A bistatic linear frequency modulated radar for on-the-ground object detection

The use of radar systems for detecting on-the-ground objects is a subject of interest for some applications. Among them, foreign object detection systems are important issues in airport aviation safety. Due to the characteristics of the object, a ground-based bistatic radar configuration is introduced in this article. The transmitter sends broadband linear frequency modulated chirp pulses. The reflected pulses are collected simultaneously by at least two ground-based receivers installed in different positions. Accurate range processing is conducted to detect small objects, such as N-type connectors in distances of several meters. A prototype system consisting of one transmitter and two receivers is developed. The system is then launched over land similar in appearance to a runway, and its ability to make an accurate image of the area where the object is placed in different positions is confirmed. Modifications that need to cover a bigger area are also discussed. The system resolution is analyzed and shows that in the case of several existing transmitter-receiver pairs, the best resolution can be achieved by the closer pairs

AXIAL Crushing Of Thin-Walled Tube With Hole Under Quasi-Static Loading

Thin-walled tube is one of the energy absorbing structure utilized to dissipate energy and increase the efficiency of crashworthiness. During the accident, thin-walled tube dissipates the kinetic energy of the structure and converts it into other form of energy. Thus, this gives enough energy dissipation before hitting the human. This study examines the circular and square thin-walled tubes of mild steel subjected to axial crushing test by using Instron machine. These tubes include imperfection (round holes) located at three different locations. The theoretical results obtained from mathematical equations for the circular and square tubes crushing have been compared to the experimental results and a good agreement has been achieved between the theoretical and experimental results. The analysis of load-displacement characteristics includes the peak load, energy absorption capacity, mean crushing load, crush force efficiency (CFE), and specific energy absorption(SEA) results. The diameter, location and number of the holes were varied to investigate the effect of these parameters to the load-displacement characteristics. The location of round hole is located in 3 different level in the tube. As a result, the circular tube is capable of providing better decrease peak load and higher absorbed energy compared to the square tube.It was found that the better specimen is the circular tube with multi-hole, due to it has the excellent result in decrease the peak load reached to 16 %, it was concluded that value of the peak load is optimum in circular thin-walled tube. While the value of energy absorption slightly decreases in all specimens with holes compared with tube without hole. The location of holes in circular tube has the effect on the type of deformation. However, it does not affect the deformation in the square tube the location unaffected on the deformation. At the end, the modifications performed on the original tube shows an improvement in the load-displacement characteristics. The information obtained in this study will serve as a guide to better design the thin-walled tube in the future

Treatment outcomes for children with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Paediatric multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis is a public health challenge of growing concern, accounting for an estimated 15% of all global cases of MDR tuberculosis. Clinical management is especially challenging, and recommendations are based on restricted evidence. We aimed to assess existing evidence for the treatment of MDR tuberculosis in children. METHODS: We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies reporting treatment outcomes for children with MDR tuberculosis. We searched PubMed, Ovid, Embase, Cochrane Library, PsychINFO, and BioMedCentral databases up to Oct 31, 2011. Eligible studies included five or more children (aged ≤16 years) with MDR tuberculosis within a defined treatment cohort. The primary outcome was treatment success, defined as a composite of cure and treatment completion. RESULTS: We identified eight studies, which reported treatment outcomes for a total of 315 patients. We recorded much variation in the characteristics of patients and programmes. Time to appropriate treatment varied from 2 days to 46 months. Average duration of treatment ranged from 6 months to 34 months, and duration of follow-up ranged from 12 months to 37 months. The pooled estimate for treatment success was 81·67% (95% CI 72·54-90·80). Across all studies, 5·9% (95% CI 1·3-10·5) died, 6·2% (2·3-10·2) defaulted, and 39·1% (28·7-49·4) had an adverse event. The most common drug-related adverse events were nausea and vomiting. Other serious adverse events were hearing loss, psychiatric effects, and hypothyroidism. INTERPRETATION: The treatment of paediatric MDR tuberculosis has been neglected, but when children are treated outcomes can be achieved that are at least as good as those reported for adults. Programmes should be encouraged to report outcomes in children to improve the knowledge base for care, especially as new drugs become available. FUNDING: None

Use of microarray technology for the detection of a range of RNA viruses in clinical samples

There are many RNA virus pathogens of humans including influenza, parainfluenza, enteroviruses, parechoviruses, coronaviruses, pneumoviruses, and metapneumoviruses. These commonly invade and infect the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, giving rise to acute and chronic respiratory tract infections, and some may also reach the central nervous system (CNS) either via haematogenous or neural routes resulting in a variety of clinical presentations, (e.g. meningitis, encephalitis) which may lead to severe irreparable damage such as poliomyelitis especially in young children. Early correct diagnosis of viral infections is indispensable in order to prevent potential outbreaks which threaten the public health worldwide and might lead to high morbidity and some with significant mortality. Several laboratory techniques such as virus isolation, direct visualization of viral particles, detection of viral antigens and/or nucleic acids, and detection of host immune response (e.g. anti-viral antibodies) to infection, are available for diagnosis, but may have significant drawbacks such as time-inefficiency, cost and certain individual limitations. Microarray technology offers one way to overcome some of these limitations. In this study, a microarray chip containing 7967 oligonucleotides (probes) covering the whole genomes of human enteroviruses, rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial viruses, metapneumoviruses and influenza viruses was designed and constructed using both OligoArray and Agilent eArray software, to allow simultaneous detection of any of the above viruses present in any clinical specimen. This virochip was tested against positive controls and clinical samples known to contain RNA nucleic acids of these viruses. Viral RNA was reverse transcribed, and amplified. Considerable effort was expended in trying to optimise a multiple displacement amplification (MDA) protocol for whole genome amplification, and in addition, long-range PCR was also utilised. Amplification products were fragmented, labelled and loaded into a hybridization reaction with the designed viral probes printed on the virochip. The results revealed (i) a number of technical problems associated with MDA; (ii) that some probes either failed to recognise their intended targets, or produced cross-reactive signals with non-intended targets; (iii) that many of the designed probes hybridized to their relevant viral nucleic acids and generated hybridization signals of high fluorescent intensity offering an opportunity to develop this probe array in order to be used for the identification of a wide variety of virus species up to the serogroup level or beyond (if required) specifically those causing CNS and respiratory tract infections

Use of microarray technology for the detection of a range of RNA viruses in clinical samples

There are many RNA virus pathogens of humans including influenza, parainfluenza, enteroviruses, parechoviruses, coronaviruses, pneumoviruses, and metapneumoviruses. These commonly invade and infect the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, giving rise to acute and chronic respiratory tract infections, and some may also reach the central nervous system (CNS) either via haematogenous or neural routes resulting in a variety of clinical presentations, (e.g. meningitis, encephalitis) which may lead to severe irreparable damage such as poliomyelitis especially in young children. Early correct diagnosis of viral infections is indispensable in order to prevent potential outbreaks which threaten the public health worldwide and might lead to high morbidity and some with significant mortality. Several laboratory techniques such as virus isolation, direct visualization of viral particles, detection of viral antigens and/or nucleic acids, and detection of host immune response (e.g. anti-viral antibodies) to infection, are available for diagnosis, but may have significant drawbacks such as time-inefficiency, cost and certain individual limitations. Microarray technology offers one way to overcome some of these limitations. In this study, a microarray chip containing 7967 oligonucleotides (probes) covering the whole genomes of human enteroviruses, rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial viruses, metapneumoviruses and influenza viruses was designed and constructed using both OligoArray and Agilent eArray software, to allow simultaneous detection of any of the above viruses present in any clinical specimen. This virochip was tested against positive controls and clinical samples known to contain RNA nucleic acids of these viruses. Viral RNA was reverse transcribed, and amplified. Considerable effort was expended in trying to optimise a multiple displacement amplification (MDA) protocol for whole genome amplification, and in addition, long-range PCR was also utilised. Amplification products were fragmented, labelled and loaded into a hybridization reaction with the designed viral probes printed on the virochip. The results revealed (i) a number of technical problems associated with MDA; (ii) that some probes either failed to recognise their intended targets, or produced cross-reactive signals with non-intended targets; (iii) that many of the designed probes hybridized to their relevant viral nucleic acids and generated hybridization signals of high fluorescent intensity offering an opportunity to develop this probe array in order to be used for the identification of a wide variety of virus species up to the serogroup level or beyond (if required) specifically those causing CNS and respiratory tract infections

Liver diseases in pregnancy and outcomes: A retrospective study from Saudi Arabia

Liver diseases unique to pregnancy are common causes of both maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity. We retrospectively studied liver diseases unique to pregnancy, including hyperemesis gravidarum (HG); intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy; eclampsia; preeclampsia; hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and a low platelets (HELLP) syndrome; and acute fatty liver of pregnancy. We collected data including maternal age, gestational weeks at presentation and at delivery, mode of delivery, number of parity, and laboratory markers at 0, 1 week, and within 24 hours after delivery; from 112 patients (mean age, 29.8 years) from April 2015 - March 2017. SPSS 22 was used for statistical analysis. We The commonest liver disease in pregnancy was pre-eclampsia followed by HG. HG patients were younger compared with those with eclampsia and preeclampsia (P=0.025). Gestational week at presentation and the week of delivery were significantly greater for preeclampsia/eclampsia and HELLP patients compared to HG. Primigravida represented 42.9% of our patients. Fetal complications were reported in 29 (26%) of cases. Of those, 17 had fetal or neonatal death. Fourteen mothers (12.5%) had ICU admission. Pregnancy related liver diseases are important causes for fetal mortality and morbidity. Maternal age and gestational weeks are important predictors of fetal and maternal outcomes.   Les maladies du foie propres à la grossesse sont des causes courantes de mortalité et de morbidité maternelles et foetales. Nous avons étudié rétrospectivement les maladies du foie propres à la grossesse, y compris l'hyperemesis gravidarum (HG); cholestase intrahépatique de la grossesse; éclampsie; prééclampsie; hémolyse, élévation des enzymes hépatiques et syndrome de bas taux de plaquettes (HELLP); et stéatose hépatique aiguë de la grossesse. Nous avons recueilli des données comprenant l'âge maternel, les semaines de gestation à la présentation et à l'accouchement, le mode d'accouchement, le nombre de parité et les marqueurs de laboratoire à 0, 1 semaine et dans les 24 heures suivant l'accouchement; de 112 patients (âge moyen, 29,8 ans) d'avril 2015 à mars 2017. SPSS 22 a été utilisé pour l'analyse statistique. Nous La maladie hépatique la plus courante pendant la grossesse était la pré-éclampsie suivie de l'HG. Les patients atteints de HG étaient plus jeunes que ceux atteints d'éclampsie et de prééclampsie (P = 0,025). La semaine gestationnelle lors de la présentation et la semaine de l'accouchement étaient significativement plus importantes pour les patients prééclampsie / éclampsie et HELLP par rapport à HG. Primigravida représentait 42,9% de nos patients. Des complications foetales ont été rapportées dans 29 (26%) des cas. Parmi ceux-ci, 17 ont eu un décès foetal ou néonatal. Quatorze mères (12,5%) ont été admises à l'USI. Les maladies hépatiques liées à la grossesse sont des causes importantes de mortalité et de morbidité foetales. L'âge maternel et les semaines de gestation sont des prédicteurs importants des issues foetales et maternelles. &nbsp

WEB ATTACKS AND DEFENSES

Because of the limited data that web applications collect from users, they are subject to information security risks. The most effective way to retain data in the modern era is through online applications. The process of providing data and data systems with appropriate procedural and sophisticated security safeguards is known as cybersecurity. Threats to cyber security are increasing at times. A flaw or weakness in a computer system, security tactics, internal controls, planning, or implementation that can compromise the security policy of a framework is known as a web vulnerability. The social, economic and political spheres of governments can be disrupted due to a vulnerability in the Internet, which can have an impact on the state. An effort is made to identify the defects and weaknesses while studying the weakness in order to take advantage of these weaknesses. The aim of this study is to identify the types of intrusions, find vulnerabilities, and review regulations for vulnerable systems detected in online applications