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In 1991 the African Union established a plan for creating a monetary union for the whole continent. The plan, the Abuja Treaty, aim to unify the continent, creating stability and improving economic welfare. Several regional economic communities (RECs) are the foundation of this plan which means that the progress is primary dependent on their successful development. This essay studies Africa’s prog
The Fire Risk Index Method is a tool for assessing fire safety in multi-storey apartment buildings. This report contains a description of how Version 1.2 of the Fire Risk Index Method was developed. The terminology frequently used in the development process of the method is also explained. The use of the Fire Risk Index Method is described and illustrated by an example. The method is applied to an
Fires in road tunnels constitute complex scenarios with interactions between the fire, tunnel users and safety measures. More and more methodologies for risk analysis quantify the consequences of these scenarios with complex models. Examples for complex models are the computational fluid dynamics model Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) and the microscopic evacuation model FDS+Evac. However, the high c
Image-based analysis of breast tumour growth rate may help optimize breast cancer screening and diagnosis. It may improve the identification of aggressive tumours and suggest optimal screening intervals. Virtual clinical trial (VCT) is a simulation-based method used to evaluate and optimize medical imaging systems and design clinical trials. Our work is motivated by desire to simulate multiple scr
The study of a turbulent premixed flame often involves analysing quantities conditioned to different iso-surfaces of a reactive scalar field. Under the influence of turbulence, such a surface is deformed and translated. To track the surface motion, the displacement speed of the scalar field respective to the local flow velocity is widely used and this quantity is currently receiving growing attent
At present, the prevalence of electric vehicles is increasing continuously. In particular, there are promising applications for commercial vehicles transfering from conventional to full electric, due to lower operating costs and stricter emission regulations. Thus, cost analysis from the fleet perspective becomes important. The study of cost competitiveness of different drivetrain designs is neces
The focus of this study was the empirical modelling of the high-speed bearings life and failure modes of a through-flow universal motor. An approach was used facilitating predictions of the life through-range of various conditions. The model estimates bearing life for the survival probability of 50% – L50. It influences parameters such as bearing temperature, speed factor, equivalent load, grease
Purpose: Monte Carlo (MC) modelling techniques can assess the quantitative accuracy of both planar and SPECT Nuclear Medicine images. It is essential to validate the MC code's capabilities in modelling a specific clinical gamma camera, for radionuclides of interest, before its use as a clinical image simulator. This study aimed to determine if the SIMIND MC code accurately simulates emission image
Our aesthetic response to the Universe, and the complexity of concepts through which we understand it, are inherently bound together in how we meaningfully interpret its nature. Over millennia the abstracted and intangible concepts of science have been developed and communicated through a rich array of representations across a variety of modes. The interpretation of such representations is a compl
While an extensive part of the conflict transformation literature stresses the importance of transforming the identities of conflict parties through recognition, it fails to recognise the propensity of such transformations to generate ontological insecurity and dissonance, and consequently a possible backlash towards antagonistic identities. Drawing on agonistic thought, we develop a conception of
Integration of high activity, selectivity, and stability is urgently desired to achieve more ideal photocatalysts. Herein, we reported the rational design of MoS2-MnS@(InxCu1-x)2S3 (M-M@IC) catalysts with dual interface to integrate separated redox sites for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen sulphide (H2S) splitting and the resource utilization of sacrificial reagents (Na2S/Na2SO3). The spatially s
Since most models used to study neuronal dysfunction display disadvantages and ethical concerns, a fast and reproducible in vitro model to study mitochondria-related neurodegeneration is required. Here, we optimized and characterized a 3-day retinoic acid-based protocol to differentiate the SH-SY5Y cell line into a neuronal-like phenotype and investigated alterations in mitochondrial physiology an
BACKGROUND: Nosocomial outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can have devastating consequences from both a resource cost and patient healthcare perspective. Relying on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for identifying infected individuals may result in missed cases. Screening for antibodies after an outbreak can help to find missed cases and better illuminate rout
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect societies across the world, the ongoing economic and social disruptions are likely to present fundamental challenges for current and future biodiversity conservation. We review the literature for outcomes of past major societal, political, economic and zoonotic perturbations on biodiversity conservation, and demonstrate the complex implications of pertu
Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are efficient for classification of sequential data such as speech and audio due to their high precision on tasks. However, power efficiency, the required memory capacity and bandwidth requirements make them less suitable for battery powered devices. In this work, we introduce FLoPAD-GRU: a system on a chip (SoC) for efficient processing of gated recurrent unit (GR
A miniaturized thermal biosensor has been evaluated as part of a flow-injection analysis system for the determination of glucose in whole blood. Glucose was determined by measuring the heat evolved when samples containing glucose passed through a small column with immobilized glucose oxidase and catalase. Samples of whole blood (1 μl) can be measured directly, without any pretreatment. The correla
Purpose: To assess the performance of a 4-step algorithm for neurological prognostication after cardiac arrest recommended by the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM). Methods: Retrospective descriptive analysis with data from the Target Temperature Management (TTM) Trial. Associations between predicted and actual neurological outcome wer
The objective of this critical review was to provide a comprehensive summary of paralytic shellfish toxins(PSTs) producing species and knowledge gaps in detecting PSTs in drinking water resources, with a focuson recent development of PSTs monitoring methods and tools for drinking water monitoring. PSTs, whichare also called Saxitoxins (STXs), are a group of neurotoxins not only produced by marine
The sexes may have different optima in cognitive traits due to differences in life history strategies and the expense of investing in metabolically costly brain tissue. However, given genetic correlations, each sex could be constrained from reaching its cognitive optimum due to intralocus sexual conflict. We compared learning performance of two male alternative reproductive tactics and females fro
