Numerical solutions for nonlinear gyrotactic bioconvection in nanofluid-saturated porous media with stefan blowing and multiple slip effects

A mathematical model is developed to examine the effects of the Stefan blowing, second order velocity slip, thermal slip and microorganism species slip on nonlinear bioconvection boundary layer flow of a nanofluid over a horizontal plate embedded in a porous medium with the presence of passively controlled boundary condition. Scaling group transformations are used to find similarity equations of such nanobioconvection flows. The similarity equations are numerically solved with a Chebyshev collocation method. Validation of solutions is conducted with a Nakamura tri-diagonal finite difference algorithm. The effects of nanofluid characteristics and boundary properties such as the slips, Stefan blowing, Brownian motion and Grashof number on the dimensionless fluid velocity, temperature, nanoparticle volume fraction, motile microorganism, skin friction, the rate of heat transfer and the rate of motile microorganism transfer are investigated. The work is relevant to bio-inspired nanofluid-enhanced fuel cells and nano-materials fabrication processes

Chebyshev collocation computation of magneto-bioconvection nanofluid flow over a wedge with multiple slips and magnetic induction

In this paper the steady two dimensional stagnation point flow of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting bio-nanofluid over a stretching/shrinking wedge in the presence of passively control boundary condition, Stefan blowing and multiple slips is numerically investigated. Magnetic induction is also taken into account. The governing conservation equations are rendered into a system of ordinary differential equations via appropriate similarity transformations. The reduced system is solved using a fast, convergent Chebyshev collocation method. The influence of selected parameters on the dimensionless velocity, induced magnetic field, temperature, nanoparticle volume fraction and density of motile microorganisms as well as on the local skin friction, local Nusselt number, local Sherwood number and density of motile microorganism numbers are discussed and presented graphically. Validation with previously published results is performed and an excellent agreement is found. The study is relevant to electromagnetic manufacturing processes involving bionano-fluids

Numerical investigation of Von Karman swirling bioconvective nanofluid transport from a rotating disk in a porous medium with Stefan blowing and anisotropic slip effects

In recent years, significant progress has been made in modern micro- and nanotechnologies related to applications in micro/nano-electronic devices. These technologies are increasingly utilizing sophisticated fluent media to enhance performance. Among the new trends is the simultaneous adoption of nanofluids and biological micro-organisms. Motivated by bio-nanofluid rotating disk oxygenators in medical engineering, in the current work, a mathematical model is developed for steady convective Von Karman swirling flow from an impermeable power-law radially stretched disk rotating in a Darcy porous medium saturated with nanofluid doped with gyrotactic micro-organisms. Anisotropic slip at the wall and blowing effects due to concentration are incorporated. The nano-bio transport model is formulated using non-linear partial differential equations (NPDEs), which are transformed to a set of similarity ordinary differential equations (SODEs) by appropriate transformations. The transformed boundary value problem is solved by a Chebyshev collocation method. The impact of key parameters on dimensionless velocity components, concentration, temperature and motile microorganism density distributions are computed and visualized graphically. Validation with previous studies is included. It is found that that the effects of suction provide a better enhancement of the heat, mass and microorganisms transfer in comparison to blowing. Moreover, physical quantities decrease with higher slip parameters irrespective of the existence of blowing. Temperature is suppressed with increasing thermal slip whereas nanoparticle concentration is suppressed with increasing wall mass slip. Micro-organism density number increases with the greater microorganism slip. Radial skin friction is boosted with positive values of the power law stretching parameter whereas it is decreased with negative values. The converse response is computed for circumferential skin friction, nanoparticle mass transfer rate and motile micro-organism density number gradient. Results from this study are relevant to novel bioreactors, membrane oxygenators, food processing and bio-chromatography

Impacts of cyclone and flood on crop and fish production in disaster prone coastal Bhola district of Bangladesh

This study assessed the impact of climate change induced disaster on crops and fisheries production at Bhola Sadar and Monpura upazila of Bhola district, Bangladesh during January to June 2018. The study was gathered primary data from primary observation (PO), questionnaire survey (QS), focus group discussion (FGD), and key informant interview (KII). Secondary data were collected from Upazila Agricultural Office and Upazila Fisheries Office of Bhola Sadar and Manpura upazila and moreover, climatic data were collected from Bangladesh Meteorological Department. Results of the study found that trend analysis indicates overall annual maximum temperature increased for Kharif-I, Kharif-II and Rabi season. Average annual minimum temperature also increased for Kharif-I season but decreased for Kharif-II and Rabi season. Study also found that for all cropping season average relative humidity was increased. Annual average rainfall exhibited decreasing trend for Kharif-I and Rabi season but increased for Kharif-II season in (1990-2019) time period. The Aus, T. Aman, Boro and Mung bean was dominant cropping pattern in Kharif-I, Kharif- II and Rabi season in Bhola district. Overall, Aus rice production in Kharif-I season increased but in 2009, 2013 production was decreased because of cyclone Aila (2009) and Cyclone Mahasen (2013). T. Aman production hampered due to Cyclone Sidr (2007) and flood (2014) in Kharif-II season. In Rabi season Boro rice production lessen because of low rainfall and salinity intrusion. Overall, Mung bean production increase but in 2008 and 2009 production become hampered due to late cultivation because of Cyclone Sidr (2007). Fish production rate increase in Bhola specially Hilsha fish because of non-climatic factor like raid in non-fishing time, banned current net but fish production in pond become diminished due to infrequent natural disaster. Practicing of salt and flood tolerant varieties, floating bed vegetable cultivation, and mixed cropping system (mainly for Rabi season), enhanced expedition activities against catching mother Ilish in prohibition period, dredging in the heart of the river which can eventually reduce vulnerabilities and increase crop and fish production in the Bhola region. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 10(1): 40-55, June 202

Fuzzy evidence theory and Bayesian networks for process systems risk analysis

YesQuantitative risk assessment (QRA) approaches systematically evaluate the likelihood, impacts, and risk of adverse events. QRA using fault tree analysis (FTA) is based on the assumptions that failure events have crisp probabilities and they are statistically independent. The crisp probabilities of the events are often absent, which leads to data uncertainty. However, the independence assumption leads to model uncertainty. Experts’ knowledge can be utilized to obtain unknown failure data; however, this process itself is subject to different issues such as imprecision, incompleteness, and lack of consensus. For this reason, to minimize the overall uncertainty in QRA, in addition to addressing the uncertainties in the knowledge, it is equally important to combine the opinions of multiple experts and update prior beliefs based on new evidence. In this article, a novel methodology is proposed for QRA by combining fuzzy set theory and evidence theory with Bayesian networks to describe the uncertainties, aggregate experts’ opinions, and update prior probabilities when new evidences become available. Additionally, sensitivity analysis is performed to identify the most critical events in the FTA. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been demonstrated via application to a practical system.The research of Sohag Kabir was partly funded by the DEIS project (Grant Agreement 732242)

Initial experience of a large, self-expanding, and fully recapturable transcatheter aortic valve: The UK & Ireland Implanters' registry.

OBJECTIVES: The UK & Ireland Implanters' registry is a multicenter registry which reports on real-world experience with novel transcatheter heart valves. BACKGROUND: The 34 mm Evolut R transcatheter aortic valve is a self-expanding and fully recapturable transcatheter aortic valve, designed to treat patients with a large aortic annulus. METHODS: Between January 2017 and April 2018, clinical, procedural and 30-day outcome data were prospectively collected from all patients receiving the 34 mm Evolut R valve across 17 participating centers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The primary efficacy outcome was the Valve Academic Research Consortium-2(VARC-2)-defined endpoint of device success. The primary safety outcome was the VARC-2-defined composite endpoint of early safety at 30 days. RESULTS: A total of 217 patients underwent attempted implant. Mean age was 79.5 ± 8.8 years and Society of Thoracic Surgeons Predicted Risk of Mortality Score 5.2% ± 3.4%. Iliofemoral access was used in 91.2% of patients. Device success was 79.7%. Mean gradient was 7.0 ± 4.6 mmHg and effective orifice area 2.0 ± 0.6 cm2 . Paravalvular regurgitation was more than mild in 7.2%. A new permanent pacemaker was implanted in 15.7%. Early safety was demonstrated in 91.2%. At 30 days, all-cause mortality was 3.2%, stroke 3.7%, and major vascular complication 2.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Real-world experience of the 34 mm Evolut R transcatheter aortic valve demonstrated acceptable procedural success, safety, valve function, and incidence of new permanent pacemaker implantation

Domestic violence and decision-making power of married women in Myanmar: analysis of a nationally representative sample

BACKGROUND: Women in Myanmar are not considered decision makers in the community and the physical and psychological effect of violence makes them more vulnerable. There is a strong negative reaction, usually violent, to any economic activity generated by women among poorer and middle-class families in Myanmar because a woman's income is not considered necessary for basic survival. OBJECTIVE: Explore the relationship between domestic violence on the decision-making power of married women in Myanmar. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: National, both urban and rural areas of Myanmar. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data from the Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey 2015-16 were used in this analysis. In that survey, married women aged between 15 to 49 years were selected for interview using a multistage cluster sampling technique. The dependent variables were domestic violence and the decision-making power of women. Independent variables were age of the respondents, educational level, place of residence, employment status, number of children younger than 5 years of age and wealth index. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Domestic violence and decision-making power of women. SAMPLE SIZE: 7870 currently married women. RESULTS: About 50% respondents were 35 to 49 years of age and the mean (SD) age was 35 (8.4) years. Women's place of residence and employment status had a significant impact on decision-making power whereas age group and decision-making power of women had a relationship with domestic violence. CONCLUSION: Giving women decision making power will be indispensable for the achievement of sustainable development goals. Government and other stakeholders should emphasize this to eliminate violence against women. LIMITATIONS: Use of secondary data analysis of cross-sectional study design and cross-sectional studies are not suitable design to assess this causality. Secondly the self-reported data on violence may be subject to recall bias. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None

The Phrenic Component of Acute Schizophrenia – A Name and Its Physiological Reality

Decreased heart rate variability (HRV) was shown for unmedicated patients with schizophrenia and their first-degree relatives, implying genetic associations. This is known to be an important risk factor for increased cardiac mortality in other diseases. The interaction of cardio-respiratory function and respiratory physiology has never been investigated in the disease although it might be closely related to the pattern of autonomic dysfunction. We hypothesized that increased breathing rates and reduced cardio-respiratory coupling in patients with acute schizophrenia would be associated with low vagal function. We assessed variability of breathing rates and depth, HRV and cardio-respiratory coupling in patients, their first-degree relatives and controls at rest. Control subjects were investigated a second time by means of a stress task to identify stress-related changes of cardio-respiratory function. A total of 73 subjects were investigated, consisting of 23 unmedicated patients, 20 healthy, first-degree relatives and 30 control subjects matched for age, gender, smoking and physical fitness. The LifeShirt®, a multi-function ambulatory device, was used for data recording (30 minutes). Patients breathe significantly faster (p<.001) and shallower (p<.001) than controls most pronouncedly during exhalation. Patients' breathing is characterized by a significantly increased amount of middle- (p<.001), high- (p<.001), and very high frequency fluctuations (p<.001). These measures correlated positively with positive symptoms as assessed by the PANSS scale (e.g., middle frequency: r = 521; p<.01). Cardio-respiratory coupling was reduced in patients only, while HRV was decreased in patients and healthy relatives in comparison to controls. Respiratory alterations might reflect arousal in acutely ill patients, which is supported by comparable physiological changes in healthy subjects during stress. Future research needs to further investigate these findings with respect to their physiological consequences for patients. These results are invaluable for researchers studying changes of biological signals prone to the influence of breathing rate and rhythm (e.g., functional imaging)

Executive cash compensation and tax aggressiveness of Chinese firms

We examine the influence of corporate compensation policies on firms’ tax aggressiveness in an emerging market where executive compensation is primarily in cash form. Based on a hand-collected dataset of 958 firm-year observations of Chinese listed firms for the 2006-2012 period, we find that firms paying higher executive cash compensation are associated with lower tax aggressiveness. This relationship also holds for the excess cash compensation measures which control for executive shareholding, firm profitability, size, growth opportunity, and board independence. We further document that mutual funds ownership pressure firms paying higher compensation to reduce their tax aggressiveness, suggesting adverse selection by mutual funds on firms exhibiting risky tax avoidance activities. High leverage offsets the negative link between cash compensation and tax aggressiveness, indicating a complementary effect between debt and tax avoidance, and, hence, suggesting that creditor monitoring is weak. These results are robust to the system-GMM estimation, which simultaneously account for the endogeneity of executive compensation, tax aggressiveness, ownership and control, leverage, and corporate governance. Our findings on Chinese firms have important policy implications for developing countries around the world with concentrated ownership structure, weak institutional environment, widespread corruption, ineffective rule of law, and ongoing significant social and political transformation

The overlapping burden of the three leading causes of disability and death in sub-Saharan African children

Despite substantial declines since 2000, lower respiratory infections (LRIs), diarrhoeal diseases, and malaria remain among the leading causes of nonfatal and fatal disease burden for children under 5 years of age (under 5), primarily in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The spatial burden of each of these diseases has been estimated subnationally across SSA, yet no prior analyses have examined the pattern of their combined burden. Here we synthesise subnational estimates of the burden of LRIs, diarrhoea, and malaria in children under-5 from 2000 to 2017 for 43 sub-Saharan countries. Some units faced a relatively equal burden from each of the three diseases, while others had one or two dominant sources of unit-level burden, with no consistent pattern geographically across the entire subcontinent. Using a subnational counterfactual analysis, we show that nearly 300 million DALYs could have been averted since 2000 by raising all units to their national average. Our findings are directly relevant for decision-makers in determining which and targeting where the most appropriate interventions are for increasing child survival. © 2022, The Author(s).Funding text 1: This work was primarily supported by grant OPP1132415 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. ; Funding text 2: This study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication. The non-consortium authors have no competing interests . Competing interests for consortium authors is as follows: Robert Ancuceanu reports receiving consultancy or speaker feeds from UCB, Sandoz, Abbvie, Zentiva, Teva, Laropharm, CEGEDIM, Angelini, Biessen Pharma, Hofigal, AstraZeneca, and Stada. Jacek Jerzy Jozwiak reports personal fees from Amgen, ALAB Laboratories, Teva, Synexus, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Zentiva, all outside the submitted work. Kewal Krishan reports non-financial support from UGC Centre of Advanced Study, CAS II, Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, outside the submitted work. Walter Mendoza is a Program Analyst in Population and Development at the United Nations Population Fund-UNFPA Country Office in Peru, which does not necessarily endorse or support these findings. Maarten J Postma reports grants and personal fees from MSD, GSK, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novavax, BMS, Seqirus, Astra Zeneca, Sanofi, IQVIA, grants from Bayer, BioMerieux, WHO, EU, FIND, Antilope, DIKTI, LPDP, Budi, personal fees from Novartis, Quintiles, Pharmerit, owning stock options in Health-Ecore and PAG Ltd, and being advisor to Asc Academics, all outside the submitted work. Jasviner A Singh reports personal fees from Crealta/Horizon, Medisys, Fidia, UBM LLC, Trio health, Medscape, WebMD, Clinical Care options, Clearview healthcare partners, Putnam associates, Focus forward, Navigant consulting, Spherix, Practice Point communications, the National Institutes of Health, the American College of Rheumatology, and Simply Speaking, owning stock options in Amarin, Viking, Moderna, Vaxart pharmaceuticals and Charlotte’s Web Holdings, being a member of FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee, the steering committee of OMERACT, an international organization that develops measures for clinical trials and receives arm’s length funding from 12 pharmaceutical companies, and the Veterans Affairs Rheumatology Field Advisory Committee, and acting as Editor and Director of the UAB Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group Satellite Center on Network Meta-analysis, all outside the submitted work. Era Upadhyay has a patent A system and method of reusable filters for anti-pollution mask pending, and a patent A system and method for electricity generation through crop stubble by using microbial fuel cells pending