Signal-to-noise Ratio Study on Pipelined Fast Fourier Transform Processor

Fast Fourier transform (FFT) processor is a prevailing tool in converting signal in time domain to frequency domain. This paper provides signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) study on 16-point pipelined FFT processor implemented on field-programable gate array (FPGA). This processor can be used in vast digital signal applications such as wireless sensor network, digital video broadcasting and many more. These applications require accuracy in their data communication part, that is why SNR is an important analysis. SNR is a measure of signal strength relative to noise. The measurement is usually in decibles (dB). Previously, SNR studies have been carried out in software simulation, for example in Matlab. However, in this paper, pipelined FFT and SNR modules are developed in hardware form. SNR module is designed in Modelsim using Verilog code before implemented on FPGA board. The SNR module is connected directly to the output of the pipelined FFT module. Three different pipelined FFT with different architectures were studied. The result shows that SNR for radix-8 and R4SDC FFT architecture design are above 40dB, which represent a very excellent signal. SNR module on the FPGA and the SNR results of different pipelined FFT architecture can be consider as the novelty of this paper

Teratogenic effects of retinyl palmitate during early and late gestation periods in rats.

Retinyl palmitate or vitamin A palmitate has been associated with dose-related developmental toxicity when administered orally to mice, rats, rabbits, and monkeys during critical stages of embryonic development. We report a study to determine the teratogenic effects of retinyl palmitate in pregnant Sprague Dawley rats during early and late gestation periods and to observe the toxic effects of retinyl palmitate in dams. Forty sexually mature fertile female Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 4 groups: Early control, Late control, Early gestation (Early) and Late gestation (Late) groups. Control groups were given a placebo of maize oil while treatment groups were given the same dosage of retinyl palmitate. Pregnant females were randomly assigned to the different groups and treated with retinyl palmitate during early pregnancy on gestation day (GD) 1-7 for Early group and GD 8-14 for Late group. The results obtained showed that retinyl palmitate treated groups had no significant difference in maternal body weights compared to control groups. Maternal kidney weights in early treated group showed significant difference (p<0.05) compared to early control group while liver weights had no significant difference in both control and treatment groups. Fetuses from both early and late treated groups showed a significant decrease in weight compared to control groups. For fetal skeletal anomalies, treatment with retinyl palmitate in Early and Late groups showed malformed wavy ribs and thoracic vertebrae, additional ribs, lumbar vertebral defect and extra ossification center. This preliminary experiment suggests that retinyl palmitate show significant teratogenic effects when fed to pregnant Sprague Dawley rats during early and late gestation periods

Revealing epilepsy type using a computational analysis of interictal EEG

This is the final version. Available from Nature Research via the DOI in this record.All materials (functional networks and code) are available upon request from the corresponding author.Seizure onset in epilepsy can usually be classified as focal or generalized, based on a combination of clinical phenomenology of the seizures, EEG recordings and MRI. This classification may be challenging when seizures and interictal epileptiform discharges are infrequent or discordant, and MRI does not reveal any apparent abnormalities. To address this challenge, we introduce the concept of Ictogenic Spread (IS) as a prediction of how pathological electrical activity associated with seizures will propagate throughout a brain network. This measure is defined using a person-specific computer representation of the functional network of the brain, constructed from interictal EEG, combined with a computer model of the transition from background to seizure-like activity within nodes of a distributed network. Applying this method to a dataset comprising scalp EEG from 38 people with epilepsy (17 with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE), 21 with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE)), we find that people with GGE display a higher IS in comparison to those with mTLE. We propose IS as a candidate computational biomarker to classify focal and generalized epilepsy using interictal EEG.Medical Research Council (MRC)Wellcome TrustEpilepsy Research UKEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Wellcome Trus

Revealing epilepsy type using a computational analysis of interictal EEG.

Seizure onset in epilepsy can usually be classified as focal or generalized, based on a combination of clinical phenomenology of the seizures, EEG recordings and MRI. This classification may be challenging when seizures and interictal epileptiform discharges are infrequent or discordant, and MRI does not reveal any apparent abnormalities. To address this challenge, we introduce the concept of Ictogenic Spread (IS) as a prediction of how pathological electrical activity associated with seizures will propagate throughout a brain network. This measure is defined using a person-specific computer representation of the functional network of the brain, constructed from interictal EEG, combined with a computer model of the transition from background to seizure-like activity within nodes of a distributed network. Applying this method to a dataset comprising scalp EEG from 38 people with epilepsy (17 with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE), 21 with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE)), we find that people with GGE display a higher IS in comparison to those with mTLE. We propose IS as a candidate computational biomarker to classify focal and generalized epilepsy using interictal EEG

Yield and nutritive quality of napier (Pennisetumpurpureum) cultivars as fresh and ensiled fodder

Napier grass is a C4 type tropical grass and commonly used as ruminant feedstuffs due to its promising yield. The preservation of Napier grass is to ensure continuous feed supply for the animals during shortage of forages as well as preserving the quality of the grasses. The study on nutritive quality of fresh and ensiled Napier cultivars was conducted at March 2014 at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. Four Napier cultivars (Common Napier, Silver Napier, Red Napier and Dwarf Napier) were sown in a randomized complete block design with three replications.The Common, Silver and Red Napier were classified as tall types and Dwarf Napier as short cultivar.Results revealed that Common Napier and Red Napier hadsignificantly higher (P<0.05) dry matter yield (DMY). Both Silver and Dwarf Napier have the lowest DMY (P<0.05) regardless of the grass height. Generally, Dwarf Napier had the highest leaf to stem ratio(3.18) and nutritive value (10% crude protein (CP); 66% in-vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD); 56% in-vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD)) than tall cultivars. The process of fermentation clearly decreased the nutritive value of Napier cultivars. The ensiling process decreased (P<0.05) neutral detergent fibre (NDF) content (72 to 67%), IVDMD (69 to 61%)and increased (P<0.05) the IVOMD (52 to 58%) and gross energy (16 to 17 MJ/kg).Regardless of the feed types, the CP content of Napier cultivars surpassed 7% of the minimum requirement for rumen microbial sustainability. There were interaction (P<0.05) between cultivars and feed types on CP, potential gas production (A+B), metabolisable energy (ME) and degradation rates (C). The CP content of Common, Red and Dwarf Napier increased numerically due to ensiling process. Nevertheless, the ME content and C value declined gradually after the ensiling process. The compaction during ensiling process could affect the quality of Napier cultivars in particular the IVDMD and the degradation ratesdue to leaching of nutrient.It is concluded that the nutritive value of Napier cultivars were generally decreased due to preservation mechanism. Despite, the CPcontent and total gas production of Common Napier increased significantlyafter ensiled

Dynamic brain network states in human generalized spike-wave discharges.

Generalized spike-wave discharges in idiopathic generalized epilepsy are conventionally assumed to have abrupt onset and offset. However, in rodent models, discharges emerge during a dynamic evolution of brain network states, extending several seconds before and after the discharge. In human idiopathic generalized epilepsy, simultaneous EEG and functional MRI shows cortical regions may be active before discharges, and network connectivity around discharges may not be normal. Here, in human idiopathic generalized epilepsy, we investigated whether generalized spike-wave discharges emerge during a dynamic evolution of brain network states. Using EEG-functional MRI, we studied 43 patients and 34 healthy control subjects. We obtained 95 discharges from 20 patients. We compared data from patients with discharges with data from patients without discharges and healthy controls. Changes in MRI (blood oxygenation level-dependent) signal amplitude in discharge epochs were observed only at and after EEG onset, involving a sequence of parietal and frontal cortical regions then thalamus (P < 0.01, across all regions and measurement time points). Examining MRI signal phase synchrony as a measure of functional connectivity between each pair of 90 brain regions, we found significant connections (P < 0.01, across all connections and measurement time points) involving frontal, parietal and occipital cortex during discharges, and for 20 s after EEG offset. This network prominent during discharges showed significantly low synchrony (below 99% confidence interval for synchrony in this network in non-discharge epochs in patients) from 16 s to 10 s before discharges, then ramped up steeply to a significantly high level of synchrony 2 s before discharge onset. Significant connections were seen in a sensorimotor network in the minute before discharge onset. This network also showed elevated synchrony in patients without discharges compared to healthy controls (P = 0.004). During 6 s prior to discharges, additional significant connections to this sensorimotor network were observed, involving prefrontal and precuneus regions. In healthy subjects, significant connections involved a posterior cortical network. In patients with discharges, this posterior network showed significantly low synchrony during the minute prior to discharge onset. In patients without discharges, this network showed the same level of synchrony as in healthy controls. Our findings suggest persistently high sensorimotor network synchrony, coupled with transiently (at least 1 min) low posterior network synchrony, may be a state predisposing to generalized spike-wave discharge onset. Our findings also show that EEG onset and associated MRI signal amplitude change is embedded in a considerably longer period of evolving brain network states before and after discharge events

Thalamic volume reduction in drug-naive patients with new-onset genetic generalized epilepsy

OBJECTIVE: Patients with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE) have subtle morphologic abnormalities of the brain revealed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), particularly in the thalamus. However, it is unclear whether morphologic abnormalities of the brain in GGE are a consequence of repeated seizures over the duration of the disease, or are a consequence of treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), or are independent of these factors. Therefore, we measured brain morphometry in a cohort of AED-naive patients with GGE at disease onset. We hypothesize that drug-naive patients at disease onset have gray matter changes compared to age-matched healthy controls. METHODS: We performed quantitative measures of gray matter volume in the thalamus, putamen, caudate, pallidum, hippocampus, precuneus, prefrontal cortex, precentral cortex, and cingulate in 29 AED-naive patients with new-onset GGE and compared them to 32 age-matched healthy controls. We subsequently compared the shape of any brain structures found to differ in gray matter volume between the groups. RESULTS: The thalamus was the only structure to show reduced gray matter volume in AED-naive patients with new-onset GGE compared to healthy controls. Shape analysis revealed that the thalamus showed deflation, which was not uniformly distributed, but particularly affected a circumferential strip involving anterior, superior, posterior, and inferior regions with sparing of medial and lateral regions. SIGNIFICANCE: Structural abnormalities in the thalamus are present at the initial onset of GGE in AED-naive patients, suggesting that thalamic structural abnormality is an intrinsic feature of GGE and not a consequence of AEDs or disease duration

Thalamic volume reduction in drug-naive patients with new-onset genetic generalized epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE) have subtle morphologic abnormalities of the brain revealed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), particularly in the thalamus. However, it is unclear whether morphologic abnormalities of the brain in GGE are a consequence of repeated seizures over the duration of the disease, or are a consequence of treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), or are independent of these factors. Therefore, we measured brain morphometry in a cohort of AED-naive patients with GGE at disease onset. We hypothesize that drug-naive patients at disease onset have gray matter changes compared to age-matched healthy controls. METHODS: We performed quantitative measures of gray matter volume in the thalamus, putamen, caudate, pallidum, hippocampus, precuneus, prefrontal cortex, precentral cortex, and cingulate in 29 AED-naive patients with new-onset GGE and compared them to 32 age-matched healthy controls. We subsequently compared the shape of any brain structures found to differ in gray matter volume between the groups. RESULTS: The thalamus was the only structure to show reduced gray matter volume in AED-naive patients with new-onset GGE compared to healthy controls. Shape analysis revealed that the thalamus showed deflation, which was not uniformly distributed, but particularly affected a circumferential strip involving anterior, superior, posterior, and inferior regions with sparing of medial and lateral regions. SIGNIFICANCE: Structural abnormalities in the thalamus are present at the initial onset of GGE in AED-naive patients, suggesting that thalamic structural abnormality is an intrinsic feature of GGE and not a consequence of AEDs or disease duration

Effect of substrate placement in schott vial to hematite properties

In the present study, hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanostructures were deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrate using sonicated immersion synthesis method. The effect of FTO glass substrate placement in Schott vial during immersion process was studied on the growth of the hematite nanostructure and its properties. XRD pattern has revealed seven diffraction peaks of α-Fe2O3 for both hematite nanostructures samples attributed to polycrystalline with rhombohedral lattice structure. The surface morphologies from FESEM have shown that the hematite nanostructures were grown uniformly in both samples with FTO conductive layer facing up and down. Hematite sample with FTO facing down exhibits a smaller size of nanorod, 26.7 nm average diameter, compared to the hematite sample that FTO face up with 53.8nm average diameter. Optical properties revealed higher transmittance in the sample with FTO facing down, probably due to smaller size of nanostructure. The optical band gap energy plotted and extrapolated at 2.50eV and 2.55eV for FTO face up and FTO face down hematite samples respectively, presenting the sample with FTO face up has a lower optical bandgap energy

The effect of cutting interval on yield and nutrient composition of different plant fractions of Moringa oleifera tree

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of cutting interval on biomass yield and chemical composition of different plant fractions of Moringa oleifera. In a completely randomized block design experiment, an established Moringa plot was divided into 12 equal plots and subjectedto three cutting intervals of 4, 6 and 8 weeks, each with four replications. The highest fresh and dry matter (DM) yields (t ha-1 cut-1) of total foliage, leaf and stem were obtained at the 8 weeks cutting interval followed by 6 and 4 weeks cutting interval. Effect of leaf to stem ratio was not significant (P>0.05) among harvesting intervals. The CP content of total foliage, leaf and stem was not different (P>0.05) over the harvesting intervals. The acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) of total foliage was significantly (P0.05) different among the treatments. The values of IVDMD and IVOMD ranges were from 772.0 to 802.0 and 761.0 to 798.0 g kg-1 DM, respectively. Both yields and chemical compositions of Moringa foliage and leaf suggest that the optimum cutting interval was 8 weeks in rainy season from mature Moringa tree. These data suggest that the higher CP and lower fibre value in the leaf indicate a good protein source for poultry or other monogastric animals and Moringa foliage could be a potential protein source for ruminant livestock