Acute renal failure in patients with chronic kidney disease

No Abstract

Interactive web-based track editing and management

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on September 13, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Kannappan PalaniappanIncludes bibliographical references.M. S. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."May 2012"Image and video analysis is the process of extracting useful information from an image. With advances in optical and computational technologies, image and video analysis is becoming an increasingly important tool in biological, medical and defense applications. Motion characteristics and behaviors of objects can be studied from image sequences, such as the spatio-temporal behavior of cells and organisms in microscopy videos or vehicles and people in surveillance videos. Manual supervised and automatic object tracking are used to study migration, lineage, cellular events and population scale dynamics in microscopy applications and multi-target behavior in defense applications. FireFly is a rich multimedia web-based tool based on Adobe Flash and Flex with server side PHP and MySQL, for managing image collections, collaborative ground truth generation, manual and supervised analysis of images and video including labeling, annotation, ground truthing, algorithm output inspection, comparison and correction, etc. The main objective of this project is to extend FireFly and add interactive editing and updating tracking information by automatically propagating the track information to upstream and downstream frames in the annotation/ video event database

Adsorptive removal of nitrogen from coal-based needle coke feedstocks using activated carbon

A low percentage of nitrogen in needle coke feedstocks is desired for the reduction of puffing during the process of graphitization of needle coke. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the removal of nitrogen species from a coal-based needle coke feedstock, when treated with both commercial activated carbon, Nuchar SA 20 and coal-derived activated carbon, WVUAC 900-15. Koppers coal tar distillate (CTD), which has 1.1% wt starting nitrogen content, is selected as the needle coke feedstock. A series of experiments was performed to establish a standard procedure for the removal of nitrogen species. Using the established experimental procedure, experiments were conducted to determine the effect of solvent, time and amount of activated carbon on the adsorption capacity of nitrogen for both Nuchar and WVUAC 900-15 activated carbons. Also, the surface properties of both the activated carbons were modified via oxidation with nitric acid and air. The oxidized activated carbons were then tested as adsorbents for the de-nitrogenation of CTD. From the pH test results, it is observed that oxidation modification has improved acidic surface functional groups on activated carbons. In an experiment it is observed that 92% of the nitrogen was removed from the CTD with 9 g of Nuchar SA20. Unfortunately the result was not repeatable. No reasonable explanations were found for this but it is suspected that aging of the CTD which may change the nitrogen compounds in CTD and error in the sampling technique are possible reasons. Oxidized activated carbons performed 10--15% better than unoxidized activated carbon in removing nitrogen species. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the graphite test specimen prepared with de-nitrogenated CTD is measured as 0.209 ppm/°C while CTE of the graphite test specimen prepared with a petroleum-based needle-coke feedstock, decant oil, is 0.250 ppm/°C

Mechanical properties of Spark Plasma Sintered Aluminium-Carbon Nanotubes composites

Abstract: A single material cannot meet the demand of advanced materials; this has contributed in production of composites. Pure aluminium (Al) is soft with moderate strength and young’s modulus, however properties such as low density and corrosion resistance has attributed to intense interest it has attracted. For pure aluminium to comply with mechanical properties that are required in different engineering applications, its mechanical properties have to be enhanced. Alloying elements, Solid solution strengthening, strain hardening and precipitation hardening have been used to enhance mechanical properties of Al alloys. This work presents the preparation, characterisation, spark plasma sintering (SPS) and evaluation of aluminiummulti walled carbon nanotubes (Al-MWCNTs) composites’ mechanical properties. Low energy ball millings (LEBM) were used to disperse up to 1.5 wt. % MWCNTs into Al matrix (0.5wt. % MWCNTs, 1wt. % MWCNTs and 1.5 wt. % MWCNTs were dispersed into Al matrix). Milled Al-MWCNTs powders composites and sintered Al-MWCNTs composites were characterised using optical microscopy (OP), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). OP was used to investigate the effect of MWCNTs on the microstructure of Al-MWCNTs composites, SEM and TEM were used to study morphology of MWCNTs, XRD was used for phase identification and Raman spectroscopy was used for structural integrity investigation. Microstructural characterizations of Al-MWCNTs composites reveal that the homogeneous dispersion of MWCNTs was achieved, MWCNTs were well embedded in the Al matrix, no agglomeration and small amount of aluminium carbide were observed. The effects of MWCNTs on the mechanical properties were studied using ultra nanoindenter tester. It is concluded that the incorporation of MWCNTs into Al matrix results in the increase in elasticity, plasticity, hardness, yield strength, modulus of elasticity, stiffness and strain rate sensitivity of aluminium composites. The enhancements of 55% in hardness, 55% in yield strength, 81% in modulus of elasticity, 89% stiffness and 20% in strain rate sensitivity compared to pure Al were observed.M.Tech. (Mettalurgy

Synchronized survey scan approach allows for efficient discrimination of isomeric and isobaric compounds during LC-MS/MS analyses

Abstract: Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry- (LC-MS-) based multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) methods have been used to detect and quantify metabolites for years. ,ese approaches rely on the monitoring of various fragmentation pathways of multiple precursors and the subsequent corresponding product ions. However, MRM methods are incapable of confidently discriminating between isomeric and isobaric molecules and, as such, the development of methods capable of overcoming this challenge has become imperative. Due to increasing scanning rates of recent MS instruments, it is now possible to operate MS instruments both in the static and dynamic modes. One such method is known as synchronized survey scan (SSS), which is capable of acquiring a product ion scan (PIS) during MRM analysis. ,e current study shows, for the first time, the use of SSS-based PIS approach as a feasible identification feature of MRM. To achieve the above, five positional isomers of dicaffeoylquinic acids (diCQAs) were studied with the aid of SSS-based PIS method. Here, theMRMtransitions were automatically optimized using a 3,5-diCQA isomer by monitoring fragmentation transitions common to all five isomers. Using the mixture of these isomers, fragmentation spectra of the five isomers achieved with SSS-based PIS were used to identify each isomer based on previously published hierarchical fragmentation keys. ,e optimized method was also used to detect and distinguish between diCQA components found in Bidens pilosa and their isobaric counterparts found in Moringa oleifera plants. ,us, the method was shown to distinguish (by differences in fragmentation patterns) between diCQA and their isobars, caffeoylquinic acid (CQA) glycosides. In conclusion, SSS allowed the detection and discrimination of isomeric and isobaric compounds in a single chromatographic run by producing a PIS spectrum, triggered in the automatic MS/MS synchronized survey scan mode

Factors that influence debt financing of municipal owned entities: a case study of the city of Johannesburg

This quantitative research was conducted to examine factors that have an influence on the debt financing of MoEs for the CoJ. It is quite evident from previous literatures that there has been a plethora of research undertaken on debt financing. Despite this, there has been very limited, or no, study conducted in South Africa especially on MoEs. The main objective of the study was to determine the factors that influence the debt financing of MoEs. To achieve this, both descriptive and correlational research designs were used, as well as panel data regression models. Data was collected from 13 MoEs under the CoJ from 2011 to 2015; moreover, secondary data was used as the main sources and extracted from the integrated annual reports. The study tested hypotheses on independent variables. The results show that profitability has a significant negative relationship with debt financing. On the other hand, the results revealed that coefficients such as interest rate (insignificant) size (insignificant), economic growth (significant), age (insignificant) and business risk (significant) have a positive association with debt financing. Results further show that borrowing was consistent throughout the study period, with MoEs relying more on short-term debt than on long-term debt. The study also concluded that during the period of the study, some entities were technically insolvent while others were at high risk of being liquidated. The findings are expected to contribute to the body of knowledge and play a pivotal role in Municipal Finance Management Act, no 56 of 2003 of National Treasury policy and decision making with regard to Local Government Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003, particularly in relation to the parent municipality as well as its entities. More research needs to be conducted to investigate factors that influence investment decisions of MoEs/SOEs in South Africa and compare the various types of debt financing using larger sample size over a longer period.College of Accounting SciencesM. Phil. (Accounting Sciences

PERLINDUNGAN HUKUM TERHADAP ANAK YANG KORBAN TINDAK PIDANA PELECEHAN SEKSUAL (STUDI DI POLRES BULELENG)

Anak adalah bagian dari generasi muda sebagai salah satu sumber daya manusia yang merupakan potensi dan penerus cita-cita perjuangan bangsa dan Negara Oleh karena itu , setiap anak mempunyai hak untuk hidup dan mendapat perlindungan  baik dari orang tua, keluarga, masyarakat, bangsa dan Negara.  Dengan adanya Undang-undang Nomor Undang-undang Nomor 35 Tahun 2014 yang merupakan Perubahan atas Undang-undang Nomor 23 Tahun 2002 mengenai Perlindungan Anak. Perubahan tersebut adalah untuk mempertegas tentang pentingnya pemberatan sanksi pidana dan juga denda bagi pelaku kejahatan terhadap anak untuk memberikan efek jera, serta untuk mendorong adanya langkah konkret untuk memulihkan kembali secara fisik, psikis dan juga sosial anak sebagai korban dan atau anak sebagai pelaku pelecehan seksual sebagai langkah antisipatif supaya anak sebagai korban atau sebagai pelaku tidak menjadi pelaku kejahatan yang sama di kemudian hari.Penelitian ini dilakukan di Unit perlindungan Perempuan dan Anak di Polres Buleleng. Dari hasil yang diperoleh, penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa terdapat beberapa faktor yang melatar belakangi pelecahan seksual di Polres Buleleng diantaranya adalah Pergaulan bebas, faktor penggunaan minuman/alkohol, faktor faktor dari lingkungan/tempat tinggal, penyalahgunaan teknologi yang tidak bijak dan faktor peranan korban sendiri. Oleh karena Unit Perlindungan Perempuan dan Anak di Polres Buleleng memberikan Perlindungan hukum terhadap anak korban pelecehan seksual yang diatur dalam UU No. 35 Tahun 2014 perubahan atas UU No. 23 tahun 2002 tentang Perlindungan Anak, UU No. 13 Tahun 2006 tentang Perlindungan Saksi dan Korban, UU No. 23 Tahun 2004 tentang Penghapusan Kekerasan dalam Rumah Tangga, UU No. 11 Tahun 2012 tentang Sistem Peradilan Pidana Anak, adalah dengan cara memberikan hak-hak anak dalam hal akses terhadap pemenuhan hak, anak korban tindak pidana pelecehan seksual mendapatkan perlindungan hukum dalam hal memberikan bantuan hukum, rehabilitasi dan pencegahan

Talent Jet

In today\u27s world, finding a job is like a rat race in every professional field. The scenario is such that finding jobs that fit the skill sets and interests takes much work for job seekers. On the other side, recruiters face similar challenges in finding the finest candidate to match their requirements. Talent jet is a website with unique ingredients to solve all these challenges. Talent jet provides an easy and convenient search application for job seekers to find their desired job and recruiters to find suitable candidates. Talent jet will provide a platform where job seekers and recruiters can interact with each other irrespective of geographical barriers, with just a click. That is why Talent jet is an important project. The website is developed by our team from scratch with all the required functionality to make the website user-friendly. It will contain mainly three user roles jobseeker, recruiter, and administrator. All of them will have a different console with unique functions. Jobseekers need to set up an account with the website before applying for a position. Recruiters will post job openings and contact applicants. The administrator will manage users and job postings. The home page will be the landing page after signup and signing in. It will be very interactive with different and useful sections to navigate To develop this website, we have used reliable and robust programming language like Java, with spring boot framework for back-end. HTML, CSS, and Java script for front-end. MySQL for creating database and tables to store the data. Talent Jet will be release out and will be available to all the users from 29/11/2022, Tuesday

Analysis of Data Clusters Obtained by Self-Organizing Methods

The self-organizing methods were used for the investigation of financial market. As an example we consider data time-series of Dow Jones index for the years 2002-2003 (R. Mantegna, cond-mat/9802256). In order to reveal new structures in stock market behavior of the companies drawing up Dow Jones index we apply SOM (Self-Organizing Maps) and GMDH (Group Method of Data Handling) algorithms. Using SOM techniques we obtain SOM-maps that establish a new relationship in market structure. Analysis of the obtained clusters was made by GMDH.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure