Experimental Simulation of Lightning Optical Emissions in Clouds

The objective of the study is to experimentally determine the information content of lightning optical emissions through clouds. Clouds affect the amplitude of lightning signals and the apparent dimensions of the optical source. Multiple scattering from the cloud media also alters the shape of the temporal profile of the lightning signal. The goal is to provide accurate estimates of the arrival time delay and temporal pulse width broadening of output signals emitted from clouds for different cloud and lightning parameters. Experiments conducted in the laboratory yield a temporally broadened pulse with an overall decrease in the peak and a delay in the pulse rise time. Parameters such as optical thickness of the cloud medium and the scattering coefficients are varied to simulate different cloud properties. The experimental results are compared with a transient radiative transfer formulation solved using the discrete ordinate method. The practical implications of this research will be improved reliability on prediction of weather conditions, defence applications and geophysical app atmospheric studies

Chemometric QSAR Modeling and In Silico Design of Antioxidant NO Donor Phenols

An acceleration of free radical formation within human system exacerbates the incidence of several life-threatening diseases. The systemic antioxidants often fall short for neutralizing the free radicals thereby demanding external antioxidant supplementation. Therein arises the need for development of new antioxidants with improved potency. In order to search for efficient antioxidant molecules, the present work deals with quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) studies of a series of antioxidants belonging to the class of phenolic derivatives bearing NO donor groups. In this study, several QSAR models with appreciable statistical significance have been reported. Models were built using various chemometric tools and validated both internally and externally. These models chiefly infer that presence of substituted aromatic carbons, long chain branched substituents, an oxadiazole-N-oxide ring with an electronegative atom containing group substituted at the 5 position and high degree of methyl substitutions of the parent moiety are conducive to the antioxidant activity profile of these molecules. The novelty of this work is not only that the structural attributes of NO donor phenolic compounds required for potent antioxidant activity have been explored in this study, but new compounds with possible antioxidant activity have also been designed and their antioxidant activity has been predicted in silico

QSPR Modeling of Odor Threshold of Aliphatic Alcohols Using Extended Topochemical Atom (ETA) Indices

The present work establishes a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) between top¬ochemical features and odor threshold (OT) of aliphatic alcohols. A data set of 53 aliphatic alcohols was chosen for the analysis employing different chemometric techniques, among which, genetic function ap¬proximation with spline option (GFA-spline) showed the most acceptable results in terms of internal and external validation metric values. The extended topochemical atom (ETA) indices, developed by the pre¬sent authors’ group, were considered as descriptors for model development. Additionally, selected non-ETA descriptors were also tried for model development. It was observed that the models with ETA indi¬ces significantly surpass the predictive ability of the models developed using other descriptors. The final model suggests that molecular branching and electronic parameters significantly influence the odor poten-cy of the molecules. Additionally, increased lipophilicity and reduced electronegativity increase the odor-ant property. The model thus developed may effectively be used for prediction of odor threshold of any untested aliphatic alcohols. (doi: 10.5562/cca2284

COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTIONS IN TISSUES DURING SHORT PULSE LASER IRRADIATION USING FOCUSED BEAM

ABSTRACT The objective of this work is to perform experimental measurements validated with numerical modeling results for analyzing the temperature distributions and heat affected zone during short pulse laser irradiation of tissues using focused beam. A Q-switched laser is used as a radiation source. A threelayered tissue phantom model of skin consisting of epidermis, dermis, and fatty tissues is first considered for model validation. Tumors are simulated with inhomogeneities embedded inside the tissue phantoms. Experiments are next conducted with freshly excised skin tissue samples from mice and finally on live anaesthetized mice to consider the bulk effect of convective heat transfer due to blood flow. Experimental measurements of axial and radial temperature distributions for all the cases are compared with numerical modeling results obtained using Pennes' bio-heat transfer equation coupled with either traditional Fourier parabolic or non-Fourier hyperbolic heat conduction formulation. Experimentally measured temperature profiles in tissue phantoms, skin tissue samples, and live anaesthetized mice are found to match extremely well with the predictions from the non-Fourier model than the Fourier formulation by considering skin as a multi-layered medium. It is also observed that focused laser beam produces desired temperature rise at the target site with lesser radial spread compared to a collimated laser beam source

VI Jornades IET "Bretxa salarial i desigualtats de gènere en el mercat de treball"

Quantitative structure–property relationship (QSPR) models used for prediction of property of untested chemicals can be utilized for prioritization plan of synthesis and experimental testing of new compounds. Validation of QSPR models plays a crucial role for judgment of the reliability of predictions of such models. In the QSPR literature, serious attention is now given to external validation for checking reliability of QSPR models, and predictive quality is in the most cases judged based on the quality of predictions of property of a single test set as reflected in one or more external validation metrics. Here, we have shown that a single QSPR model may show a variable degree of prediction quality as reflected in some variants of external validation metrics like <i>Q</i>²_F1, <i>Q</i>²_F2, <i>Q</i>²_F3, CCC, and <i>r_m</i>² (all of which are differently modified forms of predicted variance, which theoretically may attain a maximum value of 1), depending on the test set composition and test set size. Thus, this report questions the appropriateness of the common practice of the “classic” approach of external validation based on a single test set and thereby derives a conclusion about predictive quality of a model on the basis of a particular validation metric. The present work further demonstrates that among the considered external validation metrics, <i>r_m</i>² shows statistically significantly different numerical values from others among which CCC is the most optimistic or less stringent. Furthermore, at a given level of threshold value of acceptance for external validation metrics, <i>r_m</i>² provides the most stringent criterion (especially with Δ<i>r</i>_<i>m</i>² at highest tolerated value of 0.2) of external validation, which may be adopted in the case of regulatory decision support processes

Cytocentric measurement for regenerative medicine

Any Regenerative Medicine (RM) business requires reliably predictable cell and tissue products. Regulatory agencies expect control and documentation. However, laboratory tissue production is currently not predictable or well-controlled. Before conditions can be controlled to meet the needs of cells and tissues in culture for RM, we have to know what those needs are and be able to quantify them. Therefore, identification and measurement of critical cell quality attributes at a cellular or pericellular level is essential to generating reproducible cell and tissue products. Here, we identify some of the critical cell and process parameters for cell and tissue products as well as technologies available for sensing them. We also discuss available and needed technologies for monitoring both 2D and 3D cultures to manufacture reliable cell and tissue products for clinical and non-clinical use. As any industry matures, it improves and standardizes the quality of its products. Cytocentric measurement of cell and tissue quality attributes are needed for RM

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Production of He-4 and (4) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of He-4 and (4) nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar <1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0-10% central events are found to be dN/dy4(He) = (0.8 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) x 10(-6) and dN/dy4 = (1.1 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.2 (syst)) x 10(-6), respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (T-chem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of (4)/He-4 is 1.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst). (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe