A Miniaturized wide Stopband Low-pass Filter using T and Modified L Shapes Resonators

A new structure of microstrip-based low-pass filter with wide stopband and sharp roll-off is introduced, in this paper. In the proposed topology, resonators with T and modified L Shapes have been used. To improve the suppression factor and relative stopband bandwidth, the second resonator has been added to the first resonator. The designed filter has been fabricated on a 20 mm thickness RO4003 substrate, which has a loss tangent of 0.0021 and a relative dielectric constant equal to 3.38. All parameters including roll of rate, stopband, bandwidth, return loss, insertion loss, and figure of merit have significant coefficients. Simulation has been ran using advanced design system software. The 3dB cutoff frequency is appropriate. The value of the insertion loss parameter is <0.1 dB and the S11 parameter is −22 dB at this point. The stopband is extended from 2.42 up to 24 GHz, which shows an ultra-stopband. The results of the simulation and experiment are almost similar, which indicates a proper performance of the designed structure

Detachment of Listeria innocua and Pantoea agglomerans from cylinders of agar and potato tissue under conditions of Couette flow

Cylinders of raw potato or agar were contacted with suspensions of Listeria innocua and Pantoea agglomerans and then used as replacement rotors in a rheometer in order to investigate detachment under the influence of known shear forces. These shear forces were functions solely of the rotational speed of the rotor and the fluid (glycerol) in which the cylinders were caused to rotate. With this system surface shear forces ranging from 1.3 to 125 Pa could be generated corresponding to rotational speeds of 12.5 to 775 rpm. Under these conditions detachment phenomena were quite rapid with in most cases complete detachment being achieved over timescales of the order of 30 s. In general, lower shear forces were required to detach L. innocua from both agar and potato. For agar cylinders an applied shear force of only 1.3 Pa was sufficient to achieve 98 % detachment of L. innocua after 20 s. By contrast, relatively high shear forces were required to detach P. agglomerans particularly from potato; under an applied shear force of 2.8 Pa only 9.5 % detachment was achieved after 30 s. The results obtained at the highest shear forces studied here (125 Pa) with potato cylinders were suggestive of mass transfer into glycerol of one or more constituents present in potatoes that caused detached cells to aggregate causing an apparent decrease in percentage detachment. The data obtained could be used as a basis for the rational design of washing processes for fresh ready to eat food products

Response of Wistar Rats to Low Levels of Dietary Sudanese Trichodesma africanum L

Abstract: Trichodesma africanum is not recognized in Sudanese folk medicine and villagers of Northern Kordofan State have observed casualties among grazing livestock as a result of consuming the plant when other pasture plants are scarce. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects on Wistar rats of various levels of dietary T. africanum aerial parts through clinical, biochemical, hematological and pathological parameters. T. africanum aerial parts were fed to rats at 2, 5, 10 and 20% of the standard diet for 12 weeks. Incorporation of T. africanum aerial parts in diet at 20% was lethal to Wistar rats 6-7 weeks after treatment and caused severe hepatonephrotoxicity and depression in growth and soft feces prior to death. These findings were accompanied by macrocytic normochromic type, leukocytosis due to lymphocytosis and alterations in hematology, serum enzyme activities and concentrations of total protein, albumin, cholesterol and urea and other serum constituents. The results of the present study indicated that T. africanum aerial parts were toxic to rats when fed at 2, 5 and 10% of the diet for 12 weeks and lethal to rats when fed at 20% of the diet for 6-7 weeks of treatment. Our conclusion from this study is that T. africanum is toxic to livestock and can result in dysfunction of various organs, alteration in serbiochemical and hematological parameters, in addition to that; it may cause death if consumed in elevated doses

Temperature-Dependent Reproductive Success of Stickleback Lateral Plate Morphs: Implications for Population Polymorphism and Range Shifts Under Ocean Warming

Changing environments associated with rapid climate change can shape direct measures of fitness such as reproductive success by altering mating behavior, fecundity and offspring development. Using a polymorphic oceanic population of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), we investigated whether a 4°C increase in sea surface temperature influenced clutch siring success, reproductive output, and offspring growth among lateral plate morphs. Since low plated morphs are thought to have a selective advantage in warmer environments, we predicted that low plated males should have higher clutch siring success in +4°C environments, and that thermal plasticity of traits (e.g., egg size, offspring growth) should reflect different trait optima in different environments among plate morphs. Parentage analysis of egg clutches revealed temperature-specific clutch siring success, in that low plated males sired more clutches in +4°C environments and completely plated males sired more clutches at ambient (seasonal) temperature. Both completely and low plated females laid larger eggs when acclimated to +4°C, but only completely plated females had smaller clutches at +4°C. Offspring of low and partially plated females grew much less at +4°C compared to those of completely plated females. Taken together, our results demonstrate that ocean warming could impact reproductive success at various levels, with differential effects depending on phenotype, in this case, lateral plate morph. Some traits (clutch siring success, egg size) showed better performance for low plated fish at +4°C, whereas others (e.g., growth) did not. Higher clutch siring success of low plated males at elevated temperature might indicate a future shift in plate morph composition for polymorphic stickleback populations, with potential implications for colonization ability during range shifts under climate change

Thermal Plasticity of the Kelp Laminaria digitata (Phaeophyceae) Across Life Cycle Stages Reveals the Importance of Cold Seasons for Marine Forests

Phenotypic plasticity (genotype × environment interaction) is an especially important means for sessile organisms to cope with environmental variation. While kelps, the globally most productive group of seaweeds, generally possess a wide thermal performance range, kelp populations at their warm distribution limits are threatened by ocean warming. Here, we investigated effects of temperature during ontogeny of the kelp Laminaria digitata across haploid gametophyte and diploid sporophyte life cycle stages in five distinct genetic lines. We hypothesized that thermal plasticity increases trait performance of juvenile sporophytes in experimental temperatures that match the temperature experienced during gametogenesis and recruitment, and that plasticity differs among genetic lines (genetic variation for plasticity). We applied a full-factorial experimental design to generate different temperature histories by applying 5 and 15°C during meiospore germination, gametogenesis of parental gametophytes and recruitment of offspring sporophytes (19–26 days), and juvenile sporophyte rearing (91–122 days). We then tested for thermal plasticity among temperature history treatments at 5 and 15°C in a final 12-day experiment assessing growth, the storage compound mannitol, carbon and nitrogen contents, and fluorometric responses in 3–4 month old sporophytes for five genetic lines. Our study provides evidence for the importance of cold temperatures at early development on later sporophyte performance of L. digitata. Gametogenesis and recruitment at 5°C promoted higher growth of offspring sporophytes across experimental temperatures. While photosynthetic capacity was higher at 15°C, carbon and nitrogen storage were higher at 5°C, both showing fast acclimation responses. We identified an important role of genetic variation for plasticity in shaping L. digitata’s thermal plasticity. Trait performance at 5 or 15°C (reaction norm slopes) differed among genetic lines, even showing opposite response patterns. Interestingly, genetic variation for plasticity was only significant when sporophytes were reared at 5°C. Thus, we provide evidence that the cold-temperate to Arctic kelp species, L. digitata, which possesses a wide temperature tolerance between 0 and 23°C, is impaired by warm temperature during gametogenesis and recruitment, reducing growth of juvenile sporophytes and expression of variable thermal plasticity in the wild

Synthesis, Electrical Conductivity, and Dielectric Behavior of Polyaniline/V 2

Conducting polymer composites of polyaniline/vanadium pentaoxide PANI/V2O5 (with different initial weight percentage of V2O5) has been synthesized by in situ polymerization method. DC conductivity of compressed pellets has been analyzed in the temperature range 300–550 K and was found to increase with V2O5 doping. This increase in conductivity is mainly due to band conduction. It has also been observed that the dielectric constant and dielectric loss increase with the level of doping of V2O5 but remain independent of the frequency (50 KHz–1 MHz). X-ray diffraction pattern shows some order of crystallinity of composites due to interaction of polyaniline with V2O5. UV-visible spectroscopy shows an increase in the optical band gap with doping

Maternal body mass index and risk of testicular cancer in male offspring a systematic review and meta analysis

OBJECTIVES: To date a number of studies have examined the association between maternal weight and testicular cancer risk although results have been largely inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the nature of this association. METHODS: Search strategies were conducted in Ovid Medline (1950—2009), Embase (1980—2009), Web of Science (1970—2009), and CINAHL (1937—2009) using keywords for maternal weight (BMI) and testicular cancer. RESULTS: The literature search produced 1,689 hits from which 63 papers were extracted. Only 7 studies met the pre-defined criteria. Random effects meta-analyses were conducted. The combined unadjusted OR (95% CI) of testicular cancer in the highest reported category of maternal BMI compared with the moderate maternal BMI was 0.82 (0.65 – 1.02). The Cochran’s Q P value was 0.83 and the corresponding I(2) was 0%, both indicating very little variability among studies. The combined unadjusted OR (95% CI) for testicular cancer risk in the lowest reported category of maternal BMI compared to a moderate maternal BMI category was 0.92 (0.75 – 1.12). The Cochran’s Q P value was 0.05 and the corresponding I(2) was 54%, indicating evidence of statistical heterogeneity. No association was observed when maternal BMI was treated as a continuous variable. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis, which included a small number of studies, showed an inverse association between high maternal BMI and testicular cancer risk of borderline statistical significance. Further primary studies with adjustment for appropriate confounders are required

First record of the Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis (Temminck Schlegel, 1844) from the coast off Sur, Sultanate of Oman

A single specimen of the Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis was caught on 11 May 2017 in a long-line operated about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Sur atconfluent of Sea of Oman and Arabian Sea coast of Oman. This first record of its occurrence indicates the extension of distributional range of the species to the Arabian Sea coast of Oman

Complete Study of an Original Power-Exponential Transformation Approach for Generalizing Probability Distributions

In this paper, we propose a flexible and general family of distributions based on an original power-exponential transformation approach. We call it the modified generalized-G (MGG) family. The elegance and significance of this family lie in the ability to modify the standard distributions by changing their functional forms without adding new parameters, by compounding two distributions, or by adding one or two shape parameters. The aim of this modification is to provide flexible shapes for the corresponding probability functions. In particular, the distributions of the MGG family can possess increasing, constant, decreasing, “unimodal”, or “bathtub-shaped“ hazard rate functions, which are ideal for fitting several real data sets encountered in applied fields. Some members of the MGG family are proposed for special distributions. Following that, the uniform distribution is chosen as a baseline distribution to yield the modified uniform (MU) distribution with the goal of efficiently modeling measures with bounded values. Some useful key properties of the MU distribution are determined. The estimation of the unknown parameters of the MU model is discussed using seven methods, and then, a simulation study is carried out to explore the performance of the estimates. The flexibility of this model is illustrated by the analysis of two real-life data sets. When compared to fair and well-known competitor models in contemporary literature, better-fitting results are obtained for the new model

Gamma-Irradiation Improves the Photocatalytic Activity of Fe/TiO2 for Photocatalytic Degradation of 2-Chlorophenol

The Fe doped TiO2 abbreviated here as (Fe3) were prepared by sol-gel method. Upon doping FeTiO3 nano-composite was formed. The prepared sample was irradiated by different dosage of γ-irradiated (0.2, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.6 MGy).  The irradiated samples which abbreviated as (0.2, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.6 MGy) and non-irradiated sample which abbreviated as (Fe3)  were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Surface analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Temperature Programmed Desorption (NH3-TPD), Raman Spectroscopy,  and UV-Vis absorption. The results show that γ-irradiation not only improves the morphological and structural changes of irritated samples, but also extended its absorption edge to the visible light region. The photocatalytic activity of the samples were tested for the photocatalytic degradation of   2-chlorophenol under simulated solar light irradiation. The photocatalytic activity of the irradiated sample using 1.6 MGY was higher than the other irradiated and non-irradiated samples. The photo-intermediate product was also studied. Keywords: Photocatalysis, TiO2, 2-chlorophenol, photocatalytic degradation, Gamma-irradiation