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1.
  • Ademuyiwa, Adesoji O., et al. (author)
  • Determinants of morbidity and mortality following emergency abdominal surgery in children in low-income and middle-income countries
  • 2016
  • In: BMJ Global Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2059-7908. ; 1:4
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Background: Child health is a key priority on the global health agenda, yet the provision of essential and emergency surgery in children is patchy in resource-poor regions. This study was aimed to determine the mortality risk for emergency abdominal paediatric surgery in low-income countries globally.Methods: Multicentre, international, prospective, cohort study. Self-selected surgical units performing emergency abdominal surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive children aged <16 years during a 2-week period between July and December 2014. The United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) was used to stratify countries. The main outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality, analysed by multilevel logistic regression.Results: This study included 1409 patients from 253 centres in 43 countries; 282 children were under 2 years of age. Among them, 265 (18.8%) were from low-HDI, 450 (31.9%) from middle-HDI and 694 (49.3%) from high-HDI countries. The most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception. After adjustment for patient and hospital risk factors, child mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in low-HDI (adjusted OR 7.14 (95% CI 2.52 to 20.23), p<0.001) and middle-HDI (4.42 (1.44 to 13.56), p=0.009) countries compared with high-HDI countries, translating to 40 excess deaths per 1000 procedures performed.Conclusions: Adjusted mortality in children following emergency abdominal surgery may be as high as 7 times greater in low-HDI and middle-HDI countries compared with high-HDI countries. Effective provision of emergency essential surgery should be a key priority for global child health agendas.
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2.
  • Lozano, Rafael, et al. (author)
  • Measuring progress from 1990 to 2017 and projecting attainment to 2030 of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals for 195 countries and territories: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
  • 2018
  • In: The Lancet. - : Elsevier. - 1474-547X .- 0140-6736. ; 392:10159, s. 2091-2138
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Background: Efforts to establish the 2015 baseline and monitor early implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight both great potential for and threats to improving health by 2030. To fully deliver on the SDG aim of “leaving no one behind”, it is increasingly important to examine the health-related SDGs beyond national-level estimates. As part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017), we measured progress on 41 of 52 health-related SDG indicators and estimated the health-related SDG index for 195 countries and territories for the period 1990–2017, projected indicators to 2030, and analysed global attainment. Methods: We measured progress on 41 health-related SDG indicators from 1990 to 2017, an increase of four indicators since GBD 2016 (new indicators were health worker density, sexual violence by non-intimate partners, population census status, and prevalence of physical and sexual violence [reported separately]). We also improved the measurement of several previously reported indicators. We constructed national-level estimates and, for a subset of health-related SDGs, examined indicator-level differences by sex and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile. We also did subnational assessments of performance for selected countries. To construct the health-related SDG index, we transformed the value for each indicator on a scale of 0–100, with 0 as the 2·5th percentile and 100 as the 97·5th percentile of 1000 draws calculated from 1990 to 2030, and took the geometric mean of the scaled indicators by target. To generate projections through 2030, we used a forecasting framework that drew estimates from the broader GBD study and used weighted averages of indicator-specific and country-specific annualised rates of change from 1990 to 2017 to inform future estimates. We assessed attainment of indicators with defined targets in two ways: first, using mean values projected for 2030, and then using the probability of attainment in 2030 calculated from 1000 draws. We also did a global attainment analysis of the feasibility of attaining SDG targets on the basis of past trends. Using 2015 global averages of indicators with defined SDG targets, we calculated the global annualised rates of change required from 2015 to 2030 to meet these targets, and then identified in what percentiles the required global annualised rates of change fell in the distribution of country-level rates of change from 1990 to 2015. We took the mean of these global percentile values across indicators and applied the past rate of change at this mean global percentile to all health-related SDG indicators, irrespective of target definition, to estimate the equivalent 2030 global average value and percentage change from 2015 to 2030 for each indicator. Findings: The global median health-related SDG index in 2017 was 59·4 (IQR 35·4–67·3), ranging from a low of 11·6 (95% uncertainty interval 9·6–14·0) to a high of 84·9 (83·1–86·7). SDG index values in countries assessed at the subnational level varied substantially, particularly in China and India, although scores in Japan and the UK were more homogeneous. Indicators also varied by SDI quintile and sex, with males having worse outcomes than females for non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality, alcohol use, and smoking, among others. Most countries were projected to have a higher health-related SDG index in 2030 than in 2017, while country-level probabilities of attainment by 2030 varied widely by indicator. Under-5 mortality, neonatal mortality, maternal mortality ratio, and malaria indicators had the most countries with at least 95% probability of target attainment. Other indicators, including NCD mortality and suicide mortality, had no countries projected to meet corresponding SDG targets on the basis of projected mean values for 2030 but showed some probability of attainment by 2030. For some indicators, including child malnutrition, several infectious diseases, and most violence measures, the annualised rates of change required to meet SDG targets far exceeded the pace of progress achieved by any country in the recent past. We found that applying the mean global annualised rate of change to indicators without defined targets would equate to about 19% and 22% reductions in global smoking and alcohol consumption, respectively; a 47% decline in adolescent birth rates; and a more than 85% increase in health worker density per 1000 population by 2030. Interpretation: The GBD study offers a unique, robust platform for monitoring the health-related SDGs across demographic and geographic dimensions. Our findings underscore the importance of increased collection and analysis of disaggregated data and highlight where more deliberate design or targeting of interventions could accelerate progress in attaining the SDGs. Current projections show that many health-related SDG indicators, NCDs, NCD-related risks, and violence-related indicators will require a concerted shift away from what might have driven past gains—curative interventions in the case of NCDs—towards multisectoral, prevention-oriented policy action and investments to achieve SDG aims. Notably, several targets, if they are to be met by 2030, demand a pace of progress that no country has achieved in the recent past. The future is fundamentally uncertain, and no model can fully predict what breakthroughs or events might alter the course of the SDGs. What is clear is that our actions—or inaction—today will ultimately dictate how close the world, collectively, can get to leaving no one behind by 2030.
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3.
  • Asif, Muhammad, et al. (author)
  • Diagnostic Performance and Appropriate Cut-Offs of Different Anthropometric Indicators for Detecting Children with Overweight and Obesity
  • 2021
  • In: BioMed Research International. - : Hindawi Publishing Corporation. - 2314-6133 .- 2314-6141.
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • In the clinical settings, different anthropometric indicators like neck circumference (NC), waist circumference (WC), midupper arm circumference (MUAC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and arm-to-height ratio (AHtR) have been suggested for evaluating overweight and obesity in children. The comparative ability of these indicators in Pakistan is yet unknown. This study is aimed at examining the validity of different anthropometric indicators of overweight and obesity simultaneously and at determining their superlative cut-off values that would correctly detect overweight and obesity in children. For this purpose, the dataset of anthropometric measurements height, weight, WC, MUAC, and NC of 5,964 Pakistani children, aged 5-12 years collected in a cross-sectional multiethnic anthropometric survey (MEAS), was used. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the validity of different anthropometric indicators. The most sensitive and specific cut-off points, positive and negative predictive values of each indicator were also calculated. The results of the ROC curve indicated that all the studied indicators had a good performance but the indicators AHtR and WHtR had the highest value of the area under the curve (AUC) for the screening of children with overweight and obesity (AUC > 0.80). In the overall sample, AHtR, WHtR, MUAC, WC, and NC cut-off points indicative of overweight, in both boys and girls, were 0.14, 0.46, 18.41 cm, 62.86 cm, and 26.36 cm and 0.14, 0.47, 18.16 cm, 64.39 cm, and 26.54 cm, respectively; the corresponding values for obesity were 0.14, 0.47, 18.67 cm, 62.10 cm, and 26.36 cm and 0.14, 0.48, 20.19 cm, 64.39 cm, and 25.27 cm. We concluded that the sex-specific cut-off points for AHtR, WHtR, MUAC, WC, and NC can be used to diagnose overweight and obesity in Pakistani children.
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4.
  • Khan, Asif, et al. (author)
  • Multivariate statistical analysis of heavy metals and physico-chemical parameters in the groundwater of Karak District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
  • 2021
  • In: Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. - : Estonian Academy Publishers. - 1736-6046 .- 1736-7530. ; 70:3, s. 297-306
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Groundwater heavy metal pollution is a major concern all around the world. For the assessment of heavy metals and physico-chemical characteristics. groundwater samples were collected from different locations of the Karak District, Pakistan. With the help of the global information system device (GIS), groundwater samples were collected and studied from 47 locations. The present study focused on the water table (WT), water source depth (WSD), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), total dissolved solids (TDS), lead (Pb(II)), silver (Ag(I)), iron (Fe(II)) and chromium (Cr(VI)) parameters. Heavy metals were analyzed by the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The Pearson's matrix of correlation showed relationships between several parameters, such as the EC and the TDS which had close interactions between all the three different groundwater samples (collected by hand pump (HP), bore holes (BH) and tube wells (TW)). The strong correlation was detected in all the sources of water between the TDS and the EC, the regression coefficient (r) of which was 1. In the hierarchical clustering (by dendrograms) the HP samples show two clusters: Cluster 1 contains seven parameters and Cluster 2 has four parameters. The BH samples have two clusters: Cluster 1 contains three parameters and Cluster 2 has eight parameters. The TW dendrogram also shows two clusters: Cluster 1 contains six parameters while Cluster 2 has five parameters.
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5.
  • Murray, Christopher J. L., et al. (author)
  • Population and fertility by age and sex for 195 countries and territories, 1950–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
  • 2018
  • In: The Lancet. - 1474-547X .- 0140-6736. ; 392:10159, s. 1995-2051
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Background: Population estimates underpin demographic and epidemiological research and are used to track progress on numerous international indicators of health and development. To date, internationally available estimates of population and fertility, although useful, have not been produced with transparent and replicable methods and do not use standardised estimates of mortality. We present single-calendar year and single-year of age estimates of fertility and population by sex with standardised and replicable methods. Methods: We estimated population in 195 locations by single year of age and single calendar year from 1950 to 2017 with standardised and replicable methods. We based the estimates on the demographic balancing equation, with inputs of fertility, mortality, population, and migration data. Fertility data came from 7817 location-years of vital registration data, 429 surveys reporting complete birth histories, and 977 surveys and censuses reporting summary birth histories. We estimated age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs; the annual number of livebirths to women of a specified age group per 1000 women in that age group) by use of spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression and used the ASFRs to estimate total fertility rates (TFRs; the average number of children a woman would bear if she survived through the end of the reproductive age span [age 10–54 years] and experienced at each age a particular set of ASFRs observed in the year of interest). Because of sparse data, fertility at ages 10–14 years and 50–54 years was estimated from data on fertility in women aged 15–19 years and 45–49 years, through use of linear regression. Age-specific mortality data came from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 estimates. Data on population came from 1257 censuses and 761 population registry location-years and were adjusted for underenumeration and age misreporting with standard demographic methods. Migration was estimated with the GBD Bayesian demographic balancing model, after incorporating information about refugee migration into the model prior. Final population estimates used the cohort-component method of population projection, with inputs of fertility, mortality, and migration data. Population uncertainty was estimated by use of out-of-sample predictive validity testing. With these data, we estimated the trends in population by age and sex and in fertility by age between 1950 and 2017 in 195 countries and territories. Findings: From 1950 to 2017, TFRs decreased by 49·4% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 46·4–52·0). The TFR decreased from 4·7 livebirths (4·5–4·9) to 2·4 livebirths (2·2–2·5), and the ASFR of mothers aged 10–19 years decreased from 37 livebirths (34–40) to 22 livebirths (19–24) per 1000 women. Despite reductions in the TFR, the global population has been increasing by an average of 83·8 million people per year since 1985. The global population increased by 197·2% (193·3–200·8) since 1950, from 2·6 billion (2·5–2·6) to 7·6 billion (7·4–7·9) people in 2017; much of this increase was in the proportion of the global population in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The global annual rate of population growth increased between 1950 and 1964, when it peaked at 2·0%; this rate then remained nearly constant until 1970 and then decreased to 1·1% in 2017. Population growth rates in the southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania GBD super-region decreased from 2·5% in 1963 to 0·7% in 2017, whereas in sub-Saharan Africa, population growth rates were almost at the highest reported levels ever in 2017, when they were at 2·7%. The global average age increased from 26·6 years in 1950 to 32·1 years in 2017, and the proportion of the population that is of working age (age 15–64 years) increased from 59·9% to 65·3%. At the national level, the TFR decreased in all countries and territories between 1950 and 2017; in 2017, TFRs ranged from a low of 1·0 livebirths (95% UI 0·9–1·2) in Cyprus to a high of 7·1 livebirths (6·8–7·4) in Niger. The TFR under age 25 years (TFU25; number of livebirths expected by age 25 years for a hypothetical woman who survived the age group and was exposed to current ASFRs) in 2017 ranged from 0·08 livebirths (0·07–0·09) in South Korea to 2·4 livebirths (2·2–2·6) in Niger, and the TFR over age 30 years (TFO30; number of livebirths expected for a hypothetical woman ageing from 30 to 54 years who survived the age group and was exposed to current ASFRs) ranged from a low of 0·3 livebirths (0·3–0·4) in Puerto Rico to a high of 3·1 livebirths (3·0–3·2) in Niger. TFO30 was higher than TFU25 in 145 countries and territories in 2017. 33 countries had a negative population growth rate from 2010 to 2017, most of which were located in central, eastern, and western Europe, whereas population growth rates of more than 2·0% were seen in 33 of 46 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2017, less than 65% of the national population was of working age in 12 of 34 high-income countries, and less than 50% of the national population was of working age in Mali, Chad, and Niger. Interpretation: Population trends create demographic dividends and headwinds (ie, economic benefits and detriments) that affect national economies and determine national planning needs. Although TFRs are decreasing, the global population continues to grow as mortality declines, with diverse patterns at the national level and across age groups. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide transparent and replicable estimates of population and fertility, which can be used to inform decision making and to monitor progress. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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6.
  • Fajar, Jonny Karunia, et al. (author)
  • Global Prevalence and Potential Influencing Factors of COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy : A Meta-Analysis
  • 2022
  • In: Vaccines. - : MDPI AG. - 2076-393X. ; 10:8
  • Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Countries worldwide have deployed mass COVID-19 vaccination drives, but there are people who are hesitant to receive the vaccine. Studies assessing the factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy are inconclusive. This study aimed to assess the global prevalence of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy and determine the potential factors associated with such hesitancy. We performed an organized search for relevant articles in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Extraction of the required information was performed for each study. A single-arm meta-analysis was performed to determine the global prevalence of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy; the potential factors related to vaccine hesitancy were analyzed using a Z-test. A total of 56 articles were included in our analysis. We found that the global prevalence of COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy was 25%. Being a woman, being a 50-year-old or younger, being single, being unemployed, living in a household with five or more individuals, having an educational attainment lower than an undergraduate degree, having a non-healthcare-related job and considering COVID-19 vaccines to be unsafe were associated with a higher risk of vaccination hesitancy. In contrast, living with children at home, maintaining physical distancing norms, having ever tested for COVID-19, and having a history of influenza vaccination in the past few years were associated with a lower risk of hesitancy to COVID-19 vaccination. Our study provides valuable information on COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy, and we recommend special interventions in the sub-populations with increased risk to reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.
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7.
  • Haris, Abdullah, et al. (author)
  • Prolonged Repellent Activity of Plant Essential Oils against Dengue Vector, Aedes aegypti
  • 2023
  • In: Molecules. - : MDPI AG. - 1431-5157 .- 1420-3049. ; 28:3
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Repellents are effective personal protective means against outdoor biting mosquitoes. Repellent formulations composed of EOs are finding increased popularity among consumers. In this study, after an initial screening of 11 essential oils (EOs) at the concentration of 33 μg/cm2, five of the most repellent EOs, Perovskia atriplicifolia, Citrus reticulata (fruit peels), C. reticulata (leaves), Mentha longifolia, and Dysphania ambrosioides were further investigated for repellent activity against Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in time span bioassays. When tested at the concentrations of 33 μg/cm2, 165 μg/cm2 and 330 μg/cm2, the EO of P. atriplicifolia showed the longest repellent effect up to 75, 90 and 135 min, respectively, which was followed by C. reticulata (peels) for 60, 90 and 120 min, M. longifolia for 45, 60 and 90 min, and C. reticulata (leaves) for 30, 45 and 75 min. Notably, the EO of P. atriplicifolia tested at the dose of 330 μg/cm2 showed complete protection for 60 min which was similar to the commercial mosquito repellent DEET. Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analyses of the EOs revealed camphor (19.7%), limonene (92.7%), sabinene (24.9%), carvone (82.6%), and trans-ascaridole (38.8%) as the major constituents of P. atriplicifolia, C. reticulata (peels), C. reticulata (leaves), M. longifolia, and D. ambrosioides, respectively. The results of the present study could help develop plant-based commercial repellents to protect humans from dengue mosquitoes.
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8.
  • 2019
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)
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9.
  • Abbas, Muhammad Ghazanfar, et al. (author)
  • Chemical Composition, Larvicidal and Repellent Activities of Wild Plant Essential Oils against Aedes aegypti
  • 2023
  • In: Biology. - : MDPI AG. - 2079-7737. ; 12:1
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Bio-degradable and eco-friendly essential oils (EOs) extracted from Mentha longifolia, Salsola imbricata, Erigeron bonariensis, E. canadensis, Ailanthus altissima, and Zanthoxylum armatum were investigated for their repellent and larvicidal potential against Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The EOs of M. longifolia, S. imbricata, E. bonariensis, E. canadensis, A. altissima, and Z. armatum exhibited 99.0%, 96.8%, 40.2%, 41.7%, 29.1%, and 13.2% repellency against mosquitoes at a tested dose of 33.3 μg/cm2, respectively. In time span bioassays, the EOs of M. longifolia, S. imbricata, E. bonariensis, and E. canadensis showed more than 40% repellency for 60 min at a tested dose of 330 μg/cm2. Larvicidal bioassays revealed that larvae of Ae. aegypti were the most susceptible to M. longifolia (LC50, 39.3 mg/L), E. bonariensis (LC50, 26.0 mg/L), E. canadensis (LC50, 35.7 mg/L), and Z. armatum (LC50, 35.9 mg/L) EOs upon 48 h exposure. The most abundant constituents in the EOs of M. longifolia, S. imbricata, E. bonariensis, E. canadensis and A. altissima were piperitone oxide (45.5%), carvone (39.9%), matricaria ester (43.1%), (31.7%) and eugenol (24.4%), respectively. Our study demonstrates that EOs of M. longifolia, S. imbricata, E. bonariensis, and E. canadensis might be used to control Ae. aegypti mosquitoes without harming humans or the environment.
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10.
  • Abbas, Muhammad Tahir, et al. (author)
  • An adaptive approach to vehicle trajectory prediction using multimodel Kalman filter
  • 2020
  • In: European transactions on telecommunications. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1124-318X .- 2161-3915.
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • With the aim to improve road safety services in critical situations, vehicle trajectory and future location prediction are important tasks. An infinite set of possible future trajectories can exit depending on the current state of vehicle motion. In this paper, we present a multimodel-based Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), which is able to predict a set of possible scenarios for vehicle future location. Five different EKF models are proposed in which the current state of a vehicle exists, particularly, a vehicle at intersection or on a curve path. EKF with Interacting Multiple Model framework is explored combinedly for mathematical model creation and probability calculation for that model to be selected for prediction. Three different parameters are considered to create a state vector matrix, which includes vehicle position, velocity, and distance of the vehicle from the intersection. Future location of a vehicle is then used by the software-defined networking controller to further enhance the safety and packet delivery services by the process of flow rule installation intelligently to that specific area only. This way of flow rule installation keeps the controller away from irrelevant areas to install rules, hence, reduces the network overhead exponentially. Proposed models are created and tested in MATLAB with real-time global positioning system logs from Jeju, South Korea.
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11.
  • Alay-e-Abbas, Syed Muhammad, 1983-, et al. (author)
  • Structure inversion asymmetry enhanced electronic structure and electrical transport in 2D A3SnO (A = Ca, Sr, and Ba) anti-perovskite monolayers
  • 2023
  • In: Nano Reseach. - : Springer Nature. - 1998-0124 .- 1998-0000. ; 16:1, s. 1779-1791
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Anti-perovskites A3SnO (A = Ca, Sr, and Ba) are an important class of materials due to the emergence of Dirac cones and tiny mass gaps in their band structures originating from an intricate interplay of crystal symmetry, spin-orbit coupling, and band overlap. This provides an exciting playground for modulating their electronic properties in the two-dimensional (2D) limit. Herein, we employ first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations by combining dispersion-corrected SCAN + rVV10 and mBJ functionals for a comprehensive side-by-side comparison of the structural, thermodynamic, dynamical, mechanical, electronic, and thermoelectric properties of bulk and monolayer (one unit cell thick) A3SnO anti-perovskites. Our results show that 2D monolayers derived from bulk A3SnO anti-perovskites are structurally and energetically stable. Moreover, Rashba-type splitting in the electronic structure of Ca3SnO and Sr3SnO monolayers is observed owing to strong spin-orbit coupling and inversion asymmetry. On the other hand, monolayer Ba3SnO exhibits Dirac cone at the high-symmetry Γ point due to the domination of band overlap. Based on the predicted electronic transport properties, it is shown that inversion asymmetry plays an essential character such that the monolayers Ca3SnO and Sr3SnO outperform thermoelectric performance of their bulk counterparts.
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12.
  • Ali, Muhammad Amjad, et al. (author)
  • Transcription factors WRKY11 and WRKY17 are involved in abiotic stress responses in Arabidopsis
  • 2018
  • In: Journal of plant physiology (Print). - : Elsevier. - 0176-1617 .- 1618-1328. ; 226, s. 12-21
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Plant WRKY transcription factors play a vital role in abiotic stress tolerance and regulation of plant defense responses. This study examined AtWRKY11 and AtWRKY17 expression under ABA, salt, and osmotic stress at different developmental stages in Arabidopsis. We used reverse transcriptase PCR, quantitative real-time PCR, and promoter:GUS lines to analyze expression. Both genes were upregulated in response to abiotic stress. Next, we applied the same stressors to seedlings of T-DNA insertion wrky11 and 17 knock-out mutants (single and double). Under stress, the mutants exhibited slower germination and compromised root growth compared with the wild type. In most cases, double-mutant seedlings were more affected than single mutants. These results suggest that wrky11 and wrky17 are not strictly limited to plant defense responses but are also involved in conferring stress tolerance.
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13.
  • Batool, Javaria, et al. (author)
  • Oxygen-vacancy-induced magnetism in anti-perovskite topological Dirac semimetal Ba3SnO
  • 2021
  • In: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 23:43, s. 24878-24891
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • The thermodynamic, structural, magnetic and electronic properties of the pristine and intrinsic vacancy-defect-containing topological Dirac semimetal Ba3SnO are studied using first-principles density functional theory calculations. The thermodynamic stability of Ba3SnO has been evaluated with reference to its competing binary phases Ba2Sn, BaSn and BaO. Subsequently, valid limits of the atomic chemical potentials derived from the thermodynamic stability were used for assessing the formation of Ba, Sn and O vacancy defects in Ba3SnO under different synthesis environments. Based on the calculated defect-formation energies, we find that the charge-neutral oxygen vacancies are the most favourable type of vacancy defect under most chemical environments. The calculated electronic properties of pristine Ba3SnO show that inclusion of spin–orbit coupling in exchange–correlation potentials computed using generalized gradient approximation yields a semimetallic band structure exhibiting twin Dirac cones along the Γ–X path of the Brillouin zone. The effect of spin–polarization and spin–orbit coupling on the physical properties of intrinsic vacancy defects containing Ba3SnO has been examined in detail. Using Bader charges, electron localization function (ELF), electronic density of states (DOS) and spin density, we show that the isolated oxygen vacancy is a magnetic defect in anti-perovskite Ba3SnO. Our results show that the origin of magnetism in Ba3SnO is the accumulation of unpaired charges at the oxygen vacancy sites, which couple strongly with the 5d states of the Ba atom. Owing to the metastability observed in earlier theoretically predicted magnetic topological semimetals, the present study reveals the important role of intrinsic vacancy defects in giving rise to magnetism and also provides opportunities for engineering the electronic structure of a Dirac semimetal.
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14.
  • Bilal, Muhammad, et al. (author)
  • DFT insights into surface properties of anti-perovskite 3D topological crystalline insulators : A case study of (001) surfaces of Ca3SnO
  • 2021
  • In: Physics Letters A. - : Elsevier. - 0375-9601 .- 1873-2429. ; 408
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • In this letter density functional theory calculations are used for investigating the structural, energetic and electronic properties of CaSn- and Ca2O-terminated (001) surfaces of anti-perovskite Ca3SnO. Our calculations indicate larger structural changes in case of the CaSn-terminated (001) surface of Ca3SnO, however, both CaSn- and Ca2O-terminated surfaces of Ca3SnO are found to be energetically stable. The electronic properties of (001) surfaces of Ca3SnO are examined by taking spin-orbit coupling into account. Comparison of the simulated results of electronic properties for the two (001) surfaces of Ca3SnO with experimentally reported hole carrier densities observed in p-type polycrystalline samples show good agreement.
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15.
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16.
  • Goraya, Mohsan Ullah, et al. (author)
  • Isolation of buffalo poxvirus from clinical case and variations in the genetics of the B5R gene over fifty passages
  • 2015
  • In: Virus genes. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0920-8569 .- 1572-994X. ; 51:1, s. 45-50
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Outbreaks of buffalopox affect udder and teats, which may ultimately lead to mastitis in dairy buffalo and can significantly compromise the production. In this study, we report isolation of buffalo poxvirus and sequence analysis of the B5R gene collected from the buffalo clinically suspected to be poxvirus infected. The virus was isolated on BHK-21 cell line and was passaged for 50 times, B5R gene was amplified and sequenced using gene-specific primers, and analyzed at both nucleotide and amino acid levels. Phylogenetically, the isolate can be classified close to the previously reported Pakistani and Indian isolates with certain level of differential clustering patterns. Three significant putative mutations (I2K, N64D, and K111E) were observed in the B5R protein. The K111E was common with previous human isolate from Karachi, Pakistan in 2005. These mutations differed from pox-viruses reported from the neighboring countries. Some deletion mutations were observed which were recovered in upcoming passages. The K111E mutation suggests potential to cause zoonotic infection in human all over the country.
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17.
  • Mallhi, Tauqeer Hussain, et al. (author)
  • Mental Health and Coping Strategies among University Staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic : A Cross-Sectional Analysis from Saudi Arabia
  • 2023
  • In: Sustainability. - : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 15:11
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • This study examined psychological health and coping strategies among faculty and staff at a Saudi Arabian university. A web-based self-administered survey was used to assess probable anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and coping strategies by using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and Brief-COPE scale, respectively. Of 502 participants (mean age 36.04 +/- 10.32 years, male: 66.3%), 24.1% (GAD-7 >= 10) had probable anxiety. Anxiety score was significantly higher in females (p < 0.001), those with a history of COVID-19 infection (p = 0.036), and participants with less work experience (p = 0.019). Approximately 40% of participants met the criteria of probable depression, with females (p < 0.001) and participants with less experience having more depressive symptoms. Around one-fourth (27.7%) of study participants indicated probable PTSD (score +/- 33), with higher symptoms in females (p <0.001), less experienced staff (p < 0.00 1), and academic staff (p = 0.006). Correlation analysis indicated a significant positive correlation between anxiety and depression (r = 0.844, p < 0.001), anxiety and PTSD (r = 0.650, p < 0.001), and depression and PTSD (r = 0.676, p < 0.001). Active coping, religious/spiritual coping, and acceptance were common coping strategies, while substance use was the least adopted coping method among the study participants. This study indicated a high prevalence of probable psychological ailments among university staff.
  •  
18.
  • Parveen, Amna, et al. (author)
  • Chemical composition of essential oils from natural populations of Artemisia scoparia collected at different altitudes : antibacterial, mosquito repellent, and larvicidal effects
  • 2024
  • In: Molecules. - 1431-5157 .- 1420-3049. ; 29:6, s. 1359-
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • The current study aimed to evaluate the presence of chemical variations in essential oils (EOs) extracted from Artemisia scoparia growing at different altitudes and to reveal their antibacterial, mosquito larvicidal, and repellent activity. The gas chromatographic–mass spectrometric analysis of A. scoparia EOs revealed that the major compounds were capillene (9.6–31.8%), methyleugenol (0.2–26.6%), β-myrcene (1.9–21.4%), γ-terpinene (1.5–19.4%), trans-β-caryophyllene (0.8–12.4%), and eugenol (0.1–9.1%). The EO of A. scoparia collected from the city of Attock at low elevation was the most active against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria (minimum inhibitory concentration of 156–1250 µg/mL) and showed the best mosquito larvicidal activity (LC50, 55.3 mg/L). The EOs of A. scoparia collected from the high-altitude areas of Abbottabad and Swat were the most repellent for females of Ae. aegypti and exhibited repellency for 120 min and 165 min, respectively. The results of the study reveal that different climatic conditions and altitudes have significant effects on the chemical compositions and the biological activity of essential oils extracted from the same species.
  •  
19.
  • Ullah, Muhammad Kaleem, et al. (author)
  • Tri-doped ceria (M0.2Ce0.8O2-δ, M= Sm0.1 Ca0.05 Gd0.05) electrolyte for hydrogen and ethanol-based fuel cells
  • 2019
  • In: Journal of Alloys and Compounds. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-8388. ; 773, s. 548-554
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • In recent scientific research, an interest has been gained significantly by rare earth metals such as cerium (Ce), samarium (Sm) and gadolinium (Gd) due to their use in fuel cells as electrolyte and catalysts. When used in an electrolyte, these materials lower the fuel cell's operating temperature compared to a conventional electrolyte, for example, yittria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) which operates at a high temperature (≥800 °C). In this paper, the tri-doped ceria, M0.2Ce0.8O2-δ(M = Sm0.1Ca0.05Gd0.05) electrolyte powders was synthesized using the co-precipitation method at 80 °C. These dopants were used for CeO2with a total molar ratio of 1 M. Dry-pressed powder technique was used to make fuel cell pellets from the powder and placed them in the furnace to sinter at 700 °C for 60 min. Electrical conductivity of such a pellet in air was 1.2 × 10−2S cm−1at 700 °C measured by the ProboStat-NorECs setup. The crystal structure was determined with the help of X-ray diffraction (XRD), which showed that all the dopants were successfully doped in CeO2. Raman spectroscopy and UV-VIS spectroscopy were also carried out to analyse the molecular vibrations and absorbance, respectively. The maximum open-circuit voltages (OCVs) for hydrogen and ethanol fuelled at 550 °C were observed to be 0.89 V and 0.71 V with power densities 314 mW cm−2and 52.8 mW cm−2, respectively.
  •  
20.
  • Wang, Haidong, et al. (author)
  • Estimates of global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and mortality of HIV, 1980-2015 : the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015.
  • 2016
  • In: The lancet. HIV. - : Elsevier. - 2352-3018. ; 3:8, s. e361-e387
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • BACKGROUND: Timely assessment of the burden of HIV/AIDS is essential for policy setting and programme evaluation. In this report from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 (GBD 2015), we provide national estimates of levels and trends of HIV/AIDS incidence, prevalence, coverage of antiretroviral therapy (ART), and mortality for 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2015.METHODS: For countries without high-quality vital registration data, we estimated prevalence and incidence with data from antenatal care clinics and population-based seroprevalence surveys, and with assumptions by age and sex on initial CD4 distribution at infection, CD4 progression rates (probability of progression from higher to lower CD4 cell-count category), on and off antiretroviral therapy (ART) mortality, and mortality from all other causes. Our estimation strategy links the GBD 2015 assessment of all-cause mortality and estimation of incidence and prevalence so that for each draw from the uncertainty distribution all assumptions used in each step are internally consistent. We estimated incidence, prevalence, and death with GBD versions of the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP) and Spectrum software originally developed by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). We used an open-source version of EPP and recoded Spectrum for speed, and used updated assumptions from systematic reviews of the literature and GBD demographic data. For countries with high-quality vital registration data, we developed the cohort incidence bias adjustment model to estimate HIV incidence and prevalence largely from the number of deaths caused by HIV recorded in cause-of-death statistics. We corrected these statistics for garbage coding and HIV misclassification.FINDINGS: Global HIV incidence reached its peak in 1997, at 3·3 million new infections (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 3·1-3·4 million). Annual incidence has stayed relatively constant at about 2·6 million per year (range 2·5-2·8 million) since 2005, after a period of fast decline between 1997 and 2005. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS has been steadily increasing and reached 38·8 million (95% UI 37·6-40·4 million) in 2015. At the same time, HIV/AIDS mortality has been declining at a steady pace, from a peak of 1·8 million deaths (95% UI 1·7-1·9 million) in 2005, to 1·2 million deaths (1·1-1·3 million) in 2015. We recorded substantial heterogeneity in the levels and trends of HIV/AIDS across countries. Although many countries have experienced decreases in HIV/AIDS mortality and in annual new infections, other countries have had slowdowns or increases in rates of change in annual new infections.INTERPRETATION: Scale-up of ART and prevention of mother-to-child transmission has been one of the great successes of global health in the past two decades. However, in the past decade, progress in reducing new infections has been slow, development assistance for health devoted to HIV has stagnated, and resources for health in low-income countries have grown slowly. Achievement of the new ambitious goals for HIV enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal 3 and the 90-90-90 UNAIDS targets will be challenging, and will need continued efforts from governments and international agencies in the next 15 years to end AIDS by 2030.
  •  
21.
  • Wang, Haidong, et al. (author)
  • Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980-2015 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015
  • 2016
  • In: The Lancet. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 388:10053, s. 1459-1544
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • BACKGROUND: Improving survival and extending the longevity of life for all populations requires timely, robust evidence on local mortality levels and trends. The Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study (GBD 2015) provides a comprehensive assessment of all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2015. These results informed an in-depth investigation of observed and expected mortality patterns based on sociodemographic measures.METHODS: We estimated all-cause mortality by age, sex, geography, and year using an improved analytical approach originally developed for GBD 2013 and GBD 2010. Improvements included refinements to the estimation of child and adult mortality and corresponding uncertainty, parameter selection for under-5 mortality synthesis by spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression, and sibling history data processing. We also expanded the database of vital registration, survey, and census data to 14 294 geography-year datapoints. For GBD 2015, eight causes, including Ebola virus disease, were added to the previous GBD cause list for mortality. We used six modelling approaches to assess cause-specific mortality, with the Cause of Death Ensemble Model (CODEm) generating estimates for most causes. We used a series of novel analyses to systematically quantify the drivers of trends in mortality across geographies. First, we assessed observed and expected levels and trends of cause-specific mortality as they relate to the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary indicator derived from measures of income per capita, educational attainment, and fertility. Second, we examined factors affecting total mortality patterns through a series of counterfactual scenarios, testing the magnitude by which population growth, population age structures, and epidemiological changes contributed to shifts in mortality. Finally, we attributed changes in life expectancy to changes in cause of death. We documented each step of the GBD 2015 estimation processes, as well as data sources, in accordance with Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting (GATHER).FINDINGS: Globally, life expectancy from birth increased from 61·7 years (95% uncertainty interval 61·4-61·9) in 1980 to 71·8 years (71·5-72·2) in 2015. Several countries in sub-Saharan Africa had very large gains in life expectancy from 2005 to 2015, rebounding from an era of exceedingly high loss of life due to HIV/AIDS. At the same time, many geographies saw life expectancy stagnate or decline, particularly for men and in countries with rising mortality from war or interpersonal violence. From 2005 to 2015, male life expectancy in Syria dropped by 11·3 years (3·7-17·4), to 62·6 years (56·5-70·2). Total deaths increased by 4·1% (2·6-5·6) from 2005 to 2015, rising to 55·8 million (54·9 million to 56·6 million) in 2015, but age-standardised death rates fell by 17·0% (15·8-18·1) during this time, underscoring changes in population growth and shifts in global age structures. The result was similar for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with total deaths from these causes increasing by 14·1% (12·6-16·0) to 39·8 million (39·2 million to 40·5 million) in 2015, whereas age-standardised rates decreased by 13·1% (11·9-14·3). Globally, this mortality pattern emerged for several NCDs, including several types of cancer, ischaemic heart disease, cirrhosis, and Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. By contrast, both total deaths and age-standardised death rates due to communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional conditions significantly declined from 2005 to 2015, gains largely attributable to decreases in mortality rates due to HIV/AIDS (42·1%, 39·1-44·6), malaria (43·1%, 34·7-51·8), neonatal preterm birth complications (29·8%, 24·8-34·9), and maternal disorders (29·1%, 19·3-37·1). Progress was slower for several causes, such as lower respiratory infections and nutritional deficiencies, whereas deaths increased for others, including dengue and drug use disorders. Age-standardised death rates due to injuries significantly declined from 2005 to 2015, yet interpersonal violence and war claimed increasingly more lives in some regions, particularly in the Middle East. In 2015, rotaviral enteritis (rotavirus) was the leading cause of under-5 deaths due to diarrhoea (146 000 deaths, 118 000-183 000) and pneumococcal pneumonia was the leading cause of under-5 deaths due to lower respiratory infections (393 000 deaths, 228 000-532 000), although pathogen-specific mortality varied by region. Globally, the effects of population growth, ageing, and changes in age-standardised death rates substantially differed by cause. Our analyses on the expected associations between cause-specific mortality and SDI show the regular shifts in cause of death composition and population age structure with rising SDI. Country patterns of premature mortality (measured as years of life lost [YLLs]) and how they differ from the level expected on the basis of SDI alone revealed distinct but highly heterogeneous patterns by region and country or territory. Ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and diabetes were among the leading causes of YLLs in most regions, but in many cases, intraregional results sharply diverged for ratios of observed and expected YLLs based on SDI. Communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases caused the most YLLs throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with observed YLLs far exceeding expected YLLs for countries in which malaria or HIV/AIDS remained the leading causes of early death.INTERPRETATION: At the global scale, age-specific mortality has steadily improved over the past 35 years; this pattern of general progress continued in the past decade. Progress has been faster in most countries than expected on the basis of development measured by the SDI. Against this background of progress, some countries have seen falls in life expectancy, and age-standardised death rates for some causes are increasing. Despite progress in reducing age-standardised death rates, population growth and ageing mean that the number of deaths from most non-communicable causes are increasing in most countries, putting increased demands on health systems.
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22.
  • Abbas, Ghulam, et al. (author)
  • Quasi Three-Dimensional Tetragonal SiC Polymorphs as Efficient Anodes for Sodium-Ion Batteries
  • 2023
  • In: ACS Applied Energy Materials. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2574-0962. ; 6:17, s. 8976-8988
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • In the present work, we investigate, for the first time, quasi 3D porous tetragonal silicon–carbon polymorphs t(SiC)12 and t(SiC)20 on the basis of first-principles density functional theory calculations. The structural design of these q3-t(SiC)12 and q3-t(SiC)20 polymorphs follows an intuitive rational approach based on armchair nanotubes of a tetragonal SiC monolayer where C–C and Si–Si bonds are arranged in a paired configuration for retaining a 1:1 ratio of the two elements. Our calculations uncover that q3-t(SiC)12 and q3-t(SiC)20 polymorphs are thermally, dynamically, and mechanically stable with this lattice framework. The results demonstrate that the smaller polymorph q3-t(SiC)12 shows a small band gap (∼0.59 eV), while the larger polymorph of q3-t(SiC)20 displays a Dirac nodal line semimetal. Moreover, the 1D channels are favorable for accommodating Na ions with excellent (>300 mAh g–1) reversible theoretical capacities. Thus confirming potential suitability of the two porous polymorphs with an appropriate average voltage and vanishingly small volume change (<6%) as anodes for Na-ion batteries.
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23.
  • Abbas, Muhammad Tahir, et al. (author)
  • Road-Aware Estimation Model for Path Duration in Internet of Vehicles (IoV)
  • 2019
  • In: Wireless personal communications. - : Springer. - 0929-6212 .- 1572-834X. ; 109:2, s. 715-738
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • In Internet of Vehicles (IoV), numerous routing metrics have been used to assess the performance of routing protocols such as, packet delivery ratio, throughput, end-to-end delay and path duration. Path duration is an influential design parameter, among these routing metrics, that determines the performance of vehicular networks. For instance, in highly dynamic scenarios, it can be used to predict link life time in on-demand routing protocols. In this paper, we propose an infrastructure-assisted hybrid road-aware routing protocol which is capable of enhanced vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. A remarkable aspect of the proposed protocol is that it establishes a link between path duration and fundamental design parameters like vehicular velocity, density, hop count and transmission range. Although, a lot of research has been previously performed, a well defined analytical model for IoV is not available in the literature. Precisely, a relation between path duration and vehicular velocity has not been validated in the previous studies. Experimental results show that the increased packet delivery ratio with reduced end-to-end delay can be achieved by the prediction of path duration. Proposed model for path duration is validated by getting experimental results from network simulator 3 (NS3) and analytical results from MATLAB. In addition, SUMO simulator was used to generate real time traffic on the roads of Gangnam district, South Korea.
  •  
24.
  • Abbas, Muhammad Tahir, et al. (author)
  • SD-IoV : SDN enabled routing for internet of vehicles in road-aware approach
  • 2019
  • In: Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing. - : Springer. - 1868-5137 .- 1868-5145. ; 11:3, s. 1265-1280
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Proposing an optimal routing protocol for internet of vehicles with reduced overhead has endured to be a challenge owing to the incompetence of the current architecture to manage flexibility and scalability. The proposed architecture, therefore, consolidates an evolving network standard named as software defined networking in internet of vehicles. Which enables it to handle highly dynamic networks in an abstract way by dividing the data plane from the control plane. Firstly, road-aware routing strategy is introduced: a performance-enhanced routing protocol designed specifically for infrastructure-assisted vehicular networks. In which roads are divided into road segments, with road side units for multi-hop communication. A unique property of the proposed protocol is that it explores the cellular network to relay control messages to and from the controller with low latency. The concept of edge controller is introduced as an operational backbone of the vehicle grid in internet of vehicles, to have a real-time vehicle topology. Last but not least, a novel mathematical model is estimated which assists primary controller in a way to find not only a shortest but a durable path. The results illustrate the significant performance of the proposed protocol in terms of availability with limited routing overhead. In addition, we also found that edge controller contributes mainly to minimizes the path failure in the network.
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25.
  • Abdal, Noman, et al. (author)
  • Salinity mitigates cadmium-induced phytotoxicity in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) by limiting the Cd uptake and improved responses to oxidative stress : implications for phytoremediation
  • 2023
  • In: Environmental Geochemistry and Health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0269-4042 .- 1573-2983. ; 45:1, s. 171-185
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Cadmium (Cd) contamination and soil salinity are the main environmental issues reducing crop productivity. This study aimed to examine the combined effects of salinity (NaCl) and Cd on the physiological and biochemical attributes of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.). For this purpose, 30-day-old plants of quinoa genotype “Puno” were transplanted in Hoagland's nutrient solution containing diverse concentrations of Cd: 0, 50, 100, 200 µM Cd, and salinity: 0, 150, and 300 mM NaCl. Results demonstrated that plant growth, stomatal conductance, and pigment contents were significantly lower at all Cd concentrations than the control plants. Quinoa plants exhibited improved growth and tolerance against Cd when grown at a lower level of salinity (150 mM NaCl) combined with Cd. In contrast, the elevated concentration of salinity (300 mM NaCl) combined with Cd reduced shoot and root growth of experimental plants more than 50%. Combined application of salinity and Cd increased Na (25-fold), while lessened the Cd (twofold) and K (1.5-fold) uptake. A blend of high concentrations of Na and Cd caused overproduction of H2O2 (eightfold higher than control) contents and triggered lipid peroxidation. The activities of antioxidant enzymes: ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were 13, 12, 7 and ninefold higher than control to mitigate the oxidative stress. Due to restricted root to shoot translocation, and greater tolerance potential against Cd, the quinoa genotype, Puno, is suitable for phytostabilization of Cd in saline soils.
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26.
  • Afroz, Laila, et al. (author)
  • Nanocomposite Catalyst (1 – x)NiO-xCuO/yGDC for Biogas Fueled Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
  • 2023
  • In: ACS Applied Energy Materials. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2574-0962. ; 6:21, s. 10918-10928
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • The composites of Ni–Cu oxides with gadolinium doped ceria (GDC) are emerging as highly proficient anode catalysts, owing to their remarkable performance for solid oxide fuel cells operated with biogas. In this context, the nanocomposite catalysts (1 – x)NiO-xCuO/yGDC (x = 0.2–0.8; y = 1,1.3) are synthesized using a solid-state reaction route. The cubic and monoclinic structures are observed for NiO and CuO phases, respectively, while CeO2 showed cubic fluorite structure. The scanning electron microscopic images revealed a rise in the particle size with an increase in the copper and GDC concentration. The optical band gap values are calculated in the range 2.82–2.33 eV from UV–visible analysis. The Raman spectra confirmed the presence of vibration modes of CeO2 and NiO. The electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite anodes is increased as the concentration of copper and GDC increased and reached at 9.48 S cm–1 for 0.2NiO-0.8CuO/1.3GDC composition at 650 °C. The electrochemical performance of (1 – x)NiO-xCuO/yGDC (x = 0.2–0.8; y = 1,1.3)-based fuel cells is investigated with biogas fuel at 650 °C. Among all of the as-synthesized anodes, the fuel cell with composition 0.2NiO-0.8CuO/1.3GDC showed the best performance, such as an open circuit voltage of 0.84 V and peak power density of 72 mW cm–2. However, from these findings, it can be inferred that among all other compositions, the 0.2NiO-0.8CuO/1.3GDC anode is a superior combination for the high electrochemical performance of solid oxide fuel cells fueled with biogas.
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27.
  • Ahmed, Shahbaz, et al. (author)
  • Accurate First-Principles Evaluation of Structural, Electronic, Optical and Photocatalytic Properties of BaHfO3 and SrHfO3 Perovskites
  • 2022
  • In: Journal of Alloys and Compounds. - : Elsevier. - 0925-8388 .- 1873-4669. ; 892
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • A reliable first-principles account of experimentally observed physical properties of perovskite oxides is crucial for realizing their employment in electronic and optical devices. In this context, SCAN meta-GGA functional of DFT offers good approximation for the exchange-correlation energy; facilitating accurate determination of structural and energetic properties. However, SCAN is unable to reproduce electronic and optical properties of wide bad gap materials. In the present study, we report systematic DFT calculations to show that structural, energetic, electronic and optical properties of hafnium based BaHfO3 and SrHfO3 perovskite oxides can be accurately determined through a combine application of SCAN and Tran-Blaha modified Becke-Johnson (TB-mBJ) meta-GGAs. The structural and energetic properties computed using SCAN functional for both BaHfO3 and SrHfO3 are found to be in good agreement with experimental data; achieving a level of accuracy comparable to computationally expansive hybrid DFT calculations. On the other hand, TB-mBJ calculated band gaps computed using the SCAN optimized lattice parameters provide better agreement with experimental data at a low computational cost. The optical properties, band edge potentials and effective masses of the charge carriers in BaHfO3 and SrHfO3 are also computed to examine the combined application of SCAN and TB-mBJ meta-GGAs in predicting the photocatalytic performance of these wide band gap materials. Our results clearly show that the combination of the two meta-GGAs provide a computationally economical route for evaluating the photocatalytic performance of alkaline-earth metal hafnates.
  •  
28.
  • Ali, Akbar, et al. (author)
  • Silver-chitosan nanobiocomposite as urea biosensor
  • 2014
  • In: Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Rapid Communications. - : NATL INST OPTOELECTRONICS. - 1842-6573 .- 2065-3824. ; 8:11-12, s. 1238-1242
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were synthesized by aqueous chemical growth technique. The above mentioned synthesized materials were characterized by applying scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction for confirmation of morphological analysis, compositional purity, and crystalline property and emission characteristics as well. In order to fabricate the urea biosensor (potentiometric), a solution of deionized water and chitosan was prepared having Ag NPs. The said solution was dropped on the glass fiber filter having diameter of 2 cm. A wire of copper having thickness of approximately 500 pm was used for the voltage signal to pull out from the said working nanoparticles (NPs). To improve the strength, sensitivity and the quality of the potentiometric urea biosensor, a specific functional surface of Ag NPs was attained by electrostatic restrained of an enzyme (urease) onto the chitosan-Ag (a nanobiocomposite). The potentiometric reaction was measured via electrochemical detection technique. The potentiometric urea biosensor illustrates significant sensibility at room temperature with approximate to 42 mV as per span. Furthermore, the said biosensor showed an appropriate stable response within 7 sec.
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29.
  • Ali, Raja Hashim, 1985-, et al. (author)
  • VMCMC: a graphical and statistical analysis tool for Markov chain Monte Carlo traces
  • Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
    • Motivation: MCMC-based methods are important for Bayesian inference of phylogeny and related parameters. Although being computationally expensive, MCMC yields estimates of posterior distributions that are useful for estimating parameter values and are easy to use in subsequent analysis. There are, however, sometimes practical diculties with MCMC, relating to convergence assessment and determining burn-in, especially in large-scale analyses. Currently, multiple software are required to perform, e.g., convergence, mixing and interactive exploration of both continuous and tree parameters.Results: We have written a software called VMCMC to simplify post-processing of MCMC traces with, for example, automatic burn-in estimation. VMCMC can also be used both as a GUI-based application, supporting interactive exploration, and as a command-line tool suitable for automated pipelines. Availability: VMCMC is available for Java SE 6+ under the New BSD License. Executable jar les, tutorial manual and source code can be downloaded from https://bitbucket.org/rhali/visualmcmc/.
  •  
30.
  • Anees, Hafiz Muhammad, et al. (author)
  • A mathematical model-based approach for DC multi-microgrid performance evaluations considering intermittent distributed energy resources, energy storage, multiple load classes, and system components variations
  • 2021
  • In: Energy Science & Engineering. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2050-0505. ; 9, s. 1919-1934
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • The efficiency of DC microgrid needs investigation from a smart grid perspective, since their spread has expected to prevail in comparison with AC counterparts. Furthermore, there is a need to address the limitations (majorly to cater the intermittency of distributed energy resources (DERs) as well as the time dependency of systematic parameters etc.) in previous model and propose a new mathematical model to evaluate system efficiency for given parameters and scenarios. The core focus of current study aims at formulation of an improved (composite) mathematical model, that is capable of bridging issues and serve as a tool to address requirements of future DC systems including microgrids (MGs) and multi-microgrids (MMGs). This research work offers such a mathematical model that consists of 3D matrices based on newly derived set of discrete time dependent equations, which evaluates the system efficiency of residential DC-MMGs. Each DC-MG is embedded with intermittent DERs, storage, components (with efficiency variations), and multi-class load (with discrete time dependency), for evaluation across worst, normal, and best scenarios. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis across various cases and respective scenarios are also presented to evaluate overall system performance. Also, the impacts of system parameters on various system variables, states, and overall system efficiency have presented in this paper.
  •  
31.
  • Beal, Jacob, et al. (author)
  • Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
  • 2020
  • In: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
  •  
32.
  • Bentham, James, et al. (author)
  • A century of trends in adult human height
  • 2016
  • In: eLIFE. - 2050-084X. ; 5
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.522.7) and 16.5 cm (13.319.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.
  •  
33.
  • Bentham, James, et al. (author)
  • A century of trends in adult human height
  • 2016
  • In: eLIFE. - : eLife Sciences Publications Ltd. - 2050-084X. ; 5
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5–22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3– 19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8– 144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.
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34.
  • Danaei, Goodarz, et al. (author)
  • Effects of diabetes definition on global surveillance of diabetes prevalence and diagnosis: a pooled analysis of 96 population-based studies with 331288 participants
  • 2015
  • In: The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. - 2213-8595 .- 2213-8587. ; 3:8, s. 624-637
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Background Diabetes has been defined on the basis of different biomarkers, including fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2-h plasma glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test (2hOGTT), and HbA(1c). We assessed the effect of different diagnostic definitions on both the population prevalence of diabetes and the classification of previously undiagnosed individuals as having diabetes versus not having diabetes in a pooled analysis of data from population-based health examination surveys in different regions. Methods We used data from 96 population-based health examination surveys that had measured at least two of the biomarkers used for defining diabetes. Diabetes was defined using HbA(1c) (HbA(1c) >= 6 . 5% or history of diabetes diagnosis or using insulin or oral hypoglycaemic drugs) compared with either FPG only or FPG-or-2hOGTT definitions (FPG >= 7 . 0 mmol/L or 2hOGTT >= 11 . 1 mmol/L or history of diabetes or using insulin or oral hypoglycaemic drugs). We calculated diabetes prevalence, taking into account complex survey design and survey sample weights. We compared the prevalences of diabetes using different definitions graphically and by regression analyses. We calculated sensitivity and specificity of diabetes diagnosis based on HbA1c compared with diagnosis based on glucose among previously undiagnosed individuals (ie, excluding those with history of diabetes or using insulin or oral hypoglycaemic drugs). We calculated sensitivity and specificity in each survey, and then pooled results using a random-effects model. We assessed the sources of heterogeneity of sensitivity by meta-regressions for study characteristics selected a priori. Findings Population prevalence of diabetes based on FPG- or-2hOGTT was correlated with prevalence based on FPG alone (r= 0 . 98), but was higher by 2-6 percentage points at different prevalence levels. Prevalence based on HbA(1c) was lower than prevalence based on FPG in 42 . 8% of age-sex-survey groups and higher in another 41 . 6%; in the other 15 . 6%, the two definitions provided similar prevalence estimates. The variation across studies in the relation between glucose-based and HbA(1c)-based prevalences was partly related to participants' age, followed by natural logarithm of per person gross domestic product, the year of survey, mean BMI, and whether the survey population was national, subnational, or from specific communities. Diabetes defined as HbA(1c) 6 . 5% or more had a pooled sensitivity of 52 . 8% (95% CI 51 . 3-54 . 3%) and a pooled specificity of 99 . 74% (99 . 71-99 . 78%) compared with FPG 7 . 0 mmol/L or more for diagnosing previously undiagnosed participants; sensitivity compared with diabetes defined based on FPG-or-2hOGTT was 30 . 5% (28 . 7-32 . 3%). None of the preselected study-level characteristics explained the heterogeneity in the sensitivity of HbA(1c) versus FPG. Interpretation Different biomarkers and definitions for diabetes can provide different estimates of population prevalence of diabetes, and differentially identify people without previous diagnosis as having diabetes. Using an HbA(1c)-based definition alone in health surveys will not identify a substantial proportion of previously undiagnosed people who would be considered as having diabetes using a glucose-based test.
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35.
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36.
  • Hameed, Arslan, et al. (author)
  • ZIF-12/Fe-Cu LDH Composite as a High Performance Electrocatalyst for Water Oxidation
  • 2021
  • In: Frontiers in Chemistry. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 2296-2646. ; 9
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Layered double hydroxides (LDH) are being used as electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reactions (OERs). However, low current densities limit their practical applications. Herein, we report a facile and economic synthesis of an iron-copper based LDH integrated with a cobalt-based metal-organic framework (ZIF-12) to form LDH-ZIF-12 composite (1) through a co-precipitation method. The as-synthesized composite 1 requires a low overpotential of 337 mV to achieve a catalytic current density of 10 mA cm−2 with a Tafel slope of 89 mV dec−1. Tafel analysis further demonstrates that 1 exhibits a slope of 89 mV dec−1 which is much lower than the slope of 284 mV dec−1 for LDH and 172 mV dec−1 for ZIF-12. The slope value of 1 is also lower than previously reported electrocatalysts, including Ni-Co LDH (113 mV dec−1) and Zn-Co LDH nanosheets (101 mV dec−1), under similar conditions. Controlled potential electrolysis and stability test experiments show the potential application of 1 as a heterogeneous electrocatalyst for water oxidation.
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37.
  • Inayat, Irum, et al. (author)
  • Security-based Safety Hazard Analysis using FMEA : A DAM Case Study
  • 2021
  • In: International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications. - Cham : Springer International Publishing.
  • Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Safety and security emerge to be the most significant features of a Cyber-Physical System (CPS). Safety and security of a system are interlaced concepts and have mutual impact on each other. In the last decade, there are many cases where security breach resulted in safety hazards. There have been very few studies in the literature that address the integrated safety security risk assessment. Since, the need of the time is to consider both safety and security concurrently not even consequently. To close this gap, we aim to: (i) perform hazard analysis using Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) of a cyber physical system case i.e., Dam case study, and (ii) perform risk identification, risk analysis and mitigation for the said case. As a result, we extracted the potential failure modes, failure causes, failure effects, and the risk priority number. In addition, we also identified the safety requirements for the modes of the subject.
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38.
  • Iqbal, Javed, et al. (author)
  • A Novel Single-Fed Dual-Band Dual-Circularly Polarized Dielectric Resonator Antenna for 5G Sub-6GHz Applications
  • 2022
  • In: Applied Sciences. - : MDPI AG. - 2076-3417. ; 12:10
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • In this research article, a single-fed dual-band circular polarized (CP) dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) for dual-function communication, such as GPS and WLAN, was made. Initially, the proposed design process was initiated by designing a linearly polarized singly fed-DRA. To attain CP fields, the cross-shape conformal metal strip was optimized to excite the fundamental and the high-order mode in the two frequency bands. The metallic strip (parasitic) was utilized on top of the rectangular DRA to improve and widen the impedance and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth. This step led to a 2.73% improvement on the lower band and an impact of 6.5% on the upper band while on the other side a significant improvement was witnessed in the AR bandwidth in both frequency bands. A prototype was designed and fabricated in order to validate its operations. The measurement outcomes of the proposed antennas authenticated wideband impedance bandwidths of 6.4% and 25.26%, and 3-dB axial ratios (AR) of 21.26% and 27.82% respectively. The prototype is a decent candidate for a global positioning system (GPS) and wireless local area network (WLAN).
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39.
  • Jibran, Muhammad Ali, et al. (author)
  • Position prediction for routing in software defined internet of vehicles
  • 2020
  • In: Journal of Communications. - : Engineering and Technology Publishing. - 1796-2021 .- 2374-4367. ; 15:2, s. 157-163
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • By the prediction of future location for a vehicle in Internet of Vehicles (IoV), data forwarding schemes can be further improved. Major parameters for vehicle position prediction includes traffic density, motion, road conditions, and vehicle current position. In this paper, therefore, our proposed system enforces the accurate prediction with the help of real-time traffic from the vehicles. In addition, the proposed Neural Network Model assists Edge Controller and centralized controller to compute and predict vehicle future position inside and outside of the vicinity, respectively. Last but not least, in order to get real-time data, and to maintain a quality of experience, the edge controller is explored with Software Defined Internet of Vehicles. In order to evaluate our framework, SUMO simulator with Open Street map is considered and the results prove the importance of vehicle position prediction for vehicular networks.
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40.
  • Khokhar, Javeria, et al. (author)
  • Prevalence and determinants of anemia among resident female university students from Southern Punjab, Pakistan
  • 2022
  • In: Women and Health. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0363-0242 .- 1541-0331. ; 62:6, s. 488-501
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Health and nutritional status of the women of reproductive age (WRA) is expected to be influenced with women literacy status alongside other sociodemographic indicators. However, data are scant to validate if literate young women have lower incidence of anemia prevalence. Nexus to the problem stated, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,541 female resident university students (FRUS) aged 17–35 years from a public sector university located in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Hemoglobin (Hb) led screening for anemia was performed followed by nutritional assessment and structured questionnaire-based sociodemographic and dietary assessment. The data generated were analyzed using independent t-test, Chi-square, and response surface regression models. Response rate for the prevalence of anemia in FRUS was 38 percent with mean Hb levels 10.5 g/dL. With a significant effect (p =.001) of participants’ weight on anemia prevalence, 22.45 percent of the sample population was recorded as underweight. Sociodemographic and dietary parameters analyzed suggested low daily food expenditure (x 2 = 20.59; p =.000) and reduced intake of meat (x 2 = 12.14; p =.01), beans & pulses (x 2 = 18.56; p =.001) to significantly influence rate of anemia prevalence in FRUS. The study concludes high prevalence rate of anemia among FRUS to strongly relate with students’ low monthly stipend, little daily food expenditure, and substandard dietary quality.
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41.
  • Micah, Angela E., et al. (author)
  • Tracking development assistance for health and for COVID-19 : a review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 204 countries and territories, 1990-2050
  • 2021
  • In: The Lancet. - : Elsevier. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 398:10308, s. 1317-1343
  • Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 renewed the focus on how health systems across the globe are financed, especially during public health emergencies. Development assistance is an important source of health financing in many low-income countries, yet little is known about how much of this funding was disbursed for COVID-19. We aimed to put development assistance for health for COVID-19 in the context of broader trends in global health financing, and to estimate total health spending from 1995 to 2050 and development assistance for COVID-19 in 2020. Methods We estimated domestic health spending and development assistance for health to generate total health-sector spending estimates for 204 countries and territories. We leveraged data from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database to produce estimates of domestic health spending. To generate estimates for development assistance for health, we relied on project-level disbursement data from the major international development agencies' online databases and annual financial statements and reports for information on income sources. To adjust our estimates for 2020 to include disbursements related to COVID-19, we extracted project data on commitments and disbursements from a broader set of databases (because not all of the data sources used to estimate the historical series extend to 2020), including the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance Financial Tracking Service and the International Aid Transparency Initiative. We reported all the historic and future spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2020 US$, 2020 US$ per capita, purchasing-power parity-adjusted US$ per capita, and as a proportion of gross domestic product. We used various models to generate future health spending to 2050. Findings In 2019, health spending globally reached $8. 8 trillion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8.7-8.8) or $1132 (1119-1143) per person. Spending on health varied within and across income groups and geographical regions. Of this total, $40.4 billion (0.5%, 95% UI 0.5-0.5) was development assistance for health provided to low-income and middle-income countries, which made up 24.6% (UI 24.0-25.1) of total spending in low-income countries. We estimate that $54.8 billion in development assistance for health was disbursed in 2020. Of this, $13.7 billion was targeted toward the COVID-19 health response. $12.3 billion was newly committed and $1.4 billion was repurposed from existing health projects. $3.1 billion (22.4%) of the funds focused on country-level coordination and $2.4 billion (17.9%) was for supply chain and logistics. Only $714.4 million (7.7%) of COVID-19 development assistance for health went to Latin America, despite this region reporting 34.3% of total recorded COVID-19 deaths in low-income or middle-income countries in 2020. Spending on health is expected to rise to $1519 (1448-1591) per person in 2050, although spending across countries is expected to remain varied. Interpretation Global health spending is expected to continue to grow, but remain unequally distributed between countries. We estimate that development organisations substantially increased the amount of development assistance for health provided in 2020. Continued efforts are needed to raise sufficient resources to mitigate the pandemic for the most vulnerable, and to help curtail the pandemic for all. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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42.
  • Muhammad, Zahir, et al. (author)
  • Temperature Modulating Fermi Level Pinning in 2D GeSe for High‐Performance Transistor
  • 2022
  • In: Advanced Electronic Materials. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2199-160X. ; 8:7
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • 2D layered germanium selenide (GeSe) material possesses in-plane anisotropy because of low-symmetry crystal structure with a new degree of freedom for enhanced optical and electronic properties. However, their systematic vibrational and electronics properties are still under the scope to study. Herein, the vibrational properties of GeSe sheets are studied by Raman spectroscopy. Whereas, the temperature-dependent electronic band structure is studied using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) combined with density functional theory calculations. Moreover, the field-effect transistor (FET) is fabricated on a few-layer GeSe with high performance. The vibrational modes (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.) demonstrates linear softening as the temperature increases, with temperature coefficient value associated by anharmonic phonon–phonon/electron coupling. Besides, the enhanced dielectric screening effect of long-range Coulomb and interlayer interaction is observed from bulk to monolayer. Similarly, ARPES results further show Fermi level movement toward the valance band as increased temperature represents hole doping to pining the Fermi level, which indicates superior carrier concentration for electronic properties. The fabricated FET device on six layers GeSe exhibits high carrier mobility of 52.89 cm2 V−1 s−1 with an on/off ratio above 4 × 105 at room temperature, while it decreased below the room temperature. Our results provide the important figure of merit for GeSe-based novel nanoelectronic and thermoelectric devices.
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43.
  • Rafique, Asia, et al. (author)
  • Multioxide phase-based nanocomposite electrolyte (M@SDC where M = Zn2+ / Ba2+/ La2+/Zr-2/Al3+) materials
  • 2020
  • In: Ceramics International. - : ELSEVIER SCI LTD. - 0272-8842 .- 1873-3956. ; 46:52, s. 6882-6888
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • This paper deals with the development of a highly dense and stable electrolyte on the base of nanoionics oxide interface theory. This gives a comparative study of two-phase nanocomposite electrolytes that are developed for low temperature solid oxide fuel cells (LT-SOFCs). These nanocomposites are synthesised with different oxides, which are coated on the doped ceria that showed high oxide ion mobility for LT-SOFCs. These novel two-phase nanocomposite oxide ionic conductors (MCe0.8Sm0.2O2-MO2, where M = Zn2+/Ba2+/La3+/Zr2+/Al3+) were synthesised by a co-precipitation method. The interface study between these two phases was analysed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), while ionic conductivities were measured with DC conductivity (four probe method). The nanocomposite electrolytes exhibited higher conductivities with the increase of concentration of coated oxides but decreased at a certain level. The structural or morphological properties of the nanocomposite electrolytes were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thermal stability was investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The maximum performance of 590 mW/cm(2) at 550 degrees C was obtained for the Zn@SDC based cell, and the rest of the coated samples Ba@SDC, La@SDC, Zr@SDC and Al@SDC based cells showed values of 550 mW/cm(2), 540 mW/cm(2), 450 mW/cm(2), 340 mW/cm(2), respectively, with hydrogen as a fuel. Therefore, the coated-SDC based nanocomposite materials are a good approach for lowering the operating temperature to achieve the challenges of the solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). These two-phase nanocomposite electrolytes satisfy the all requirements which one electrolyte should have, like high ionic conduction, thermodynamic stability and negligible electronic conduction.
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44.
  • Tanveer, M. K., et al. (author)
  • Prevalence and chemo-therapeutical investigations of gastrointestinal nematodes in domestic pigeons in Lahore, Pakistan
  • 2011
  • In: Tropical Biomedicine. - 0127-5720. ; 28:1, s. 102-110
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • The prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes was studied in 143 (80 male and 63 female) domestic pigeons. Faecal samples were collected to determine the gastrointestinal nematodes of domestic pigeons through qualitative and quantitative faecal examinations. A total of 48 (male 33 and 25 female) naturally infected domestic pigeons were divided into G(1) (albendzdole) and G(2) (fenbendazole) treatment-groups along with one control group (C). The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes was 40.5% (58/143) in domestic pigeons. Likewise, the prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes in males and females was found 41.3% (33/58) and 39.7% (25/58) respectively. The overall prevalence of Capillaria obsignata and Ascaridia columbae was found to be 67.2% and 32.8%, respectively. The prevalence of C. obsignata and A. columbae in males was 72.7% (24/33) and 27.8% (9/33) and in females was 60% (15/25) and 40% (10/25), respectively. There was no significant sex related difference seen in the prevalence of C. obsignata (p>0.56) and A. columbae (p>0.40) in domestic pigeons, respectively. The overall efficacy of albendazole and fenbendazole was calculated to be 66% and 71%. A remarkable significant difference (p<0.05) was observed in eggs per gram before and after treatment in both G(1) and G(2) treated-groups. The efficacy of fenbendazole was found to be more significant (p<0.02) than albendazole.
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45.
  • Zhou, Bin, et al. (author)
  • Worldwide trends in diabetes since 1980: A pooled analysis of 751 population-based studies with 4.4 million participants
  • 2016
  • In: The Lancet. - : Elsevier B.V.. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 387:10027, s. 1513-1530
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Background: One of the global targets for non-communicable diseases is to halt, by 2025, the rise in the age standardised adult prevalence of diabetes at its 2010 levels. We aimed to estimate worldwide trends in diabetes, how likely it is for countries to achieve the global target, and how changes in prevalence, together with population growth and ageing, are aff ecting the number of adults with diabetes.Methods: We pooled data from population-based studies that had collected data on diabetes through measurement of its biomarkers. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in diabetes prevalence-defined as fasting plasma glucose of 7.0 mmol/L or higher, or history of diagnosis with diabetes, or use of insulin or oral hypoglycaemic drugs-in 200 countries and territories in 21 regions, by sex and from 1980 to 2014. We also calculated the posterior probability of meeting the global diabetes target if post-2000 trends continue.Findings: We used data from 751 studies including 4372000 adults from 146 of the 200 countries we make estimates for. Global age-standardised diabetes prevalence increased from 4.3% (95% credible interval 2.4-17.0) in 1980 to 9.0% (7.2-11.1) in 2014 in men, and from 5.0% (2.9-7.9) to 7.9% (6.4-9.7) in women. The number of adults with diabetes in the world increased from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014 (28.5% due to the rise in prevalence, 39.7% due to population growth and ageing, and 31.8% due to interaction of these two factors). Age-standardised adult diabetes prevalence in 2014 was lowest in northwestern Europe, and highest in Polynesia and Micronesia, at nearly 25%, followed by Melanesia and the Middle East and north Africa. Between 1980 and 2014 there was little change in age-standardised diabetes prevalence in adult women in continental western Europe, although crude prevalence rose because of ageing of the population. By contrast, age-standardised adult prevalence rose by 15 percentage points in men and women in Polynesia and Micronesia. In 2014, American Samoa had the highest national prevalence of diabetes (>30% in both sexes), with age-standardised adult prevalence also higher than 25% in some other islands in Polynesia and Micronesia. If post-2000 trends continue, the probability of meeting the global target of halting the rise in the prevalence of diabetes by 2025 at the 2010 level worldwide is lower than 1% for men and is 1% for women. Only nine countries for men and 29 countries for women, mostly in western Europe, have a 50% or higher probability of meeting the global target.Interpretation: Since 1980, age-standardised diabetes prevalence in adults has increased, or at best remained unchanged, in every country. Together with population growth and ageing, this rise has led to a near quadrupling of the number of adults with diabetes worldwide. The burden of diabetes, both in terms of prevalence and number of adults aff ected, has increased faster in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.
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46.
  • Zulfiqar, Waqas, et al. (author)
  • Revisiting the structural, electronic and photocatalytic properties of Ti and Zr based perovskites with meta-GGA functionals of DFT
  • 2021
  • In: Journal of Materials Chemistry C. - UK : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2050-7526 .- 2050-7534. ; 9:14, s. 4862-4876
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • The strongly constrained and appropriately normed (SCAN) functional of density functional theory (DFT) conforms to all possible exact constraints required of a meta-GGA functional and offers good approximations for structural and energetic properties of solids in comparison to experiments. However, SCAN is unable to fully overcome the underestimation of band gap for perovskite oxide materials suitable for photocatalysis. In the present work, we use a combination of meta-GGAs SCAN and modified Becke–Johnson local density approximation (mBJ-LDA) potential functional to accurately compute the structural, energetic, mechanical, vibrational and optoelectronic properties of Ti and Zr based ABO3 (A = Sr, Ba and B = Ti and Zr) perovskite oxides. In addition to evaluating their physical properties, the potential applications of these materials as photocatalyst operating in the UV region of the electromagnetic spectrum are also examined. We show that the structural, energetic, mechanical and vibrational properties calculated using SCAN are in better agreement with experimental data as compared to the commonly used semi-local functionals of DFT. However, the optoelectronic properties of the large band gap Ti and Zr based perovskite oxides are further improved if computed with the mBJ-LDA potential functional, whereby an even higher level of accuracy than with SCAN is achieved, with results that are comparable to the computationally expensive hybrid DFT functionals. On the whole, our DFT calculations indicate that a combination of SCAN and mBJ-LDA functionals for exploring the physical properties of large band gap perovskite oxides provide the means for identifying photocatalysts suitable for hydrogen production at low computational costs.
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47.
  •  
48.
  • Abbafati, Cristiana, et al. (author)
  • 2020
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)
  •  
49.
  • Abbas, Haider, et al. (author)
  • DUDE: Decryption, Unpacking, Deobfuscation, and Endian Conversion Framework for Embedded Devices Firmware
  • 2023
  • In: IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 1545-5971 .- 1941-0018.
  • Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) embedded devices rely on vendor-specific firmware to perform essential tasks. These firmware have been under active analysis by researchers to check security features and identify possible vendor backdoors. However, consistently unpacking newly created filesystem formats has been exceptionally challenging. To thwart attempts at unpacking, vendors frequently use encryption and obfuscation methods. On the other hand, when handling encrypted, obfuscated, big endian cramfs, or custom filesystem formats found in firmware under test, the available literature and tools are insufficient. This study introduces DUDE, an automated framework that provides novel functionalities, outperforming cutting-edge tools in the decryption, unpacking, deobfuscation, and endian conversion of firmware. For big endian compressed romfs filesystem formats, DUDE supports endian conversion. It also supports deobfuscating obfuscated signatures for successful unpacking. Moreover, decryption support for encrypted binaries from the D-Link and MOXA series has also been added, allowing for easier analysis and access to the contents of these firmware files. Additionally, the framework offers unpacking assistance by supporting the extraction of special filesystem formats commonly found in firmware samples from various vendors. A remarkable 78% (1424 out of 1814) firmware binaries from different vendors were successfully unpacked using the suggested framework. This performance surpasses the capabilities of commercially available tools combined on a single platform.
  •  
50.
  • Abbas, Muhammad, et al. (author)
  • Automated Reuse Recommendation of Product Line Assets Based on Natural Language Requirements
  • 2020
  • In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science. - Cham : Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. - 9783030646936 ; , s. 173-189, s. 173-189, s. 173-189
  • Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
    • Software product lines (SPLs) are based on reuse rationale to aid quick and quality delivery of complex products at scale. Deriving a new product from a product line requires reuse analysis to avoid redundancy and support a high degree of assets reuse. In this paper, we propose and evaluate automated support for recommending SPL assets that can be reused to realize new customer requirements. Using the existing customer requirements as input, the approach applies natural language processing and clustering to generate reuse recommendations for unseen customer requirements in new projects. The approach is evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively in the railway industry. Results show that our approach can recommend reuse with 74% accuracy and 57.4% exact match. The evaluation further indicates that the recommendations are relevant to engineers and can support the product derivation and feasibility analysis phase of the projects. The results encourage further study on automated reuse analysis on other levels of abstractions. 
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