Enhanced Location And Positioning In Wimax Networks With Virtual Mimo Base Station

Location and Positioning (L&P) techniques which utilize wireless broadband networks are often considered by the wireless communications industries to be a means for improving overall system performance and providing value added services. Conventional L&P methods rely on the availability of base station (BS) locations as well as the mitigation of propagation effects. It is known that location estimation accuracy suffers in poor geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) caused by BS location as conventional location algorithms generate large GDOP values which correspond to poor geometrical topology. In addition, non line of sight (NLOS) effects cause large errors in time of arrival (TOA) readings, which affecting mobile station (MS) estimation accuracy. In this thesis a new concept of virtual BS (VirBS) utilizing multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology has been introduced and successfully applied to improve L&P accuracy. The performance of the proposed algorithm has been evaluated via computer simulations. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm increased L&P accuracy without additional expenditure on network architecture. Furthermore, a new hybrid algorithm enhancement of mobile station (MS) location estimation by using a single MIMO base station (SMBS) with the virtual base station has been introduced. The SMBS algorithm with virtual base station utilizes both AOA and AOD measurement parameter (SMVirBS). The developed algorithm includes the effect of the geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) to assist with the location estimation accuracy. Simulation results show that the proposed technique outperforms the linear least square (LLS) algorithm in terms of estimated location accuracy

Optimisation of Anthocyanin Co-pigmentation from Butterfly Pea (Clitoria ternatea) Flower and its Application in Gummy

In contrast to natural food colours, food manufacturers have increasingly used synthetic food colours to achieve attributes such as low cost, excellent appearance, high colour intensity, increased colour stability, and consistency. Furthermore, natural colourants such as anthocyanins have been linked to potential health advantages such as dietary antioxidants. Pea Flower (Clitoria ternatea) was utilized in this research because the high quantity of polyacylated anthocyanins known as ternatins in blue pea flowers which is a distinctive property of anthocyanins found in blue pea flowers. The purpose of this research is to improve anthocyanin thermal stability via co-pigmentation process from Butterfly Pea flower and to analyse the physicochemical features of gummy. The potential of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for optimising anthocyanin co-pigmentation from Butterfly Pea (Clitoria ternatea) flower was investigated in this study. The effect of two test variables on the half-life of anthocyanin was studied in a specific range of pH 3-6 and anthocyanin to metal ratio (1:1 to 1:100). The data from the experiment were analysed using the RSM of MINITAB Software (Version 19), and the optimum half-life of anthocyanin of 191 minutes was established and verified. The optimal conditions were stated to be pH 3.75 and an anthocyanin:metal ratio of 1:75. A significant regression equation or model with a correlation value of 95.38% was also achieved at the 5% level. For the application of gummy, three types of gummies (synthetic blue incorporated gummy (F1), anthocyanin incorporated gummy (F2) and co-pigmented anthocyanin incorporated gummy (F3)) were produced to analyse its physicochemical qualities. The physicochemical qualities of F3 gummy were reported to retain the physicochemical since the pH values, water activity, moisture content, and textural properties were not significantly different (p>0.05). However, due to the % difference in polymeric colour present, the colour in terms of hue angle was noted to have a significant difference between F1, F2, and F3

Pengaruh konteks situasi terhadap variasi lafaz munada Nabi Muhammad SAW dalam al-Quran

Ayat seruan merupakan salah satu gaya bahasa yang digunakan dalam al-Quran. Dalam bahasa Arab ayat seruan dikenali sebagai ayat Nida’, yang mengandungi dua komponen utama yang membina ayat tersebut iaitu kata seru atau adat Nida’ dan orang yang diseru atau munada. Ayat seruan dalam al-Quran ditujukan kepada seseorang yang diseru menggunakan variasi dan pelbagai lafaz. Seruan kepada Nabi Muhammad SAW dikenalpasti menggunakan lima bentuk variasi lafaz yang ditujukan kepada baginda. Justeru, kajian bertujuan untuk menganalisis dan menilai pengaruh konteks situasi terhadap penggunaan dua variasi lafaz munada Nabi Muhammad SAW iaitu al-Rasul dan al-Nabiy. Sarjana Islam terdahulu telah menjelaskan berkenaan kepentingan konteks situasi dalam pentafsiran ayat-ayat al-Quran. Oleh itu, konteks situasi menjadi aspek utama dalam menjelaskan persoalan penggunaan variasi lafaz munada Nabi Muhammad SAW ini. Sampel kajian ayat seruan dianalisis berdasarkan Teori Semiotik Sosial Halliday (1978). Dapatan kajian menunjukkan penggunaan dua bentuk variasi lafaz munada Nabi Muhammad SAW yang dikaji, dipengaruhi oleh aspek konteks situasi terutamanya oleh isu dalam unsur medan wacana. Manakala pelibat wacana sebagai unsur sampingan yang mempengaruhi penggunaannya

The effects of reynolds number on flow separation of Naca Aerofoil

The purpose of this study is to investigate the flow separation above UTM 2D Airfoil at three different Reynolds numbers which are 1 × 106, 1.5 × 106 and 2 × 106 using pressure distribution method and flow visualization. The experiment was conducted in UTM-LST (Low Speed Tunnel). The pressure distribution is done on three different wing span, which are 40%, 50% and 70%m of span and was measured and plotted to observe the flow characteristic at angle of attack from 0° to 35° for all three different Reynolds numbers. The flow visualization method was done at 10m/s, 20m/s and 30m/s airspeed from 0° to 18°. It is concluded that the Reynolds number of 1 × 106 separates at 16° Reynolds number of 1.5 × 106 separates at 18° and Reynolds number of 2 × 106 separates at 20°

Suppressions of serotonin-induced increased vascular permeability and leukocyte infiltration by Bixa orellana leaf extract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activities of aqueous extract of Bixa orellana (AEBO) leaves and its possible mechanisms in animal models. The anti-inflammatory activity of the extract was evaluated using serotonin-induced rat paw edema, increased peritoneal vascular permeability, and leukocyte infiltrations in an air-pouch model. Nitric oxide (NO), indicated by the sum of nitrites and nitrates, and vascular growth endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were measured in paw tissues of rats to determine their involvement in the regulation of increased permeability. Pretreatments with AEBO (50 and 150 mg kg⁻¹) prior to serotonin inductions resulted in maximum inhibitions of 56.2% of paw volume, 45.7% of Evans blue dye leakage in the peritoneal vascular permeability model, and 83.9% of leukocyte infiltration in the air-pouch model. 57.2% maximum inhibition of NO and 27% of VEGF formations in rats' paws were observed with AEBO at the dose of 150 mg kg⁻¹. Pharmacological screening of the extract showed significant (P < 0.05) anti-inflammatory activity, indicated by the suppressions of increased vascular permeability and leukocyte infiltration. The inhibitions of these inflammatory events are probably mediated via inhibition of NO and VEGF formation and release

Acute toxicological assessment of seashore mangosteen (Garcinia hombroniana) aqueous extract

Garcinia hombroniana has been used in Malay traditional medicine to treat various disorders such as abdominal pain and gonorrhea, and little is known about its toxicological properties. This study investigated the acute toxicological effects of the plant’s leaves aqueous extract using theoral acute toxic class (ATC) method. Twenty-four female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into T1, T2, T3 and control groups. The T1, T2 and T3 rats administered a single oral dose of 300, 2000 and 5000 mg/kg of G. hombroniana leaves aqueous extract, respectively. The animals were checked daily for abnormal clinical signs and mortality rate for 14 days. The body weight, daily food and water consumption were recorded. The haematological and biochemical parameters of blood as well as relative organ weight and tissues histology such as heart, kidney, liver and spleen were evaluated. Results have shown significantly decreased (p< 0.05) food and water consumption in T2 and T3 rats, which returned to normal after 72 hr post administration. No significant differences (p≥0.05) in the haematological and serum biochemical parameters in the treated rat groups, compared to the untreated control animals. An increase in the relative weight of spleen was noticed in T3 animals. Congestion of the splenic, hepatic, cardiac and renal tissues was seen in T2 and T3 rats. The oral LD50 was higher than 5000 mg/kg of body weight. Thus, it can be concluded that G. hombroniana aqueous extract shows little toxicity in the laboratory rats and the therapeutic potentials should be further investigated

Systematic Feature Analysis On Timber Defect Images

Feature extraction is unquestionably an important process in a pattern recognition system.A clearly defined set of features makes the identification task more effective. This paper addresses the extraction and analysis of features based on statistical texture to characterize images of timber defects.A series of procedures including feature extraction and feature analysis was executed in order to construct an appropriate feature set that could significantly distinguish amongst defects and clear wood classes.The feature set is aimed for later use in a timber defect detection system.To assess the discrimination capability of the features extracted, visual exploratory analysis and statistical confirmatory analysis were performed on defect and clear wood images of Meranti (Shorea spp.)timber species.Findings from the analysis demonstrated that utilizing the proposed set of texture features resulted in significant distinction between defect classes and clear wood

Mortality of emergency abdominal surgery in high-, middle- and low-income countries

Background: Surgical mortality data are collected routinely in high-income countries, yet virtually no low- or middle-income countries have outcome surveillance in place. The aim was prospectively to collect worldwide mortality data following emergency abdominal surgery, comparing findings across countries with a low, middle or high Human Development Index (HDI). Methods: This was a prospective, multicentre, cohort study. Self-selected hospitals performing emergency surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive patients from at least one 2-week interval during July to December 2014. Postoperative mortality was analysed by hierarchical multivariable logistic regression. Results: Data were obtained for 10 745 patients from 357 centres in 58 countries; 6538 were from high-, 2889 from middle- and 1318 from low-HDI settings. The overall mortality rate was 1⋅6 per cent at 24 h (high 1⋅1 per cent, middle 1⋅9 per cent, low 3⋅4 per cent; P < 0⋅001), increasing to 5⋅4 per cent by 30 days (high 4⋅5 per cent, middle 6⋅0 per cent, low 8⋅6 per cent; P < 0⋅001). Of the 578 patients who died, 404 (69⋅9 per cent) did so between 24 h and 30 days following surgery (high 74⋅2 per cent, middle 68⋅8 per cent, low 60⋅5 per cent). After adjustment, 30-day mortality remained higher in middle-income (odds ratio (OR) 2⋅78, 95 per cent c.i. 1⋅84 to 4⋅20) and low-income (OR 2⋅97, 1⋅84 to 4⋅81) countries. Surgical safety checklist use was less frequent in low- and middle-income countries, but when used was associated with reduced mortality at 30 days. Conclusion: Mortality is three times higher in low- compared with high-HDI countries even when adjusted for prognostic factors. Patient safety factors may have an important role. Registration number: NCT02179112 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century