Dietary Patterns of Females with Cholecystolithiasis: A Comprehensive Study from Central Region of Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Cholecystolithiasis is a worldwide gastrointestinal disorder and dietary pattern is one of the major risk factors involved in formation of cholelithiasis. AIM: This study was undertaken to determine the dietary patterns of female patients with cholecystolithiasis in the central region of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A total of 332 females respondents were included, among them 157 were cholecystolithiasis cases, whereas 175 were healthy female subjects. All respondents were from central region of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected from a self-administered questionnaire and dietary patterns of studied population samples were compared by Chi-square test using SPSS software. RESULTS: The data showed that the consumption of meat from beef, lamb or goat, butter, ghee, pizza, cereals, legumes, coffee, tea, kabsa rice, tomatoes, and eggs was found to be positively associated with the risk of cholelithiasis. Interestingly, the data also demonstrated that consumption of cakes, chocolates, cookies, ice cream, doughnuts, chicken, fish or other sea foods, French fries, and hot dogs showed no relation with the risk of cholelithiasis. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a comprehensive description of the dietary patterns of females from central region of Saudi Arabia and their association with the risk of onset of cholelithiasis. Specifically, the majority of non-vegetarian food stuffs showed positive association with the risk of development of cholelithiasis. These findings strongly recommended that the Health Ministry of Saudi Arabia should initiate the specific intervention public health programs on the dietary pattern in relation with the risk of cholelithiasis

Bacterial foraging-optimized PID control of a two-wheeled machine with a two-directional handling mechanism

This paper presents the performance of utilizing a bacterial foraging optimization algorithm on a PID control scheme for controlling a five DOF two-wheeled robotic machine with two-directional handling mechanism. The system under investigation provides solutions for industrial robotic applications that require a limited-space working environment. The system nonlinear mathematical model, derived using Lagrangian modeling approach, is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink(®) environment. Bacterial foraging-optimized PID control with decoupled nature is designed and implemented. Various working scenarios with multiple initial conditions are used to test the robustness and the system performance. Simulation results revealed the effectiveness of the bacterial foraging-optimized PID control method in improving the system performance compared to the PID control scheme

Durability and mechanical properties of cement concrete comprising pozzolanic materials with alkali-activated binder : A comprehensive review

The disintegration of concrete structures made of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is a worrying topic of increasing significance. The trend for reusing waste products or industrial by-products to reduce the amount of OPC in concrete constructions has become an important task for industries and research institutions. Although OPC is an essential ingredient for concrete and is immensely popular, it greatly ‎contributes to the release of a massive quantity of CO2 into the atmosphere. To decrease the ‎increasing CO2 emission, scholars and researchers in the construction industry and ‎academic institutions have exerted efforts to adopt alternative sustainable binders using ‎pozzolanic materials, such as metakaolin, fly ash, slag, rice husk ash, and ‎palm oil fuel ash, combined with alkali-activator (AA). Many researchers have ‎stated that AA alumina-silicate (Al2SiO2) materials can produce convincing mechanical ‎and durability properties, such as compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and ‎modulus of elasticity, in cement concrete at an early age with low CO2 emission and ‎energy consumption. Most researchers have reported that concrete containing pozzolanic materials and alkali-activated binder (AAB) has better durability than conventional concrete, while others call for further studies. According ‎to previous studies, this research assesses the present studies on the mechanical and ‎durability properties of cement concrete produced from the AAB related to the ‎pozzolanic materials. Furthermore, few possible studies have been recommended in the ‎future‎

Influence of different curing methods on the compressive strength of ultra-high-performance concrete : A comprehensive review

Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) is a distinguishing material used in new construction and conjunction with conventional concrete. However, some issues limit the wider application of UHPC, such as high autogenous shrinkage, low workability for large-volume production, high cost, and unpredictable peak curing method. This comprehensive study aims to clarify the different effects of curing methods on the strength development of normal concrete and UHPC. The present article reviews studies that used microwave curing, autoclave curing, carbon curing, steam curing, electric curing, ambient and air curing and water to determine their effect on compressive strength. All the curing methods achieved satisfactory values of compressive strength. However, it is not practical to specify the peak curing regimes for concrete or UHPC since the best results need critical monitoring of curing parameters. The time when the samples are demolded and subjected to hydrothermal and thermal treatments varies in the literature since it depends on the binder setting time. That time should be carefully selected to avoid adverse effects and to maximise output. A combination of these curing regimes could be used together or with pressure or heat to further improve the compressive strength. In addition to the type of materials used, the curing temperature and duration significantly affect the overall performance of concrete. This review is expected to guide future research and provide an overview of the research field

Two-wheeled wheelchair stabilization using interval type-2 fuzzy logic controller

In this paper, an Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Control (IT2FLC) is proposed to control a two-wheeled wheelchair system which mimics double-links inverted pendulum and known as highly nonlinear, unstable and complex system. The control structures of the two-wheeled wheelchair is based on IT2FLC for balancing and maintaining stability of two-wheeled wheelchair system in the upright position. This paper is aimed to develop a 3-Dimensional (3D) model of two-wheeled wheelchair using a SimWise 4D (SW4D) software, which replace a complex mathematical representation that is obtained using long equation and derivation. The movement of the system is visualized using the SW4D as it is integrated with Matlab Simulink. Simulation results show that the IT2FLC give a good performance in term of tilt angle at zero degree in the upright position

Redox Control of Charge Transport in Vertical Ferrocene Molecular Tunnel Junctions

Controlling charge transport through molecular tunnel junctions is of crucial importance for exploring basic physical and chemical mechanisms at the molecular level and realizing the applications of molecular devices. Here, through a combined experimental and theoretical investigation, we demonstrate redox control of cross-plane charge transport in a vertical gold/self-assembled monolayer (SAM)/graphene tunnel junction composed of a ferrocene-based SAM. When an oxidant/reductant or electrochemical control is applied to the outside surface of the neutral single-layer graphene top electrode, reversible redox reactions of ferrocene groups take place with charges crossing the graphene layer. This leads to counter anions on the outer surface of graphene, which balance the charges of ferrocene cations in the oxidized state. Correspondingly, the junctions switch between a high-conductance, neutral state with asymmetrical characteristics and a low-conductance, oxidized state with symmetrical characteristics, yielding a large on/off ratio (>100)

A two-wheeled machine with a handling mechanism in two different directions

Despite the fact that there are various configurations of self-balanced two-wheeled machines (TWMs), the workspace of such systems is restricted by their current configurations and designs. In this work, the dynamic analysis of a novel configuration of TWMs is introduced that enables handling a payload attached to the intermediate body (IB) in two mutually perpendicular directions. This configuration will enlarge the workspace of the vehicle and increase its flexibility in material handling, objects assembly and similar industrial and service robot applications. The proposed configuration gains advantages of the design of serial arms while occupying a minimum space which is unique feature of TWMs. The proposed machine has five degrees of freedoms (DOFs) that can be useful for industrial applications such as pick and place, material handling and packaging. This machine will provide an advantage over other TWMs in terms of the wider workspace and the increased flexibility in service and industrial applications. Furthermore, the proposed design will add additional challenge of controlling the system to compensate for the change of the location of the COM due to performing tasks of handling in multiple directions

PID, BFO-optimized PID, and PD-FLC control of a two-wheeled machine with two-direction handling mechanism: a comparative study

In this paper; three control approaches are utilized in order to control the stability of a novel five-degrees-of-freedom two-wheeled robotic machine designed for industrial applications that demand a limited-space working environment. Proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control scheme, bacterial foraging optimization of PID control method, and fuzzy logic control method are applied to the wheeled machine to obtain the optimum control strategy that provides the best system stabilization performance. According to simulation results, considering multiple motion scenarios, the PID controller optimized by bacterial foraging optimization method outperformed the other two control methods in terms of minimum overshoot, rise time, and applied input forces

The optimized of tunable all-inorganic metal halide perovskites CsNBr

We report the study of chemical and physical characteristics of all-inorganic metal halide perovskites CsNBr3 (N2+  = Ge, Sn, Pb) via implementation of first-principles approaches in the framework of density functional theory (DFT) methodologies. Three different DFT approximations include Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBE), PBESOL, and Wu-Cohen (WC) within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) based on the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave (FPLAPW) scheme are used in unification with Kohn–Sham (KS) equation as executed in WIEN2k package. In addition, the hybrid functional (HSE06) was utilized to reproduce accurate energy-gaps (Egap) in the PBE-band-structures of CsNBr3 perovskites. It is found that the present results of GGA approaches for structural, electronic, and optical properties are consistent with the existing experimental and previous DFT data, where PBE gives values closer to experiments than others. Nonmagnetic and semiconducting properties, with reliable Egap localized at the R-symmetry point, are revealed by the three GGA results of band structures and density of states for all CsNBr3 perovskites. Moreover, the photonic energy-dependent optical properties of CsNBr3 perovskites comprising the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function, conductivity, reflectivity, refractive index, and absorption and extinction coefficients have been realized using the GGA approaches. The semiconducting direct Egap (Egap = 0.9814–1.9086 eV) and high optical absorption implies that the three cesium bromide perovskites CsNBr3 can utilize in designing inorganic photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, photodetectors, photodiodes, and other PV devices working in ultraviolet–visible range