Enhancement of FMIPv6 by Utilising Concurent Binding Update Process

The world is progressing toward the Mobile Internet Protocol Television (MIPTV) era where people are able to watch television while roaming. The MIPTV technology requires high bandwidth and low latency handover. This paper enhances the binding updates process in the Fast Handover Mobile IPv6 (FMIPv6) to improve its handover process performance in term of secureness and robustness, by implementing concurant binding update process thru the use of the International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI). Simulation results show that the proposed idea reduces the handover latency to about 63% compared to standard FMIPv6

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): A beginner’s guide for design and implementation

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a popular brain stimulation method that is used to modulate cortical excitability, producing facilitatory or inhibitory effects upon a variety of behaviors. There is, however, a current lack of consensus between studies, with many results suggesting that polarity-specific effects are difficult to obtain. This article explores some of these differences and highlights the experimental parameters that may underlie their occurrence. We provide a general, practical snapshot of tDCS methodology, including what it is used for, how to use it, and considerations for designing an effective and safe experiment. Our aim is to equip researchers who are new to tDCS with the essential knowledge so that they can make informed and well-rounded decisions when designing and running successful experiments. By summarizing the varied approaches, stimulation parameters, and outcomes, this article should help inform future tDCS research in a variety of fields

Design and Simulate a New Defense System of Free Electron Laser DSFEL

As a result of rapid progress in the development of offensive weapons, it became necessary to build up an effective defense system against these technically advanced weapons. In this paper, it has been designed and simulates a new defense system of free-electron laser DSFEL with important advantages capable of destroying air targets (static or mobile) within a range of 70 km from the ground level. The proposed defense system consists of three main units a free electron Laser, optical lenses and control system. Numerous parameters were computed, beginning from the specification and quality of free electron Laser and atmosphere attenuation affecting on the laser beam, in addition to the quality of the target should be destroyed. The results of simulations show that the possibility of destroying any target with high precision despite the large attenuation that occurs to the laser beam such as absorption, scattering, turbulence, and reflection. It is clear through simulations that the original power of laser beam will be significantly reduced as a result of numerous and varied losses as they pass through the atmosphere. But as a final result, the laser can be used as an effective weapon to destroy long-range targets

Corrosion Protection of Carbon Steel Oil Pipelines by Unsaturated Polyester/Clay Composite coating

The EIS measurements for coated specimens after polarization show higher values of total impedance |Z|, polarization resistance (Rp) and low capacitance (C) in comparison with the un-coated carbon steel specimen. This indicates the stability of the surface protected film of these coated specimens and their resistance against dissolution.The aim of this paper is to prepare a protective coating on API 5L (carbon steel) alloy which is the widely used materials in oil industry and study its effect on the corrosion behavior of the carbon steel in crude oil environment. Unsaturated polyester (UP) and clay were used to prepare composite consist of 75% of polyester and 25% of clay. The coated specimen was investigated in comparison to uncoated and 100% polyester coated specimens. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were employed on the coated specimens to understand the phases formed on the modified surfaces. The corrosion behavior of the modified surface in comparison with untreated one was investigated by potentiodynamic cyclic polarization in 3.5 M of NaCl and crude oil solution using Solartron made electrochemical interface SI 1287 and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) measurements at OCP condition using Solartron make 1255 HF frequency response analyzer (FRA). The results show improvement in the corrosion parameters predicted from the polarization test.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS): A Beginner's Guide for Design and Implementation

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a popular brain stimulation method that is used to modulate cortical excitability, producing facilitatory or inhibitory effects upon a variety of behaviors. There is, however, a current lack of consensus between studies, with many results suggesting that polarity-specific effects are difficult to obtain. This article explores some of these differences and highlights the experimental parameters that may underlie their occurrence. We provide a general, practical snapshot of tDCS methodology, including what it is used for, how to use it, and considerations for designing an effective and safe experiment. Our aim is to equip researchers who are new to tDCS with the essential knowledge so that they can make informed and well-rounded decisions when designing and running successful experiments. By summarizing the varied approaches, stimulation parameters, and outcomes, this article should help inform future tDCS research in a variety of fields

Transcriptomic profiles of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome phenotypes in pediatric critical influenza

BackgroundInfluenza virus is responsible for a large global burden of disease, especially in children. Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODS) is a life-threatening and fatal complication of severe influenza infection.MethodsWe measured RNA expression of 469 biologically plausible candidate genes in children admitted to North American pediatric intensive care units with severe influenza virus infection with and without MODS. Whole blood samples from 191 influenza-infected children (median age 6.4 years, IQR: 2.2, 11) were collected a median of 27 hours following admission; for 45 children a second blood sample was collected approximately seven days later. Extracted RNA was hybridized to NanoString mRNA probes, counts normalized, and analyzed using linear models controlling for age and bacterial co-infections (FDR q<0.05).ResultsComparing pediatric samples collected near admission, children with Prolonged MODS for ≥7 days (n=38; 9 deaths) had significant upregulation of nine mRNA transcripts associated with neutrophil degranulation (RETN, TCN1, OLFM4, MMP8, LCN2, BPI, LTF, S100A12, GUSB) compared to those who recovered more rapidly from MODS (n=27). These neutrophil transcripts present in early samples predicted Prolonged MODS or death when compared to patients who recovered, however in paired longitudinal samples, they were not differentially expressed over time. Instead, five genes involved in protein metabolism and/or adaptive immunity signaling pathways (RPL3, MRPL3, HLA-DMB, EEF1G, CD8A) were associated with MODS recovery within a week.ConclusionThus, early increased expression of neutrophil degranulation genes indicated worse clinical outcomes in children with influenza infection, consistent with reports in adult cohorts with influenza, sepsis, and acute respiratory distress syndrome

Studying Biomimetic Coated Niobium as an Alternative Dental Implant Material to Titanium (in vitro and in vivo study)

Commercially pure titanium (cpTi) is widely used as dental implant material although it was found that titanium exhibited high modulus of elasticity and the lower corrosion tendency in oral environment. Niobium(Nb) was chosen for this study as an alternative to cpTi implant material due to its bioinert behavior and good elastic modulus and moderate cost in addition to corrosion resistance. This study was done to evaluate the effect of biomimetic coating on the surface properties of the commercially pure titanium and niobium implants by in vitro and in vivo experiments. The in vitro study was involved etching the samples of each material in HCl then soaking in 10M NaOH aqueous solution. These samples were then immersed in a 5 times concentrated simulated body fluid for 14 days. Scanning Electron Microscope, Energy Dispersive X-ray, and X-Ray Diffraction tests were done to analyze surface changes. The in vivo study was done by the implantation of screw-shaped implants (two from each material, uncoated and the other was biomimetically coated) in the tibias of New Zealand rabbits. After 2 and 4 weeks of healing period, 20 rabbits were sacrificed for each period. A removal torque was done for ten animals in each group, whereas the other ten were used for histological testing and histomorphometric analysis with optical microscope.The in vitro experiments showed that the use of 14 days immersion in a concentrated simulated body fluid produced a layer of calcium phosphate on metal surfaces. The removal torque values and new bone formation were increased significantly in Nb than Ti, in coated than uncoated screws, and in 4 weeks than 2 weeks healing periods. The Nb implants had better biomechanical and biological properties than the commercially pure titanium implants and can be used as an alternative dental implant

Association of Retinol Binding Protein- 4 (RBP4) with Glycemia, Dyslipidemia, Hypertension, and Obesity in Type 2 Diabetic Iraqi Patients

Abstract: Background: Retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4), an adipokine that participate in a lipid metabolism or insulin resistance through a complex regulatory network. Recently, RBP4 was reported to be associated with many cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) risk factors in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study aims to study the correlation of  serum RBP4 with some markers of glycemic control, dyslipidemia, hypertension and obesity in T2DM Iraqi patients. Subjects and Methods: one hundred fifty participants were enrolled in this coss-sectional study, 120 of participants were T2DM patients and 30 were apparently healthy individuals to serve as control group. Results: Serum RBP4 levels are higher in T2DM patients with poor glycemic control, dyslipedemia, hypertension, or obesity compared  to the control group. Serum RBP4 is positively correlated with body mass index, fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, systolic blood pressure (P<0.001), and plasma triacylglycerols, very low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (P<0.05) and negatively correlated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (P<0.001). Conclusion: serum RBP4 is correlated with many risk factors of CVD in T2DM Iraqi patients.   keywords: RBP4, type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, hypertension, obesit