Method of lines and runge-kutta method in solving partial differential equation for heat equation

Solving the differential equation for Newton’s cooling law mostly consists of several fragments formed during a long time to solve the equation. However, the stiff type problems seem cannot be solved efficiently via some of these methods. This research will try to overcome such problems and compare results from two classes of numerical methods for heat equation problems. The heat or diffusion equation, an example of parabolic equations, is classified into Partial Differential Equations. Two classes of numerical methods which are Method of Lines and Runge-Kutta will be performed and discussed. The development, analysis and implementation have been made using the Matlab language, which the graphs exhibited to highlight the accuracy and efficiency of the numerical methods. From the solution of the equations, it showed that better accuracy is achieved through the new combined method by Method of Lines and Runge-Kutta method

Teaching approaches employed in teaching literature component in english in urban and rural secondary schools

Literature component in English programme (LiEP) is included in the English language syllabus for all secondary schools in Malaysia, aiming at engaging students in reading literature for enjoyment and self-development. Different approaches to literature teaching can be used, ranging from teacher-centered approach to student-centered approach. However, it is difficult to implement these approaches when teaching literature component in the real English language classroom setting either in urban or rural secondary schools. Therefore, this study aims to identify the teaching approaches that English language teachers use when teaching literature in rural and urban secondary schools. Questionnaire was used in collecting the data from 20 secondary schools in Pontian and Johor Bahru districts. In this study, it was found that teacher-centered approach is used in rural secondary schools while student-centered approach is employed in urban secondary schools when teaching literature component

Life jacket

Anyone who cannot swim well should wear life jacket whether they are in the water or around the water. Even those who are can swim well should wear the life jacket when they are doing activity such as swimming, fishing, boating or while doing any water-related activity. Life jacket is a kind of safety jacket that keeping the wearer float the in the water. The wearer may be in the conscious or unconscious condition but by wearing the life jacket we can minimize the risk of drowning because life jacket assist the wearer to keep floating in the water

Design optimization for the two-stage bivariate pattern recognition scheme

In manufacturing operations, unnatural process variation has become a major contributor to a poor quality product. Therefore, monitoring and diagnosis of variation is critical in quality control. Monitoring refers to the identification of process condition either it is running within in statistically in-control or out-of-control, whereas diagnosis refers to the identification of the source of out-of-control process. Selection of SPC scheme becomes more challenging when involving two correlated variables, which are known as bivariate quality control (BQC). Generally, the traditional SPC charting schemes were known to be effective in monitoring aspects, but there were unable to provide information towards diagnosis. In order to overcome this issue, many researches proposed an artificial neural network (ANN) - based pattern recognition schemes. Such schemes were mainly utilize raw data as input representation into an ANN recognizer, which resulted in limited performance. In this research, an integrated MEWMA-ANN scheme was investigated. The optimal design parameters for the MEWMA control chart have been studied. The study focused on BQC with variation in mean shifts (μ = ±0.75 ~ 3.00) standard deviations and cross correlation function (ρ = 0.1 ~ 0.9). The monitoring and diagnosis performances were evaluated based on the average run length (ARL0, ARL1) and recognition accuracy (RA) respectively. The selected optimal design parameters with λ=0.10, H=8.64 gave better performance among the other designs, namely, average run length, ARL1=3.24 ~ 16.93 (for out-of-control process) and recognition accuracy, RA=89.05 ~ 97.73%. For in-control process, design parameters with λ=0.40, H=10.31 parameter gave superior performance with ARL0 = 676.81 ~ 921.71, which is more effective in avoiding false alarm with any correlation

Development of an unsupervised remote sensing methodology of detect surface leakage from terrestrial CO2 storage sites

Imperial Users onl

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 259)

A bibliography containing 476 documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in May 1984 is presented. The primary subject categories included are: life sciences, aerospace medicine, behavioral sciences, man/system technology, life support, and planetary biology. Topics extensively represented were space flight stress, man machine systems, weightlessness, human performance, mental performance, and spacecraft environments. Abstracts for each citation are given

Cytokine gene expression and cellular immune response in dogs with leishmaniosis before and under the two first-line treatment protocols : new insights into the animal disease

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências Veterinárias, especialidade de Ciências Biológicas e Biomédicas. Universidade de Lisboa. Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária 2020Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) caused by Leishmania infantum is a zoonotic visceral disease of worldwide concern. The drugs used for its treatment improve the animal’s clinical condition, although, in most cases, the parasites are not completely destroyed. The current study aimed to evaluate the immune response of the dog with leishmaniosis before and during treatment with first-line drugs, by analyzing the profile of cytokines and subsets of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells in peripheral blood, lymph node and bone marrow. Two groups of six dogs diagnosed with CanL were treated with either miltefosine or meglumine antimoniate in combination with allopurinol. Simultaneously, another group of ten clinically healthy dogs was used as a control group. Upon diagnosis and during the following three months of treatment, clinical signs, hematological and biochemical parameters, urinalysis results and anti-Leishmania antibody titers using IFAT were recorded. Furthermore, peripheral blood, popliteal lymph node and bone marrow mononuclear cells were collected to evaluate the gene expression of IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-12, TNF-α, TGF-β and IFN-γ by qPCR. In parallel, these cells were also immunophenotypically analyzed be flow cytometry, using surface monoclonal antibodies anti-CD45, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD25 and intracellular monoclonal antibody anti-nuclear factor FoxP3. Both treatment protocols promoted the remission of clinical signs, normalization of hematological and biochemical parameters and urinalysis values. Sick dogs showed a generalized increase in IFN-γ gene expression and a decrease of IL-2, IL-4, and TGF-β. The expression of IL-12, TNF-α, IL-5, and IL-10 showed variations between groups of dogs and the tissue analyzed. CanL also resulted in an overall increase in the percentage of CD8+ T-cells in all tissues. In the peripheral blood there was also a decrease in CD4+ T-cells and an increase of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ and CD8+CD25+FoxP3+ T-cells, with the latter also increasing on the bone marrow. CD4+CD25-FoxP3- T-cells showed a marked decrease in blood and bone marrow. During treatment, a trend towards normalization of cytokine gene expression and T-cell subsets was observed. However, high levels of IFN-γ gene expression were still observed in all tissues. In turn, the treatments caused an increase in the percentage of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ and a decrease in CD8+CD25-FoxP3- T-cells, leading to normalization of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in all tissues. Furthermore, the effect of treatment on gene expression of cytokines that were not significantly altered by infection indicates that these combined treatment protocols directly affect cytokine production. Both combined treatments are effective in remitting clinical sings and appear to influence the dog’s immune response, sustaining a pro-inflammatory immune environment while promoting the normalization of T-cell subsets. These findings indicate that L. infantum may be able to manipulate elements of the dog's immune system to avoid differentiating an efficient protective response, preventing the rapid development of severe pathology while ensuring the parasite’s survival and securing the possibility of several transmission cycles. Allied to these results, other studies carried out in collaboration with the working group on the role of neutrophils, hepatocytes and Kupffer cells in CanL, as well as the evaluation of treatment in feline leishmaniosis, have allowed to enhance the knowledge in the area of animal leishmaniosis.RESUMO - Expressão génica de citocinas e resposta imune celular em cães com leishmaniose antes e sob os dois protocolos de tratamento de primeira linha: novas informações sobre a doença animal - A leishmaniose canina (LCan) causada por Leishmania infantum é uma doença visceral zoonótica de interesse mundial. Os fármacos utilizados para o tratamento melhoram o estado clínico do animal, embora, muitas das vezes, os parasitas não sejam totalmente eliminados. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a resposta imunitária do cão com leishmaniose antes e durante o tratamento com fármacos de primeira linha, através da análise do perfil de citocinas e subconjuntos de células T CD4+ e CD8+ no sangue periférico, linfonodo e medula óssea. Dois grupos de seis cães diagnosticados com LCan foram tratados com antimoniato de meglumina ou miltefosina em associação com alopurinol. Em simultâneo, outro grupo de dez cães clinicamente saudáveis foi usado como grupo controlo. Aquando do diagnóstico e durante os três meses consecutivos de tratamento, foram registados os sinais clínicos, parâmetros hematológicos e bioquímicos, resultados de urianálise e títulos de anticorpos anti-Leishmania obtidos por IFAT. Células mononucleares do sangue periférico, linfonodo e medula óssea foram recolhidas para avaliação da expressão génica de IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-12, TNF-α, TGF-β e IFN-γ por qPCR. Em paralelo, estas células foram também analisadas imunofenotipicamente por citometria de fluxo, com anticorpos monoclonais de superfície anti-CD45, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD25 e anticorpo mononuclear intracelular anti-factor nuclear FoxP3. Ambos os protocolos de tratamento promoveram a remissão dos sinais clínicos, a normalização dos parâmetros hematológicos, bioquímicos e dos valores de urianálise. Cães doentes mostraram um aumento generalizado da expressão génica de IFN-γ e diminuição de IL-2, IL-4 e TGF-β. A expressão de IL-12, TNF-α, IL-5 e IL-10 apresentou variações entre os grupos de cães e o tecido analisado. A LCan levou também a um aumento generalizado da percentagem de células T CD8+ em todos os tecidos. No sangue verificou-se ainda diminuição de células T CD4+ e aumento de células T CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ e CD8+CD25+FoxP3+, com estas últimas aumentando também na medula. As células CD4+CD25-FoxP3- mostraram diminuição acentuada no sangue e medula óssea. Durante o tratamento, foi observada uma tendência para a normalização da expressão génica de citocinas e subconjuntos celulares. No entanto, níveis elevados da expressão génica de IFN-γ foram observados em todos os tecidos. Por sua vez, os tratamentos causaram um aumento da percentagem de células T CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ e diminuição de células T CD8+CD25-FoxP3-, levando à normalização os valores de células T CD4+ e CD8+ em todos os tecidos. Adicionalmente, o efeito do tratamento na expressão génica de citocinas, que não se encontravam alteradas aquando da infeção, é indicador de que estas terapêuticas combinadas afetam diretamente a produção de citocinas. Ambas as terapêuticas combinadas são eficazes na remissão dos sinais clínicos e parecem influenciar a resposta imunitária do cão, sustentando um ambiente imunológico pró-inflamatório e promovendo a normalização de subconjuntos de linfócitos T. Estes resultados indicam que L. infantum poderá ser capaz de manipular elementos do sistema imunológico do cão para impedir a diferenciação de uma resposta protetora eficaz, evitando o rápido desenvolvimento de patologia grave, enquanto assegura a sobrevivência do parasita, garantindo a possibilidade de vários ciclos de transmissão. Aliado a estes resultados, estudos realizados em colaboração pelo grupo de trabalho sobre o papel dos neutrófilos, hepatócitos e células de Kupffer na LCan, assim como a avaliação do tratamento na leishmaniose felina, permitiram agregar mais conhecimentos na área da leishmaniose animal.N/

Combining SOA and BPM Technologies for Cross-System Process Automation

This paper summarizes the results of an industry case study that introduced a cross-system business process automation solution based on a combination of SOA and BPM standard technologies (i.e., BPMN, BPEL, WSDL). Besides discussing major weaknesses of the existing, custom-built, solution and comparing them against experiences with the developed prototype, the paper presents a course of action for transforming the current solution into the proposed solution. This includes a general approach, consisting of four distinct steps, as well as specific action items that are to be performed for every step. The discussion also covers language and tool support and challenges arising from the transformation