Exhaustive Search for Optimal Offline Spectrum Assignment in Elastic Optical Networks

Heuristic-based approaches are widely deployed in solving Spectrum Assignment problem. This causes the results to be unreliable in some test cases when the results are very far from the lowerbound. This paper presents an exhaustive search approach that starts with an initial seed of a solution achieved by a heuristic-based algorithm called “Longest First Fit” (LFF) and tries all possible permutations starting from this initial seed. The algorithm skips some branches and all its descendant permutations if it meets certain criteria that guarantees that those permutations will not lead to a better result. The experimental results show that the new algorithm has succeeded in achieving the lower-bound in 93% of the randomly generated test cases while the heuristic solver LFF can achieve 65%. The algorithm achieves these results in a reasonable running time of less than 10 seconds

Siraj al-Tavarikh

Covers the history of Afghanistan from, 17th-20th century. It includes historical events and biographical descriptions of Afghan kings and rulers. The book is in Persian language, in two volumes. Published in Kabul: Matbaah-i Hurufi-i Dal al-Saltanah, 1331 (1952)https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/daripashtobooks/1001/thumbnail.jp

Evaluation of harmonic generating properties of schottky barrier diodes

Low noise figure communication receivers require more efficient frequency converters. Frequency conversion and multiplication processes cannot take place without the existence of harmonic sources in the system and the inherent property of a nonlinear element is to generate harmonics. Such nonlinearity, in general, may be provided by semiconductor diodes. This research project deals with the theoretical analysis as well as the experimental verifications of the harmonic generating properties of a nonlinear resistive device, i.e. Schottky-barrier diode. Laboratory measurements associated with the equivalent circuit representation of hot-carrier diodes show that their i-v characteristics can be accurately described by the modified exponential law, i = I(_s) [exp α (V–iR(_T)-1, over a wide range of the applied voltage V. Using this equation, a procedure is developed for the harmonic analysis of the resistive diode and calculation of any of a finite number of harmonic currents having a single frequency sinusoidal voltage V(_p) cos w(_p)t as the drive. The amplitudes of the harmonic currents are expressed as a power series in αR(_T)I(_S)) exp (αR(_T)I(_S)) where the coefficients of the power series are represented through the modified Bessel function of the k(^th) of order n. The integers k and n represent the power of the series and the harmonic number respectively, e.g. i(_n) α I(_n) (k α v(_p)) [αR(_T)I(_S) exp (αR(_T)I(_S))](^k). The power series solutions for the exponential diodes do not normally converge quickly enough to be of practical value for numerical evaluations. A different approach is proposed which is suitable for numerical evaluations of harmonic amplitudes. The results are compared with experimental data on twelve diodes, four in each of the three groups of different types. A good agreement, within the measuring instruments tolerances, was found between the calculated and the experimental results. Finally, it is believed that such studies were justified as the new method of approach presented here evaluates fully the capabilities of these diodes in practice. Many analyses published over the years have tended to introduce severe approximations which were only valid in practice over limited ranges of operation. In this project, attempts were made over almost two years to obtain mathematical solutions for the exponential diode law which are useful in practice and which give accurate prediction of harmonic amplitudes and spectrum. Various methods were employed to achieve the necessary convergence of the infinite series solutions. This involved a good understanding of the mathematical methods employed and computer programming. During the same period at every stage experimental verifications were being attempted, many times unsuccessfully, which finally led to a good agreement between the theory and experimental results as shown in this thesis

Research ethics challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic: what should and what should not be done

This article is directed primarily at how clinical trials can be ethically conducted in the midst of the current global COVID-19 pandemic. We explain why ethical issues are more complicated than they once were. Furthermore, we discuss the relevant parties` roles in protecting participants` rights and in keeping basic research ethics of justice, respect, equity, and beneficence strongly implemented on the ground.   References Moorthy V, Restrepo H, Preziosi MP, Swaminathan S. Data sharing for novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Bull World Health Organ. 2020; 98: 150. http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.20.251561 Angus DC. Optimizing the trade-off between learning and doing in a pandemic. Epub ahead of print, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.4984)JAMA Park YR, Koo H, Yoon YK, Park S, Lim Y-S, Baek S, et al. Expedited Safety Reporting to Sponsors Through the Implementation of an Alert System for Clinical Trial Management at an Academic Medical Center: Retrospective Design Study. JMIR Med Inform. 2020;8(2): e14379. https://doi.org/2196/14379. Bae J, Lee J, Jang Y, Lee Y. Development of simulation education debriefing protocol with faculty guide for enhancement clinical reasoning. BMC Med Educ. 2019;19(1):197. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-019-1633-8. Cox EM, Edmund AV, Kratz E, Lockwood SH, Shankar A. Regulatory Affairs 101: Introduction to Expedited Regulatory Pathways. Clin Transl Sci. 2020;13(3):451‐ https://doi.org/10.1111/cts.12745. Epub 2020 Feb 6. Rivenbark JG, Ichou M. Discrimination in healthcare as a barrier to care: experiences of socially disadvantaged populations in France from a nationally representative survey. BMC Public Health. 2020;20(1):31. https://doi.org/1186/s12889-019-8124-z Arsenijevic J, Tummers L, Bosma N. Adherence to Electronic Health Tools Among Vulnerable Groups: Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis. J Med Internet Res. 2020;22(2): e11613. https://doi.org/2196/11613 Plotkin S, Robinson JM, Cunningham G, Iqbal R, Larsen S. The complexity and cost of vaccine manufacturing: An overview. Vaccine. 2017;35(33):4064–71. https://doi.org/1016/j.vaccine.2017.06.003. Deming D. Do extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence? Philosophia (Ramat Gan). 2016;44(4):1319‐ https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.0011

A Novel cell phone based application for tracking the vaccination coverage in rural communities

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on July 9, 2014Thesis advisor: Praveen R. RaoVitaIncludes bibliographical references (pages 32-35)Thesis (M. S.)--Dept. of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2013Millions of children born worldwide do not receive proper vaccination. Driven by the concern for the lives of such children, institutions and organizations around the world have emphasized the need to strengthen vaccination surveillance and monitoring in developing countries to prevent the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. In this regard, we present a cell phone based application called Jeev to track the vaccination coverage of children in rural communities. Jeev synergistically combines the power of smartphones and the ubiquity of cellular infrastructure, Quick Response (QR) codes, and national identification cards. In this work we present the design of Jeev and highlight its unique features along with an extended evaluation of its performance. We plan to continue our investigation by pilot testing Jeev in a rural population to study its effectiveness and identify socio-cultural issues that may arise in a large-scale deployment.Introduction -- Background and related work -- Design and architecture -- Preliminary evaluation -- Conclusion and future work -- Appendix: SQL statements

Intraarticular Tramadol-Bupivacaine Combination Prolongs the Duration of Postoperative Analgesia After Outpatient Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

BACKGROUND: Intraarticular (IA) local anesthetics are often used for the management and prevention of pain after arthroscopic knee surgery. Recently, IA tramadol was also used for the management of these patients. However, the IA combination of local anesthetic and tramadol has not been evaluated in arthroscopic outpatients. Our primary aim in this study was to evaluate the analgesic effect of an IA combination of bupivacaine and tramadol when compared with each drug alone using visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores in patients undergoing day-care arthroscopic knee surgery. Additionally, we assessed analgesic demand. METHODS: Ninety ASA I/II patients undergoing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, performed by a single surgeon under general anesthesia, were assigned in a randomized, double-blind manner into three groups: group B (n = 30) received 0.25% bupivacaine, group T (n = 30) received 100 mg tramadol, and group BT (n = 30) received 0.25% bupivacaine and 100 mg tramadol to a total volume of 20 mL by the IA route after surgery. Postoperative pain scores were measured on a VAS, at rest and on mobilization at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 24 h. Duration of analgesia, the subsequent 24 h consumption of rescue analgesia, time to ambulation, and time to discharge were evaluated. In addition, the systemic side effects of the IA injected drugs were also assessed. RESULTS: The results showed significantly lower VAS pain scores in group BT (P << 0.1) when compared with groups T and B. Group BT had a later onset of postsurgical pain and longer time to first rescue analgesic than groups B and T. The 24 h consumption of analgesic was significantly less in group BT when compared with the other two groups (26.7% of the patients required rescue analgesia in group BT, whereas this number was 90% in group B and 86.7% in group T). In addition, time in hours to discharge and time to unassisted ambulation were significantly shorter in group BT when compared with groups T and B, and this was not associated with any detectable systemic effects. CONCLUSION: The IA admixture of tramadol 100 mg with bupivacaine 0.25% provides a pronounced prolongation of analgesia compared with either drug alone in patients undergoing day care arthroscopic knee surgery

African Musician as Journalist: A Study of Ayinde Barrister’s Works

This study was conducted to test the validity of contention that Sikiru Ayinde Barrister (SAB) music is journalism, particularly when its contents are juxtaposed with different sections of a newspaper or magazine. Being a qualitative essay, copious quotations from SAB's works were done to test each unit of the analysis such as education, politics, news commentary, travel/tourism, editorial, poetry etc. A total of 13 albums representing 10% of SAB's works were selected and graded on their contents based on their suitability to each of the categories above. Findings however revealed that music of SAB is journalism. Apart from informing, educating and entertaining his audience, SAB also employed his music for agenda-setting and social responsibility purposes in media theoretical framework. The criticism aspect of his music had played the watch-dog and advocacy roles of the media on the populace and the government especially during the military juntas of Gen. Muhamadu Bihari, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha respectively. The study found that selected works of traditional musicians such as Ayinde Barrister and Ayinla Omowura qualify journalism in structure and content

African Musician as Journalist: A Study of Ayinde Barrister’s Works

This study was conducted to test the validity of contention that Sikiru Ayinde Barrister (SAB) music is journalism, particularly when its contents are juxtaposed with different sections of a newspaper or magazine.Being a qualitative essay, copious quotations from SAB's works were done to test each unit of the analysis such as education, politics, news commentary, travel/tourism, editorial, poetry etc. A total of 13 albums representing 10% of SAB's works were selected and graded on their contents based on their suitability to each of the categories above.Findings however revealed that music of SAB is journalism. Apart from informing, educating and entertaining his audience, SAB also employed his music for agenda-setting and social responsibility purposes in media theoretical framework. The criticism aspect of his music had played the watch-dog and advocacy roles of the media on the populace and the government especially during the military juntas of Gen. Muhamadu Bihari, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha respectively.The study found that selected works of traditional musicians such as Ayinde Barrister and Ayinla Omowura qualify journalism in structure and content

Primary Cutaneous B-Cell Lymphomas

Primary cutaneous B-cell lymphomas (PCBCL) are a heterogeneous group of mature B-cells neoplasms that present in the skin without evidence of nodal or systemic involvement. The clinical and pathologic features of PCBCL differ significantly from the equivalent nodal lymphomas. Three main subtypes of PCBCL are recognized by the 2016 revised WHO classification. Studies have shown that PCBCLs are characterized by distinct immunophenotypic features, chromosomal aberrations and gene rearrangements which provide further support for their classification as separate entities from their nodal types