| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Glasbey, JC, et al.
(author)
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- 2021
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swepub:Mat__t
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| 9. |
- Feigin, Valery L., et al.
(author)
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Global, regional, and national burden of stroke and its risk factors, 1990-2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
- 2021
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In: Lancet Neurology. - : Elsevier. - 1474-4422 .- 1474-4465. ; 20:10, s. 795-820
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Regularly updated data on stroke and its pathological types, including data on their incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability, risk factors, and epidemiological trends, are important for evidence-based stroke care planning and resource allocation. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) aims to provide a standardised and comprehensive measurement of these metrics at global, regional, and national levels. Methods We applied GBD 2019 analytical tools to calculate stroke incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and the population attributable fraction (PAF) of DALYs (with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals [UIs]) associated with 19 risk factors, for 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019. These estimates were provided for ischaemic stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage, subarachnoid haemorrhage, and all strokes combined, and stratified by sex, age group, and World Bank country income level. Findings In 2019, there were 12.2 million (95% UI 11.0-13.6) incident cases of stroke, 101 million (93.2-111) prevalent cases of stroke, 143 million (133-153) DALYs due to stroke, and 6.55 million (6.00-7.02) deaths from stroke. Globally, stroke remained the second-leading cause of death (11.6% [10.8-12.2] of total deaths) and the third-leading cause of death and disability combined (5.7% [5.1-6.2] of total DALYs) in 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the absolute number of incident strokes increased by 70.0% (67.0-73.0), prevalent strokes increased by 85.0% (83.0-88.0), deaths from stroke increased by 43.0% (31.0-55.0), and DALYs due to stroke increased by 32.0% (22.0-42.0). During the same period, age-standardised rates of stroke incidence decreased by 17.0% (15.0-18.0), mortality decreased by 36.0% (31.0-42.0), prevalence decreased by 6.0% (5.0-7.0), and DALYs decreased by 36.0% (31.0-42.0). However, among people younger than 70 years, prevalence rates increased by 22.0% (21.0-24.0) and incidence rates increased by 15.0% (12.0-18.0). In 2019, the age-standardised stroke-related mortality rate was 3.6 (3.5-3.8) times higher in the World Bank low-income group than in the World Bank high-income group, and the age-standardised stroke-related DALY rate was 3.7 (3.5-3.9) times higher in the low-income group than the high-income group. Ischaemic stroke constituted 62.4% of all incident strokes in 2019 (7.63 million [6.57-8.96]), while intracerebral haemorrhage constituted 27.9% (3.41 million [2.97-3.91]) and subarachnoid haemorrhage constituted 9.7% (1.18 million [1.01-1.39]). In 2019, the five leading risk factors for stroke were high systolic blood pressure (contributing to 79.6 million [67.7-90.8] DALYs or 55.5% [48.2-62.0] of total stroke DALYs), high body-mass index (34.9 million [22.3-48.6] DALYs or 24.3% [15.7-33.2]), high fasting plasma glucose (28.9 million [19.8-41.5] DALYs or 20.2% [13.8-29.1]), ambient particulate matter pollution (28.7 million [23.4-33.4] DALYs or 20.1% [16.6-23.0]), and smoking (25.3 million [22.6-28.2] DALYs or 17.6% [16.4-19.0]). Interpretation The annual number of strokes and deaths due to stroke increased substantially from 1990 to 2019, despite substantial reductions in age-standardised rates, particularly among people older than 70 years. The highest age-standardised stroke-related mortality and DALY rates were in the World Bank low-income group. The fastest-growing risk factor for stroke between 1990 and 2019 was high body-mass index. Without urgent implementation of effective primary prevention strategies, the stroke burden will probably continue to grow across the world, particularly in low-income countries.
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| 10. |
- Lossow, Stefan, 1977, et al.
(author)
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The SPARC water vapour assessment II: Profile-to-profile comparisons of stratospheric and lower mesospheric water vapour data sets obtained from satellites
- 2019
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In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 12:5, s. 2693-2732
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Within the framework of the second SPARC (Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate) water vapour assessment (WAVAS-II), profile-to-profile comparisons of stratospheric and lower mesospheric water vapour were performed by considering 33 data sets derived from satellite observations of 15 different instruments. These comparisons aimed to provide a picture of the typical biases and drifts in the observational database and to identify data-set-specific problems. The observational database typically exhibits the largest biases below 70 hPa, both in absolute and relative terms. The smallest biases are often found between 50 and 5 hPa. Typically, they range from 0.25 to 0.5 ppmv (5 % to 10 %) in this altitude region, based on the 50 % percentile over the different comparison results. Higher up, the biases increase with altitude overall but this general behaviour is accompanied by considerable variations. Characteristic values vary between 0.3 and 1 ppmv (4 % to 20 %). Obvious data-set-specific bias issues are found for a number of data sets. In our work we performed a drift analysis for data sets overlapping for a period of at least 36 months. This assessment shows a wide range of drifts among the different data sets that are statistically significant at the 2 σ uncertainty level. In general, the smallest drifts are found in the altitude range between about 30 and 10 hPa. Histograms considering results from all altitudes indicate the largest occurrence for drifts between 0.05 and 0.3 ppmv decade-1. Comparisons of our drift estimates to those derived from comparisons of zonal mean time series only exhibit statistically significant differences in slightly more than 3 % of the comparisons. Hence, drift estimates from profile-to-profile and zonal mean time series comparisons are largely interchangeable. As for the biases, a number of data sets exhibit prominent drift issues. In our analyses we found that the large number of MIPAS data sets included in the assessment affects our general results as well as the bias summaries we provide for the individual data sets. This is because these data sets exhibit a relative similarity with respect to the remaining data sets, despite the fact that they are based on different measurement modes and different processors implementing different retrieval choices. Because of that, we have by default considered an aggregation of the comparison results obtained from MIPAS data sets. Results without this aggregation are provided on multiple occasions to characterise the effects due to the numerous MIPAS data sets. Among other effects, they cause a reduction of the typical biases in the observational database.
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Kiefer, M., et al.
(author)
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The SPARC water vapour assessment II: biases and drifts of water vapour satellite data records with respect to frost point hygrometer records
- 2023
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In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 16:19, s. 4589-4642
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Satellite data records of stratospheric water vapour have been compared to balloon-borne frost point hygrometer (FP) profiles that are coincident in space and time. The satellite data records of 15 different instruments cover water vapour data available from January 2000 through December 2016. The hygrometer data are from 27 stations all over the world in the same period. For the comparison, real or constructed averaging kernels have been applied to the hygrometer profiles to adjust them to the measurement characteristics of the satellite instruments. For bias evaluation, we have compared satellite profiles averaged over the available temporal coverage to the means of coincident FP profiles for individual stations. For drift determinations, we analysed time series of relative differences between spatiotemporally coincident satellite and hygrometer profiles at individual stations. In a synopsis we have also calculated the mean biases and drifts (and their respective uncertainties) for each satellite record over all applicable hygrometer stations in three altitude ranges (10-30 hPa, 30-100 hPa, and 100 hPa to tropopause). Most of the satellite data have biases <10 % and average drifts <1 % yr-1 in at least one of the respective altitude ranges. Virtually all biases are significant in the sense that their uncertainty range in terms of twice the standard error of the mean does not include zero. Statistically significant drifts (95 % confidence) are detected for 35 % of the ≈ 1200 time series of relative differences between satellites and hygrometers.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Lossow, S., et al.
(author)
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The SPARC water vapour assessment II: comparison of annual, semi-annual and quasi-biennial variations in stratospheric and lower mesospheric water vapour observed from satellites
- 2017
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In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 10:3, s. 1111-1137
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the framework of the second SPARC (Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate) water vapour assessment (WAVAS-II), the amplitudes and phases of the annual, semi-annual and quasi-biennial variation in stratospheric and lower mesospheric water were compared using 30 data sets from 13 different satellite instruments. These comparisons aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the typical uncertainties in the observational database which can be considered in subsequent observational and modelling studies. For the amplitudes, a good agreement of their latitude and altitude distribution was found. Quantitatively there were differences in particular at high latitudes, close to the tropopause and in the lower mesosphere. In these regions, the standard deviation over all data sets typically exceeded 0.2 ppmv for the annual variation and 0.1 ppmv for the semi-annual and quasi-biennial variation. For the phase, larger differences between the data sets were found in the lower mesosphere. Generally the smallest phase uncertainties can be observed in regions where the amplitude of the variability is large. The standard deviations of the phases for all data sets were typically smaller than a month for the annual and semi-annual variation and smaller than 5 months for the quasi-biennial variation. The amplitude and phase differences among the data sets are caused by a combination of factors. In general, differences in the temporal variation of systematic errors and in the observational sampling play a dominant role. In addition, differences in the vertical resolution of the data, the considered time periods and influences of clouds, aerosols as well as non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects cause differences between the individual data sets. .1 Symposia of COSPAR Scientific Commission A, held during the Thirty-first COSPAR Scientific Assembly
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| 15. |
- Azam, M. S., et al.
(author)
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Silica Surface Charge Enhancement at Elevated Temperatures Revealed by Interfacial Water Signals
- 2020
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In: Journal of the American Chemical Society. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0002-7863 .- 1520-5126. ; 142:2, s. 669-673
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The structure of water adjacent to silica is sensitive to the degree of deprotonation of surface silanol groups. As a result, close inspection of signals originating from these water molecules can be used to reveal the surface charge density. We have used nonlinear vibrational spectroscopy of the water O-H stretching band over a temperature range of 10-75 °C to account for the increase in surface potential from deprotonation. We demonstrate that the behavior at the silica surface is a balance between increasing surface charge and a decreasing contribution of water molecules aligned by the surface charge. Together with a model that accounts for two different types of silanol sites, we use our data to report the changes in enthalpy and entropy for deprotonation at each site. This is the first experimental determination of these thermodynamic parameters for hydrated silanol groups at the silica surface, critical to a wide range of geochemical and technological applications.
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Khan, U. H., et al.
(author)
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A novel asterisk-shaped circularly polarized RFID tag for on-metal applications
- 2016
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In: Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Journal. - : Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES). - 1054-4887. ; 31:9, s. 1035-1042
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An asterisk-shaped, metal-mountable RFID tag with a minuscule footprint is presented. The proposed design makes use of multiple asymmetric slots patterned in a cross-shaped fashion to achieve circular polarization. The structure is excited capacitively using a terminally-grounded, T-shaped feed line positioned within the slots. This peculiar arrangement permits the attainment of circular polarized radiation characteristics over a wide band of operation. Impedance matching, antenna size reduction and read range enhancement are the additional advantages offered by the embedded feed line. The final design is realized on a commercially available FR-4 substrate over dimensions of 40 x 40 mm2 yielding an impedance bandwidth and an axial ratio bandwidth of 37 MHz and 20 MHz, respectively. Improvement in antenna gain (and consequently in the read range) is reported upon mounting the tag on metallic surfaces.
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| 20. |
- Mirahmadi, K., et al.
(author)
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Alkaline Pretreatment of Spruce and Birch to Improve Bioethanol and Biogas Production
- 2010
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In: BioResources. - : Wiley. - 1930-2126 .- 1930-2126. ; 5:2, s. 928-938
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alkaline pretreatment with NaOH under mild operating conditions was used to improve ethanol and biogas production from softwood spruce and hardwood birch. The pretreatments were carried out at different temperatures between minus 15 and 100 degrees C with 7.0% w/w NaOH solution for 2 h. The pretreated materials were then enzymatically hydrolyzed and subsequently fermented to ethanol or anaerobically digested to biogas. In general, the pretreatment was more successful for both ethanol and biogas production from the hardwood birch than the softwood spruce. The pretreatment resulted in significant reduction of hemicellulose and the crystallinity of cellulose, which might be responsible for improved enzymatic hydrolyses of birch from 6.9% to 82.3% and spruce from 14.1% to 35.7%. These results were obtained with pretreatment at 100 degrees C for birch and 5 degrees C for spruce. Subsequently, the best ethanol yield obtained was 0.08 g/g of the spruce while pretreated at 100 degrees C, and 0.17 g/g of the birch treated at 100 degrees C. On the other hand, digestion of untreated birch and spruce resulted in methane yields of 250 and 30 l/kg VS of the wood species, respectively. The pretreatment of the wood species at the best conditions for enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in 83% and 74% improvement in methane production from birch and spruce.
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| 21. |
- Naito, R., et al.
(author)
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Impact of social isolation on mortality and morbidity in 20 high-income, middle-income and low-income countries in five continents
- 2021
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In: Bmj Global Health. - : BMJ. - 2059-7908. ; 6:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective To examine the association between social isolation and mortality and incident diseases in middle-aged adults in urban and rural communities from high-income, middle-income and low-income countries. Design Population-based prospective observational study. Setting Urban and rural communities in 20 high income, middle income and low income. Participants 119 894 community-dwelling middle-aged adults. Main outcome measures Associations of social isolation with mortality, cardiovascular death, non-cardiovascular death and incident diseases. Results Social isolation was more common in middle-income and high-income countries compared with low-income countries, in urban areas than rural areas, in older individuals and among women, those with less education and the unemployed. It was more frequent among smokers and those with a poorer diet. Social isolation was associated with greater risk of mortality (HR of 1.26, 95% CI: 1.17 to 1.36), incident stroke (HR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.40), cardiovascular disease (HR: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.05 to 1.25) and pneumonia (HR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.37), but not cancer. The associations between social isolation and mortality were observed in populations in high-income, middle-income and low-income countries (HR (95% CI): 1.69 (1.32 to 2.17), 1.27 (1.15 to 1.40) and 1.47 (1.25 to 1.73), respectively, interaction p=0.02). The HR associated with social isolation was greater in men than women and in younger than older individuals. Mediation analyses for the association between social isolation and mortality showed that unhealthy behaviours and comorbidities may account for about one-fifth of the association. Conclusion Social isolation is associated with increased risk of mortality in countries at different economic levels. The increasing share of older people in populations in many countries argues for targeted strategies to mitigate its adverse effects.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Rashwan, Mokhtar, et al.
(author)
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Structure of the Silica/Divalent Electrolyte Interface : Molecular Insight into Charge Inversion with Increasing pH
- 2020
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In: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 124:49, s. 26973-26981
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The molecular origin of overcharging at mineral oxide surfaces remains a cause of contention within the geochemistry, physics, and colloidal chemistry communities owing to competing "chemical" versus "physical" interpretations. Here, we combine vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy and streaming current measurements to obtain molecular and macroscopic insights into the pH-dependent interactions of calcium ions with a fused silica surface. In a 100 mM CaCl2 electrolyte, we observe evidence of charge neutralization at pH similar to 10.5, as deducted from a minimum in the interfacial water signal. Concurrently, adsorption of calcium hydroxide cations is inferred from the appearance of a spectral feature at similar to 3610 cm(-1). However, the interfacial water signal increases at higher pH, while adsorbed calcium hydroxide appears to remain constant, indicating that overcharging results from hydrated Ca2+ ions present within the Stern layer. These findings suggest that both specific adsorption of hydrolyzed ions and ion-ion correlations of hydrated ions govern silica overcharging with increasing pH.
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| 24. |
- SHELDON, RW, et al.
(author)
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NANOPLANKTON AND PICOPLANKTON GROWTH AND PRODUCTION IN THE BAY OF VILLEFRANCHE-SUR-MER (NW MEDITERRANEAN)
- 1992
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In: Hydrobiologia. - 0018-8158 .- 1573-5117. ; 241:2, s. 91-106
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Plankton production in the Bay of Villefranche was relatively constant during March and April 1986 but the particle size at which the production occurred was more variable. At the beginning of the study, production was dominated by the larger (ca. 6 mum) flagellates but towards the end it was more or less equally divided between the nano- and picoplankton. There were considerable differences in the estimates of population growth rates, depending on the methods used, but on average the population doubling times were close to 12 hours for autotrophs and 24 hours for heterotrophs. As autotrophs do not grow during the night, each population was therefore doubling once per day. It seemed that each of the nano- or picoplankton populations could adversely affect the growth of the others. This could be either by simple predation or by some form of inhibition. Although nutrient levels in the bay were uniformly low, the addition of nutrients did not always stimulate algal growth. The plankton populations seemed to be both in a state of equilibrium and intense ecological competition.
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| 25. |
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| 27. |
- Anwar, Muhammad Waseem, et al.
(author)
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A Model-Driven Framework for Design and Analysis of Vehicle Suspension Systems
- 2022
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In: <em>Communications in Computer and Information Science</em>. - Cham : Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. - 9783031163012 ; , s. 197-208
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The design and implementation of vehicle suspension systems is complex and time-consuming process that usually leads to production delays. Although different Model Driven Engineering (MDE) technologies like EAST-ADL/AUTOSAR are frequently applied to expedite vehicle development process, a framework particularly dealing with design and analysis of vehicle suspension is hard to find in literature. This rises the need of a framework that not only supports the analysis of suspension system at higher abstraction level but also complements the existing standards like EAST-ADL. In this article, a Model driven framework for Vehicle Suspension System (MVSS) is proposed. Particularly, a meta-model containing major vehicle suspension aspects is introduced. Subsequently, a modeling editor is developed using Eclipse Sirius platform. This allows the modeling of both simple as well as complex vehicle suspension systems with simplicity. Moreover, Object Constraint Language (OCL) is utilized to perform early system analysis in modeling phase. Furthermore, the target MATLAB-Simulink models are generated from source models, using model-to-text transformations, to perform advanced system analysis. The application of proposed framework is demonstrated through real life Audi A6L Hydraulic active suspension use case. The initial results indicate that proposed framework is highly effective for the design and analysis of vehicle suspension systems. In addition to this, the analysis results could be propagated to EAST-ADL toolchains to support full vehicle development workflow.
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| 28. |
- Aslam, B., et al.
(author)
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Miniaturized decoupled slotted patch RFID tag antennas for wearable health care
- 2017
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In: International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1096-4290 .- 1099-047X. ; 27:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article, a couple of two-layered RFID tag antenna designs exhibiting improved performance descriptors for on-body applications are presented. The antennas are designed to operate in the microwave band (2.4–2.48 GHz) ensuring high data transmission rates ideal for real-time subject monitoring applications. The radiating element of both the antennas is a slotted patch structure provisioned with a pair of T-shaped slots realized on a commercial FR4 substrate. The augmentation of a systematic sequence of narrow comb-like etchings into the design enhances the impedance bandwidth considerably. A high permittivity silicon layer embedded with the radiating patch provides resilience from the human body dielectric losses. A modified antenna design utilizing patch miniaturization technique, resulting in an overall footprint reduction by 32%, is also proposed. The designed tag antennas offer a gain of more than 1.8 dBi and an attractive read range greater than 6.8 m in the operating band.
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| 29. |
- Awais, M., et al.
(author)
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A Meta-Model for Outcome-Based Education : Streamlining Evaluation Processes
- 2023
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In: Proceedings Of The 2023 30Th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference, Apsec 2023. - : IEEE Computer Society. - 9798350344172 ; , s. 554-558
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Outcome-Based Education (OBE) is widely recognized for its goal-oriented approach in education. The key elements of outcome-based education are learning outcomes which are measured at student, course, program, and institution levels. The evaluation of learning outcomes is usually performed manually in isolation which leads to several issues like assessment delays and impaired judgement. Furthermore, integration of OBE techniques with existing Learning Management System (LMS) becomes impracticable. To handle such issues, in this article, we propose a framework comprising Metamodel for streamlining evaluation processes of OBE. Moreover, a set of text-to-model transformations is implemented for the automatic gen-eration of high-level models from traditional documents containing information about students, courses, grades etc. Furthermore, the model-to-text transformations are implemented to generate the target model in JAVA for the assessment of learning outcomes. This facilitates OBE evaluation straightforwardly. The efficacy of the framework is validated through a case study conducted within the Department of Software Engineering at University of AJK. The results are encouraging, and OBE assessment is successfully performed for software engineering courses.
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| 30. |
- Azam, Asad Muhammad, et al.
(author)
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Analysis of degradation in UHMWPE a comparative study among the various commercial and laboratory grades UHMWPE
- 2016
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In: 14TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ADVANCED MATERIALS (ISAM 2015). - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Oxidative degradation of the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene ( UHMWPE) limits the life of implants. This degradation can be monitored to estimate the service life of UHMWPE following the standard protocols as defined by American Standards for Testing Materials ( ASTM). In this work, a comparative study has been carried on two commercially available UHMWPE grades i. e. GUR 1020 and GUR 1050 and one laboratory grade UHMWPE which was purchased from Sigma Aldrich. These powder samples were pressed while using hot press with controlled heating and cooling setup in open air under 200 bar of external pressure. These sheets were then subjected to accelerated aging in an oven at 80 degrees C for three weeks. The degradation of the UHMWPE was monitored by ATR-FTIR techniquefor three weeks. The oxidation index ( OI) measurement showed that the commercial grade UHMWPE i. e. GUR-1020 and GUR-1050 degrade more as compared to laboratory grade UHMWPE. The values of OI after three weeks of accelerating aging were found 0.18, 0.14, and 0.09 for GUR-1020, GUR-1050, and Sigma Aldrich, respectively. In addition to this, it was found that commercial grades of UHMWPE suffer more structural alterations as compared to laboratory grade one. We hope that these results will be of particular and fundamental importance for the researchers and orthopaedic industry.
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| 31. |
- Endrődi, Balázs, 1987-, et al.
(author)
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Electrochemical synthesis and characterization of poly(3-hexylthiophene)/single-walled carbon nanotube array hybrid materials
- 2016
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In: Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry. - : Springer. - 1432-8488 .- 1433-0768. ; 20:11, s. 3179-3187
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this study, we demonstrate that by directly employing single-walled carbon nanotube arrays (SWCNT-arrays)-grown on conductive substrates-as working electrodes, selective and uniform electrodeposition of a conducting polymer, namely poly(3-hexylthiophene), can be achieved on the surface of the nanotubes. The overall kinetic pattern of the electrodeposition was studied by separating the deposition charge from the one related to the redox transformation of the polymer film deposited during the precedent cycles. Both the structure and the electrochemical properties of the hybrid materials were studied as a function of the electrodeposition cycles, thus the amount of the formed polymer. The hybrids were characterized by electron microscopic (SEM, TEM) and vibrational spectroscopic (Raman spectroscopy) means. The obtained results were compared and contrasted with those gathered on macroscopic-sized multi-walled carbon nanotube array-based composites in our group recently. Overall, we conclude that electrochemical polymerization is an attractive tool to synthesize conducting polymer/SWCNT hybrid materials with controlled composition and morphology.
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| 32. |
- Farinotti, Daniel, et al.
(author)
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Results from the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment Phase 2 (ITMIX2)
- 2021
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In: Frontiers in Earth Science. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 2296-6463. ; 8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Knowing the ice thickness distribution of a glacier is of fundamental importance for a number of applications, ranging from the planning of glaciological fieldwork to the assessments of future sea-level change. Across spatial scales, however, this knowledge is limited by the paucity and discrete character of available thickness observations. To obtain a spatially coherent distribution of the glacier ice thickness, interpolation or numerical models have to be used. Whilst the first phase of the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment (ITMIX) focused on approaches that estimate such spatial information from characteristics of the glacier surface alone, ITMIX2 sought insights for the capability of the models to extract information from a limited number of thickness observations. The analyses were designed around 23 test cases comprising both real-world and synthetic glaciers, with each test case comprising a set of 16 different experiments mimicking possible scenarios of data availability. A total of 13 models participated in the experiments. The results show that the inter-model variability in the calculated local thickness is high, and that for unmeasured locations, deviations of 16% of the mean glacier thickness are typical (median estimate, three-quarters of the deviations within 37% of the mean glacier thickness). This notwithstanding, limited sets of ice thickness observations are shown to be effective in constraining the mean glacier thickness, demonstrating the value of even partial surveys. Whilst the results are only weakly affected by the spatial distribution of the observations, surveys that preferentially sample the lowest glacier elevations are found to cause a systematic underestimation of the thickness in several models. Conversely, a preferential sampling of the thickest glacier parts proves effective in reducing the deviations. The response to the availability of ice thickness observations is characteristic to each approach and varies across models. On average across models, the deviation between modeled and observed thickness increase by 8.5% of the mean ice thickness every time the distance to the closest observation increases by a factor of 10. No single best model emerges from the analyses, confirming the added value of using model ensembles.
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| 33. |
- Habib, A., et al.
(author)
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Chipless slot resonators for IoT system identification
- 2016
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In: IEEE International Conference on Electro Information Technology. - : IEEE Computer Society. - 9781467399852 ; , s. 341-344
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper chipless RFID tag with integrated sensor for IoT application is presented. The tag is capable of transmitting information of 9-bit data. The tag structure is analyzed for both FR4 and Kapton HN substrates having different dielectric constants. It has been observed that with the change in dielectric permittivity, there will be shift in resonances. The tag can be used for monitoring and sensing moisture. The tag comprises of 9 ring resonators. The overall radius of designed chipless tag is 7mm. The compact chipless RFID tag is optimized for radio frequency ranges from 5.1-11.4 GHz using FR4 substrate and from 5.8-12.5 GHz using Kapton HN substrate. The novelty of this design relies on flexible nature of tag. The presented tag is very cheap and can be deployed for various low cost sensing applications.
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| 34. |
- Habib, A., et al.
(author)
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Frequency signatured directly printable humidity sensing tag using organic electronics
- 2017
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In: IEICE Electronics Express. - : Institute of Electronics Information Communication Engineers. - 1349-2543. ; 14:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper chipless RFID tag, capable of carrying 9-bit data is presented. The tag is optimized for several flexible substrates. With growing information and communication technology, sensor integration with data transmission has gained significant attention. Therefore, the tag with the same dimension is then optimized using paper substrate. For different values of permittivity, the relative humidity is observed. Hence, besides carrying information bits, the tag is capable of monitoring and sensing the humidity. The overall dimension of the tag comprising of 9 ring slot resonators is 7 mm. Due to its optimization on the paper substrate, the tag can be an ideal choice for deploying in various low-cost sensing applications.
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| 35. |
- Hao, D., et al.
(author)
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Solar energy harvesting technologies for PV self-powered applications : A comprehensive review
- 2022
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In: Renewable energy. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 0960-1481 .- 1879-0682. ; 188, s. 678-697
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many key aspects of society, such as transport, housing and health care, have been significantly improved by the advent of a range of electricity applications, and the power generation for electricity applications has been a major field of research. Photovoltaic (PV) self-powered technologies are promising technologies for addressing applications' power supply challenges and alleviating conventional electricity load and environmental pollution. This study reviews solar energy harvesting (SEH) technologies for PV self-powered applications. First, the PV power generation and scenarios of PV self-powered applications are analyzed. Second, analysis of system design for PV self-powered applications is presented. Third, key components for PV self-powered applications, including maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques and power management (PM) systems are discussed in detail. Furthermore, numerous PV self-powered applications and utilizations of energy harvesting are summarized. Finally, some recommendations are proposed for further research.
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| 36. |
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| 37. |
- Khodaverdi, M., et al.
(author)
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Kinetic modeling of rapid enzymatic hydrolysis of crystalline cellulose after pretreatment by NMMO
- 2012
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In: Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1367-5435 .- 1476-5535 .- 0973-7510. ; 39:3, s. 429-438
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Pretreatment of cellulose with an industrial cellulosic solvent, N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide, showed promising results in increasing the rate of subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. Cotton linter was used as high crystalline cellulose. After the pretreatment, the cellulose was almost completely hydrolyzed in less than 12 h, using low enzyme loading (15 FPU/g cellulose). The pretreatment significantly decreased the total crystallinity of cellulose from 7.1 to 3.3, and drastically increased the enzyme adsorption capacity of cellulose by approximately 42 times. A semi-mechanistic model was used to describe the relationship between the cellulose concentration and the enzyme loading. In this model, two reactions for heterogeneous reaction of cellulose to glucose and cellobiose, and a homogenous reaction for cellobiose conversion to glucose was incorporated. The Langmuir model was applied to model the adsorption of cellulase onto the treated cellulose. The competitive inhibition was also considered for the effects of sugar inhibition on the rate of enzymatic hydrolysis. The kinetic parameters of the model were estimated by experimental results and evaluated.
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| 38. |
- Mackay, Donna S, et al.
(author)
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Screening of a Large Cohort of Leber Congenital Amaurosis and Retinitis Pigmentosa Patients Identifies Novel LCA5 Mutations and New Genotype-Phenotype Correlations
- 2013
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In: Human Mutation. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1059-7794 .- 1098-1004. ; 34:11, s. 1537-1546
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of sequence variants in LCA5 in patients with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), early-onset retinal dystrophy (EORD), and autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (arRP); to delineate the ocular phenotypes; and to provide an overview of all published LCA5 variants in an online database. Patients underwent standard ophthalmic evaluations after providing informed consent. In selected patients, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fundus autofluorescence imaging were possible. DNA samples from 797 unrelated patients with LCA and 211 with the various types of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) were screened by Sanger sequence analysis of all LCA5 exons and intron/exon junctions. Some LCA patients were prescreened by APEX technology or selected based on homozygosity mapping. In silico analyses were performed to assess the pathogenicity of the variants. Segregation analysis was performed where possible. Published and novel LCA5 variants were collected, amended for their correct nomenclature, and listed in a Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD). Sequence analysis identified 18 new probands with 19 different LCA5 variants. Seventeen of the 19 LCA5 variants were novel. Except for two missense variants and one splice site variant, all variants were protein-truncating mutations. Most patients expressed a severe phenotype, typical of LCA. However, some LCA subjects had better vision and intact inner segment/outer segment (IS/OS) junctions on OCT imaging. In two families with LCA5 variants, the phenotype was more compatible with EORD with affected individuals displaying preserved islands of retinal pigment epithelium. One of the families with a milder phenotype harbored a homozygous splice site mutation; a second family was found to have a combination of a stop mutation and a missense mutation. This is the largest LCA5 study to date. We sequenced 1,008 patients (797 with LCA, 211 with arRP) and identified 18 probands with LCA5 mutations. Mutations in LCA5 are a rare cause of childhood retinal dystrophy accounting for ∼2% of disease in this cohort, and the majority of LCA5 mutations are likely null. The LCA5 protein truncating mutations are predominantly associated with LCA. However, in two families with the milder EORD, the LCA5 gene analysis revealed a homozygous splice site mutation in one and a stop mutation in combination with a missense mutation in a second family, suggesting that this milder phenotype is due to residual function of lebercilin and expanding the currently known phenotypic spectrum to include the milder early onset RP. Some patients have remaining foveal cone structures (intact IS/OS junctions on OCT imaging) and remaining visual acuities, which may bode well for upcoming treatment trials.
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| 39. |
- Mansoor, M Azam, et al.
(author)
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Early biochemical and hematological response to intramuscular cyanocobalamin therapy in vitamin B-12-deficient patients
- 2013
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In: Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism. - : S. Karger AG. - 0250-6807 .- 1421-9697. ; 62:4, s. 347-353
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Data on early biochemical and hematological responses to cobalamin therapy in vitamin B-12-deficient patients are scarce. Therefore, we investigated whether cobalamin injections would include prompt biochemical and hematological responses in vitamin B-12-deficient patients.Subjects and Methods: Seven female patients (mean age: 69.4 years, range: 61-78) with a mean serum cobalamin level of 104 +/- 38 pmol/l mean +/- SD and 7 male patients (mean age: 67.0 years, range: 53-78) with a mean serum cobalamin level of 84 +/- 40 (+/- SD) participated in the study. They were administered 1 mg i.m. cyanocobalamin per week for 3 weeks. Blood samples were collected before and 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 days after cobalamin injection. The concentrations of plasma aminothiols and serum methylmalonic acid (MMA) were measured with high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, respectively, and hematological parameters were determined with a hematological analyzer.Results: Already 1 day after intramuscular Cobalamin injections, the concentrations of serum vitamin B-12 and plasma total cysteine were significantly increased while the concentrations of serum folate, plasma total homocysteine and serum MMA were decreased. Mean cell volume was also significantly decreased first after 14 days of therapy.Conclusion: Intramuscular cobalamin administration causes swift and significant changes in plasma aminothiols, whereas the first change in hematological parameters was detected only after 14 days. Copyright (C) 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel
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| 40. |
- Masud, Abu Naser, et al.
(author)
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A general approach to natural language conversion
- 2003
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Natural language processing is a technique that includes both natural language understanding andnatural language generation. Translating one natural language into another becomes complex due tostructural difference, varieties of meanings, different forms of verbs etc. In this paper, a generalalgorithm has been developed which takes one natural language (i.e. English, German etc) as input and produces another natural language (i.e. Bengali, Japanese etc.) as output reserving the same expression. For understanding the input natural language, a smart-parse algorithm has been developed which unambiguously and efficiently generates a stack of the parse tree from the existing structure. After parsing, it incorporates itself with the knowledge base and dictionary and finally produces the corresponding targeted natural language. After fixing up the input and output natural language, it is possible to use this algorithm for translation after simple modification.
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| 41. |
- Meurisch, Christian, et al.
(author)
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SmartGuidance'17 : 2nd Workshop on Intelligent Personal Support of Human Behavior
- 2017
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In today's fast-paced environment, humans are faced with various problems such as information overload, stress, health and social issues. So-called anticipatory systems promise to approach these issues through personal guidance or support within a user's daily and professional life. The Second Workshop on Intelligent Personal Support of Human Behavior (SmartGuidance'17) aims to build on the success of the previous workshop (namely Smarticipation) organized in conjunction with UbiComp 2016, to continue discussing the latest research outcomes of anticipatory mobile systems. We invite the submission of papers within this emerging, interdisciplinary research field of anticipatory mobile computing that focuses on understanding, design, and development of such ubiquitous systems. We also welcome contributions that investigate human behaviors, underlying recognition and prediction models; conduct field studies; as well as propose novel HCI techniques to provide personal support. All workshop contributions will be published in supplemental proceedings of the UbiComp 2017 conference and included in the ACM Digital Library.
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| 42. |
- Naqvi, S. I., et al.
(author)
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A planar flexible quad-band antenna for WLAN/WiMAX/LTE applications
- 2019
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In: 2019 2nd International Conference on Computing, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies, iCoMET 2019. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781538695098
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this work a quad-band, planar, low-profile and compact antenna envisioned for incorporation into portable wireless devices is presented. The antenna is modeled on flexible Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 substrate of 0.127mm thickness. The proposed antenna structure consists of symmetrically placed F-shaped slits and a curved rectangular shaped ground plane with a CPW feed line. The four bands obtained for the radiator operates at the resonant frequencies 2.8, 3.9, 5.45 and 6.2 GHz with impedance bandwidths of 14%, 14.5%, 5.7%, and 5% respectively. Thus the proposed antenna supports WLAN, LTE, WiMAX, and C-band applications. The peak gain achieved for the antenna is 3.4 dB.
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| 43. |
- Naqvi, S. I., et al.
(author)
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Beam-steerable antenna array with metasurface at millimeter wave frequency range
- 2019
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In: Proceedings - 22nd International Multitopic Conference, INMIC 2019. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781728140001
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This work demonstrates a beam-steering antenna operating at 28 GHz, thus supporting millimeter wave (mm-wave) 5G applications. The proposed antenna configuration is composed of a bi-layered structure. The bottom layer consists of antenna elements with 2×2 Butler matrix (BM) based feed network used to excite the antennas as well as to steer the beam at different angles by introducing the phase difference between the two antenna elements. The bottom layer is modeled on Rogers RT5880 substrate with 0.254 mm thickness. The top layer is composed of metasurface consisting of a 4 × 4 square-ring element array designed on the Rogers RT5880 substrate with 0.508 mm thickness. The use of the metasurface in this work is to further enhance the scan angle of the proposed antenna. The presented antenna system acquires an operating bandwidth of 3.4 GHz ranging from 26.7-30.1 GHz. In addition, gain of 11.8 dBi and 7.8 dBi is demonstrated at 28 GHz for the butler matrix antenna without and with metasurface, respectively. The 2D radiation patterns exhibit beam steered at angles of ± 35° at the desired frequency. The analysis of the obtained results affirm the proposed beam steerable antenna array as a suitable contender for mm-wave 5G devices.
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| 44. |
- Naqvi, S. I., et al.
(author)
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Tri-band antenna array with defected ground structure for mm-wave 5G applications
- 2019
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In: 2019 IEEE 4th International Conference on Computer and Communication Systems, ICCCS 2019. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). ; , s. 590-593
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This work presents a tri-band planar antenna array envisioned for assimilation into future 5G mm-wave wireless communication applications. The proposed assembly comprises of four antenna elements excited by a 1×4 T-junction power divider/Combiner and Defected Ground Structure (DGS). The antenna array presented in this work is modeled on Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 substrate with an overall size of 14 × 60 × 0.787 mm3. The frequency bands covered by the antenna system are centered at 29, 37.37 and 41 GHz with 10 dB bandwidths of 1.25, 1.3 and 2.14 GHz respectively. The peak gain attained by the antenna array is 11.8 dB. The proposed design with compact, simple and low profile assembly along with good radiation characteristics ascertains to be appropriate for mobile terminals and handheld wireless devices.
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| 45. |
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| 46. |
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| 47. |
- Uddin, Jia, et al.
(author)
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Performance analysis of multicarrier code division multiple access over Rayleigh fading channel
- 2012
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In: Advanced Materials Research. - Shenyang, Liaoning : Trans Tech Publications. - 9783037853559 ; , s. 985-988
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recently, multi-carrier transmission schemes have been introduced into Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems to gain advantages for high data rate transmission as well as security. Due to pseudorandom code there is no chance to Inter Symbol Interference (ISI). There are different techniques to mitigate multipath fading. One of the method is to transmit identical narrowband direct-sequence (DS) waveforms in parallel over a number of sub-channels using frequency diversity. Implementation this multi-carrier modulation technique in CDMA system is known as multi-carrier CDMA (MC-CDMA). In Rayleigh fading channel, due to multi-carrier modulation, when one subcarrier goes deep fade another subcarrier may remain safe. Therefore it combats multi-path fading and signal can be received in low bit error rate.
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| 48. |
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| 49. |
- Zahid, Nida, et al.
(author)
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Predictors of neurocognition outcomes in children and young people with primary brain tumor presenting to tertiary care hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan : a prospective cohort study
- 2024
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In: Child's Nervous System. - : Springer. - 0256-7040 .- 1433-0350.
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- IntroductionPrimary brain tumors are a common cause of morbidity and mortality in children and young people (CYP) globally. Impaired neurocognitive function is a potential severe consequence in primary brain tumor (PBT) survivors. There are no in-depth studies from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to inform management and follow-up. The research questions of this study were as follows: Are the sociodemographic factors (lower age of CYP, female gender, low socioeconomic status, low parental education), disease-related factors (high grade of tumor, presence of seizures, presence of hydrocephalous), and treatment-related factors (adjuvant therapy, no surgical intervention, post-treatment seizures, placement of shunts) associated with decline in neurcognition outcomes 12 months post-treatment in CYP with PBTs?MethodsA prospective cohort study was conducted from November 2020 to July 2023 at the Aga Khan University Hospital and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. All CYP aged 5 to 21 years with a newly diagnosed PBTs were eligible. The neurocognition assessment was undertaken by a psychologist at two points, i.e., pre-treatment and at 12 months post-treatment using validated tools. The verbal intelligence was assessed by Slosson Intelligence tool, revised 3rd edition (SIT-R3), perceptual reasoning by Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM), and the Processing Speed Index by Wechsler Intelligence Scale (WISC V) and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV). The data were analyzed by STATA version 12 software. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to determine the factors associated with the mean change in 12 months post-treatment verbal and non-verbal neurocognition scores. Unadjusted and adjusted beta coefficients with their 95% confidence intervals were reported.ResultsA total of 48 CYPs with PBTs were enrolled, 23 (48%) of them were lost to follow-up and 10 (21%) died. The remaining 25 (52%) were reassessed 12 months after treatment. On multivariable analysis, a significant decline in verbal intelligence scores at 12 months was predicted by post-treatment seizures beta = − 20.8 (95% CI, − 38.2, − 3.4), mothers having no formal educational status and lower household monthly income. Similarly, a significant decline in perceptual reasoning scores was also predicted by post-treatment seizures beta = − 10.7 (95% CI, − 20.6, − 0.8), mothers having no formal education and having lower household monthly income. Worsening of processing speed scores at 12 months post-treatment were predicted by tumor histology, post-treatment seizures beta = − 33.9 (95% CI, − 47.7, − 20.0), lower educational status of the mother, and having lower household monthly. However, an improvement was seen in processing speed scores after surgical tumor resection.ConclusionIn this novel study, the post-treatment mean change in verbal and non-verbal neurocognition scores was associated with sociodemographic, tumor, and treatment factors. These findings may have potential implications for targeted early psychological screening of higher risk CYP with PBTs. Identification of these predictors may serve as a foundation for developing more cost-effective treatment thereby alleviating the burden of neurocognitive morbidity. However to establish generalizability, future research should prioritize larger-scale, multicountry studies. (Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05709522)
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