Design of QSD Multiplier Using VHDL

The need for high speed digital circuits became more prominent as portable multimedia and communication applications incorporating information processing and computing. The drawback of modern computers lead to the worsening in performance of arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication on the aspects of carry propagation time delay, high power consumption and large circuit complexity.Binary Signed Digit Numbers are known to allow limited carry propagation with more complex addition process. Some of the limitations of this system are computational speed which limits formation and propagation of carry especially as the number of bits increases. Therefore it provides large complexity and low storage density. Carry free arithmetic operations can be achieved using a higher radix number system such as Quaternary Signed Digit (QSD) and it allows higher information storage density, less complexity. A high speed area effective adders and multipliers can be implemented using this technique. Carry free addition and other operations on a large number of digits such as 64, 128, or more can be implemented with constant delay and less complexity. The Design is simulated & synthesized using Xilinx 13.1

Species composition and population dynamics of phlebotomine sand flies in a Leishmania infected area of Chiang Mai, Thailand

Phlebotomine sand flies are established vectors of leishmaniasis in humans. In Thailand, Leishmania martiniquensis and “Leishmania siamensis” have been described as causative agents of leishmaniasis. In this study, a survey of sand flies in the Leishmania infected area of Hang Dong district, Chiang Mai, Thailand was performed using CDC light traps for eight consecutive months, from January to August 2016. A total of 661 sand flies were collected, and of 280 female sand flies, four species of the genus Sergentomyia including Sergentomyia gemmea, S. barraudi, S. indica, and S. hivernus and one species of the genus Phlebotomus, Phlebotomus stantoni, were identified. S. gemmea and S. hivernus were found in Chiang Mai for the first time. The density of captured female sand flies was high in warm and humid periods from June to August, with temperatures of around 26°C and relative humidity about 74%. In addition, S. gemmea was the most predominant species in the area. Further studies as to whether or not these sand fly species could be a vector of Leishmaniasis in Thailand are required

Didilia sp. Infecting Phlebotomus stantoni in Thailand

Nematode infection in wild caught Phlebotomine sand flies was investigated in Thailand. Light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to detect and morphologically characterize entomopathogenic nematodes that presented in the sand flies. Didilia sp. nematodes were found for the first time in the body cavity of wild caught male Phlebotomus stantoni sand flies. The Didilia sp. was identified based on the morphology of the adult nematodes, from their stylet and teeth at the anterior tip, body length, and egg shell sculpture. It was noted that every infected male sand fly had unrotated genitalia, which would not allow them to mate, thus leading to the loss of their offspring. This finding provided information that might lead to study on whether or not the Didilia sp. has the potential to control sand fly population

Electromechanical analysis of an adaptive piezoelectric energy harvester controlled by two segmented electrodes with shunt circuit networks

This paper presents an adaptive power harvester using a shunted piezoelectric control system with segmented electrodes. This technique has spurred new capability for widening the three simultaneous resonance frequency peaks using only a single piezoelectric laminated beam where normally previous works only provide a single peak for the resonance at the first mode. The benefit of the proposed techniques is that it provides effective and robust broadband power generation for application in self-powered wireless sensor devices. The smart structure beam with proof mass offset is considered to have simultaneous combination between vibration-based power harvesting and shunt circuit control-based electrode segments. As a result, the system spurs new development of the two mathematical methods using electromechanical closed-boundary value techniques and Ritz method-based weak-form analytical approach. The two methods have been used for comparison giving accurate results. For different electrode lengths using certain parametric tuning and harvesting circuit systems, the technique enables the prediction of the power harvesting that can be further proved to identify the performance of the system using the effect of varying circuit parameters so as to visualize the frequency and time waveform responses

Brain Cortical Mapping by Simultaneous Recording of Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy and Electroencephalograms from the Whole Brain During Right Median Nerve Stimulation

To investigate relationships between hemodynamic responses and neural activities in the somatosensory cortices, hemodynamic responses by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded simultaneously while subjects received electrical stimulation in the right median nerve. The statistical significance of the hemodynamic responses was evaluated by a general linear model (GLM) with the boxcar design matrix convoluted with Gaussian function. The resulting NIRS and EEGs data were stereotaxically superimposed on the reconstructed brain of each subject. The NIRS data indicated that changes in oxy-hemoglobin concentration increased at the contralateral primary somatosensory (SI) area; responses then spread to the more posterior and ipsilateral somatosensory areas. The EEG data indicated that positive somatosensory evoked potentials peaking at 22 ms latency (P22) were recorded from the contralateral SI area. Comparison of these two sets of data indicated that the distance between the dipoles of P22 and NIRS channels with maximum hemodynamic responses was less than 10 mm, and that the two topographical maps of hemodynamic responses and current source density of P22 were significantly correlated. Furthermore, when onset of the boxcar function was delayed 5–15 s (onset delay), hemodynamic responses in the bilateral parietal association cortices posterior to the SI were more strongly correlated to electrical stimulation. This suggests that GLM analysis with onset delay could reveal the temporal ordering of neural activation in the hierarchical somatosensory pathway, consistent with the neurophysiological data. The present results suggest that simultaneous NIRS and EEG recording is useful for correlating hemodynamic responses to neural activity

Systemic importance of financial institutions: regulations, research, open issues, proposals

In the field of risk management, scholars began to bring together the quantitative methodologies with the banking management issues about 30 years ago, with a special focus on market, credit and operational risks. After the systemic effects of banks defaults during the recent financial crisis, and despite a huge amount of literature in the last years concerning the systemic risk, no standard methodologies have been set up to now. Even the new Basel 3 regulation has adopted a heuristic indicator-based approach, quite far from an effective quantitative tool. In this paper, we refer to the different pieces of the puzzle: definition of systemic risk, a set of coherent and useful measures, the computability of these measures, the data set structure. In this challenging field, we aim to build a comprehensive picture of the state of the art, to illustrate the open issues, and to outline some paths for a more successful future research. This work appropriately integrates other useful surveys and it is directed to both academic researchers and practitioners

Impact of primary kidney disease on the effects of empagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease: secondary analyses of the EMPA-KIDNEY trial

Background: The EMPA KIDNEY trial showed that empagliflozin reduced the risk of the primary composite outcome of kidney disease progression or cardiovascular death in patients with chronic kidney disease mainly through slowing progression. We aimed to assess how effects of empagliflozin might differ by primary kidney disease across its broad population. Methods: EMPA-KIDNEY, a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial, was conducted at 241 centres in eight countries (Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the UK, and the USA). Patients were eligible if their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 20 to less than 45 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or 45 to less than 90 mL/min per 1·73 m2 with a urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) of 200 mg/g or higher at screening. They were randomly assigned (1:1) to 10 mg oral empagliflozin once daily or matching placebo. Effects on kidney disease progression (defined as a sustained ≥40% eGFR decline from randomisation, end-stage kidney disease, a sustained eGFR below 10 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or death from kidney failure) were assessed using prespecified Cox models, and eGFR slope analyses used shared parameter models. Subgroup comparisons were performed by including relevant interaction terms in models. EMPA-KIDNEY is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03594110. Findings: Between May 15, 2019, and April 16, 2021, 6609 participants were randomly assigned and followed up for a median of 2·0 years (IQR 1·5–2·4). Prespecified subgroupings by primary kidney disease included 2057 (31·1%) participants with diabetic kidney disease, 1669 (25·3%) with glomerular disease, 1445 (21·9%) with hypertensive or renovascular disease, and 1438 (21·8%) with other or unknown causes. Kidney disease progression occurred in 384 (11·6%) of 3304 patients in the empagliflozin group and 504 (15·2%) of 3305 patients in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·71 [95% CI 0·62–0·81]), with no evidence that the relative effect size varied significantly by primary kidney disease (pheterogeneity=0·62). The between-group difference in chronic eGFR slopes (ie, from 2 months to final follow-up) was 1·37 mL/min per 1·73 m2 per year (95% CI 1·16–1·59), representing a 50% (42–58) reduction in the rate of chronic eGFR decline. This relative effect of empagliflozin on chronic eGFR slope was similar in analyses by different primary kidney diseases, including in explorations by type of glomerular disease and diabetes (p values for heterogeneity all >0·1). Interpretation: In a broad range of patients with chronic kidney disease at risk of progression, including a wide range of non-diabetic causes of chronic kidney disease, empagliflozin reduced risk of kidney disease progression. Relative effect sizes were broadly similar irrespective of the cause of primary kidney disease, suggesting that SGLT2 inhibitors should be part of a standard of care to minimise risk of kidney failure in chronic kidney disease. Funding: Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, and UK Medical Research Council