Search results for: statistical modelling

Authors: Waqas Mehdi, Muhammad Umar Hassan, Khadeeja Mustafa

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Objective: Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a medical term used to point out the complicated combination of physical, emotional, cognitive and behavioral signs and symptoms associated with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury(mTBI). This study was conducted to assess the improvement or debilitating effect of behavioral therapy in addition to the conventional treatment and to document these results for increasing the efficiency of treatment provided to such cases. Method: This was primarily an interventional prospective cohort study which was conducted in the Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Hospital Lahore. The sample size was 200 patients who were randomly distributed into two groups. The interventional group with Cognitive behavioral therapy was added in addition to the conventional treatment regimen and the Control group receiving only conventional treatment. Results were noted initially as well as after two weeks of the follow-up period. Data were subsequently analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and associations worked out. Result and conclusion: Among the patients that were given therapy sessions along with conventional medicine, there was a significant improvement in the symptoms and their overall quality of life. It is also important to notice that the time period taken for these effects to wane is cut down by psychiatric solutions too. So we can conclude that CBT sessions not only speed up recovery in patients with post-concussion syndrome they also aid in the efficiency improvement in functional capability and quality of life.

Keywords: neurosurgery, CBT, PCS, mTBI

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Authors: Thomas Rowan, Mohammed Seaid

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A fast finite volume solver for multi-layered shallow water flows with mass exchange and an erodible bed is developed. This enables the user to solve a number of complex sediment-based problems including (but not limited to), dam-break over an erodible bed, recirculation currents and bed evolution as well as levy and dyke failure. This research develops methodologies crucial to the under-standing of multi-sediment fluvial mechanics and waterway design. In this model mass exchange between the layers is allowed and, in contrast to previous models, sediment and fluid are able to transfer between layers. In the current study we use a two-step finite volume method to avoid the solution of the Riemann problem. Entrainment and deposition rates are calculated for the first time in a model of this nature. In the first step the governing equations are rewritten in a non-conservative form and the intermediate solutions are calculated using the method of characteristics. In the second stage, the numerical fluxes are reconstructed in conservative form and are used to calculate a solution that satisfies the conservation property. This method is found to be considerably faster than other comparative finite volume methods, it also exhibits good shock capturing. For most entrainment and deposition equations a bed level concentration factor is used. This leads to inaccuracies in both near bed level concentration and total scour. To account for diffusion, as no vertical velocities are calculated, a capacity limited diffusion coefficient is used. The additional advantage of this multilayer approach is that there is a variation (from single layer models) in bottom layer fluid velocity: this dramatically reduces erosion, which is often overestimated in simulations of this nature using single layer flows. The model is used to simulate a standard dam break. In the dam break simulation, as expected, the number of fluid layers utilised creates variation in the resultant bed profile, with more layers offering a higher deviation in fluid velocity . These results showed a marked variation in erosion profiles from standard models. The overall the model provides new insight into the problems presented at minimal computational cost.

Keywords: erosion, finite volume method, sediment transport, shallow water equations

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Authors: Sanusi Abubakar Sadiq

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Despite the significance of tourism as a key revenue earner and employment generator, it is still being disregarded in many areas. The prospects of existing resources could boost development in communities; region, etc. are less used. This study is carried out with the view of developing Pandi-Tekki in Tanglang in Billiri Local Government Area as a Tourism Destination. It was primarily aimed at identifying features of Pandi-Tekki that could be developed into tourism attraction and suggest ways of developing the prospective site into a tourism destination, as well as exploring its possible contribution to tourism sector in Gombe State. Literature was reviewed based on relevant published materials. Data was collected through the use of qualitative and quantitative methods which include personal observation and structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software. Result based on the data collected shows that Pandi-Tekki has potentials that can be developed as an attraction. The result also shows that the local community perceives tourism as a good development that will open them up to the entire world and also generate revenue to stimulate their economy. Conclusions were drawn based on the findings with regard to the analysis carried out in this research. It was discovered that Pandi-Tekki can be developed as a tourism destination, and there will be a great success towards achieving the aim and objectives of the development. Therefore, recommendations were made on creating awareness on the need to develop Pandi-Tekki as a Tourism Destination and the need for government to provide tourism facilities at the destination since it is a public outfit.

Keywords: attraction, destination, developing, features

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Chaiwat Tantarangsee

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The purposes of this study are 1) to study the effects of participatory error correction process and 2) to find out the students’ satisfaction of such error correction process. This study is a Quasi Experimental Research with single group, in which data is collected 5 times preceding and following 4 experimental studies of participatory error correction process including providing coded indirect corrective feedback in the students’ texts with error treatment activities. Samples include 28 2nd year English Major students, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Tool for experimental study includes the lesson plan of the course; Reading and Writing English for Academic Purposes II, and tools for data collection include 5 writing tests of short texts and a questionnaire. Based on formative evaluation of the students’ writing ability prior to and after each of the 4 experiments, the research findings disclose the students’ higher scores with statistical difference at 0.05. Moreover, in terms of the effect size of such process, it is found that for mean of the students’ scores prior to and after the 4 experiments; d equals 1.0046, 1.1374, 1.297, and 1.0065 respectively. It can be concluded that participatory error correction process enables all of the students to learn equally well and there is improvement in their ability to write short texts. Finally, the students’ overall satisfaction of the participatory error correction process is in high level (Mean=4.32, S.D.=0.92).

Keywords: coded indirect corrective feedback, participatory error correction process, error treatment, humanities and social sciences

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Authors: Maryam Nazari, Majid Karandish, Alihossein Saberi

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Obesity as a global health challenge motivates pharmaceutical industries to produce anti-obesity drugs. However, effectiveness of these agents is remained unclear. Because of popularity of dietary supplements, the aim of this study was tp investigate the effects of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and L-carnitine (LC) on serum glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol and weight changes in diet induced obese rats. 48 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: Normal fat diet (n=8), and High fat diet (HFD) (n=32). After eight weeks, the second group which was maintained on HFD until the end of study, was subdivided into four categories: a) 500 mg Corn Oil (as control group), b) 500 mg CLA, c) 200 mg LC, d) 500 mg CLA+ 200 mg LC.All doses are planned per kg body weights, which were administered by oral gavage for four weeks. Body weights were measured and recorded weekly by means of a digital scale. At the end of the study, blood samples were collected for biochemical markers measurement. SPSS Version 16 was used for statistical analysis. At the end of 8^th week, a significant difference in weight was observed between HFD and NFD group. After 12 weeks, LC significantly reduced weight gain by 4.2%. Trend of weight gain in CLA and CLA+LC groups was insignificantly decelerated. CLA+LC reduced triglyceride level significantly, but just CLA had significant influence on total cholesterol and insignificant decreasing effect on FBS. Our results showed that an obesogenic diet in a relative short time led to obesity and dyslipidemia which can be modified by LC and CLA to some extent.

Keywords: conjugated linoleic acid, high fat diet, L-Carnitine, obesity

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Authors: M. R. Haji Hajikolaei, A. A. Nikvand, A. R. Ghadrdan, M. Ghorbanpoor, B. Mohammadian

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This study was carried out on water buffalo for detection of Leptospira interrogans in kidney and urine and its relationship with serological findings. Blood, urine and kidney samples were taken immediately after slaughter from 353 water buffalos at Ahvaz abattoir in Khouzestan province, Iran. Sera were initially screened at serum dilution of 1:100 against seven live antigens of Leptospira interrogans: pomona, hardjo, ballum, icterohemorrhagiae, tarasovi, australis and grippotyphosa using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and sera with positive results were titrated against reacting antigens in serial twofold dilution from 1:100 to 1:800. The samples of kidney were embedded in paraffin wax and 5µm thick sections were stained routinely with Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) examination was done on urine and kidney by using LipL32 gene primers. Antibodies against one or more serovars at dilution >:100 were detected in sera. The most frequent reactor was hardjo (56.2%), followed by pomona (52.3%), australis (9.8%), tarassovi (5.9%), grippotyphosa (4.5%) and icterohaemorrhagiae (3.9%). The L. interrogans were detected in 43 (12.2%) of examined buffaloes, so that 26 (8.2%) of kidney tissues, 14 (4.8%) of urine samples separately and 3 (0.84%) of both kidney and urine samples were positive in PCR. From 153 (43.3%) buffaloes with positive MAT, 24 cases were positive by PCR of kidney and/or urine samples, synchronously. Renal lesions such as interstitial nephritis, acute tubular necrosis (ATN), pyelonephritis, glomerolonephritis, renal fibrosis and hydronephrosis were found in 128 (36.3%) cases. Statistical analysis indicated that there was no significant association between results of MAT, PCR and interstitial nephritis.

Keywords: leptospiral infection, PCR, MAT, histopathology, river buffalo

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Authors: Kelsey Scanlon

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Introduction: With the rate of female collegiate and professional athletes on the rise in recent decades, fluctuations in physical performance in relation to the menstrual cycle is an important area of study. PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to compare differences in upper and lower body maximal anaerobic capacities across a single menstrual cycle. Methode: Participants (n=11) met a total of four times; once for familiarization and again on day 1 of menses (follicular phase), day 14 (ovulation), and day 21 (luteal phase) respectively. Upper body power was assessed using a bench press weight of ~50% of the participant’s predetermined 1-repetition maximum (1-RM) on a ballistic measurement system and variables included peak force (N), mean force (N), peak power (W), mean power (W), and peak velocity (m/s). Lower body power output was collected using a standard Wingate test. The variables of interest were anaerobic capacity (w/kg), peak power (W), mean power (W), fatigue index (W/s), and total work (J). Result: Statistical significance was not observed (p > 0.05) in any of the aforementioned variables after completing multiple one ways of analyses of variances (ANOVAs) with repeated measures on time. Conclusion: Within the parameters of this research, neither female upper nor lower body power output differed across the menstrual cycle when analyzed using 50% of one repetition (1RM) maximal bench press and the 30-second maximal effort cycle ergometer Wingate test. Therefore, researchers should not alter their subject populations due to the incorrect assumption that power output may be influenced by the menstrual cycle.

Keywords: anaerobic, athlete, female, power

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Authors: Samuel Mejorado

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C. Reinahrdtii serves as one of the most promising organisms from which to obtain biological hydrogen. However, its production catalyst, [FeFe]-hydrogenase, is largely inhibited by the presence of oxygen. In recent years, researchers have identified a Proton Gradient Regulation 5 (PGR5) deficient mutant, which shows enhanced respiration and lower accumulations of oxygen within the system. In this research, we investigated the effects of varying nutrient conditions on PGR5 mutants' ability to produce hydrogen. After growing PGR5 mutants in varying nutrient conditions under 55W fluorescent lamps at 30℃ with constant stirring at 200 rpm, a common water displacement method was utilized to obtain a definitive volumetric reading of hydrogen produced by these mutants over a period of 12 days. After the trials, statistical t-tests and ANOVAs were performed to better determine the effect which nutrient conditions have on PGR5 mutants' ability to produce hydrogen. In this, we report that conditions of sulfur deprivation most optimally enhanced hydrogen production within these mutants, with groups grown under these conditions demonstrating the highest production capacity over the entire 12-day period. Similarly, it was found that when grown under conditions of nitrogen deprivation, a favorable shift towards carbon fixation and overall lipid/starch metabolism was observed. Overall, these results demonstrate that PGR5-deficient mutants stand as a promising source of biohydrogen when grown under conditions of sulfur deprivation. To date, photochemical characteristics of [FeFe]-hydrogenase in these mutants have yet to be investigated under conditions of sulfur deprivation.

Keywords: biofuel, biohydrogen, [FeFe]-hydrogenase, algal biofuel

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Authors: Rujnan Tuna, Ayse Cil Akinci

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Work life takes up an important place in human life, and an employed person faces many stimuli from internal and external environments and is affected by them in a positive or negative way. Also, the handover process, which is the process of sharing information about the patient with other health professionals, is an important criterion to maintain patient care and enhance the quality of care provided. Handover is a key component for sustaining daily basic clinical practices and is also essential to maintain the safe patient care. This investigation followed a descriptive and correlation design in order to establish job stress and the handover efficiency of nurses and the relationship in between. The study was conducted with 192 nurses working in a public hospital in Istanbul between January and March 2017. Descriptive information form, Job Stressors Scale, and Handover Evaluation Scale were used to collect the data of the study. The data were analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 statistical software. Approvals from participants, managers of institution, and ethics committee were taken for the study. As a result of the research, it was found that job stress was above the median value, and the highest score in the ‘work role conflict’ subdimension. Also, it was found that the effectiveness of the nurses' handover effectiviness was above the median value and the highest score in the ‘quality of information’ subdimension. In the study, there was a negatively weak correlation between ‘work role overload’ subdimension of Job Stressors Scale and ‘interaction and support’ subdimension of Handover Evaluation Scale. There is a need for further study in order to maintain patient safety.

Keywords: handover, job stress, nurse, patient

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Authors: Jihad Daba, Jean-Pierre Dubois

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Multi path fading noise degrades the performance of cellular communication, most notably in femto- and pico-cells in 3G and 4G systems. When the wireless channel consists of a small number of scattering paths, the statistics of fading noise is not analytically tractable and poses a serious challenge to developing closed canonical forms that can be analysed and used in the design of efficient and optimal receivers. In this context, noise is multiplicative and is referred to as stochastically local fading. In many analytical investigation of multiplicative noise, the exponential or Gamma statistics are invoked. More recent advances by the author of this paper have utilized a Poisson modulated and weighted generalized Laguerre polynomials with controlling parameters and uncorrelated noise assumptions. In this paper, we investigate the statistics of multi-diversity stochastically local area fading channel when the channel consists of randomly distributed Rayleigh and Rician scattering centers with a coherent specular Nakagami-distributed line of sight component and an underlying doubly stochastic Poisson process driven by a lognormal intensity. These combined statistics form a unifying triply stochastic filtered marked Poisson point process model.

Keywords: cellular communication, femto and pico-cells, stochastically local area fading channel, triply stochastic filtered marked Poisson point process

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Authors: Protik Basu, Indranil Ghosh, Pranab K. Dan

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Lean management is an integrated socio-technical system to bring about a competitive state in an organization. The purpose of this paper is to explore and integrate the role of customers and suppliers with the internal practices of the Indian manufacturing industries towards successful implementation of lean manufacturing (LM). An extensive literature survey is carried out. An attempt is made to build an exhaustive list of all the input manifests related to customers, suppliers and internal practices necessary for LM implementation, coupled with a similar exhaustive list of the benefits accrued from its successful implementation. A structural model is thus conceptualized, which is empirically validated based on the data from the Indian manufacturing sector. With the current impetus on developing the industrial sector, the Government of India recently introduced the Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme that aims to increase competitiveness with the help of lean concepts. There is a huge scope to enrich the Indian industries with the lean benefits, the implementation status being quite low. Hardly any survey-based empirical study in India has been found to integrate customers and suppliers with the internal processes towards successful LM implementation. This empirical research is thus carried out in the Indian manufacturing industries. The basic steps of the research methodology followed in this research are the identification of input and output manifest variables and latent constructs, model proposition and hypotheses development, development of survey instrument, sampling and data collection and model validation (exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling). The analysis reveals six key input constructs and three output constructs, indicating that these constructs should act in unison to maximize the benefits of implementing lean. The structural model presented in this paper may be treated as a guide to integrating customers and suppliers with internal practices to successfully implement lean. Integrating customers and suppliers with internal practices into a unified, coherent manufacturing system will lead to an optimum utilization of resources. This work is one of the very first researches to have a survey-based empirical analysis of the role of customers, suppliers and internal practices of the Indian manufacturing sector towards an effective lean implementation.

Keywords: customer management, internal manufacturing practices, lean benefits, lean implementation, lean manufacturing, structural model, supplier management

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Authors: Abraham Castellanos, Christophe Durville, Sophie Echenim

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In this article, a portfolio optimization problem is performed in a Solvency II context: it illustrates how advanced optimization techniques can help to tackle complex operational pain points around the monitoring, control, and stability of Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR). The market SCR of a portfolio is calculated as a combination of SCR sub-modules. These sub-modules are the results of stress-tests on interest rate, equity, property, credit and FX factors, as well as concentration on counter-parties. The market SCR is non convex and non differentiable, which does not make it a natural optimization criteria candidate. In the SCR formulation, correlations between sub-modules are fixed, whereas risk-driven portfolio allocation is usually driven by the dynamics of the actual correlations. Implementing a portfolio construction approach that is efficient on both a regulatory and economic standpoint is not straightforward. Moreover, the challenge for insurance portfolio managers is not only to achieve a minimal SCR to reduce non-invested capital but also to ensure stability of the SCR. Some optimizations have already been performed in the literature, simplifying the standard formula into a quadratic function. But to our knowledge, it is the first time that the standard formula of the market SCR is used in an optimization problem. Two solvers are combined: a bundle algorithm for convex non- differentiable problems, and a BFGS (Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb- Shanno)-SQP (Sequential Quadratic Programming) algorithm, to cope with non-convex cases. A market SCR minimization is then performed with historical data. This approach results in significant reduction of the capital requirement, compared to a classical Markowitz approach based on the historical volatility. A comparative analysis of different optimization models (equi-risk-contribution portfolio, minimizing volatility portfolio and minimizing value-at-risk portfolio) is performed and the impact of these strategies on risk measures including market SCR and its sub-modules is evaluated. A lack of diversification of market SCR is observed, specially for equities. This was expected since the market SCR strongly penalizes this type of financial instrument. It was shown that this direct effect of the regulation can be attenuated by implementing constraints in the optimization process or minimizing the market SCR together with the historical volatility, proving the interest of having a portfolio construction approach that can incorporate such features. The present results are further explained by the Market SCR modelling.

Keywords: financial risk, numerical optimization, portfolio management, solvency capital requirement

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Chhordaneath Hen, Ty Sok, Ilan Ich, Ratboren Chan, Chantha Oeurng

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The damages caused by hydrological extremes such as flooding have been severe globally, and several research studies indicated extreme precipitations play a crucial role. Cambodia is one of the most vulnerable countries exposed to floods and drought as consequences of climate impact. Prek Thnot River Basin in the southwest part of Cambodia, which is in the plate and plateau region and a part of the Mekong Delta, was selected to investigate the changes in extreme precipitation and hydrological extreme. Furthermore, to develop a statistical relationship between these phenomena in this basin from 1995 to 2020 using Multiple Linear Regression. The precipitation and hydrological extreme were assessed via the attributes and trends of rainfall patterns during the study periods. The extreme flow was defined as a dependent variable, while the independent variables are various extreme precipitation indices. The study showed that all extreme precipitations indices (R10, R20, R35, CWD, R95p, R99p, and PRCPTOT) had increasing decency. However, the number of rain days per year had a decreasing tendency, which can conclude that extreme rainfall was more intense in a shorter period of the year. The study showed a similar relationship between extreme precipitation and hydrological extreme and land use change association with hydrological extreme. The direct combination of land use and precipitation equals 37% of the flood causes in this river. This study provided information on these two causes of flood events and an understanding of expectations of climate change consequences for flood and water resources management.

Keywords: extreme precipitation, hydrological extreme, land use, land cover, Prek Thnot river basin

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Authors: Ewa M. Laskowska, Jorn Vatn

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Industry 4.0 focuses on digital optimization of industrial processes. The idea is to use extracted data in order to build a decision support model enabling use of those data for real time decision making. In terms of predictive maintenance, the desired decision support tool would be a model enabling prognostics of system's health based on the current condition of considered equipment. Within area of system prognostics and health management, a commonly used health indicator is Remaining Useful Lifetime (RUL) of a system. Because the RUL is a random variable, it has to be estimated based on available health indicators. Health indicators can be of different types and come from different sources. They can be process variables, equipment performance variables, data related to number of experienced failures, etc. The aim of this study is the analysis of performance variables of emergency shutdown valves (ESV) used in oil and gas industry. ESV is inspected periodically, and at each inspection torque and time of valve operation are registered. The data will be analyzed by means of machine learning or statistical analysis. The purpose is to investigate whether the available data could be used as a health indicator for a prognostic purpose. The second objective is to examine what is the most efficient way to incorporate the data into predictive model. The idea is to check whether the data can be applied in form of explanatory variables in Markov process or whether other stochastic processes would be a more convenient to build an RUL model based on the information coming from registered data.

Keywords: emergency shutdown valves, health indicator, prognostics, remaining useful lifetime, RUL

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Authors: Soumya Sajjan

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Liver cancer is the most common cancer disease worldwide in men and women, and is one of the few cancers still on the rise. Liver disease is the 4th leading cause of death. According to new NHS (National Health Service) figures, deaths from liver diseases have reached record levels, rising by 25% in less than a decade; heavy drinking, obesity, and hepatitis are believed to be behind the rise. In this study, we focus on Development of Diagnostic Classifier for Ultrasound liver lesion. Ultrasound (US) Sonography is an easy-to-use and widely popular imaging modality because of its ability to visualize many human soft tissues/organs without any harmful effect. This paper will provide an overview of underlying concepts, along with algorithms for processing of liver ultrasound images Naturaly, Ultrasound liver lesion images are having more spackle noise. Developing classifier for ultrasound liver lesion image is a challenging task. We approach fully automatic machine learning system for developing this classifier. First, we segment the liver image by calculating the textural features from co-occurrence matrix and run length method. For classification, Support Vector Machine is used based on the risk bounds of statistical learning theory. The textural features for different features methods are given as input to the SVM individually. Performance analysis train and test datasets carried out separately using SVM Model. Whenever an ultrasonic liver lesion image is given to the SVM classifier system, the features are calculated, classified, as normal and diseased liver lesion. We hope the result will be helpful to the physician to identify the liver cancer in non-invasive method.

Keywords: segmentation, Support Vector Machine, ultrasound liver lesion, co-occurance Matrix

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Authors: H. Apaza, L. Chévez, H. Loro

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Plastic and microplastic pollution in human food chain is a big problem for human health that requires more elaborated techniques that can identify their presences in different kinds of food. Hyperspectral imaging technique is an optical technique than can detect the presence of different elements in an image and can be used to detect plastics and microplastics in a scene. To do this statistical techniques are required that need to be evaluated and compared in order to find the more efficient ones. In this work, two problems related to the presence of plastics are addressed, the first is to detect and identify pieces of plastic immersed in almond seeds, and the second problem is to detect and quantify microplastic in almond flour. To do this we make use of the analysis hyperspectral images taken in the range of 900 to 1700 nm using 4 unmixing techniques of hyperspectral imaging which are: least squares unmixing (LSU), non-negatively constrained least squares unmixing (NCLSU), fully constrained least squares unmixing (FCLSU), and scaled constrained least squares unmixing (SCLSU). NCLSU, FCLSU, SCLSU techniques manage to find the region where the plastic is found and also manage to quantify the amount of microplastic contained in the almond flour. The SCLSU technique estimated a 13.03% abundance of microplastics and 86.97% of almond flour compared to 16.66% of microplastics and 83.33% abundance of almond flour prepared for the experiment. Results show the feasibility of applying near-infrared hyperspectral image analysis for the detection of plastic contaminants in food.

Keywords: food, plastic, microplastic, NIR hyperspectral imaging, unmixing

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Authors: Solomon Gebremariam, Mulugeta Naizigi, Aregawi Haileselassie

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Background: Knowledge of the pattern of bacterial isolates and their antimicrobial susceptibility is crucial for guiding empirical treatment and infection prevention and control measures. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the pattern of bacterial isolates and their susceptibility patterns from various specimens. Methods: Retrospectively, a total of 1067 microbiological culture results that were isolated, characterized, and identified by standard microbiological methods and whose antibiotic susceptibility was determined using CLSI guidelines between 2017 and 2019 were retrieved and analyzed. Data were entered and analyzed using the Stata release 10.1 statistical package. Result: The positivity rate of culture was 26.04% (419/1609). The most common bacteria isolated were S. aureus 23.8% (94), E. coli 15.1% (60), Klebsiella pneumonia 14.1% (56), Pseudomonas aeruginosa 8.5% (34), and CONS 7.3% (29). S. aureus and CONS showed a high (58.1% - 96.2%) rate of resistance to most antibiotics tested. They were less resistant to Vancomycin which is 18.6% (13/70) and 11.8% (2/17), respectively. Similarly, the resistance of E. coli, Klebsella pneumonia, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was high (69.4% - 100%) to most antibiotics. They were less resistant to Ciprofloxacilin, which is 41.1% (23/56), 19.2% (10/52), and 16.1% (5/31), respectively. Conclusion: This study has shown that there is a high rate of antibiotic resistance among bacterial isolates in this hospital. A combination of Vancomycin and Ciprofloxacin should be considered in the choice of antibiotics for empirical treatment of suspected infections due to S. aureus, CONS, E. coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas such as in infections within hospital setup.

Keywords: antimicrobial, resistance, bacteria, hospital

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Authors: S. Muogbo Uju, Akpunonu Uju,

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The prevailing harsh environment factors couple with poverty rate and unemployment propels a high rate of entrepreneurial activities in developing countries of the world. Women entrepreneurs operate within gender bias among other constraint that can constitute a threat or create opportunity for women entrepreneurs. This empirical paper investigates and critically examines women entrepreneurship as an inventive approach to sustainable development in Anambra State. The study used descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean, and percentages) to answer the three research questions posed. Hypotheses testing were done with person product moment correlation and multiple regressions were employed in data analysis. SPSS [statistical package for Social Science] software was used to run the analysis. Three hundred and fifty three (353) copies of questionnaires were administered, and one hundred and forty six (146) copies were returned. Consequently, the findings of this study portrayed a significant impact between women entrepreneurship activities, job creation, wealth creation, youth empowerment, poverty reduction, employment generation, and increase in standard of livings of people. Therefore, the findings prescribe that government should ensure that managerial lessons are accompanied with the skill acquisition programs in order for them to understand the rudiment of owing and sustaining a business. The study also recommends that women entrepreneurs that have overcome the inertia of starting a business should come together to create platforms that can help those women who are yet to take a step or kick-start such venture.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship, skill acquisition, sustainability, wealth creation

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Authors: Anisa Luli, Alessandra Santona

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Wanting a child and experiencing the impossibility to conceive is a painful condition that often is linked to infertility and often leads infertile individuals to experience psychological, relational and social problems. In this situation, infertile couples have to review their choices and take into consideration new ones. Few studies have focused on the decision-making style used by infertile individuals to solve their problem and on the factors that influences it. The aim of this paper is to define the style of decision-making used by infertile persons to give a solution to the “problem” and the predictive role of the attachment, of the representations of the relationship with parents in childhood and of the dyadic adjustment. The total sample is composed by 251 participants, divided in two groups: the experimental group composed by 114 participants, 62 males and 52 females, age between 25 and 59 years, and the control group composed by 137 participants, 65 males and 72 females, age between 22 and 49 years. The battery of instruments comprises: General Decision Making Style (GDMS), Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire Revised (ECR-R), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R). The results from the analysis of the samples showed a prevalence of the rational decision-making style for both males and females, experimental and control group. There have been founded significant statistical relationships between the attachment scales, the representations of the parenting style, the dyadic adjustment and the decision-making styles. These results contribute to enrich the literature on the subject of decision-making in infertile people and show the relationship between the attachment and decision-making styles, confirming the few results in literature.

Keywords: attachment, decision-making style, infertility, dyadic adjustment

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Authors: Anahit Hakobjanyan, Zdenka Navratilova, Gabriela Strakova, Martin Petrek

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Aging has a suppressive influence on human immune cells. Apoptosis may play important role in age-dependent immunosuppression and lymphopenia. Prevention of apoptosis may be promoted by BCL2-dependent and BCL2-independent manner. BCL2 is an antiapoptotic factor that has an antioxidative role by locating the glutathione at mitochondria and repressing oxidative stress. STAT3 may suppress apoptosis in BCL2-independent manner and promote cell survival blocking cytochrome-c release and reducing ROS production. The aim of our study was to estimate the influence of aging on BCL2-dependent and BCL2-independent prevention of apoptosis via measurement of BCL2 and STAT3 mRNAs expressions. The study was done on Armenian population (2 groups: 37 healthy young (mean age±SE; min/max age, male/female: 37.6±1.1; 20/54, 15/22), 28 healthy aged (66.7±1.5; 57/85, 12/16)). mRNA expression in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) was determined by RT-PCR using PSMB2 as the reference gene. Statistical analysis was done with Graph-Pad Prism 5; P < 0.05 considered as significant. The expression of BCL2 mRNA was lower in aged group (0.199) compared with young ones (0.643)(p < 0.01). Decrease expression was also recorded for female and male subgroups (p < 0.01). The expression level of STAT3 mRNA was increased (young, 0.228; aged, 0.428) (p < 0.05) during aging (in the whole age group and male/female subgroups). Decreased level of BCL2 mRNA may indicate about the suppression of BCL2-dependent prevention of apoptosis during aging in peripheral blood leukocytes. At the same time increased the level of STAT3 may suggest about activation of BCL2-independent prevention of apoptosis during aging.

Keywords: BCL2, STAT3, aging, apoptosis

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Authors: Zahra Esmaeily, Zahra Tajari, Shahrzad Daei, Mahshid Rezaei, Atefeh Eyvazkhani, Marjan Mansouri Dara, Ahmad Reza Dorosty Motlagh, Andriko Palmowski

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Objective: Sarcopenia (SPA) is associated with frailty and disability in the elderly. Adherence to current dietary guidelines in addition to physical activity could play a role in the prevention of muscle wasting and weakness. The Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI) is a tool to assess diet quality as recommended in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This study aimed to investigate whether there is a relationship between HEI scores and the probability of SPA (PS) among the Tehran elderly. Method: A previously validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to assess HEI and the dietary intake of randomly selected elderly people living in Tehran, Iran. Handgrip strength (HGS) was measured to evaluate the PS. Statistical evaluation included descriptive analysis and standard test procedures. Result: 201 subjects were included. Those probably suffering from SPA (as determined by HGS) had significantly lower HEI scores (p = 0.02). After adjusting for confounders, HEI scores and HGS were still significantly associated (adjusted R2 = 0.56, slope β = 0.03, P = 0.09). Elderly people with a low probability of SPA consumed more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids (P = 0.06) and ingested less added sugars and saturated fats (P = 0.01 and P = 0.02, respectively). Conclusion: In this cross-sectional study, HEI scores are associated with the probability of SPA. Adhering to current dietary guidelines might contribute to ameliorating muscle strength and mass in aging individuals.

Keywords: aging, HEI-2015, Iranian, sarcopenic

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Authors: Subhankar Karmakar, Madhan Kumar Vasudevan, Manivannan Muniyandi

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Thermal Grill Illusion (TGI) elicits a strong and often painful sensation of burn when interlacing warm and cold stimuli that are individually non-painful, excites thermoreceptors beneath the skin. Among several theories of TGI, the “disinhibition” theory is the most widely accepted in the literature. According to this theory, TGI is the result of the disinhibition or unmasking of the pain-sensitive HPC (Heat-Pinch-Cold) nerve fibers due to the inhibition of cold-sensitive nerve fibers that are responsible for masking HPC nerve fibers. Although researchers focused on understanding TGI throughexperiments and models, none of them investigated the prediction of TGI pain intensity through a computational model. Furthermore, the comparison of psychophysically perceived TGI intensity with neurophysiological models has not yet been studied. The prediction of pain intensity through a computational model of TGI can help inoptimizing thermal displays and understanding pathological conditions related to temperature perception. The current studyfocuses on developing a computational model to predict the intensity of TGI pain and experimentally observe the perceived TGI pain. The computational model is developed based on the disinhibition theory and by utilizing the existing popular models of warm and cold receptors in the skin. The model aims to predict the neuronal activity of the HPC nerve fibers. With a temperature-controlled thermal grill setup, fifteen participants (ten males and five females) were presented with five temperature differences between warm and cold grills (each repeated three times). All the participants rated the perceived TGI pain sensation on a scale of one to ten. For the range of temperature differences, the experimentally observed perceived intensity of TGI is compared with the neuronal activity of pain-sensitive HPC nerve fibers. The simulation results show a monotonically increasing relationship between the temperature differences and the neuronal activity of the HPC nerve fibers. Moreover, a similar monotonically increasing relationship is experimentally observed between temperature differences and the perceived TGI intensity. This shows the potential comparison of TGI pain intensity observed through the experimental study with the neuronal activity predicted through the model. The proposed model intends to bridge the theoretical understanding of the TGI and the experimental results obtained through psychophysics. Further studies in pain perception are needed to develop a more accurate version of the current model.

Keywords: thermal grill Illusion, computational modelling, simulation, psychophysics, haptics

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Authors: Tri Nguyen

Abstract:

Background: Female sex workers (FSWs) are at heightened risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV. The purpose of the research is to study FSWs socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics and their HIV/STIs prevalence in Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Vietnam. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 420 direct and indirect FSWs between January and May, 2014 from 2 cities and 6 districts in Ba Ria – Vung Tau were collected using sampling methods. FSWs were interviewed using the structured questionnaire and biological samples were tested for syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and HIV in the study. A database was constructed and entered using Epidata 3.1 software and analyzed using the SPSS 20.0 statistical package. Results: A total of 420 FSWs participated in the survey, with a median age of 27 years within a range of 18 – 43 years. Education levels were low with 33.1% only completing all seven major indicators. The median age of first sexual intercourse of the FSWs was 18 years. Most (88.8%) of the FSWs had oral sex. A high proportion (82.4 %) of the FSWs had consumed alcohol. Among them, 51.2% of the FSWs have had sex after drunk. Of the 177 FSWs have reported that they have had sex after drunk, almost half of direct FSWs have had unprotected sex. Among the 420 FSWs who participated in the survey, 2.6 % (11/420) were found to be HIV positive. There was a difference in HIV prevalence among direct and indirect FSWs (4.8 % and 1.2%, p= 0,022). Nearly 7 percent of the FSWs were infected with Syphilis. Similarly, the percentage (7.9 %) of the FSWs was found with Gonorrhoea and a doubly higher percentage (16.4%) of them was suffering from Chlamydia. On the aggregate, the percentage of FSWs with any one of the STIs (Gonorrhoea or Chlamydia) was highest 21.4 %. Conclusions: FSWs in Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Vietnam are highly vulnerable to STIs and need to enhance the existing STIs treatment and intervention programs in order to reduce the risk of HIV infections. HIV/STIs health education and a 100% condom use program should be implemented, and sex industry should be regulated by law.

Keywords: sex workers, female sex workers, HIV, STIs

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Authors: Joseph Sello Kau, Elias Mashayamombe, Brian Washington Madinkana, Cynthia Ngwane

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This paper presents the results for the statistical (stepwise linear regression and multiple regression) analyses, carried out on a number of crops in order to evaluate how the decision for crop choice affect the level of farm income generated by the farmers participating in the High Value Crop production (referred to as the HVC). The goal of the HVC is to encourage farmers cultivate fruit crops. The farmers received planting material from different extension agencies, together with other complementary packages such as fertilizer, garden tools, water tanks etc. During the surveys, it was discovered that a significant number of farmers were cultivating traditional crops even when their plot sizes were small. Traditional crops are competing for resources with high value crops. The results of the analyses show that farmers cultivating fruit crops, maize and potatoes were generating high income than those cultivating spinach and cabbage. High farm income is associated with plot size, access to social grants and gender. Choice for a crop is influenced by the availability of planting material and the market potential for the crop. Extension agencies providing the planting materials stand a good chance of having farmers follow their directives. As a recommendation, for the farmers to cultivate more of the HVCs, the ARC must intensify provision of fruit trees.

Keywords: farm income, nature of extension services, type of crops cultivated, fruit crops, cabbage, maize, potato and spinach

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Authors: I-Huan Chiu, Kazuhiko Ninomiya, Shin’ichiro Takeda, Meito Kajino, Miho Katsuragawa, Shunsaku Nagasawa, Atsushi Shinohara, Tadayuki Takahashi, Ryota Tomaru, Shin Watanabe, Goro Yabu

Abstract:

In recent years, a nondestructive elemental analysis method based on muonic X-ray measurements has been developed and applied for various samples. Muonic X-rays are emitted after the formation of a muonic atom, which occurs when a negatively charged muon is captured in a muon atomic orbit around the nucleus. Because muonic X-rays have higher energy than electronic X-rays due to the muon mass, they can be measured without being absorbed by a material. Thus, estimating the two-dimensional (2D) elemental distribution of a sample became possible using an X-ray imaging detector. In this work, we report a non-destructive imaging experiment using muonic X-rays at Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex. The irradiated target consisted of polypropylene material, and a double-sided silicon strip detector, which was developed as an imaging detector for astronomical observation, was employed. A peak corresponding to muonic X-rays from the carbon atoms in the target was clearly observed in the energy spectrum at an energy of 14 keV, and 2D visualizations were successfully reconstructed to reveal the projection image from the target. This result demonstrates the potential of the non-destructive elemental imaging method that is based on muonic X-ray measurement. To obtain a higher position resolution for imaging a smaller target, a new detector system will be developed to improve the statistical analysis in further research.

Keywords: DSSD, muon, muonic X-ray, imaging, non-destructive analysis

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Authors: Chin-Pin, Chen, Shi-Chi, Shiao, Ting-Hao, Lin

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Current industry is facing the rapid development of new technology in the world and fierce changes of economic environment in the society so that the industry development trend gradually does not focus on labor, but leads the industry and the academic circle with innovation and creativity. The development trend in machinery industry presents the same situation. Based on the aim of Creativity White Paper, Ministry of Education in Taiwan promotes and develops various creativity contests to cope with the industry trend. Domestic students and enterprises have good performance on domestic and international creativity contests in recent years. There must be important creative elements in such creative works to win the award among so many works. Literature review and in-depth interview with five creativity contest awarded instructors are first proceeded to conclude 15 machinery creative elements, which are further compared with the creative elements of machinery awarded creative works in past five years to understand the relationship between awarded works and creative elements. The statistical analysis results show that IDEA (Industrial Design Excellence Award) contains the most creative elements among four major international creativity contests. That is, most creativity review focuses on creative elements that are comparatively stricter. Concerning the groups participating in creativity contests, enterprises consider more creative elements of the creative works than other two elements for contests. From such contest works, creative elements of “replacement or improvement”, “convenience”, and “modeling” present higher significance. It is expected that the above findings could provide domestic colleges and universities with reference for participating in creativity related contests in the future.

Keywords: machinery, creative elements, creativity contest, creativity works

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Authors: Tomilola J. Ajayi

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A category of nanovalves system containing the α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) ring on a stalk tethered to the pores of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) is theoretically and computationally modelled. This functions to control opening and blocking of the MSN pores for efficient targeted drug release system. Modeling of the nanovalves is based on the interaction between α-CD and the stalk (p-anisidine) in relation to pH variation. Conformational analysis was carried out prior to the formation of the inclusion complex, to find the global minimum of both neutral and protonated stalk. B3LYP/6-311G**(d, p) basis set was employed to attain all theoretically possible conformers of the stalk. Six conformers were taken into considerations, and the dihedral angle (θ) around the reference atom (N17) of the p-anisidine stalk was scanned from 0° to 360° at 5° intervals. The most stable conformer was obtained at a dihedral angle of 85.3° and was fully optimized at B3LYP/6-311G**(d, p) level of theory. The most stable conformer obtained from conformational analysis was used as the starting structure to create the inclusion complexes. 9 complexes were formed by moving the neutral guest into the α-CD cavity along the Z-axis in 1 Å stepwise while keeping the distance between dummy atom and OMe oxygen atom on the stalk restricted. The dummy atom and the carbon atoms on α-CD structure were equally restricted for orientation A (see Scheme 1). The generated structures at each step were optimized with B3LYP/6-311G**(d, p) methods to determine their energy minima. Protonation of the nitrogen atom on the stalk occurs at acidic pH, leading to unsatisfactory host-guest interaction in the nanogate; hence there is dethreading. High required interaction energy and conformational change are theoretically established to drive the release of α-CD at a certain pH. The release was found to occur between pH 5-7 which agreed with reported experimental results. In this study, we applied the theoretical model for the prediction of the experimentally observed pH-responsive nanovalves which enables blocking, and opening of mesoporous silica nanoparticles pores for targeted drug release system. Our results show that two major factors are responsible for the cargo release at acidic pH. The higher interaction energy needed for the complex/nanovalve formation to exist after protonation as well as conformational change upon protonation are driving the release due to slight pH change from 5 to 7.

Keywords: nanovalves, nanogate, mesoporous silica nanoparticles, cargo

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Authors: R. N. Jay A. Ablog, M. N. Dyanne R. Del Carmen, Roma Rose A. Dela Cruz, Joselle Dara M. Estrada, Luke Clifferson M. Gagarin, Florence T. Lang-ay, Ma. Dayanara O. Mariñas, Maria Christina S. Nepa, Jahraine Chyle B. Ocampo, Mark Reynie Renz V. Silva, Jenny Lyn L. Soriano, Loreal Cloe M. Suva, Jackelyn R. Torres

Abstract:

Background: To date, there is dearth of literature as to the effect of relaxation techniques in lowering the stress level of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of 4-week relaxation techniques in stress level reduction of mothers of children with ASD. Methods: Quasi experimental design. It included 25 mothers (10-experimental, 15-control) who were chosen via purposive sampling. The mothers were recruited in the different SPED centers in Baguio City and La Trinidad and in the community. Statistics used were T-test and Related T-Test. Results: The overall weighted mean score after 4-week training is 2.3, indicating that the relaxation techniques introduced were moderately effective in lowering stress level. Statistical analysis (T-test; CV=4.51>TV=2.26) shown a significant difference in the stress level reduction of mothers in the experimental group pre and post interventions. There is also a significant difference in the stress level reduction in the control and the experimental group (Related T-test; CV=2.08 >TV=2.07). The relaxation techniques introduced were favorable, cost-effective, and easy to perform interventions to decrease stress level.

Keywords: relaxation techniques, mindful eating, progressive muscle relaxation, breathing exercise, autism spectrum disorder

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Authors: Saeed Ullah Jan

Abstract:

This study has examined the e-readiness in libraries of public sector universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Efforts were made to evaluate the availability of human resources, electronic infrastructure, and network services and programs in the public sector university libraries. The population of the study was the twenty-seven public sector university libraries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A quantitative approach was adopted, and a questionnaire-based survey was conducted to collect data from the librarian/in charge of public sector university libraries. The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22 (SPSS). The mean score of the knowledge component interpreted magnitudes below three which indicates that the respondents are poorly or moderately satisfied regards knowledge of libraries. The satisfaction level of the respondents about the other components, such as electronic infrastructure, network services and programs, and enhancers of the networked world, was rated as average or below. The study suggested that major aspects of existing public-sector university libraries require significant transformation. For this purpose, the government should provide all the required resources and facilities to meet the population's informational and recreational demands. The Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure of public university libraries needs improvement in terms of the availability of computer equipment, databases, network servers, multimedia projectors, digital cameras, uninterruptible power supply, scanners, and backup devices such as hard discs and Digital Video Disc/Compact Disc.

Keywords: ICT-libraries, e-readiness-libraries, e-readiness-university libraries, e-readiness-Pakistan

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Authors: Mahtsente Tadese, Lalit Kumar, Richard Koech

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The aim of this study was to project and analyze climate change in the Awash River Basin (ARB) using bias-corrected Global and Regional Climate Model simulations. The analysis included a baseline period from 1986-2005 and two future scenarios (the 2050s and 2070s) under two representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). Bias correction methods were evaluated using graphical and statistical methods. Following the evaluation of bias correction methods, the Distribution Mapping (DM) and Power Transformation (PT) were used for temperature and precipitation projection, respectively. The 2050s and 2070s RCP4 simulations showed an increase in precipitation during half of the months with 32 and 10%, respectively. Moreover, the 2050s and 2070s RCP8.5 simulation indicated a decrease in precipitation with 18 and 26%, respectively. The 2050s and 2070s RCP8.5 simulation indicated a significant decrease in precipitation in four of the months (February/March to May) with the highest decreasing rate of 34.7%. The 2050s and 2070s RCP4.5 simulation showed an increase of 0.48-2.6 °C in maximum temperature. In the case of RCP8.5, the increase rate reached 3.4 °C and 4.1 °C in the 2050s and 2070s, respectively. The changes in precipitation and temperature might worsen the water stress, flood, and drought in ARB. Moreover, the critical focus should be given to mitigation strategies and management options to reduce the negative impact. The findings of this study provide valuable information on future precipitation and temperature change in ARB, which will help in the planning and design of sustainable mitigation approaches in the basin.

Keywords: variability, climate change, Awash River Basin, precipitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 174