Prevalence and severity of viral hepatitis in Pakistani pregnant women: A five year hospital based study

A hospital based observational study was carried out on pregnant women presenting with either acute hepatitis or fulminant hepatic failure (FHF), during the past years. Of 53 patients, 20 (38%) developed FHF.Non-A, Non-B was the commonest cause (62%) followed by hepatitis B in 17% and hepatitis A in 4% cases. Eight women expired (case fatality rate 15%) with a high maternal mortality (62%) caused by NANB hepatitis. Perinatal mortality was 30%. Poor prognostic factors identified were lack of antenatal care, severity of jaundice, history of somnolence, gastrointestinal bleeding and a high grade of encephalopathy

Enhancing Data Security for Cloud Computing Applications through Distributed Blockchain-based SDN Architecture in IoT Networks

Blockchain (BC) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) are some of the most prominent emerging technologies in recent research. These technologies provide security, integrity, as well as confidentiality in their respective applications. Cloud computing has also been a popular comprehensive technology for several years. Confidential information is often shared with the cloud infrastructure to give customers access to remote resources, such as computation and storage operations. However, cloud computing also presents substantial security threats, issues, and challenges. Therefore, to overcome these difficulties, we propose integrating Blockchain and SDN in the cloud computing platform. In this research, we introduce the architecture to better secure clouds. Moreover, we leverage a distributed Blockchain approach to convey security, confidentiality, privacy, integrity, adaptability, and scalability in the proposed architecture. BC provides a distributed or decentralized and efficient environment for users. Also, we present an SDN approach to improving the reliability, stability, and load balancing capabilities of the cloud infrastructure. Finally, we provide an experimental evaluation of the performance of our SDN and BC-based implementation using different parameters, also monitoring some attacks in the system and proving its efficacy.Comment: 12 Pages 16 Figures 3 Table

Dielectric material preparation from pineapple leaf fiber based on two-level factorial analysis and its morphological structure

Natural fiber has earned great attention for its discovery as a green material in dielectric composites. Their excellent dielectric properties have granted them the great capability to be used in high dielectric composites. Hence, this study attempts to determine the most influential factor contributing to the permittivity of pineapple leaf fibers and to examine the morphological structure of the developed fibers. The two-level factorial analysis was applied to determine the significant, influential factors and the best conditions contributing to the permittivity value of fiber. The factors include the pineapple leaf-to-soda ratio (1:5 and 1:10), soda concentration (5–10 wt%), temperature (60–100 ℃), and pulping time (45–75 min). The fiber was extracted from the pineapple leaf through the soda pulping method, and the content was analyzed by the Kurschner-Hanack method. Based on the analysis, the pineapple leaf-to-soda ratio was observed as the most significant factor contributing to the permittivity value of fiber, with an 8.86% contribution. The best conditions were suggested at a 1:10 pineapple leaf-to-soda ratio, 5 wt% soda concentration, 100 ℃ temperature, and 45 min of pulping time, contributing to the 1.85 permittivity value of pineapple leaf fiber. The scanning electron microscope images of the material under test indicate that the morphological structures play a crucial part in determining the permittivity value of fiber. Therefore, with suitable processing factors, pineapple leaf fiber can be a great dielectric material used in many engineering applications

Utilization of Pineapple Leaf in Fiber-Based Dielectric Composite Material and Its Elemental Composition Analyses

The growing demand for natural fibers in dielectric composite production has accelerated research into plant-based materials, particularly those derived from agricultural waste. Hence, this study attempts to evaluate the effect of processing factors and their elemental composition on the permittivity value of pineapple fiber-based dielectric composites. The dielectric composite was prepared following the randomized experimental conditions of two-level factorial analysis, and the permittivity value was measured using a G-band rectangular waveguide. The most significant factors affecting the permittivity value of the dielectric composites and the best condition were determined. The elemental composition of the dielectric composite was analyzed through an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The best conditions were obtained at a 1:10 ratio of pineapple leaves to distilled water, 50 minutes pulping times with a heating effect, and 5 g of pineapple leaf powder. The highest permittivity value of the composite was recorded at 3.31, with the heating effect as the most significant factor. The elemental analysis of the composite with the highest permittivity value presents that carbon was the dominant element in the composite at 78.05%. The obtained permittivity value exhibited by the composites shows that the pineapple leaf fiber-based dielectric composite could be a potential alternative as an antenna substrate

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Search for anomalous t t-bar production in the highly-boosted all-hadronic final state

A search is presented for a massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a t t-bar pair. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall--Sundrum Kaluza--Klein gluon. In addition, the results constrain any enhancement in t t-bar production beyond expectations of the standard model for t t-bar invariant masses larger than 1 TeV.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics; this version includes a minor typo correction that will be submitted as an erratu

Measurement of the Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section in pp collisions at 7 TeV

The production of b jets in association with a Z/gamma* boson is studied using proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and recorded by the CMS detector. The inclusive cross section for Z/gamma* + b-jet production is measured in a sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns. The Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section with Z/gamma* to ll (where ll = ee or mu mu) for events with the invariant mass 60 < M(ll) < 120 GeV, at least one b jet at the hadron level with pT > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 2.1, and a separation between the leptons and the jets of Delta R > 0.5 is found to be 5.84 +/- 0.08 (stat.) +/- 0.72 (syst.) +(0.25)/-(0.55) (theory) pb. The kinematic properties of the events are also studied and found to be in agreement with the predictions made by the MadGraph event generator with the parton shower and the hadronisation performed by PYTHIA.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physic

Search for New Physics with Jets and Missing Transverse Momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for new physics is presented based on an event signature of at least three jets accompanied by large missing transverse momentum, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. No excess of events is observed above the expected standard model backgrounds, which are all estimated from the data. Exclusion limits are presented for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Cross section limits are also presented using simplified models with new particles decaying to an undetected particle and one or two jets

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for new physics with same-sign isolated dilepton events with jets and missing transverse energy

A search for new physics is performed in events with two same-sign isolated leptons, hadronic jets, and missing transverse energy in the final state. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.98 inverse femtobarns produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. This constitutes a factor of 140 increase in integrated luminosity over previously published results. The observed yields agree with the standard model predictions and thus no evidence for new physics is found. The observations are used to set upper limits on possible new physics contributions and to constrain supersymmetric models. To facilitate the interpretation of the data in a broader range of new physics scenarios, information on the event selection, detector response, and efficiencies is provided.Comment: Published in Physical Review Letter