• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Vitamin D and zinc are recognized for their roles in immune-modulation, and their deficiencies are suggested to be important risk factors for childhood infections. This study, therefore, undertook to assess the occurrence of infections in rural Indian schoolchildren, subsequent to daily supplementation with vitamin D-calcium or zinc for 6 months. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in apparently healthy 6-12 year-old rural Indian children, recruited to 3 study arms: vitamin D arm (1,000 IU D3 - 500 mg calcium, n = 135), zinc arm (10 mg, n = 150) and placebo arm (n = 150). The infection status was assessed using a validated questionnaire, and the biochemical parameters of serum 25(OH)D and serum zinc were measured by ELISA and colorimetry, respectively. The primary outcome variable was occurrence of infections (upper respiratory and total infections). RESULTS: Serum 25(OH)D concentration in the vitamin D arm improved significantly by 34%, from 59.7 ± 10.9 nmol/L to 80 ± 23.3 nmol/L (P < 0.0001), but no improvement was observed for serum zinc concentration. While there was significant increase in the percentage of children reporting no or mild upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and total infections (TI) in all three groups, improvements in the supplemented groups were similar to the placebo group. However, the vitamin D arm reported lower URTI and TI status in the vitamin D sufficient versus insufficient children. Also, URTI and TI status were found to be significantly (P < 0.0001) lower in children with improved 25(OH)D versus unchanged 25(OH)D. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D-calcium supplementation helped to improve the vitamin D status but exerts no effect on the occurrence of infections when compared to the placebo group. Improvement in the serum 25(OH)D concentrations and attainment of vitamin D sufficiency may exert a beneficial effect on the infection status and needs to be investigated further. To evaluate the efficacy of zinc supplementation, higher dosages need to be administered in future studies.

• Carbon letters
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.29-32
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• 2016

This paper addresses the effect of dopants on the electronic properties of zigzag (8, 0) semiconducting single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), using extended Hückel theory combined with nonequilibrium Green’s function formalism. Through appropriate dopant concentrations, the electronic properties of SWCNTs can be modified. Within this context, we present our ongoing investigation on (8, 0) SWCNTs doped with nitrogen. Quantum confinement effects on the electronic properties of the SWCNTs have also been investigated. The obtained results reveal that the electronic properties of SWCNTs are strongly dependent on the dopant concentration and modification of electronic structures by hydrogen confinement.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.224-224
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• 2015

The East Asia monsoon is one of the most complex atmospheric phenomena caused by Land-Sea thermal contrast. It plays essential role in fulfilling the water needs of the region but also poses stern consequences in terms of flooding and droughts. This study analyzed the influence of Global Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies (SSTA) on occurrence of droughts in the East Asia monsoon region ($20^{\circ}N-50^{\circ}N$, $103^{\circ}E-149^{\circ}E$). Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was employed to characterize the droughts over the region using 30-year (1978-2007) gridded rainfall dataset at $0.5^{\circ}$ grid resolution. Due to high variability in intensity and spatial extent of monsoon rainfall the East Asia monsoon region was divided into the homogeneous rainfall zones using cluster analysis method. Seven zones were delineated that showed unique rainfall regimes over the region. The influence of SSTA was assessed by using lagged-correlation between global gridded SSTA ($0.2^{\circ}$ grid resolution) and SPI of each zone. Sea regions with potential influence on droughts in different zones were identified based on significant positive and negative correlation between SSTA and SPI with a lag period of 3-month. The results showed that SSTA have the potential to be used as predictor variables for prediction of droughts with a reasonable lead time. The findings of this study will assist to improve the drought prediction over the region.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.529-536
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• 2016

In this paper we proposed an unsupervised algorithm to estimate the reverberation time (RT) directly from the reverberant speech signal. For estimation process we use maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) which is a very well-known and state of the art method for estimation in the field of signal processing. All existing RT estimation methods are based on the decay rate distribution. The decay rate can be obtained either from the energy envelop decay curve analysis of noise source when it is switch off or from decay curve of impulse response of an enclosure. The analysis of a pre-existing method of reverberation time estimation is the foundation of the proposed method. In one of the state of the art method, the reverberation decay is modeled as a Laplacian distribution. In this paper, the proposed method models the reverberation decay as a Gamma distribution along with the unification of an effective technique for spotting free decay in reverberant speech. Maximum likelihood estimation technique is then used to estimate the RT from the free decays. The method was motivated by our observation that the RT of a reverberant signal when falls in specific range, then the decay rate of the signal follows Gamma distribution. Experiments are carried out on different reverberant speech signal to measure the accuracy of the suggested method. The experimental results reveal that the proposed method performs better and the accuracy is high in comparison to the state of the art method.

• Journal of Internet of Things and Convergence
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.61-70
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• 2022

Connectivity and knowledge are the main keywords of the IoT. In this paper, I analyzed how the two civilizations, Christianity and Islam, were connected through Mughal paintings and what result they have brought in the spread of knowledge. For that, I analyzed literature as well as paintings of those days. In terms of theme matter, Western painting was used as a means of strengthening the royal authority of the Mughal Emperor. In terms of style, perspective and shading from the Western Paintings began to be used in Mughal painting. Later, Christian symbols and themes were linked to absolute power of kingship, and further utilized them to develop into the concept of kingship = spirituality = divinity, creating an original art style that was unprecedented in the history of world painting. By analyzing the two disparate cultures in terms of 'connectivity' and 'knowledge' of the Internet of Things, such research could serve as a platform for future humanities research on the Internet of Things.