Digitized Engineering Notebook

Digitized Engineering Notebook is a web application that allows students to record their work as they go through the process of their robotics competition. This notebook will portray the same qualities as the current engineering notebook. This digital version of an engineering notebook gives students a platform where they can upload data such as images, texts, videos to a database. Digitized engineering notebook will allow multiple users to log into the system, and work on same project at the same time. This web application will be developed in an open source environment called XAMPP. It will include multiple users. This Notebook can be categorized into queries which can be converted into PDF. The web application will have login credentials for every user and will also allow name-wise search of any user so their progress can be tracked. The functionalities of this Notebook will include a front page with menu, options to create new projects, addition of new members to the project, table of contents, etc., This web application will also contain a calendar so students can mark events. It will have a discussion board where students can interact with each other. The main goal of this web application is to inspire students to learn STEM engineering process. This Digitized Notebook will encourage knowledge sharing. The contents of the Notebook will be easy to query and share. It will allow students to work as a team remotely. This web application will be kids friendly and will allow students from K-12 to use it

Development of modified double-weight code and its implementation in multi-rate transmissions

This paper presents a new code structure and its ability in supporting multiple transmission rates in point to point Spectral Amplitude Coding- Optical Code Division Multiple Access (SAC-OCDMA) links. The Double-Weight (DW) code family that has a basic fixed weight of 2 was proposed. Modified Double Weight (MDW) Code is a DW code family variation that has variable weight of greater than two. The ability of MDW codes to support simultaneous transmissions at different bit rates is shown through simulated results of the bit error rate (BER) and the eye patterns. Four MDW encoded channels were used at the bit rates of 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps. MDW code shown here significantly performs better than Hadamard and Modified Frequency Hopping (MFH) codes

Glioma Grading Using Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Molecular Data

A glioma grading method using conventional structural magnetic resonance image (MRI) and molecular data from patients is proposed. The noninvasive grading of glioma tumors is obtained using multiple radiomic texture features including dynamic texture analysis, multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis, and multiresolution fractal Brownian motion in structural MRI. The proposed method is evaluated using two multicenter MRI datasets: (1) the brain tumor segmentation (BRATS-2017) challenge for high-grade versus low-grade (LG) and (2) the cancer imaging archive (TCIA) repository for glioblastoma (GBM) versus LG glioma grading. The grading performance using MRI is compared with that of digital pathology (DP) images in the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) data repository. The results show that the mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) is 0.88 for the BRATS dataset. The classification of tumor grades using MRI and DP images in TCIA/TCGA yields mean AUC of 0.90 and 0.93, respectively. This work further proposes and compares tumor grading performance using molecular alterations (IDH1/2 mutations) along with MRI and DP data, following the most recent World Health Organization grading criteria, respectively. The overall grading performance demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed noninvasive glioma grading approach using structural MRI

Correlation of TP53 overexpression and clinical parameters with five-year survival in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients

Abstract Introduction TP53 mutation and overexpression have been correlated with poor survival in many cancers including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). We aim to understand the role of TP53 overexpression in OSCC in our population and correlate it with five-year survival to test its viability as a prognostic marker for OSCC patients. Materials and methods Patients with biopsy proven OSCC at Aga Khan University Hospital from January 2000 to January 2008 were recruited. Immunohistochemistry was used to establish TP53 status and the results were published. Following up on these patients, five-year data were collected and correlated with TP53 status and other clinicopathologic parameters. Results Overexpression of TP53 was not significantly associated with five-year survival (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.543; 95% CI: 0.911-2.612; p = 0.107). Conclusion Although we had proven statistical relevance when correlated with overall survival in our previous study, we were unable to extend the same relevance to TP53 overexpression when it comes to five-year survival

Hormone replacement therapy menopause with a better future--a survey of views on hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

Objective: To assess the views and prescribing practices of doctors regarding hormone replacement therapy (HRT).Methods: In April 1999, 103 doctors from a teaching hospital participated in a survey. Using a self-administered questionnaire, subjects were contacted at the departments of Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Orthopaedics.Results: Seventy-two percent were below 40 years of age and 67% of the respondents were male. Most doctors believed that HRT decreases the risk of subsequent osteoporosis (97%), ischaemic heart disease (77%) and depression associated with menopause (64%). Doctors generally considered menopausal symptoms (90%), premature menopause (87%), surgical menopause (85%) and osteoporotic fracture (77%) as clear indications for hormone replacement therapy. Absolute contraindications to the therapy were stated as recent breast cancer (82%) and recent endometrial cancer (84%). Among the specialities covered, there were differing views on proposed duration of HRT. It was generally believed that a pelvic examination, cervical smear and mammography were pre-requisites when initiating and monitoring HRT. Majority (69%) felt that HRT should be offered to all menopausal women, assuming no contraindications and most (73%) did discuss HRT with their patients. However, less than 10% of the menopausal patients under their care were using HRT. Those doctors not in favor of universal offering of HRT (31%) considered unreliable patient follow up to be the main reason. Females were two times more likely to discuss HRT with their patients (p = .08). Doctors who discussed HRT with their patients were four times more likely to consider HRT for themselves or their spouses (p = .13). Gynecologists were eight times more likely to prescribe HRT than non-gynecologists (p = .001).CONCLUSION: Doctors are positively disposed to the universal offering, and use of HRT. Further studies are needed to understand a possible gap between perceived and actual prescribing practice

Hybrid WDM/OCDMA system to support differentiated services in access network

This paper presents a new scheme of WDM/OCDMA system that capable of providing differentiated services in access network. We implement the proposed double-weight (DW) code in this system. The double-weight (DW) code has a fixed weight of 2 and exists for every natural number, n. In spectral-amplitude-coding optical code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, DW code has an ideal cross correlation to eliminate multiuser interference and suppress the noise. We analyze the performance of the system by evaluating the bit error rate (BER) of different services

Evaluation of the diuretic potentials of naringenin in hypercholesterolemic rats

Purpose: To investigate the diuretic potentials of naringenin (NGN) in obesity induced in rats by high fat diet (HFD).Methods: To prepare HFD, normal pellet diet was crushed and thoroughly mixed with cholesterol powder (1 % w/w). The mixture was mixed with some water and made into pellets which were then oven-baked to dry. Four groups of male Wistar albino rats (n = 6) were used for the study. Normal control (group I) received normal pellet diet. Group 2 (HFD-only) was fed HFD for 28 days, while Groups 3 and 4 were co-administered HFD and NGN at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg, respectively. All treatments were given orally, and lasted for 28 days. Twenty-four hours after the last dose of NGN, blood was collected from all rats and total cholesterol levels determined to confirm obesity. Thereafter, the rats were placed in metabolic cages and urine samples were collected at two time-points (5 and 24 h) for measurement of urine volume, urinary pH, conductivity and electrolyte levels (Na, K and Cl).Results: Treatment with HFD resulted in significantly (p < 0.05) increased serum cholesterol level (178.83 ± 5.43 mg/dL) when compared to normal control rats (88.17 ± 4.04 mg/dL). It also led to decrease in urinary volume (~50 %) at both time points (5 and 24 h) and in excretion of urinary electrolytes (sodium, potassium and chloride ions). However, the changes in these parameters were significantly reversed by NGN administration (p < 0.05).Conclusion: These results demonstrate the diuretic activity of NGN in HFD-induced obese rats. Thus, NGN can be further explored for use in combination with hypolipidemic agents to tackle obesity.Keywords: High-fat diet, Hypercholesterolemia, Naringenin, Obesit

Performance comparison of complementary and AND subtraction detection techniques for hybrid SCM SAC-OCDMA system

The subtraction detection techniques for a hybrid SCM spectral-amplitude-coding (SAC) OCDMA using double weight (DW) code family are investigated. The experimental simulation results show that the proposed new subtraction detection technique provides a better system performance

Unoccupied electronic structure and momentum-dependent scattering dynamics in Pb/Si(557) nanowire arrays

The unoccupied electronic structure of quasi-one-dimensional reconstructions of Pb atoms on a Si(557) surface is investigated by means of femtosecond time- and angle-resolved two-photon photoemission. Two distinct unoccupied electronic states are observed at E-EF=3.55 and 3.30 eV, respectively. Density functional theory calculations reveal that these states are spatially located predominantly on the lead wires and that they are energetically degenerated with an energy window of reduced electronic density of states in Si. We further find momentum-averaged lifetimes of 24 and 35 fs of these two states, respectively. The photoemission yield and the population dynamics depend on the electron momentum component perpendicular to the steps of the Si substrate, and the momentum-dependent dynamics cannot be described by means of rate equations. We conclude that momentum- and direction-dependent dephasing of the electronic excitations, likely caused by elastic scattering at the step edges on the vicinal surface, modifies the excited-state population dynamics in this system. © 2015 American Physical Society.DFG/FOR/170