Toward a Bio-Inspired System Architecting Framework: Simulation of the Integration of Autonomous Bus Fleets & Alternative Fuel Infrastructures in Closed Sociotechnical Environments

Cities are set to become highly interconnected and coordinated environments composed of emerging technologies meant to alleviate or resolve some of the daunting issues of the 21st century such as rapid urbanization, resource scarcity, and excessive population demand in urban centers. These cybernetically-enabled built environments are expected to solve these complex problems through the use of technologies that incorporate sensors and other data collection means to fuse and understand large sums of data/information generated from other technologies and its human population. Many of these technologies will be pivotal assets in supporting and managing capabilities in various city sectors ranging from energy to healthcare. However, among these sectors, a significant amount of attention within the recent decade has been in the transportation sector due to the flood of new technological growth and cultivation, which is currently seeing extensive research, development, and even implementation of emerging technologies such as autonomous vehicles (AVs), the Internet of Things (IoT), alternative xxxvi fueling sources, clean propulsion technologies, cloud/edge computing, and many other technologies. Within the current body of knowledge, it is fairly well known how many of these emerging technologies will perform in isolation as stand-alone entities, but little is known about their performance when integrated into a transportation system with other emerging technologies and humans within the system organization. This merging of new age technologies and humans can make analyzing next generation transportation systems extremely complex to understand. Additionally, with new and alternative forms of technologies expected to come in the near-future, one can say that the quantity of technologies, especially in the smart city context, will consist of a continuously expanding array of technologies whose capabilities will increase with technological advancements, which can change the performance of a given system architecture. Therefore, the objective of this research is to understand the system architecture implications of integrating different alternative fueling infrastructures with autonomous bus (AB) fleets in the transportation system within a closed sociotechnical environment. By being able to understand the system architecture implications of alternative fueling infrastructures and AB fleets, this could provide performance-based input into a more sophisticated approach or framework which is proposed as a future work of this research

Enhancement of Solar Energy Conversion in Bio-derived Cells via Side Selective Modification of Photosystem I

Deleterious effects of some methods used to harness energy from the environment today have garnered the exploration of safer and more reliable options, specifically solar energy conversion. Current solar cell technology has yielded quantum efficiencies commonly in the range of 10-20% but is limited by extensive processing methods, high cost, and need for rare materials. However, bio-derived solar cells containing Photosystem I (PSI) address these problems as PSI is highly abundant, very efficient, and low-cost. PSI acts as a biomolecular photodiode through rapid photoexcited charge separation, making it very promising for use as an integral element in solar cells. To further improve the efficiency of bio-derived cells, controlling the orientation of PSI films on gold substrates was explored. This was achieved by side-selectively modifying PSI to introduce terminal thiol groups to the protein complex thereby providing a vector of self-assembly onto the gold surface. Spinach thylakoid membranes containing PSI were extracted and chemically modified using the ligands: sulfo-N-succinimidyl S- acetylthioacetate and 2-iminothiolane. As a result, the functionalized PSI underwent direct surface coupling on gold electrodes in an inverted orientation. Fluorescence tagging was used to quantify ligand attachment to PSI. Additionally, photoelectrochemical analysis revealed an enhancement in photocurrent produced by the modified biohybrid electrodes.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2015/1038/thumbnail.jp

Challenges if HIV Treatment in Resource-Poor Countries: A Review

Background: The human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome pandemic have posed a significant public health challenge to the global community. Massive therapeutic interventions with antiretroviral drugs are being undertaken, yet problems and challenges exist. This review examines these problems and challenges as they affect the treatment of HIV infection in resource-poor countries such as Nigeria.Methods: The information was sourced from relevant literature using human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome journals, textbooks and Websites on human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, highly active antiretroviral therapy, resource-poor countries as key words.Results: Several studies have shown that the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy in 1996 has significantly reduced morbidity and mortality among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). But in resourcepoor countries, initiation and maintenance of highly active antiretroviral therapy has been associated with many challenges and problems such as: poor infrastructural base for the control programs; irregular or non availability of drugs; poor drug adherence; co-morbidities and opportunistic infections/malignancies; drug toxicities; drug/food and drug/drug interactions; laboratory monitoring of viral load; CD4 cell counts; full blood counts; electrolytes, kidney and liver functions.Conclusion: The review has shown that the solution to the pandemic lies in a multi-sectoral and holistic approach involving International and local agencies, and communities

Antiretroviral Drug Resistance- implications for HIV/AIDS reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries

Abstract: Background: The introduction of the highly active antiretroviral therapy in the mid-1990s has significantly reduced morbidities and prolonged the lifespan of people living with HIV. However, the emergence of resistance to the antiretroviral drugs is becoming a major cause of treatment failure. While the problem of drug resistance is being tackled in developed countries, not much seem to be done in this regard in developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. This review looked at the regional distribution of HIV groups and subtypes and how this has affected the pattern of antiretroviral resistance.Methods: The review was sourced from papers presented at international conferences on HIV/AIDS and rational drug use, relevant journals and Medline search using the keywords- Antiretroviral drugs, drug resistance, HIV subtypes and resistance testing. Results: The types, groups, subtypes, sub-subtypes and recombinant forms of HIV-1 have been identified according to their geographical distributions. The evolution of HIV viral mutations, process (es) involved in development of primary and secondary antiretroviral drug resistance, including the role of HIV genetic polymorphisms, and transmitted resistance have been discussed. Conclusion: The pitfalls in the current resistance testing based on HIV-1 subtype B have been highlighted. The design of resistance testing algorithm based on HIV-1 subtype non-B has been suggested for the developing world

Prognosis and outcome of acute stroke in the University College Hospital Ibadan, Nigeria

Background: Many factors influence the outcome of acute stroke, the third leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally.Objective: To identify the determinants of outcome of acute stroke.Materials and Methods: A prospectively study of 66 adult patients who presented to the medical emergency unit of University College Hospital (U.C.H), Ibadan, in coma from acute stroke, from August 2004 to March 2005, was undertaken after obtaining ethical clearance and written consent of the patients’ relations.Result: Acute stroke constituted 33% of medical coma, 3.2% of hospital emergencies, 1.0% of total hospital admissions, and 7.3% of medical deaths during the study period. The stroke subtypes were intracerebral hemorrhage (78.8%) and large cerebral infarction (21.2%) with respective case fatalities of 69.7% and 13.6% at 4 weeks. Males constituted 75.8% of the patient population with sex-specific mortality of 68.2%. The highest age specific mortality of 65.2% was in the 40-59 years group. The common risk factors were systemic hypertension, obesity, alcohol/substance abuse, and diabetes mellitus. Co-morbidities included aspiration pneumonia, recurrent seizures, hyperglycemia, and sepsis.Conclusion: Age above 39 years, male gender, systemic hypertension, early onset of coma after stroke, and presence of co-morbidities were associated with poor stroke outcome

HIV Wasting Syndrome in a Nigerian Failing Antiretroviral Therapy: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

The HIV wasting syndrome represented the face of HIV/AIDS before the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Although the incidence of wasting has declined since the introduction of HAART, weight loss remains common in patients receiving HAART, especially in the setting of a failing HAART regimen. As we are not aware of any previous reports from Nigeria, we report a case of the classical wasting syndrome in a Nigerian female who had both virological and immunological HAART failure due to poor adherence. The influence of a failing HAART regimen, socioeconomic status, and other clinical variables in the wasting syndrome are discussed

Neurobrucellosis- A Case Report and Review of Literature

Neurobrucellosis is a rare form of systemic brucellosis, a disease acquired through ingestion of unpasteurized dairy products, which may manifest as stroke, encephalitis, meningitis, or psychiatric disorders. Presently there is no known report of neurobrucellosis in Nigeria, although consumption of unpasteurized dairy products is not uncommon in this country. In this report we present a 28 year old spinster with history of significant ingestion of unpasteurized cow milk and brucellosis of the brain diagnosed in our centre through brain magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) and brucella antigen agglutination test. Because of the indolent nature of brucellosis infection, it should be suspected in individuals with pyrexia of unknown origin so that early detection and treatment could prevent long-term sequelae such as focal neurologic deficits, hydrocephalus and psychiatric illness.Key Words: Antigen agglutination test, Brucella, neurobrucellosis, unpasteurized dairy product

Disseminated infections due to Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome after Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy-Report of 3 cases from Nigeria

Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndromes (IRIS) are exaggerated pathological inflammatory reactions occurring after initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) due to exuberant immune responses to occult or apparent opportunistic infections or cancers. In view of paucity of studies from Nigeria, we report 3 cases of IRIS presenting as disseminated infections in HIV-1 infected patients initiating HAART. The first case was a previously healthy female who developed disseminated tuberculosis after 4 weeks of regular HAART. Her HAART regimen was continued and she improved after commencement of anti-tuberculosis drugs, with evidence of progressive increase in CD4 cell count. The second case was a HAART-experienced female who stopped her drugs for 4months. Two months after recommencement of her previous HAART regimen, she developed features of disseminated herpes zoster infection, despite evidence of decrease in viral load by 95%. HAART was continued and she recovered completely after receiving valaciclovir tablets and antibiotics. The third patient was a female student who was commenced HAART on account of chronic cough and weight loss. Three months after regular HAART, she developed features of disseminated Kaposi's sarcoma involving the skin, oropharynx and lungs, despite evidence of 42% increase in CD4 cell count. Unfortunately, she rapidly deteriorated and died during the course of management. Clinicians should be alert to the possibility of IRIS in HIV-infected patients initiated or re-initiated on HAART. There is need for future prospective studies determining risk factors for IRIS in HIV-infected patients from Nigeria