belonging to sequence type ST-767. By observing a single pulse type over three years, one can observe the persistence of this isolate in the pipeline, contaminating patients undergoing hemodialysis, despite the routine disinfection of water with peracetic acid. This persistence is probably due to the production of biofilm, which protects bacteria from disinfectants and, making this scenario more critical, several isolates proved to be multidrug-resistant (resistance to at least three groups of antimicrobials), turning the patient care even more difficult.

Keywords: hemodialysis, burkholderia cepacia, PFGE, MLST, multi drug resistance

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Authors: Ivan Maguire, Alan Barrett, Alex Forte, Sandra Kwiatkowska, Rohit Mishra, Jens Ducrèe, Fiona Regan

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Biofouling is defined as the gradual accumulation of Biomimetics refers to the use and imitation of principles copied from nature. Biomimetics has found interest across many commercial disciplines. Among many biological objects and their functions, aquatic animals deserve a special attention due to their antimicrobial capabilities resulting from chemical composition, surface topography or other behavioural defences, which can be used as an inspiration for antifouling technology. Marine biofouling has detrimental effects on seagoing vessels, both commercial and leisure, as well as on oceanographic sensors, offshore drilling rigs, and aquaculture installations. Sensor optics, membranes, housings and platforms can become fouled leading to problems with sensor performance and data integrity. While many anti-fouling solutions are currently being investigated as a cost-cutting measure, biofouling settlement may also be prevented by creating a surface that does not satisfy the settlement conditions. Brill (Scophthalmus rhombus) is a small flatfish occurring in marine waters of Mediterranean as well as Norway and Iceland. It inhabits sandy and muddy coastal waters from 5 to 80 meters. Its skin colour changes depending on environment, but generally is brownish with light and dark freckles, with creamy underside. Brill is oval in shape and its flesh is white. The aim of this study is to translate the unique micro-topography of the brill scale, to design marine inspired biomimetic surface coating and test it against a typical fouling organism. Following extensive study of scale topography of the brill fish (Scophthalmus rhombus) and the settlement behaviour of the diatom species Psammodictyon sp. via SEM, two state-of-the-art antifouling surface solutions were designed and investigated; A brill fish scale bioinspired surface pattern platform (BFD), and generic and uniformly-arrayed, circular micropillar platform (MPD), with offsets based on diatom species settlement behaviour. The BFD approach consists of different ~5 μm by ~90 μm Brill-replica patterns, grown to a 5 μm height, in a linear array pattern. The MPD approach utilises hexagonal-packed cylindrical pillars 10.6 μm in diameter, grown to a height of 5 μm, with vertical offset of 15 μm and horizontal offset of 26.6 μm. Photolithography was employed for microstructure growth, with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chip-based used as a testbed for diatom adhesion on both platforms. Settlement and adhesion tests were performed using this PDMS microfluidic chip through subjugation to centrifugal force via an in-house developed ‘spin-stand’ which features a motor, in combination with a high-resolution camera, for real-time observing diatom release from PDMS material. Diatom adhesion strength can therefore be determined based on the centrifugal force generated at varying rotational speeds. It is hoped that both the replica and bio-inspired solutions will give comparable anti-fouling results to these synthetic surfaces, whilst also assisting in determining whether anti-fouling solutions should predominantly be investigating either fully bioreplica-based, or a bioinspired, synthetically-based design.

Keywords: anti-fouling applications, bio-inspired microstructures, centrifugal microfluidics, surface modification

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Authors: Martyna Chotomska, Aleksandra Studzinska, Marta Lisowska, Justyna Szubert, Aleksandra Tabis, Jacek Bania, Arkadiusz Miazek

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Objectives: Assessing antigen-specific T cell responses is of utmost importance for the pre-clinical testing of prototype vaccines against intracellular pathogens and tumor antigens. Mainly two types of in vitro assays are used for this purpose 1) enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISpot) and 2) intracellular cytokine staining (ICS). Both are time-consuming, relatively expensive, and require manual dexterity. Here, we assess if a straightforward detection of luciferase activity in blood samples of transgenic reporter mice expressing a secreted Lucia luciferase under the transcriptional control of IFN-γ promoter parallels the sensitivity of IFNγ ELISpot assay. Methods: IFN-γ-LUCIA mouse strain carrying multiple copies of Lucia luciferase transgene under the transcriptional control of IFNγ minimal promoter were generated by pronuclear injection of linear DNA. The specificity of transgene expression and mobilization was assessed in vitro using transgenic splenocytes exposed to various mitogens. The IFN-γ-LUCIA mice were immunized with 50mg of ovalbumin (OVA) emulsified in incomplete Freund’s adjuvant three times every two weeks by subcutaneous injections. Blood samples were collected before and five days after each immunization. Luciferase activity was assessed in blood serum. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were separated and assessed for frequencies of OVA-specific IFNγ-secreting T cells. Results: We show that in vitro cultured splenocytes of IFN-γ-LUCIA mice respond by 2 and 3 fold increase in secreted luciferase activity to T cell mitogens concanavalin A and phorbol myristate acetate, respectively but fail to respond to B cell-stimulating E.coli lipopolysaccharide. Immunization of IFN-γ-LUCIA mice with OVA leads to over 4 fold increase in luciferase activity in blood serum five days post-immunization with a barely detectable increase in OVA-specific, IFNγ-secreting T cells by ELISpot. Second and third immunizations, further increase the luciferase activity and coincidently also increase the frequencies of OVA-specific T cells by ELISpot. Conclusions: We conclude that minimally invasive monitoring of luciferase secretions in blood serum of IFN-γ-LUCIA mice constitutes a sensitive method for evaluating primary and memory Th1 responses to protein antigens. As such, this method may complement existing methods for rapid immunogenicity assessment of prototype vaccines.

Keywords: ELISpot, immunogenicity, interferon-gamma, reporter mice, vaccines

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Authors: Elena Pucci, Margherita Tufarelli, Leonardo Giliberti

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As central for human and social development of the future, sustainability is becoming a recurring theme also in the fashion industry, where the need to explore new possible directions aimed at achieving sustainability goals and their communication is rising. Scholars have been devoted to the overall environmental impact of the textile and fashion industry, which, emerging as one of the world’s most polluting, today concretely assumes the need to take the path of sustainability in both products and production processes. Every day we witness the impact of our consumption, showing that the sustainability concept is as vast as complex: with a sometimes ambiguous definition, sustainability can concern projects, products, companies, sales, packagings, supply chains in relation to the actors proximity as well as traceability, raw materials procurement, and disposal. However, in its primary meaning, sustainability is the ability to maintain specific values and resources for future generations. The contribution aims to address sustainability in the fashion system as a layered problem that requires substantial changes at different levels: in the fashion product (materials, production processes, timing, distribution, and disposal), in the functioning of the system (life cycle, impact, needs, communication) and last but not least in the practice of fashion design which should conceive durable, low obsolescence and possibly demountable products. Moreover, consumers play a central role for the growing awareness, together with an increasingly strong sensitivity towards the environment and sustainable clothing. Since it is also a market demand, undertaking significant efforts to achieve total transparency and sustainability in all production and distribution processes is becoming fundamental for the fashion system. Sustainability is not to be understood as purely environmental but as the pursuit of collective well-being in relation to conscious production, human rights, and social dignity with the aim to achieve intelligent, resource, and environmentally friendly production and consumption patterns. Assuming sustainability as a layered problem makes the role of communication crucial to convey scientific or production specific content so that people can obtain and interpret information to make related decisions. Hence, if it is true that “what designers make becomes the future we inhabit'', design is facing great and challenging responsibility. The fashion industry needs a system of rules able to assess the sustainability of products, which is transparent and easily interpreted by consumers, identifying and enhancing virtuous practices. There are still complex and fragmented value chains that make it extremely difficult for brands and manufacturers to know the history of their products, to identify exactly where the risks lie, and to respond to the growing demand from consumers and civil society for responsible and sustainable production practices in the fashion industry.

Keywords: fashion design, fashion system, sustainability, communication, complexity

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Authors: Claudia Norambuena, Myissa Weiss, Maria Ruiz Maya, Matthew Straley, Elijah Hammond, Benjamin Chesebrough, David Grow

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The purpose of this project is to develop a low-cost, portable sensor device that can be used at home for long-term analysis of gait and balance abnormalities. One area of particular concern involves the asymmetries in movement and balance that can accompany certain types of injuries and/or the associated devices used in the repair and rehabilitation process (e.g. the use of splints and casts) which can often increase chances of falls and additional injuries. This device has the capacity to monitor a patient during the rehabilitation process after injury or operation, increasing the patient’s access to healthcare while decreasing the number of visits to the patient’s clinician. The sensor device may thereby improve the quality of the patient’s care, particularly in rural areas where access to the clinician could be limited, while simultaneously decreasing the overall cost associated with the patient’s care. The device consists of nine interconnected accelerometer/ gyroscope/compass chips (9-DOF IMU, Adafruit, New York, NY). The sensors attach to and are used to determine the orientation and acceleration of the patient’s lower abdomen, C7 vertebra (lower neck), L1 vertebra (middle back), anterior side of each thigh and tibia, and dorsal side of each foot. In addition, pressure sensors are embedded in shoe inserts with one sensor (ESS301, Tekscan, Boston, MA) beneath the heel and three sensors (Interlink 402, Interlink Electronics, Westlake Village, CA) beneath the metatarsal bones of each foot. These sensors measure the distribution of the weight applied to each foot as well as stride duration. A small microntroller (Arduino Mega, Arduino, Ivrea, Italy) is used to collect data from these sensors in a CSV file. MATLAB is then used to analyze the data and output the hip, knee, ankle, and trunk angles projected on the sagittal plane. An open-source program Processing is then used to generate an animation of the patient’s gait. The accuracy of the sensors was validated through comparison to goniometric measurements (±2° error). The sensor device was also shown to have sufficient sensitivity to observe various gait abnormalities. Several patients used the sensor device, and the data collected from each represented the patient’s movements. Further, the sensors were found to have the ability to observe gait abnormalities caused by the addition of a small amount of weight (4.5 - 9.1 kg) to one side of the patient. The user-friendly interface and portability of the sensor device will help to construct a bridge between patients and their clinicians with fewer necessary inpatient visits.

Keywords: biomedical sensing, gait analysis, outpatient, rehabilitation

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Authors: Rio Hirakawa, Christian Gundlach, Sven Hartwig

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Aluminium has been used in a wide range of industrial applications due to its numerous advantages, including excellent specific strength, thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, workability and recyclability. The automotive industry is increasingly adopting multi-materials, including aluminium in structures and components to improve the mechanical usability and performance of individual components. A common method for assembling dissimilar materials is mechanical joining, but mechanical joining requires multiple manufacturing steps, affects the mechanical properties of the base material and increases the weight due to additional metal parts. Fusion bonding is being used in more and more industries as a way of avoiding the above drawbacks. Infusion bonding, and surface pre-treatment of the base material is essential to ensure the long-life durability of the joint. Laser surface treatment of aluminium has been shown to improve the durability of the joint by forming a passive oxide film and roughening the substrate surface. Infusion bonding, the polymer bonds directly to the metal instead of the adhesive, but the sensitivity to interfacial contamination is higher due to the chemical activity and molecular size of the polymer. Laser-treated surfaces are expected to absorb impurities from the storage atmosphere over time, but the effect of such changes in the treated surface over time on the durability of fusion-bonded joints has not yet been fully investigated. In this paper, the effect of the ageing of laser-treated surfaces of aluminum alloys on the corrosion resistance of fusion-bonded joints is therefore investigated. AlMg3 of 1.5 mm thickness was cut using a water-jet cutting machine, cleaned and degreased with isopropanol and surface pre-treated with a pulsed fiber laser at a wavelength of 1060 nm, maximum power of 70 W and repetition rate of 55 kHz. The aluminum surfaces were then stored in air for various periods of time and their corrosion resistance was assessed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). For the aluminum joints, induction heating was employed as the fusion bonding method and single-lap shear specimens were prepared. The corrosion resistance of the joints was assessed by measuring the lap shear strength before and after neutral salt spray. Cross-sectional observations by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were also carried out to investigate changes in the microstructure of the bonded interface. Finally, the corrosion resistance of the surface and the joint were compared and the differences in the mechanisms of corrosion resistance enhancement between the two were discussed.

Keywords: laser surface treatment, pre-treatment, bonding, corrosion, durability, interface, automotive, aluminium alloys, joint, fusion bonding

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Authors: Kevin Potoczny, Katsuichiro Goda

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The St. Lawrence lowlands extend from Ottawa to Quebec City and are known for large deposits of sensitive Leda clay. Leda clay deposits are responsible for many large landslides, such as the 1993 Lemieux and 2010 St. Jude (4 fatalities) landslides. Due to the large extent and sensitivity of Leda clay, regional hazard analysis for landslides is an important tool in risk management. A 2018 regional study by Farzam et al. on the susceptibility of Leda clay slopes to landslide hazard uses 1 arc second topographical data. A qualitative method known as Hazus is used to estimate susceptibility by checking for various criteria in a location and determine a susceptibility rating on a scale of 0 (no susceptibility) to 10 (very high susceptibility). These criteria are slope angle, geological group, soil wetness, and distance from waterbodies. Given the flat nature of St. Lawrence lowlands, the current assessment fails to capture local slopes, such as the St. Jude site. Additionally, the data did not allow one to analyze failure planes accurately. This study majorly improves the analysis performed by Farzam et al. in two aspects. First, regional assessment with high resolution data allows for identification of local locations that may have been previously identified as low susceptibility. This then provides the opportunity to conduct a more refined analysis on the failure plane of the slope. Slopes derived from 1 arc second data are relatively gentle (0-10 degrees) across the region; however, the 1- and 2-meter resolution 2022 HRDEM provided by NRCAN shows that short, steep slopes are present. At a regional level, 1 arc second data can underestimate the susceptibility of short, steep slopes, which can be dangerous as Leda clay landslides behave retrogressively and travel upwards into flatter terrain. At the location of the St. Jude landslide, slope differences are significant. 1 arc second data shows a maximum slope of 12.80 degrees and a mean slope of 4.72 degrees, while the HRDEM data shows a maximum slope of 56.67 degrees and a mean slope of 10.72 degrees. This equates to a difference of three susceptibility levels when the soil is dry and one susceptibility level when wet. The use of GIS software is used to create a regional susceptibility map across the St. Lawrence lowlands at 1- and 2-meter resolutions. Failure planes are necessary to differentiate between small and large landslides, which have so far been ignored in regional analysis. Leda clay failures can only retrogress as far as their failure planes, so the regional analysis must be able to transition smoothly into a more robust local analysis. It is expected that slopes within the region, once previously assessed at low susceptibility scores, contain local areas of high susceptibility. The goal is to create opportunities for local failure plane analysis to be undertaken, which has not been possible before. Due to the low resolution of previous regional analyses, any slope near a waterbody could be considered hazardous. However, high-resolution regional analysis would allow for more precise determination of hazard sites.

Keywords: hazus, high-resolution DEM, leda clay, regional analysis, susceptibility

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Authors: Mirim Kim, Won-Oak Oh

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify hospitalized children's fall risk factors, fall prevention status and fall prevention strategies recognized by nurses and caregivers of hospitalized children and present an ecological model for fall preventive management in hospitalized children. Method: The participants of this study were 14 nurses working in medical institutions and having more than one year of child care experience and 14 adult caregivers of children under 6 years of age receiving inpatient treatment at a medical institution. One to one interview was attempted to identify their perception of fall preventive management. Transcribed data were analyzed through latent content analysis method. Results: Fall risk factors in hospitalized children were 'unpredictable behavior', 'instability', 'lack of awareness about danger', 'lack of awareness about falls', 'lack of child control ability', 'lack of awareness about the importance of fall prevention', 'lack of sensitivity to children', 'untidy environment around children', 'lack of personalized facilities for children', 'unsafe facility', 'lack of partnership between healthcare provider and caregiver', 'lack of human resources', 'inadequate fall prevention policy', 'lack of promotion about fall prevention', 'a performanceism oriented culture'. Fall preventive management status of hospitalized children were 'absence of fall prevention capability', 'efforts not to fall', 'blocking fall risk situation', 'limit the scope of children's activity when there is no caregiver', 'encourage caregivers' fall prevention activities', 'creating a safe environment surrounding hospitalized children', 'special management for fall high risk children', 'mutual cooperation between healthcare providers and caregivers', 'implementation of fall prevention policy', 'providing guide signs about fall risk'. Fall preventive management strategies of hospitalized children were 'restrain dangerous behavior', 'inspiring awareness about fall', 'providing fall preventive education considering the child's eye level', 'efforts to become an active subject of fall prevention activities', 'providing customed fall prevention education', 'open communication between healthcare providers and caregivers', 'infrastructure and personnel management to create safe hospital environment', 'expansion fall prevention campaign', 'development and application of a valid fall assessment instrument', 'conversion of awareness about safety'. Conclusion: In this study, the ecological model of fall preventive management for hospitalized children reflects various factors that directly or indirectly affect the fall prevention of hospitalized children. Therefore, these results can be considered as useful baseline data for developing systematic fall prevention programs and hospital policies to prevent fall accident in hospitalized children. Funding: This study was funded by the National Research Foundation of South Korea (grant number NRF-2016R1A2B1015455).

Keywords: fall down, safety culture, hospitalized children, risk factors

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Authors: Amit Das

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Background and significance of the study: Generally investors and market forecasters use financial statement for investigation while it awakens contribute to investing. The main vicinity of financial accounting and reporting practices recommends a few basic financial performance indicators, namely, return on capital employed, return on assets and earnings per share, which is associated considerably with share prices. It is principally true in case of Indian pharmaceutical companies also. Share investing is intriguing a financial risk in addition to investors look for those financial evaluations which have noteworthy shock on share price. A crucial intention of financial statement analysis and reporting is to offer information which is helpful predominantly to exterior clients in creating credit as well as investment choices. Sound financial performance attracts the investors automatically and it will increase the share price of the respective companies. Keeping in view of this, this research work investigates the impact of financial performance indicators on share price of pharmaceutical companies in India which is listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange. Methodology: This research work is based on secondary data collected from moneycontrol database on September 28, 2015 of top 101 pharmaceutical companies in India. Since this study selects four financial performance indicators purposively and availability in the database, that is, earnings per share, return on capital employed, return on assets and net profits as independent variables and one dependent variable, share price of 101 pharmaceutical companies. While analysing the data, correlation statistics, multiple regression technique and appropriate test of significance have been used. Major findings: Correlation statistics show that four financial performance indicators of 101 pharmaceutical companies are associated positively and negatively with its share price and it is very much significant that more than 80 companies’ financial performances are related positively. Multiple correlation test results indicate that financial performance indicators are highly related with share prices of the selected pharmaceutical companies. Furthermore, multiple regression test results illustrate that when financial performances are good, share prices have been increased steadily in the Bombay stock exchange and all results are statistically significant. It is more important to note that sensitivity indices were changed slightly through financial performance indicators of selected pharmaceutical companies in India. Concluding statements: The share prices of pharmaceutical companies depend on the sound financial performances. It is very clear that share prices are changed with the movement of two important financial performance indicators, that is, earnings per share and return on assets. Since 101 pharmaceutical companies are listed in the Bombay stock exchange and Sensex are changed with this, it is obvious that Government of India has to take important decisions regarding production and exports of pharmaceutical products so that financial performance of all the pharmaceutical companies are improved and its share price are increased positively.

Keywords: financial performance indicators, share prices, pharmaceutical companies, India

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Authors: Sally Naji, Julie Gwilliam

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Climate change remains a challenging matter for the human and the built environment in the 21st century, where the need to consider adaptation to climate change in the development process is paramount. However, there remains a lack of information regarding how we should prepare responses to this issue, such as through developing organized and sophisticated tools enabling the adaptation process. This study aims to build a systematic framework approach to investigate the potentials that Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment tools (NSA) might offer in enabling both the analysis of the emerging adaptive capacity to climate change. The analysis of the framework presented in this paper aims to discuss this issue in three main phases. The first part attempts to link sustainability and climate change, in the context of adaptive capacity. It is argued that in deciding to promote sustainability in the context of climate change, both the resilience and vulnerability processes become central. However, there is still a gap in the current literature regarding how the sustainable development process can respond to climate change. As well as how the resilience of practical strategies might be evaluated. It is suggested that the integration of the sustainability assessment processes with both the resilience thinking process, and vulnerability might provide important components for addressing the adaptive capacity to climate change. A critical review of existing literature is presented illustrating the current lack of work in this field, integrating these three concepts in the context of addressing the adaptive capacity to climate change. The second part aims to identify the most appropriate scale at which to address the built environment for the climate change adaptation. It is suggested that the neighborhood scale can be considered as more suitable than either the building or urban scales. It then presents the example of NSAs, and discusses the need to explore their potential role in promoting the adaptive capacity to climate change. The third part of the framework presents a comparison among three example NSAs, BREEAM Communities, LEED-ND, and CASBEE-UD. These three tools have been selected as the most developed and comprehensive assessment tools that are currently available for the neighborhood scale. This study concludes that NSAs are likely to present the basis for an organized framework to address the practical process for analyzing and yet promoting Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change. It is further argued that vulnerability (exposure & sensitivity) and resilience (Interdependence & Recovery) form essential aspects to be addressed in the future assessment of NSA’s capability to adapt to both short and long term climate change impacts. Finally, it is acknowledged that further work is now required to understand impact assessment in terms of the range of physical sectors (Water, Energy, Transportation, Building, Land Use and Ecosystems), Actor and stakeholder engagement as well as a detailed evaluation of the NSA indicators, together with a barriers diagnosis process.

Keywords: adaptive capacity, climate change, NSA tools, resilience, sustainability

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Authors: Mohammad Emamjome Kashan, Alan S. Fung

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In Canada, more than 32% of the total energy demand is related to the building sector. Therefore, there is a great opportunity for Greenhouse Gases (GHG) reduction by integrating solar collectors to provide building heating load and domestic hot water (DHW). Despite the cold winter weather, Canada has a good number of sunny and clear days that can be considered for diurnal solar thermal energy storage. Due to the energy mismatch between building heating load and solar irradiation availability, relatively big storage tanks are usually needed to store solar thermal energy during the daytime and then use it at night. On the other hand, water tanks occupy huge space, especially in big cities, space is relatively expensive. This project investigates the possibility of using a specific building construction material (ICF – Insulated Concrete Form) as diurnal solar thermal energy storage that is integrated with a heat pump and microchannel solar thermal collector (MCST). Not much literature has studied the application of building pre-existing walls as active solar thermal energy storage as a feasible and industrialized solution for the solar thermal mismatch. By using ICF walls that are integrated into the building envelope, instead of big storage tanks, excess solar energy can be stored in the concrete of the ICF wall that consists of EPS insulation layers on both sides to store the thermal energy. In this study, two solar-based systems are designed and simulated inTransient Systems Simulation Program(TRNSYS)to compare ICF wall thermal storage benefits over the system without ICF walls. In this study, the heating load and DHW of a Canadian single-family house located in London, Ontario, are provided by solar-based systems. The proposed system integrates the MCST collector, a water-to-water HP, a preheat tank, the main tank, fan coils (to deliver the building heating load), and ICF walls. During the day, excess solar energy is stored in the ICF walls (charging cycle). Thermal energy can be restored from the ICF walls when the preheat tank temperature drops below the ICF wall (discharging process) to increase the COP of the heat pump. The evaporator of the heat pump is taking is coupled with the preheat tank. The provided warm water by the heat pump is stored in the second tank. Fan coil units are in contact with the tank to provide a building heating load. DHW is also delivered is provided from the main tank. It is investigated that the system with ICF walls with an average solar fraction of 82%- 88% can cover the whole heating demand+DHW of nine months and has a 10-15% higher average solar fraction than the system without ICF walls. Sensitivity analysis for different parameters influencing the solar fraction is discussed in detail.

Keywords: net-zero building, renewable energy, solar thermal storage, microchannel solar thermal collector

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Authors: Sourav Ray, Christoph Stein, Marcus Weber

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A new class of drug candidates, initially derived from mathematical modeling of ligand-receptor interactions, activate the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) preferentially at acidic extracellular pH-levels, as present in injured tissues. This is of commercial interest because it may preclude the adverse effects of conventional MOR agonists like fentanyl, which include but are not limited to addiction, constipation, sedation, and apnea. Animal studies indicate the importance of taking the pH value of the chemical environment of MOR into account when designing new drugs. Hydrogen bonds (HBs) play a crucial role in stabilizing protein secondary structure and molecular interaction, such as ligand-protein interaction. These bonds may depend on the pH value of the chemical environment. For the MOR, antagonist naloxone and agonist [D-Ala2,N-Me-Phe4,Gly5-ol]-enkephalin (DAMGO) form HBs with ionizable residue HIS 297 at physiological pH to modulate signaling. However, such interactions were markedly reduced at acidic pH. Although fentanyl-induced signaling is also diminished at acidic pH, HBs with HIS 297 residue are not observed at either acidic or physiological pH for this strong agonist of the MOR. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can provide greater insight into the interaction between the ligand of interest and the HIS 297 residue. Amino acid protonation states are adjusted to the model difference in system acidity. Unbiased and unrestrained MD simulations were performed, with the ligand in the proximity of the HIS 297 residue. Ligand-receptor complexes were embedded in 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) bilayer to mimic the membrane environment. The occurrence of HBs between the different ligands and the HIS 297 residue of MOR at acidic and physiological pH values were tracked across the various simulation trajectories. No HB formation was observed between fentanyl and HIS 297 residue at either acidic or physiological pH. Naloxone formed some HBs with HIS 297 at pH 5, but no such HBs were noted at pH 7. Interestingly, DAMGO displayed an opposite yet more pronounced HB formation trend compared to naloxone. Whereas a marginal number of HBs could be observed at even pH 5, HBs with HIS 297 were more stable and widely present at pH 7. The HB formation plays no and marginal role in the interaction of fentanyl and naloxone, respectively, with the HIS 297 residue of MOR. However, HBs play a significant role in the DAMGO and HIS 297 interaction. Post DAMGO administration, these HBs might be crucial for the remediation of opioid tolerance and restoration of opioid sensitivity. Although experimental studies concur with our observations regarding the influence of HB formation on the fentanyl and DAMGO interaction with HIS 297, the same could not be conclusively stated for naloxone. Therefore, some other supplementary interactions might be responsible for the modulation of the MOR activity by naloxone binding at pH 7 but not at pH 5. Further elucidation of the mechanism of naloxone action on the MOR could assist in the formulation of cost-effective naloxone-based treatment of opioid overdose or opioid-induced side effects.

Keywords: effect of system acidity, hydrogen bond formation, opioid action, receptor activation

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Authors: David Oluigbo, Erik Hemberg, Nathan Shwatal, Wenqi Ding, Yin Yuan, Susanna Mierau

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Introduction: Calcium imaging is an established technique in neuroscience research for detecting activity in neural networks. Bursts of action potentials in neurons lead to transient increases in intracellular calcium visualized with fluorescent indicators. Manual identification of cell bodies and their contours by experts typically takes 10-20 minutes per calcium imaging recording. Our aim, therefore, was to design an automated pipeline to facilitate and optimize calcium imaging data analysis. Our pipeline aims to accelerate cell body and contour identification and production of graphical representations reflecting changes in neuronal calcium-based fluorescence. Methods: We created a Python-based pipeline that uses OpenCV (a computer vision Python package) to accurately (1) detect neuron contours, (2) extract the mean fluorescence within the contour, and (3) identify transient changes in the fluorescence due to neuronal activity. The pipeline consisted of 3 Python scripts that could both be easily accessed through a Python Jupyter notebook. In total, we tested this pipeline on ten separate calcium imaging datasets from murine dissociate cortical cultures. We next compared our automated pipeline outputs with the outputs of manually labeled data for neuronal cell location and corresponding fluorescent times series generated by an expert neuroscientist. Results: Our results show that our automated pipeline efficiently pinpoints neuronal cell body location and neuronal contours and provides a graphical representation of neural network metrics accurately reflecting changes in neuronal calcium-based fluorescence. The pipeline detected the shape, area, and location of most neuronal cell body contours by using binary thresholding and grayscale image conversion to allow computer vision to better distinguish between cells and non-cells. Its results were also comparable to manually analyzed results but with significantly reduced result acquisition times of 2-5 minutes per recording versus 10-20 minutes per recording. Based on these findings, our next step is to precisely measure the specificity and sensitivity of the automated pipeline’s cell body and contour detection to extract more robust neural network metrics and dynamics. Conclusion: Our Python-based pipeline performed automated computer vision-based analysis of calcium image recordings from neuronal cell bodies in neuronal cell cultures. Our new goal is to improve cell body and contour detection to produce more robust, accurate neural network metrics and dynamic graphs.

Keywords: calcium imaging, computer vision, neural activity, neural networks

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Authors: P. H. G. J. Pushpakumara, Andrew Dawson

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Introduction: Deliberate self harm (DSH) is a major public health problem globally. Suicide rates of Sri Lanka are being among the highest national rates in the world, since 1950. Previous DSH is the most important independent predictor of repetition. The estimated 1 year non-fatal repeat self-harm rate was 16.3%. Asian countries had considerably lower rate, 10.0%. Objectives: To calculate incidence of deliberate self-poisoning (DSP) and suicides, repetition rate of DSP in Kurunegala District (KD). To determine the pattern of repeated DSP in KD. Methods: Study had two components. In the first component, demographic and event related details of, DSP admission in 46 hospitals and suicides in 28 police stations of KD were collected for 3 years from January 2011. Demographic details of cohort of DSP patients admitted to above hospitals in 2011 were linked with hospital admissions and police records of next two years period from the index admission. Records were screened for links with high sensitivity using the computer then did manual matching which would have been much more specific. In the second component, randomly selected DSP patients (n=438), who admitted to main referral centre which receives 60% of DSP cases of the district, were interviewed to assess life-time repetition. Results: There were 16,993 DSP admissions and 1078 suicides for the three year period. Suicide incidences in KD were, 21.6, 20.7 and 24.3 per 100,000 population in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Average male to female ratio for suicide incidences was 5.5. DSP incidences were 205.4, 248.3 and 202.5 per 100,000 population. Male incidences were slightly greater than the female incidences, male: female ratio was 1.1:1. Highest age standardized male and female incidence was reported in 20-24 years age group, 769.6/100,000, and 15-19 years age group 1304.0/100,000. Male to female ratio of the incidence increased with the age. There were 318 (179 male and 139 female) patients attempted DSH within two years. Female repetitive patients were ounger compared to the males, p < 0.0001, median age: males 28 and females 19 years. 290 (91.2%) had only one repetitive attempt, 24 (7.5%) had two, 3 (0.9%) had three and one (0.3%) had four in that period. One year repetition rate was 5.6 and two year repetition rate was 7.9%. Average intervals between indexed events and first repetitive DSP events were 246.8 (SD:223.4) and 238.5 (SD:207.0) days among males and females. One fifth of first repetitive events occurred within first two weeks in both males and females. Around 50% of males and females had the second event within 28 weeks. Within the first year of the indexed event, around 70% had the second event. First repetitive event was fatal for 28 (8.8%) individuals. Ages of those who died, mean 49.7 years (SD:15.3), were significantly higher compared to those who had non-fatal outcome, p<0.0001. 9.5% had life time history of DSH attempts. Conclusions: Both, DSP and suicide incidences were very high in KD. However, repetition rates were lesser compared regional values. Prevention of repetition alone may not produce significant impact on prevention of DSH.

Keywords: deliberate self-harm, incidence, repetition, Sri Lanka, suicide

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Authors: Satria B. Mahathma, Asri Hendrawati

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Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder syndrome characterized by chronic hyperglycemia. The number of people with diabetes rose from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. In general, almost 90% of the prevalence of DM is type 2 DM which marked by insulin resistance and decreased receptor sensitivity. Aside from conventional antidiabetic therapy, the utilization of medicinal plants as alternative medicine has beneficial effects in diabetic patients. Flavonoid contents in radish leaves such as quercetin, pelargonidin, and kaempferol are thought to have antidiabetic activity on decreasing blood glucose levels by tricyclic nucleotide modulation of pancreatic beta cells and ameliorating insulin resistance. This study aimed to determine the effect of variant concentration of radish leaves ethanol extract on blood glucose levels in diabetic rats. Method: This study used pretest-posttest control group design by using 16 male Wistar rats which were induced type-2 diabetic by streptozotocin 60 mg/kg BW-nicotinamide 120 mg/kg BW intraperitoneally. Rats who had developed type-2 DM later divided randomly into 4 groups; negative control received placebo, positive control received glibenclamide 5 mg/kg BW/day, rats intervention I and intervention II received 100% and 50% of radish leaves ethanol extract, respectively. Treatments were administered orally for four weeks. The blood glucose levels were measured using the Enzymatic Colorimetric Test “GOD-PAP”. Data were analyzed by the dependent t-test for pretest-posttest intervention difference and one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc test to determine the significant difference of each treatment to obtain the significant data. Result: The result revealed that intervention group had lower blood glucose levels mean than control group which the lowest was intervention II group (negative control: 540,9 ± 191,7 mg/dl, positive control: 494, 97 ± 64,91 mg/dl, intervention I: 301,92 ± 165,70 mg/dl, and intervention II group: 276,1 ± 139,02 mg/dl. Intervention II group had the highest antidiabetic activity, followed by the intervention I group with the amount of decrease in blood glucose levels were -151,85 ± 77,43 mg/dl and -11,08 ± 186,62 mg/dl, however negative and positive control group didn’t have antidiabetic activity. The dependent t-test result showed there is a significant difference in decreasing blood glucose levels in the intervention II pretest-posttest intervention (p=0,03) while the other group didn’t. Data analyzed by one-way ANOVA also revealed the intervention II group significantly declined blood glucose levels compared to the negative and positive control group (p = 0,033 and p=0,032, respectively). Conclusion: There is a significant effect of radish leaves ethanol extract on blood glucose levels in streptozotocin-nicotinamide-induced diabetic rats with the optimal therapeutic effect at a concentration of 50%.

Keywords: blood glucose levels, medicinal plant, radish leaves, type-2 diabetes mellitus

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Authors: Shazia Almas, Jaffar Iqbal, Nazia Almas

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In most of the South Asian countries like Pakistan medical profession is one the most valued and respectful professions yet being a medical professional requires an enormous amount of responsibilities and work overload at the same time which possibly can be in contrast with family role of a doctor. Job and family are two primary spheres of a person's life no matter whatever the profession one adopts and the type of family one is running. There is a bi-directional relationship between job and family. The type and nature of work, time schedules, working shifts in medical profession are very demanding in the countries like Pakistan where number of patients is far more higher than the number of doctors available. The work life also have significant impact on family life and vice versa. Because of the sensitivity and interdependency of these relations, today’s overarching and competing demands remain dissatisfactory. The main objective of the current research is to investigate how interpersonal relationships affect work and work affects interpersonal relationships of medical professionals. In line with identifying these facts, the current study aimed to examine the predictive role of psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience), in organizational outcome (job satisfaction) and personal outcome (family satisfaction) amongst male and medical professionals. A total of 350 participants from public and private sector hospitals of Pakistan were recruited through simple random and stratified sampling techniques, with age ranges from 26-50 years. The questionnaire including established and certified self-report measures of Psychological Capital Questionnaire, Job Satisfaction, and Family Satisfaction were adopted to collect the data. The reliability and validity of mentioned instruments were established through Cronbach’s alpha and factor analyses (exploratory and confirmatory) respectively using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by AMOS. The proposed hypotheses were tested using Pearson’s Correlation and Regression analyses for predicting effect whereas, t-Test was deployed to verify the difference between male and female health professionals. The results revealed that self-efficacy and optimism predicted job satisfaction while, self-efficacy, hope, and resilience predicted family satisfaction. Moreover, the results depicted significant gender differences in job satisfaction where females were higher on job satisfaction as compared to male medical professionals but no significant differences were observed in levels of family satisfaction between both genders. The study has implications for social, organizational and work policy designers. The study also paves for more researches with positive psychological approach to promote work-family harmony.

Keywords: family satisfaction, job satisfaction, medical professionals, psychological capital

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Authors: Albert Oluwole Uzodimma Authority

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Nigeria is a diverse nation with a rich cultural heritage that has produced numerous art musicians and a vast range of art songs. The compositional styles, tonal rhythm, text rhythm, word painting, and text-tone relationship vary extensively from one dialect to another, indicating the need for standardized tools for the structural and analytical deconstruction of Nigerian indigenous art music. The purpose of this research is to examine the structures of Nigerian indigenous art music and outline some crucibles for analyzing it, by investigating how dialectical inflection influences the choice of text tone, scale mode, tonal rhythm, and the general ambiance of Nigerian art music. The research used a structured questionnaire to collect data from 50 musicologists, out of which 41 responded. The study's focus was on the works of two prominent twentieth-century composers, Stephen Olusoji, and Nwamara Alvan-Ikoku, titled "Oyigiyigi" and "O Chineke, Inozikwa omee," respectively. The data collected was presented in percentages using pie charts and tables. The study shows that in Nigerian Indigenous music, several aspects are to be considered for proper analysis, such as linguistic sensitivity, dialectical inflection influences text-tone relationship, text rhythm and tonal rhythm, which help to convey the proper meanings of messages in songs. It also highlights the lack of standardized rubrics for analysis, which necessitated the proposal of robust criteria for analyzing African music, known as Neo-Eclectic-Crucibles. Hinging on eclectic approach, this research makes significant contributions to music scholarship by addressing the need for standardized tools and crucibles for the structural and analytical deconstruction of Nigerian indigenous art music. It provides a template for further studies leading to standardized rubrics for analyzing African music. This research collected data through a structured questionnaire and analyzed it using pie charts and tables to present the findings accurately. The analysis focused on the respondents' perspectives on the research objectives and structural analysis of two indigenous music compositions by Olusoji and Nwamara. This research answers the questions on the structures and analytical crucibles used in Nigerian indigenous art music, how dialectical inflection influences text-tone relationship, scale mode, tonal rhythm, and the general ambiance of Nigerian art music. This paper demonstrates the need for standardized tools and crucibles for the structural and analytical deconstruction of Nigerian indigenous art music. It highlights several aspects that are crucial to analyzing Nigerian indigenous music and proposes the Neo-Eclectic-Crucibles criteria for analyzing African music. The contribution of this research to music scholarship is significant, providing a template for further studies and research in the field.

Keywords: art-music, crucibles, dialectical inflections, indigenous, text-tone, tonal rhythm, word-painting

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Authors: Suman Som, Abhijit Maity, Sunil B. Daschakraborty, Sujit Chaudhuri, Manik Pradhan

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Background: Helicobacter pylori is a common and important human pathogen and the primary cause of peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. Currently H. pylori infection is detected by both invasive and non-invasive way but the diagnostic accuracy is not up to the mark. Aim: To set up an optimal diagnostic cut-off value of 13C-Urea Breath Test to detect H. pylori infection and evaluate a novel c-PDR methodology to overcome of inconclusive grey zone. Materials and Methods: All 83 subjects first underwent upper-gastrointestinal endoscopy followed by rapid urease test and histopathology and depending on these results; we classified 49 subjects as H. pylori positive and 34 negative. After an overnight, fast patients are taken 4 gm of citric acid in 200 ml water solution and 10 minute after ingestion of the test meal, a baseline exhaled breath sample was collected. Thereafter an oral dose of 75 mg 13C-Urea dissolved in 50 ml water was given and breath samples were collected upto 90 minute for 15 minute intervals and analysed by laser based high precisional cavity enhanced spectroscopy. Results: We studied the excretion kinetics of 13C isotope enrichment (expressed as δDOB13C ‰) of exhaled breath samples and found maximum enrichment around 30 minute of H. pylori positive patients, it is due to the acid mediated stimulated urease enzyme activity and maximum acidification happened within 30 minute but no such significant isotopic enrichment observed for H. pylori negative individuals. Using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve an optimal diagnostic cut-off value, δDOB13C ‰ = 3.14 was determined at 30 minute exhibiting 89.16% accuracy. Now to overcome grey zone problem we explore percentage dose of 13C recovered per hour, i.e. 13C-PDR (%/hr) and cumulative percentage dose of 13C recovered, i.e. c-PDR (%) in exhaled breath samples for the present 13C-UBT. We further explored the diagnostic accuracy of 13C-UBT by constructing ROC curve using c-PDR (%) values and an optimal cut-off value was estimated to be c-PDR = 1.47 (%) at 60 minute, exhibiting 100 % diagnostic sensitivity , 100 % specificity and 100 % accuracy of 13C-UBT for detection of H. pylori infection. We also elucidate the gastric emptying process of present 13C-UBT for H. pylori positive patients. The maximal emptying rate found at 36 minute and half empting time of present 13C-UBT was found at 45 minute. Conclusions: The present study exhibiting the importance of c-PDR methodology to overcome of grey zone problem in 13C-UBT for accurate determination of infection without any risk of diagnostic errors and making it sufficiently robust and novel method for an accurate and fast non-invasive diagnosis of H. pylori infection for large scale screening purposes.

Keywords: 13C-Urea breath test, c-PDR methodology, grey zone, Helicobacter pylori

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Authors: Denis V. Axenov-Gribanov, Irina V. Voytsekhovskaya, Evgenii S. Protasov, Maxim A. Timofeyev

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Isolated ecosystems existing under specific environmental conditions have been shown to be promising sources of new strains of actinobacteria. The taiga forest of Baikal Siberia has not been well studied, and its actinobacterial population remains uncharacterized. The proximity between the huge water mass of Lake Baikal and high mountain ranges influences the structure and diversity of the plant world in Siberia. Here, we report the isolation of eighteen actinobacterial strains from male cones of Pinus sylvestris trees growing on the shore of the ancient Lake Baikal in Siberia. The actinobacterial strains were isolated on solid nutrient MS media and Czapek agar supplemented with cycloheximide and phosphomycin. Identification of actinobacteria was carried out by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and further analysis of the evolutionary history. Four different liquid and solid media (NL19, DNPM, SG and ISP) were tested for metabolite production. The metabolite extracts produced by the isolated strains were tested for antibacterial and antifungal activities. Also, antiradical activity of crude extracts was carried out. Strain Streptomyces sp. IB 2014 I 74-3 that active against Gram-negative bacteria was selected for dereplication analysis with using the high-yield liquid chromatography with mass-spectrometry. Mass detection was performed in both positive and negative modes, with the detection range set to 160–2500 m/z. Data were collected and analyzed using Bruker Compass Data Analysis software, version 4.1. Dereplication was performed using the Dictionary of Natural Products (DNP) database version 6.1 with the following search parameters: accurate molecular mass, absorption spectra and source of compound isolation. Thus, in addition to more common representative strains of Streptomyces, several species belonging to the genera Rhodococcus, Amycolatopsis, and Micromonospora were isolated. Several of the selected strains were deposited in the Russian Collection of Agricultural Microorganisms (RCAM), St. Petersburg, Russia. All isolated strains exhibited antibacterial and antifungal activities. We identified several strains that inhibited the growth of the pathogen Candida albicans but did not hinder the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Several isolates were active against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Moreover, extracts of several strains demonstrated high antioxidant activity. The high proportion of biologically active strains producing antibacterial and specific antifungal compounds may reflect their role in protecting pollen against phytopathogens. Dereplication of the secondary metabolites of the strain Streptomyces sp. IB 2014 I 74-3 was resulted in the fact that a total of 59 major compounds were detected in the culture liquid extract of strain cultivated in ISP medium. Eight compounds were preliminarily identified based on characteristics described in the Dictionary of Natural Products database, using the search parameters Streptomyces sp. IB 2014 I 74-3 was found to produce saframycin A, Y3 and S; 2-amino-3-oxo-3H-phenoxazine-1,8-dicarboxylic acid; galtamycinone; platencin A4-13R and A4-4S; ganefromycin d1; the antibiotic SS 8201B; and streptothricin D, 40-decarbamoyl, 60-carbamoyl. Moreover, forty-nine of the 59 compounds detected in the extract examined in the present study did not result in any positive hits when searching within the DNP database and could not be identified based on available mass-spec data. Thus, these compounds might represent new findings.

Keywords: actinobacteria, Baikal Lake, biodiversity, male cones, Pinus sylvestris

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Authors: Wisam H. Benamer, Ehab A. Elfallah, Mohamed A. Elshaari, Farag A. Elshaari

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A challenge for laboratories is to provide bacterial identification and antibiotic sensitivity results within a short time. Hence, advancement in the required technology is desirable to improve timing, accuracy and quality. Even with the current advances in methods used for both phenotypic and genotypic identification of bacteria the need is there to develop method(s) that enhance the outcome of bacteriology laboratories in accuracy and time. The hypothesis introduced here is based on the assumption that the chromosome of any bacteria contains unique sequences that can be used for its identification and typing. The outcome of a pilot study designed to test this hypothesis is reported in this manuscript. Methods: The complete chromosome sequences of several bacterial species were downloaded to use as search targets for unique sequences. Visual basic and SQL server (2014) were used to generate a complete set of 18-base long primers, a process started with reverse translation of randomly chosen 6 amino acids to limit the number of the generated primers. In addition, the software used to scan the downloaded chromosomes using the generated primers for similarities was designed, and the resulting hits were classified according to the number of similar chromosomal sequences, i.e., unique or otherwise. Results: All primers that had identical/similar sequences in the selected genome sequence(s) were classified according to the number of hits in the chromosomes search. Those that were identical to a single site on a single bacterial chromosome were referred to as unique. On the other hand, most generated primers sequences were identical to multiple sites on a single or multiple chromosomes. Following scanning, the generated primers were classified based on ability to differentiate between medically important bacterial and the initial results looks promising. Conclusion: A simple strategy that started by generating primers was introduced; the primers were used to screen bacterial genomes for match. Primer(s) that were uniquely identical to specific DNA sequence on a specific bacterial chromosome were selected. The identified unique sequence can be used in different molecular diagnostic techniques, possibly to identify bacteria. In addition, a single primer that can identify multiple sites in a single chromosome can be exploited for region or genome identification. Although genomes sequences draft of isolates of organism DNA enable high throughput primer design using alignment strategy, and this enhances diagnostic performance in comparison to traditional molecular assays. In this method the generated primers can be used to identify an organism before the draft sequence is completed. In addition, the generated primers can be used to build a bank for easy access of the primers that can be used to identify bacteria.

Keywords: bacteria chromosome, bacterial identification, sequence, primer generation

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Authors: C. Fúnez Guerra, B. Nieto Calderón, M. Jaén Caparrós, L. Reyes-Bozo, A. Godoy-Faúndez, E. Vyhmeister

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The global energy system is experiencing a change of scenery. Unstable energy markets, an increasing focus on climate change and its sustainable development is forcing businesses to pursue new solutions in order to ensure future economic growth. This has led to the interest in using hydrogen as an energy carrier in transportation and industrial applications. As an energy carrier, hydrogen is accessible and holds a high gravimetric energy density. Abundant in hydrocarbons, hydrogen can play an important role in the shift towards low-emission fossil value chains. By combining hydrogen production by natural gas reforming with carbon capture and storage, the overall CO2 emissions are significantly reduced. In addition, the flexibility of hydrogen as an energy storage makes it applicable as a stabilizer in the renewable energy mix. The recent development in hydrogen fuel cells is also raising the expectations for a hydrogen powered transportation sector. Hydrogen value chains exist to a large extent in the industry today. The global hydrogen consumption was approximately 50 million tonnes (7.2 EJ) in 2013, where refineries, ammonia, methanol production and metal processing were main consumers. Natural gas reforming produced 48% of this hydrogen, but without carbon capture and storage (CCS). The total emissions from the production reached 500 million tonnes of CO2, hence alternative production methods with lower emissions will be necessary in future value chains. Hydrogen from electrolysis is used for a wide range of industrial chemical reactions for many years. Possibly, the earliest use was for the production of ammonia-based fertilisers by Norsk Hydro, with a test reactor set up in Notodden, Norway, in 1927. This application also claims one of the world’s largest electrolyser installations, at Sable Chemicals in Zimbabwe. Its array of 28 electrolysers consumes 80 MW per hour, producing around 21,000 Nm3/h of hydrogen. These electrolysers can compete if cheap sources of electricity are available and natural gas for steam reforming is relatively expensive. Because electrolysis of water produces oxygen as a by-product, a system of Autothermal Reforming (ATR) utilizing this oxygen has been analyzed. Replacing the air separation unit with electrolysers produces the required amount of oxygen to the ATR as well as additional hydrogen. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the technical and economic potential of large-scale production of hydrogen for oil refining industry. Sensitivity analysis of parameters such as investment costs, plant operating hours, electricity price and sale price of hydrogen and oxygen are performed.

Keywords: autothermal reforming, electrolyser, hydrogen, natural gas, steam methane reforming

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Authors: Mohammed El Raey, Moustafa Osman Mohammed

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The spatial-ecological modeling is relating sustainable dispersions with social development. Sustainability with spatial-ecological model gives attention to urban environments in the design review management to comply with Earth’s System. Naturally exchange patterns of ecosystems have consistent and periodic cycles to preserve energy flows and materials in Earth’s System. The probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) technique is utilized to assess the safety of industrial complex. The other analytical approach is the Failure-Safe Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) for critical components. The plant safety parameters are identified for engineering topology as employed in assessment safety of industrial ecology. In particular, the most severe accidental release of hazardous gaseous is postulated, analyzed and assessment in industrial region. The IAEA- safety assessment procedure is used to account the duration and rate of discharge of liquid chlorine. The ecological model of plume dispersion width and concentration of chlorine gas in the downwind direction is determined using Gaussian Plume Model in urban and ruler areas and presented with SURFER®. The prediction of accident consequences is traced in risk contour concentration lines. The local greenhouse effect is predicted with relevant conclusions. The spatial-ecological model is also predicted the distribution schemes from the perspective of pollutants that considered multiple factors of multi-criteria analysis. The data extends input–output analysis to evaluate the spillover effect, and conducted Monte Carlo simulations and sensitivity analysis. Their unique structure is balanced within “equilibrium patterns”, such as the biosphere and collective a composite index of many distributed feedback flows. These dynamic structures are related to have their physical and chemical properties and enable a gradual and prolonged incremental pattern. While this spatial model structure argues from ecology, resource savings, static load design, financial and other pragmatic reasons, the outcomes are not decisive in artistic/ architectural perspective. The hypothesis is an attempt to unify analytic and analogical spatial structure for development urban environments using optimization software and applied as an example of integrated industrial structure where the process is based on engineering topology as optimization approach of systems ecology.

Keywords: spatial-ecological modeling, spatial structure orientation impact, composite structure, industrial ecology

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Authors: Mateusz Bilski, Jakub Klas, Emilia Kowalczyk, Sylwia Koziej, Katarzyna Kulszo, Ludmiła Grzybowska- Szatkowska

Abstract:

Background: Liver metastases are a common complication of primary solid tumors and sig-nificantly reduce patient survival. In the era of increasing diagnosis of oligometastatic disease and oligoprogression, methods of local treatment of metastases, i.e. MDT, are becoming more important. Implementation of such treatment can be considered for liver metastases, which are a common complication of primary solid tumors and significantly reduce patient survival. To date, the mainstay of treatment for oligometastatic disease has been surgical resection, but not all patients qualify for the procedure. As an alternative to surgical resection, radiotherapy techniques have become available, including stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) or high-dose interstitial brachytherapy (iBT). iBT is an invasive method that emits very high doses of radiation from the inside of the tumor to the outside. This technique provides better tumor coverage than SBRT while having little impact on surrounding healthy tissue and elim-inates some concerns involving respiratory motion. Methods: We conducted a systematic re-view of the scientific literature on the use of brachytherapy in the treatment of liver metasta-ses from 2018 - 2023 using PubMed and ResearchGate browsers according to PRISMA rules. Results: From 111 articles, 18 publications containing information on 729 patients with liver metastases were selected. iBT has been shown to provide high rates of tumor control. Among 14 patients with 54 unresectable RCC liver metastases, after iBT LTC was 92.6% during a median follow-up of 10.2 months, PFS was 3.4 months. In analysis of 167 patients after treatment with a single fractional dose of 15-25 Gy with brachytherapy at 6- and 12-month follow-up, LRFS rates of 88,4-88.7% and 70.7 - 71,5%, PFS of 78.1 and 53.8%, and OS of 92.3 - 96.7% and 76,3% - 79.6%, respectively, were achieved. No serious complications were observed in all patients. Distant intrahepatic progression occurred later in patients with unre-sectable liver metastases after brachytherapy (PFS: 19.80 months) than in HCC patients (PFS: 13.50 months). A significant difference in LRFS between CRC patients (84.1% vs. 50.6%) and other histologies (92.4% vs. 92.4%) was noted, suggesting a higher treatment dose is necessary for CRC patients. The average target dose for metastatic colorectal cancer was 40 - 60 Gy (compared to 100 - 250 Gy for HCC). To better assess sensitivity to therapy and pre-dict side effects, it has been suggested that humoral mediators be evaluated. It was also shown that baseline levels of TNF-α, MCP-1 and VEGF, as well as NGF and CX3CL corre-lated with both tumor volume and radiation-induced liver damage, one of the most serious complications of iBT, indicating their potential role as biomarkers of therapy outcome. Con-clusions: The use of brachytherapy methods in the treatment of liver metastases of various cancers appears to be an interesting and relatively safe therapeutic method alternative to sur-gery. An important challenge remains the selection of an appropriate brachytherapy method and radiation dose for the corresponding initial tumor type from which the metastasis origi-nated.

Keywords: liver metastases, brachytherapy, CT-HDRBT, iBT

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Authors: Hsyi-En Cheng, Ying-Yi Liou

Abstract:

Metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) gas sensors are widely used in the gas-detection market due to their high sensitivity, fast response, and simple device structures. However, the high working temperature of MOS gas sensors makes them difficult to integrate with the appliance or consumer goods. One-dimensional (1-D) nanostructures are considered to have the potential to lower their working temperature due to their large surface-to-volume ratio, confined electrical conduction channels, and small feature sizes. Unfortunately, the difficulty of fabricating 1-D nanostructure electrodes has hindered the development of low-temperature MOS gas sensors. In this work, we proposed a method to fabricate nanotube-arrays, and the SnO₂ nanotube-array sensors with different wall thickness were successfully prepared and examined. The fabrication of SnO₂ nanotube arrays incorporates the techniques of barrier-free anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template and atomic layer deposition (ALD) of SnO₂. First, 1.0 µm Al film was deposited on ITO glass substrate by electron beam evaporation and then anodically oxidized by five wt% phosphoric acid solution at 5°C under a constant voltage of 100 V to form porous aluminum oxide. As the Al film was fully oxidized, a 15 min over anodization and a 30 min post chemical dissolution were used to remove the barrier oxide at the bottom end of pores to generate a barrier-free AAO template. The ALD using reactants of TiCl4 and H₂O was followed to grow a thin layer of SnO₂ on the template to form SnO₂ nanotube arrays. After removing the surface layer of SnO₂ by H₂ plasma and dissolving the template by 5 wt% phosphoric acid solution at 50°C, upright standing SnO₂ nanotube arrays on ITO glass were produced. Finally, Ag top electrode with line width of 5 μm was printed on the nanotube arrays to form SnO₂ nanotube-array sensor. Two SnO₂ nanotube-arrays with wall thickness of 30 and 60 nm were produced in this experiment for the evaluation of gas sensing ability. The flat SnO₂ films with thickness of 30 and 60 nm were also examined for comparison. The results show that the properties of ALD SnO₂ films were related to the deposition temperature. The films grown at 350°C had a low electrical resistivity of 3.6×10-3 Ω-cm and were, therefore, used for the nanotube-array sensors. The carrier concentration and mobility of the SnO₂ films were characterized by Ecopia HMS-3000 Hall-effect measurement system and were 1.1×1020 cm-3 and 16 cm3/V-s, respectively. The electrical resistance of SnO₂ film and nanotube-array sensors in air and in a 5% H₂-95% N₂ mixture gas was monitored by Pico text M3510A 6 1/2 Digits Multimeter. It was found that, at 200 °C, the 30-nm-wall SnO₂ nanotube-array sensor performs the highest responsivity to 5% H₂, followed by the 30-nm SnO₂ film sensor, the 60-nm SnO₂ film sensor, and the 60-nm-wall SnO₂ nanotube-array sensor. However, at temperatures below 100°C, all the samples were insensitive to the 5% H₂ gas. Further investigation on the sensors with thinner SnO₂ is necessary for improving the sensing ability at temperatures below 100 °C.

Keywords: atomic layer deposition, nanotube arrays, gas sensor, tin dioxide

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Authors: Prateek Goyal, Archini Paruthi, Superb K. Misra

Abstract:

Contamination of water resources has been a major concern, which has drawn attention to the need to develop new material models for treatment of effluents. Existing conventional waste water treatment methods remain ineffective sometimes and uneconomical in terms of remediating contaminants like heavy metal ions (mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium and chromium); organic matter (dyes, chlorinated solvents) and high salt concentration, which makes water unfit for consumption. We believe that nanotechnology based strategy, where we use nanoparticles as a tool to remediate a class of pollutants would prove to be effective due to its property of high surface area to volume ratio, higher selectivity, sensitivity and affinity. In recent years, scientific advancement has been made to study the application of photocatalytic (ZnO, TiO2 etc.) nanomaterials and magnetic nanomaterials in remediating contaminants (like heavy metals and organic dyes) from water/wastewater. Our study focuses on the synthesis and monitoring remediation efficiency of ZnO, Fe3O4 and Fe3O4 coated ZnO nanoparticulate system for the removal of heavy metals and dyes simultaneously. Multitude of ZnO nanostructures (spheres, rods and flowers) using multiple routes (microwave & hydrothermal approach) offers a wide range of light active photo catalytic property. The phase purity, morphology, size distribution, zeta potential, surface area and porosity in addition to the magnetic susceptibility of the particles were characterized by XRD, TEM, CPS, DLS, BET and VSM measurements respectively. Further on, the introduction of crystalline defects into ZnO nanostructures can also assist in light activation for improved dye degradation. Band gap of a material and its absorbance is a concrete indicator for photocatalytic activity of the material. Due to high surface area, high porosity and affinity towards metal ions and availability of active surface sites, iron oxide nanoparticles show promising application in adsorption of heavy metal ions. An additional advantage of having magnetic based nanocomposite is, it offers magnetic field responsive separation and recovery of the catalyst. Therefore, we believe that ZnO linked Fe3O4 nanosystem would be efficient and reusable. Improved photocatalytic efficiency in addition to adsorption for environmental remediation has been a long standing challenge, and the nano-composite system offers the best of features which the two individual metal oxides provide for nanoremediation.

Keywords: adsorption, nanocomposite, nanoremediation, photocatalysis

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Authors: Farid Khosravikia, Patricia Clayton

Abstract:

The main objective of this work is to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of various machine learning techniques in two key steps of seismic hazard and risk assessment of different types of structures. The first step is the development of ground-motion models, which are used for forecasting ground-motion intensity measures (IM) given source characteristics, source-to-site distance, and local site condition for future events. IMs such as peak ground acceleration and velocity (PGA and PGV, respectively) as well as 5% damped elastic pseudospectral accelerations at different periods (PSA), are indicators of the strength of shaking at the ground surface. Typically, linear regression-based models, with pre-defined equations and coefficients, are used in ground motion prediction. However, due to the restrictions of the linear regression methods, such models may not capture more complex nonlinear behaviors that exist in the data. Thus, this study comparatively investigates potential benefits from employing other machine learning techniques as statistical method in ground motion prediction such as Artificial Neural Network, Random Forest, and Support Vector Machine. The results indicate the algorithms satisfy some physically sound characteristics such as magnitude scaling distance dependency without requiring pre-defined equations or coefficients. Moreover, it is shown that, when sufficient data is available, all the alternative algorithms tend to provide more accurate estimates compared to the conventional linear regression-based method, and particularly, Random Forest outperforms the other algorithms. However, the conventional method is a better tool when limited data is available. Second, it is investigated how machine learning techniques could be beneficial for developing probabilistic seismic demand models (PSDMs), which provide the relationship between the structural demand responses (e.g., component deformations, accelerations, internal forces, etc.) and the ground motion IMs. In the risk framework, such models are used to develop fragility curves estimating exceeding probability of damage for pre-defined limit states, and therefore, control the reliability of the predictions in the risk assessment. In this study, machine learning algorithms like artificial neural network, random forest, and support vector machine are adopted and trained on the demand parameters to derive PSDMs for them. It is observed that such models can provide more accurate estimates of prediction in relatively shorter about of time compared to conventional methods. Moreover, they can be used for sensitivity analysis of fragility curves with respect to many modeling parameters without necessarily requiring more intense numerical response-history analysis.

Keywords: artificial neural network, machine learning, random forest, seismic risk analysis, seismic hazard analysis, support vector machine

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