Search results for: greedy randomized adaptive search procedure
1848 Investigation of Overarching Effects of Artificial Intelligence Implementation into Education Through Research Synthesis
Authors: Justin Bin
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Artificial intelligence (AI) has been rapidly rising in usage recently, already active in the daily lives of millions, from distinguished AIs like the popular ChatGPT or Siri to more obscure, inconspicuous AIs like those used in social media or internet search engines. As upcoming generations grow immersed in emerging technology, AI will play a vital role in their development. Namely, the education sector, an influential portion of a person’s early life as a student, faces a vast ocean of possibilities concerning the implementation of AI. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the effect that AI will have on the future of the educational field. More particularly, this study delves deeper into the following three categories: school admissions, the productivity of students, and ethical concerns (role of human teachers, purpose of schooling itself, and significance of diplomas). This study synthesizes research and data on the current effects of AI on education from various published literature sources and journals, as well as estimates on further AI potential, in order to determine the main, overarching effects it will have on the future of education. For this study, a systematic organization of data in terms of type (quantitative vs. qualitative), the magnitude of effect implicated, and other similar factors were implemented within each area of significance. The results of the study suggest that AI stands to change all the beforementioned subgroups. However, its specific effects vary in magnitude and favorability (beneficial or harmful) and will be further discussed. The results discussed will reveal to those affiliated with the education field, such as teachers, counselors, or even parents of students, valuable information on not just the projected possibilities of AI in education but the effects of those changes moving forward.Keywords: artificial intelligence, education, schools, teachers
Procedia PDF Downloads 5081847 Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm vs. Genetic Algorithm for Image Watermarking Based Discrete Wavelet Transform
Authors: Omaima N. Ahmad AL-Allaf
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Over communication networks, images can be easily copied and distributed in an illegal way. The copyright protection for authors and owners is necessary. Therefore, the digital watermarking techniques play an important role as a valid solution for authority problems. Digital image watermarking techniques are used to hide watermarks into images to achieve copyright protection and prevent its illegal copy. Watermarks need to be robust to attacks and maintain data quality. Therefore, we discussed in this paper two approaches for image watermarking, first is based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and the second approach is based on Genetic Algorithm (GA). Discrete wavelet transformation (DWT) is used with the two approaches separately for embedding process to cover image transformation. Each of PSO and GA is based on co-relation coefficient to detect the high energy coefficient watermark bit in the original image and then hide the watermark in original image. Many experiments were conducted for the two approaches with different values of PSO and GA parameters. From experiments, PSO approach got better results with PSNR equal 53, MSE equal 0.0039. Whereas GA approach got PSNR equal 50.5 and MSE equal 0.0048 when using population size equal to 100, number of iterations equal to 150 and 3×3 block. According to the results, we can note that small block size can affect the quality of image watermarking based PSO/GA because small block size can increase the search area of the watermarking image. Better PSO results were obtained when using swarm size equal to 100.Keywords: image watermarking, genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, discrete wavelet transform
Procedia PDF Downloads 2181846 Implementation of Risk Management System to Improve the Quality of Higher Education Institutes
Authors: Muhammad Wasif, Asif Ahmed Shaikh, Sarosh Hashmat Lodi, Muhammad Aslam Bhutto, Riazuddin
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Risk Management System is quite popular in profit- based organizations, health and safety and project management fields since the last few decades. But due to rapidly changing environment and requirement of ISO 9001:2015 standards, public-sector institution, especially higher education institutes are also performing risk assessment to monitor the performance of the institution and aligning it with the latest benchmark. In this context, NED University of Engineering and Technology performed research and developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the risk assessment, its monitoring and control. In this research, risks are broken into the four sources, namely; Internal Academics Risks, External Academics Risks, Internal Non-academic Risks, External Non-academic Risks. Risks are identified by the management at all levels. Severity and likelihood of the risks are assigned based on the previous audit results and the customer complains. Risk Ratings are calculated to orderly arrange the risk according to the Risk Rating, and controls for the risks are designed, which are assigned to the responsible person. At the end of the article, result and analysis on the different sources of risk are discussed in details and the conclusion is drawn. Discussion on few sample risks are presented in this article. Hence it is presented in the research that the Risk Management System can be applied in a Higher Education Institute to effectively control the risks which might affect the scope and Quality Management System of an organization.Keywords: higher education, quality management system, risk assessment, risk management
Procedia PDF Downloads 3011845 Evaluating the Radiation Dose Involved in Interventional Radiology Procedures
Authors: Kholood Baron
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Radiologic interventional studies use fluoroscopy imaging guidance to perform both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. These could result in high radiation doses being delivered to the patients and also to the radiology team. This is due to the prolonged fluoroscopy time and the large number of images taken, even when dose-minimizing techniques and modern fluoroscopic tools are applied. Hence, these procedures are part of the everyday routine of interventional radiology doctors, assistant nurses, and radiographers. Thus, it is important to estimate the radiation exposure dose they received in order to give objective advice and reduce both patient and radiology team radiation exposure dose. The aim of this study was to find out the total radiation dose reaching the radiologist and the patient during an interventional procedure and to determine the impact of certain parameters on the patient dose. Method: The radiation dose was measured by TLD devices (thermoluminescent dosimeter; radiation dosimeter device). Physicians, patients, nurses, and radiographers wore TLDs during 12 interventional radiology procedures performed in two hospitals, Mubarak and Chest Hospital. This study highlights the need for interventional radiologists to be mindful of the radiation doses received by both patients and medical staff during interventional radiology procedures. The findings emphasize the impact of factors such as fluoroscopy duration and the number of images taken on the patient dose. By raising awareness and providing insights into optimizing techniques and protective measures, this research contributes to the overall goal of reducing radiation doses and ensuring the safety of patients and medical staff.Keywords: dosimetry, radiation dose, interventional radiology procedures, patient radiation dose
Procedia PDF Downloads 1001844 Peer Bullying and Mentalization from the Perspective of Pupils
Authors: Anna Siegler
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Bullying among peers is not uncommon; however, adults can notice only a fragment of the cases of harassment during everyday life. The systemic approaches of bullying investigation put the whole school community in the focus of attention and propose that the solution should emerge from the culture of the school. Bystanders are essential in the prevention and intervention processes as an active agent rather than passive. For combating exclusion, stigmatization and harassment, it is important that the bystanders have to realize they have the power to take action. To prevent the escalation of violence, victims must believe that students and teachers will help them and their environment is able to provide safety. The study based on scientific narrative psychological approach, and focuses on the examination of the different perspectives of students, how peers are mentalizing with each other in case of bullying. The data collection contained responses of students (N = 138) from three schools in Hungary, and from three different area of the country (Budapest, Martfű and Barcs). The test battery include Bullying Prevalence Questionnaire, Interpersonal Reactivity Index and an instruction to get narratives about bullying, which effectiveness was tested during a pilot test. The obtained results are in line with the findings of previous bullying research: the victims are mentalizing less with their peers and experience greater personal distress when they are in identity threatening situations, thus focusing on their own difficulties rather than social signals. This isolation is an adaptive response in short-term although it seems to lead to a deficit in social skills later in life and makes it difficult for students to become socially integrated to society. In addition the results also show that students use more mental state attribution when they report verbal bullying than in case of physical abuse. Those who witness physical harassment also witness concrete answers to the problem from teachers, in contrast verbal abuse often stays without consequences. According to the results students mentalizing more in these stories because they have less normative explanation to what happened. To expanding bullying literature, this research helps to find ways to reduce school violence through community development.Keywords: bullying, mentalization, narrative, school culture
Procedia PDF Downloads 1551843 Possibility of Creating Polygon Layers from Raster Layers Obtained by using Classic Image Processing Software: Case of Geological Map of Rwanda
Authors: Louis Nahimana
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Most maps are in a raster or pdf format and it is not easy to get vector layers of published maps. Faced to the production of geological simplified map of the northern Lake Tanganyika countries without geological information in vector format, I tried a method of obtaining vector layers from raster layers created from geological maps of Rwanda and DR Congo in pdf and jpg format. The procedure was as follows: The original raster maps were georeferenced using ArcGIS10.2. Under Adobe Photoshop, map areas with the same color corresponding to a lithostratigraphic unit were selected all over the map and saved in a specific raster layer. Using the same image processing software Adobe Photoshop, each RGB raster layer was converted in grayscale type and improved before importation in ArcGIS10. After georeferencing, each lithostratigraphic raster layer was transformed into a multitude of polygons with the tool "Raster to Polygon (Conversion)". Thereafter, tool "Aggregate Polygons (Cartography)" allowed obtaining a single polygon layer. Repeating the same steps for each color corresponding to a homogeneous rock unit, it was possible to reconstruct the simplified geological constitution of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in vector format. By using the tool «Append (Management)», vector layers obtained were combined with those from Burundi to achieve vector layers of the geology of the « Northern Lake Tanganyika countries ».Keywords: creating raster layer under image processing software, raster to polygon, aggregate polygons, adobe photoshop
Procedia PDF Downloads 4361842 Isolation, Identification and Measurement of Cottonseed Oil Gossypol in the Treatment of Drug-Resistant Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
Authors: Sara Taghdisi, Mehrosadat Mirmohammadi, Mostafa Mokhtarian, Mohammad Hossein Pazandeh
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Leishmaniasis is one of the 10 most important diseases of the World Health Organization with health problems in more than 90 countries. Over one billion people are at risk of these diseases on almost every continent. The present human study was performed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of cotton plant on cutaneous leishmaniasis leision. firstly, the cotton seeds were cleaned and grinded to smaller particles. In the second step, the seeds were oiled by cold press method. In order to separate bioactive compound, after saponification of the oil, its gossypol was hydrolyzed and crystalized. finally, the therapeutic effect of Cottonseed Oil on cutaneous leishmaniasis was investigated. In the current project, Gossypol was extracted with a liquid-liquid extraction method in 120 minutes in the presence of Phosphoric acid from the cotton seed oil of Golestan beach varieties, then got crystallized in darkness using Acetic acid and isolated as Gossypol Acetic acid. The efficiency of the extracted crystal was obtained at 1.28±0.12. the cotton plant could be efficient in the treatment of Cutaneous leishmaniasis. This double-blind randomized controlled clinical trial was performed on 88 cases of leishmaniasis wounds. Patients were randomly divided into two groups of 44 cases. two groups received conventional treatment. In addition to the usual treatment (glucantime), the first group received cottonseed oil and the control group received placebo. The results of the present study showed that the surface of lesion before the intervention and in the first to fourth weeks after the intervention was not significantly different between the two groups (P-value> 0.05). But the surface of lesion in the Intervention group in the eighth and twelfth weeks was lower than the control group (P-value <0.05). This study showed that the improvement of leishmaniasis lesion using topical cotton plant mark in the eighth and twelfth weeks after the intervention was significantly more than the control group. Considering the most common chemical drugs for Cutaneous leishmaniasis treatment are sodium stibogluconate, and meglumine antimonate, which not only have relatively many side effects, but also some species of the Leishmania genus have become resistant to them. Therefore, a plant base bioactive compound such as cottonseed oil can be useful whit fewer side effects.Keywords: cottonseed oil, crystallization, gossypol, leishmaniasis
Procedia PDF Downloads 491841 Psychosocial Determinants of Quality of Life After Treatment for Breast Cancer - A Systematic Review
Authors: Lakmali Anthony, Madeline Gillies
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Purpose: Decreasing mortality has led to increased focus on patient-reported outcomes such as quality of life (QoL) in breast cancer. Breast cancer patients often have decreased QoL even after treatment is complete. This systematic review of the literature aims to identify psychosocial factors associated with decreased QoL in post-treatment breast cancer patients. Methodology: This systematic review was performed in accordance with the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses recommendations. The search was conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsychINFO using MeSH headings. The two authors screened studies for relevance and extracted data. Results: Seventeen studies were identified, including 3,150 total participants (mean = 197) with a mean age of 51.9 years. There was substantial heterogeneity in measures of QoL. The most common was the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 (n=7, 41.1%). Most studies (n=12, 70.5%) found that emotional distress correlated with poor QoL, while 3 found no significant association. The most common measure of emotional distress was the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (n=12, 70.5%). Other psychosocial factors associated with QoL were unmet needs, problematic social support, and negative affect. Clinicopathologic determinants included mastectomy without reconstruction, stage IV disease, and adjuvant chemotherapy. Conclusion: This systematic review provides a summary of the psychosocial determinants of poor QoL in post-treatment breast cancer patients, as well as the most commonly reported measures of these. An understanding of these potentially modifiable determinants of poor outcome is pivotal to the provision of quality, patient-centred care in surgical oncology.Keywords: breast cancer, quality of life, psychosocial determinants, cancer surgery
Procedia PDF Downloads 691840 The Current Development and Legislation on the Acquisition and Use of Nuclear Energy in Contemporary International Law
Authors: Uche A. Nnawulezi
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Over the past decades, the acquisition and utilization of nuclear energy have remained a standout amongst the most intractable issues which past world leaders have unsuccessfully endeavored to grapple with. This study analyzes the present advancement and enactment on the acquisition and utilization of nuclear energy in contemporary international law. It seeks to address international co-operations in the field of nuclear energy by looking at what nuclear energy is all about and how it came into being. It also seeks to address concerns expressed by a few researchers on the position of nuclear law in the most extensive domain of the law by looking at the authoritative procedure for nuclear law, system of arrangements and traditions. This study also agrees in favour of treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons based on human right and humanitarian principles that are not duly moral, but also legal ones. Specifically, the past development activities on nuclear weapon and the practical system of the nuclear energy institute will be inspected. The study noted among others, former president Obama's remark on nuclear energy and Pakistan nuclear policies and its attendant outcomes. Essentially, we depended on documentary evidence and henceforth scooped a great part of the data from secondary sources. The study emphatically advocates for the adoption of absolute liability principles and setting up of a viability trust fund, all of which will help in sustaining global peace where global best practices in acquisition and use of nuclear energy will be widely accepted in the contemporary international law. Essentially, the fundamental proposals made in this paper if completely adopted, might go far in fortifying the present advancement and enactment on the application and utilization of nuclear energy and accordingly, addressing a portion of the intractable issues under international law.Keywords: nuclear energy, international law, acquisition, development
Procedia PDF Downloads 1711839 Sustainable Reconstruction: Towards Guidelines of Post-Disaster Vulnerability Reduction for Permanent Informal Housing in Malaysia Due to Flooding
Authors: Ruhizal Roosli, Julaihi Wahid, Abu Hassan Abu Bakar, Faizal Baharum
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This paper reports on the progress of a study on the reconstruction project after the ‘Yellow Flood’ disaster in Kelantan, Malaysia. Malaysia still does not have guidelines to build housing after a disaster especially in disaster-prone areas. At the international level, many guidelines have been prepared that is found suitable for post-disaster housing. Which guidelines can be adapted that best describes the situation in Malaysia? It was reported that the houses should be built on stilts, which can withstand certain level of impact during flooding. Unfortunately, until today no specific guideline was available to assist homeowners to rebuild their homes after disaster. In addition, there is also no clear operational procedure to monitor the progress of this construction work. This research is an effort to promoting resilient housing; safety and security; and secure tenure in a prone area. At the end of this study, key lessons will be emerged from the review process and data analysis. These inputs will then have influenced to the content that will be developed and presented as guidelines. An overall objective is to support humanitarian responses to disaster and conflicts for resilience house construction to flood prone area. Interviews with the field based staff were from recent post-disaster housing workforce (disaster management mechanism in Malaysia especially in Kelantan). The respondents were selected based on their experiences in disaster response particularly related to housing provision. These key lessons are perhaps the best practical (operational and technical) guidelines comparing to other International cases to be adapted to the national situations.Keywords: disaster, guideline, housing, Malaysia, reconstruction
Procedia PDF Downloads 5101838 Predicting of Hydrate Deposition in Loading and Offloading Flowlines of Marine CNG Systems
Authors: Esam I. Jassim
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The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate the prediction of the model capability of predicting the nucleation process, the growth rate, and the deposition potential of second phase particles in gas flowlines. The primary objective of the research is to predict the risk hazards involved in the marine transportation of compressed natural gas. However, the proposed model can be equally used for other applications including production and transportation of natural gas in any high-pressure flow-line. The proposed model employs the following three main components to approach the problem: computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique is used to configure the flow field; the nucleation model is developed and incorporated in the simulation to predict the incipient hydrate particles size and growth rate; and the deposition of the gas/particle flow is proposed using the concept of the particle deposition velocity. These components are integrated in a comprehended model to locate the hydrate deposition in natural gas flowlines. The present research is prepared to foresee the deposition location of solid particles that could occur in a real application in Compressed Natural Gas loading and offloading. A pipeline with 120 m length and different sizes carried a natural gas is taken in the study. The location of particle deposition formed as a result of restriction is determined based on the procedure mentioned earlier and the effect of water content and downstream pressure is studied. The critical flow speed that prevents such particle to accumulate in the certain pipe length is also addressed.Keywords: hydrate deposition, compressed natural gas, marine transportation, oceanography
Procedia PDF Downloads 4801837 Development and Evaluation of a Calcium Rich Plant-Based Supplement on Bone Turnover of Peri and Post Menopausal Women
Authors: Gayathri.G, Hemamalini.A.J, Chandrasekaran.A
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Problem statement: Nutritional deficiency, especially calcium, may lead to poor bone formation and mineralization. Although there are plenty of synthetic supplements available, it is essential to make a calcium rich food supplement accessible to combat calcium deficiency that could be readily prepared at the household level. Thus the current study aimed to formulate and standardize an indigenous low-cost calcium-rich food supplement and to study the impact of supplementation on the bone resorption and formation markers. Methods: A Randomized controlled trial was conducted with 60 subjects distributed equally in control and experimental groups, including perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. A plant-based calcium-rich product was developed and supplemented in form of balls as a midmorning and evening snack by addition of optimized proportions of leaves of Sesbania Grandiflora, seeds of Sesamum indicum, Eleusine coracana, Glycine max, Vigna mungo for a period of 6 months. Postmenopausal and perimenopausal women received 1200mg and 800mg of calcium per day from the supplemented, respectively. Outcome measures like serum calcium; betacrosslaps (bone resorption marker) and total P1NP (bone absorption marker) were assessed after 3 months and after 6 months. Results: There were no significant changes seen in the serum calcium and total P1NP levels (bone formation marker) among the subjects during the supplementation period. The bone resorption marker (betacrosslaps) reduced in all the groups and the reduction (0.32 ± 0.130 ng/ml to 0.25 ± 0.130 ng/ml) was found to be statistically highly significant (p < 0.01) in experimental group of perimenopausal subjects and significant (p < 0.05) in experimental group of postmenopausal subjects (1.11 ± 0.290 ng/ml to 0.42 ± 0.263 ng/ml). Conclusion: With the current severe calcium deficiency in the Indian population, integrating low-cost, calcium-rich native foods that could be readily prepared at household level would be useful in raising the nutritional consumption of calcium, which would, in turn, decrease bone turnover.Keywords: calcium, sesbania grandiflora, sesamum indicum, eleusine coracana, glycine max, vigna mungo, postmenopause, perimenopause, bone resorption, bone absorption, betacrosslaps, total P1NP
Procedia PDF Downloads 1271836 Reduction of Terpene Emissions from Oriented Strand Boards (OSB) by Bacterial Pre-Treatment
Authors: Bernhard Widhalm, Cornelia Rieder-Gradinger, Ewald Srebotnik
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Pine wood (Pinus sylvestris L.) is the basic raw material for the production of Oriented Strand Boards (OSB) and the major source of volatile organic compounds, especially terpenes (like α- and β-pinene). To lower the total emission level of OSB, terpene metabolising microorganisms were therefore applied onto pine wood strands for the production of emission-reduced boards. Suitable microorganisms were identified during preliminary tests under laboratory conditions. At first, their terpene degrading potential was investigated in liquid culture, followed by laboratory tests using unsterile pine wood particles and strands. The main focus was laid on an adoptable terpene reduction in a short incubation time. An optimised bacterial mixture of Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas fluorescens showed the best results and was therefore used for further experiments on a larger scale. In an industry-compatible testing procedure, pine wood strands were incubated with the bacterial mixture for a period of 2 to 4 days. Incubation time was stopped by drying the strands. OSB were then manufactured from the pre-treated strands and emissions were measured by means of SPME/GC-MS analysis. Bacterial pre-treatment of strands resulted in a reduction of α-pinene- and β-pinene-emissions from OSB by 40% and 70%, respectively, even after only 2 days of incubation. The results of the investigation provide a basis for the application of microbial treatment within the industrial OSB production line, where shortest possible incubation times are required. For this purpose, the performance of the bacterial mixture will have to be further optimised.Keywords: GC-MS, OSB, Pseudomonas sp., terpene degradation
Procedia PDF Downloads 2581835 A Straightforward Method for Determining Inorganic Selenium Speciations by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy in Water Samples
Authors: Sahar Ehsani, David James, Vernon Hodge
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In this experimental study, total selenium in solution was measured with Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, GFAAS, then chemical reactions with sodium borohydride were used to reduce selenite to hydrogen selenide. Hydrogen selenide was then stripped from the solution by purging the solution with nitrogen gas. Since the two main speciations in oxic waters are usually selenite, Se(IV) and selenate, Se(VI), it was assumed that after Se(IV) is removed, the remaining total selenium was Se(VI). Total selenium measured after stripping gave Se(VI) concentration, and the difference of total selenium measured before and after stripping gave Se(IV) concentration. An additional step of reducing Se(VI) to Se(IV) was performed by boiling the stripped solution under acidic conditions, then removing Se(IV) by a chemical reaction with sodium borohydride. This additional procedure of removing Se(VI) from the solution is useful in rare cases where the water sample is reducing and contains selenide speciation. In this study, once Se(IV) and Se(VI) were both removed from the water sample, the remaining total selenium concentration was zero. The method was tested to determine Se(IV) and Se(VI) in both purified water and synthetic irrigation water spiked with Se(IV) and Se(VI). Average recovery of spiked samples of diluted synthetic irrigation water was 99% for Se(IV) and 97% for Se(VI). Detection limits of the method were 0.11 µg L⁻¹ and 0.32 µg L⁻¹ for Se(IV) and Se(VI), respectively.Keywords: Analytical Method, Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Selenate, Selenite, Selenium Speciations
Procedia PDF Downloads 1371834 Analysis of Key Factors Influencing Muslim Women’s Buying Intentions of Clothes: A Study of UK’s Ethnic Minorities and Modest Fashion Industry
Authors: Nargis Ali
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Since the modest fashion market is growing in the UK, there is still little understanding and more concerns found among researchers and marketers about Muslim consumers. Therefore, the present study is designed to explore critical factors influencing Muslim women’s intention to purchase clothing and to identify the differences in the purchase intention of ethnic minority groups in the UK. The conceptual framework is designed using the theory of planned behavior and social identity theory. In order to satisfy the research objectives, a structured online questionnaire was published on Facebook from 20 November to 21 March. As a result, 1087 usable questionnaires were received and used to assess the proposed model fit through structural equation modeling. Results revealed that social media does influence the purchase intention of Muslim women. Muslim women search for stylish clothes that provide comfort during summer while they prefer soft and subdued colors. Furthermore, religious knowledge and religious practice, and fashion uniqueness strongly influence their purchase intention, while hybrid identity is negatively related to the purchase intention of Muslim women. This research contributes to the literature linked to Muslim consumers at a time when the UK's large retailers were seeking to attract Muslim consumers through modestly designed outfits. Besides, it will be helpful to formulate or revise product and marketing strategies according to UK’s Muslim women’s tastes and needs.Keywords: fashion uniqueness, hybrid identity, religiosity, social media, social identity theory, structural equation modeling, theory of planned behavior
Procedia PDF Downloads 2171833 Improving Our Understanding of the in vivo Modelling of Psychotic Disorders
Authors: Zsanett Bahor, Cristina Nunes-Fonseca, Gillian L. Currie, Emily S. Sena, Lindsay D.G. Thomson, Malcolm R. Macleod
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Psychosis is ranked as the third most disabling medical condition in the world by the World Health Organization. Despite a substantial amount of research in recent years, available treatments are not universally effective and have a wide range of adverse side effects. Since many clinical drug candidates are identified through in vivo modelling, a deeper understanding of these models, and their strengths and limitations, might help us understand reasons for difficulties in psychosis drug development. To provide an unbiased summary of the preclinical psychosis literature we performed a systematic electronic search of PubMed for publications modelling a psychotic disorder in vivo, identifying 14,721 relevant studies. Double screening of 11,000 publications from this dataset so far established 2403 animal studies of psychosis, with the most common model being schizophrenia (95%). 61% of these models are induced using pharmacological agents. For all the models only 56% of publications test a therapeutic treatment. We propose a systematic review of these studies to assess the prevalence of reporting of measures to reduce risk of bias, and a meta-analysis to assess the internal and external validity of these animal models. Our findings are likely to be relevant to future preclinical studies of psychosis as this generation of strong empirical evidence has the potential to identify weaknesses, areas for improvement and make suggestions on refinement of experimental design. Such a detailed understanding of the data which inform what we think we know will help improve the current attrition rate between bench and bedside in psychosis research.Keywords: animal models, psychosis, systematic review, schizophrenia
Procedia PDF Downloads 2831832 Life Prediction Method of Lithium-Ion Battery Based on Grey Support Vector Machines
Authors: Xiaogang Li, Jieqiong Miao
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As for the problem of the grey forecasting model prediction accuracy is low, an improved grey prediction model is put forward. Firstly, use trigonometric function transform the original data sequence in order to improve the smoothness of data , this model called SGM( smoothness of grey prediction model), then combine the improved grey model with support vector machine , and put forward the grey support vector machine model (SGM - SVM).Before the establishment of the model, we use trigonometric functions and accumulation generation operation preprocessing data in order to enhance the smoothness of the data and weaken the randomness of the data, then use support vector machine (SVM) to establish a prediction model for pre-processed data and select model parameters using genetic algorithms to obtain the optimum value of the global search. Finally, restore data through the "regressive generate" operation to get forecasting data. In order to prove that the SGM-SVM model is superior to other models, we select the battery life data from calce. The presented model is used to predict life of battery and the predicted result was compared with that of grey model and support vector machines.For a more intuitive comparison of the three models, this paper presents root mean square error of this three different models .The results show that the effect of grey support vector machine (SGM-SVM) to predict life is optimal, and the root mean square error is only 3.18%. Keywords: grey forecasting model, trigonometric function, support vector machine, genetic algorithms, root mean square errorKeywords: Grey prediction model, trigonometric functions, support vector machines, genetic algorithms, root mean square error
Procedia PDF Downloads 4541831 The Accuracy of an 8-Minute Running Field Test to Estimate Lactate Threshold
Authors: Timothy Quinn, Ronald Croce, Aliaksandr Leuchanka, Justin Walker
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Many endurance athletes train at or just below an intensity associated with their lactate threshold (LT) and often the heart rate (HR) that these athletes use for their LT are above their true LT-HR measured in a laboratory. Training above their true LT-HR may lead to overtraining and injury. Few athletes have the capability of measuring their LT in a laboratory and rely on perception to guide them, as accurate field tests to determine LT are limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if an 8-minute field test could accurately define the HR associated with LT as measured in the laboratory. On Day 1, fifteen male runners (mean±SD; age, 27.8±4.1 years; height, 177.9±7.1 cm; body mass, 72.3±6.2 kg; body fat, 8.3±3.1%) performed a discontinuous treadmill LT/maximal oxygen consumption (LT/VO2max) test using a portable metabolic gas analyzer (Cosmed K4b2) and a lactate analyzer (Analox GL5). The LT (and associated HR) was determined using the 1/+1 method, where blood lactate increased by 1 mMol•L-1 over baseline followed by an additional 1 mMol•L-1 increase. Days 2 and 3 were randomized, and the athletes performed either an 8-minute run on the treadmill (TM) or on a 160-m indoor track (TR) in an effort to cover as much distance as possible while maintaining a high intensity throughout the entire 8 minutes. VO2, HR, ventilation (VE), and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) were measured using the Cosmed system, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE; 6-20 scale) was recorded every minute. All variables were averaged over the 8 minutes. The total distance covered over the 8 minutes was measured in both conditions. At the completion of the 8-minute runs, blood lactate was measured. Paired sample t-tests and pairwise Pearson correlations were computed to determine the relationship between variables measured in the field tests versus those obtained in the laboratory at LT. An alpha level of <0.05 was required for statistical significance. The HR (mean +SD) during the TM (167+9 bpm) and TR (172+9 bpm) tests were strongly correlated to the HR measured during the laboratory LT (169+11 bpm) test (r=0.68; p<0.03 and r=0.88; p<0.001, respectively). Blood lactate values during the TM and TR tests were not different from each other but were strongly correlated with the laboratory LT (r=0.73; p<0.04 and r=0.66; p<0.05, respectively). VE (Lmin-1) was significantly greater during the TR (134.8+11.4 Lmin-1) as compared to the TM (123.3+16.2 Lmin-1) with moderately strong correlations to the laboratory threshold values (r=0.38; p=0.27 and r=0.58; p=0.06, respectively). VO2 was higher during TR (51.4 mlkg-1min-1) compared to TM (47.4 mlkg-1min-1) with correlations of 0.33 (p=0.35) and 0.48 (p=0.13), respectively to threshold values. Total distance run was significantly greater during the TR (2331.6+180.9 m) as compared to the TM (2177.0+232.6 m), but they were strongly correlated with each other (r=0.82; p<0.002). These results suggest that an 8-minute running field test can accurately predict the HR associated with the LT and may be a simple test that athletes and coaches could implement to aid in training techniques.Keywords: blood lactate, heart rate, running, training
Procedia PDF Downloads 2481830 Efficacy of Opicapone and Levodopa with Different Levodopa Daily Doses in Parkinson’s Disease Patients with Early Motor Fluctuations: Findings from the Korean ADOPTION Study
Authors: Jee-Young Lee, Joaquim J. Ferreira, Hyeo-il Ma, José-Francisco Rocha, Beomseok Jeon
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The effective management of wearing-off is a key driver of medication changes for patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) treated with levodopa (L-DOPA). While L-DOPA is well tolerated and efficacious, its clinical utility over time is often limited by the development of complications such as dyskinesia. Still, common first-line option includes adjusting the daily L-DOPA dose followed by adjunctive therapies usually counting for the L-DOPA equivalent daily dose (LEDD). The LEDD conversion formulae are a tool used to compare the equivalence of anti-PD medications. The aim of this work is to compare the effects of opicapone (OPC) 50 mg, a catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitor, and an additional 100 mg dose of L-DOPA in reducing the off time in PD patients with early motor fluctuations receiving different daily L-DOPA doses. OPC was found to be well tolerated and efficacious in advanced PD population. This work utilized patients' home diary data from a 4-week Phase 2 pharmacokinetics clinical study. The Korean ADOPTION study randomized (1:1) patients with PD and early motor fluctuations treated with up to 600 mg of L-DOPA given 3–4 times daily. The main endpoint was change from baseline in off time in the subgroup of patients receiving 300–400 mg/day L-DOPA at baseline plus OPC 50 mg and in the subgroup receiving >300 mg/day L-DOPA at baseline plus an additional dose of L-DOPA 100 mg. Of the 86 patients included in this subgroup analysis, 39 received OPC 50 mg and 47 L-DOPA 100 mg. At baseline, both L-DOPA total daily dose and LEDD were lower in the L-DOPA 300–400 mg/day plus OPC 50 mg group than in the L-DOPA >300 mg/day plus L-DOPA 100 mg. However, at Week 4, LEDD was similar between the two groups. The mean (±standard error) reduction in off time was approximately three-fold greater for the OPC 50 mg than for the L-DOPA 100 mg group, being -63.0 (14.6) minutes for patients treated with L-DOPA 300–400 mg/day plus OPC 50 mg, and -22.1 (9.3) minutes for those receiving L-DOPA >300 mg/day plus L-DOPA 100 mg. In conclusion, despite similar LEDD, OPC demonstrated a significantly greater reduction in off time when compared to an additional 100 mg L-DOPA dose. The effect of OPC appears to be LEDD independent, suggesting that caution should be exercised when employing LEDD to guide treatment decisions as this does not take into account the timing of each dose, onset, duration of therapeutic effect and individual responsiveness. Additionally, OPC could be used for keeping the L-DOPA dose as low as possible for as long as possible to avoid the development of motor complications which are a significant source of disability.Keywords: opicapone, levodopa, pharmacokinetics, off-time
Procedia PDF Downloads 571829 Effect of Nanoparticle Addition in the Urea-Formaldehyde Resin on the Formaldehyde Emission from MDF
Authors: Sezen Gurdag, Ayse Ebru Akin
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There is a growing concern all over the world on the health effect of the formaldehyde emission coming from the adhesive used in the MDF production. In this research, we investigated the effect of nanoparticle addition such as nanoclay and halloysite into urea-formadehyde resin on the total emitted formaldehyde from MDF plates produced using the resin modified as such. First, the curing behavior of the resin was studied by monitoring the pH, curing time, solid content, density and viscosity of the modified resin in comparison to the reference resin with no added nanoparticle. The dosing of the nanoparticle in the dry resin was kept at 1wt%, 3wt% or 5wt%. Consecutively, the resin was used in the production of 50X50 cm MDF samples using laboratory scale press line with full automation system. Modulus of elasticity, bending strength, internal bonding strength, water absorption were also measured in addition to the main interested parameter formaldehyde emission levels which is determined via spectrometric technique following an extraction procedure. Threshold values for nanoparticle dosing levels were determined to be 5wt% for both nanoparticles. However, the reinforcing behavior was observed to be occurring at different levels in comparison to the reference plates with each nanoparticle such that the level of reinforcement with nanoclay was shown to be more favorable than the addition of halloysite due to higher surface area available with the former. In relation, formaldehyde emission levels were observed to be following a similar trend where addition of 5wt% nanoclay into the urea-formaldehyde adhesive helped decrease the formaldehyde emission up to 40% whereas addition of halloysite at its threshold level demonstrated as the same level, i.e., 5wt%, produced an improvement of 18% only.Keywords: halloysite, nanoclay, fiberboard, urea-formaldehyde adhesive
Procedia PDF Downloads 1491828 Assessing the Resilience of the Insurance Industry under Solvency II
Authors: Vincenzo Russo, Rosella Giacometti
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The paper aims to assess the insurance industry's resilience under Solvency II against adverse scenarios. Starting from the economic balance sheet available under Solvency II for insurance and reinsurance undertakings, we assume that assets and liabilities follow a bivariate geometric Brownian motion (GBM). Then, using the results available under Margrabe's formula, we establish an analytical solution to calibrate the volatility of the asset-liability ratio. In such a way, we can estimate the probability of default and the probability of breaching the undertaking's Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR). Furthermore, since estimating the volatility of the Solvency Ratio became crucial for insurers in light of the financial crises featured in the last decades, we introduce a novel measure that we call Resiliency Ratio. The Resiliency Ratio can be used, in addition to the Solvency Ratio, to evaluate the insurance industry's resilience in case of adverse scenarios. Finally, we introduce a simplified stress test tool to evaluate the economic balance sheet under stressed conditions. The model we propose is featured by analytical tractability and fast calibration procedure where only the disclosed data available under the Solvency II public reporting are needed for the calibration. Using the data published regularly by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) in an aggregated form by country, an empirical analysis has been performed to calibrate the model and provide the related results at the country level.Keywords: Solvency II, solvency ratio, volatility of the asset-liability ratio, probability of default, probability to breach the SCR, resilience ratio, stress test
Procedia PDF Downloads 751827 Trehalose Application Increased Membrane Stability and Cell Viability to Affect Growth of Wheat Genotypes under Heat Stress
Authors: S. K. Thind, Aparjot Kaur
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Heat stress is one of the major environmental factors drastically reducing wheat production. Crop heat tolerance can be enhanced by preconditioning of plants by exogenous application of osmoprotectants. Presently, the effect of trehalose pretreatment (at 1 mM, and 1.5 nM) under heat stress of 35±2˚C (moderate) and 40±2˚ (severe) for four and eight hour was conducted in wheat (Tricticum aestivum L.) genotypes viz. HD2967, PBW 175, PBW 343, PBW 621, and PBW 590. Heat stress affects wide spectrum of physiological processes within plants that are irreversibly damaged by stress. Membrane thermal stability (MTS) and cell viability was significantly decreased under heat stress for eight hours. Pretreatment with trehalose improved MTS and cell viability under stress and this effect was more promotory with higher concentration. Thermal stability of photosynthetic apparatus differed markedly between genotypes and Hill reaction activity was recorded more in PBW621 followed by C306 as compared with others. In all genotypes photolysis of water showed decline with increase in temperature stress. Trehalose pretreatment helped in sustaining Hill reaction activity probably by stabilizing the photosynthetic apparatus against heat-induced photo inhibition. Both plant growth and development were affected by temperature in both shoot and root under heat stress. The reduction was compensated partially by trehalose (1.5 mM) application. Adaption to heat stress is associated with the metabolic adjustment which led to accumulation of soluble sugars including non-reducing and reducing for their role in adaptive mechanism. Higher acid invertase activity in shoot of tolerant genotypes appeared to be a characteristic for stress tolerance. As sucrose synthase play central role in sink strength and in studied wheat genotype was positively related to dry matter accumulation. The duration of heat stress for eight hours had more severe effect on these parameters and trehalose application at 1.5 mM ameliorated it to certain extent.Keywords: heat stress, Triticum aestivum, trehalose, membrane thermal stability, triphenyl tetrazolium chloride, reduction test, growth, sugar metabolism
Procedia PDF Downloads 3181826 Training Volume and Myoelectric Responses of Lower Body Muscles with Differing Foam Rolling Periods
Authors: Humberto Miranda, Haroldo G. Santana, Gabriel A. Paz, Vicente P. Lima, Jeffrey M. Willardson
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Foam rolling is a practice that has increased in popularity before and after strength training. The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of different foam rolling periods for the lower body muscles on subsequent performance (total repetitions and training volume), myoelectric activity and rating of perceived exertion in trained men. Fourteen trained men (26.2 ± 3.2 years, 178 ± 0.04 cm height, 82.2 ± 10 kg weight and body mass index 25.9 ± 3.3kg/m2) volunteered for this study. Four repetition maximum (4-RM) loads were determined for hexagonal bar deadlift and 45º angled leg press during test and retest sessions over two nonconsecutive days. Five experimental protocols were applied in a randomized design, which included: a traditional protocol (control)—a resistance training session without prior foam rolling; or resistance training sessions performed following one (P1), two (P2), three (P3), or four (P4) sets of 30 sec. foam rolling for the lower extremity musculature. Subjects were asked to roll over the medial and lateral aspects of each muscle group with as much pressure as possible. All foam rolling was completed at a cadence of 50 bpm. These procedures were performed on both sides unilaterally as described below. Quadriceps: between the apex of the patella and the ASIS; Hamstring: between the gluteal fold and popliteal fossa; Triceps surae: between popliteal fossa and calcaneus tendon. The resistance training consisted of five sets with 4-RM loads and two-minute rest intervals between sets, and a four-minute rest interval between the hexagonal bar deadlift and the 45º angled leg press. The number of repetitions completed, the myoelectric activity of vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis oblique (VMO), semitendinosus (SM) and medial gastrocnemius (GM) were recorded, as well as the rating of perceived exertion for each protocol. There were no differences between the protocols in the total repetitions for the hexagonal bar deadlift (Control - 16.2 ± 5.9; P1 - 16.9 ± 5.5; P2 - 19.2 ± 5.7; P3 - 19.4 ± 5.2; P4 - 17.2 ± 8.2) (p > 0.05) and 45º angled leg press (Control - 23.3 ± 9.7; P1 - 25.9 ± 9.5; P2 - 29.1 ± 13.8; P3 - 28.0 ± 11.7; P4 - 30.2 ± 11.2) exercises. Similar results between protocols were also noted for myoelectric activity (p > 0.05) and rating of perceived exertion (p > 0.05). Therefore, the results of the present study indicated no deleterious effects on performance, myoelectric activity and rating of perceived exertion responses during lower body resistance training.Keywords: self myofascial release, foam rolling, electromyography, resistance training
Procedia PDF Downloads 2181825 Effects of Ethylene Scavengering Packaging on the Shelf Life of Edible Mushroom
Authors: Majid Javanmard
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Edible mushrooms are those agricultural products which contain high quantity of protein and can have special role in human diet. So search for methods to increase their shelf life is important. One of these strategies can be use of active packaging for absorb the ethylene which has been studied in present study. In this study, initially, production of impregnating zeolite with potassium permanganate has been studied with zeolite clinoptiolite available in iran. After that, these ethylene scavengers were placed in the package of edible mushrooms and then transferred to the refrigerator with temperature 4c for a period of 20 days. Each 5 days, several experiments accomplished on edible mushrooms such as weight loss, moisture content, color, texture, bacterial experiments and sensory evaluation. After production of impregnating zeolite with potassium permanganate (with a concentration of %2.5, %5, %7.5, %10 and %12.5) by zeolite type clinoptiolite (with mesh 35 and 60), samples have been analyzed with gas chromatography and titration with sodium oxalate. The results showed that zeolite by concentration of %5, %7.5 and %10 potassium permanganate and mesh 60 have a higher efficiency. Results from the experiments on edible mushrooms proved that impregnated zeolite with potassium permanganate have a meaningful influence in prevent the weight loss, decrease of moisture content and L-value, increase of a-value and overall color change (ΔE) and decrease of firmness texture of mushrooms. In addition, these absorbents can influence on decrease microbial load (mesophilic bacteria) rather than control. Generally, concluded that the impregnated zeolite with 10% permanganate potassium has a high efficiency on increase the shelf life of fresh edible mushrooms.Keywords: active packaging, ethylene scavenger, zeolite clinoptiolite, permanganate potassium, shelf life
Procedia PDF Downloads 4091824 Vehicle Gearbox Fault Diagnosis Based on Cepstrum Analysis
Authors: Mohamed El Morsy, Gabriela Achtenová
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Research on damage of gears and gear pairs using vibration signals remains very attractive, because vibration signals from a gear pair are complex in nature and not easy to interpret. Predicting gear pair defects by analyzing changes in vibration signal of gears pairs in operation is a very reliable method. Therefore, a suitable vibration signal processing technique is necessary to extract defect information generally obscured by the noise from dynamic factors of other gear pairs. This article presents the value of cepstrum analysis in vehicle gearbox fault diagnosis. Cepstrum represents the overall power content of a whole family of harmonics and sidebands when more than one family of sidebands is present at the same time. The concept for the measurement and analysis involved in using the technique are briefly outlined. Cepstrum analysis is used for detection of an artificial pitting defect in a vehicle gearbox loaded with different speeds and torques. The test stand is equipped with three dynamometers; the input dynamometer serves as the internal combustion engine, the output dynamometers introduce the load on the flanges of the output joint shafts. The pitting defect is manufactured on the tooth side of a gear of the fifth speed on the secondary shaft. Also, a method for fault diagnosis of gear faults is presented based on order cepstrum. The procedure is illustrated with the experimental vibration data of the vehicle gearbox. The results show the effectiveness of cepstrum analysis in detection and diagnosis of the gear condition.Keywords: cepstrum analysis, fault diagnosis, gearbox, vibration signals
Procedia PDF Downloads 3711823 Efficacy of Heart Failure Reversal Treatment Followed by 90 Days Follow up in Chronic Heart Failure Patients with Low Ejection Fraction
Authors: Rohit Sane, Snehal Dongre, Pravin Ghadigaonkar, Rahul Mandole
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The present study was designed to evaluate efficacy of heart failure reversal therapy (HFRT) that uses herbal procedure (panchakarma) and allied therapies, in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with low ejection fraction. Methods: This efficacy study was conducted in CHF patients (aged: 25-65 years, ejection fraction (EF) < 30%) wherein HFRT (60-75 minutes) consisting of snehana (external oleation), swedana (passive heat therapy), hrudaydhara(concoction dripping treatment) and basti(enema) was administered twice daily for 7 days. During this therapy and next 30 days, patients followed the study dinarcharya and were prescribed ARJ kadha in addition to their conventional treatment. The primary endpoint of this study was evaluation of maximum aerobic capacity uptake (MAC) as assessed by 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) using Cahalins equation from baseline, at end of 7 day treatment, follow-up after 30 days and 90 days. EF was assessed by 2D Echo at baseline and after 30 days of follow-up. Results: CHF patients with < 30% EF (N=52, mean [SD] age: 58.8 [10.8], 85% men) were enrolled in the study. There was a 100% compliance to study therapy. A significant improvement was observed in MAC levels (7.11%, p =0.029), at end of 7 day therapy as compared to baseline. This improvement was maintained at two follow-up visits. Moreover, ejection fraction was observed to be increased by 6.38%, p=0,012 as compared to baseline at day 7 of the therapy. Conclusions: This 90 day follow up study highlights benefit of HFRT, as a part of maintenance treatment for CHF patients with reduced ejection fraction.Keywords: chronic heart failure, functional capacity, heart failure reversal therapy, oxygen uptake, panchakarma
Procedia PDF Downloads 2181822 Hybrid Equity Warrants Pricing Formulation under Stochastic Dynamics
Authors: Teh Raihana Nazirah Roslan, Siti Zulaiha Ibrahim, Sharmila Karim
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A warrant is a financial contract that confers the right but not the obligation, to buy or sell a security at a certain price before expiration. The standard procedure to value equity warrants using call option pricing models such as the Black–Scholes model had been proven to contain many flaws, such as the assumption of constant interest rate and constant volatility. In fact, existing alternative models were found focusing more on demonstrating techniques for pricing, rather than empirical testing. Therefore, a mathematical model for pricing and analyzing equity warrants which comprises stochastic interest rate and stochastic volatility is essential to incorporate the dynamic relationships between the identified variables and illustrate the real market. Here, the aim is to develop dynamic pricing formulations for hybrid equity warrants by incorporating stochastic interest rates from the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) model, along with stochastic volatility from the Heston model. The development of the model involves the derivations of stochastic differential equations that govern the model dynamics. The resulting equations which involve Cauchy problem and heat equations are then solved using partial differential equation approaches. The analytical pricing formulas obtained in this study comply with the form of analytical expressions embedded in the Black-Scholes model and other existing pricing models for equity warrants. This facilitates the practicality of this proposed formula for comparison purposes and further empirical study.Keywords: Cox-Ingersoll-Ross model, equity warrants, Heston model, hybrid models, stochastic
Procedia PDF Downloads 1241821 Ankle Arthroscopy: Indications, Patterns of Admissions, Surgical Outcomes, and Associated Complications Among Saudi Patients at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City in Riyadh
Authors: Mohammad Abdullah Almalki
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Background: Despite the frequent usage of ankle arthroscopy, there is limited medical literature regarding its indications, patterns of admissions, surgical outcomes, and associated complicated at Saudi Arabia. Hence, this study would highlight the surgical outcomes of such surgical approach that will assist orthopedic surgeons to detect which surgical procedure needs to be done as well as to help them regarding their diagnostic workups. Methods: At the Orthopedic Division of King Abdul‑Aziz Medical City in Riyadh and through a cross‑sectional design and convenient sampling techniques, the present study had recruited 20 subjects who fulfill the inclusion and exclusion criteria between 2016 and 2018. Data collection was carried out by a questionnaire designed and revised by an expert panel of health professionals. Results: Twenty patients were reviewed (11M and 9F) with an average age of 40.1 ± 12.2. Only 30% of the patients (5M, 1F) have no comorbidity, but 70% of patients (7M, 8F) were having at least one comorbidity. The most common indications were osteochondritis dissecans (n = 7, 35%), ankle fracture without dislocation (n = 4, 20%), and tibiotalar impingement (n = 3, 15%). Patients recorded pain in all cases (100%). The top four symptoms after pain were instability (30%, n = 6), muscle weakness (15%, n = 3) swelling (15%, n = 3), and stiffness (5%, n = 1). Two‑third of cases reached to their full healthy status and toe‑touch weight‑bearing was seen in two patients (10%). Conclusion: Ankle arthroscopy improved the rehabilitation rates in our tertiary care center. In addition, the surgical outcomes are favorable in our hospital since it has a very short length of stay, unexpended surgery, and fewest physiotherapy sessions.Keywords: ankle, arthroscopy, indications, patterns
Procedia PDF Downloads 801820 Mass Media and Electoral Conflict Management in Kogi State, Nigeria
Authors: Okpanachi Linus Odiji, Chris Ogwu Attah
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Election is no doubt widely assumed as one of the most suitable means of resolving political quagmires even though it has never been bereft of conflict which can manifest before, during, or after polls. What, however, advances democracy and promotes electoral integrity is the existence and effectiveness of institutional frameworks for electoral conflict management. Electoral conflicts are no doubt unique in the sense that they represent the struggles of people over the control of public resources. In most cases, the stakes involved are high and emotional that they do not only undermine inter-group relationship but also threaten national security. The need, therefore, for an effectively functional conflict management apparatus becomes imperative. While at the State level, there exist numerous governmental initiatives at various electoral stages aimed at managing conflicts, this paper examines the activities of the mass media, which is another prominent stakeholder in the electoral process. Even though media influence has increased tremendously in the last decade, researchers are yet to agree on its utility in the management of conflicts. Guided by the social responsibility theory of media reporting and drawing data from observed trends in Kogi state, the paper, which context analyses the 2019 gubernatorial election coverage in the state, observes both conflict escalation and de-escalation roles in the media. To mitigate conflict reporting misrepresentation, therefore, a common approach to conflict reporting should be designed and ordered by the National Broadcasting Commission as well as the Nigerian Press Council. This should be garnished with the training of journalists on conflict reporting and development of a standard conflict reporting procedure.Keywords: conflict management, electoral conflict, mass media, media reporting
Procedia PDF Downloads 1351819 Online Information Seeking: A Review of the Literature in the Health Domain
Authors: Sharifah Sumayyah Engku Alwi, Masrah Azrifah Azmi Murad
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The development of the information technology and Internet has been transforming the healthcare industry. The internet is continuously accessed to seek for health information and there are variety of sources, including search engines, health websites, and social networking sites. Providing more and better information on health may empower individuals, however, ensuring a high quality and trusted health information could pose a challenge. Moreover, there is an ever-increasing amount of information available, but they are not necessarily accurate and up to date. Thus, this paper aims to provide an insight of the models and frameworks related to online health information seeking of consumers. It begins by exploring the definition of information behavior and information seeking to provide a better understanding of the concept of information seeking. In this study, critical factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence will be studied in relation to the value of seeking health information. It also aims to analyze the effect of age, gender, and health status as the moderator on the factors that influence online health information seeking, i.e. trust and information quality. A preliminary survey will be carried out among the health professionals to clarify the research problems which exist in the real world, at the same time producing a conceptual framework. A final survey will be distributed to five states of Malaysia, to solicit the feedback on the framework. Data will be analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS 3.0 analysis tools. It is hoped that at the end of this study, a novel framework that can improve online health information seeking is developed. Finally, this paper concludes with some suggestions on the models and frameworks that could improve online health information seeking.Keywords: information behavior, information seeking, online health information, technology acceptance model, the theory of planned behavior, UTAUT
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