In this paper the experimentally obtained conditions for the fusion splicing with photonic crystal fibers (PCF) having large mode areas were reported. The physical mechanism of the splice loss and the microhole collapse property of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) were studied. By controlling the arc-power and the arc-time of a conventional electric arc fusion splicer (FSM-60S), the minimum loss of splicing for fusion two conventional single mode fibers (SMF-28) was (0.00dB), which has similar mode field diameter. For splicing PCF (LMA-10) with a conventional single mode fiber (SMF-28), the loss was increased due to the mode field mismatch.

Background and objectives: P53 gene mutation and deletion are among the important molecular markers linked to lung cancer. In most cases, the inactivating mutations affecting both p53 alleles are acquired in somatic cells. Less commonly, the mutations are inherited ones. The aim of the present study was to analyze the frequency of having a wild and/or a mutated p53 gene in lung cancer compared to benign lung lesions and to relate these findings to different morphological types and grades of lung cancer.
Patients, materials and methods: In this retrospective study, the histopathology blocks of 30 lung cancer cases covering the period from2002 to 2007were obtained from the archives of the histopathology sec

Lying is a controversial issue as it is closely related to one's intended meaning to achieve certain pragmatic functions. The use of lying in literary works is closely related to the characters’ pragmatic functions as in the case of Miller's The Crucible where it is used as a deceptive complex phenomenon that cannot be observed out of context. That is, the use of lying as a deceptive phenomenon represents a violation to Grices's Maxims. Thus, the study aims to qualitatively examine the kinds of maxims being violated, the kinds of violations conducted, the strategies followed in the violations, and the pragmatic functions behind such violations across the different categories of lies. To this end, the (30) extracts fou

      Storing, transferring, and processing high-dimensional electroencephalogram (EGG) signals is a critical challenge. The goal of EEG compression is to remove redundant data in EEG signals. Medical signals like EEG must be of high quality for medical diagnosis. This paper uses a compression system with near-zero Mean Squared Error (MSE) based on Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and double shift coding for fast and efficient EEG data compression. This paper investigates and compares the use or non-use of delta modulation, which is applied to the transformed and quantized input signal. Double shift coding is applied after mapping the output to positive as a final step. The system performance is tested using EEG data files from the C

In order to reduce the environmental pollution associated with the conventional energy sources and to achieve the increased global energy demand, alterative and renewable sustainable energy sources need to be developed. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a bio-electrochemical innovative technology for pollution control and a simultaneous sustainable energy production from biodegradable, reduced compounds. This study mainly considers the performance of continuous up flow dual-chambers MFC
fueled with actual domestic wastewater and bio-catalyzed with anaerobic aged sludge obtained from an aged septic tank. The performance of MFCs was mainly evaluated in terms of COD reductions and electrical power output. Results revealed that the C

Densely deployment of sensors is generally employed in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to ensure energy-efficient covering of a target area. Many sensors scheduling techniques have been recently proposed for designing such energy-efficient WSNs. Sensors scheduling has been modeled, in the literature, as a generalization of minimum set covering problem (MSCP) problem. MSCP is a well-known NP-hard optimization problem used to model a large range of problems arising from scheduling, manufacturing, service planning, information retrieval, etc. In this paper, the MSCP is modeled to design an energy-efficient wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that can reliably cover a target area. Unlike other attempts in the literature, which consider only a si

Background: Ureteric stones commonly have an impact on the quality of life of the patient. There are many treatment choices for the condition, including medical treatment, extra-corporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), endoscopic intervention by ureteroscope (URS), or surgery (open or laparoscopic). Semi-rigid URS with laser lithotripsy is used to fragment ureteric stones, especially those in the distal ureter.

Objectives: To assess the efficacy and complications of the dusting versus the fragmentation method for lower ureteric stones using holmium laser lithotripsy by analyzing intra-operative and post-operative variables.

Patients and methods: One hundred and twenty patie

In this study, zinc ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (ZnFe₂O₄, ZFO MNPs) were employed as a sorbent for the removal of oil spill from water surfaces. ZFO MNPs were synthesized via a sol-gel process and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). Both the apparent density and magnetic force were determined. ZFO MNPs presented a considerable magnetic force (40.22 mN) and an adequate density (0.5287 g/cm³), which are important for the magnetic separation and flotation. Four oil samples (gasoline engine oil, crude oil, used motor oil and diesel engine oil) were used to investigate the gravimetric oil removal capability of ZFO MNPs. The oil sorption capacit

    In this research, aflatoxins were produced, extracted, isolated, and purified in order to optimize the storage conditions of feed. Using a preparative thin layer chromatography (TLC) method, with commercially available plates of 1.5 to 2.0 mm, B1 aflatoxin was isolated from the feed samples of whole wheat, maize, and crushed rice, and the procedure was repeated four times. A purity value of 99 % for B1 aflatoxin was achieved and tested using spectrophotometric and chromatographic methods. As solvents, acetone:water (85:15l) was used for aflatoxin extraction from the feed sample, whereas methanol: water (50: 50) was used for trichothecenes extraction. The primary findings of this research indicate that B1 aflatoxin reac

The report includes a group of symbols that are employed within a framework that gives a language of greater impact. This research discusses the problem of the semiotic employment of religious symbols in press reports published in the electronic press across two levels: Reading to perceive the visual message in its abstract form, and the second for re-understanding and interpretation, as this level gives semantics to reveal the implicit level of media messages through a set of semiotic criteria on which it was based to cut texts to reach the process of understanding and interpretation.

The report includes a group of symbols that are employed within a framework that gives a language of greater impact. This research discusses the p