Full fpfp-shell study of even-even 48−56^{48-56}Ti isotopes

The level schemes and transition rates {\em B}({\em E}2;$\uparrow$) of eve-even $^{48-56}$Ti isotopes were studied by performing large-scale shell model calculations with FPD6 and GXPF1 effective interactions. Excellent agreement were obtained by comparing the first 2$^{+}$ level for all isotopes with the recently available experimental data, but studying the transition strengths {\em B}({\em E}2; 0$^+_{g.s.} \to2^+_1$) for all Ti isotopes using constant proton-neutron effective charges prove the limitations of the present large-scale calculations to reproduce the experiment in detail.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A critique of using machine intelligence for e-decision-making

This paper is a critique of Artificial Intelligent agents used in the hearts of e-planning and e decision making systems in general.It refers to a case study of a web site that teaches JAVA programming language and is designed as a multi-level curriculum, each level with specific curricular objectives designed for users with certain background knowledge.The Instructor, to be replaced with the Intelligent Expert System, decides on the student’s level based on his/her answer to a detailed questionnaire.The paper critically compares the Instructor’s performance to three systematic approaches - procedural programs, logic expert systems, and neural networks

Pemetaan Kontraktif pada Ruang B-metrik Cone R Bernilai R^2

Ruang b–metrik cone merupakan perluasan dari ruang b–metrik dan ruang metrik cone. Pada paper ini, diselidiki eksistensi dan sifat ketunggalan titik tetap pemetaan kontraktif pada ruang b–metrik cone yang lengkap. Selanjutnya, dikaji fungsi b-metrik pada ruang b-metrik cone dan dibuktikan beberapa teorema ekivalensi antara kedua ruang tersebut dengan disertai beberapa contoh terkait, khususnya ruang b-metrik cone bernila

Serotonergic Modulation of Inhibitory Input to Lateral Horn Affects Odor-Mediated Attraction in D. melanogaster

To survive, animals must eat, mate, and avoid danger by sensing external stimuli, processing sensory information into perception, and eliciting the appropriate behavioral responses in accordance with their physiological states. Unlike learned responses, innate responses are genetically inherited and do not require the animal to have a previous encounter with the stimulus to elicit an action. However, innate responses can be flexible based on the physiological state of the animal. This flexibility is achieved through constant alterations in network dynamics which ensures that the animal\u27s responses are most effective. This alteration occurs to some extent by modulatory neurons/nuclei at multiple processing stages of a neural network and mediated via several modulatory receptor subtypes in the network. In this study, I take advantage of the well-characterized olfactory system of Drosophila to explore connectivity between a single pair of modulatory serotonergic neurons, the CSD neurons, and a population of ventral projection neurons, vPNs. Both types of neurons span two different olfactory processing stages and vPNs are vital for eliciting attraction to odors that have innately important values. I further, investigate the degree to which innate responses can be modulated by dissecting the role of one serotonergic receptor, 5-HT1A, expressed by vPNs in innate attraction and the behavioral consequences of reducing its expression in vPNs. I found that CSD neurons synapse upon the dendrites and the axons of vPNs in the antennal lobe and lateral horn, respectively, to potentially modulate the activities of vPNs in both regions simultaneously. I also found that reducing the expression of the 5-HT1A receptor in vPNs selectively increases flies\u27 attraction to the innately attractive odor apple cider vinegar, but neither to other food odors with different biological values, nor to aversive odors such as benzaldehyde. This study contributes to our understanding of the simultaneous modulation of interconnected networks by a single pair of modulatory neurons as well as the consequences of neuron class-specific expression of a single modulatory receptor. The outcome knowledge is critical for better understanding of neural coding processes in sensory systems and the extent to which innate behaviors are modulated

"Abrogation of Rulings” Methodology: A Critique

Surveying the subject of abrogation (naskh) in the Qur’ān, ḥādīth and Islamic literature, it is clear that most abrogation cases were introduced after the Prophetic era in order to interpret certain Qur’ānic verses and Prophetic narrations (aḥādīth) that some scholars perceived as “conflicting.” Two striking examples are “The Verse of the Sword” (āyat al-saif) and “The Verse of the Barrier” (āyat al-ḥijāb). The Qur’ānic verses and aḥādīth, which were misperceived as “conflicting,” should be contextually situated and applied according to the purposes (maqāṣid) behind them. This would validate all Qur’ānic verses and (authentic) Prophetic instructions regardless of their perceived contradictions. This allows jurisprudence to retain its flexibility within changing circumstances

Control of Botrytis cinerea on post-harvested blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) fruit

Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) are cultivated worldwide due to their important commercial value and the health benefits of the fruit. Botrytis cinerea is a highly destructive horticulture pathogen with a host range of 1400 plant species, including blueberry. Worldwide its management costs billions of dollars annually. Biosecurity controls require that international shipments of products be pest-free, which is increasingly difficult due to the ban of key pesticides. Instead, biological control strategies can be used to manage postharvest fruit pathogens. Surveys on postharvest blueberry in Western Australia were conducted to assess the fungal species associated with fruit decay and their pathogenicity. The fungi isolated were Botrytis cinerea, Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Penicillium brevicompactum, Epicoccum nigrum, Aureobasidium pullulans, Diaporthe australafricana, a Verticillium sp., and a Ceriporia sp. Botrytis cinerea, A. alternata, C. cladosporioides A. pullulans, and D. australafricana were pathogens. The other four were not. Two methods were used to evaluate the eight fungi as putative antagonists against B. cinerea. Firstly, each antagonist was screened for direct antagonism against B. cinerea on half-strength potato dextrose agar (PDA). Secondly, the involvement of secondary metabolites was evaluated by growing each antagonist on a dialysis membrane placed on the surface of half PDA for four days before removing the membrane and placing B. cinerea in the centre of the PDA plates and monitoring its growth. E. nigrum was found to be the most effective antagonist, followed by Verticillium sp., the Ceriporia sp. and A. pullulans using both methods. The eight putative antagonists were then screened for their ability to produce non-volatile organic compounds (NVOCs) in the presence and absence of B. cinerea using direct immersion solid-phase microextraction (DI-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The metabolic analysis by GC-MS confirmed that there were unique compounds identified from all eight fungi, such as E. nigrum producing more of these than the others. Future studies are required to determine if any of these compounds can be used to control B. cinerea as a postharvest pathogen of blueberry. This study has improved our understanding of postharvest blueberry pathogens in Australia. The results will help refine current B. cinerea postharvest management and develop more efficient and environmentally friendly control strategies

Complement Activation by Immune Complexes

The binding of bacterial, viral or parasitic antigens with specific antibody and the formation of immune complexes (IC) in the circulation is a natural event in infectious diseases. In autoimmune immune complex diseases, such as RA and SLE, the development of circulating IC depends on the binding of autoantibodies to autoantigens. In either case complement is activated with the generation of activation products. As the extent of complement activation is likely to be proportional with the disease severity, the measurement of complement activation products in biological fluids could be used as a measure of disease activity. In order to be able to measure complement activation in biological fluids, three avidin-biotin sandwich ELISA procedures were developed for the quantification of the Cls:Clr:Cl-inhibitor (Cls:Cl-INH), C3bBbP (C3:P) and SC5b-9 (C5b-9) complexes. The three assays were optimized and had sensitivity limits of 0.75ng Cl-INH/ml for Cls:Cl-INH, 0.92ng C3/ml for C3:P and 0.9ng C5/ml for C5b-9. All three complement activation complexes were found to be stable during 4 hours incubation periods at 2

Hemostatic Status of Pre and Post Intracoronary Injection of Peripheral Blood Stem Cells in Patients with Recent Myocardial Infarction

Aim: to investigate hemostatic parameter changes, such as platelet aggregation, blood and plasma viscosity, prothrombin time, APTT, CRP and fibrinogen, before and after administration of stem cell therapy. Methods: a total of 24 patients were enrolled. Peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) were harvested and injected into the infarct-related artery after 5 consecutive days of G-CSF administration. Recombinant human erythropoietin was administered at the time of intracoronary PBSCs injection. Results: we were able to evaluate 11 from 24 of patients regarding hemostatic status pre–post stem cell injection. There were no significant difference between baseline vs 3 months in spontaneous aggregation (p=0.350), PT (p=0.793), aPTT (p=0.255) and TT (p=0.254). There were also no significant difference between baseline vs 3 months in plasma viscosity (p=0.442) and blood viscosity (p=0.843). Nevertheless the patient who had their blood and plasma viscosity above or below normal laboratory range return to normal level after the treatment. Both PT and APTT also show normalization value. Both Fibrinogen and CRP level show significant decrease between baseline and 3 months after treatment (p=0.009) and (p=0.04) respectively. Conclusion: combined G-CSF and EPO based-intracoronary infusion of PBSCs may open new perspective in the treatment of hypercoagulable state post AMI

The Analysis of Doosan S500-LCV Excavator Maintenance Planning to Reduce Downtime Using Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Method

PT X is a company engaged in construction field and heavy machinery services. PT X uses excavators as a tool to mine rock sand. In 2018, the company has planned to increase production capacity. The increase of production capacity will be directly related to the operational capability of the unit which must always be maintained. The problem in this study is the occurrence of unit downtime that cannot be predicted and occurs in a relatively long time. The components damage of the excavator causes the unit to be unable to operate to increase production. The maintenance of the Doosan S500-LCV excavator at PT X is currently not optimal because the downtime that occurs in the unit is still relatively high. Standard maintenance procedure of excavator units need to be evaluated in order to minimize the occurrence of downtime so that the unit can be used for maximum production. The method used in this analysis is the Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) method with evaluating maintenance carried out and giving the right maintenance suggestion. From the results of the analysis and discussion, the critical components of the S500-LCV excavator in PT X are Bucket, Control Valve, Radiator, Alternator and Hydraulic Breaker. Proposed maintenance based on the RCM method and the consideration of S500-LCV maintenance costs at PT X are bucket with preventive maintenance, control valve with a combination of preventive and corrective maintenance, radiator with preventive maintenance, alternator with a combination of preventive and corrective maintenance and hydraulic breakers with preventive maintenanc

Optical Properties of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) Thin Films Doped with Tungsten Disulfide (WS₂) Nanoparticles

Background: Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a versatile synthetic polymer with excellent optical and mechanical properties, making it suitable choice for a range of applications. The incorporation of tungsten disulfide (WS₂) nanoparticles into PVA offers the potential to enhance these properties, enabling applications in flexible electronics and optoelectronic devices. Materials and Methods: Thin films of PVA doped with WS₂ nanoparticles at concentrations of 0.5%, 1%, and 2% were prepared using the casting method. The films were deposited with a thickness of 150 nm on glass substrates. Structural and optical characterizations were performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-Vis spectroscopy to study the semi-crystalline nature and optical behavior of the composites.  Results: The XRD analysis revealed that the semi-crystalline nature of pure PVA and the formation of crystalline WS₂ phases with increased doping ratio. UV-Vis measurement showed enhanced light absorption in the visible region, with a consistent red shift in the absorption edge. The direct band gap decreased from 4.1 eV for pure PVA to 4.03 eV for 2% WS₂-doped films, while the Urbach Energy increased, indicating higher structural disorder with increasing doping. Conclusions: The incorporation of the WS₂ nanoparticles into PVA significantly alters its structural and optical properties, reducing the band gap and enhancing light absorption. Results highlight the potential of PVA/WS₂ Nano-composites for use in photonic and optoelectronic applications