Explaining Underrepresentation: A Theory of Precluded Interest

What processes best explain women’s underrepresentation in science, math, and engineering fields in the U.S.? Do they also explain men’s underrepresentation in the humanities? Two survey studies across two U.S. West Coast universities (N = 62; N = 614) addressed these questions in the context of two fields: one male-dominated (computer science) and the other female-dominated (English). Among a set of social predictors—including perceived similarity to the people in the field, social identity threats, and expectations of success—the best mediator of women’s lower interest in computer science and men’s lower interest in English was perceived similarity. Thus, changing students’ social perceptions of how they relate to those in the field may help to diversify academic fields

Evaluation of the plantar fascia in patients with diabetes mellitus : the role of sonoelastography

Purpose: It has been postulated that hyperglycaemic non-enzymatic glycation of proteins with subsequent accumulation of glycosylated end-products in tissues like the plantar fascia (PF) contributes to the development of foot ulcers in diabetics. The present study evaluates the spectrum of sonoelastographic findings in the plantar fascia in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Material and methods: A total of 81 patients and 32 healthy volunteers were included in the study. PF thickness was registered 1 cm distal to the attachment at the calcaneus. Greyscale ultrasonographic examination was followed by strain elastography of the PF based on which PF were qualitatively categorized into 3 grades (hard, intermediate, soft) depending on their predominant colour. Results: Patients were found to have thicker PF than healthy volunteers (p < 0.0001). Grade 2 (intermediate elasticity) PF was the most common type seen in both groups (48.44% of healthy volunteers and 57.25% of patients). However, a greater number of patients (36.64%) had grade 3, i.e. soft PF as compared to healthy volunteers (9.38%). Conclusions: To conclude, there is thickening and softening of the PF in patients with type 2 DM, supporting the hypo thesis that diabetes-induced changes occur in the tissues of the foot

Design and Performance Analysis of the Dynamic Reduction of Intrinsic Interference Suppression and BER using QAM-based FBMC for MU-MIMO Communications

The present research work is focused on the study of co-channel interface with its minimization techniques without influencing its performance, in turn, which is desired to achieve the minimized complexity of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)-based Filter Bank Multi-Carrier (FBMC) to minimize the interference and increase the spectral features with consideration of intrinsic features extractions for the ML (Maximum Likelihood) synthesis systems. The valid measures are given various concerns under consideration, to start with the consideration of the evaluation of the Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFD performance metrics along with the FBMC/QAM in signal transmission in a dedicated fading channel for the evaluation of the modulation order and BER as a required trade-off for quality assessments. From the results, it can be noted that the proposed FBMC QAM has performed better when compared with conventional FBMC systems. The present research also includes considering and calculating the efficiency of nonlinear channels with the Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) and FBMC/QAM techniques. In continuation, the obtained results are dominating significantly to access the possible solution to meet the efficiency of the proposed system. In the next part of the research, it is considered with implementation of the sub-detector during the downlink of the system with the technique of threshold-driven strategy for better accuracy and minimization of the complexity in terms of ML detection in terms of order of its modulation. The calculations of the proposed technique with better BER are done on the recent MATLAB platform with its simulation demonstration for its detailed observation

Study of various treatment modalities of caesarean scar pregnancy

Background: Caesarean scar pregnancy (CSP) can be defined as the implantation of the gestational sac within the scar of a previous caesarean surgery. Incidence of CSP is 1 in 1800 pregnancies.Methods: It is a retrospective study based on clinical diagnosis and management of CSP of women who presented to the obstetrics and gynaecology department SVP hospital from January 2008 to August 2021. Total number of cases of CSP were 28. Incidence, gestational age, ultrasound findings, serum β-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) levels, flow profiles of color Doppler, and different methods of treatment were recorded. Diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasound.Results: In this study, all 28 cases of CSP considered were offered definitive management. In present study 5 cases (17.88%) showed torrential haemorrhage during dilatation and evacuation (D and E) which was treated by various methods like 1 (3.57%) Foley’s tamponade, 1 (3.57%) uterine artery embolization (UAE) and 3 (10.71%) hysterectomy. Hysterotomy was performed in 13 cases (46.42%) and (7.69%) of heterotrophic CSP (HCSP). One case (3.84%) of CSP presented at 26 weeks of gestation with haemorrhagic shock, underwent obstetric hysterectomy.Conclusions: There is a rise in the incidence of CSP because of increase in the global rate of caesarean sections and early transvaginal USG in pregnancy. Transvaginal sonography is the best diagnostic tool. Medical management can be offered when diagnosis is made at gestational age of 7 weeks of gestational age. Surgical management has an advantage of shorter follow up.

Chlorination as Drinking Water Disinfection Technique and Disinfection by Products: A Scientometric Analysis

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2015, defined to achieve a better and more sustainable future, contains goal number 6 related to safe and affordable drinking water facility for all till 2030. The rural and remote areas in the developing countries predominantly face the scarcity of pathogen free drinking water leading to water borne diseases and deaths due to consumption of contaminated water indicating a need of advancement in the drinking water disinfection techniques. The paper discusses scientometric analysis of publication trends in chlorination as a popular disinfection techniques and research related to the Disinfection By Products (DBPs) that are produced due to the reaction between the disinfectant and naturally occurring organic matter in water. The analysis of the existing SCOPUS database from year 2000 to 2020, indicates total of 1279 journal articles, 138 conference proceedings, 88 review papers, and 57 other documents, with the key words ‘drinking water, disinfection, and chlorination’. As per the analysis, United States and China presented maximum publications related to drinking water disinfection using chlorination treatment. The analysis of literature also indicates that there is huge amount of literature related to the formation of alternative DBPs and their hazardous effects on human health. However, as per scopus database only three research documents are registered till date for the removal techniques of DBPs produced after the disinfection process, indicating a need of further research in this area. The literature also suggests the need to engender new technology or optimize the existing technology for minimizing the formation of DBPs

UML Consistency Rules:a Case Study with Open-Source UML Models

UML models are standard artifacts used by software engineers for designing software. As software is designed, different UML diagram types (e.g., class diagrams and sequence diagrams) are produced by software designers. Since the various UML diagram types describe different aspects of a software system, they are not independent but strongly depend on each other, hence they must be consistent. Inconsistencies cause faults in the final software systems. It is, therefore, paramount that they get detected, analyzed, and fixed. Consistency rules are a useful tool proposed in the literature to detect inconsistencies. They categorize constraints that help in identifying inconsistencies when violated. This case study aims at collecting and analyzing UML models with OCL consistency rules proposed in the literature and at promoting the development of a reference benchmark that can be reused by the (FM-)research community. We collected 33 UML consistency rules and 206 different UML diagrams contained in 34 open-source UML models presented in the literature. We propose an FM-based encoding of the consistency rules in OCL. This encoding allows analyzing whether the consistency rules are satisfied or violated within the 34 UML models. To assess the proposed benchmark, we analyzed how the UML models, consistency rules, diagram types contained in the benchmark help in assessing the consistency of UML models, and the consistency of diagrams across the different software development phases. Our results show that the considered UML models and consistency rules allowed identifying 2731 inconsistencies and that those inconsistencies refer to different software development phases. We concluded that the considered UML models and consistency rules could be considered as an initial benchmark that can be further extended by the research community

Spin and current transport in the robust half-metallic magnet cc-CoFeGe

Spintronics is an emerging form of electronics based on the electrons' spin degree of freedom for which materials with robust half-metallic ferromagnet (HMF) character are very attractive. Here we determine the structural stability, electronic, magnetic, and mechanical properties of the half-Heusler (hH) compound CoFeGe, in particular also in its cubic form. The first-principles calculations suggest that the electronic structure is robust with 100 \% spin polarization at the Fermi level under hydrostatic pressure and uni-axial strain. Both the longitudinal and Hall current polarization are calculated and the longitudinal current polarization ($P_{L}$) is found to be $>99\%$ and extremely robust under uniform pressure and uni-axial strain. The anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) and Spin Hall conductivity (SHC) of hH cubic CoFeGe (\textit{c}-CoFeGe) are found to be $\sim -100$ S/cm and $\sim 39~\hbar/e$ S/cm, respectively. Moreover, the Curie temperature of the alloy is calculated to be $\sim$524 K with a 3 $\mu_{B}$ magnetic moment. Lastly, the calculated mechanical properties indicate that \textit{c}-CoFeGe is ductile and mechanically stable with a bulk modulus of $\approx$ 154 GPa. Overall, this analysis reveals that cubic CoFeGe is a robust half-metallic ferromagnet and an interesting material for spintronic applications.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, and 2 table

Case of Multiple Sulfatase Deficiency and Ocular Albinism: A Diagnostic Odyssey

Background: Multiple sulfatase deficiency (MSD) is a rare autosomal recessive inborn error of lysosomal metabolism. The clinical phenotypic spectrum encompasses overlapping features of variable severity and is suggestive of individual single sulfatase deficiencies (i.e., metachromatic leukodystrophy, mucopolysaccharidosis, and X-linked ichthyosis). Case Report: We describe a 3-year-old male with severe hypotonia, developmental regression and progressive neurodegeneration, coarse facial features, nystagmus (from ocular albinism), and dysmyelinating motor sensory neuropathy. Ethics approval was obtained from the Western University Ontario. Results: Extensive investigative work-up identified deficiencies of multiple sulfatases: heparan sulfate sulfamidase: 6.5 nmoles/mg/protein/17 hour (reference 25.0-75.0), iduronate-2-sulfate sulfatase: 9 nmol/mg/protein/4 hour (reference 31-110), and arylsulfatase A: 3.8 nmoles/hr/mg protein (reference 22-50). The identification of compound heterozygous pathogenic mutations in the SUMF1 gene c.836 C\u3eT (p.A279V) and c.1045C\u3eT (p.R349W) confirmed the diagnosis of MSD. Conclusion: The complex clinical manifestations of MSD and the unrelated coexistence of ocular albinism as in our case can delay diagnosis. Genetic counselling should be provided to all affected families