Regression Model for Predicting Soaked CBR from UCC

ABSTRACT. Flexible pavement is a multi-layered structure with a subgrade layer acting as the pavement structure’s foundation. The performance and strength of soil for its use as a subgrade are ascertained by its California Bearing Ratio (CBR) value. CBR test is a technically extensive and labor-intensive mechanism that could cause delays in carrying out construction projects, which would raise the construction cost. Therefore, highway engineers need to design a predictive model for quick assessment of the CBR of subgrade soil. In this research, eight specimens of disturbed soil were obtained from Rawalpindi Division, Pakistan. All soil samples were subjected to laboratory testing and categorized according to the AASHTO soil Classification System. The specimens were subjected to soaked CBR, and unconfined compression tests based on Maximum Dry Density (MDD) and Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) values, acquired from the Modified Proctor Compaction test. An empirical correlation between soaked CBR and unconfined compressive strength test is developed by the Suitable Trend-Line Method in Microsoft excel. From the single linear regression model, the value of the coefficient of correlation is found (0.98) indicating a very good correlation between soaked CBR and UCC strength test. Keywords: Regression Model, Correlation Coefficient, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), UCC strength

Cip/Kip cyclin-dependent protein kinase inhibitors and the road to polyploidy

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) play a central role in the orderly transition from one phase of the eukaryotic mitotic cell division cycle to the next. In this context, p27Kip1 (one of the CIP/KIP family of CDK specific inhibitors in mammals) or its functional analogue in other eukarya prevents a premature transition from G1 to S-phase. Recent studies have revealed that expression of a second member of this family, p57Kip2, is induced as trophoblast stem (TS) cells differentiate into trophoblast giant (TG) cells. p57 then inhibits CDK1 activity, an enzyme essential for initiating mitosis, thereby triggering genome endoreduplication (multiple S-phases without an intervening mitosis). Expression of p21Cip1, the third member of this family, is also induced in during differentiation of TS cells into TG cells where it appears to play a role in suppressing the DNA damage response pathway. Given the fact that p21 and p57 are unique to mammals, the question arises as to whether one or both of these proteins are responsible for the induction and maintenance of polyploidy during mammalian development

Filtering Dishonest Trust Recommendations in Trust Management Systems in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Trust recommendations, having a pivotal role in computation of trust and hence confidence in peer to peer (P2P) environment, if hampered, may entail in colossal attacks from dishonest recommenders such as bad mouthing, ballot stuffing, random opinion etc. Therefore, mitigation of dishonest trust recommendations is stipulated as a challenging research issue in P2P systems (esp in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks). In order to cater these challenges associated with dishonest trust recommendations, a technique named “intelligently Selection of Trust Recommendations based on Dissimilarity factor (iSTRD)” has been devised for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks.  iSTRD exploits  personal experience of an “evaluating node” in conjunction with majority vote of the recommenders. It successfully removes the recommendations of “low trustworthy recommenders” as well as dishonest recommendations of “highly trustworthy recommenders”. Efficacy of proposed approach is evident from enhanced accuracy of “recognition rate”, “false rejection” and “false acceptance”.  Moreover, experiential results depict that iSTRD has unprecedented performance compared to contemporary techniques in presence of attacks asserted

Existence results to a class of hybrid fractional differential equations

This article is devoted to the study of existence results to a class of boundary value problems for hybrid fractional differential equations. A couple of hybrid fixed point theorems for the sum of three operators are used for proving the main results. Examples illustrating the results are also presented

Quality of Hypospadias Surgery in a High Volume Hospital: Review of Short to Medium-Term Outcomes after Snodgrass Hypospadias Repair

OBJECTIVES The study aimed to review short-term and medium-term outcomes of Snodgrass repair from one-year to two-year follow-up. METHODOLOGY It’s a retrospective review of 114 patients (secondary data) with distal penile hypospadias without curvature who underwent Snodgrass repair performed by a single surgeon in the department of Urology, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar from March 2021 to March 2022. Hypospadias objective score Evaluation (HOSE) was used for functional and cosmetic outcomes. RESULTSThe mean age at the time of presentation for surgery was 3 years. The mean documented follow-up was 13 months (2-23 months). 51% (58) of patients presented with coronal hypospadias, followed by sub-coronal, distal and glanular hypospadias. Overall complication rate was 10%. Three patients developed a total breakdown of their wounds that needed further staged procedures. Meatal stenosis was noted in three patients requiring meatal dilatation, and another two came back with non-obliterative strictures. One had gentle dilatation, and the other underwent an optical urethrotomy. The rest of the four patients developed urethrocutanoeus fistulae (UCF), ultimately getting repaired 6 months postoperatively. Good cosmetic and functional results were achieved in 93% of cases (HOSE score of 14 or above). CONCLUSION This study shows that Snodgrass repair is the best option for mainly correcting distal penile and midshaft hypospadias and has an acceptably low complication rate with better short to medium-term outcomes

A low temperature flat plate solar collector

The performance of a low temperature solar collector, which acts as an evaporator of a heat pump system, has been investigated. An experimcntal setup has been designed, fabricated and tested under the meteorological conditions of Singapore. Refrigerant 134a has been used in the experiments. Effects of various parameters have been considered. Results show that, with the increase in collector tube length, the dryness fraction of the fluid increases leading to an increase in the heat transfer coefficient between the tube wall and fluid. Results also show that collector is very sensitive to solar radiation. If solar radiation increases, the mass flow rate of fluid inside the collector increases, which increases the collector efficiency as more heat is absorbed. Collector efficiency increases with irradiation, reaches a maximum and then decreases. Collector efficiency, as high as about 0.85 was obtained, which could be attributed to the low temperature operation of the collector

A Novel Approach to Automate Complex Software Modularization Using a Fact Extraction System

Complex software systems that support organizations are updated regularly, which can erode system architectures. Moreover, documentation is rarely synchronized with the changes to the software system. This creates a slew of issues for future software maintenance. To this goal, information extraction tools use exact approaches to extract entities and their corresponding relationships from source code. Such exact approaches extract all features, including those that are less prominent and may not be significant for modularization. In order to resolve the issue, this work proposes an enhanced approximate information extraction approach, namely, fact extractor system for Java applications (FESJA) that aims to automate software modularization using a fact extraction system. The proposed FESJA technique extracts all the entities along with their corresponding more dominant formal and informal relationships from a Java source code. Results demonstrate the improved performance of FESJA, by extracting 74 (classes), 43 (interfaces), and 31 (enumeration), in comparison with eminent information extraction techniques

Enhancement of Extender Excellence of Frozen Bull Semen Using α-Tocopherol as an Antioxidant

Background: Addition of the antioxidant to extender media is the most appropriate attempt to reduce structural losses encounter during the process of cryopreservation. Hence semen excellence could be maintained for longer duration without adverse impact. Additionally antioxidants are not only capturing the reactive oxygen species but also improve the sperm quality indicators and fertility. Accordingly, current elucidation has been executed to explore the dose depended appraisal of varied concentration of α-tocopherol in Tris-based extender on frozen-thawed bull semen quality parameters for enhancement of bull semen cryopreservation in the subtropical ecosystem of Peshawar.Materials, Methods & Results: Experiments were carried out on semen that has been collected from both Achai-an indigenous breed and Holstein Friesian (HF) - the exotic breed in artificial vagina maintained at 42°C from the experimental bulls of either breed and processed independently breed wise. Semen specimens with above 70% motility were evaluated separately breed-wise under same environmental condition. Standard procedure was adopted to extend the collected semen in the experimental extenders and frozen subsequently. After thawing, further Analysis of the frozen straws of semen was carried out for sperm excellence indicators that include motility, viability, acrosomal integrity and functional integrity of spermatozoa under the subtropical condition. Sperm viability and acrosomal integrity were determined by dual staining procedure i.e. Trypan-blue and Giemsa stains. The hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS) test was used to assess plasma membrane integrity. The current elucidation demonstrated that α-tocopherol 1.5 mg/mL supplemented in extender had significantly (P < 0.05) increased sperm excellence gauge that includes motility, viability, acrosomal integrity and functional membrane integrity in both the breeds. On the other hand, the result further elucidated those concentrations higher or lower than 1.5-1 mg/mL α-tocopherol supplemented in the present study resulted in a lower semen functional attributes subsequent to freezing.Discussion: Biological samples were preserved by various methods such cryopreservation at low temperature to maintain them intact and facilitate downstream experiments. Antioxidants were associated with the chemical breakage of the substrate consequential from oxidation and counterbalance the free radicals thus diminish the damaging impacts to spermatozoa in cryopreservation. There is lack of data with respect to lipid peroxidation and cell reinforcement limit in cryopreserved semen, and cryopreservation is related with the generation of receptive oxygen species (ROS) which lead to lipid peroxidation (LPO) of sperm membranes, bringing about lost motility, viability and fertility of sperm. Recently, in the reproductive management of the dairy animals, an important focus of research is to overcome the deleterious impact associated with semen cryopreservation. Elucidation of differential dose depended expression of α-tocopherol in semen extender has been evident in this study. The results were corroborated with diverse mammalian species under varied ecological management setups. Furthermore the detrimental impact of high doses of α-tocopherol in the semen extender has been demonstrated. It was deduced from the current finding that addition of α-tocopherol via dose depended approach in Tri extender enhanced the cryosurvivability of both Achai indigenous breed and HF the exotic breed, under existing reproductive management in the local ecosystem of Peshawar