Three dimensional reconstruction of brain tumor along with space occupying in lesions

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The three-dimensional models of brain tumors serve as diagnostic assistance for physicians, surgeons, and radiologists. The proposed system establishes an...     

Role of Zinc (Zn) in Human Reproduction: A Journey from Initial Spermatogenesis to Childbirth

Zinc (Zn), the second-most necessary trace element, is abundant in the human body. The human body lacks the capacity to store Zn; hence, the dietary intake of Zn is essential for various functions and metabolism. The uptake of Zn during its transport through the body is important for proper development of the three major accessory sex glands: the testis, epididymis, and prostate. It plays key roles in the initial stages of germ cell development and spermatogenesis, sperm cell development and maturation, ejaculation, liquefaction, the binding of spermatozoa and prostasomes, capacitation, and fertilization. The prostate releases more Zn into the seminal plasma during ejaculation, and it plays a significant role in sperm release and motility. During the maternal, labor, perinatal, and neonatal periods, the part of Zn is vital. The average dietary intake of Zn is in the range of 8–12 mg/day in developing countries during the maternal period. Globally, the dietary intake of Zn varies for pregnant and lactating mothers, but the average Zn intake is in the range of 9.6–11.2 mg/day. The absence of Zn and the consequences of this have been discussed using critical evidence. The events and functions of Zn related to successful fertilization have been summarized in detail. Briefly, our current review emphasizes the role of Zn at each stage of human reproduction, from the spermatogenesis process to childbirth. The role of Zn and its supplementation in in vitro fertilization (IVF) opens opportunities for future studies on reproductive biology.     

Influence of ZrB2 hard ceramic reinforcement on mechanical and wear properties of aluminum

In this work, the effect of ZrB₂ (0, 5, 10 and 20?vol%) ceramic reinforcement on densification, structure, and properties of mechanically alloyed Al was investigated. The milling of Al-ZrB₂ powder compositions resulted in formation of agglomerates with varied size. In particular, the size of agglomerates was reduced considerably with increased addition of ZrB₂ to Al. Interestingly, the densification of hot pressed Al increased from 96.06% to 99.22% with ZrB₂ addition. The reduction of agglomerates size was attributed to the enhanced densification of Al-ZrB₂ composites. Pure Al showed relatively low hardness (0.94?GPa) and it was improved to 1.78?GPa with the addition of 20?vol% ZrB₂. The mechanical properties have significantly been improved for Al-ZrB₂ composites. Especially Al - 20?vol% ZrB₂ possessed a very high yield strength (529?MPa), compressive strength (630?MPa) and compressive strain of 19.25%. Realization of such a good combination of mechanical properties is the highest ever reported for Al composites so far in the literature. The coefficient of friction (COF) of Al-ZrB₂ varied narrowly between 0.33 and 0.40 after dry sliding wear against steel disc. The wear rate of Al-ZrB₂ composites was within mild wear regime and varied between 98.88?×?10^?6 and 34.66?×?10^?6 mm³/Nm. Among all the compositions, Al - 20?vol% ZrB₂ composite exhibited the lowest wear rate and high wear rate was noted for pure Al. Mild abrasion, tribo-oxidation, third body wear (wear debris) and delamination were the major material removal mechanisms for Al-ZrB₂ composites. Overall the hardness, strength and wear resistance of Al - 20?vol% ZrB₂ composite was improved by 84.3%, 84.3% and 64.2%, respectively when compared to pure Al.     

Software assurance practices for mobile applications

Mobile software applications have to cope with a particular environment that involves small size, limited resources, high autonomy requirements, competitive business models and many other challenges. To provide development guidelines that respond to these needs, several practices have been introduced; however, it is not clear how these guidelines may contribute to solve the issues present in the mobile domain. Furthermore, the rapid evolution of the mobile ecosystem challenges many of the premises upon which the proposed practices were designed. In this paper, we present a survey of the literature on software assurance practices for mobile applications, with the objective of describing them and assessing their contribution and success. We identified, organized and reviewed a body of research that spans in three levels: software development processes, software product assurance practices, and software implementation practices. By carrying out this literature survey, we reviewed the different approaches that researchers on Software Engineering have provided to address the needs that raise in the mobile software development arena. Moreover, we review the evolution of these practices, identifying how the constant changes and modernization of the mobile execution environment has impacted the methods proposed in the literature. Finally, we introduced discussion on the application of these practices in a real productive setting, opening an area for further research that may determine if practitioners have followed the proposed assurance paradigms.     

Intrinsic CFRP-metal-hybrids with rubber interface for the improvement of the damping behaviour

This paper presents an integrated passive damping approach in hybrid metal-CFRP parts for structural applications. In this concept a viscoelastic material is embedded in the joint zone of the hybrid component. To examine the connection strength single-lap-joint specimens were produced and tested and the influence of the used material combinations, different surface structures, and different process parameters i.e. the moment of cross-linking were evaluated. Afterwards, the metal-CFRP hybrids were tested in quasi-static tests to assess their connection strength and failure behaviour. Dynamic cyclic tensile tests with step-wise increased loading conditions were performed to determine the specimens damping behaviour and to estimate their fatigue performance. Finally, these results are compared to a state of the art metal-CFRP hybrid with rivets connecting both materials.     

On stochastic comparisons of finite mixtures for some semiparametric families of distributions

In this paper, we consider the classical finite mixture model, which is an effective tool for modeling lifetime distributions for random samples from heterogeneous populations. We discuss new results on stochastic comparison for two finite mixtures when each of them is drawn from one of the following semiparametric families, i.e., proportional hazards, accelerated lifetime and proportional reversed hazards.     

Is the List of Incomplete Open Cubes Complete?

Variations of Incomplete Open Cubes is the major project by the twentieth-century conceptual artist Sol LeWitt. In this paper we interpret the enumerative component of the project as embeddings of graphs. This formulation permits use of an algorithm to check the completeness of the list of the structures produced by the artist. Our conclusion is that the artist found the correct number of structures (that is, 122), but that his list contains a mistake in the presentation of a pair of incomplete cubes, a discovery that appears not to have been noted before.