Structural Performance Comparison of Structural Systems Using LIRA and ETABS

This paper investigates a comparison of structural systems of high rise (96m of 30 stories) buildings subjected to gravity load and wind load of speed 90mph. Three structural systems, Moment frame system, Shear wall system, and Tube-in-Tube system of identical base area and loadings are structurally designed, in ETABS and LIRA software. Linear wind response analysis was carried out as per ASCE 7-05. Parameters like fundamental time period, Maximum story displacement, Maximum column axial load and Vertical floor displacement are considered in this study. As per the findings, the maximum story displacement is found to be within the allowable limiting value. Tube-in-Tube system shows a better performance from the other systems for minimizing the story displacement. The modal time period, vertical displacement and Maximum column axial load values are also minimum in Tube -in-tube system

Heterostructured composite of NiFe-LDH nanosheets with Ti4O7 for oxygen evolution reaction

Developing oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst based on earth-abundant materials holds great promise for ascertaining water-splitting to surmount its deprived kinetics. In this regard, NiFe-LDH (layered double hydroxide) receives considerable attention owing to their layered structure. However, they still suffer from poor electronic conductivity and structural stability. We combined NiFe-LDH nanosheets with Magnéli phase Ti4O7 into a heterostructured composite. A series of analyses reveal that decorating Ti4O7 facilitates charge transfer to enhance the conductivity of NiFe-LDH-Ti4O7. During electrochemical measurement, Ni2+ is transformed to metastable Ni3+ (Ni (OH)→ NiOOH) before the OER onset potential. Thus, the presence of Ni3+ as the main active sites could improve the chemisorption of OH− to facilitate OER. As a result, the NiFe-LDH-Ti4O7 catalyst delivers as low as onset potential (1.43 V). Combining the holey structure (NiFe-LDH and Ti4O7) and the defect engineering generated on NiFe-LDH-Ti4O7 as a synergistic effect improves the OER performance. The inclusion of Ti4O7 in the composite leads to more vacancy sites, as evidenced by the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis. The obtained defective structure with a low coordination environment would improve the electronic conductivity and facilitate the adsorption process of H2O onto metal cations, thereby increasing the intrinsic catalytic activity of NiOOH. The strong coupling of NiFe-LDH and Ti4O7 also increases the stability, and the heterostructured composite helps maintain the structural robustness of the LDH

Electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide on gold–copper bimetallic nanoparticles: Effects of surface composition on selectivity

In this work, bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) of Au and Cu are synthesized for the electrochemical reduction reaction of CO2 (CO2RR). It is known that the binding strength between the reduction intermediates and the electrocatalyst affects the selectivity of products, but how to correlate the performance with the surface composition, structure, and properties of a bimetallic electrocatalyst, instead of stoichiometric or bulk composition remains less discussed. AuCu and AuCu3 NPs with the size around similar to 8 nm were prepared. By excluding the size effect, the work studies the effects of surface composition and heteroatomic interaction on the selectivity and faradaic efficiency of the reduction products. Based on X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), one can quantify the alloying extent and surface compositions of electrocatalysts, which are supposed to have the pivotal effects on the reaction pathways and the corresponding reduction products. It is found that high activity and notably improved CO selectivity of Au-Cu bimetallic NPs can be attributed to the heterometallic coordination and their electronic interactions. The reduction products were analyzed by gas chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Nearly 60 mA cm(-2) of current density was recorded at -0.91 V vs. RHE, and selectivity of 78 +/- 4.3% CO was obtained using AuCu. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Seasonal variations in household food insecurity and dietary diversity and their association with maternal and child nutritional status in rural Ethiopia

Food availability and access are strongly affected by seasonality in rural households in Ethiopia. However, relationships between household food insecurity indicators and dietary diversity and nutritional status of reproductive age mothers and their young children are unclear. A longitudinal study was conducted among 800 farming households in lowland and midland agro-ecological zones of rural Ethiopia in pre and post-harvest seasons. A structured interview, which included measures of three food access indicators − household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS), household dietary diversity score (HDDS) and household food consumption score (HFCS) − was conducted. Additionally, a subset of 183 households was selected for assessment of indicators of nutritional status including maternal and child dietary diversity and anthropometric measurements for children 6–23 months of age. Magnitudes of household food insecurity indices were high by international standards, particularly during the lean season (pre-harvest). Using correlation, Chi square and multivariable regression models, HFCS in both seasons was related to maternal body mass index and haemoglobin, and weight-for-length of their children. HDDS was associated in the post-harvest season with haemoglobin level of the mothers, and weight-for-length of their children. HFCS was a better predictor of nutritional status of mothers and children in both the food surplus and lean seasons, while HDDS was a better predictor of maternal and child nutritional status post-harvest. It is recommended that nutritional interventions should therefore focus on household food insecurity as well as targeting the individual nutritional status of mothers and children

HIV prevalence and risk factors in infants born to HIV positive mothers, measured by dried blood spot real-time PCR assay in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Tigray Regional Health Bureau and Mekelle University funding for this research. The funding body did not have any role in study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of data or in writing the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A Combination of Compositional Index and Genetic Algorithm for Predicting Transmembrane Helical Segments

Transmembrane helix (TMH) topology prediction is becoming a focal problem in bioinformatics because the structure of TM proteins is difficult to determine using experimental methods. Therefore, methods that can computationally predict the topology of helical membrane proteins are highly desirable. In this paper we introduce TMHindex, a method for detecting TMH segments using only the amino acid sequence information. Each amino acid in a protein sequence is represented by a Compositional Index, which is deduced from a combination of the difference in amino acid occurrences in TMH and non-TMH segments in training protein sequences and the amino acid composition information. Furthermore, a genetic algorithm was employed to find the optimal threshold value for the separation of TMH segments from non-TMH segments. The method successfully predicted 376 out of the 378 TMH segments in a dataset consisting of 70 test protein sequences. The sensitivity and specificity for classifying each amino acid in every protein sequence in the dataset was 0.901 and 0.865, respectively. To assess the generality of TMHindex, we also tested the approach on another standard 73-protein 3D helix dataset. TMHindex correctly predicted 91.8% of proteins based on TM segments. The level of the accuracy achieved using TMHindex in comparison to other recent approaches for predicting the topology of TM proteins is a strong argument in favor of our proposed method. Availability: The datasets, software together with supplementary materials are available at: http://faculty.uaeu.ac.ae/nzaki/TMHindex.htm

Strategies for implementing genomic selection in family-based aquaculture breeding schemes: double haploid sib test populations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Simulation studies have shown that accuracy and genetic gain are increased in genomic selection schemes compared to traditional aquaculture sib-based schemes. In genomic selection, accuracy of selection can be maximized by increasing the precision of the estimation of SNP effects and by maximizing the relationships between test sibs and candidate sibs. Another means of increasing the accuracy of the estimation of SNP effects is to create individuals in the test population with extreme genotypes. The latter approach was studied here with creation of double haploids and use of non-random mating designs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Six alternative breeding schemes were simulated in which the design of the test population was varied: test sibs inherited maternal (<it>Mat</it>), paternal (<it>Pat</it>) or a mixture of maternal and paternal (<it>MatPat</it>) double haploid genomes or test sibs were obtained by maximum coancestry mating (<it>MaxC</it>), minimum coancestry mating (<it>MinC</it>), or random (<it>RAND</it>) mating. Three thousand test sibs and 3000 candidate sibs were genotyped. The test sibs were recorded for a trait that could not be measured on the candidates and were used to estimate SNP effects. Selection was done by truncation on genome-wide estimated breeding values and 100 individuals were selected as parents each generation, equally divided between both sexes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results showed a 7 to 19% increase in selection accuracy and a 6 to 22% increase in genetic gain in the <it>MatPat</it> scheme compared to the <it>RAND</it> scheme. These increases were greater with lower heritabilities. Among all other scenarios, i.e. <it>Mat, Pat, MaxC</it>, and <it>MinC</it>, no substantial differences in selection accuracy and genetic gain were observed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In conclusion, a test population designed with a mixture of paternal and maternal double haploids, i.e. the <it>MatPat</it> scheme, increases substantially the accuracy of selection and genetic gain. This will be particularly interesting for traits that cannot be recorded on the selection candidates and require the use of sib tests, such as disease resistance and meat quality.</p

Effect of non-random mating on genomic and BLUP selection schemes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The risk of long-term unequal contribution of mating pairs to the gene pool is that deleterious recessive genes can be expressed. Such consequences could be alleviated by appropriately designing and optimizing breeding schemes i.e. by improving selection and mating procedures.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We studied the effect of mating designs, random, minimum coancestry and minimum covariance of ancestral contributions on rate of inbreeding and genetic gain for schemes with different information sources, i.e. sib test or own performance records, different genetic evaluation methods, i.e. BLUP or genomic selection, and different family structures, i.e. factorial or pair-wise.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results showed that substantial differences in rates of inbreeding due to mating design were present under schemes with a pair-wise family structure, for which minimum coancestry turned out to be more effective to generate lower rates of inbreeding. Specifically, substantial reductions in rates of inbreeding were observed in schemes using sib test records and BLUP evaluation. However, with a factorial family structure, differences in rates of inbreeding due mating designs were minor. Moreover, non-random mating had only a small effect in breeding schemes that used genomic evaluation, regardless of the information source.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>It was concluded that minimum coancestry remains an efficient mating design when BLUP is used for genetic evaluation or when the size of the population is small, whereas the effect of non-random mating is smaller in schemes using genomic evaluation.</p

Global, regional, and national burden of chronic kidney disease, 1990–2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Health system planning requires careful assessment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) epidemiology, but data for morbidity and mortality of this disease are scarce or non-existent in many countries. We estimated the global, regional, and national burden of CKD, as well as the burden of cardiovascular disease and gout attributable to impaired kidney function, for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017. We use the term CKD to refer to the morbidity and mortality that can be directly attributed to all stages of CKD, and we use the term impaired kidney function to refer to the additional risk of CKD from cardiovascular disease and gout. Methods The main data sources we used were published literature, vital registration systems, end-stage kidney disease registries, and household surveys. Estimates of CKD burden were produced using a Cause of Death Ensemble model and a Bayesian meta-regression analytical tool, and included incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, mortality, years of life lost, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). A comparative risk assessment approach was used to estimate the proportion of cardiovascular diseases and gout burden attributable to impaired kidney function. Findings Globally, in 2017, 1·2 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 1·2 to 1·3) people died from CKD. The global all-age mortality rate from CKD increased 41·5% (95% UI 35·2 to 46·5) between 1990 and 2017, although there was no significant change in the age-standardised mortality rate (2·8%, −1·5 to 6·3). In 2017, 697·5 million (95% UI 649·2 to 752·0) cases of all-stage CKD were recorded, for a global prevalence of 9·1% (8·5 to 9·8). The global all-age prevalence of CKD increased 29·3% (95% UI 26·4 to 32·6) since 1990, whereas the age-standardised prevalence remained stable (1·2%, −1·1 to 3·5). CKD resulted in 35·8 million (95% UI 33·7 to 38·0) DALYs in 2017, with diabetic nephropathy accounting for almost a third of DALYs. Most of the burden of CKD was concentrated in the three lowest quintiles of Socio-demographic Index (SDI). In several regions, particularly Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, the burden of CKD was much higher than expected for the level of development, whereas the disease burden in western, eastern, and central sub-Saharan Africa, east Asia, south Asia, central and eastern Europe, Australasia, and western Europe was lower than expected. 1·4 million (95% UI 1·2 to 1·6) cardiovascular disease-related deaths and 25·3 million (22·2 to 28·9) cardiovascular disease DALYs were attributable to impaired kidney function. Interpretation Kidney disease has a major effect on global health, both as a direct cause of global morbidity and mortality and as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. CKD is largely preventable and treatable and deserves greater attention in global health policy decision making, particularly in locations with low and middle SDI

Vitamin A deficiency during pregnancy of HIV infected and non-infected women in tropical settings of Northwest Ethiopia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is known to be a major public health problem among women of reproductive age in South East Asia and Africa. In Ethiopia, there are no studies conducted on serum vitamin A status of HIV-infected pregnant women. Therefore, the present study was aimed at determining the level of serum vitamin A and VAD among pregnant women with and without HIV infection in tropical settings of Northwest Ethiopia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this cross-sectional study, blood samples were collected from 423 pregnant women and from 55 healthy volunteers who visited the University of Gondar Hospital. Serum concentration of vitamin A was measured by high performance liquid chromatography.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After controlling for total serum protein, albumin and demographic variables, the mean ± SD serum vitamin A in HIV seropositive pregnant women (0.96 ± 0.42 μmol/L) was significantly lower than that in pregnant women without HIV infection (1.10 ± 0.45 μmol/L, P < 0.05). Likewise, the level of serum vitamin A in HIV seropositive non-pregnant women (0.74 ± 0.39) was significantly lower than that in HIV negative non-pregnant women (1.18 ± 0.59 μmol/L, P < 0.004). VAD (serum retinol < 0.7 μmol/L) was observed in 18.4% and 17.7% of HIV infected and uninfected pregnant women, respectively. Forty six percent of non-pregnant women with HIV infection had VAD while only 28% controls were deficient for vitamin A (P = 0.002).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study shows that VAD is a major public health problem among pregnant women in the tropical settings of Northwest Ethiopia. Considering the possible implications of VAD during pregnancy, we recommend multivitamin (which has a lower level of vitamin A) supplementation in the care and management of pregnant women with or without HIV infection.</p