A new constitutive equation on ice materials

The structural crashworthiness analysis involving buckling, plasticity, crushing, and fracture with the strain-rate effects is required to evaluate the characteristics of structural deformations and impact energy dissipation at the event of collisions between ships or offshore platforms and icebergs. The constitutive equations of both steels and ice materials should be characterised for numerical computations as the collision impact energy is dissipated by the two colliding and deformable bodies, namely not only ships or offshore platforms but also icebergs. The primary objective of the present study is to examine ice properties and propose a constitutive equation of ice materials which shall be implemented into nonlinear finite element method computations of the structural crashworthiness associated with the collisions. Previous studies are first surveyed in terms of the influencing parameters as the many uncertainties involved make the problem highly complex. The parameters affecting the mechanical properties of ice materials are then discussed. In addition to referencing the existing test database associated with the mechanical properties of ice materials, a new test database is obtained by laboratory testing of the authors’ group. Based on findings from the existing and the new test database, a new constitutive equation used for ice materials is proposed associated with quasi-static and impact responses

CONTROLLED VESTIBULAR STIMULATION: PHYSIOLOGICAL INTERVENTION IN DIABETES CARE

ABSTRACTObjective: The present study was aimed to assess the role of vestibular stimulation in the management of diabetes care.Methods: We carried out the present study in 83-year-old man with 20 years history of Type 2 diabetes. Controlled vestibular stimulation wasachieved by swinging on a swing (back to front direction). Blood Pressure and Blood glucose levels were measured by standard methods.Results: Fasting blood glucose and blood pressure levels came down significantly after controlled vestibular stimulation.Conclusion: The present study confirmed the useful role of vestibular stimulation in the control of diabetes mellitus. We recommend a furtherdetailed study to elucidate the therapeutic value of controlled vestibular stimulation in diabetes care.Keywords: Controlled vestibular stimulation, Diabetes care, Physiological intervention

Blockchain and Reinforcement Neural Network for Trusted Cloud-Enabled IoT Network

The rapid integration of Internet of Things (IoT) services and applications across various sectors is primarily driven by their ability to process real-time data and create intelligent environments through artificial intelligence for service consumers. However, the security and privacy of data have emerged as significant threats to consumers within IoT networks. Issues such as node tampering, phishing attacks, malicious code injection, malware threats, and the potential for Denial of Service (DoS) attacks pose serious risks to the safety and confidentiality of information. To solve this problem, we propose an integrated autonomous IoT network within a cloud architecture, employing Blockchain technology to heighten network security. The primary goal of this approach is to establish a Heterogeneous Autonomous Network (HAN), wherein data is processed and transmitted through cloud architecture. This network is integrated with a Reinforced Neural Network (RNN) called ClouD_RNN, specifically designed to classify the data perceived and collected by sensors. Further, the collected data is continuously monitored by an autonomous network and classified for fault detection and malicious activity. In addition, network security is enhanced by the Blockchain Adaptive Windowing Meta Optimization Protocol (BAWMOP). Extensive experimental results validate that our proposed approach significantly outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in terms of throughput, accuracy, end-to-end delay, data delivery ratio, network security, and energy efficiency

Envelope Determinants of Equine Lentiviral Vaccine Protection

Lentiviral envelope (Env) antigenic variation and associated immune evasion present major obstacles to vaccine development. The concept that Env is a critical determinant for vaccine efficacy is well accepted, however defined correlates of protection associated with Env variation have yet to be determined. We reported an attenuated equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) vaccine study that directly examined the effect of lentiviral Env sequence variation on vaccine efficacy. The study identified a significant, inverse, linear correlation between vaccine efficacy and increasing divergence of the challenge virus Env gp90 protein compared to the vaccine virus gp90. The report demonstrated approximately 100% protection of immunized ponies from disease after challenge by virus with a homologous gp90 (EV0), and roughly 40% protection against challenge by virus (EV13) with a gp90 13% divergent from the vaccine strain. In the current study we examine whether the protection observed when challenging with the EV0 strain could be conferred to animals via chimeric challenge viruses between the EV0 and EV13 strains, allowing for mapping of protection to specific Env sequences. Viruses containing the EV13 proviral backbone and selected domains of the EV0 gp90 were constructed and in vitro and in vivo infectivity examined. Vaccine efficacy studies indicated that homology between the vaccine strain gp90 and the N-terminus of the challenge strain gp90 was capable of inducing immunity that resulted in significantly lower levels of post-challenge virus and significantly delayed the onset of disease. However, a homologous N-terminal region alone inserted in the EV13 backbone could not impart the 100% protection observed with the EV0 strain. Data presented here denote the complicated and potentially contradictory relationship between in vitro virulence and in vivo pathogenicity. The study highlights the importance of structural conformation for immunogens and emphasizes the need for antibody binding, not neutralizing, assays that correlate with vaccine protection. © 2013 Craigo et al

BMC Neuroscience

Résumé non disponible

Fermentation process for alcoholic beverage production from mahua (Madhuca indica J. F. Mel.) flowers

Mahua flowers are rich in sugar (68-72%), in addition to a number of minerals and one of the most important raw materials for alcohol fermentation. The present investigation was for the development of a non-distilled alcoholic beverage from Mahua flowers. Eighteen (18) treatment combinations consisting of two temperatures (25 and 30°C), three pH (4.0, 4.5 and 5.0) and three period of fermentation (7, 14 and 21 days) were used in the fermentation conditions. The maximum yield of ethanol (9.51 %) occurred at 25°C with pH 4.5 after 14 days of  fermentation of Mahua flower juice. The fermented non-distilled alcoholic beverage contained total sugar (8.83 mg/ml), reducing sugar (0.82 mg/ml), total soluble solids (6.37°Brix) titrable acidity (0.65 %), and volatile acidity (0.086%). Methanol was not detected at any stage of fermentation. The developed fermented alcoholic beverage had characteristic flavor and aroma of Mahua flowers with about 7 to 9% alcohol.Keywords: Madhuca indica, ethanol, reducing sugar, fermentation.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(39), pp. 5771-577

A Pilot Study on Anti-Diabetic Effect of Vestibular Stimulation in Alloxan Induced Diabetic Model of Wistar Albino Rats

ABSTRACT The present study was undertaken to observe efficacy of vestibular stimulation in diabetes care. Diabetes was induced in the rats by injecting alloxan intraperitonially (I.P) in a single dose of 150mg/kg of body weight. Vestibular stimulation was performed for 60 days by caloric vestibular stimulation, by instilling warm (40 o c) and cold water (30 o c) into the external auditory meatus for group 3 and 4 respectively. The temperature difference sets up convection currents in the endolymph, with consequent motion of the cupula. Blood glucose estimation was performed by using one touch glucometer. In our pilot study we didn't observe significant effect of hot water vestibular stimulation on blood glucose levels . However cold water vestibular stimulation significantly decreased blood glucose levels on 30 th and 40 th day in alloxan induced diabetes rats. Cold water vestibular stimulation may be effective for diabetic patients. Major limitation of our study was low sample size. Hence we suggest further detailed study with more parameters to explode the effectiveness of vestibular stimulation in diabetic care

Effect of Forced Freshwater and Cold Water Swimming Stress Induced Changes in Selected Physiological and Biochemical Parameters in Wistar Albino Rats

ABSTRACT The objective of the present study was to observe the effect of cold water and fresh water swimming stress on physiological and biochemical parameters. 42 adult male 'albino rats of wistar strain with body weight ranging between (50-125g) were subjected to fresh water and cold water swimming stress. The body weight was measured before and after the stress period in all the rats. The animals were sacrificed by decapitation and blood samples were collected. The wet weight of the organs (heart, right and left kidneys, liver, spleen) was expressed per 100g of body weight. Total leucocyte count, red blood cell count, Platelet count, and Hemoglobin were estimated by standard physiological methods. Blood sugar level and serum total cholesterol level were measured by colorimetric method. We conclude that body weight, liver weight, spleen weight increased significantly followed by cold water swimming stress. Significant hypoglycemia was observed followed by both Fresh water and cold water swimming stress. Platelet count decreased significantly followed by both Fresh water and cold water swimming stress. Total leucocyte count increased significantly followed by Fresh water swimming stress

All Optical Implementation of Multi-Spin Entanglement in a Semiconductor Quantum Well

We use ultrafast optical pulses and coherent techniques to create spin entangled states of non-interacting electrons bound to donors (at least three) and at least two Mn2+ ions in a CdTe quantum well. Our method, relying on the exchange interaction between localized excitons and paramagnetic impurities, can in principle be applied to entangle a large number of spins.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Multicomponent fractional quantum Hall effect in graphene

We report observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) in high mobility multi-terminal graphene devices, fabricated on a single crystal boron nitride substrate. We observe an unexpected hierarchy in the emergent FQHE states that may be explained by strongly interacting composite Fermions with full SU(4) symmetric underlying degrees of freedom. The FQHE gaps are measured from temperature dependent transport to be up 10 times larger than in any other semiconductor system. The remarkable strength and unusual hierarcy of the FQHE described here provides a unique opportunity to probe correlated behavior in the presence of expanded quantum degrees of freedom.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure