Bayesian optimisation is a statistical method that efficiently models and optimises expensive "black-box" functions. This review considers the application of Bayesian optimisation to experimental ...design, in comparison to existing Design of Experiments (DOE) methods. Solutions are surveyed for a range of core issues in experimental design including: the incorporation of prior knowledge, high dimensional optimisation, constraints, batch evaluation, multiple objectives, multi-fidelity data, and mixed variable types.
Water quality is a substantial measure in coordinating water demand and supply. An adequate level of freshwater is eminent for biological needs and a vital side of integrated sustainable ...environmental development. There has been a disrupting ascend in the water pollution due to the natural and anthropogenic events. Past few years, research has enormously engrossed on the development of water quality index (WQI), as a prevalent tool for water quality assessment. This review article presented an in-depth literature-based look up of WQI's potentials concerning their use as a scientific tool for river water quality monitoring and management. This study also highlighted the importance, limitations and future directions of WQI tool to afford additional information about its usage. The review indicated the influence of the environmental features, like geographic locations and sampling periods, on the estimation of WQI. Also, WQI was projected as a single value which decreased the immense amount of water quality parameters and epitomized the data in a simple way. The incessant use of WQI tool provided long-term information for helping the water resource managers, environmental engineers and scientists in decision making and management.
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•WQI research attained a steady increase in the last ten years.•Concept of development and categorization of WQI elucidated.•WQI is used as a prevalent method for water quality assessment.•WQI's potentialities and limitations discussed.
Background: Surgical excision of giant (>4 cm size) vestibular schwannomas (VS) with preservation of facial nerve (FN) function remains a challenge.
Objective: Our surgical technique using an ...extra-arachnoid plane of dissection and limited meatal drilling is described with the goal of improving FN preservation.
Methods: Surgical results with respect to FN preservation were analyzed for two groups of giant VS patients: Group A-operated between 2002 and 2009 using "standard" surgical technique, group B-operated between 2009 and 2016 using extra-arachnoidal dissection and limited meatal drilling. All patients had a minimum follow-up of 1 year.
Results: Group A: Of the 115 patients, total excision was possible in 103 (89.5%), near-total in 7 (6%), and subtotal in 5 (4.3%) patients. At a >6-month follow-up, 68 (59.1%) patients had good FN function (House-Brackmann H&B grades 1-2), while 21 (18.3%) patients had poor function (H&B grade 3-5). Grade 6 involvement was seen in 26 (22.6%). Five patients had lower cranial nerve impairment necessitating tracheostomy. Group B: Of the 98 patients, total excision was achieved in 70 (71.4%) patients, near-total in 9 (9.2%), and subtotal in 19 (19.4%). Four patients had repeat surgery; 14 underwent gamma-knife radiosurgery. At >6-month follow-up, 78 (79.5%) patients had good FN function (H&B grades 1-2), while 20 (20.4%) had poor function (H&B grade 3-5).
Conclusions: With our 'modified' surgical technique of extra-arachnoidal dissection of VS throughout surgery and limited meatal drilling, an improved rate of functional FN preservation was observed.
Does "liking" a brand on Facebook cause a person to view it more favorably? Or is "liking" simply a symptom of being fond of a brand? The authors disentangle these possibilities and find evidence for ...the latter: brand attitudes and purchasing are predicted by consumers' preexisting fondness for brands, and these are the same regardless of when and whether consumers "like" brands on social media. In addition, we explore possible second-order effects by examining whether "liking" brands might cause consumers' friends to view that brand more favorably. When consumers see that a friend has "liked" a brand, they are less likely to buy the brand relative to when they learn that a friend genuinely likes the brand in the offline sense, which is a more meaningful social endorsement. Taken together, five experiments and two meta-analyses (N > 14,000) suggest that turning "liking" into improved brand attitudes and increased purchasing by consumers and their friends may require more than just the click of a button.
Background: Lipohypertrophy (LH) at insulin injection sites is a preventable complication in patients of diabetes mellitus taking insulin injection therapy. We evaluated the prevalence, contributing ...risk factors, and consequences of LH along with awareness regarding correct insulin injection technique amongst these diabetic patients.
Methodology: It is a cross sectional observational questionnaire-based study conducted at a tertiary health centre in Nagpur, India. 31 type 1 diabetics (T1DM) and 43 type 2 diabetics (T2DM) who are on insulin injection therapy for over one year, were randomly selected and presence of LH was evaluated through visual and palpation techniques. Demography, anthropometry, awareness of correct insulin injection technique were noted using a validated questionnaire. Their effect on LH was determined along with its correlation with complains of unexplained hypoglycaemia (UH).
Results: The prevalence of LH amongst T1DM is 48.39% and amongst T2DM is 18.60%. Prevalence was significantly higher in T1DM than in T2DM (p=0.0133). Young age (p=0.0042), Male gender (p=0.0011), decreased duration of diabetes (p=0.0281), improper rotation of the correct sites (p=0.0032) significantly increased the prevalence of LH. Occurrence of UH were significantly higher in patients with LH (p=0.0078). Independent risk factors for LH amongst T2DM include less age (p=0.0358), Male gender (p=0.0048) and improper rotation of sites (p=0.0071). No independent risk factors were found significant for LH amongst T1DM as well as no significance was observed for prevalence of LH with respect to needle reuse, number of injections taken per day and total daily dosage of insulin, which may be regarded to low sample size.
Conclusion: Improper rotation of injection sites, Male gender, younger age, lesser duration of diabetes and T1DM contribute to a higher prevalence of LH, which in turn will increase the risk of UH.
Disclosure
S.S. Gupta: None. S. Chaoji: None. S. Gupta: None. K. Gupta: None. S. Gathe: None.
The present study investigated the adsorptive chemistry of Pb2+ ions eradication using modified Linz-Donawitz slag (LDS), a byproduct of steelmaking industries. The processing of LDS was carried out ...using a magnetic separation technique followed by planetary micro-crushing. The morphology of surface texture and elemental composition of LDS were examined using SEM and EDS techniques, respectively. XRD and FTIR analysis revealed that the divalent cation of Pb2+ was replaced by Ca2+ to form metal silicate (Pb2SiO4) and ferrite (Pb2Fe2O5) through ion exchange and finally precipitated. The experiment data best fitted Langmuir isotherm and showed excellent adsorption capacity of LDS for Pb2+ adsorption (479 mg/g). Thermodynamic parameters, Gibbs free energy (ΔGo), and enthalpy change (ΔHo) indicated the adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic. The leachability study done by the ICP-OES technique suggested the possibility of immobilizing Ca and Si due to the dissolution of CaO and SiO2. The study demonstrated the potential of LDS for treating Pb2+ ions as part of the waste utilization of the steel industry for a sustainable approach.
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•LD slag (LDS) is a potential and efficient resource for treating toxic metals from wastewater.•A better Pb2+ adsorption capacity of 479 mg/g and removal efficiency of 98.92% was obtained.•Chemisorption of Pb2+ ions involves ion exchange followed by precipitation.•A leachability test was performed to assess the leaching behavior of LDS.
Salicylic acid (SA) induced drought tolerance can be a key trait for increasing and stabilizing wheat production. These SA induced traits were studied in two Triticum aestivum L. varieties; drought ...tolerant, Kundan and drought sensitive, Lok1 under two different water deficit regimes: and rehydration at vegetative and flowering stages. SA alleviated the negative effects of water stress on photosynthesis more in Kundan. SA induced defense responses against drought by increasing antioxidative enzymes and osmolytes (proline and total soluble sugars). Differential proteomics revealed major role of carbon metabolism and signal transduction in enhancing drought tolerance in Kundan which was shifted towards defense, energy production and protection in Lok1. Thioredoxins played important role between SA and redox signaling in activating defense responses. SA showed substantial impact on physiology and carbon assimilation in tolerant variety for better growth under drought. Lok1 exhibited SA induced drought tolerance through enhanced defense system and energy metabolism. Plants after rehydration showed complete recovery of physiological functions under SA treatment. SA mediated constitutive defense against water stress did not compromise yield. These results suggest that exogenously applied SA under drought stress confer growth promoting and stress priming effects on wheat plants thus alleviating yield limitation.
Studies have shown morphological, physiological and biochemical aspects associated with the SA mediated drought tolerance in wheat while understanding of molecular mechanism is limited. Herein, proteomics approach has identified significantly changed proteins and their potential relevance to SA mediated drought stress responses in drought tolerant and sensitive wheat varieties. SA regulates wide range of processes such as photosynthesis, carbon assimilation, protein metabolism, amino acid and energy metabolism, redox homeostasis and signal transduction under drought. Proteome response to SA during vegetative and reproductive growth gave an insight on mechanism related water stress acclimation for growth and development to attain potential yield under drought. The knowledge gained can be potentially applied to provide fundamental basis for new strategies aiming towards improved crop drought tolerance and productivity.
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•Distinct effect of SA in wheat for drought tolerance through efficient physiological and antioxidative functions•Proteins related to photosynthesis, metabolism and defense regulate SA mediated drought responses•SA and redox signaling interplay through thioredoxins in activating defense responses•SA alleviated drought imposed yield limitation through assimilate allocation and N remobilization
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