Search Results (5)

The exponential increase in vehicles, quick urbanization, and rising demand for transportation are straining the world’s road infrastructure today. To have a sustainable transportation system with dynamic traffic volume, an Adaptive Traffic Signal Control system (ATSC) should be contemplated to reduce urban traffic congestion and, thus, help reduce the carbon footprints/emissions of greenhouse gases. With dynamic cleave, the ATSC system can adapt the signal timing settings in real-time according to seasonal and short-term variations in traffic demand, enhancing the effectiveness of traffic operations on urban road networks. This paper provides a comprehensive study on the insights, technical lineaments, and status of various research work in ATSC. In this paper, the ATSC is categorized based on several road intersections (RIs), viz., single-intersection (SI) and multiple-intersection (MI) techniques, viz., Fuzzy Logic (FL), Metaheuristic (MH), Dynamic Programming (DP), Reinforcement Learning (RL), Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), and hybrids used for developing Traffic Signal Control (TSC) systems. The findings from this review demonstrate that modern ATSC systems designed using various techniques offer substantial improvements in managing the dynamic density of the traffic flow. There is still a lot of scope to research by increasing the number of RIs while designing the ATSC system to suit real-life applications. Full article

Herein we reported the crystal structure and crystal chemistry of orthorhombic perovskite type Nd₂CuTiO₆ in between 2 K and 290 K as observed from the in situ temperature-dependent powder neutron diffraction (PND) studies. It is observed that the cations in octahedral sites are statistically occupied, and the ambient temperature orthorhombic structure is retained throughout the temperature range of the study. Absence of any long-range magnetic ordering down to 2 K is confirmed by both low-temperature PND and magnetization studies. The lattice shows strong anisotropic thermal expansion with increasing temperature, viz. almost no or feeble negative expansion along the a-axis while appreciably larger expansion along the other two axes (α_b = 10.6 × 10⁻⁶ K⁻¹ and α_c = 9.8 × 10⁻⁶ K⁻¹). A systematic change in the rotation of octahedral units with temperature was observed in the studied temperature range, while the expansion of unit cells is predominantly associated with the polyhedral units around the Nd³Ions. The temperature-dependent relative change in unit cell parameters as well as coefficients of axial thermal expansion show anomalous behavior at lower temperatures, and that seems to be related to the electronic contributions to lattice expansion. Full article

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are characterized by blood–brain barrier (BBB) breakdown leading to abnormal BBB permeability ahead of brain atrophy or dementia. Previous findings in AD mouse models have reported the beneficial effect of extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) against AD, which improved BBB and memory functions and reduced brain amyloid-β (Aβ) and related pathology. This work aimed to translate these preclinical findings to humans in individuals with MCI. We examined the effect of daily consumption of refined olive oil (ROO) and EVOO for 6 months in MCI subjects on BBB permeability (assessed by contrast-enhanced MRI), and brain function (assessed using functional-MRI) as the primary outcomes. Cognitive function and AD blood biomarkers were also assessed as the secondary outcomes. Twenty-six participants with MCI were randomized with 25 participants completed the study. EVOO significantly improved clinical dementia rating (CDR) and behavioral scores. EVOO also reduced BBB permeability and enhanced functional connectivity. While ROO consumption did not alter BBB permeability or brain connectivity, it improved CDR scores and increased functional brain activation to a memory task in cortical regions involved in perception and cognition. Moreover, EVOO and ROO significantly reduced blood Aβ₄₂/Aβ₄₀ and p-tau/t-tau ratios, suggesting that both altered the processing and clearance of Aβ. In conclusion, EVOO and ROO improved CDR and behavioral scores; only EVOO enhanced brain connectivity and reduced BBB permeability, suggesting EVOO biophenols contributed to such an effect. This proof-of-concept study justifies further clinical trials to assess olive oil’s protective effects against AD and its potential role in preventing MCI conversion to AD and related dementias. Full article

Nutrient tranters (NT) facilitate nutrient absorption and contribute to the regulation of circulating nutrients. In this cross-sectional study, we determined the associations between the level of obesity; mRNA abundance for NTs; and serum concentrations of amino acids, short-chain fatty acids, and glucose in patients with morbid obesity undergoing a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Proximal jejunal samples were obtained at the time of surgery from 42 patients (90% female, age = 42.6 ± 11.9 years, pre-operative body mass index (BMI) = 55.5 ± 11.3 kg/m²) undergoing a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. RNA was extracted from the jejunal mucosa and quantitative real-time–PCR was performed for the NTs studied. BMI negatively correlated with jejunal mRNA abundance of the amino acid NTs TauT (r = −0.625, p < 0.0001), ASCT2 (r = −0.320, p = 0.039), LAT1 (r = −0.304, p = 0.05). BMI positively correlated with jejunal mRNA abundance of the lactate/short-chain fatty acid NT SMCT1 (r = 0.543, p = 0.0002). Serum concentrations of the short-chain fatty acids, butyric, valeric, and isocaproic acid correlated positively with BMI (n = 30) (r = 0.45, r = 0.44, r = 0.36, p ≤ 0.05; respectively). Lower jejunal mRNA abundance for the amino acid NTs TauT, ASCT2, and LAT1 could protect against further obesity-related elevations in circulating amino acids. The positive correlation between BMI and the jejunal mRNA abundance of the high-affinity short-chain fatty acid/monocarboxylate transporter SMCT1 is intriguing and requires further investigation. Full article

The conducting polymers such as polyaniline, polypyrrole and polythiophene were functionalized with copper phthalocyanine using chemical oxidation method. The obtained polymers viz. PANI-CuPc, PPy-CuPc and PT-CuPc were studied as chemical sensors by their response characteristics after exposure to various chemical vapors such as methanol, ammonia and nitrogen dioxide. The results obtained showed that these polymers have moderate sensitivity towards the methanol as well as ammonia vapors whereas they show tremendous sensitivity towards nitrogen dioxide vapors. The sensitivity factor of as high as 50,000 was obtained for PT-CuPc polymers in nitrogen dioxide. In comparison to this, the sensitivity factors of about 100 and 40 were obtained, when these polymers were exposed to ammonia and methanol vapors. The very high selectivity towards the nitrogen dioxide was explained on the basis of charge transfer complex formed between, the phthalocyanine donor and nitrogen dioxide acceptor molecules. On the other hand, ammonia becomes a competing electron donor in CuPc containing conducting polymers. The very low response towards the methanol may be explained on the basis very little charge transfer / interaction between CuPc containing polymers and methanol. Thus, CuPc incorporated conducting polymers have much higher selectivity than their original homopolymer. Full article