Prokaryotic diversity and community composition in the surface sediments of the Changjiang River Estuary in summer

Microorganisms are fundamental for the functioning of marine ecosystems and are involved in the decomposition of organic matter, transformation of nutrients and circulation of biologically-important chemicals. Based on the complexity of the natural geographic characteristics of the Changjiang River Estuary, the geographic distribution of sedimentary microorganisms and the causes of this distribution are largely unexplored. In this work, the surface sediment samples from the adjacent sea area of the Changjiang River Estuary were collected. Their prokaryotic diversity was examined by high-throughput sequencing technology, and the environmental factors of the bacterial community were investigated. The results indicated that the distribution of prokaryotic communities in the sediments of the study areas showed obvious spatial heterogeneity. The sampling sequences divided the sample regions into three distinct clusters. Each geographic region had a unique community structure, although Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, Desulfobacterota, Acidobacteriota, and Actinobacteriota all existed in these three branches. Canonical correspondence analysis demonstrated that prokaryotic diversity and community distribution were significantly correlated with the geographic location of sediment, seawater depth, and in particular, nutrient content(e.g., total phosphorus, total organic carbon and dissolved oxygen). Moreover, it was found for the first time that the metal ions obviously affected the composition and distribution of the prokaryotic community in this area. In general, this work provides new insights into the structural characteristics and driving factors of prokaryotic communities under the background of the ever-changing Changjiang River Estuary.

Encryption with User Authentication Model for Internet of Medical Things Environment

Internet of Medical Things(IoMT)enabled e-healthcare has the potential to greately improve conventional healthcare services significantly.However,security and privacy become major issues of IoMT because of the restricted processing abilities,storage,and energy constraints of the sensors.Therefore,it leads to infeasibility of developing traditional cryptographic solutions to the IoMT sensors.In order to ensure security on sensitive medical data,effective encryption and authentication techniques need to be designed to assure security of the patients and healthcare service providers.In this view,this study designs an effective metaheuristic optimization based encryption with user authentication(EMOE-UA)technique for IoMT environment.This work proposes an EMOE-UA technique aims to accomplish mutual authentication for addressing the security issues and reducing the computational complexity.Moreover,the EMOE-UA technique employs optimal multikey homomorphic encryption(OMKHE)technique to encrypt the IoMT data.Furthermore,the improved social spider optimization algorithm(ISSOA)was employed for the optimal multikey generation of the MKHE technique.The experimental result analysis of the EMOE-UA technique takes place using benchmark data and the results are examined under various aspects.The simulation results reported the considerably better performance of the EMOE-UA technique over the existing techniques.

Internet of Things Enabled Energy Aware Metaheuristic Clustering for Real Time Disaster Management

Wireless Sensor Networks(WSNs)are a major element of Internet of Things(IoT)networks which offer seamless sensing and wireless connectivity.Disaster management in smart cities can be considered as a safety critical application.Therefore,it becomes essential in ensuring network accessibility by improving the lifetime of IoT assisted WSN.Clustering and multihop routing are considered beneficial solutions to accomplish energy efficiency in IoT networks.This article designs an IoT enabled energy aware metaheuristic clustering with routing protocol for real time disaster management(EAMCR-RTDM).The proposed EAMCR-RTDM technique mainly intends to manage the energy utilization of nodes with the consideration of the features of the disaster region.To achieve this,EAMCR-RTDM technique primarily designs a yellow saddle goatfish based clustering(YSGF-C)technique to elect cluster heads(CHs)and organize clusters.In addition,enhanced cockroach swarm optimization(ECSO)based multihop routing(ECSO-MHR)approach was derived for optimal route selection.The YSGF-C and ECSO-MHR techniques compute fitness functions using different input variables for achieving improved energy efficiency and network lifetime.The design of YSGF-C and ECSO-MHR techniques for disaster management in IoT networks shows the novelty of the work.For examining the improved outcomes of the EAMCR-RTDM system,a wide range of simulations were performed and the extensive results are assessed in terms of different measures.The comparative outcomes highlighted the enhanced outcomes of the EAMCRRTDM algorithm over the existing approaches.

Breast Calcifications and Histopathological Analysis on Tumour Detection by CNN

The most salient argument that needs to be addressed universally is Early Breast Cancer Detection(EBCD),which helps people live longer lives.The Computer-Aided Detection(CADs)/Computer-Aided Diagnosis(CADx)sys-tem is indeed a software automation tool developed to assist the health profes-sions in Breast Cancer Detection and Diagnosis(BCDD)and minimise mortality by the use of medical histopathological image classification in much less time.This paper purposes of examining the accuracy of the Convolutional Neural Network(CNN),which can be used to perceive breast malignancies for initial breast cancer detection to determine which strategy is efficient for the early iden-tification of breast cell malignancies formation of masses and Breast microcalci-fications on the mammogram.When we have insufficient data for a new domain that is desired to be handled by a pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network of Residual Network(ResNet50)for Breast Cancer Detection and Diagnosis,to obtain the Discriminative Localization,Convolutional Neural Network with Class Activation Map(CAM)has also been used to perform breast microcalcifications detection tofind a specific class in the Histopathological image.The test results indicate that this method performed almost 225.15%better at determining the exact location of disease(Discriminative Localization)through breast microcalci-fications images.ResNet50 seems to have the highest level of accuracy for images of Benign Tumour(BT)/Malignant Tumour(MT)cases at 97.11%.ResNet50’s average accuracy for pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network is 94.17%.

Mesenchymal Stem Cell Allograft Improved Pain Management in Dogs with Osteoarthritis

Background: Osteoarthritis is one of the most common bone diseases, triggered by bone destruction stemming from the inflammatory response of chondrocytes. The disease progresses slowly, but halting its progression or finding a cure remains elusive. The treatment of pain associated with osteoarthritis has yielded unsatisfactory results. In recent years, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a potential avenue for addressing the condition. In this study, we used MSCs to treat companion dogs with osteoarthritis. Methods: For this study, 26 animals were included in this study to assess the pain and mobility one month after treatment. The pain scores were obtained from owners using a questionnaire based on the Helsinki Chronic Pain Index, and the Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs (LOAD) Owner questionnaire to assess the mobility of the dogs from stem cell infusion. Results: Questionnaires were administered to dog owners before and one month after treatment, and we found that dogs treated with MSCS experienced an 81.2% ± 6.8% reduction in pain and a 77.9% ± 10.1% increase in mobility, whereas most of the dogs in the untreated control group experienced disease progression. Conclusions: The transplantation of stem cells into companion pets is a promising and expanding opportunity for pet owners with aging and arthritic dogs. MSCs may play an important role in the treatment of OA without complications in companion pets.

An analysis of the radar backscatter from oil-covered sea surfaces using moment method and Monte-Carlo simulation: preliminary results

An analysis of the radar backscattering from the ocean surface covered by oil spill is presented using a mi- crowave scattering model and Monte-Carlo simulation. In the analysis, a one-dimensional rough sea sur- face is numerically generated with an ocean waveheight spectrum for a given wind velocity. A two-layered medium is then generated by adding a thin oil layer on the simulated rough sea surface. The electric fields backscattered from the sea surface with two-layered medium are computed with the method of moments （MoM）, and the backscattering coefficients are statistically obtained with N independent samples for each oil-spilled surface using the Monte-Carlo technique for various conditions of surface roughness, oil-layer thickness, frequency, polarization and incidence angle. The numerical simulation results are compared with theoretical models for clean sea surfaces and SAR images of an off-spilled sea surface caused by the Hebei （Hebei province, China） Spirit oil tanker in 2007. Further, conditions for better oil spill extraction are sought by the numerical simulation on the effects of wind speed and oil-layer thickness at different inci- dence angles on the backscattering coefficients.

Managing High Volume Data for Network Attack Detection Using Real-Time Flow Filtering

In this paper, we present Real-Time Flow Filter (RTFF) -a system that adopts a middle ground between coarse-grained volume anomaly detection and deep packet inspection. RTFF was designed with the goal of scaling to high volume data feeds that are common in large Tier-1 ISP networks and providing rich, timely information on observed attacks. It is a software solution that is designed to run on off-the-shelf hardware platforms and incorporates a scalable data processing architecture along with lightweight analysis algorithms that make it suitable for deployment in large networks. RTFF also makes use of state of the art machine learning algorithms to construct attack models that can be used to detect as well as predict attacks.

Microbiological Treatment of Effluent for Zinc Hydrometallurgical Plant

Sulfate reducing bacteria were isolated from the soil sample of Roaster-Acid unit of Debari Zinc Smelter of Hindustan Zinc Ltd., India and were adapted for effluent water of Zinc hydrometallurgy plant to sustain zinc concentration of about 500 ppm and iron concentration of about 160 ppm with high acidity （pH 〈 1.0）. Nutrient broth, whey, ethanol and sucrose were tested as carbon source for SRB （sulfate reducing bacteria） out of which whey was found as the best electron donor to expedite the rate of biological treatment with SRB. A two stage anaerobic bioreactor was developed with a treatment capacity of 30 L effluent water in 4 days. The concentration of heavy metals in the treated water was within the permissible limits. The suggested methodology generates no solid waste, is environment friendly and may be commercially implemented for treatment of zinc plant effluent.

Greater than 200 Gb/s Transmission Using Direct-Detection Optical OFDM Superchannel

In this paper, we propose directdetection optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing superchannel （DDOOFDMS） and optical multiband receiving method （OMBR） to support a greater than 200 Gb/s data rate and longer distance for direct-detection systems. For the new OMBR, we discuss the optimum carriertosideband power ratio （CSPR） in the cases of backtoback and post transmission. We derive the analytical form for CSPR and theoretically verify it. A low overhead training method for estimating I/Q imbalance is also introduced in order to improve performance and maintain high system throughput. The experiment results show that these proposals enable an unprecedented data rate of 214 Gb/s （190 Gb/s without overhead） per wavelength over an unprecedented distance of 720 km SSMF in greater than 100 Gb/s DDOFDM systems.

Air-vent layouts and water-air flow behaviors of a wide spillway aerator

A spillway aerator should guarantee favorable flow conditions in the coupled water-air system even if the aerator is unconventionally wide. Eight air-vent configurations are devised and incorporated into a 35-m wide chute aerator for a generalized study. Computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulations are performed to explore their effects on water-jet and air-cavity features. The Re-normalisation group(RNG) k-ε turbulence model and the two-fluid model are combined to predict the two-phase flow field. The results demonstrate appreciable influences of the vent layouts on the water-air flow. The air vents stir the air motion and re-distribute the cavity air pressure. Once the vent layout is modified, reciprocal adjustments exist between the jet behavior and air-pressure field in the cavity, thus leading to considerable differences in air-flow rate, jet-trajectory length, vent air-flow distribution across the chute, etc. The large width plays a discernable role in affecting the aerated flow. Telling differences exist between the near-wall region and the central part of the chute. To improve the duct pressure propagation, a gradual augment of the vent area should be assigned towards the chute center. Relative to single-slot vents across the flow, the layouts with segregated vents gain by comparison. A designer should see to it that a vented aerator operates satisfactorily for a given range of flow discharges.

Direct Preparation of Hydrogen and Carbon Nanotubes by Microwave Plasma Decomposition of Methane over Fe/Si Activated by Biased Hydrogen Plasma

Methane was decomposed to hydrogen and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by microwave plasma, using Fe/Si catalyst activated by biased (—150 V) hydrogen plasma for various treatment times. Upon exposure to biased hydrogen plasma, the catalyst surface becomes lumpy within 1 min, coheres between 5 and 10 min and forms particles after 20 min. The methane conversion increased up to 93% over the treatment time of 5 min. The hydrogen yield showed as similar tendency as the methane conversion and kept 83% at treatment time of 5 min. The treatment time up to 1 min increased the amount of deposited carbon, and after treatment time of 5 min it dropped;then again after treatment time of 20 min, it increased to reach a maximum value of 22 gc/gcat. Deposited carbon was found to be consisted of carbon nanotubes. It grew vertically on the catalyst surface and reached a maximum length of 30.7 nm after treatment time of 10 min. Multiple types of CNTs were present, and the CNT diameters decreased with increasing plasma treatment time.

Automatic Liver Tumor Segmentation in CT Modalities Using MAT-ACM

In the recent days, the segmentation of Liver Tumor (LT) has beendemanding and challenging. The process of segmenting the liver and accuratelyspotting the tumor is demanding due to the diversity of shape, texture, and intensity of the liver image. The intensity similarities of the neighboring organs of theliver create difficulties during liver segmentation. The manual segmentation doesnot provide an accurate segmentation because the results provided by differentmedical experts can vary. Also, this manual technique requires a large numberof image slices and time for segmentation. To solve these issues, the Fully Automatic Segmentation (FAS) technique is proposed. In this proposed Multi-AngleTexture Active Contour Model (MAT-ACM) method, the input Computed Tomography (CT) image is preprocessed by Contrast Enhancement (CE) with Non-Linear Mapping Technique (NLMT), in which the liver is differentiated from itsneighbouring soft tissues with related strength. Then, the filtered images are givenas the input to Adaptive Edge Modeling (AEM) with Canny Edge Detection(CED) technique, which segments the Liver Region (LR) from the given CTimages. An AEM with a CED model is implemented, which increases the convergence speed of the iterative process for decreasing the Volumetric Overlap Error(VOE) is 6.92% rates when compared with the traditional Segmentation Techniques (ST). Finally, the Liver Tumor Segmentation (LTS) is developed by applyingthe MAT-ACM, which accurately segments the LR from the segmented LRs. Theevaluation of the proposed method is compared with the existing LTS methodsusing various performance measures to prove the superiority of the proposedMAT-ACM method.

Pre-Formulation Development of Lamivudine 300 mg and Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF) 300 mg Fixed Dose Combination Tablets

Introduction: In this study, physical and chemical characteristics of Lamivudine, Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF) and potential excipients were systematically followed and documented [1]. Objective: The objective of this scientific work was to carry out pre-formulation studies including compatibility studies on Lamivudine and Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate with their potential excipients prior a direct compression process [2]. Methodology: The interaction was studied in three set of environments namely uncontrolled room conditions for Zone VI b (30°C ± 2°C), oven conditions in which the oven was set at 50°C and accelerated climatic conditions in which a climatic chamber was set at 40°C ± 2°C/75% ± 5% Relative Humidity (RH %). Sample preparation was done by mixing the amount of formulation excipients to active substances at a ratio of 1:10, whereas active substance to another active substance at a ratio of 1:1, active substance to coating materials at 1:4, coating materials to the whole set of excipients 1:4. The whole set of samples was geometrically mixed and triturated by mortar and pestle to very fine uniform powder to ensure homogeneity of the mixture. HPLC analytical method was used for simultaneous quantitative determination of lamivudine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate. Transmittance of the mixture was determined by Near Infra-Red (NIR) technique. Results: The amount of Lamivudine as on day 0 was comparable to day 90 for in all tested conditions (Room, Oven and Climatic Chamber), whereas for Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate only the amount of the drug at Room (30°C ± 2°C) was comparable to results on day 90. A significant drop of amount of Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF) exposed to moisture (Climatic chamber at 40°C ± 2°C/75% ± 5% Relative Humidity (RH %)) and temperature of 50°C was observed. Colour change was observed for samples subjected to moisture (Climatic chamber at 40°C ± 2°C/75% ± 5% Relative Humidity (RH %)) and as well picked up in the NIR region 400 to 1500 cm-1 (Finger print region) by a significant shift in Transmittance. Conclusion: It can be concluded that microcrystalline cellulose, cross linked sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, magnesium stearate and sodium carbxymethyl cellulose can be compressed together with Lamivudine and Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF) to produce a pharmaceutically acceptable solid dosage form, tablet. The produced tablets should be packed in moisture and light protective containers as Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF) has diester linkages which can be hydrolysed into the active drug Tenofovir in the presence of moisture.

Assessment of Moisture Permeability and Closure Systems of High Density Polyethylene Plastic Bottles Used as Primary Packaging Containers for Moisture Sensitive Medicines

Introduction: Moisture permeability and a loose closure system might allow a significant gain of moisture into container and this could lead to significant loss of potency of drug sensitive to moisture and as well promoting the growth of microorganisms. Typical examples of the drugs sensitive to moisture include Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF). Product claimed to be a “Tight container” does not make it a tight container until proved practically. A plastic container is tight if “not more than one of the 10 tested containers exceeds 100 mg per day per L in moisture permeability. Objectives: The goal of this study was to determine rate of moisture permeability of selected High Density Polyethylene plastic bottles for packaging of moisture sensitive medicines in particular Lamivudine/Tenofovir Disoproxil fumarate tablets. Methodology: The determination of rate of moisture permeability was achieved by assessing closure systems of plastics as per USP 37 method, while the difference in absorption pattern was achieved by assessing the spectrum obtained through transmittance by Fourier Transform-Infrared (FT-IR). The plastic bottles were randomly selected from supplier A, B and C. Results: The plastic bottles from supplier A and B had an average moisture permeability of 12.57 and 51.55 mg/day/L with none of the containers exceeding moisture permeability of 100 mg/day/L whereas containers from supplier C had an average of 149.95 mg/day/L with seven of the containers exceeding of 100 mg/day/L. Conclusion: Containers from supplier A and B met the USP specifications hence could be used as primary packaging for moisture sensitive medicines whereas the containers from supplier C did not meet the USP specifications for them to be regarded as “Tight Containers” and hence, unsuitable for packaging of moisture sensitive medicines.

X-ray phase-sensitive microscope imaging with a grating interferometer:Theory and simulation

A general theoretical framework is presented to explain the formation of the phase signal in an x-ray microscope integrated with a grating interferometer,which simultaneously enables the high spatial resolution imaging and the improved image contrast.By using this theory,several key parameters of phase contrast imaging can be predicted,for instance,the fringe visibility and period,and the conversion condition from the differential phase imaging(DPI)to the phase difference imaging(PDI).Additionally,numerical simulations are performed with certain x-ray optical components and imaging geometry.Comparison with the available experimental measurement[Appl.Phys.Lett.113063105(2018)]demonstrates the accuracy of this developed quantitative analysis method of x-ray phase-sensitive microscope imaging.

Intelligent Control Plane Techniques for Next Generation Optical Switching Networks

For the next generation optical switching networks, the intelligent control plane is a key enabling technique. In this paper, we review our recent research activities related to Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) and Open Flow-based control planes for both Wave length Switched Optical Networks (WSON) and Elastic Optical Networks (EON).

Secretory IgA in complex with Lactobacillus rhamnosus potentiates mucosal dendritic cell-mediated Treg cell differentiation via TLR regulatory proteins, RALDH2 and secretion of IL-IO and TGF-β

The importance of secretory IgA in controlling the microbiota is well known, yet how the antibody affects the perception of the commensals by the local immune system is still poorly defined. We have previously shown that the transport of secretory IgA in complex with bacteria across intestinal micmfold cells results in an association with dendritic cells in Peyer＇s patches. However, the consequences of such an interaction on dendritic cell conditioning have not been elucidated. In this study, we analyzed the impact of the commensal Lactobacillus rhamnosus, alone or associated with secretory IgA, on the responsiveness of dendritic cells freshly recovered from mouse Peyer＇s patches, mesenteric lymph nodes, and spleen. Lactobacillus rhamnosus-conditioned mucosal dendritic cells are characterized by increased expression of Toll-like receptor regulatory proteins lincluding single immunoglobulin interleukin-1 receptor-related molecule, suppressor of cytokine signaling 1, and Toll-interacting moleculel and retinaldehyde dehydrogenase 2, low surface expression of co-stimulatory markers, high anti- versus pro-inflammatory cytokine production ratios, and induction of T regulatory cells with suppressive function. Association with secretory IgA enhanced the anti-inflammatory/regulatory Lactobacillus rhamnosus-induced conditioning of mucosal dendritic cells, particularly in Peyer＇s patches. At the systemic level, activation of splenic dendritic cells exposed to Lactobacillus rhamnosus was partially dampened upon association with secretory IgA. These data suggest that secretory IgA, through coating of commensal bacteria, contributes to the conditioning of mucosal dendritic cells toward tolerogenic profiles essential for the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis.

Formation of microporous polymeric membranes via thermally induced phase separation： A review

A review of recent research related to micro- porous polymeric membranes formed via thermally induced phase separation （TIPS） and the morphologies of these membranes is presented. A summary of polymers and suitable diluents that can be used to prepare these microporous membranes via TIPS are summarized. The effects of different kinds of polymer materials, diluent types, cooling conditions, extractants and additive agents on the morphology and performance of TIPS membranes are also discussed. Finally new developments in TIPS technology are summarized.

Electrokinetic and permeation characterization of hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hollow fiber ultrafiltration membrane

PAN membrane and hydrolyzed PAN membranes with the same pore size were used to investigate the relationship between the electrokinetic property and permeation performance by streaming potential measurement and ion exchange technology. SEM and FT-IR/ATR spectra were employed to analyze the reaction and the presence of the amide groups. The thickness of the polyacrylic acid (PAA) layer on the membrane surface measured by ion-exchange titration technology increased with the reaction time, and that on membrane hydrolyzed for 50 min could reach 10.8 nm. Streaming potential measurement was used to study the influence of the carboxylic and nitrile group on the membrane surface on their separation property. Zeta potential measured in pure water had close relationship with the permeation property. This measurement also proved that there was a maximum zeta potential between zero and the concentration tested. For the ionization or dissociation of the carboxylic group on the membrane surface, treated membranes had a more flexible zeta potential range than that of the untreated membrane in the pH range of 3-9. They were all negative in pure water and 1 g·L-1 KCl solution, while the membranes hydrolyzed for 30 min and 50min had IEPs at pH 5.5 and 6.1 in 1 g·L-1 MgCl2 solution. Special inflection points of all the membranes were observed in AlCl3 solution for the positive colloid structure of Al(OH)3.