Inductanceless high order low frequency filters for medical applications

<p>In this paper, a designed circuit used for low-frequency filters is implemented and realized the filter is based on frequency-dependent negative resistance (FDNR) as an inductor simulator to substitute the traditional inductance, which is heavy and high cost due to the coil material manufacturing and size area. The simulator is based on an active operation amplifier or operation transconductance amplifier (OTA) that is easy to build in an integrated circuit with a minimum number of components. The third and higher-order Butterworth filter is simulated at low frequency for low pass filter to use in medical instruments and low-frequency applications. The designed circuit is compared with the traditional proportional integral controller enhanced (PIE) and T section ordinary filter. The results with magnitude and phase response were compared and an acceptable result is obtained. The filter can be used for general applications such as medical and other low-frequency filters needed.</p>

Detecting Extratropical Cyclones of the Northern Hemisphere with Single Shot Detector

In this paper, we propose a deep learning-based model to detect extratropical cyclones (ETCs) of the northern hemisphere, while developing a novel workflow of processing images and generating labels for ETCs. We first labeled the cyclone center by adapting an approach from Bonfanti et al. in 2017 and set up criteria of labeling ETCs of three categories: developing, mature, and declining stages. We then gave a framework of labeling and preprocessing the images in our dataset. Once the images and labels were ready to serve as inputs, an object detection model was built with Single Shot Detector (SSD) and adjusted to fit the format of the dataset. We trained and evaluated our model with our labeled dataset on two settings (binary and multiclass classifications), while keeping a record of the results. We found that the model achieves relatively high performance with detecting ETCs of mature stage (mean Average Precision is 86.64%), and an acceptable result for detecting ETCs of all three categories (mean Average Precision 79.34%). The single-shot detector model can succeed in detecting ETCs of different stages, and it has demonstrated great potential in the future applications of ETC detection in other relevant settings.

Comparing the symmetry of upper eyelid following unilateral ptosis correction

Background Margin Reflex Distance 1(MRD 1) only describes the central height of upper eyelid and relies on the examiner’s experience and disregards eyelid contour abnormalities. Therefore MRD 1 may not be sufficient for an acceptable result to evaluate the outcomes of ptosis surgery. The primary purpose of this study was to assess outcomes of unilateral ptosis correction based on parameters including degree of symmetry, MRD 1, peak height of the upper lid, temporal and nasal ocular surface area, and temporal/nasal area ratio with an objective, quantitative, and repeatable method. Methods This study was designed as a retrospective non-randomized case-control study. Medical records of the patients with unilateral ptosis between October 2015 and December 2020 were reviewed. Patients with unilateral ptosis who underwent surgical correction and levator function of 5 mm or greater were included in the study. Two groups were defined; ptotic eye was case group and contralateral eye was control group. Data analysis was performed Image J and Matlab softwares. Results Thirty-four patients were included in the study. Mean age of patients was 58.8 ± 12.7 years (range 15–75 years). Mean follow-up time was 19.5 ± 7.3 months (range 8–40 months). Four patients were diagnosed with congenital ptosis and 30 patients aponeurotic ptosis. Mean preoperative degree of symmetry for overall eyelid contour was 36.6 ± 27.5% (range 1–92%). Mean postoperative degree of symmetry for overall eyelid contour was 72.4 ± 16.5% (range 55–92%). Temporal/Nasal (T/N) area ratios for contralateral normal eye was 1.19 pre-postoperative, and it was 1.11 preoperatively, 1.15 postoperatively for operated ptotic eye. Conclusions This study primarily demonstrated a quantitative, objective, and repeatable method to investigate the degree of symmetry after eyelid surgeries. Secondly, this study suggested that T/N ratio may not be a reliable parameter to evaluate the eyelid symmetry.

The Landslide Susceptibility Assessment using Bi-variate Statistical Information Value Model of Chenab River Valley, Jammu and Kashmir (India)

Almost every year, the Himalayan region suffers from a landslide disaster that is directly associated with the prosperity and development of the area. The study of landslide disasters helps planners, decision-makers and local communities for the development of anthropogenic structures in order to enhance the safety of society. Therefore, the prime aim of this research is to produce the landslide susceptibility map for the Chenab river valley using the bi-variate statistical information value model to detect and demarcate the areas of potential landslide incidence. The object-based image analysis method identified about 84 potential sites of landslides as landslide inventory. The statistical information value model is derived from the landslide inventory and multiple causative factors. The outcome showed that 23% area of the Chenab river valley falls into the class of a very high landslide susceptibility zone. The ROC curve method is used to validate the model which denoted the acceptable result for the landslide susceptibility zonation with 0.826 AUC value for the Chenab river valley.

THE COURT’S POWER TO COMPEL DNA TESTING IN PATERNITY DISPUTES – LB v YD 2009 5 SA 463 (T)

A fundamental scientific breakthrough was made in 1900 by Landsteiner, who demonstrated that the red blood cells of some individuals contained different chemical substances from the blood cells of others; and that all blood could be classified into a small number of groups. In accordance with recognized principles of genetics these characteristics are transmitted from one generation to another, and thus “[A] comparison of the characteristics of a child’s blood with that of his mother and a particular man may show that the man cannot be the father … [and] if it is known that at the material times the mother had had intercourse only with H (her husband) and X and the blood test excludes H but not X, then X must be the father”. Whilst English courts began to accept such evidence in paternity cases, Heaton points out that until a few decades ago the unreliability of blood tests meant that they were seldom employed in such cases in South Africa. A further complication in the use of these tests as a means of determining parentage, however, related to the fact that in order for an acceptable result to ensue it was necessary to have samples not only from a child but also from the adults involved. What if an adult refused to be tested, or a parent refused to allow the child to undergo a test? The South African courts initially held that they could not compel any person to undergo blood tests, although they were prepared to accept evidence obtained through voluntary testing. The potential consequences of the courts refusing to compel testing are that a non-biological “father” will be compelled to maintain the child. More recently the South African courts have seen fit to order blood tests in paternity disputes, although whether such orders should be made remains controversial. The latest case dealing with this issue is that of LB v YD (2009 5 SA 463 (T)). (Leave to appeal the decision in this matter was dismissed in YD v LB (A) 2009 5 SA 479 (GNP)).

Intelligent Search of Values for a Controller Using the Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm to Control the Velocity of Displacement of a Robot

The optimization is essential in the engineering area and, in conjunction with use of meta-heuristics, has had a great impact in recent years; this is because of its great precision in search of optimal parameters for the solution of problems. In this work, the use of the Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm (ABC) is presented to optimize the values for the variables of a proportional integral controller (PI) to observe the behavior of the controller with the optimized Ti and Kp values. It is proposed using a robot built using the MINDSTORMS version EV3 kit. The objective of this work is to demonstrate the improvement and efficiency of the controllers in conjunction with optimization meta-heuristics. In the results section, we observe that the results improve considerably compared to traditional methods. In this work, the main contribution is the implementation of an optimization algorithm (ABC) applied to a controller (PI), and the results are tested to control the movement of a robot. There are many papers where the kit is used in various domains such as education as well as research for science and technology tasks and some real-world problems by engineering scholars, showing the acceptable result.

High Frequency and Low Intensity Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Smoking Cessation

Introduction. Tobacco consumption is one of the main causes of mortality in the world. Because of its effect on health, smoking cessation should be prioritized as an important health intervention; however, current interventions have shown low success rates as only 31% of the cases can stop smoking. In this paper, an intervention with high frequency and low intensity transcranial magnetic stimulation (HFLI TMS) was applied to determine if this type of neuromodulation could have an effect in decreasing tobacco addiction. Methods. Retrospective data from ten ambulatory smoker patients that underwent 24 sessions of HFLI TMS over 8 weeks were retrieved and are here presented. Results. Exhaled CO concentrations were statistically significantly different from baseline at the weeks 3, 5, 6, and 8. After the 24 sessions, all patients stopped smoking; this was confirmed directly by exhaled carbon monoxide and the smoking diary. Three months after intervention, eight out of ten subjects continued without smoking. No severe adverse effects were reported by participants. Conclusions. Overall, employing HFLI TMS appears to have acceptable result; however, further evidence is needed to determine with more certainty its therapeutic effect and adverse effects for addiction intervention.

Developing Glasgow Accord for COP-26 Using Game Theory

The UNFCCC hosted its 25th convention, known as COP25, which cannot be considered to be a success among the climate change conferences due to the failure of 175 nations to agree upon the final details of the Paris Agreement proposed in 2015. The aim was to bring together nations across the globe and reduce the global temperature rise to 2°C, which was expected to be around 4.5°C to 6°C. The justifications for the incompetence can be attributed to a variety of aspects, including their inability to implement the intended nationally determined contributions (INDC). Since there is no overall governing body that can ensure strong implementation of the accords, the system needs to be self-regulatory without any vulnerability to international politics. This study develops a series of factors that can be considered for decision making, benefiting and rewarding to assure complete self-governance of these nations on the said climate accord, without making it vulnerable to the political relations among nations. This study uses pre-defined elements of Game Theory in order to achieve the required equilibrium, as a base for understanding decision making and proposing a possible system to create an acceptable result for the member nations.

Efficacy of Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification for H. pylori Detection as Point-of-Care Testing by Noninvasive Sampling

For targeted eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) to reduce gastric cancer burden, a convenient approach is definitely needed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the LAMP assay for H. pylori detection using samples collected by noninvasive and self-sampling methods. The available LAMP assay for H. pylori detection was appraised and verified using reference and clinically isolated H. pylori strains. In addition, a clinical study was conducted to assess the LAMP assay on 51 patients, from whom saliva, oral brushing samples, feces, corpus, and antrum specimens were available. Clarithromycin resistance was also analysed through detection of A2143G mutation using the LAMP-RFLP method. The validation and verification analysis demonstrated that the LAMP assay had an acceptable result in terms of specificity, sensitivity, reproducibility, and accuracy for clinical settings. The LAMP assay showed a detection limit for H. pylori down to 0.25 fg/µL of genomic DNA. An acceptable consensus was observed using saliva samples (sensitivity 58.1%, specificity 84.2%, PPV 85.7%, NPV 55.2%, accuracy 68%) in comparison to biopsy sampling as the gold standard. The performance testing of different combinations of noninvasive sampling methods demonstrated that a combination of saliva and oral brushing could achieve a sensitivity of 74.2% and a specificity of 57.9%. A2143G mutation detection by LAMP-RFLP showed perfect consensus with Sanger sequencing results. It appears that the LAMP assay in combination with noninvasive and self-sampling as a point-of-care testing (POCT) approach has potential usefulness to detect H. pylori infection in clinic settings and screening programs.

Evaluation of Aloe elegans Mucilage as a Suspending Agent in Paracetamol Suspension

Background. There are various natural excipients which have been used as suspending agents in pharmaceutical suspensions due to the presence of mucilage in their specialized cells and their capacity to form a colloidal gel in an aqueous medium. Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the suspending capacity of Aloe elegans mucilage in suspension formulations. Materials and Methods. Aloe elegans mucilage (AEM) was evaluated as a suspending agent in comparison with xanthan gum (XG) in paracetamol suspensions at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5% ( w / v ) concentrations. The resulting suspensions were evaluated for their sedimentation volume, apparent viscosity, flow rate, rate of redispersibility, pH, assay, and dissolution profile. Results. The volume of sedimentation, apparent viscosity, and redispersibility rate of the formulations were significantly increased ( p < 0.05 ), with the concentration of the suspending agents. Meanwhile, the apparent viscosity for all formulations has significantly decreased ( p < 0.05 ) with an increase in shear rates. Volume of sedimentation, apparent viscosity, and redispersibility degree of the formulations prepared with AEM were significantly ( p < 0.05 ) lower than XG-containing formulations at the same concentration. Nevertheless, the sedimentation volume of all formulations with AEM was significantly ( p < 0.05 ) higher than the suspension without any suspending agent. With regard to drug content and pH values, all formulations showed an acceptable result with the standards. All formulations showed a release of greater than 85% of drug content within 45 min. Conclusion. Aloe elegans mucilage could have a potential to be utilized as an alternative suspending agent in pharmaceutical suspensions.