Acquisition Period Research Articles

Magnetometer-Detected Nuclear Magnetic Resonance of Photochemically Hyperpolarized Molecules.

Photochemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (photo-CIDNP) enables nuclear spin ordering by irradiating samples with light. Polarized spins are conventionally detected via high-field chemical-shift-resolved NMR (above 0.1 T). In this Letter, we demonstrate in situ low-field photo-CIDNP measurements using a magnetically shielded fast-field-cycling NMR setup detecting Larmor precession via atomic magnetometers. For solutions comprising mM concentrations of the photochemically polarized molecules, hyperpolarized 1H magnetization is detected by pulse-acquired NMR spectroscopy. The observed NMR line widths are about 5 times narrower than normally anticipated in high-field NMR and are systematically affected by light irradiation during the acquisition period, reflecting a reduction of the transverse relaxation time constant, T2*, on the order of 10%. Magnetometer-detected photo-CIDNP spectroscopy enables straightforward observation of spin-chemistry processes in the ambient field range from a few nT to tens of mT. Potential applications of this measuring modality are discussed.

Imprinting and Critical Period of Language Acquisition

In language acquisition, imprinting during the critical period helps people to encode the information and influences received from outside more actively. It provides opportunity for people, especially children, to be socialized and have closer interactions with their environment, later forms social attachment. After the critical period, people still can learn new languages but requires more effort for the same outcome.

High-resolution optical imaging of single magnetic flux quanta with a solid immersion lens.

Magneto-optical imaging of quantized magnetic flux tubes in superconductors - Abrikosov vortices - is based on Faraday rotation of light polarization within a magneto-optical indicator placed on top of the superconductor. Due to severe aberrations induced by the thick indicator substrate, the spatial resolution of vortices is usually well beyond the optical diffraction limit. Using a high refractive index solid immersion lens placed onto the indicator garnet substrate, we demonstrate wide field optical imaging of single flux quanta in a Niobium film with a resolution better than 600 nm and sub-second acquisition periods, paving the way to high-precision and fast vortex manipulation. Vectorial field simulations are also performed to reproduce and optimize the experimental features of vortex images.

Comparing Focused-Tracked and Plane Wave-Tracked ARFI Log(VoA) In Silico and in Application to Human Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque, Ex Vivo.

A significant risk factor for ischemic stroke is carotid atherosclerotic plaque that is susceptible to rupture, with rupture potential conveyed by plaque morphology. Human carotid plaque composition and structure have been delineated noninvasively and in vivo by evaluating log(VoA), a parameter derived as the decadic log of the second time derivative of displacement induced by an acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI). In prior work, ARFI-induced displacement was measured using conventional focused tracking; however, this requires a long data acquisition period, thereby reducing framerate. We herein evaluate if ARFI log(VoA) framerate can be increased without a reduction in plaque imaging performance using plane wave tracking instead. In silico, both focused- and plane wave-tracked log(VoA) decreased with increasing echobrightness, quantified as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), but did not vary with material elasticity for SNRs below 40 dB. For SNRs of 40-60 dB, both focused- and plane wave-tracked log(VoA) varied with SNR and material elasticity. Above 60 dB SNR, both focused- and plane wave-tracked log(VoA) varied with material elasticity alone. This suggests that log(VoA) discriminates features according to a combination of their echobrightness and mechanical property. Further, while both focused- and plane-wave tracked log(VoA) values were artifactually inflated by mechanical reflections at inclusion boundaries, plane wave-tracked log(VoA) was more strongly impacted by off-axis scattering. Applied to three excised human cadaveric carotid plaques with spatially aligned histological validation, both log(VoA) methods detected regions of lipid, collagen, and calcium (CAL) deposits. These findings support that plane wave tracking performs comparably to focused tracking for log(VoA) imaging and that plane wave-tracked log(VoA) is a viable approach to discriminating clinically relevant atherosclerotic plaque features at a 30-fold higher framerate than by focused tracking.

Blame Shifting: A Unique Phase in Bengali Children’s Meaning Acquisition Process

‘Blame shifting’ or ‘deflection’ is generally a psychological process where something is passed over to someone else in an attempt to draw attention away. It is a type of defense regarded as emotionally unmannerly. But in this paper, blame shifting has been presented as a positive aspect, representing a general phase that children go through during their first language acquisition period. When children acquire meaning, they shift blame, that starts as a psychological process but linguistically represents the creative use of language in different ways. In this paper, I tried to present the phase of blame shifting of ten participant children as a medium of meaning construction in their first language acquisition process. In an attempt to break the stereotypical assumption of the term ‘blame’, this paper would try to reflect how children shift blame on others as a part of their language development by manipulating language use and cognitive intelligence.
 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (Hum.), Vol. 68(1), 2023, pp. 99-118

Bearing Fault Diagnosis Method Based on Deep Learning and Health State Division

As a key component of motion support, the rolling bearing is currently a popular research topic for accurate diagnosis of bearing faults and prediction of remaining bearing life. However, most existing methods still have difficulties in learning representative features from the raw data. In this paper, the Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU-SY) rolling bearing dataset is taken as the research object, and a deep learning technique is applied to carry out the bearing fault diagnosis research. The root mean square (RMS), kurtosis, and sum of frequency energy per unit acquisition period of the short-time Fourier transform are used as health factor indicators to divide the whole life cycle of bearings into two phases: the health phase and the fault phase. This division not only expands the bearing dataset but also improves the fault diagnosis efficiency. The Deep Convolutional Neural Networks with Wide First-layer Kernels (WDCNN) network model is improved by introducing multi-scale large convolutional kernels and Gate Recurrent Unit (GRU) networks. The bearing signals with classified health states are trained and tested, and the training and testing process is visualized, then finally the experimental validation is performed for four failure locations in the dataset. The experimental results show that the proposed network model has excellent fault diagnosis and noise immunity, and can achieve the diagnosis of bearing faults under complex working conditions, with greater diagnostic accuracy and efficiency.

Segregation, Education Cost, and Group Inequality

Abstract This study analyzes the interplay between the segregation level, education cost, and the evolution of group inequality. In a market economy, individuals have incentives to invest in skill acquisition because of wage differentials. Because skill achievement is costly, a person with a higher inherent ability or a better community background is more likely to invest. Bowles, Loury, and Sethi (2014) show the possibility of group inequality evolution with a high level of segregation when network externalities over the skill acquisition period affect an individual’s decision of skill achievement. This study emphasizes the effect of education costs on the evolution of group inequality. Even when the level of segregation is high, if the societal education cost of skill acquisition is not sufficiently large, group skill disparity may not evolve. Observing that education costs vary significantly across countries depending on the structure of their educational institutions, this theoretical analysis suggests that some countries may suffer more from between-group disparity than others because their education systems impose higher costs on individuals.

Evaluating resource recovery potential and process feasibility of direct membrane ultrafiltration of municipal wastewater at demonstration scale

The aim of this work was to assess the feasibility of applying ultrafiltration membranes for the direct filtration of municipal wastewater. The effect of different influents (raw wastewater and the primary settler effluent of a municipal wastewater treatment plant) and operating solids concentration (about 1, 2.6, 6 and 11 g L−1) was evaluated. Increasing the operating solids concentration sharply reduced membrane fouling, achieving a minimum of about 0.55 mbar per day when operating above 6 g L−1. Filtering raw municipal wastewater also had a beneficial effect on the filtration performance, although only when operating at a low solids concentration (under 2.6 g L−1). High quality permeates were obtained regardless of operating conditions, meeting European discharge requirements for no sensible environments. High resource recoveries were achieved thanks to the direct filtration of wastewater, capturing about 80-85 and 20%–40% of the influent COD and nutrients, respectively. The energy and carbon footprint balances showed promising results, achieving energy recoveries and carbon footprints of about 0.46-0.40 kWh per m3 of influent municipal wastewater and -[0.19-0.16] kg CO2-eq per m3 of influent municipal wastewater when considering the process energy demands and potential energy recovery. Additionally, profits can be obtained from MWW treatment by this alternative, achieving about €0.035–0.021 per m3 of influent MWW when operating at a flux of 10 LMH which entail a payback period for the initial membrane acquisition of 12.3–20.1 years.

Remote Sensing Analysis of the Surface Urban Heat Island Effect in Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1985 to 2021

Vitoria-Gasteiz has taken several urban greening actions such as the introduction of a ring of parks that connect the city’s surroundings, a sustainable mobility plan, and urban green structure strategies. Previous studies establish a connection to the importance of greening to mitigate the surface urban heat island (SUHI) and evaluate the effectiveness of these measures on urban climate. In this study, land surface temperature (LST), a remote sensing (RS) parameter, recorded by Landsat satellites (5, 7, and 8) was used to evaluate the effect of SUHI in Vitoria-Gasteiz between 1985–2021. The aim was to evaluate whether the urban greening actions influenced the local thermal conditions and, consequently, helped minimize the SUHI. Thirty sampling locations were identified, corresponding to different local climate zones (LCZ), at which LST data were extracted. A total of 218 images were processed and separated into summer and winter. Four of the 30 locations had, since 2003, on-site meteorological stations with regular air temperature (Tair) measurements which were used to validate the LST data. The results showed that Spearman’s correlation between Tair and LST was higher than 0.88 in all locations. An amount of 21 points maintained the same LCZ classification throughout the analysed period and nine underwent a LCZ transformation. The highest average temperature was identified in the city centre (urbanized area), and the lowest average was in a forest on the outskirts of the city. SUHI was more intense during the summer. A significant increase in SUHI intensity was identified in areas transformed from natural to urban LCZs. However, SUHI during satellite data acquisition periods has shown a minimal change in areas where sustainable practices have been implemented. RS was valuable for analysing the thermal behaviour of the LCZs, despite the limitation inherent in the satellite’s time of passage, in which the SUHI effect is not as evident.

Relaxation spectral analysis in multi-contrast vascular magnetic particle imaging.

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are used as tracers without ionizing radiation in vascular imaging, molecular imaging, and neuroimaging. The relaxation mechanisms of magnetization in response to excitation magnetic fields are important features of MNPs. The basic relaxation mechanisms include internal rotation (Néel relaxation) and external physical rotation (Brownian relaxation). Accurate measurement of these relaxation times may provide high sensitivity for predicting MNP types and viscosity-based hydrodynamic states. It is challenging to separately measure the Néel and Brownian relaxation components using sinusoidal excitation in conventional MPI. We developed a multi-exponential relaxation spectral analysis method to separately measure the Néel and Brownian relaxation times in the magnetization recovery process in pulsed vascular MPI. Synomag-D samples with different viscosities were excited using pulsed excitation in a trapezoidal-waveform relaxometer. The samples were excited at different field amplitudes ranging from 0.5 to 10 mT at intervals of 0.5 mT. The inverse Laplace transform-based spectral analysis of the relaxation-induced decay signal in the field-flat phase was performed by using PDCO, a primal-dual interior method for convex objectives. Néel and Brownian relaxation peaks were elucidated and measured on samples with various glycerol and gelatin concentrations. The sensitivity of viscosity prediction of the decoupled relaxation times was evaluated. A digital vascular phantom was designed to mimic a plaque with viscous MNPs and a catheter with immobilized MNPs. Spectral imaging of the digital vascular phantom was simulated by combining a field-free point with homogeneous pulsed excitation. The relationship between the Brownian relaxation time from different tissues and the number of periods for signal averages was evaluated for a scan time estimation in the simulation. The relaxation spectra of synomag-D samples with different viscosity levels exhibited two relaxation time peaks. The Brownian relaxation time had a positive linear relationship with the viscosity in the range 0.9 to 3.2 mPa · s. When the viscosity was >3.2 mPa · s, the Brownian relaxation time saturated and did not change with increasing viscosity. The Néel relaxation time decreased slightly with an increase in the viscosity. The Néel relaxation time exhibited a similar saturation effect when the viscosity level was >3.2 mPa · s for all field amplitudes. The sensitivity of the Brownian relaxation time increased with the field amplitude and was maximized at approximately 4.5 mT. The plaque and catheter regions were differentiated from the vessel region in the simulated Brownian relaxation time map. The simulation results show that the Néel relaxation time was 8.33±0.09 μs in the plaque region, 8.30±0.08 μs in the catheter region, and 8.46±0.11 μs in the vessel region. The Brownian relaxation time was 36.60±2.31 μs in the plaque region, 30.17±1.24 μs in the catheter region, and 31.21±1.53 μs in the vessel region. If we used 20 excitation periods for image acquisition in the simulation, the total scan time of the digital phantom was approximately 100 s. Quantitative assessment of the Néel and Brownian relaxation times through inverse Laplace transform-based spectral analysis in pulsed excitation, highlighting their potential for use in multi-contrast vascular MPI.

A Survey on Perceptions of the Direction of Korean Medicine Education and National Licensing Examination.

Recent changes in medical education and assessment led to a focus on occupational competency, and this study investigated the perceptions of Korean medicine doctors (KMDs) on the national licensing examination for KMDs (NLE-KMD). The survey aimed to understand KMDs' recognition of the current situation, items to improve, and items to emphasize in the future. We conducted the web-based survey from 22 February to 4 March 2022, and 1244 among 23,338 KMDs answered voluntarily. Through this study, we found the importance of competency-related clinical practice and Korean standard classification of disease (KCD), and the presence of a generation gap. KMDs considered clinical practice (clinical tasks and clinical work performance) and the item related to the KCD important. They valued (1) the focus on KCD diseases that are frequently seen in clinical practice and (2) the readjustment and introduction of the clinical skills test. They also emphasized KCD-related knowledge and skills for the assessment and diagnosis of KCD diseases, especially those frequently treated at primary healthcare institutes. We confirmed the generation gap in the subgroup analysis according to the license acquisition period, and the ≤5-year group emphasized clinical practice and the KCD, while the >5-year group stressed traditional KM theory and clinical practice guidelines. These findings could be used to develop the NLE-KMD by setting the direction of Korean medicine education and guiding further research from other perspectives.

Ultrafast single-molecule imaging reveals focal adhesion nano-architecture and molecular dynamics.

Using our newly developed ultrafast camera described in the companion paper, we reduced the data acquisition periods required for photoactivation/photoconversion localization microscopy (PALM, using mEos3.2) and direct stochastic reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM, using HMSiR) by a factor of ≈30 compared with standard methods, for much greater view-fields, with localization precisions of 29 and 19 nm, respectively, thus opening up previously inaccessible spatiotemporal scales to cell biology research. Simultaneous two-color PALM-dSTORM and PALM-ultrafast (10 kHz) single fluorescent-molecule imaging-tracking has been realized. They revealed the dynamic nanoorganization of the focal adhesion (FA), leading to the compartmentalized archipelago FA model, consisting of FA-protein islands with broad diversities in size (13-100 nm; mean island diameter ≈30 nm), protein copy numbers, compositions, and stoichiometries, which dot the partitioned fluid membrane (74-nm compartments in the FA vs. 109-nm compartments outside the FA). Integrins are recruited to these islands by hop diffusion. The FA-protein islands form loose ≈320 nm clusters and function as units for recruiting FA proteins.

EEG Analysis for Images Encode and Retrieval under White Noise Stimulation

Utilization of an EEG machine aids researchers in detecting the brain responses and states during provided stimulation. The EEG comes with multiple electrode channels for recording the electrical activity of the brain. This work aims to discover the brain responses under stimulation of white noise during images encoding and retrieving using the EEG machine. The motivation of this research is because limited previous works determine the association between memory encoding and retrieving process based on EEG analysis. Twenty college students participated in this experimental work. They were required to remember the images in two different conditions: control/silent and exposure to white noise with two task difficulties: easy and difficult phases. The EEG was recorded during the remembering and recalling period for data acquisition. The obtained raw EEG dataset was imported to .txt format for further processing. The Butterworth bandpass filter with a frequency range of 4 to 45 Hz was applied to filter the low and high noise components in the EEG signal. Next, the mean of de-noise EEG voltage was obtained to select the most affected channels. It was found that the Fp1, Fp2, F7, and F3 channels achieved the highest mean voltage that higher than 5 μV. Therefore, these channels were selected for extraction of relative rhythm power to investigate the effect of white noise on memory performance. The findings showed that the alpha, gamma, beta, and theta activities were highly found during the encoding and retrieving process when participants were exposed to white noise. These brain rhythms were related to participants' attentional level, information processing and calm state during the assessment. The behavioral data showed that the participants successfully remembered the images more when exposed to white noise compared to the control condition with percentage differences of 21% and 33% for easy and difficult phases due to the stochastic resonance effect and activation of brain rhythms.

Establishing Quality Control Procedures for Large-Scale Plasma Proteomics Analyses

Proteomics research has been transformed due to high-throughput liquid chromatography (LC-MS/MS) tandem mass spectrometry instruments combined with highly sophisticated automated sample preparation and multiplexing workflows. However, scaling proteomics experiments to large sample cohorts (hundreds to thousands) requires thoughtful quality control (QC) protocols. Robust QC protocols can help with reproducibility, quantitative accuracy, and provide opportunities for more decisive troubleshooting. Our laboratory conducted a plasma proteomics study of a cohort of N = 335 patient samples using tandem mass tag (TMTpro) 16-plex batches. Over the course of a 10-month data acquisition period for this cohort we collected 271 pooled QC LC-MS/MS result files obtained from MS/MS analysis of a patient-derived pooled plasma sample, representative of the entire cohort population. This sample was tagged with TMTzero or TMTpro reagents and used to inform the daily performance of the LC-MS/MS instruments and to allow within and across sample batch normalization. Analytical variability of a number of instrumental and data analysis metrics including protein and peptide identifications, peptide spectral matches (PSMs), number of obtained MS/MS spectra, average peptide abundance, percent of peptides with a Δ m/z between ±0.003 Da, percent of MS/MS spectra obtained at the maximum injection time, and the retention time of selected tracking peptides were evaluated to help inform the design of a robust LC-MS/MS QC workflow for use in future cohort studies. This study also led to general tips for using selected metrics to inform real-time troubleshooting of LC-MS/MS performance issues with daily QC checks.

Three levels of enhanced inspired CO2 or fasted-state on stress response activation in behaviorally inhibited humans and rats

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is believed to be a genetically determined trait that affects roughly 33% of the human population. These individuals tend to respond to stressful situations differently than their non-behaviorally inhibited (NBI) counterparts. In the rodent population, a similar behavioral/stress model exists. The Sprague-Dawley (SD) strain often acts as a “control” among rat strains and can be considered to be the rat equivalent to NBI individuals, and the Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) strain is the rodent equivalent to BI individuals. The differences in the activation of the sympathetic nervous system between chronically stressed and non-stressed populations remain unknown. Our current study tested the hypothesis BI individuals and WKY rats will have increased stress responses. In humans, we tested physiological responses to increasing levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) through analyses of breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. The Adult Measure of Behavioral Inhibition (AMBI) survey was used to determine the presence of BI. A 15-minute control period baseline was completed followed by an acquisition period of five minutes of each 3%, 5%, and 7% CO2, respectively. Preliminary results were analyzed through a CO2 sensitivity slope (inspired minute ventilation ((L/min) / end-tidal CO2) and show that BI individuals had increased, exaggerated responses to the respiratory stressors across the three levels of enhanced CO2. In the rodent model, signaled lever-press avoidance was used to examine the activation of stress responses. Rats were trained to avoid mild foot shock using a tone warning signal. As demonstrated previously, WKY rats acquired a higher level of avoidance responses. Rats were then food-deprived overnight and subsequently retested on signal lever-press avoidance. Food deprivation did not affect the high rate of avoidance seen in WKY rats; however, food deprivation increased the SD rate of avoidance to nearly the level of WKY rats. Our data suggest that WKY rats do not respond to food deprivation when paired with lever-press avoidance; however, SD rats do. Simply, the addition of a stressor causes SD rats to behave more similarly to their WKY counterparts. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Coherent, time-shifted patterns of microstructural plasticity during motor-skill learning

Motor skill learning relies on neural plasticity in the motor and limbic systems. However, the spatial and temporal characteristics of these changes—and their microstructural underpinnings—remain unclear. Eighteen healthy males received 1 h of training in a computer-based motion game, 4 times a week, for 4 consecutive weeks, while 14 untrained participants underwent scanning only. Performance improvements were observed in all trained participants. Serial myelin- and iron-sensitive multiparametric mapping at 3T during this period of intensive motor skill acquisition revealed temporally and spatially distributed, performance-related microstructural changes in the grey and white matter across a corticospinal-cerebellar-hippocampal circuit. Analysis of the trajectory of these transient changes suggested time-shifted cascades of plasticity from the dominant sensorimotor system to the contralateral hippocampus. In the cranial corticospinal tracts, changes in myelin-sensitive metrics during training in the posterior limb of the internal capsule were of greater magnitude in those who trained their upper limbs vs. lower limb trainees. Motor skill learning is associated with waves of grey and white matter plasticity, across a broad sensorimotor network.

Fitbit Data to Assess Functional Capacity in Patients Before Elective Surgery: Pilot Prospective Observational Study.

Preoperative assessment is crucial to prevent the risk of complications of surgical operations and is usually focused on functional capacity. The increasing availability of wearable devices (smartwatches, trackers, rings, etc) can provide less intrusive assessment methods, reduce costs, and improve accuracy. The aim of this study was to present and evaluate the possibility of using commercial smartwatch data, such as those retrieved from the Fitbit Inspire 2 device, to assess functional capacity before elective surgery and correlate such data with the current gold standard measure, the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) distance. During the hospital visit, patients were evaluated in terms of functional capacity using the 6MWT. Patients were asked to wear the Fitbit Inspire 2 for 7 days (with flexibility of -2 to +2 days) after the hospital visit, before their surgical operation. Resting heart rate and daily steps data were retrieved directly from the smartwatch. Feature engineering techniques allowed the extraction of heart rate over steps (HROS) and a modified version of Non-Exercise Testing Cardiorespiratory Fitness. All measures were correlated with 6MWT. In total, 31 patients were enrolled in the study (n=22, 71% men; n=9, 29% women; mean age 76.06, SD 4.75 years). Data were collected between June 2021 and May 2022. The parameter that correlated best with the 6MWT was the Non-Exercise Testing Cardiorespiratory Fitness index (r=0.68; P<.001). The average resting heart rate over the whole acquisition period for each participant had r=-0.39 (P=.03), even if some patients did not wear the device at night. The correlation of the 6MWT distance with the HROS evaluated at 1% quantile was significant, with Pearson coefficient of -0.39 (P=.04). Fitbit step count had a fair correlation of 0.59 with 6MWT (P<.001). Our study is a promising starting point for the adoption of wearable technology in the evaluation of functional capacity of patients, which was strongly correlated with the gold standard. The study also identified limitations in the availability of metrics, variability of devices, accuracy and quality of data, and accessibility as crucial areas of focus for future studies.

Prior experience modifies acquisition trajectories via response-strategy sampling.

Few studies have considered how signal detection parameters evolve during acquisition periods. We addressed this gap by training mice with differential prior experience in a conditional discrimination, auditory signal detection task. Naïve mice, mice given separate experience with each of the later correct choice options (Correct Choice Response Transfer, CCRT), and mice experienced in conditional discriminations (Conditional Discrimination Transfer, CDT) were trained to detect the presence or absence of a tone in white noise. We analyzed data assuming a two-period model of acquisition: a pre-solution and solution period (Heinemann EG (1983) in The Presolution period and the detection of statistical associations. In: Quantitative analyses of behavior: discrimination processes, vol. 4, pp. 21-36). Ballinger. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.536.1978andrep=rep1andtype=pdf ). The pre-solution period was characterized by a selective sampling of biased response strategies until adoption of a conditional responding strategy in the solution period. Correspondingly, discriminability remained low until the solution period; criterion took excursions reflecting response-strategy sampling. Prior experience affected the length and composition of the pre-solution period. Whereas CCRT and CDT mice had shorter pre-solution periods than naïve mice, CDT and Naïve mice developed substantial criterion biases and acquired asymptotic discriminability faster than CCRT mice. To explain these data, we propose a learning model in which mice selectively sample and test different response-strategies and corresponding task structures until they exit the pre-solution period. Upon exit, mice adopt the conditional responding strategy and task structure, with action values updated via inference and generalization from the other task structures. Simulations of representative mouse data illustrate the viability of this model.

To Study Data of E-banking Operations at Kotak Mahindra Bank

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study on the performance of Kotak Mahindra bank for pre and post- period. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the review of literature, the study is aimed at evaluating the performance of pre and post-merger of Kotak Mahindra Bank. The period taken for pre-merger is four years and post-merger is one year. Performance is evaluated on the basis of quick ratio, current ratio, debt equity ratio, Cash to current Liabilities, deposits over 1year to 3 years, Borrowings over 1 year to 3 years, Loans and advances and net Profit Margin. Findings –loan advances in post-merger is higher than the loan advances in premerger period which is statistically significant. The debt equity ratio is gradually decreasing and in post-merger period it started increasing. Originality- To evaluate the liquidity position of pre and post- period of Mergers and Acquisitions of Kotak Mahindra bank

Prolonged imaging time in the salivagram appears unnecessary for detecting aspiration.

The salivagram was first described to detect possible lung aspiration in infants or young children. Its original protocol required dynamic imaging for 60 minutes, which has high sensitivity. The purpose of this retrospective investigation was to determine whether a shortened period of image acquisition can be adopted without significantly reducing the sensitivity of the test in detecting aspiration. The current salivagram protocol in our hospital requires 60 minutes of dynamic imaging. The images of a total of 398 patients (ages 1 month to 9 years old) with positive salivagrams were analyzed. The entire 60-minute dynamic images were divided into 6 periods, 10 minutes/period. The time of the onset of abnormal activity in the bronchi, which was evidence of aspiration in each patient, was recorded and assigned to the corresponding period. Among all 398 patients with evidence of aspiration, tracheobronchial tree activity could be seen in the first 10 minutes of the dynamic imaging in 184 of them (46.2%, 184/398). The onset of the bronchial activity was seen between 10 and 20 minutes in 177 patients (44.5%, 177/398). A total of 35 patients (8.8%, 35/398) had the onset of abnormal tracheobronchial tree activity in the 3rd period between 20 and 30 minutes. During the 4th period between 30 and 40 minutes, the onset of the aspiration occurred in only 2 patients (0.5%, 2/398). All patients had the onset of aspiration in the first 40 minutes of the dynamic imaging. The originally described 60-minute dynamic imaging protocol of the salivagram can be safely shortened to 40 or even 30 minutes without a significantly decreased chance of detecting aspiration. Prolonged imaging is unnecessary.