Isolation and Characterization of Chi-like \u3ci\u3eSalmonella\u3c/i\u3e Bacteriophages Infecting Two \u3ci\u3eSalmonella enterica\u3c/i\u3e Serovars, Typhimurium and Enteritidis

Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium and Salmonella enterica Serovar Enteritidis are well-known pathogens that cause foodborne diseases in humans. The emergence of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella serovars has caused serious public health problems worldwide. In this study, two lysogenic phages, STP11 and SEP13, were isolated from a wastewater treatment plant in Jeddah, KSA. Transmission electron microscopic images revealed that both phages are new members of the genus “Chivirus” within the family Siphoviridae. Both STP11 and SEP13 had a lysis time of 90 min with burst sizes of 176 and 170 PFU/cell, respectively. The two phages were thermostable (0 ◦C ≤ temperature \u3c 70 ◦C) and pH tolerant at 3 ≤ pH \u3c 11. STP11 showed lytic activity for approximately 42.8% (n = 6), while SEP13 showed against 35.7% (n = 5) of the tested bacterial strains. STP11 and STP13 have linear dsDNA genomes consisting of 58,890 bp and 58,893 bp nucleotide sequences with G + C contents of 57% and 56.5%, respectively. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the genomes of phages STP11 and SEP13 contained 70 and 71 ORFs, respectively. No gene encoding tRNA was detected in their genome. Of the 70 putative ORFs of phage STP11, 27 (38.6%) were assigned to functional genes and 43 (61.4%) were annotated as hypothetical proteins. Similarly, 29 (40.8%) of the 71 putative ORFs of phage SEP13 were annotated as functional genes, whereas the remaining 42 (59.2%) were assigned as nonfunctional proteins. Phylogenetic analysis of the whole genome sequence demonstrated that the isolated phages are closely related to Chi-like Salmonella viruses

Composite model predictive control for the boost converter and two-phase interleaved boost converter

This article compares the conventional model predictive control (MPC) and active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) with a novel MPADRC technique for controlling a non-minimum phase behavior in the DC–DC boost converter. The control of the boost converter is challenging as it is nonlinear, and it shows non-minimum phase behavior in a continuous conduction mode (CCM). Moreover, in this article, the comparison is presented for the boost converter and the two-phase interleaved boost converter using MPC and ADRC, and the effectiveness of the interleaving technique is shown. Finally, it is proved that the interleaving method has much more efficiency and less output ripple than the simple boost converter. To conclude, a novel technique has been introduced that combines both the techniques, that is, MPC and ADRC, in the outer and inner loop with a boost converter, respectively, and the response is clearly the best when compared to the said techniques individually. The overall impact of this technique includes the advantages of both the techniques, that is, the use of MPC allows us to optimize the current value by predicting the future values, and the use of ADRC ensures that the disturbance factor is well tackled and cancels the effect caused by all the disturbances including ignored quantities as well

Novel FDIs-based data manipulation and its detection in smart meters’ electricity theft scenarios

Non-technical loss is a serious issue around the globe. Consumers manipulate their smart meter (SM) data to under-report their readings for financial benefit. Various manipulation techniques are used. This paper highlights novel false data injection (FDIs) techniques, which are used to manipulate the smart meter data. These techniques are introduced in comparison to six theft cases. Furthermore, various features are engineered to analyze the variance, complexity, and distribution of the manipulated data. The variance and complexity are created in data distribution when FDIs and theft cases are used to poison SM data, which is investigated through skewness and kurtosis analysis. Furthermore, to tackle the data imbalance issue, the proximity weighted synthetic oversampling (ProWsyn) technique is used. Moreover, a hybrid attentionLSTMInception is introduced, which is an integration of attention layers, LSTM, and inception blocks to tackle data dimensionality, misclassification, and high false positive rate issues. The proposed hybrid model outperforms the traditional theft detectors and achieves an accuracy of 0.95%, precision 0.97%, recall 0.94%, F1 score 0.96%, and area under-the-curve (AUC) score 0.98%

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Impact of primary kidney disease on the effects of empagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease: secondary analyses of the EMPA-KIDNEY trial

Background: The EMPA KIDNEY trial showed that empagliflozin reduced the risk of the primary composite outcome of kidney disease progression or cardiovascular death in patients with chronic kidney disease mainly through slowing progression. We aimed to assess how effects of empagliflozin might differ by primary kidney disease across its broad population. Methods: EMPA-KIDNEY, a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial, was conducted at 241 centres in eight countries (Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the UK, and the USA). Patients were eligible if their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 20 to less than 45 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or 45 to less than 90 mL/min per 1·73 m2 with a urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) of 200 mg/g or higher at screening. They were randomly assigned (1:1) to 10 mg oral empagliflozin once daily or matching placebo. Effects on kidney disease progression (defined as a sustained ≥40% eGFR decline from randomisation, end-stage kidney disease, a sustained eGFR below 10 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or death from kidney failure) were assessed using prespecified Cox models, and eGFR slope analyses used shared parameter models. Subgroup comparisons were performed by including relevant interaction terms in models. EMPA-KIDNEY is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03594110. Findings: Between May 15, 2019, and April 16, 2021, 6609 participants were randomly assigned and followed up for a median of 2·0 years (IQR 1·5–2·4). Prespecified subgroupings by primary kidney disease included 2057 (31·1%) participants with diabetic kidney disease, 1669 (25·3%) with glomerular disease, 1445 (21·9%) with hypertensive or renovascular disease, and 1438 (21·8%) with other or unknown causes. Kidney disease progression occurred in 384 (11·6%) of 3304 patients in the empagliflozin group and 504 (15·2%) of 3305 patients in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·71 [95% CI 0·62–0·81]), with no evidence that the relative effect size varied significantly by primary kidney disease (pheterogeneity=0·62). The between-group difference in chronic eGFR slopes (ie, from 2 months to final follow-up) was 1·37 mL/min per 1·73 m2 per year (95% CI 1·16–1·59), representing a 50% (42–58) reduction in the rate of chronic eGFR decline. This relative effect of empagliflozin on chronic eGFR slope was similar in analyses by different primary kidney diseases, including in explorations by type of glomerular disease and diabetes (p values for heterogeneity all >0·1). Interpretation: In a broad range of patients with chronic kidney disease at risk of progression, including a wide range of non-diabetic causes of chronic kidney disease, empagliflozin reduced risk of kidney disease progression. Relative effect sizes were broadly similar irrespective of the cause of primary kidney disease, suggesting that SGLT2 inhibitors should be part of a standard of care to minimise risk of kidney failure in chronic kidney disease. Funding: Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, and UK Medical Research Council

Close-Out Project at Worcester Trial Courthouse

This project reviews and evaluates Gilbane Building Company's close-out procedures for the Worcester Trial Courthouse. The methods and processes used by Gilbane to conduct close-out were examined. These methods include: Close-out matrices, Rolling Completion List, and Prolog. The project goals were accomplished in collaboration with accountants, engineers, and superintendents. As a result, improvements have been proposed to the Gilbane close-out system. Additionally, an alternative foundation method was designed and evaluated in terms of feasibility. This method is concrete mat foundation

Design and Analysis of Three Phase Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Machine with Different PM Shapes for Electric Vehicles

Axial flux permanent magnet (AFPM) machines are good candidates for electric vehicle applications due to their high torque density, improved efficiency, and better flux distribution; thus, they are often used. A dual-rotor single-stator AFPM machine with four differently shaped permanent magnet (PM) rotors is investigated. The main aim of this paper is to enhance the average torque while minimizing the cogging torque and torque ripples at the expense of low PM volume. The proposed machines are analyzed in terms of flux linkage, back-EMF, cogging torque, average torque, and torque ripples. The analysis reveals that the machine with an arc-shaped PM rotor performs better than the others. In addition, the trapozoidal arc-shaped PM used in the AFPM machine outperforms the hexagonal, skew arc, and traditional trapezoidal PMs. The torque density of the trapezoidal-shaped PM machine is 40.23 (KNm/m3), while that of the hexagonal shape is 32.46 (KNm/m3), that of the skew arc shape is 39.78 (KNm/m3), and that of the arc shape is 50.38 (KNm/m3)

Design and Analysis of Three Phase Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Machine with Different PM Shapes for Electric Vehicles

Axial flux permanent magnet (AFPM) machines are good candidates for electric vehicle applications due to their high torque density, improved efficiency, and better flux distribution; thus, they are often used. A dual-rotor single-stator AFPM machine with four differently shaped permanent magnet (PM) rotors is investigated. The main aim of this paper is to enhance the average torque while minimizing the cogging torque and torque ripples at the expense of low PM volume. The proposed machines are analyzed in terms of flux linkage, back-EMF, cogging torque, average torque, and torque ripples. The analysis reveals that the machine with an arc-shaped PM rotor performs better than the others. In addition, the trapozoidal arc-shaped PM used in the AFPM machine outperforms the hexagonal, skew arc, and traditional trapezoidal PMs. The torque density of the trapezoidal-shaped PM machine is 40.23 (KNm/m3), while that of the hexagonal shape is 32.46 (KNm/m3), that of the skew arc shape is 39.78 (KNm/m3), and that of the arc shape is 50.38 (KNm/m3)

Performance Analysis and Optimization of a Novel Outer Rotor Field-Excited Flux-Switching Machine with Combined Semi-Closed and Open Slots Stator

Slotting effect in electric machines reduces flux per pole that effect magnetic flux density distribution in the air gap which induces harmonics in magnetic flux density causing flux pulsation, that in turn generates dominant torque pulsation in the form of cogging torque and torque ripples. To overcome the abovesaid demerits, a novel outer rotor field-excited flux-switching machine (OR-FSFSM) with a combined semi-closed and open slots stator is proposed in this study. The developed OR-FEFSM offers a high-power factor, due to the utilization of the semi-closed slot for armature coils. The open slot stator structure was chosen for the field excitation coil, which effectively suppresses leakage reluctance that causes flux pulsation. Thus, the influence of torque ripples is reduced, and the average torque is improved. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed OR-FEFSM, a detailed study of stator slot and rotor pole combinations are performed. Based on simplified mathematical formulation, 12S/7P (stator slot/rotor poles), 12S/11P, 12S/13P, and 12S/17P are the most feasible combinations. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) based on comprehensive electromagnetic performance is performed on each combination, and found that 12S/13P offers the highest average torque of 4.62 Nm, whereas 3.72 Nm, 2.72Nm, and 1.68 Nm average torque is offered by 12S/17P, 12S/7P, and 12S/11P, respectively. Based on the initial analysis, 12S/13P was considered for further analysis and optimized using JMAG built-in Genetic Algorithm (GA). Moreover, thermal analysis was performed, and the proposed design was compared with the conventional design