Ranking information security controls by using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

Information Systems and e-Business Management - Information security can be achieved by implementing a set of appropriate controls. However, identifying and selecting the most effective information...     

Bio active mixed ligand complexes of Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II): Synthesis,spectral, XRD,DNA binding and cleavage properties

The paper presents the synthesis of complex combinations of Cu(II), Zn(II) and Ni(II) with Schiff bases obtained by the condensation reaction of diphenylglyoxal with 1-amino-4-nitrobenzene (L¹)/1-amino-4-chlorobenzene (L²)/p-anisidine (L³) as the main ligand and 1,10-phenanthroline as the co-ligand respectively. The characterization of newly formed complexes has been done by spectral and molar conductivity studies. The bioefficacy of the ligands and their complexes have been examined against the growth of bacteria and fungi in vitro to evaluate their antimicrobial potential. The in vitro antibacterial and antifungal assay indicates that these complexes are good antimicrobial agents against various pathogens. X-ray powder diffraction illustrates that the complexes have crystalline nature. The effect of the metal complexes on DNA is carried out by pUC19 DNA agarose gel electrophoresis at 50 V for 2 h. The results indicate that the complexes bind to DNA through intercalation and act as efficient cleaving agents.     

Ceramic-based microbial fuel cells (MFCs): A review

Recently, porous ceramic and clayware membranes have been widely used in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) as separators. Chemical, thermal and mechanical stability, low-cost and many other advantages of ceramic membranes make them an appropriate substitute for expensive polymeric ion exchange membranes. Moreover, good power performances in short and long-term periods were observed using ceramic membranes. In this review, we attempted to gather and assort all the experiments which applied ceramic or other earthenware membranes as the separator of MFCs. The effects of physical and chemical properties of ceramic membranes on the power efficiency of MFCs as well as scale-up challenges and future aspects were also studied.     

Binding affinity models for Falcipain inhibition based on the Linear Interaction Energy method

The high rate of drug resistance as well as the complex biochemical process of the parasite reproduction cycle makes development of new drugs for malaria a very important but challenging task. Falcipain 2 (FL2) and Falcipain 3 (FL3) are the major cysteine protease enzymes that play a central role in providing essential amino acids for the parasite’s protein biosynthesis through the hemoglobin hydrolysis process. Selective inhibition of these enzymes is considered as a promising chemotherapeutic target. In the present investigation, the highly efficient linear interaction energy (LIE) method has been parameterized for binding affinity predictions and assessed with a set of 244 compounds for FL2 and FL3 inhibition. The results revealed that the van der Waals energy is very important for ligands binding to Falcipain proteins and that, overall, the electrostatic energy contribution is minor. The best models obtained for FL2 and FL3 give root mean square errors (RMSE) of 1.82 and 1.33 kcal/mol respectively, for the test set. In this study, we also investigate how the choice of initial protein-ligand confirmation (pose) impacts the overall quality of the LIE models. Moreover, the transferability of LIE parameters is further discussed.     

Cadmium selenide@sulfide nanoparticle composites: Facile precipitation preparation,characterization, and investigation of their photocatalyst activity

We report a two-step synthesis and structural characterization of CdSe/CdS core/shell nanoparticles by the precipitation method. Besides, the effects of preparation parameters such as reaction temperature, the speed of the reaction stirrer, and the rate of adding sulfide source on the size, morphology, and photocatalyst activity of CdSe/CdS core–shell nanoparticles were studied by SEM images and degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye test. The structure and composition of the obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution field-emission transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), spectra energy dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDS), and ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) techniques.     

Design of a fractional order PID controller using GBMO algorithm for load–frequency control with governor saturation consideration

Load–frequency control is one of the most important issues in power system operation. In this paper, a Fractional Order PID (FOPID) controller based on Gases Brownian Motion Optimization (GBMO) is used in order to mitigate frequency and exchanged power deviation in two-area power system with considering governor saturation limit. In a FOPID controller derivative and integrator parts have non-integer orders which should be determined by designer. FOPID controller has more flexibility than PID controller. The GBMO algorithm is a recently introduced search method that has suitable accuracy and convergence rate. Thus, this paper uses the advantages of FOPID controller as well as GBMO algorithm to solve load–frequency control. However, computational load will higher than conventional controllers due to more complexity of design procedure. Also, a GBMO based fuzzy controller is designed and analyzed in detail. The performance of the proposed controller in time domain and its robustness are verified according to comparison with other controllers like GBMO based fuzzy controller and PI controller that used for load–frequency control system in confronting with model parameters variations.     

Dominant role of drivers’ attitude in prevention of road traffic crashes: A study on knowledge,attitude, and practice of drivers in Iran

Objective

Evaluating the relation between Iranian drivers’ knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding traffic regulations, and their deterministic effect on road traffic crashes (RTCs).

Setting

Two cities of Tehran and Zahedan, Iran.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was designed. Using a simplified cluster sampling design, 2200 motor vehicle drivers including 1200 in Tehran and 1000 in Zahedan were selected. Sixty locations in Tehran and 50 in Zahedan were chosen. In each pre-identified location, 20 adult drivers were approached consecutively. A questionnaire developed by researchers was filled by each participant. The questionnaire had four sections including items assessing the demographics, knowledge, attitude and practice of drivers toward traffic regulations. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the RTCs and KAP variables.

Results

The study sample consisted of 619 (28.1%) occupational and 1580 (71.8%) private drivers. Among them, 86.4% were male. The median age was 33.6 ± 10.83. Drivers in Tehran and Zahedan had no significant differences between their mean scores of KAP items of the questionnaire. Higher knowledge, safer attitude, and safer practice were associated with a decreased number of RTC. After adjusting for possible confounders, increase of one standard deviation in attitude and practice scores (but not knowledge) resulted in 26.4% and 18.5% decrease in RTC, respectively. Finally, considering knowledge, attitude and practice of drivers in one model to assess their mutual effect, it was shown that only attitude is significantly associated with a decrease of RTC (OR = 0.76, P = 0.007).

Conclusion

Increase in attitude and practice accompanied with decreased number of RTCs in Iranian drivers. Specifically, drivers’ attitude had the crucial effect. It is not knowledge and standard traffic education; rather it is how such education is registered as an attitude that translates what is being learned into actions. Without safer attitude, even safer self-reported practice will not result in lower RTCs.     

User Capacity Scaling Laws of Multi-user Fading Channels in the Presence of MMSE Channel Estimators

Considering development of delay-sensitive applications in wireless communications and cellular networks along with lack of system resources and environmental factors including fading and noise all together make it impossible for all users to be active and to achieve quality of service requirements simultaneously. To analyze wireless systems performance, user capacity is defined as the maximum number of users that can be activated at the same time. In order to obtain user capacity scaling laws, channel distribution information is required and channel gains can be estimated by different channel estimators such as minimum mean square error estimators. In this paper, estimated channel gains are substituted for true channel gains and effects of imperfect channel estimation errors on the user capacity scaling laws are analyzed. It is shown that the user capacity scales double logarithmically and there is a gap depending on channel estimators accuracy between the lower and upper bounds. Moreover, assuming estimated channels for different users are independent and identically distributed, it is shown that the user capacity scaling laws are asymptotically tight.     

Synthesis of Hollow Tadpole-Like Silica Particles

Hollow tadpole-like silica particles were successfully synthesized via the microemulsion synthesis method using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), and sodium citrate as starting materials in the presence of isopropanol as a solvent. The effects of TEOS/ammonia (T/A) ratio, PVP molecular weight, synthesis temperature, and sodium citrate concentration on the morphology of particles were investigated. The results demonstrated that synthesis temperature has a vital effect on the morphology of particles. Also, microstructure analysis showed that the length of the silica rods was tunable in the range 1.2–5.2 µm. Control of the length was obtained by adjusting the synthesis temperature and PVP molecular weight. The transmission electron microscopy results clearly confirmed that the tadpole-like particles were surprisingly hollow and they provided an open side that was completely different from the previous reports. The inner diameter of the silica rods could be adjusted in the range 50–200 nm. The existence of such a considerable open side may be practically appreciated in many potential applications such as bio-immobilization.