Effective Atomic Number Dependence of Radiological Parameters of Some Organic Compounds at 122 KeV Gamma Rays

Mass attenuation coefficient is a fundamental parameter of radiation interaction, from which the other radiological parameters like half Value Layer [HVL], tenth Value Layer [TVL], total atomic and electronic cross-sections, mass energy absorption coefficient, KERMA, CT number and effective atomic number are deduced. These parameters are extensively required in a number of fields such as diagnostic radiology, gamma ray spectroscopy, fluorescence analysis and reactor shielding. In the present work, mass attenuation coefficients are determined experimentally for some organic compounds at 122 keV incident photons using narrow-beam transmission geometry to establish a relation between effective atomic number (Zeff) and other deduced parameters. The experimental data for all these parameters are compared with the values deduced from WinXcom software package and are found to agree within experimental estimated errors. This study gives some insight about the photon interaction in some organic compounds whose effective atomic numbers match with some human body fluids

The moderating effects of transformational leadership and self-worth in the idiosyncratic deals - employee reactions relationship:A study of Indian hospitality industry

Purpose This paper examines the relationship between timing of negotiations and idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) through the moderating effects of core self-evaluations (CSE), and between i-deals and employee reactions through the moderating effects of transformational leadership behaviour (TLB) in the Indian hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach A total of 275 employees working in 39 companies responded to a self-administered questionnaire. To test the research hypotheses, the methodology of structural equation models was used. Findings The results show that the relationship between before hiring negotiations and i-deals is stronger for those individuals who had low self-worth, due to countervailing forces created by their belief that they may not be eligible for i-deals. In contrast, the relationship between after hiring negotiations and i-deals is stronger for those who had high self-worth, due to their belief that they were entitled to i-deals. Additionally, the research highlights that the relationship between i-deals and employee reactions is stronger for those organisations, which are high on TLB. Research limitations/implications The data does not allow for investigating dynamic causal inferences, because they were collected using a questionnaire at a single point in time, and they were reported in retrospect, raising measurement concerns about recall bias. Practical implications From a managerial point of view, the findings of this study inform that in negotiating both employment conditions and work arrangements, organisations should try to achieve i-deals that are primarily flexibility focused, and that in increasing efficiency organisations should make the employees feel well supported in order to develop more confidence in deploying skills and abilities to address a more open view of their i-deals. Originality/value The study contributes to our understanding about the Indian hospitality industry by utilising the self-enhancement theory in examining whether individual differences moderate the relationship between the timing of negotiations and i-deals, and also by utilizing the social exchange theory to examine whether TLB moderates the relationship between i-deals and employee reactions

Hapi: A Robust Pseudo-3D Calibration-Free WiFi-based Indoor Localization System

In this paper, we present Hapi, a novel system that uses off-the-shelf standard WiFi to provide pseudo-3D indoor localization. It estimates the user's floor and her 2D location on that floor. Hapi is calibration-free, only requiring the building's floorplans and its WiFi APs' installation location for deployment. Our analysis shows that while a user can hear APs from nearby floors as well as her floor, she will typically only receive signals from spatially closer APs in distant floors, as compared to APs in her floor. This is due to signal attenuation by floors/ceilings along with the 3D distance between the APs and the user. Hapi leverages this observation to achieve accurate and robust location estimates. A deep-learning based method is proposed to identify the user's floor. Then, the identified floor along with the user's visible APs from all floors are used to estimate her 2D location through a novel RSS-Rank Gaussian-based method. Additionally, we present a regression based method to predict Hapi's location estimates' quality and employ it within a Kalman Filter to further refine the accuracy. Our evaluation results, from deployment on various android devices over 6 months with 13 subjects in 5 different up to 9 floors multistory buildings, show that Hapi can identify the user's exact floor up to 95.2% of the time and her 2D location with a median accuracy of 3.5m, achieving 52.1% and 76.0% improvement over related calibration-free state-of-the-art systems respectively.Comment: Accepted for publication in MobiQuitous 2018 - the 15th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Service

Chemurgic studies on some diploid and tetraploid grain amaranths

Analytical data on four important species of grain amaranths show that polyploidy, apart from increasing significantly the grain size and weight without much loss of fertility, has generally maintained the nutritive value found at the diploid level. Lysine content is enhanced in polyploid A. edulis and A. caudatus so also the threonine content in the former

Comparison of concomitant boost radiotherapy against concurrent chemoradiation in locally advanced oropharyngeal cancers: A phase III randomised trial

AbstractPurposeTo test the toxicity and efficacy of concomitant boost radiotherapy alone against concurrent chemoradiation (conventional fractionation) in locally advanced oropharyngeal cancer in our patient population.Methods and materialsIn this open-label, randomised trial, 216 patients with histologically proven Stage III–IVA oropharyngeal cancer were randomly assigned between June 2006 and December 2010 to receive either chemoradiation (CRT) to a dose of 66Gy in 33 fractions over 6.5weeks with concurrent cisplatin (100mg/m2 on days 1, 22 and 43) or accelerated radiotherapy with concomitant boost (CBRT) to a dose of 67.5Gy in 40 fractions over 5weeks. The compliance, toxicity and quality of life were investigated. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) curves were estimated with the Kaplan–Meier method and compared using log rank test.ResultsThe compliance to radiotherapy was superior in concomitant boost with lesser treatment interruptions (p=0.004). Expected acute toxicities were significantly higher in CRT, except for grade 3/4 mucositis which was seen more in CBRT arm (39% and 55% in CRT and CBRT, respectively; p=0.02). Late toxicities like Grade 3 xerostomia were significantly high in CRT arm than CBRT arm (33% versus 18%; p<0.0001). The quality of life was significantly poor in CRT arm at all follow up visits (p<0.0001). The rates of 2year disease-free survival were similar with 56% in the chemoradiotherapy group and 61% in CBRT group (p=0.2; HR-0.81, 95%CI-0.53–1.2). Subgroup analysis revealed that patients with nodal size >2cm had significantly better DFS with CRT (p=0.05; HR-1.59, 95%CI-0.93–2.7).ConclusionIn selected patients of locally advanced oropharyngeal cancer, concomitant boost offers a better compliance, toxicity profile and quality of life with similar disease control, than chemoradiation

Prognostic factors for chronic post-surgical pain after lung or pleural surgery: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION: Chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) after lung or pleural surgery is a common complication and associated with a decrease in quality of life, long-term use of pain medication and substantial economic costs. An abundant number of primary prognostic factor studies are published each year, but findings are often inconsistent, methods heterogeneous and the methodological quality questionable. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are therefore needed to summarise the evidence. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The reporting of this protocol adheres to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) checklist. We will include retrospective and prospective studies with a follow-up of at least 3 months reporting patient-related factors and surgery-related factors for any adult population. Randomised controlled trials will be included if they report on prognostic factors for CPSP after lung or pleural surgery. We will exclude case series, case reports, literature reviews, studies that do not report results for lung or pleural surgery separately and studies that modified the treatment or prognostic factor based on pain during the observation period. MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane, CINAHL, Google Scholar and relevant literature reviews will be searched. Independent pairs of two reviewers will assess studies in two stages based on the PICOTS criteria. We will use the Quality in Prognostic Studies tool for the quality assessment and the CHARMS-PF checklist for the data extraction of the included studies. The analyses will all be conducted separately for each identified prognostic factor. We will analyse adjusted and unadjusted estimated measures separately. When possible, evidence will be summarised with a meta-analysis and otherwise narratively. We will quantify heterogeneity by calculating the Q and I ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval will not be necessary, as all data are already in the public domain. Results will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021227888

Yield Evaluation of Nutrient-rich Potato Clones in High Hill of Nepal

A study was conducted to evaluate the yield of nutrient-rich potato clones in high-hill districts: Dolakha and Jumla of Nepal during the years 2013 and 2014, respectively. Fourteen potato clones were tested as on-station and on-farm experiments at both districts, and those fourteen clones were compared to ‘Lady Rosita' and ‘Jumli Local' respectively as the check varieties in the first year experiment, 2013. Eight promising clones were selected from the first year experiment, and were evaluated and compared with same local varieties in the consecutive year, 2014. Two clones namely; CIP 395112.32 (19.3 tha-1) and CIP 393073.179 (17.8 tha-1) exhibited superior marketable tuber yield than that of ‘Lady Rosita'(14.2 tha-1) in Dolakha and five CIP clones namely; 395112.32 (25.5 tha-1), 393073.179 (22.5 tha-1), 394611.112 (20.9 tha-1), 390478.9 (19.9 tha-1) and 395017.229 (17.0 tha-1) showed higher marketable tuber yield than ‘Jumli Local'(14.5 tha-1). Based on two years' phenotypic and tuber yield result, clones CIP 395112.32 and CIP 393073.179 are recommended to potato growers at high hills of Nepal for commercial cultivation.Journal of Nepal Agricultural Research Council Vol.3 2017: 6-1