Sparticle Spectroscopy with Neutralino Dark matter from t-b-tau Quasi-Yukawa Unification

We consider two classes of t-b-tau quasi-Yukawa unification scenarios which can arise from realistic supersymmetric SO(10) and SU(4)_C X SU(2)_L X SU(2)_R models. We show that these scenarios can be successfully implemented in the CMSSM and NUHM1 frameworks, and yields a variety of sparticle spectra with WMAP compatible neutralino dark matter. In NUHM1 we find bino-higgsino dark matter as well as the stau coannihilation and A-funnel solutions. The CMSSM case yields the stau coannihilation and A-funnel solutions. The gluino and squark masses are found to lie in the TeV range.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures, 2 table

On Some Shrinkage Techniques For Estimating The Parameters Of Exponential Distribution

A variety of shrinkage methods have been proposed for estimation of some unknown parameter by considering estimators based on a prior guess of the value of the parameter. We compare some of the shrunken estimators for the parameters^ and 9 of the exponential distribution through simulatio

Pre and Early Post-Operative Iron Assessment in Obese Patients Underwent Laparoscopic Sleeve Gasterctomy

Obesity is a chronic disease associated with mortality and morbidity. Bariatric surgery (BS) as a long-term weight reduction treatment has been increased. This study investigated the early state of iron storage and deficiency in patients underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). Thirty patients were selected as a prospective study underwent LSG according to specialized inclusion and exclusion criteria at Soran Private Hospital in Erbil, from 1/1/2021 to 1/9/2021 after signing a consent form. All selected patients underwent preoperative and three months’ post-operative hemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and serum ferritin (SF) assessments. They were instructed to follow specialized diet regimen for three months’ post-operative and not to take any drugs and supplements. Results showed a strong positive correlation between preoperative and postoperative assessment for both Hb and MCV respectively (r= 0.72; P < 0.001), (r= 0.76; P < 0.001), and a moderate correlation for SF (r= 0.41; P < 0.024).  Significant difference (P < 0.05) was found between preoperative and postoperative for the three markers (Hb, MCV and SF). Their values were decreased from preoperative to postoperative for the majority of the cases, but they were still within the normal range. The finding demonstrated that after three months from LSG, no patients showed iron deficiency anaemia. However, there was decrease in SF level which indicated that the storage capacity of iron was decreasing. This suggest that the iron supplement has to be started since the food regime followed in by the patients was not sufficient to maintain normal iron level

A newly developed integrative bio-inspired artificial intelligence model for wind speed prediction

Accurate wind speed (WS) modelling is crucial for optimal utilization of wind energy. NumericalWeather Prediction (NWP) techniques, generally used for WS modelling are not only less cost-effective but also poor in predicting in shorter time horizon. Novel WS prediction models based on the multivariate empirical mode decomposition (MEMD), random forest (RF) and Kernel Ridge Regression (KRR) were constructed in this paper better accuracy in WS prediction. Particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) was employed to optimize the parameters of the hybridized MEMD model with RF (MEMD-PSO-RF) and KRR (MEMD-PSO-KRR) models. Obtained results were compared to those of the standalone RF and KRR models. The proposed methodology is applied for monthly WS prediction at meteorological stations of Iraq, Baghdad (Station1) and Mosul (Station2) for the period 1977-2013. Results showed higher accuracy of MEMD-PSO-RF model in predicting WS at both stations with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.972 and r D 0.971 during testing phase at Station1 and Station2, respectively. The MEMD-PSO-KRR was found as the second most accurate model followed by Standalone RF and KRR, but all showed a competitive performance to the MEMD-PSO-RF model. The outcomes of this work indicated that the MEMD-PSO-RF model has a remarkable performance in predicting WS and can be considered for practical applications

Water-stable zirconium-based metal-organic framework material with high-surface area and gas-storage capacities.

We designed, synthesized, and characterized a new Zr-based metal-organic framework material, NU-1100, with a pore volume of 1.53 ccg(-1) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 4020 m(2) g(-1) ; to our knowledge, currently the highest published for Zr-based MOFs. CH4 /CO2 /H2 adsorption isotherms were obtained over a broad range of pressures and temperatures and are in excellent agreement with the computational predictions. The total hydrogen adsorption at 65 bar and 77 K is 0.092 g g(-1) , which corresponds to 43 g L(-1) . The volumetric and gravimetric methane-storage capacities at 65 bar and 298 K are approximately 180 vSTP /v and 0.27 g g(-1) , respectively.OKF, JTH and RQS thank DOE ARPA-E and the Stanford Global Climate and Energy Project for support of work relevant to methane and CO2, respectively. TY acknowledges support by the U. S. Department of Energy through BES Grant No. DE-FG02-08ER46522. WB acknowledges support from the Foundation for Polish Science through the “Kolumb” Program. DFJ acknowledges the Royal Society (UK) for a University Research Fellowship. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (grant CHE-1048773).This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available as 'Water-Stable Zirconium-Based Metal–Organic Framework Material with High-Surface Area and Gas-Storage Capacities' from Wiley at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/chem.201402895/abstract

Characterization of Periplasmic Protein BP26 Epitopes of Brucella melitensis Reacting with Murine Monoclonal and Sheep Antibodies

More than 35,000 new cases of human brucellosis were reported in 2010 by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. An attenuated B. melitensis vaccine M5-90 is currently used for vaccination of sheep and goats in China. In the study, a periplasmic protein BP26 from M5-90 was characterized for its epitope reactivity with mouse monoclonal and sheep antibodies. A total of 29 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against recombinant BP26 (rBP26) were produced, which were tested for reactivity with a panel of BP26 peptides, three truncated rBP26 and native BP26 containing membrane protein extracts (NMP) of B. melitensis M5-90 in ELISA and Western-Blot. The linear, semi-conformational and conformational epitopes from native BP26 were identified. Two linear epitopes recognized by mAbs were revealed by 28 of 16mer overlapping peptides, which were accurately mapped as the core motif of amino acid residues 93DRDLQTGGI101 (position 93 to 101) or residues 104QPIYVYPD111, respectively. The reactivity of linear epitope peptides, rBP26 and NMP was tested with 137 sheep sera by ELISAs, of which the two linear epitopes had 65–70% reactivity and NMP 90% consistent with the results of a combination of two standard serological tests. The results were helpful for evaluating the reactivity of BP26 antigen in M5-90

Groundwater Hydrogeochemical and Quality Appraisal for Agriculture Irrigation in Greenbelt Area, Iraq

This study highlights the groundwater hydrogeochemical characteristics and processes (hydrochemistry characteristics, ion exchange, and salinization) and quality suitability assessment for irrigation purposes from five wells in the Greenbelt area located in northwestern Al‐Najaf Gov-ernorate, Iraq. The suitability of groundwater for irrigation was assessed based on the irrigation water quality index (IWQI) for thirteen parameters and groundwater quality indices such as total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), soluble sodium percent (SSP), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), total hardness (TH), permeability index (PI), potential salinity (PS), Kelley’s ratio (KR), and magnesium hazard ratio (MHR). The IWQI’s average values ranged between 76–139. The results of IWQI for the first and second sampling sites showed values of 139 and 104, respectively, indicating that the groundwater was unsuitable and unsafe for irrigation. In contrast, the IWQI for the third, fourth, and fifth sites were 83, 97, and 76, respectively, indicating that the groundwater was safe and possibly used for irrigation. The EC, TDS, PS, and MHR indices were all found to be unsuitable for irrigation in all five sites, and the KR index was also found to be unsuitable for agricultural irrigation in about 80% of the sites, while it was found that the indices of SAR, SSP, RSC, PI, and TH for all sites were suitable and safe for irrigation. As a result of this study, it has been determined that groundwater in the study area is unsuitable for agricultural irrigation. For sustainable groundwater exploitation, it is advised that a continuous water‐quality‐monitoring program should be implemented, as well as the development of suitable management practices. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Spin canting across core/shell Fe3O4/MnxFe3−xO4 nanoparticles

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have become increasingly important in biomedical applications like magnetic imaging and hyperthermia based cancer treatment. Understanding their magnetic spin configurations is important for optimizing these applications. The measured magnetization of MNPs can be significantly lower than bulk counterparts, often due to canted spins. This has previously been presumed to be a surface effect, where reduced exchange allows spins closest to the nanoparticle surface to deviate locally from collinear structures. We demonstrate that intraparticle effects can induce spin canting throughout a MNP via the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). We study ~7.4 nm diameter, core/shell Fe3O4/MnxFe3−xO4 MNPs with a 0.5 nm Mn-ferrite shell. Mössbauer spectroscopy, x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism are used to determine chemical structure of core and shell. Polarized small angle neutron scattering shows parallel and perpendicular magnetic correlations, suggesting multiparticle coherent spin canting in an applied field. Atomistic simulations reveal the underlying mechanism of the observed spin canting. These show that strong DMI can lead to magnetic frustration within the shell and cause canting of the net particle moment. These results illuminate how core/shell nanoparticle systems can be engineered for spin canting across the whole of the particle, rather than solely at the surface

Measuring routine childhood vaccination coverage in 204 countries and territories, 1980–2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020, Release 1

Background: Measuring routine childhood vaccination is crucial to inform global vaccine policies and programme implementation, and to track progress towards targets set by the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) and Immunization Agenda 2030. Robust estimates of routine vaccine coverage are needed to identify past successes and persistent vulnerabilities. Drawing from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2020, Release 1, we did a systematic analysis of global, regional, and national vaccine coverage trends using a statistical framework, by vaccine and over time. Methods: For this analysis we collated 55 326 country-specific, cohort-specific, year-specific, vaccine-specific, and dose-specific observations of routine childhood vaccination coverage between 1980 and 2019. Using spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression, we produced location-specific and year-specific estimates of 11 routine childhood vaccine coverage indicators for 204 countries and territories from 1980 to 2019, adjusting for biases in country-reported data and reflecting reported stockouts and supply disruptions. We analysed global and regional trends in coverage and numbers of zero-dose children (defined as those who never received a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis [DTP] vaccine dose), progress towards GVAP targets, and the relationship between vaccine coverage and sociodemographic development. Findings: By 2019, global coverage of third-dose DTP (DTP3; 81·6% [95% uncertainty interval 80·4–82·7]) more than doubled from levels estimated in 1980 (39·9% [37·5–42·1]), as did global coverage of the first-dose measles-containing vaccine (MCV1; from 38·5% [35·4–41·3] in 1980 to 83·6% [82·3–84·8] in 2019). Third-dose polio vaccine (Pol3) coverage also increased, from 42·6% (41·4–44·1) in 1980 to 79·8% (78·4–81·1) in 2019, and global coverage of newer vaccines increased rapidly between 2000 and 2019. The global number of zero-dose children fell by nearly 75% between 1980 and 2019, from 56·8 million (52·6–60·9) to 14·5 million (13·4–15·9). However, over the past decade, global vaccine coverage broadly plateaued; 94 countries and territories recorded decreasing DTP3 coverage since 2010. Only 11 countries and territories were estimated to have reached the national GVAP target of at least 90% coverage for all assessed vaccines in 2019. Interpretation: After achieving large gains in childhood vaccine coverage worldwide, in much of the world this progress was stalled or reversed from 2010 to 2019. These findings underscore the importance of revisiting routine immunisation strategies and programmatic approaches, recentring service delivery around equity and underserved populations. Strengthening vaccine data and monitoring systems is crucial to these pursuits, now and through to 2030, to ensure that all children have access to, and can benefit from, lifesaving vaccines