Creation of reactive centers on cotton. IV. Reaction of acrylamidomethylated cotton with some sulfur compounds

The addition of mercaptoethanol and hydrogen sulfide to the pendent double bonds of acrylamidomethylated cotton (AMC) has been investigated. The interaction of acrylonitrile with the modified celluloses so obtained (substrate I and II) and with AMC treated with ammonium hydroxide (substrate III) in the presence of Ce(IV) is studied. Substrate I shows higher initial grafting yields. than AMC; the opposite holds true for the maximum graft yields. The graft yields obtained with substrate II are lower than those of AMC. All modified cottons studied are less amenable to grafting compared with the unmodified cotton. The graft yields of AMC and substrate III are comparable due to the fact that both substrates are crosslinked. Probable reasons for the inferior reactivity of substrates I and II are also given.     

Green Synthesis of Silymarin–Chitosan Nanoparticles as a New Nano Formulation with Enhanced Anti-Fibrotic Effects against Liver Fibrosis

Background: Silymarin (SIL) has long been utilized to treat a variety of liver illnesses, but due to its poor water solubility and low membrane permeability, it has a low oral bioavailability, limiting its therapeutic potential. Aim: Design and evaluate hepatic-targeted delivery of safe biocompatible formulated SIL-loaded chitosan nanoparticles (SCNPs) to enhance SIL’s anti-fibrotic effectiveness in rats with CCl₄-induced liver fibrosis. Methods: The SCNPs and chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) were prepared by ionotropic gelation technique and are characterized by physicochemical parameters such as particle size, morphology, zeta potential, and in vitro release studies. The therapeutic efficacy of successfully formulated SCNPs and CNPs were subjected to in vivo evaluation studies. Rats were daily administered SIL, SCNPs, and CNPs orally for 30 days. Results: The in vivo study revealed that the synthesized SCNPs demonstrated a significant antifibrotic therapeutic action against CCl₄-induced hepatic injury in rats when compared to treated groups of SIL and CNPs. SCNP-treated rats had a healthy body weight, with normal values for liver weight and liver index, as well as significant improvements in liver functions, inflammatory indicators, antioxidant pathway activation, and lipid peroxidation reduction. The antifibrotic activities of SCNPs were mediated by suppressing the expression of the main fibrosis mediators TGFβR1, COL3A1, and TGFβR2 by boosting the hepatic expression of protective miRNAs; miR-22, miR-29c, and miR-219a, respectively. The anti-fibrotic effects of SCNPs were supported by histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) study. Conclusions: According to the above results, SCNPs might be the best suitable carrier to target liver cells in the treatment of liver fibrosis.     

The Endothelium and COVID-19: An Increasingly Clear Link Brief Title: Endotheliopathy in COVID-19

The endothelium has a fundamental role in the cardiovascular complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) particularly affects endothelial cells. The virus binds to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptor (present on type 2 alveolar cells, bronchial epithelial cells, and endothelial cells), and induces a cytokine storm. The cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1 beta, and interleukin-6 have particular effects on endothelial cells—leading to endothelial dysfunction, endothelial cell death, changes in tight junctions, and vascular hyperpermeability. Under normal conditions, apoptotic endothelial cells are removed into the bloodstream. During COVID-19, however, endothelial cells are detached more rapidly, and do not regenerate as effectively as usual. The loss of the endothelium on the luminal surface abolishes all of the vascular responses mediated by the endothelium and nitric oxide production in particular, which results in greater contractility. Moreover, circulating endothelial cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 act as vectors for viral dissemination by forming clusters that migrate into the circulation and reach distant organs. The cell clusters and the endothelial dysfunction might contribute to the various thromboembolic pathologies observed in COVID-19 by inducing the formation of intravascular microthrombi, as well as by triggering disseminated intravascular coagulation. Here, we review the contributions of endotheliopathy and endothelial-cell-derived extracellular vesicles to the pathogenesis of COVID-19, and discuss therapeutic strategies that target the endothelium in patients with COVID-19.     

New formulation of GNSS acquisition with CFAR detection

This paper deals with the analysis of the acquisition process performed by a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver with a pilot and data channel or in case of GNSS hybrid receiver. Signal acquisition decides the presence or absence of GNSS signal by comparing signal under test with a fixed threshold and provides a code delay and a Doppler frequency estimation, but in low signal conditions or in a noisy environment; acquisition systems are vulnerable and can give a high false alarm and low detection probability. Firstly, we introduce a cell‐averaging‐constant false alarm rate (CFAR) then a data‐pilot cell‐averaging‐CFAR detector fusion based to deal with these situations. In this context, we use a new mathematical derivation to develop a closed‐form analytic expressions for the probabilities of detection and false alarm. The performances of the proposed detector are evaluated and compared with a non‐CFAR case through an analytical and numerical results validated by Mont Carlo simulations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Diffusing the Internet in the Arab world: the role of social norms and technological culturation

Drawing on the theoretical work of Hill et al. and Straub et al., this study examines culture-specific inducements and impediments to using the Internet in the Arab world. Research questions were: (1) to what extent does the process of technology culturation affect the acceptance of the Internet? and (2) to what extent do social norms (SNs) affect the acceptance of the Internet? Of the two research methods employed, the first was a quantitative field study of knowledge workers. The instrument measured the extent to which respondents and their organizations are influenced by advanced technology cultures. Using partial least squares (PLS), the first of two models tested links between SNs; technological culturation and Internet usage for each respondent. The second model investigated links between technological culturation and Internet utilization for the respondent's organization. Findings show strong support for both models, explaining, respectively, 47% and 37% of the variance. The second method was a qualitative analysis of respondents' free-format comments. These findings reinforce the quantitative findings, on the one hand, and reveal additional cultural barriers that still need to be studied, on the other. Findings identify how culture can both inhibit and encourage technological innovation and how Arab cultures can move their economies more quickly into the digital age.     

A hybrid classifier fusion approach for motor unit potential classification during EMG signal decomposition

In this paper, we propose a hybrid classifier fusion scheme for motor unit potential classification during electromyographic (EMG) signal decomposition. The scheme uses an aggregator module consisting of two stages of classifier fusion: the first at the abstract level using class labels and the second at the measurement level using confidence values. Performance of the developed system was evaluated using one set of real signals and two sets of simulated signals and was compared with the performance of the constituent base classifiers and the performance of a one-stage classifier fusion approach. Across the EMG signal data sets used and relative to the performance of base classifiers, the hybrid approach had better average classification performance overall. For the set of simulated signals of varying intensity, the hybrid classifier fusion system had on average an improved correct classification rate (CCr) (6.1%) and reduced error rate (Er) (0.4%). For the set of simulated signals of varying amounts of shape and/or firing pattern variability, the hybrid classifier fusion system had on average an improved CCr (6.2%) and reduced Er (0.9%). For real signals, the hybrid classifier fusion system had on average an improved CCr (7.5%) and reduced Er (1.7%).     

Performance analysis of opportunistic nonregenerative relaying

Opportunistic relaying in cooperative communication depends on careful relay selection. However, the traditional centralized method used for opportunistic amplify‐and‐forward protocols requires precise measurements of channel state information at the destination. In this paper, we adopt the max–min criterion as a relay selection framework for opportunistic amplify‐and‐forward cooperative communications, which was exhaustively used for the decode‐and‐forward protocol, and offer an accurate performance analysis based on exact statistics of the local signal‐to‐noise ratios of the best relay. Furthermore, we evaluate the asymptotical performance and deduce the diversity order of our proposed scheme. Finally, we validate our analysis by showing that performance simulation results coincide with our analytical results over Rayleigh fading channels, and we compare the max–min relay selection with their centralized channel state information‐based and partial relay selection counterparts. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance analysis of an opportunistic multi‐user cognitive network with multiple primary users

Consider a multi‐user underlay cognitive network where multiple cognitive users concurrently share the spectrum with a primary network with multiple users. The channel between the secondary network is assumed to have independent but not identical Nakagami‐m fading. The interference channel between the secondary users (SUs) and the primary users is assumed to have Rayleigh fading. A power allocation based on the instantaneous channel state information is derived when a peak interference power constraint is imposed on the secondary network in addition to the limited peak transmit power of each SU. The uplink scenario is considered where a single SU is selected for transmission. This opportunistic selection depends on the transmission channel power gain and the interference channel power gain as well as the power allocation policy adopted at the users. Exact closed form expressions for the moment‐generating function, outage performance, symbol error rate performance, and the ergodic capacity are derived. Numerical results corroborate the derived analytical results. The performance is also studied in the asymptotic regimes, and the generalized diversity gain of this scheduling scheme is derived. It is shown that when the interference channel is deeply faded and the peak transmit power constraint is relaxed, the scheduling scheme achieves full diversity and that increasing the number of primary users does not impact the diversity order. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Detail preserving impulsive noise removal

Most image processing applications require noise elimination. For example, in applications where derivative operators are applied, any noise in the image can result in serious errors. Impulsive noise appears as a sprinkle of dark and bright spots. Transmission errors, corrupted pixel elements in the camera sensors, or faulty memory locations can cause impulsive noise. Linear filters fail to suppress impulsive noise. Thus, non-linear filters have been proposed. Windyga's peak-and-valley filter, introduced to remove impulsive noise, identifies noisy pixels and then replaces their values with the minimum or maximum value of their neighbors depending on the noise (dark or bright). Its main disadvantage is that it removes fine image details. In this work, a variation of the peak-and-valley filter is proposed to overcome this problem. It is based on a recursive minimum–maximum method, which replaces the noisy pixel with a value based on neighborhood information. This method preserves constant and edge areas even under high impulsive noise probability. Finally, a comparison study of the peak-and-valley filter, the median filter, and the proposed filter is carried-out using different types of images. The proposed filter outperforms other filters in the noise reduction and the image details preservation. However, it operates slightly slower than the peak-and-valley filter.