Dynamic management of UDDI registries in a wireless environment of web services

This paper presents mechanisms for managing the content of several Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) registries. These mechanisms are deployed in a wireless environment of Web services. By content, it is meant the announcements of Web services that providers submit to an UDDI registry. Unlike other initiatives in Web services field that consider a single UDDI registry and a wired communication infrastructure, this paper is concerned with the following aspects: several UDDI registries are deployed, there is no wired communication infrastructure between the UDDI registries, and absence of a centralized component that coordinates the UDDI registries. The solution presented integrates users and software agents into what we call messenger. Initially, software agents reside in users\u27 mobile devices and cache a description of the Web services that satisfy their users\u27 needs. Each time a user is in the vicinity of an UDDI registry, her software agent interacts with that registry so the details stored on Web services are submitted. © Springer-Verlag 2004

Expression of Heterosis for Productive Traits in Bottle Gourd Hybrids

A study was conducted in bottle gourd to estimate the magnitude of heterosis for yield and its thirteen yield related components. Twenty one bottle gourd hybrids generated from 7 × 7 diallel cross (excluding reciprocals) along with their seven parents evaluated in a Randomized Block Design with three replication at at the Olericulture Division of Horticulture Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur, Bangladesh during 2018-19. Most of the crosses showed significant heterobeltiosis for earliness. The highest heterobeltiotic effect was observed in the cross P2XP7 and P4XP7. The best heterotic cross for fruit length was P4XP5. Maximum heterotic effect in respect of fruit number per plant was found in the cross P1XP6 and P4XP6. In terms of yield per plant the highest heterobeltiosis was shown by the crosses P3XP4, P3XP5, P4XP5 and P4XP7. In the overall analysis, both additive and non-additive gene actions were found important with predominance of the additive gene effects in the inheritance of bottle gourd

Fetomaternal outcome of pregnancy with COVID-19: a prospective study in a COVID dedicated hospital

Background: Given physiological changes in immunological, pulmonary, cardiac, and coagulation systems during pregnancy, pregnant women have long been recognized as susceptible demographic during infectious disease pandemics. Learning about pregnancy outcomes, possible issues, and neonatal health issues in babies delivered to COVID-19-infected mothers is crucial. Study aimed to analyze fetomaternal outcome of pregnancy with COVID-19. Methods: This was a prospective longitudinal study done on COVID dedicated to Sylhet Shahid Shamsuddin Ahmed Hospital, from January 2021 to January 2022. A total of 54 pregnant women admitted with confirmed COVID-19 were included in this study as per inclusion criteria. Results: In this study, most patients were in the 26-33 age group (37.03%), followed by 18-25 age group (33.33%) and 24-40 age group (29.62%). 50% were primigravida. SARS COV-2 infection occurred in 51.85% of pregnant women in the 3rd trimester, 35.18% in the 2nd trimester, and 12.96% in the 1st trimester, 53.7% of patients had a mild case, 9.26% had moderate, and 37.04% had severe symptoms. 12.96% of patients needed ventilation, while 5.56% were in ICU without ventilation but on HFNC. Two patients had 1st-trimester abortion, and three had pre-term delivery. There was one IUFD, ongoing pregnancy in five patients, vaginal delivery in nine patients, and cesarean section in 25 patients. Sepsis occurred in 3.7% of patients, and post-partum hemorrhage in 1.85%. Oxygen was needed for 37.04% of patients with severe pneumonia. Out of 54 patients, 88.88% recovered, and 11.11% died in the hospital. The number of healthy babies was 74.07%, while premature babies were 5.56%, and there were two perinatal deaths. Conclusions: This study concluded that pregnant women with COVID-19 infection are at increased risk of adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes however, a low risk of congenital transmission, and the neonatal outcome was good. The availability of ICU in critical conditions is needed for better pregnancy outcomes

InAlN-based LEDs emitting in the near-UV region

Fully functional InAlN-based ultraviolet LEDs emitting at 340–350 nm were demonstrated for the first time; detailed electrical and optical characterization is presented and discussed. Results from the measurements at pulsed conditions are in agreement with the attribution of the dominant electroluminescence peak to near-band-edge emission. The composition of the AlGaN barriers was chosen to give the same internal polarization field as that of the InAlN wells. A simulation study of this polarization-matched heterostructure shows a significant increase in the electron-hole overlap integral if compared with a standard AlGaN/AlGaN active region having the same level of carrier confinement. Limitations and problems of these preliminary devices are also presented, and possible future work aimed at increasing their efficiency is discussed

Nanomedicines as cancer therapeutics: Current status

As of 21st century, cancer is arguably the most complex and challenging disease known to mankind and an inevitable public health concern of this millennium. Nanotechnology, suitably amalgamated with cancer research, has ushered an era of highly personalized and safer medicines which can improve cancer diagnosis and therapy. A wide variety of nanomedicines are currently under investigation, including polymeric/non-polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, lipid- and micelle-based nanoparticles. The bases of these nanomedicines in reducing toxicity associated with cancer therapy are their ability to carry a large payload and multivalent-ligand targeting. This imparts specificity for targeting the tissues as well as bypass resistance mechanisms. The major hurdles on these future medicines are potential toxicity of nanoparticles, which imposes the need of extensive regulatory evaluation before nanomedicines could be utilized as cancer therapeutics. This review highlights nanopharmaceuticals that have been investigated in oncology for various applications (diagnosis, therapeutic delivery and theranostics). It also discusses the effects of nano-sized materials on tissues/organ functions, the possibility of overcoming multi-drug resistance by using nanomedicines and their current clinical status

Objective No-Reference Stereoscopic Image Quality Prediction Based on 2D Image Features and Relative Disparity

Stereoscopic images are widely used to enhance the viewing experience of three-dimensional (3D) imaging and communication system. In this paper, we propose an image feature and disparity dependent quality evaluation metric, which incorporates human visible system characteristics. We believe perceived distortions and disparity of any stereoscopic image are strongly dependent on local features, such as edge (i.e., nonplane areas of an image) and nonedge (i.e., plane areas of an image) areas within the image. Therefore, a no-reference perceptual quality assessment method is developed for JPEG coded stereoscopic images based on segmented local features of distortions and disparity. Local feature information such as edge and non-edge area based relative disparity estimation, as well as the blockiness and the edge distortion within the block of images are evaluated in this method. Subjective stereo image database is used for evaluation of the metric. The subjective experiment results indicate that our metric has sufficient prediction performance

Floods and flood management and its socio-economic impact on Pakistan: A review of the empirical literature

Flood is one of the most damaging natural disasters as the recent floods have shown their serious impact on Pakistan. Flood control and regulation policies are essential to reduce the risks of economic downturn, a threat to human existence, and to sustain the ecology. The severity of flood catastrophe activities represents a constant and severe issue in the world. Floods are rising year by year in severity and duration, causing negative impacts on the social and economic conditions of the nation concerned. While the frequency of floods cannot be avoided, their adverse impacts can be considerably reduced by adopting careful planning and efficient training. This paper reviews the socioeconomic impact of floods, and the existing condition of flood control policies outlines the flood protection problems and discusses opportunities for successful and efficient flood control in Pakistan. The paper also intends to propose several suggestions for efficient and sustainable flood control in Pakistan

Compliance of smokeless tobacco supply chain actors and products with tobacco control laws in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan: protocol for a multicentre sequential mixed-methods study

Introduction: South Asia is home to more than 300 million smokeless tobacco (ST) users. Bangladesh, India and Pakistan as signatories to the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) have developed policies aimed at curbing the use of tobacco. The objective of this study is to assess the compliance of ST point-of-sale (POS) vendors and the supply chain with the articles of the FCTC and specifically with national tobacco control laws. We also aim to assess disparities in compliance with tobacco control laws between ST and smoked tobacco products. Methods and analysis: The study will be carried out at two sites each in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. We will conduct a sequential mixed-methods study with five components: (1) mapping of ST POS, (2) analyses of ST samples packaging, (3) observation, (4) survey interviews of POS and (5) in-depth interviews with wholesale dealers/suppliers/manufacturers of ST. We aim to conduct at least 300 POS survey interviews and observations, and 6-10 in-depth interviews in each of the three countries. Data collection will be done by trained data collectors. The main statistical analysis will report the frequencies and proportions of shops that comply with the FCTC and local tobacco control policies, and provide a 95% CI of these estimates. The qualitative in-depth interview data will be analysed using the framework approach. The findings will be connected, each component informing the focus and/or design of the next component. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approvals for the study have been received from the Health Sciences Research Governance Committee at the University of York, UK. In-country approvals were taken from the National Bioethics Committee in Pakistan, the Bangladesh Medical Research Council and the Indian Medical Research Council. Our results will be disseminated via scientific conferences, peer-reviewed research publications and press releases