Developing monitoring system for long-distance pipeline leakage incorporating fusion of conflicting evidences

When transporting petroleum products, the use of long-distance pipelines have become commonplace, due to their inherent efficiency and economy. However, such pipe systems often leak due to corrosion, natural destruction, and, natural aging and weathering, causing harm to the environment, fire etc. The ability to detect leakage with certainty and quickly is therefore very important. In this work, leakage is detected using a combination of a hydraulic method and Dezert-Smarandache theory

Effect of Pre-tensioning Force on Behavior of Buckling Restrained Brace (BRB) Supported by Double Pre-tensioning System

The study explores the feasibility of a new all-steel buckling restrained brace (BRB) with the double pre-tensioning system as an alternative to conventional concentrically braced frames by using finite element method (ABAQUS program), And to verify modeling, use U-V1 specimen results and compare them with test results. The restraining element in an all-steel BRB is built from a rectangular plate with a double cross arm and cables, making it easy to fabricate, inspect, and replace after a severe earthquake. Numerical analyses were conducted on four groups: first group of specimens using dynamic loading to achieve the minimum thickness for stable hysteretic behavior and high efficiency for BRB, and three groups of specimens using monotonic loading to achieve the best pre-tensioning forces value in steel 37, 44 and 52 for greater efficient use of all steel BRB. The results showed a 66% improvement in bearing capacity, with the external restraining case thickness reduced to 20 mm, making it lightweight, economical, and easy to maintain. The specimens with a pre-tensioning force of 70 kN, 50 kN and 40 kN providing a 31%, 51% and 73.2 % for steel 37, 44 and 52 respectively over than the design specimen without pre-tensioning system

Recurrence after correction of acquired ankle equinus deformity in children using Ilizarov technique

To describe our Ilizarov technique for the treatment of acquired equinus deformity in children and to determine if compliance with continuous use of an ankle foot orthosis (after removal of the fixator and until skeletal maturity) can influence the severity of recurrence. A cohort of 26 children with post-traumatic or post-burn contractures producing an equinus deformity was followed up for a minimum of 2 years after skeletal maturity. Cases with a bony deformity and/or nerve injury were excluded from this study. All patients were managed by a percutaneous tendo-Achilles lengthening followed by application of an Ilizarov external fixator. Post-operative treatment was in the form of gradual correction at a rate of 0.5 mm per day. Correction started from the second postoperative day until an over-correction of 15 degrees dorsiflexion was achieved. Ankle range of movement was encouraged 4 weeks prior to removal of the external fixator. On removal of the fixator, a posterior splint was applied until substituted by an ankle foot orthoses (AFO). The AFO was used continuously during the first 2–3 months and at nighttime thereafter until skeletal maturity. Fifteen children were compliant with the use of the AFO until skeletal maturity and 11 non-compliant. We compared the recurrence and the size of deformity between the two groups. The rate of recurrence, degree of equinus at recurrence and number of episodes of external fixation surgery showed statistical significant differences (P < 0.01) between the groups. The Ilizarov technique for treatment of acquired equinus deformity secondary to soft tissue scarring is a safe and effective technique. The use of an AFO until skeletal maturity can decrease the risk and degree of recurrence

Morphological and molecular characterization of somaclonal variations in tissue culture-derived banana plants

AbstractIn this study, 40000 tissue culture-derived banana plants (vitroplants) at different growth stages, i.e. acclimatization, nursery and open field of banana (Musa spp.) cultivar ‘Grand Naine’ were screened for somaclonal variations using morphological investigations and molecular characterization. The total detected variants were grouped into 25 off-types (two of them died) in addition to the normal plant. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was carried out to study the differences among the normal cultivar ‘Grand Naine’ and its 23 variants using 17 arbitrary primers. Cluster analysis results revealed that ‘winged petiole’ and ‘deformed lamina’ were more related to the normal plant. However, ‘Giant plant’ and ‘weak plant’ related to each other and clustered with normal plant. According to principal coordinate analysis, most of the variants were aggregated nearly, whereas ‘variegated plant’ was separated apart from the other variants. This may reflect the genetic difference between ‘variegated plant’ and the other variants. The results obtained from both molecular and morphological analyses were in contiguous with better resolution when using the PCOORDA analysis than cluster analysis. Thus, it can be said that molecular markers can be used to eliminate the undesirable somaclonal variants from the lab without additional culture of the vitroplants in the field in order to save time and efforts

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PROCALCITONIN AND C-REACTIVE PROTEIN IN THE PREDICTION OF CARDIOVASCULAR COMPLICATIONS IN PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS

  Objective: This work was delineated to assess procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) as prognostic markers for cardiovascular complication in type 2 diabetic patients.Methods: Forty diabetic patients without cardiovascular disease (CVD), 40 diabetic patients with CVD, and 20 healthy control counterparts were participated in this study. Serum PCT and CRP levels were assayed and correlated with metabolic parameters. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was done for each biochemical marker.Results: The mean level of PCT was 707.17±99.19 ng/l in diabetic patients versus 881.30±123.56 ng/l for the cardio-diabetic patients (p&lt;0.0001). The mean value of CRP was 34.43±17.27 mg/l in diabetic patients versus 50.32±20.19 mg/l for the cardio-diabetic patients (p=0.0003). PCT levels were significantly amplified in the cardio-diabetic patients with increasing CRP, triglycerides (TG), fasting blood glucose (FBG), and cholesterol (p=0.004, 0.0005, 0.002, and 0.01, respectively). CRP levels were significantly enhanced in the cardio-diabetic patients with increasing TG, FBG, cholesterol, and microalbumin (p=0.002, 0.047, 0.003, and 0.001 respectively). ROC curve analysis for PCT and CRP revealed that the area under curve (AUC) was 0.878 and 0.727, respectively. These findings indicate the good validity of the above biomarkers especially PCT as a prognostic marker for cardiovascular complication in type 2 diabetic patients.Conclusion: This study evidences the usefulness of measuring serum levels of PCT and CRP in diagnosis of cardiovascular complication in type 2 diabetic patients

Efficient framework for brain tumor detection using different deep learning techniques

The brain tumor is an urgent malignancy caused by unregulated cell division. Tumors are classified using a biopsy, which is normally performed after the final brain surgery. Deep learning technology advancements have assisted the health professionals in medical imaging for the medical diagnosis of several symptoms. In this paper, transfer-learning-based models in addition to a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) called BRAIN-TUMOR-net trained from scratch are introduced to classify brain magnetic resonance images into tumor or normal cases. A comparison between the pre-trained InceptionResNetv2, Inceptionv3, and ResNet50 models and the proposed BRAIN-TUMOR-net is introduced. The performance of the proposed model is tested on three publicly available Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) datasets. The simulation results show that the BRAIN-TUMOR-net achieves the highest accuracy compared to other models. It achieves 100%, 97%, and 84.78% accuracy levels for three different MRI datasets. In addition, the k-fold cross-validation technique is used to allow robust classification. Moreover, three different unsupervised clustering techniques are utilized for segmentation

Single-cell metabolomics by mass spectrometry: advances, challenges, and future applications

Cellular heterogeneity is a phenomenon that is often observed but poorly understood. Single-cell metabolomics can provide insights into the phenotypical variations between individual cells. Recent advances in microfluidics, micromanipulation, image analysis, and automation allowed for high-throughput isolation of single cells in a minimally disruptive manner as to not affect the cell metabolism. Coupled with new innovations in mass spectrometry-based analytical techniques, single cell metabolomics stands at the cusp of becoming an established field. In this review, some of the recent single cell isolation platforms that are especially suited for metabolomics will be highlighted, as well as the recent trends in mass spectrometry-based single cell platforms. Additionally, some of the limitations of single-cell metabolomics and its recent applications will be briefly discussed. (c) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Analytical BioScience