The sensing characteristics of ZnO tetrapods synthesized by microwave evaporation

ZnO tetrapods have been grown by an environmental microwave evaporation approach in air atmosphere without any use of organic solvents or precursors. The synthesized powder was characterized using X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Field emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). The grown ZnO tetrapods exhibited a noteworthy microstructure and phase formation of crystalline and pure structure. ZnO tetrapods were deposited on Pt electrode to be employed as ZnO tetrapods structure-based sensors, then, they were investigated at room temperature in the relative humidity ranging from 0.0 to 96.0%. The sensors have shown a significant response towards relative humidity starting from 30%. Cross-sensitivity was investigated with respect to N2O (150 ppm in helium) and methane (1000 ppm in helium). The ZnO tetrapods-based sensors were insensitive towards the interfering gases, indicating a potential applicability for humidity sensing purposes

An integral equation method for solving neumann problems on simply and multiply connected regions with smooth boundaries

This research presents several new boundary integral equations for the solution of Laplace’s equation with the Neumann boundary condition on both bounded and unbounded multiply connected regions. The integral equations are uniquely solvable Fredholm integral equations of the second kind with the generalized Neumann kernel. The complete discussion of the solvability of the integral equations is also presented. Numerical results obtained show the efficiency of the proposed method when the boundaries of the regions are sufficiently smooth

Sumudu decomposition method for Solving fractional-order Logistic differential equation

In This paper, we propose a numerical algorithm for solving nonlinear fractional-order Logistic differential equation (FLDE) by using Sumudu decomposition method (SDM). This method is a combination of the Sumudu transform method and decomposition method. We have apply the concepts of fractional calculus to the well known population growth modle inchaotic dynamic. The fractional derivative is described in the Caputosense. The numerical results shows that the approach is easy to implement and accurate when applied to various fractional differentional equations. &nbsp

Assessment of left ventricular function by global longitudinal strain in patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction: Comparative study with conventional method

Background: Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is a strong prognostic parameter in patients with heart disease. The assessment of global longitudinal strain (GLS) from speckle-tracking analysis of 2-dimensional echocardiography has become a clinically feasible alternative to LVEF for the measurement of myocardial function.Objective: The aim of the current work was to compare between GLS speckle tracking echocardiography and Simpson’s biplane methods for assessment of left ventricular function in non-STEMI patients.Patients and methods: This study was carried out in Cardiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University on 44 non‐ST‐elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) patients scheduled for assessment of Left ventricular function by GLS and biplane Simpson method.Result: Mean systolic blood pressure was 122.05±18.37 mmHg. No statistically significant difference in systolic blood pressure was found across GLS groups (P= 0.17). Mean diastolic blood pressure was 73.41±12.00 mmHg. No statistically significant difference in diastolic blood pressure was found across GLS groups (P= 0.35). Mean heart rate was 68.84±7.13 bpm, and a statistically significant difference was found in heart rate across GLS groups (P= 0.039).Conclusion: It could be concluded that GLS speckle tracking echocardiography and Simpson’s biplane methods can be used as alternative different parameters for assessment of left ventricular function in non-STEMI patients

Incidence of orbital, conjunctival and lacrimal gland malignant tumors in USA from Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results, 1973-2009

AIM: To determine the types and incidence of tumors affecting the orbit, conjunctiva and lacrimal glands and to study the trend line of these tumors in the United States from 1973 to 2009. METHODS: We used the publicly available Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database registries to determine the incidence rates. Age was adjusted to the 2000 US Standard Population. Patients were stratified according to age group, gender, race and histological grouping of tumor lesions. Three age groups were defined: 0-19, 20-49 and ≥50y. Annual percentage changes were calculated to examine trends. RESULTS: The overall age adjusted incidence rate was 3.39 (95%CI: 3.27-3.52) per million person-years. The tumors were more prevalent in age group ≥50 counting 9.51 (95%CI: 9.11-9.92) per million person-years. Most of the soft tissue sarcomas occurred in the young age with incidence rate of 0.35 (95%CI: 0.28-0.42) per million person-years. Lymphomas were the dominant subtype in the adult population with incidence rate of 5.74 (95%CI: 5.43-6.06) per million person-years. Incidence rates were higher in males than females with an overall rate ratio of 1.31 (95%CI: 1.21-1.41) mainly caused by the increase in carcinoma subtypes. White race had a higher tumor incidence with a rate ratio of 1.47(95%CI: 1.25-1.73) driven by the higher incidence of most histological subtypes. Orbital tumors showed a higher incidence rate followed by conjunctival and lacrimal gland tumors with incidence rates of 1.59, 1.37 and 0.43 per million person-years respectively. The trend line of overall incidence of tumors showed a significant increase (APC=3.11, 95%CI: 2.61-3.61) mainly due to increase of lymphomas. This increase was higher than the increase of lymphomas at other sites. CONCLUSION: Orbital, conjunctival and lacrimal gland malignant tumors differ among children and adults. Over the years there has been a noticeable increase in incidence rates of orbital and lacrimal gland tumors mainly caused by an increase in lymphomas and an apparent increase due to advances in diagnostic techniques. ICD-O-3 topographical coding should be improved to consider the different orbital bones and ocular structures

VoroCrust: Voronoi Meshing Without Clipping

Polyhedral meshes are increasingly becoming an attractive option with particular advantages over traditional meshes for certain applications. What has been missing is a robust polyhedral meshing algorithm that can handle broad classes of domains exhibiting arbitrarily curved boundaries and sharp features. In addition, the power of primal-dual mesh pairs, exemplified by Voronoi-Delaunay meshes, has been recognized as an important ingredient in numerous formulations. The VoroCrust algorithm is the first provably-correct algorithm for conforming polyhedral Voronoi meshing for non-convex and non-manifold domains with guarantees on the quality of both surface and volume elements. A robust refinement process estimates a suitable sizing field that enables the careful placement of Voronoi seeds across the surface circumventing the need for clipping and avoiding its many drawbacks. The algorithm has the flexibility of filling the interior by either structured or random samples, while preserving all sharp features in the output mesh. We demonstrate the capabilities of the algorithm on a variety of models and compare against state-of-the-art polyhedral meshing methods based on clipped Voronoi cells establishing the clear advantage of VoroCrust output.Comment: 18 pages (including appendix), 18 figures. Version without compressed images available on https://www.dropbox.com/s/qc6sot1gaujundy/VoroCrust.pdf. Supplemental materials available on https://www.dropbox.com/s/6p72h1e2ivw6kj3/VoroCrust_supplemental_materials.pd

Self-efficacy of catering students of Faculty Technical and Vocational Education, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia in the Field of Career to be pursued

The increasing rate of unemployed graduates in Malaysia has received alarming attention in recents years. One of the factors that contribute to the unemployment problem is the lack of self-efficacy among graduates in making career choices. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the self-efficacy of catering students to make decision on career field options to be pursued either as a teacher, hospitality employee or entrepreneur. The design of this study is a quantitative descriptive study through survey and questionnaire is used as research instruments. A total of 66 catering students of year 3 and 4 from Faculty of Technical and Vocational Education (FPTV) were selected as the study sample. The data obtained were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.00 software involving mean, standard deviation, and ANOVA. The results showed that the mean scores of self-efficacy of catering students were high to become teachers (M= 4.11, SD=0.617) and followed by hospitality employee (M= 3.87, SD= 0.574) and entrepreneurs (M= 3.93, SD=0.514). However, there was no significant difference between the three career fields with a value of p = 0.052. In conclusion, catering students have high self-efficacy in venturing into the field of career when graduating from university. Graduates need to see the importance of enhancing self-efficacy because it opens paths for career opportunities and advancement