Inter-cell interference mitigation using adaptive reduced power subframes in heterogeneous networks

With the remarkable impact and fast growth of the mobile networks, the mobile base stations have been increased too, especially in the high population areas. These base stations will be overloaded by users, for that reason the small cells (like pico cells) were introduced. However, the inter-cell interference will be high in this type of Heterogeneous networks. There are many solutions to mitigate this interference like the inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC), and then the further enhanced ICIC (Fe-ICIC) where the almost blank subframes are used to give priority to the (victim users). But it could be a waste of bandwidth due to the unused subframes. For that reason, in this paper, we proposed an adaptive reduced power subframe that reduces its power ratio according to the user’s signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) in order to get a better throughput and to mitigate the intercell interference. When the user is far from the cell, the case will be considered as an edge user and will get a higher priority to be served first. The results show that the throughput of all users in the macro cells and pico cell will be improved when applying the proposed scheme in term of throughput for the users and the cells

Tensile Strength of Novel Experimental Hydrophilic Vinyl Polysiloxane Impression Materials Compared to Control and Commercial VPS Impression Materials

Objective: To measure the tensile strength of novel experimental hydrophilic (medium bodied) vinyl polysiloxane impression materials developed from ab initio in comparison to control and commercial vinyl polysiloxane impression materials. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was conducted at the Department of Oral Growth and Development, Bart’s and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London, UK from 1st Oct 2010 to 28th February 2014. Five novel experimental (medium bodied) VPS impression materials (Exp-I, II, III, IV and V) were developed and evaluated for their effect as crosslinking agent and surfactant on the tensile strength and percent elongation-at-break in comparison to control and three commonly used commercial (medium bodied) VPS impression materials (Aquasil Ultra Monophase, Elite HD Monophase, Extrude. These properties were evaluated using Tenius Olsen (mechanical testing machine). Results: Aquasil Ultra Monophase (Aq M) had a significantly higher Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) compared to all commercial and Experimental VPS. Although Exp-III showed the lowest UTS among all the materials but this was only significant for Aq M. On comparing Exp-I (control) with Exp-II, after adding TFDMSOS into Exp-II there was a slight, but not significant, increase in UTS. After adding the surfactant to hydrophilic Exp-III, IV and V, the UTS decreased slightly, but not significantly, compared to Exp-II. After addition of cross-linking agent (TFDMSOS) there was a significant increase in elongation-at-break of Exp-II compared to the control (Exp-I), which was further significantly increased after incorporating the surfactant (Rhodasurf CET-2) in the Exp hydrophilic VPS formulations (Exp-III, IV and V). Elongationat-break was significantly increased after incorporating the surfactant (Rhodasurf CET-2) in the Exp hydrophilic VPS formulations (Exp-III, IV and V) compared to Exp-II. Conclusion: All Exp VPS had significantly higher % elongation-at-break (more than double) than commercial VPS. Percentage elongation-at-break further increased significantly after adding Rhodasurf CET-2 (Surfactant).&nbsp

Transmission of Disaster Warnings via Control Channels in Cellular Networks, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2020, nr 4

According to United Nations reports, natural disasters caused, worldwide, approximately 100,000 deaths and affected 175 million people each year between 2004 and 2013. To reduce those numbers, countries around the globe have made specific arrangements enabling them to warn the population about imminent disasters, in order to evacuate the area in due time. But providing such warnings in areas where no Internet access is available poses a great challenge. In this paper, we proposed a method to transmit early warning messages via UMTS cellular networks, while relying on spare extensions of control channels (FACH). The results obtained are validate based on their comparison with theoretical considerations and are also benchmarked against the 3GPP standard. The results show that messages may be sent faster than with the use of the 3GPP standar

Crisis averted: a world united against the menace of multiple drug-resistant superbugs -pioneering anti-AMR vaccines, RNA interference, nanomedicine, CRISPR-based antimicrobials, bacteriophage therapies, and clinical artificial intelligence strategies to safeguard global antimicrobial arsenal

The efficacy of antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents in combating bacterial infections faces a grave peril in the form of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), an exceedingly pressing global health issue. The emergence and dissemination of drug-resistant bacteria can be attributed to the rampant overuse and misuse of antibiotics, leading to dire consequences such as organ failure and sepsis. Beyond the realm of individual health, the pervasive specter of AMR casts its ominous shadow upon the economy and society at large, resulting in protracted hospital stays, elevated medical expenditures, and diminished productivity, with particularly dire consequences for vulnerable populations. It is abundantly clear that addressing this ominous threat necessitates a concerted international endeavor encompassing the optimization of antibiotic deployment, the pursuit of novel antimicrobial compounds and therapeutic strategies, the enhancement of surveillance and monitoring of resistant bacterial strains, and the assurance of universal access to efficacious treatments. In the ongoing struggle against this encroaching menace, phage-based therapies, strategically tailored to combat AMR, offer a formidable line of defense. Furthermore, an alluring pathway forward for the development of vaccines lies in the utilization of virus-like particles (VLPs), which have demonstrated their remarkable capacity to elicit a robust immune response against bacterial infections. VLP-based vaccinations, characterized by their absence of genetic material and non-infectious nature, present a markedly safer and more stable alternative to conventional immunization protocols. Encouragingly, preclinical investigations have yielded promising results in the development of VLP vaccines targeting pivotal bacteria implicated in the AMR crisis, including Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Clostridium difficile. Notwithstanding the undeniable potential of VLP vaccines, formidable challenges persist, including the identification of suitable bacterial markers for vaccination and the formidable prospect of bacterial pathogens evolving mechanisms to thwart the immune response. Nonetheless, the prospect of VLP-based vaccines holds great promise in the relentless fight against AMR, underscoring the need for sustained research and development endeavors. In the quest to marshal more potent defenses against AMR and to pave the way for visionary innovations, cutting-edge techniques that incorporate RNA interference, nanomedicine, and the integration of artificial intelligence are currently under rigorous scrutiny

Efficient Gastrointestinal Disease Classification Using Pretrained Deep Convolutional Neural Network

Gastrointestinal (GI) tract diseases are on the rise in the world. These diseases can have fatal consequences if not diagnosed in the initial stages. WCE (wireless capsule endoscopy) is the advanced technology used to inspect gastrointestinal diseases such as ulcerative-colitis, polyps, esophagitis, and ulcers. WCE produces thousands of frames for a single patient’s procedure for which manual examination is tiresome, time-consuming, and prone to error; therefore, an automated procedure is needed. WCE images suffer from low contrast which increases inter-class and intra-class similarity and reduces the anticipated performance. In this paper, an efficient GI tract disease classification technique is proposed which utilizes an optimized brightness-controlled contrast-enhancement method to improve the contrast of the WCE images. The proposed technique applies a genetic algorithm (GA) for adjusting the values of contrast and brightness within an image by modifying the fitness function, which improves the overall quality of WCE images. This quality improvement is reported using qualitative measures, such as peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), mean square error (MSE), visual information fidelity (VIF), similarity index (SI), and information quality index (IQI). As a second step, data augmentation is performed on WCE images by applying multiple transformations, and then, transfer learning is used to fine-tune a modified pre-trained model on WCE images. Finally, for the classification of GI tract disease, the extracted features are passed through multiple machine-learning classifiers. To show the efficacy of the proposed technique in the improvement in classification performance, the results are reported for the original dataset as well as the contrast-enhanced dataset. The results show an overall improvement of 15.26% in accuracy, 13.3% in precision, 16.77% in recall rate, and 15.18% in F-measure. Finally, a comparison with the existing techniques shows that the proposed framework outperforms the state-of-the-art techniques

Transmission of Disaster Warnings via Control Channels in Cellular Networks

According to United Nations reports, natural disasters caused, worldwide, approximately 100,000 deaths and affected 175 million people each year between 2004 and 2013. To reduce those numbers, countries around the globe have made specific arrangements enabling them to warn the population about imminent disasters, in order to evacuate the area in due time. But providing such warnings in areas where no Internet access is available poses a great challenge. In this paper, we proposed a method to transmit early warning messages via UMTS cellular networks, while relying on spare extensions of control channels (FACH). The results obtained are validate based on their comparison with theoretical considerations and are also benchmarked against the 3GPP standard. The results show that messages may be sent faster than with the use of the 3GPP standard

Comparison of Endodontic Pain observed with Sodium Hypochloride, Hydrogen peroxide and Norman Saline based Root canal irrigants

Objective: To compare frequency and intensity of endodontic pain with sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide and normal saline groups. Method:105 subjects were randomly allocated to 3 study arms. Group A (Sodium Hypochlorite), Group B (Hydrogen Peroxide) & Group C (Normal saline).Data regarding endodontic pain was recorded by asking the patient to mark on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) according to the severity of pain on the proforma provided. Results:The minimum Intensity of pain was 0 and maximum was 10 with mean and standard deviation were 3.43  3.576 VAS. Endodontic pain was present in 12/35 (34.3%), 24/35 (68.6%), 30/35 (85%) patients of Group’s A, B, C respectively. Significant difference between groups with respect to Intensity of pain (VAS) was shown by one-way ANOVA. For Group A the Intensity of pain (VAS) was 82.38  4.34 and for Group B, C the Intensity of pain (VAS) were 4.37  3.456 and 6.11  3.197 respectively. Conclusions:Sodium Hypochlorite was much better than Hydrogen peroxide and normal saline in the management of endodontic pain in terms of incidence and intensity

Single Versus Multiple Sittings Endodontic Treatment Using Rotary Nickle Titanium Instruments

Objective: To access if there is considerable difference in an incidence & severity of the post obturation pain afterwards the single and multiple-visit RCT. Methodology: Study was directed at operative dentistry department, Rawal dental hospital, Islamabad. Sample size was calculated using WHO calculator. 156 patients were randomly allocated into 2 groups, 78 each. Before treatment all partakers were said to put mark on a horizontal scale to indicate pain intensity. After treatment participants are inquired about pain after twenty-four hours of treatment via graded using Visual-analogue scale. Results: Males were 93 (59.6%) while females were 63 (40%). Anterior teeth were 80 (51%) while posterior teeth were 76 (48 %). Mean VAS & S.D of Group 1 was 9.12 & 1.98, while for Group 2 was 8.76 & 1.03 pre-operatively. When talking about 24 hours post-operatively, Mean VAS & S.D of Group 1 was 5.58 & 1.92, while for Group 2 was 4.86 & 1.18 respectively. Independent sample t-test exposed statistically in-significant variation in a pre and post-operative pain levels in both groups Conclusion: Pain incidence was less in multi-visit group than a single-visit, which was not significant statistically. Keywords: Endodontic treatment, RCT, Single visit, Visual-analogue scale.&nbsp

Validation and Reliability Testing of the Child Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (C-OIDP): Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties in Pakistani School-Going Children

Background: This study aimed to develop an Urdu version of Child-Oral Impact on Daily Performance (C-OIDP) and assess its reliability and validity for children’s oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) assessment in Pakistan. Methods: A total of 200 school-going children aged 11–14 were recruited from two public schools. For the adaptation process, the original English version of C-OIDP was translated into Urdu, reviewed by an expert committee, back-translated into Urdu, and then reviewed again by the same expert committee and pilot tested on 10 children. A clinical examination was carried out to record dental and gingival status followed by a face-to-face interview to measure oral health-related quality of life in children using C-OIDP-U. Reliability, internal consistency, construct and discriminant validity were assessed. Results: The Cronbach’s alpha for C-OIDP-U was 0.69, the mean C-OIDP-U score was 10.2 ± 8.1 and 77.3% of the children reported at least one oral impact. Eating (40.3%) and difficulty in cleaning mouth (38.7%) were the two most impacted daily performances. For construct validity, the associations were significant between the C-OIDP-U score and all subjective oral health measures (p < 0.001). For discriminant validity, a significant association was observed between the C-OIDP-U score and clinical oral variables, children with DMFT + dmft ≥ 1, Gingival index > 1 and having malocclusion reported a higher C-OIDP-U score when compared to their counterparts. Conclusion: This study showed that C-OIDP is a valid, reliable and efficient instrument of OHRQoL for use in Pakistani children