Siamese convolutional neural network and fusion of the best overlapping blocks for kinship verification

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Analysis of facial images decoding familial features has been attracting the attention of researchers to develop a computerized system interested in determining...     

Toxicity and Metabolism of Layered Double Hydroxide Intercalated with Levodopa in a Parkinson’s Disease Model

Layered hydroxide nanoparticles are generally biocompatible, and less toxic than most inorganic nanoparticles, making them an acceptable alternative drug delivery system. Due to growing concern over animal welfare and the expense of in vivo experiments both the public and the government are interested to find alternatives to animal testing. The toxicity potential of zinc aluminum layered hydroxide (ZAL) nanocomposite containing anti-Parkinsonian agent may be determined using a PC 12 cell model. ZAL nanocomposite demonstrated a decreased cytotoxic effect when compared to levodopa on PC12 cells with more than 80% cell viability at 100 μg/mL compared to less than 20% cell viability in a direct levodopa exposure. Neither levodopa-loaded nanocomposite nor the un-intercalated nanocomposite disturbed the cytoskeletal structure of the neurogenic cells at their IC₅₀ concentration. Levodopa metabolite (HVA) released from the nanocomposite demonstrated the slow sustained and controlled release character of layered hydroxide nanoparticles unlike the burst uptake and release system shown with pure levodopa treatment.     

Optimized Hybrid Block Adams Method for Solving First Order Ordinary Differential Equations

Multistep integration methods are being extensively used in the simulations of high dimensional systems due to their lower computational cost. The block methods were developed with the intent of obtaining numerical results on numerous points at a time and improving computational efficiency. Hybrid block methods for instance are specifically used in numerical integration of initial value problems. In this paper, an optimized hybrid block Adams block method is designed for the solutions of linear and nonlinear first-order initial value problems in ordinary differential equations (ODEs). In deriving the method, the Lagrange interpolation polynomial was employed based on some data points to replace the differential equation function and it was integrated over a specified interval. Furthermore, the convergence properties along with the region of stability of the method were examined. It was concluded that the newly derived method is convergent, consistent, and zero-stable. The method was also found to be A-stable implying that it covers the whole of the left/negative half plane. From the numerical computations of absolute errors carried out using the newly derived method, it was found that the method performed better than the ones with which we compared our results with. The method also showed its superiority over the existing methods in terms of stability and convergence.