DIFFERENCES OF CORAL REEF AND CORAL COMMUNITY FISH ABUNDANCE CONDITION BASED ON ZONING OF BENGKOANG ISLAND, KARIMUNJAWA

Bengkoang Island is an unpopulated island in the northern region of the archipelago. The island is divided into 2 zones, Marine Protection Zone and Marine Tourism Utilization Zone, based on the zoning and management plan of the Karimunjawa National Park, Central Java. This research is aimed to observe the condition of the coral reef and coral community fish abundance in Bengkoang Island based on the zoning. There were 2 stations to represent each of the zones at depths of 5 and 10 meters. Line Intercept Transect (LIT) method was used along 100 meters to data the reef substrate and Visual Census method with Belt Transect was used to data the coral community fish. The result showed that the coral cover was the highest in Station 1 at 5 m which was located in the Marine Protection Zone with 80,31%, while the lowest was found in Station 2 at 10 m which was located in the Marine Tourism Utilization Zone with 18,81%. Meanwhile, the coral community fish abudance was the highest in Station 1 at 10 m with 15.600 individual/ha and lowest in Station 2 at 10 m with 4.280 individual/ha. Based on the result, it can be said that the condition of the coral reef ecosystem in Bengkoang Island varies with a high margin between the data stations. The result indicated that the coral reef ecosystem in the Marine Protection Zone was in a better condition than in the Marine Toursim Utilization Zone.DIFFERENCES OF CORAL REEF AND CORAL COMMUNITY FISH ABUNDANCE CONDITION BASED ON ZONING OF BENGKOANG ISLAND, KARIMUNJAWAABSTRACTBengkoang Island is an unpopulated island in the northern region of the archipelago. The island is divided into 2 zones, Marine Protection Zone and Marine Tourism Utilization Zone, based on the zoning and management plan of the Karimunjawa National Park, Central Java. This research is aimed to observe the condition of the coral reef and coral community fish abundance in Bengkoang Island based on the zoning. There were 2 stations to represent each of the zones at depths of 5 and 10 meters. Line Intercept Transect (LIT) method was used along 100 meters to data the reef substrate and Visual Census method with Belt Transect was used to data the coral community fish. The result showed that the coral cover was the highest in Station 1 at 5 m which was located in the Marine Protection Zone with 80,31%, while the lowest was found in Station 2 at 10 m which was located in the Marine Tourism Utilization Zone with 18,81%. Meanwhile, the coral community fish abudance was the highest in Station 1 at 10 m with 15.600 individual/ha and lowest in Station 2 at 10 m with 4.280 individual/ha. Based on the result, it can be said that the condition of the coral reef ecosystem in Bengkoang Island varies with a high margin between the data stations. The result indicated that the coral reef ecosystem in the Marine Protection Zone was in a better condition than in the Marine Toursim Utilization Zone. Key Words: Karimunjawa, Bengkoang Island, Zoning, Coral Reef, Coral Fis

A Novel Hybrid GWO-LS Estimator for Harmonic Estimation Problem in Time Varying Noisy Environment

The power quality of the Electrical Power System (EPS) is greatly affected by electrical harmonics. Hence, accurate and proper estimation of electrical harmonics is essential to design appropriate filters for mitigation of harmonics and their associated effects on the power quality of EPS. This paper presents a novel statistical (Least Square) and meta-heuristic (Grey wolf optimizer) based hybrid technique for accurate detection and estimation of electrical harmonics with minimum computational time. The non-linear part (phase and frequency) of harmonics is estimated using GWO, while the linear part (amplitude) is estimated using the LS method. Furthermore, harmonics having transients are also estimated using proposed harmonic estimators. The effectiveness of the proposed harmonic estimator is evaluated using various case studies. Comparing the proposed approach with other harmonic estimation techniques demonstrates that it has a minimum mean square error with less complexity and better computational efficiency

Cholangiocarcinoma in a Resected Biliary Cyst: Importance of Follow-up

Biliary cysts are rare cystic dilatations of the biliary tree. Biliary cysts are positively associated with several significant complications, amongst them, cholangiocarcinoma befalls the most dreadful one. The elevated incidence is 20-30% in the unresected cyst and 0.7% in resected cysts. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) or a contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) is applied for the initial diagnostic study but the ultimate diagnosis ordinarily requires the tissue biopsy. Currently, the sole curative option involves the complete surgical resection of the lesion, with standard chemotherapy and active radiation applied as an alternative for the unresectable tumors. Despite the curative surgery the percentage of eternal recurrence of the tumor indefinitely persists, and effective post-surgical surveillance is reasonably demanded. We report a case of 29-year-old female with local recurrence of cholangiocarcinoma in a previously resected biliary cyst type I. The curative resection of the choledochal cyst only minimizes the considerable risk of the possible development of future cholangiocarcinoma but it does not completely prevent it. The appropriate follow-up for potential patients who have been typically treated for a biliary cyst is unclear. The lethal course of cholangiocarcinoma is believed due to its slow asymptomatic growing phase. Therefore, to adequately screen for malignancy, periodic imaging along with annual liver tests represents a reasonable approach to prevent the possible development of this appalling complication.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Formal modelling of TCP congestion control mechanisms ECN/RED and SAP-LAW in the presence of UDP traffic

Congestion avoidance mechanisms are used to prevent the saturation of the gateway which represents a bottleneck of the system. Recently, a new method for the congestion avoidance has been proposed: the smart access point with limited advertised window (SAP-LAW). The main idea is to hijack at the gateway the acknowledge packets in the transmission control protocol (TCP) connections in order to artificially reduce the advertised destination window according to some bandwidth allocation policy. Therefore, the flux control mechanism is artificially exploited to control the congestion at the bottleneck. The advantage of this approach is that it does not drop any packet and does not require any modification in the TCP implementations at the clients. While the most popular congestion avoidance mechanisms are the explicit congestion notification (ECN) and the random early detection (RED). In this paper, we propose stochastic models for the ECN/RED and SAP-LAW mechanisms in order to compare their performances under different scenarios. The models are studied in mean field regime, i.e. under a great number of TCP connections and UDP-based transmissions. Different from previous work for the ECN/RED, in this paper, we consider the presence of UDP traffic with bursts and the case of not greedy TCP connections. The models for SAP-LAW are totally new. The comparison is performed in terms of different performance indices including average queue length, system throughput, and expected waiting time

Chitosan-based bio-composite modified with thiocarbamate moiety for decontamination of cations from the aqueous media

Herein, we report the development of chitosan (CH)-based bio-composite modified with acrylonitrile (AN) in the presence of carbon disulfide. The current work aimed to increase the Lewis basic centers on the polymeric backbone using single-step three-components (chitosan, carbon disulfide, and acrylonitrile) reaction. For a said purpose, the thiocarbamate moiety was attached to the pendant functional amine (NH2) of chitosan. Both the pristine CH and modified CH-AN bio-composites were first characterized using numerous analytical and imaging techniques, including 13C-NMR (solid-form), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), elemental investigation, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Finally, the modified bio-composite (CH-AN) was deployed for the decontamination of cations from the aqueous media. The sorption ability of the CH-AN bio-composite was evaluated by applying it to lead and copper-containing aqueous solution. The chitosan-based CH-AN bio-composite exhibited greater sorption capacity for lead (2.54 mmol g−1) and copper (2.02 mmol g−1) than precursor chitosan from aqueous solution based on Langmuir sorption isotherm. The experimental findings fitted better to Langmuir model than Temkin and Freundlich isotherms using linear regression method. Different linearization of Langmuir model showed different error functions and isothermal parameters. The nonlinear regression analysis showed lower values of error functions as compared with linear regression analysis. The chitosan with thiocarbamate group is an outstanding material for the decontamination of toxic elements from the aqueous environment251226CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQNão temThis research was funded by the academy of sciences for developing world (TWAS) and The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) fellowship to AK. The APC was funded by MDPI, St. Alban-Anlage 66, 4052 Basel, Switzerlan

Engineering functionalized chitosan-based sorbent material : characterization and sorption of toxic elements

The present study reports the engineering of functionalized chitosan (CH)-based biosorbent material. Herein, a two-step reaction was performed to chemically modify the CH using 1,4-bis(3-aminopropyl) piperazine to incorporate nitrogen basic centers for cations sorption from the aqueous environment. The resultant functionalized chitosan-based sorbent material was designated as CH-ANP and characterized using various analytical techniques, including elemental analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), 13C NMR (in solid-state), X-ray diffraction, and thermal analysis. Then, the newly engineered CH-ANP was employed for the removal of copper, lead, and cadmium in the aqueous medium. Langmuir sorption isotherm analysis revealed that the highest sorption abilities achieved were 2.82, 1.96, and 1.60 mmol g−1 for copper, cadmium, and lead, respectively. Linear and nonlinear regression methods were deployed on the sorption data to study the behavior of the Langmuir, the Freundlich, and the Temkin sorption isotherms. Among the four different forms, the Langmuir isotherm type 1 fit well to the experimental data as compared to the other models. It also showed the lowest values of error, and a higher correlation coefficient than the Freundlich and Temkin models; thus it was the best fit with the experimental data compared to the latter two models. In conclusion, the findings suggest that chemically modified novel materials with enhanced Lewis basic centers are useful and promising candidates for the sorption of various toxic cations in aqueous solution9235138CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQThis research was funded by The acadmey of sciences for developing world (TWAS) and The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) fellowship to AK. The APC was funded by MDPI, St. Alban-Anlage 66, 4052 Basel, Switzerlan

Clinical Efficacy and Safety Profile of Prucalopride in Chronic Idiopathic Constipation

Chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) can be defined as bowel movements that are difficult to pass, are not occurring frequently, or have incomplete evacuation during defecation. A high-fiber diet and laxatives are the commonly used treatments, but in many cases, they do not produce satisfactory results. The first line of treatment is osmotic laxatives. If there is no improvement, the second line is guanylate cyclase-C (GCC) agonists like linaclotide or prokinetic agents such as prucalopride. On December 14, 2018, the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) approved prucalopride for treating chronic idiopathic constipation. Prucalopride is a prokinetic agent which works at the 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor 4 (5-HT4) as an agonist with greater receptor selectivity. Patients on prucalopride reported improved symptoms, quality of life and satisfaction. The most frequent adverse events were headaches and problems related to the gastrointestinal tract. Caution should be taken when using prucalopride in patients with impaired liver and renal function. In Canada, prucalopride has been approved for treatment of female patients with chronic idiopathic constipation who have failed therapy with at least two laxatives from different classes over a six-month period.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices among nurses in Pakistan towards diabetic foot

Introduction: Diabetic foot ulcers are a pressing complication of diabetes mellitus. Wound care requires a significant proportion of healthcare resources. It is imperative, therefore, for healthcare professionals to possess sound knowledge of the disease along with a positive attitude to ensure better clinical practice. Our literature search revealed a scarcity of data pertaining to diabetic foot ulcers. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of nurses regarding diabetic foot care. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed, a pre-validated and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample size of 250 nurses working at two tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. The study was conducted over a period of three months (January to March 2018) and included all nurses who possessed at least one year of clinical experience in diabetic ulcer care. The statistical software employed was SPSS version 19 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, US). Non-parametric tests and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis and statistical significance was assumed at a p-value of less than 0.5. Results: Only 54% of the nurses in our study possessed adequate knowledge of diabetic foot ulcers. The mean score of knowledge was 74.9 (±9.5). Macdonald’s standard criteria for learning outcomes was used to gauge the knowledge levels of our study population. Nurses performed best in the domain of ulcer care with 65.3% of the participants possessing good knowledge of the topic. The overall attitude of nurses towards patients with diabetic ulcers was positive. Conclusion: This study highlights important gaps in nurses’ knowledge and sheds light on the lack of evidence-based practice. Poor knowledge can compromise healthcare standards, even with the presence of positive attitudes. Hence, a comprehensive revision of nursing curricula across local tertiary hospitals for allowing nurses to update their knowledge is warrante

Polypyrrole-Fe[sub]2O[sub]3 nanocomposites with high dielectric constant : in situ chemical polymerisation

Novel nanocomposites of polypyrrole (PPy) dispersed with iron oxide (Fe2O3) particles have been synthesised by in-situ chemical oxidative polymerisation of pyrrole in the presence of ammonium persulfate (APS) as an oxidising agent. The concentration of Fe2O3 was varied between 10-50wt% of PPy. The simultaneous polymerisation of pyrrole and oxide addition led to the complete synthesis of nanocomposites. A maximum dielectric constant of ~28500 was observed at 20wt% of Fe2O3. The nanocomposites were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD analysis confirmed the structure and crystallinity of the nanocomposites, and a strong interaction between PPy and the Fe2O3 nanoparticles was observed by FTIR technique. SEM and TEM images showed that Fe2O3 particles had been coated with PPy by establishing a network during the polymerisation process. The values of dielectric constant were obtained from capacitance measurements. The value of dielectric constant for nanocomposites with 20wt% of Fe2O3 was observed to be almost 12 times that of the pure PPy matrix. The high value of dielectric constant indicated a high packing density of Fe2O3 particles in the PPy matrix. These nanocomposites have potential applications in electronic or biomedical devices