The study is aimed at identifying the main aspects of innovation management in the energy sector. The need for research is determined by the demand for the development of the global energy sector to ...implement strategies for sustainable development of countries and ensure energy security. It is argued that the intensity of innovation has affected all areas of activity, including energy. Key aspects of innovation management in the energy sector are identified. Modern innovative technologies of energy saving, wireless energy transmission, and the development of renewable energy sources are classified. The role of technology companies in the implementation of innovations in the energy sector to optimize existing processes and approaches to energy generation is emphasized. The most effective innovative technologies in the energy sector have been identified: innovative energy storage; artificial intelligence in microgrids; Blockchain and renewable energy sources in the context of innovation. The need for innovation to increase efficiency and optimize processes in modern companies is brought to light. The main results of the study are characterized by the fact that the main aspects of innovation management in the energy sector are identified, which applied in practice when developing strategy for the long-term development of the energy sector.
Diabetes mellitus is related to variable dental and oral complications like xerostomia and periodontal problems. Therefore, diabetes can affect the oral status and oral health-related quality of life ...(OHRQoL). A systematic review of evidence can determine the association between diabetes and OHRQoL. so, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of diabetes on OHRQoL.
After determining the PECO and eligible criteria, a comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase without any restriction. Further searches were performed in Google Scholar and reference lists of selected articles. Two independent reviewers carried out paper selection, data extraction, and quality assessment. A meta-analysis was conducted using a "random effect model" and the standardized mean difference of OHRQoL with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was reported as estimating pooled effect size.
After screening 237 identified records, three case-control and ten cross-sectional studies met eligibility criteria. Two cross-sectional studies were excluded in the quality assessment phase and the rest of the studies have a low or moderate risk of bias. The pooled standardized mean difference between the case and the control groups was 0.148 (95% CI: -0.045 to 0.340).
Diabetes mellitus has no statistical significant association with OHRQoL. Nevertheless, based on the articles' review, it seems that diabetes can lead to functional limitations, physical pain, and psychological discomfort. Also, complications of diabetes adversely affect wellbeing. Hence dentists can play an essential role in the awareness of persons with diabetes about these problems and improve their OHRQoL.
https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022303038, identifier CRD42022303038.
Evaluation of various biochemical and immunological parameters in infectious diseases is one of the best indicators for a diagnosis and treatment process. The main goal of this project is to ...determine the effect of hydroxychloroquine and doxycycline loading into solid-lipid-nanoparticles (DOX-HCQ-SLN) on the both acute and chronic phases of brucellosis. In addition, evaluate some biochemical factors, trace elements, and inflammatory elements. Blood serum levels of Zn, Fe, Na, and K and hepatic biochemical parameters (AST, ALT, ALP, and TBil) were remarkably different between infected and healthy rats. Vitamin D was decreased, and CRP was increased in chronic and acute brucellosis. Quantitative evaluation of these mentioned parameters can be useful to diagnose brucellosis in advance. Due to the good effect of the synchronized use of hydroxychloroquine and doxycycline in the form of nanoparticles, the manipulation of these nanoparticles can help for better treatment and also reduction in brucellosis reinfection.
Controlling the gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process is investigated utilizing feedback linearization with heat input, detaching droplet diameter and melting rate as controlled variables while ...accounting for actuator saturation. The control algorithm is employed using a state space model with eight dynamic states. Stability and internal dynamics of the process are studied thoroughly. Sliding mode state observers are implemented to determine the arc current and contact tip to work piece distance as well as the stick out length (which constitute the internal states of the system). Several simulation reports are provided to demonstrate successful regulation and tracking of detaching droplet diameter, heat input rate and melting rate. Finally, simulations indicate that the method is capable of overcoming parametric uncertainty.
•The Novel Coronavirus Pandemic.•Feature Selection and Ranking.•Assigning Importance Weights to Features.•Important Symptoms of COVID-19 Patients.
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is ...considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). As of April 3, 2020, there were 1,009,625 reported confirmed cases, and 51,737 reported deaths. Doctors have been faced with a myriad of patients who present with many different symptoms. This raises two important questions. What are the common symptoms, and what are their relative importance?
A non-structured and incomplete COVID-19 dataset of 14,251 confirmed cases was preprocessed. This produced a complete and organized COVID-19 dataset of 738 confirmed cases. Six different feature selection algorithms were then applied to this new dataset. Five of these algorithms have been proposed earlier in the literature. The sixth is a novel algorithm being proposed by the authors, called Variance Based Feature Weighting (VBFW), which not only ranks the symptoms (based on their importance) but also assigns a quantitative importance measure to each symptom.
For our COVID-19 dataset, the five different feature selection algorithms provided different rankings for the most important top-five symptoms. They even selected different symptoms for inclusion within the top five. This is because each of the five algorithms ranks the symptoms based on different data characteristics. Each of these algorithms has advantages and disadvantages. However, when all these five rankings were aggregated (using two different aggregating methods) they produced two identical rankings of the five most important COVID-19 symptoms. Starting from the most important to least important, they were: Fever/Cough, Fatigue, Sore Throat, and Shortness of Breath. (Fever and cough were ranked equally in both aggregations.) Meanwhile, the sixth novel Variance Based Feature Weighting algorithm, chose the same top five symptoms, but ranked fever much higher than cough, based on its quantitative importance measures for each of those symptoms (Fever - 75 %, Cough - 39.8 %, Fatigue - 16.5 %, Sore Throat - 10.8 %, and Shortness of Breath - 6.6 %). Moreover, the proposed VBFW method achieved an accuracy of 92.1 % when used to build a one-class SVM model, and an NDCG@5 of 100 %.
Based on the dataset, and the feature selection algorithms employed here, symptoms of Fever, Cough, Fatigue, Sore Throat and Shortness of Breath are important symptoms of COVID-19. The VBFW algorithm also indicates that Fever and Cough symptoms were especially indicative of COVID-19, for the confirmed cases that are documented in our database.
The design and fabrication of low loss and wideband Magic‐T with 10 dB return loss (RL) bandwidth over 40% is proposed for X‐band application, which can be used in monopulse comparator network. The ...proposed Magic‐T is composed of WR90 waveguides include an exponentially conducting cone, metallic multistep l‐shaped septum, and some other conducting posts. By implementation of these optimized conducting cone, septum, and posts, the 20 dB RL bandwidth over 36% is achieved with very low insertion loss (IL) (<0.15 dB) at each port. Moreover, high isolation (>40 dB) across all port over X‐band is another feature of the proposed Magic‐T. The equal power division (in amplitude and phase) at H‐arm and phase cancellation of input power at E‐arm introduce the proposed Magic‐T as a good candidate for sum/difference comparator network for monopulse application. Validation of the simulation results by experimental ones proves the wideband RL, low IL, and high isolation coefficient of the proposed high‐power Magic‐T as well.
Operating photovoltaic (PV) systems under partial shading conditions results in significant power losses. To mitigate partial shading effects, distributed maximum power point tracking (DMPPT) ...architectures have been proposed. An emerging DMPPT technique represented by PV module cascaded converters (MCCs) has been widely reported in the literature. In this architecture, a DC converter is allocated for each PV module to process and maximise its power. In this sense, mismatch effects are mitigated between PV modules. While MCC architecture has prominent advantages and value-added features, its challenges and limitations cannot be ignored. This study presents a comprehensive review of the state of the art of PV MCC architecture to help readers realise the progress of this DMPPT technique. Several points are extensively discussed and analysed including concept realisation and analysis, DC converter topologies and design optimisation, DMPPT performance limitations, DMPPT control, and protection. The main concepts are reemphasised through a set of simulations. Finally, a list of potential research areas in this field is introduced.
The main aim of the present study was to design pH-sensitive nanocomposite hydrogel beads, based on carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and montmorillonite (Mt)-propranolol (PPN) nanohybrid, and evaluate ...whether the prepared nanocomposite beads could potentially be used as oral drug delivery systems. PPN—as a model drug—was intercalated into the interlayer space of Mt clay mineral via the ion exchange procedure. The resultant nanohybrid (Mt-PPN) was applied to fabricate nanocomposite hydrogel beads by association with carboxymethyl cellulose. The characterization of test samples was performed using different techniques: X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), IR spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermal gravity analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The drug encapsulation efficiency was evaluated by UV–vis spectroscopy, and was found to be high for Mt/CMC beads. In vitro drug release test was performed in the simulated gastrointestinal conditions to evaluate the efficiency of Mt-PPN/CMC nanocomposite beads as a controlled-release drug carrier. The drug release profiles indicated that the Mt-PPN/CMC nanocomposite beads had high stability against stomach acid and a sustained- and controlled-release profile for PPN under the simulated intestinal conditions.
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•Propranolol was successfully intercalated onto the montmorillonite interlayer space.•Montmorillonite/carboxymethyl cellulose beads loaded with propranolol are fabricated.•Structural properties and swelling profile of the nanocomposite beads were studied.•The nanocomposite beads showed a sustained propranolol release behavior at pH 6.8.
Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus epidermidis
(MRSE) strains are increasingly emerging as serious pathogens because they can be resistant to many antibiotics called multidrug resistance (MDR) that ...limit the therapeutic options. In the case of vancomycin- and rifampin-resistant MDR-MRSE, the physicians are not allowed to increase the doses of antibiotics because of severe toxicity. Accordingly, we investigated the synergistic activity of melittin antimicrobial peptide with vancomycin and rifampin against vancomycin-resistant, and rifampin-resistant MDR-MRSE isolates. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICi), and fractional bactericidal concentration index (FBCi) of antimicrobial agents against isolates were determined. Coagulate activities and serum and salt stability as well as melittin cytotoxicity on the human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells and human red blood cells (RBCs) at their synergistic concentrations. MIC and MBC values for melittin were in the range of 0.312–2.5 and 0.312–5, respectively. Results also showed that the interaction of melittin with drugs was highly synergistic in which the geometric means of FICi and FBCi were < 0.5. Induced synergism led to a decrease in melittin, rifampin, and vancomycin concentrations by 8–1,020, 2–16, and 4–16-folds, respectively. This phenomenon caused a reduction in melittin toxicity by which the synergistic concentration of melittin needed to kill bacteria did not show cytotoxicity and hemolytic activity. Besides, no coagulation activity was found for the synergistic and alone concentrations of melittin in both Prothrombin Time (PT) and Partial Thromboplastin Time (PTT). Interestingly, the antibacterial activity of melittin in Mueller Hinton Broth (MHB) containing human serum did no significant differences between MIC and MBC values of melittin in MHB and MHB containing 10% human serum. The present findings showed that the therapeutic index of melittin was improved by 32.08- and 12.82-folds when combined with vancomycin and rifampin, respectively. Taken together, the obtained data show that melittin alone was effective against MDR-MRSE isolates and this antimicrobial peptide showed highly synergistic effects with vancomycin and rifampin without causing toxicity. Therefore, the combination of melittin and traditional antibiotics could be a promising strategy for the treatment of infections caused by MDR-MRSE.
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