Empirical formula applied to the lowest excitation energies of the natural parity odd multipole states in even-even nuclei

We applied our recently proposed empirical formula, a formula quite successful in describing essential trends of the lowest excitation energies of the natural parity even multipole states, to the lowest excitation energies of the natural parity odd multipole states in even-even nuclei throughout the entire periodic table. Even though the systematic behavior of the lowest excitation energies of odd multipole states is quite different from those of even multipole states, we have shown that the same empirical formula also holds reasonably well for the odd multipole states with the exception of a few certain instances.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figure

E-Government Service Quality Based on E-GovQual Approach Case Study in West Sumatera Province

This study aims to evaluate e-Government service quality especially in West Sumatera, Indonesia. The reason why the study conducted is that the difficulty obtaining available and accurate data from the Indonesian citizen regarding the implementation of e-government. The method used in this study is survey based on the e-GovQual questionnaire distributed to total 247 respondents to find out their perception of all the services provided by the e-Government website. The results showed that in general, the citizens agreed that quality of e-Government service provided by the government of West Sumatera province is good enough and meet their expectation regarding efficient, trust, reliability, citizen support, content & appearance of information, and functionality of interactive environment. However, e-Government service quality requires improvement due to the results obtained were still at a moderate level

Combining deep and handcrafted image features for MRI brain scan classification

Progresses in the areas of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and medical imaging technologies have allowed the development of the medical image processing field with some astonishing results in the last two decades. These innovations enabled the clinicians to view the human body in high-resolution or three-dimensional cross-sectional slices, which resulted in an increase in the accuracy of the diagnosis and the examination of patients in a non-invasive manner. The fundamental step for MRI brain scans classifiers is their ability to extract meaningful features. As a result, many works have proposed different methods for features extraction to classify the abnormal growths in brain MRI scans. More recently, the application of deep learning algorithms to medical imaging lead to impressive performance enhancements in classifying and diagnosing complicated pathologies such as brain tumors. In this study, a deep learning feature extraction algorithm is proposed to extract the relevant features from MRI brain scans. In parallel, handcrafted features are extracted using the modified grey level co-occurrence matrix (MGLCM) method. Subsequently, the extracted relevant features are combined with handcrafted features to improve the classification process of MRI brain scans with SVM used as the classifier. The obtained results proved that the combination of the deep learning approach and the handcrafted features extracted by MGLCM improves the accuracy of classification of the SVM classifier up to 99.30%

First report of Colleothrichum spp causing diseases in Capsichum spp in Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

Blackish or orange liquid-like spots were found on (n=100) fruits of chillies (Capsicum) sold in five local markets in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and C. capsici were identified as the causal agents of an anthracnose disease. This is the first report of Colletotrichum spp. as the causal agent of anthracnose infected chillies in Sabah

Roles and Responsibilities Land Deed Official (PPAT) Of Tax Duty in the Implementation of Acquisition of Land and Buildings (BPHTB) Underpayment by the Taxpayers in Semarang

The purpose of this research are: 1) To identify and analyze the role of responsibility in the Land Deed Official BPHTB implementation of extant underpayment by the taxpayer in the city of Semarang. 2) To know and understand the procedures for implementing the tax collection of BPHTB the underpayment by the taxpayer in the city of Semarang. 3) To analyze the barriers and solutions in tax collection is less paid by the taxpayer in the city of Semarang.The methods of this research approach is empirical jurisdiction. Primary data was taken by the method of structured interviews, secondary data, and the data tertiary literature study and analysis by descriptive analytical method.Based on the results of data analysis concluded that: 1) The role and responsibilities of PPAT can vary in terms of solving problems regarding the lack of pay taxes BPHTB, first there are some of PPAT to omit some chapters in a deed of them, and some are not stated with a settlement notice or in the form of an appeal as officials land deed to the client or taxpayers.2) procession conducted by the tax authorities namely Apparatus State Civil circulate bills of underpayment of tax is intended to taxpayers who are still their underpayment of tax by nature force because the circulars issued by phisicus accordance with rule and regulations in force in accordance with Regulation Semarang City No. 2 of 2011 Chapter VII Article 15 paragraph 1 and 2. 3) Barriers often happens is that first were often there is an error in the calculation of the nominal value of the deposit amount of tax to be paid by the taxpayer to the local government, the second presence at the crux on the amount of tax rates provided to the taxpayer by the SPPTPBB both rural and urban, as well as the steps being taken are in accordance with agreed procedures, but it is still the amount of load that must be paid by the taxpayer. The solution to these problems that is better than the Land Deed Official should conduct socialization to the client then later if there is any underpayment of tax.Keywords: Empirical Juridical Review; Pay less Tax; Customs Tax Collection Procession Acquisition of Lan

Serological and molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium species from humans in Sokoto State, Nigeria

Cryptosporidium species are one of the most common causes of gastrointestinal infection in humans around the world. This study aimed at the characterization of Cryptosporidium species in humans using the 18S rRNA gene. Among the 368 human faecal samples screened using Cryptosporidium antigen Copro-ELISA kit, 61 (16.6%) were positive. The positive faecal samples were subjected to Nested PCR for the amplification of 830 bp fragments of small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene and followed by nucleotide sequencing. Out of the 61 copro-ELISA positive samples, 5 (8.2%) were PCR positive for Cryptosporidium species (3 (4.9%) of C. parvum and 2 (3.3%) of C. hominis). Two HIV patients were found to be harbouring C. parvum and C. hominis, so also as hypertensive and diarrheic patients harbouring C. parvum and C. hominis, respectively. Higher prevalence rates of Cryptosporidium was found in young children (11.1%), males (8.7%), loose faeces (42.9%) than older age groups (8.7%), females (7.9%) and well-formed (3.1%) or mucoid/pasty faeces (0%) based on the data gathered from the close-ended questionnaire also used on each human subject. This study was the first to report C. parvum and C. hominis infecting humans in Sokoto state, Northwestern Nigeria. It is suggested that a multi-locus study of Cryptosporidium species in developing countries would be necessary to determine the extent of transmission of Cryptosporidium in the populations

Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing Validates the Use of Diagnostic Biopsies as a Suitable Alternative to Resection Material for Mutation Screening in Colorectal Cancer

Background: Mutation testing in the context of neoadjuvant therapy must be performed on biopsy samples. Given the issue of tumour heterogeneity, this raises the question of whether the biopsies are representative of the whole tumour. Here we have compared the mutation profiles of colorectal biopsies with their matched resection specimens. Methods: We performed next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis on 25 paired formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded colorectal cancer biopsy and primary resection samples. DNA was extracted and analysed using the TruSight tumour kit, allowing the interrogation of 26 cancer driver genes. Samples were run on an Illumina MiSeq. Mutations were validated using quick-multiplex-consensus (QMC)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in conjunction with high resolution melting (HRM). The paired biopsy and resection tumour samples were assessed for presence or absence of mutations, mutant allele frequency ratios, and allelic imbalance status. Results: A total of 81 mutations were detected, in ten of the 26 genes in the TruSight kit. Two of the 25 paired cases were wild-type across all genes. The mutational profiles, allelic imbalance status, and mutant allele frequency ratios of the paired biopsy and resection samples were highly concordant (88.75–98.85%), with all but three (3.7%) of the mutations identified in the resection specimens also being present in the biopsy specimens. All 81 mutations were confirmed by QMC-PCR and HRM analysis, although four low-level mutations required a co-amplification at lower denaturation temperature (COLD)-PCR protocol to enrich for the mutant alleles. Conclusions: Diagnostic biopsies are adequate and reliable materials for molecular testing by NGS. The use of biopsies for molecular screening will enhance targeted neoadjuvant therapy

Baseline Objective Inflammation by Magnetic Resonance Imaging as a Predictor of Therapeutic Benefit in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis With Poor Prognosis

Objective: High magnetic resonance imaging (MRI )–detected inflammation is associated with greater progression and poorer outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA ). This analysis aimed to determine if baseline MRI inflammation was related to clinical response and remission in the Assessing Very Early Rheumatoid arthritis Treatment (AVERT ) study. Methods: AVERT was a phase III b, randomized, controlled trial with a 12‐month, double‐blind treatment period enrolling patients with early (≤2 years' duration), anti‐citrullinated peptide–positive methotrexate (MTX )‐naive RA . In this post hoc analysis, patients in the abatacept plus MTX (n = 114) and MTX (n = 111) arms with available MRI results were stratified into low and high baseline MRI inflammation groups based on previously developed cutoffs of synovitis and osteitis on unilateral hand–wrist contrast‐enhanced MRI . Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI ) remission (≤3.3), Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI ) remission (≤2.8), Boolean remission, and Disease Activity Score in 28 joints using the C‐reactive protein level (<2.6) were assessed. Results: Overall, 100 of 225 patients (44.4%) had high baseline MRI inflammation. In patients with high baseline MRI inflammation, a significantly greater proportion achieved remission at 12 months with abatacept plus MTX versus MTX across SDAI (45.1% versus 16.3%; P = 0.0022), CDAI (47.1% versus 20.4%; P = 0.0065), and Boolean indices (39.2% versus 16.3%; P = 0.0156). In patients with low baseline MRI inflammation, remission rates were not significantly different with abatacept plus MTX versus MTX (SDAI : 39.7% versus 32.3%; P = 0.4961). Conclusion: In seropositive, MTX ‐naive patients with early RA and presence of objectively measured high inflammation by MRI , indicating poor prognosis, remission rates were higher with abatacept plus MTX treatment versus MTX

Development of a novel fermented pumpkin-based beverage inoculated with water kefir grains: a response surface methodology approach

Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) is well known for its health and nutritional benefits and is recommended for daily consumption. This is the first report on optimization and development of fermented pumpkin-based water kefir beverage. Optimum pumpkin puree and brown sugar concentrations were found at 22.28 and 9.07% w/v, respectively, were made into a pumpkin-based beverage and fermented with water kefir grains for 24 h at 32 �C. The optimized fermented pumpkin-based water kefir beverage was found to be non-alcoholic, achieved good overall acceptability and high Lactobacillus, acetic acid bacteria and yeast cell viability of approximately 1012, 109 and 109 CFU mL-1, respectively. Overall, the optimized product attained superb technological characteristics and has the potential for industrial exploitation as a refreshing water kefir drink