Search results for: lean tool

Authors: Ghimire K., Mehta R. S., Parajuli P., Chettri R.

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Background: Malnutrition is a common hallmark of Human Immuno Virus (HIV) disease. It plays a synergistic role in immunosuppression which is initiated by Human Immuno Virus itself, and malnutrition forms an independent risk factor for disease progression. Objectives: The objective of the study is to assess the nutritional status of the people living with Human Immuno Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome attending the Anti-Retro viral Treatment Clinic and find the association of nutritional status with different socio-demographic variables. Methods: A total of 101 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) were selected by convenient sampling technique. The study was conducted at the ART clinic of BPKIHS. A subjective global assessment tool was used for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Results: The study demonstrated that the mean age of the respondents was 40.97+8.650 years. 65.3% were well-nourished, and 34.7% of the participants were mildly/moderately malnourished, whereas none of them were severely malnourished. BMI was statistically significant with education status, family income, and duration of illness of the participants, and nutritional status was statistically significant with gender, marital status, education status, and family history of HIV. Conclusion: On the basis of the result, it can be concluded that more than half of the respondents were well nourished. Gender, marital status, and education are associated with nutritional status.

Keywords: nutritional status, people living with HIV/AIDS, ART treatment, Nepal

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Authors: Roman Graf, Sergiu Gordea, Heather M. Ryan

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This paper presents an approach for the easy creation of an institutional risk profile for endangerment analysis of file formats. The main contribution of this work is the employment of data mining techniques to support risk factors set up with just the most important values that are important for a particular organisation. Subsequently, the risk profile employs fuzzy models and associated configurations for the file format metadata aggregator to support digital preservation experts with a semi-automatic estimation of endangerment level for file formats. Our goal is to make use of a domain expert knowledge base aggregated from a digital preservation survey in order to detect preservation risks for a particular institution. Another contribution is support for visualisation and analysis of risk factors for a requried dimension. The proposed methods improve the visibility of risk factor information and the quality of a digital preservation process. The presented approach is meant to facilitate decision making for the preservation of digital content in libraries and archives using domain expert knowledge and automatically aggregated file format metadata from linked open data sources. To facilitate decision-making, the aggregated information about the risk factors is presented as a multidimensional vector. The goal is to visualise particular dimensions of this vector for analysis by an expert. The sample risk profile calculation and the visualisation of some risk factor dimensions is presented in the evaluation section.

Keywords: digital information management, file format, endangerment analysis, fuzzy models

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Authors: V. Santamarina Campos, M. de Miguel Molina, B. de Miguel Molina, M. Á. Carabal Montagud

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With this contribution, we want to show a successful example of the application of the Design Thinking methodology, in the European project 'Technology transfer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for the creative industry'. The use of this methodology has allowed us to design and build a drone, based on the real needs of prospective users. It has demonstrated that this is a powerful tool for generating innovative ideas in the field of robotics, by focusing its effectiveness on understanding and solving real user needs. In this way, with the support of an interdisciplinary team, comprised of creatives, engineers and economists, together with the collaboration of prospective users from three European countries, a non-linear work dynamic has been created. This teamwork has generated a sense of appreciation towards the creative industries, through continuously adaptive, inventive, and playful collaboration and communication, which has facilitated the development of prototypes. These have been designed to enable filming and photography in interior spaces, within 13 sectors of European creative industries: Advertising, Architecture, Fashion, Film, Antiques and Museums, Music, Photography, Televison, Performing Arts, Publishing, Arts and Crafts, Design and Software. Furthermore, it has married the real needs of the creative industries, with what is technologically and commercially viable. As a result, a product of great value has been obtained, which offers new business opportunities for small companies across this sector.

Keywords: design thinking, design for effectiveness, methodology, active toolkit, storyboards, PAR, focus group, innovation, RPAS, indoor drone, aerial film, creative industry, end users, stakeholder

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Authors: Alexandros Pournaras, Anastasia Papadopoulou, Serafim Kontos, Anastasios Karakostas

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The air quality of modern cities is an important concern, as poor air quality contributes to human health and environmental issues. Reliable air quality forecasting has, thus, gained scientific and governmental attention as an essential tool that enables authorities to take proactive measures for public safety. In this study, the potential of Machine Learning (ML) models to forecast PM2.5 at local scale is investigated in the city of Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, which has been struggling with the persistent issue of air pollution. ML models, with proven ability to address timeseries forecasting, are employed to predict the PM2.5 concentrations and the respective Air Quality Index 5-days ahead by learning from daily historical air quality and meteorological data from 2014 to 2016 and gathered from two stations with different land use characteristics in the urban fabric of Thessaloniki. The performance of the ML models on PM2.5 concentrations is evaluated with common statistical methods, such as R squared (r²) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), utilizing a portion of the stations’ measurements as test set. A multi-categorical evaluation is utilized for the assessment of their performance on respective AQIs. Several conclusions were made from the experiments conducted. Experimenting on MLs’ configuration revealed a moderate effect of various parameters and training schemas on the model’s predictions. Their performance of all these models were found to produce satisfactory results on PM2.5 concentrations. In addition, their application on untrained stations showed that these models can perform well, indicating a generalized behavior. Moreover, their performance on AQI was even better, showing that the MLs can be used as predictors for AQI, which is the direct information provided to the general public.

Keywords: Air Quality, AQ Forecasting, AQI, Machine Learning, PM2.5

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Authors: Donna L. Roberts

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The theory of archetypes contends that themes based on universal foundational images reside in and are transmitted generationally through the collective unconscious, which is referenced throughout an individual’s experience in order to make sense of that experience. There is then, a profoundly visceral and instinctive agreement on the gestalt of these universal themes and how they apply to the human condition throughout space and time. The inherent nature of projective tests, such as the Rorschach Inkblot, necessitates that the stimulus is ambiguous and thus elicits responses that reflect the unconscious inner psyche of the respondent. As the development of the Rorschach inkblots was relatively random and serendipitous - i.e., the inkblots were not engineered to elicit a specifically defined response - it would stand to reason that without a collective unconscious, every individual would interpret the inkblots in an individualized and unique way. Yet this is not the case. Instead, common themes appear in the images of the inkblots and their interpretation that reflect this deeper iconic understanding. This study analyzed the ten Rorschach inkblots in terms of Jungian archetypes, both with respect to the form of images on each plate and the commonly observed themes in responses. Examples of the archetypes were compared to each of the inkblots, with subsequent descriptions matched to the standard responses. The findings yielded clear and distinct instances of the universal symbolism intrinsic in the inkblot images as well as ubiquitous throughout the responses. This project illustrates the influence of the theories of psychologist Carl Gustav Jung on the interpretation of the ambiguous stimuli. It further serves to demonstrate the merit of Jungian psychology as a valuable tool with which to understand the nature of projective tests in general, Rorschach’s work specifically, and ultimately the broader implications for our collective unconscious and common humanity.

Keywords: archetypes, inkblots, projective tests, Rorschach

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Authors: Bashir Ahmad Amiri, Nsenda Lukumwena

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The global trend indicates that more and more people live and will continue to live in urban areas. Today cities are expanding both in physical size and number due to the rapid population growth along with sprawl development, which caused the cities to expand beyond the growth boundary and exerting intense pressure on environmental resources specially farmlands to accommodate new housing and urban facilities. Also noticeable is the increase in urban decay along with the increase of slum dwellers present another challenge that most cities in developed and developing countries have to deal with. Today urban practitioners, researchers, planners, and decision-makers are seeking for alternative development and growth management policies to house the rising urban population and also cure the urban decay and slum issues turn to Smart Growth to achieve their goals. Many cities across the globe have adopted smart growth as an alternative growth management tool to deal with patterns and forms of development and to cure the rising urban and environmental problems. The method used in this study is a literature analysis method through reviewing various resources to highlight the potential benefits of Smart Growth in both developed and developing countries and analyze, to what extent it can be a strategic alternative for Afghanistan’s cities, especially the capital city. Hence a comparative analysis is carried on three countries, namely the USA, China, and India to identify the potential benefits of smart growth likely to serve as an achievable broad base for recommendations in different urban contexts.

Keywords: growth management, housing, Kabul city, smart growth, urban-expansion

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Authors: Amir Hossein Allahdadi

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The mystical and intuitive look of Islamic artists inspired by the Koranic and mystical principles and also based on the geometry and mathematics has left unique works whose range extends across the borders of Islam. The relationship between Islamic art and music in the traditional art is of one of the concepts that can be traced back to the other arts by detection of its components. One of the links is the art of painting whose subtleties that can be applicable to both architecture and music. So, architecture and music links can be traced in other arts with a traditional foundation in order to evaluate the equivalents of traditional arts. What is the relationship between physical space of architecture and nonphysical space of music? What is musical architecture? What is the music that tends to architecture? These questions are very small samples of the questions that arise in this category, and these questions and concerns remain as long as the music is played and the architecture is made. Efforts have been made in this area, references compiled and plans drawn. As an example, we can refer to views of ‘Mansour Falamaki’ in the book of architecture and music, as well as the book transition from mud to heart by ‘Hesamodin Seraj’. The method is such that a certain melody is given to an architect and it is tried to design a specified architecture using a certain theme. This study is not to follow the architecture of a particular type of music and the formation of a volume based on a sound. In this opportunity, it is tried to briefly review the relationship between music and architecture in the Iranian original and traditional arts, using the basic definitions of arts. The musician plays, the architect designs, the actor forms his desired space and painter displays his multi-dimensional world in the form of two-dimensions. The expression language is different, but all of them can be gathered in a form, a form which has no clear boundaries. In fact, in any original art, the artist applies his art as a tool to express his insights which are nothing but achieving the world beyond this place and time.

Keywords: architecture, music, geometric proportions, mathematical proportions

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Authors: Alonso-Cañadas J., Galán-Valdivieso F., Saraite-Sariene L., García-Tabuyo M., Alonso-Morales N.

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Green Public Procurement (GPP) has recently gained attention in the academic and policy arenas since climate change has shown the need to be addressed by both private companies and public entities. Such growing interest motivates this article, aiming to explore the most influential journals, publishers, categories, and topics, as well as the recent trends and future research lines in GPP. Based on the Web of Science database, 578 articles from 2004 to February 2022 devoted to GPP are analyzed using Bibliometrix, an R-tool to perform bibliometric analysis, and Google’s Big Query and Data Studio. This article introduces a variety of findings. First, the most influential journals by far are “Journal of Cleaner Production” and “Sustainability,” differing in that the latter is open access while the former publishes via traditional subscription. This result also occurs regarding the main publishers (Elsevier and MDPI). These features lead us to split the sample into open-access journals and traditional journals to deepen into the similarities and differences between them, confirming that traditional journals exhibit a higher degree of influence in the literature than their open-access counterparts in terms of the number of documents, number of citations and impact (according to the H index). Second, this research also highlights the recent emergence of green-related terms (sustainable, environment) and, parallelly, the increase in categorizing GPP papers in “green” WoS categories, particularly since 2019. Finally, a number of related topics are emerging and will lead the research, such as food security, infrastructures, and implementation barriers of GPP.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis, green public procurement, open access, traditional journals

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Authors: Bhanupriya Sanger, Kiran Roat, Gayatri Swarnakar

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Helminths including Paramphistomum Cervi (P. cervi) are a major cause of reduced production in livestock or domestic ruminant. Rajasthan is the largest state of India having a maximum number of livestock. The economy of rural people largely depends on livestock such as cow, buffalo, goat and sheep. The prevalence of P. cervi helminth parasite is extremely high in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) of Udaipur, which causes the disease paramphistomiasis. This disease mainly affects milk, meat, wool production and loss of life of buffalo. Chemotherapy is the only efficient and effective tool to cure and control the helminth P. cervi infection, as efficacious vaccines against helminth have not been developed so far. Various veterinary drugs like Albendazole have been used as the standard drug for eliminating P. cervi from buffalo, but these drugs are unaffordable and inaccessible for poor livestock farmers. The fruits, leaves and seeds of Clitoria ternatea Linn. are known for their ethno-medicinal value and commonly known as “Aprajita” in India. Seed extract of Clitoria ternatea found to have a significant anthelmintic action against Paramphistomum cervi at the dose of 35 mg/ml. The tegument of treated P. cervi was compared with controlled parasites by light microscopy. Treated P. cervi showed extensive distortion and destruction of the tegument including ruptured parenchymal cells, disruption of musculature cells, swelling and vacuolization in tegumental and sub tegumental cells. As a result, it can be concluded that the seeds of Clitoria ternatea can be used as the anthelmintic agent. Key words: Paramphistomiasis, Buffalo, Alcoholic extract, Paramphistomum cervi, Clitoria ternatea.

Keywords: buffalo, Clitoria ternatea, Paramphistomiasis, Paramphistomum cervi

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Authors: Hu Changjuan, Gong Cong, Long Hao

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Although urban ecological policies and the public's aspiration for livable environments have expedited the pace of ecological revitalization, historic districts that have evolved through natural ecological processes often become obsolete and less habitable amid rapid urbanization. This raises a critical question about historic districts inherently incapable of being ecological and livable. The thriving concept of ‘intrinsic ecology,’ characterized by its ability to transform city-district systems into healthy ecosystems with diverse environments, stable functions, and rapid restoration capabilities, holds potential for guiding the integration of ancient and modern ecological wisdom while supporting the dynamic involvement of cultures. This study explores the intrinsic ecology of historic districts from three aspects: 1) Population Density: By comparing the population density before urban population expansion to the present day, determine the reasonable population density for historic districts. 2) Building Density: Using the ‘Space-mate’ tool for comparative analysis, form a spatial matrix to explore the intrinsic ecology of building density in Chinese historic districts. 3) Green Capacity Ratio: By using ecological districts as control samples, conduct dual comparative analyses (related comparison and upgraded comparison) to determine the intrinsic ecological advantages of the two-dimensional and three-dimensional green volume in historic districts. The study inform a density optimization strategy that supports cultural, social, natural, and economic ecology, contributing to the creation of eco-historic districts.

Keywords: eco-historic districts, intrinsic ecology, suitable density, green capacity ratio.

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Authors: Oscar Covarrubias, Diane Ghanem, Christopher Murdock, Babar Shafiq

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Introduction: ChatGPT is an advanced language AI tool designed to understand and generate human-like text. The aim of this study is to assess the ability of ChatGPT-4 to re-write orthopaedic trauma patient education materials at the recommended 6th-grade level. Methods: Two independent reviewers accessed ChatGPT-4 (chat.openai.com) and gave identical instructions to simplify the readability of provided text to a 6th-grade level. All trauma-related articles by the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) were sequentially provided. The academic grade level was determined using the Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE). Paired t-tests and Wilcox-rank sum tests were used to compare the FKGL and FRE between the ChatGPT-4 revised and original text. Inter-rater correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess variability in ChatGPT-4 generated text between the two reviewers. Results: ChatGPT-4 significantly reduced FKGL and increased FRE scores in the OTA (FKGL: 5.7±0.5 compared to the original 8.2±1.1, FRE: 76.4±5.7 compared to the original 65.5±6.6, p < 0.001) and AAOS articles (FKGL: 5.8±0.8 compared to the original 8.9±0.8, FRE: 76±5.5 compared to the original 56.7±5.9, p < 0.001). On average, 14.6% of OTA and 28.6% of AAOS articles required at least two revisions by ChatGPT-4 to achieve a 6th-grade reading level. ICC demonstrated poor reliability for FKGL (OTA 0.24, AAOS 0.45) and moderate reliability for FRE (OTA 0.61, AAOS 0.73). Conclusion: This study provides a novel, simple and efficient method using language AI to optimize the readability of patient education content which may only require the surgeon’s final proofreading. This method would likely be as effective for other medical specialties.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, AI, chatGPT, patient education, readability, trauma education

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Authors: Jatin Sridhar Naidu, Aryan Arora, Zainab Shafiq, Reza Mirnezami

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Background: Robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) promises good outcomes in midgut adenocarcinoma surgery. However, its effectiveness in midgut neuroendocrine tumours (MNETs) is unknown. This study aimed to assess the current use, user interface, and any emerging developments of RAS in MNET treatment using the literature available. Methods: This review was carried out using PRISMA guidelines. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science were searched on 22nd October 2022. All studies reporting primary data on robotic surgery in midgut neuroendocrine tumours or carcinoid tumours were included. The midgut was defined to be from the duodenojejunal flexure to the splenic flexure. Methodological quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs critical appraisal tool. Results: According to our systematic review protocol, nineteen studies were selected. A total of twenty-six patients were identified. RAS was used for right colectomies, right hemicolectomies, ileal resections, caecal resections, intracorporeal anastomoses, and complete mesocolic excisions. It offered an optimal user-interface with enhanced visuals, fine dexterity, and ergonomic work position. Innovative developments in tumour-healthy tissue boundary and vasculature visualisation were reported. Conclusion: RAS for MNETs is safe and feasible, although the evidence base is limited. We recommend large prospective-randomised controlled trials comparing it with laparoscopy and open surgery. Developments in intraoperative contrast dyes and tumour-specific probes are very promising.

Keywords: robotic surgery, colorectal surgery, neuroendocrine neoplasms, midgut neoplasms

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Authors: Biruhi Tesfaye, Avinash M. Potdar

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The laboratory test process to determine the California bearing ratio (CBR) of black cotton soils is not only overpriced but also time-consuming as well. Hence advanced prediction of CBR plays a significant role as it is applicable In pavement design. The prediction of CBR of treated soil was executed by Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) which is a Computational tool based on the properties of the biological neural system. To observe CBR values, combined eggshell and waste glass was added to soil as 4, 8, 12, and 16 % of the weights of the soil samples. Accordingly, the laboratory related tests were conducted to get the required best model. The maximum CBR value found at 5.8 at 8 % of eggshell waste glass powder addition. The model was developed using CBR as an output layer variable. CBR was considered as a function of the joint effect of liquid limit, plastic limit, and plastic index, optimum moisture content and maximum dry density. The best model that has been found was ANN with 5, 6 and 1 neurons in the input, hidden and output layer correspondingly. The performance of selected ANN has been 0.99996, 4.44E-05, 0.00353 and 0.0067 which are correlation coefficient (R), mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) respectively. The research presented or summarized above throws light on future scope on stabilization with waste glass combined with different percentages of eggshell that leads to the economical design of CBR acceptable to pavement sub-base or base, as desired.

Keywords: CBR, artificial neural network, liquid limit, plastic limit, maximum dry density, OMC

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Authors: M. Macchiaroli, L. Dolores, V. Pellecchia

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With the recent Resolution n. 580/2019/R/idr, the Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks, and Environment (ARERA) for the Urban Water Management has introduced, for water managements characterized by persistent critical issues regarding the planning and organization of the service and the implementation of the necessary interventions for the improvement of infrastructures and management quality, a new mechanism for determining tariffs: the regulatory scheme of Convergence. The aim of this regulatory scheme is the overcoming of the Water Service Divided in order to improve the stability of the local institutional structures, technical quality, contractual quality, as well as in order to guarantee transparency elements for Users of the Service. Convergence scheme presupposes the identification of the cost items to be considered in the tariff in parametric terms, distinguishing three possible cases according to the type of historical data available to the Manager. The study, in particular, focuses on operations that have neither data on tariff revenues nor data on operating costs. In this case, the Manager's Constraint on Revenues (VRG) is estimated on the basis of a reference benchmark and becomes the starting point for defining the structure of the tariff classes, in compliance with the TICSI provisions (Integrated Text for tariff classes, ARERA's Resolution n. 665/2017/R/idr). The proposed model implements the recent studies on optimization models for the definition of tariff classes in compliance with the constraints dictated by TICSI in the application of the Convergence mechanism, proposing itself as a support tool for the Managers and the local water regulatory Authority in the decision-making process.

Keywords: decision-making process, economic evaluation of projects, optimizing tools, urban water management, water tariff

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Authors: Shih-Heng Sun, Hsiu-Yu Chang

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“Family centered service model” becomes mainstream in early intervention. Family outcome should be evaluated in addition child improvement in terms of outcome evaluation in early intervention. The purpose of this study is to develop a surveys to evaluate family outcomes in early intervention. Method: “Family Outcomes Survey- Revised Taiwan Version” (FOS-RT) was developed through translation, back-translation, and review by the original author. Expert meeting was held to determine the content validity. Two hundred and eighty six parent-child dyads recruited from 10 local Early Intervention Resource Centers (EIRC) participated in the study after they signed inform consent. The results showed both parts of FOS-RT exhibits good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The result of confirmatory factor analysis indicated moderate fit of 5 factor structure of part A and 3 factor structure of part B of FOS-RT. The correlation between different sessions reached moderate to high level reveals some sessions measure similar latent trait of family outcomes. Correlation between FOS-RT and Parents‘ Perceived Parenting Skills Questionnaire was calculated to determine the convergence validity. The moderate correlation indicates the two assessments measure different parts of early intervention outcome although both assessments have similar sub-scales. The results of this study support FOS-RT is a valid and reliable tool to evaluate family outcome after the family and children with developmental disability receive early intervention services.

Keywords: early intervention, family service, outcome evaluation, parenting skills, family centered

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Authors: Kwaku Damoah

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The agricultural sector is characterized by continuous transformation, driven by factors such as demographic shifts, evolving consumer preferences, climate change, and migration trends. This dynamic environment presents complex challenges for key stakeholders including farmers, governments, and investors, who must navigate these changes to achieve optimal investment returns. To effectively predict market trends and uncover promising investment opportunities, a systematic, data-driven approach is essential. This paper introduces the Structural Evolution Index (SEI), a machine learning-based methodology. SEI is specifically designed to analyse long-term trends and forecast the potential of emerging agricultural products for investment. Versatile in application, it evaluates various agricultural metrics such as production, yield, trade, land use, and consumption, providing a comprehensive view of the evolution within agricultural markets. By harnessing data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAOSTAT), this study demonstrates the SEI's capabilities through Comparative Exploratory Analysis and evaluation of international trade in agricultural products, focusing on Malaysia and Singapore. The SEI methodology reveals intricate patterns and transitions within the agricultural sector, enabling stakeholders to strategically identify and capitalize on emerging markets. This predictive framework is a powerful tool for decision-makers, offering crucial insights that help anticipate market shifts and align investments with anticipated returns.

Keywords: agricultural investment, algorithm, comparative exploratory analytics, machine learning, market trends, predictive analytics, structural evolution index

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Authors: Ali Asgary, Haopeng Zhou, Ghassem Tofighi

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Use of virtual (VR), augmented reality (AR), and extended reality technologies for training and education has increased in recent years as more hardware and software tools have become available and accessible to larger groups of users. Similarly, the applications of these technologies in earthquake related training and education are on the rise. Several studies have reported promising results for the use of VR and AR for evacuation behaviour and training under earthquake situations. They simulate the impacts that earthquake has on buildings, buildings’ contents, and how building occupants and users can find safe spots or open paths to outside. Considering that considerable number of earthquake injuries and fatalities are linked to the behaviour, our goal is to use these technologies to reduce the impacts of building contents on people. Building on our artificial intelligence (AI) based indoor earthquake risk assessment application that enables users to use their mobile device to assess the risks associated with building contents during earthquakes, we develop a virtual reality application to demonstrate the behavior of different building contents during earthquakes, their associate moving, spreading, falling, and collapsing risks, and their risk mitigation methods. We integrate realistic seismic models, building contents behavior with and without risk mitigation measures in virtual reality environment. The application can be used for training of architects, interior design experts, and building users to enhance indoor safety of the buildings that can sustain earthquakes. This paper describes and demonstrates the application development background, structure, components, and usage.

Keywords: virtual reality, earthquake damage, building content, indoor risks, earthquake risk mitigation, interior design, unity game engine, oculus

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Authors: Anny Zambrano, German Gonzalez, Yair Quintero

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The continuum damage concept is used to study the interaction between hydraulic fractures and natural fractures, the objective is representing the path and relation among this two fractures types and predict its complex behavior without the need to pre-define their direction as occurs in other finite element applications, providing results more consistent with the physical behavior of the phenomenon. The approach uses finite element simulations through Abaqus software to model damage fracturing, the fracturing process by damage propagation in a rock. The modeling the phenomenon develops in two dimensional (2D) so that the fracture will be represented by a line and the crack front by a point. It considers nonlinear constitutive behavior, finite strain, time-dependent deformation, complex boundary conditions, strain hardening and softening, and strain based damage evolution in compression and tension. The complete governing equations are provided and the method is described in detail to permit readers to replicate all results. The model is compared to models that are published and available. Comparisons are focused in five interactions between natural fractures (NF) and hydraulic fractures: Fractured arrested at NF, crossing NF with or without offset, branching at intersecting NFs, branching at end of NF and NF dilation due to shear slippage. The most significant new finding is, that is not necessary to use pre-defined addresses propagation and stress condition can be evaluated as a dominant factor in the process. This is important because it can model in a more real way the generated complex hydraulic fractures, and be a valuable tool to predict potential problems and different geometries of the fracture network in the process of fracturing due to fluid injection.

Keywords: continuum damage, hydraulic fractures, natural fractures, complex fracture network, stiffness

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Authors: Nazia Mustafa, Aneela Maqsood

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Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory is the most widely used instrument for assessing children and adolescent health-related quality of life and has shown excellent markers of reliability and validity. The current study was carried out with the objectives of translation and cross-language validation along with the determination of factor Structure and psychometric properties of the Urdu version. It was administered on 154 Primary School Children with age range 10 to12 years (M= 10.86, S.D = 0.62); including boys (n=92) and girls (n = 62). The sample was recruited from two randomly selected schools from the Rawalpindi district of Pakistan. Results of the pilot phase revealed that the instrument had good reliability (Urdu Version α = 0.798; English Version α = 0.795) as well as test-retest correlation coefficients over a period of 15 days (r = 0.85). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) resulted in three factorial structures; Social/School Functioning (k = 8), Psychological Functioning (k = 7) and Physical Functioning (k = 6) considered suitable for our sample instead of four factors. Bartlett's test of sphericity showed inter-correlation between variables. However, factor loadings for items 22 and 23 of the School Functioning subscale were problematic. The model was fit to the data after their removal with Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability coefficient of the scale (k = 21) as 0.87 and for subscales as 0.75, 0.77 and 0.73 for Social/School Scale, Psychological subscale and Physical subscale, respectively. These results supported the feasibility and reliability of the Urdu version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory as a reliable and effective tool for the measurement of quality of life among Pediatrics Pakistani population.

Keywords: primary school children, paediatric quality of life, exploratory factor analysis, Pakistan

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Authors: P. V. S. Mascarenhas, B. C. P. Albuquerque, D. J. F. Campos, L. L. Almeida, V. R. Domingues, L. C. S. M. Ozelim

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Retaining slope structures are increasingly considered in geotechnical engineering projects due to extensive urban cities growth. These kinds of engineering constructions may present instabilities over the time and may require reinforcement or even rebuilding of the structure. In this context, statistical analysis is an important tool for decision making regarding retaining structures. This study approaches the failure probability of the construction of a retaining wall over the debris of an old and collapsed one. The new solution’s extension length will be of approximately 350 m and will be located over the margins of the Lake Paranoá, Brasilia, in the capital of Brazil. The building process must also account for the utilization of the ruins as a caisson. A series of in situ and laboratory experiments defined local soil strength parameters. A Standard Penetration Test (SPT) defined the in situ soil stratigraphy. Also, the parameters obtained were verified using soil data from a collection of masters and doctoral works from the University of Brasília, which is similar to the local soil. Initial studies show that the concrete wall is the proper solution for this case, taking into account the technical, economic and deterministic analysis. On the other hand, in order to better analyze the statistical significance of the factor-of-safety factors obtained, a Monte Carlo analysis was performed for the concrete wall and two more initial solutions. A comparison between the statistical and risk results generated for the different solutions indicated that a Gabion solution would better fit the financial and technical feasibility of the project.

Keywords: economical analysis, probability of failure, retaining walls, statistical analysis

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Authors: Naghmeh Zamani, Ashkan Pourkand, David Grow

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This paper presents the design and mechanical model of a hybrid impedance/admittance haptic device optimized for applications, like bone drilling, spinal awl probe use, and other surgical techniques were high force is required in the tool-axial direction, and low impedance is needed in all other directions. The performance levels required cannot be satisfied by existing, off-the-shelf haptic devices. This design may allow critical improvements in simulator fidelity for surgery training. The device consists primarily of two low-mass (carbon fiber) plates with a rod passing through them. Collectively, the device provides 6 DOF. The rod slides through a bushing in the top plate and it is connected to the bottom plate with a universal joint, constrained to move in only 2 DOF, allowing axial torque display the user’s hand. The two parallel plates are actuated and located by means of four cables pulled by motors. The forward kinematic equations are derived to ensure that the plates orientation remains constant. The corresponding equations are solved using the Newton-Raphson method. The static force/torque equations are also presented. Finally, we present the predicted distribution of location error, cables velocity, cable tension, force and torque for the device. These results and preliminary hardware fabrication indicate that this design may provide a revolutionary approach for haptic display of many surgical procedures by means of an architecture that allows arbitrary workspace scaling. Scaling of the height and width can be scaled arbitrarily.

Keywords: cable direct driven robot, haptics, parallel plates, bone drilling

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Authors: Yumeng Ma, Fang Wang, Jinxia Huang

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Researchers put forward higher requirements for efficient acquisition and utilization of domain knowledge in the big data era. As literature is an effective way for researchers to quickly and accurately understand the research situation in their field, the knowledge discovery based on literature has become a new research method. As a tool to organize and manage knowledge in a specific domain, the subject knowledge base can be used to mine and present the knowledge behind the literature to meet the users' personalized needs. This study designs the construction route of the subject knowledge base for specific research problems. Information extraction method based on knowledge engineering is adopted. Firstly, the subject knowledge model is built through the abstraction of the research elements. Then under the guidance of the knowledge model, extraction rules of knowledge points are compiled to analyze, extract and correlate entities, relations, and attributes in literature. Finally, a database platform based on this structured knowledge is developed that can provide a variety of services such as knowledge retrieval, knowledge browsing, knowledge q&a, and visualization correlation. Taking the construction practices in the field of activating blood circulation and removing stasis as an example, this study analyzes how to construct subject knowledge base based on literature knowledge extraction. As the system functional test shows, this subject knowledge base can realize the expected service scenarios such as a quick query of knowledge, related discovery of knowledge and literature, knowledge organization. As this study enables subject knowledge base to help researchers locate and acquire deep domain knowledge quickly and accurately, it provides a transformation mode of knowledge resource construction and personalized precision knowledge services in the data-intensive research environment.

Keywords: knowledge model, literature knowledge extraction, precision knowledge services, subject knowledge base

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Authors: M. Z. Bin Mohd Ghazali, N. C. Wilson, A. F. Bin Ahmad Fuad, M. A. H. B. Musa, M. U. Mohamad Sani, F. Zulkifli, M. S. Zainal Abidin

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Physical activity levels are low in Malaysia and this study was undertaken to determine if a four week work-based intervention program would be effective in changing physical activity levels. The study was conducted in a Malaysian Government Department and had three stages: baseline data collection, four-week intervention and two-month post intervention data collection. During the intervention and two-month post intervention phases, physical activity levels (determined by a pedometer) and basic health profiles (BMI, abdominal obesity, blood pressure) were measured. Staff (58 males, 47 females) with an average age of 33 years completed baseline data collection. Pedometer steps averaged 7,102 steps/day at baseline, although male step counts were significantly higher than females (7,861 vs. 6114). Health profiles were poor: over 50% were overweight/obese (males 66%, females 40%); hypertension (males 23%, females 6%); excess waist circumference (males 52%, females 17%). While 86 staff participated in the intervention, only 49 regularly reported their steps. There was a significant increase (17%) in average daily steps from 8,965 (week 1) to 10,436 (week 4). Unfortunately, participation in the intervention program was avoided by the less healthy staff. Two months after the intervention there was no significant difference in average steps/day, despite the fact that 89% of staff reporting they planned to make long-term changes to their lifestyle. An unexpected average increase of 2kg in body weight occurred in participants, although this was less than the 5.6kg in non-participants. A number of recommendations are made for future interventions, including the conclusion that pedometers were a useful tool and popular with participants.

Keywords: pedometers, walking, health, intervention

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Authors: Varathagowry Vasudevan

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This paper attempts to demonstrate the importance of capacity building of the para-professionals in community based corrections for enhancing family and child welfare as a crucial factor in providing in-service training as a responsive methodology in community based corrections to enhance the best practices. The Diploma programme in community-based corrections initiated by the National Institute of Social Development has been engaged in this noble task of training quality personnel knowledgeable in the best practices and fieldwork skills on community-based correction and its best practice. To protect the families and children and enhance best practices, National Institute of Social Development with support from the department of community-based corrections initiated a Diploma programme in community-based corrections to enhance and update the knowledge, skills, attitudes with the right mindset of the work supervisors employed at the department of community-based corrections. This study based on reflective practice illustrated the effectiveness of curriculum of in-service training programme as a tool to enhance the capacities of the relevant officers in Sri Lanka. The data for the study was obtained from participants and coordinator through classroom discussions and key informant interviews. This study showed that use of appropriate tailor-made curriculum and field practice manual by the officers during the training was very much dependent on the provision of appropriate administrative facilities, passion, teaching methodology that promote capacity to involve best practices. It also demonstrated further the fact that professional social work response, strengthening families within legal framework was very much grounded in the adoption of proper skills imbibed through training in appropriate methodology practiced in the field under guided supervision.

Keywords: capacity building, community-based corrections, in-service training, paraprofessionals

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: K. S. Sreejith, C. Shaji

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Though both Arabian Sea and its counterpart Bay of Bengal is forced primarily by the semi-annually reversing monsoons, the spatio-temporal variations of surface waters is very strong in the Arabian Sea as compared to the Bay of Bengal. This study focuses on the inter-annual variability of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in the Arabian Sea by analysing ERSST dataset which covers 152 years of SST (January 1854 to December 2002) based on the ICOADS in situ observations. To capture the dominant SST oscillations and to understand the inter-annual SST variations at various local regions of the Arabian Sea, wavelet analysis was performed on this long time-series SST dataset. This tool is advantageous over other signal analysing tools like Fourier analysis, based on the fact that it unfolds a time-series data (signal) both in frequency and time domain. This technique makes it easier to determine dominant modes of variability and explain how those modes vary in time. The analysis revealed that pentadal SST oscillations predominate at most of the analysed local regions in the Arabian Sea. From the time information of wavelet analysis, it was interpreted that these cold and warm events of large amplitude occurred during the periods 1870-1890, 1890-1910, 1930-1950, 1980-1990 and 1990-2005. SST oscillations with peaks having period of ~ 2-4 years was found to be significant in the central and eastern regions of Arabian Sea. This indicates that the inter-annual SST variation in the Indian Ocean is affected by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events.

Keywords: Arabian Sea, ICOADS, inter-annual variation, pentadal oscillation, SST, wavelet analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Molly Pui Man Wong

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In this study, a blended and interactive e-learning Courseware that our team developed will be introduced, and our team’s experiences on how the e-learning Courseware and the flipped classroom benefit student learning in bioethics in the medical program will be shared. This study is a continuation of the previously established study, which provides a summary of the well-developed e-learning Courseware in a blended learning approach and an update on its efficiency and efficacy. First, a collection of animated videos capturing selected topics of bioethics and related ethical issues and dilemma will be introduced. Next, a selection of problem-based learning videos (“simulated doctor-patient role play”) with pop-up questions and discussions will be further discussed. Our recent findings demonstrated that these activities launched by the Courseware strongly engaged students in bioethics education and enhanced students’ critical thinking and creativity, which were consistent with the previous data in the preliminary studies. Moreover, the educational benefits of the online art exhibition, art jamming, and competition will be discussed, through which students could express bioethics through arts and enrich their learning in medical research in an interactive, fun, and entertaining way, strengthening their interests in bioethics. Furthermore, online survey questionnaires and focus group interviews were conducted. Consistent with the preliminary studies, our results indicated that implementing the e-learning Courseware with a flipped classroom in bioethics education enhanced both active learning and student engagement. In conclusion, our Courseware not only reinforces education in art, bioethics, and medicine but also benefits students in understanding and critical thinking in socio-ethical issues and serves as a valuable learning tool in bioethics teaching and learning.

Keywords: bioethics, courseware, e-learning, flipped classroom

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Noori Shafiqullah

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Millions of people reside downstream of river basins that heavily rely on snowmelt originating from the Hindu Kush (HK) region. Snowmelt plays a critical role as a primary water source in these areas. This study aimed to evaluate snowfall and snowmelt characteristics in the HK region across altitudes ranging from 2019m to 4533m. To achieve this, the study employed a combination of remote sensing techniques and the Snow Model (SM) to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution of Snow Water Equivalent (SWE). By integrating the simulated Snow-cover Area (SCA) with data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the study optimized the Precipitation Gradient (PG), snowfall assessment, and the degree-day factor (DDF) for snowmelt distribution. Ground observed data from various elevations were used to calculate a temperature lapse rate of -7.0 (°C km-1). Consequently, the DDF value was determined as 3 (mm °C-1 d-1) for altitudes below 3000m and 3 to 4 (mm °C-1 d-1) for higher altitudes above 3000m. Moreover, the distribution of precipitation varies with elevation, with the PG being 0.001 (m-1) at lower elevations below 4000m and 0 (m-1) at higher elevations above 4000m. This study successfully utilized the SM to assess SCA and SWE by incorporating the two optimized parameters. The analysis of simulated SCA and MODIS data yielded coefficient determinations of R2, resulting in values of 0.95 and 0.97 for the years 2014-2015, 2015-2016, and 2016-2017, respectively. These results demonstrate that the SM is a valuable tool for managing water resources in mountainous watersheds such as the HK, where data scarcity poses a challenge."

Keywords: improved MODIS, experiment, snow water equivalent, snowmelt

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Authors: Massimiliano Frezza, Sergio Bianchi, Augusto Pianese

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Introduced by Shannon in 1948 in the field of information theory as the average rate at which information is produced by a stochastic set of data, the concept of entropy has gained much attention as a measure of uncertainty and unpredictability associated with a dynamical system, eventually depicted by a stochastic process. In particular, the Shannon entropy measures the degree of order/disorder of a given signal and provides useful information about the underlying dynamical process. It has found widespread application in a variety of fields, such as, for example, cryptography, statistical physics and finance. In this regard, many contributions have employed different measures of entropy in an attempt to characterize the financial time series in terms of market efficiency, market crashes and/or financial crises. The Shannon entropy has also been considered as a measure of the risk of a portfolio or as a tool in asset pricing. This work investigates the theoretical link between the Shannon entropy and the multifractional Brownian motion (mBm), stochastic process which recently is the focus of a renewed interest in finance as a driving model of stochastic volatility. In particular, after exploring the current state of research in this area and highlighting some of the key results and open questions that remain, we show a well-defined relationship between the Shannon (log)entropy and the memory function H(t) of the mBm. In details, we allow both the length of time series and time scale to change over analysis to study how the relation modify itself. On the one hand, applications are developed after generating surrogates of mBm trajectories based on different memory functions; on the other hand, an empirical analysis of several international stock indexes, which confirms the previous results, concludes the work.

Keywords: Shannon entropy, multifractional Brownian motion, Hurst–Holder exponent, stock indexes

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Authors: H. E. M. W. G. M. K. Ekanayake, J. Dharmasena

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Natural Landscape fragmentation and habitat loss are emerging issues in Sri Lanka, which is due to rapid urban development and inadequate concern of managing Landscape connectivity. Urban Wetlands are the most vulnerable ecosystem effects from the fragmentation. Therefore, management of landscape connectivity with proper analysis and understanding has become a most important measure for urban wetland habitats. This study aimed to introduce spatial planning strategy to identify and locate landscape developments appropriately in order to restore landscape connectivity. Therefore, the study focuses on understanding the relationship between habitat patch metrics and landscape connectivity with reference to Colombo wetlands. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used to measure the wetland patch metrics; Patch area, Total edge, Perimeter-area ratio, Core area index and Inter-patch distances. Further, GIS-enabled least-cost path tool was used to measure the Landscape connectivity and calculate the number of species flow paths per wetland patch. According to the research findings; increasing the patch area, maintaining a mean perimeter-area ratio and core area index also reducing the inter-patch distances could enhance the landscape connectivity. Further, this study introduces three patch typologies; ‘active patches,' ‘open patches’ and ‘closed patches’ that severs to landscape connectivity in different levels. In the end, the study proposes a strategy for Landscape Architects to select most suitable locations to implement ecological based landscape developments with adjacent to the existing urban habitat in order to enhance habitat patch metrics and to restore the landscape connectivity.

Keywords: landscape fragmentation, urban wetlands, landscape connectivity, patch metrics

Procedia PDF Downloads 204

Authors: Richardson M. Abraham-A., Colombo Celso Gaeta Tassinari

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The correlation between Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and flow units have been carried out to predict and compare the carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage potential of the shale and carbonate rocks in Irati Formation of the Parana Basin. The equations for permeability (K), reservoir quality index (RQI) and flow zone indicator (FZI) are redefined and engaged to evaluate the flow units in both potential reservoir rocks. Shales show higher values of TOC compared to carbonates, as such,  porosity (Ф) is most likely to be higher in shales compared to carbonates. The increase in Ф corresponds to the increase in K (in both rocks). Nonetheless, at lower values of Ф, K is higher in carbonates compared to shales. This shows that at lower values of TOC in carbonates, Ф is low, yet, K is likely to be high compared to shale. In the same vein, at higher values of TOC in shales, Ф is high, yet, K is expected to be low compared to carbonates.  Overall, the flow unit factors (RQI and FZI) are better in the carbonates compared to the shales. Moreso, within the study location,  there are some portions where the thicknesses of the carbonate units are higher compared to the shale units. Most parts of the carbonate strata in the study location are fractured in situ, hence,  this could provide easy access for the storage of CO₂. Therefore, based on these points and the disparities between the flow units in the evaluated rock types, the carbonate units are expected to show better potentials for the storage of CO₂. The shale units may be considered as potential cap rocks or seals.

Keywords: total organic content, flow units, carbon dioxide storage, geologic structures

Procedia PDF Downloads 164