Search results for: regional features

Authors: Shengxin Yu

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Earthquakes can cause varying degrees of damage to building and bridge structures. Traditional laminated natural rubber bearings (NRB) exhibit inadequate energy dissipation and restraint, particularly under near-fault ground motions, resulting in excessive displacements in the superstructure. This paper presents a composite natural rubber bearing (NFUD-NRB) incorporating two types of shape memory alloy (SMA) U-shaped dampers (UD). The bearing exhibits adjustable features, predominantly characterized by partial self-centering and multi-level energy dissipation, facilitated by nickel-titanium-based SMA (NiTi-SMA) and iron-based SMA (Fe-SMA) UDs. The hysteresis characteristics of NFUD-NRB can be tailored by manipulating the configuration of NiTi-SMA and Fe-SMA UDs. Firstly, the proposed bearing's geometric configuration and working principle are introduced. The rationality of the modeling strategy for the bearing is validated through existing experimental results. Parameterized numerical simulations are subsequently performed to investigate the partially self-centering behavior of NFUD-NRB. The findings indicate that NFUD-NRB can attain the anticipated nonlinear behavior and deliver adequate energy dissipation. Finally, the impact of NFUD-NRB on improving the seismic resilience of highway bridges is examined using the OpenSees software, with particular emphasis on the seismic performance of NFUD-NRB under near-fault ground motions. System-level analysis reveals that bridge systems equipped with NFUD-NRBs exhibit satisfactory residual deformations and higher energy dissipation than those equipped with traditional NRBs. Moreover, NFUD-NRB markedly mitigates the detrimental impacts of near-fault ground motions on the main structure of bridges.

Keywords: partially self-centering behavior, energy dissipation, natural rubber bearing, shape memory alloy, U-shaped damper, numerical investigation, near-fault ground motion

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Authors: Hubert Feiglstorfer

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The technique of making terrazzo has been known since ancient times. During the Roman Empire, known as opus signinum, at the time of the Renaissance, known as composto terrazzo marmorino or at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of terrazzo experienced a common use in Europe. In Asia, especially in the Himalayas and the Tibetan highlands, a particular floor and roof manufacturing technique is commonly used for about 1500 years, known as arga. The research question in this contribution asks for technical and cultural-historical synergies of these floor-making techniques. The making process of an arga floor shows constructive parallels to the European terrazzo. Surface processing by grinding, burnishing and sealing, in particular, reveals technological similarities. The floor structure itself, on the other hand, shows differences, for example in the use of hydraulic aggregate in the terrazzo, while the arga floor is used without hydraulic material, but the result of both techniques is a tight, water-repellent and shiny surface. As part of this comparative study, the materials, processing techniques and quality features of the two techniques are compared and parallels and differences are analysed. In addition to text and archive research, the methods used are results of material analyses and ethnographic research such as participant observation. Major findings of the study are the investigation of the mineralogical composition of arga floors and its comparison with terrazzo floors. The study of the cultural-historical context in which both techniques are embedded will give insight into technical developments in Europe and Asia, parallels and differences. Synergies from this comparison let possible technological developments in the production, conservation and renovation of European terrazzo floors appear in a new light. By making arga floors without cement-based aggregates, the renovation of historical floors from purely natural products and without using energy by means of a burning process can be considered.

Keywords: European and Asian crafts, material culture, floor making technology, terrazzo, arga, Tibetan building traditions

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: M. G. Shilina

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The interstate economic interaction phenomenon is complex. ‘Economic integration’, as one of its types, can be explored through the prism of international law, the theories of the world economy, politics and international relations. The most objective study of the phenomenon requires a comprehensive multifactoral approach. In new geopolitical realities, the problems of coexistence and possible interconnection of various mechanisms of interstate economic interaction are actively discussed. Currently, the Eurasian continent states support the direction to economic integration. At the same time, the existing international economic law fragmentation in Eurasia is seen as the important problem. The Eurasian space is characterized by a various types of interstate relations: international agreements (multilateral and bilateral), and a large number of cooperation formats (from discussion platforms to organizations aimed at deep integration). For their harmonization, it is necessary to have a clear vision to the phased international economic relations regulation options. In the conditions of rapid development of international economic relations, the modeling (including prognostic) can be optimally used as the main scientific method for presenting the phenomenon. On the basis of this method, it is possible to form the current situation vision and the best options for further action. In order to determine the most objective version of the integration development, the combination of several approaches were used. The normative legal approach- the descriptive method of legal modeling- was taken as the basis for the analysis. A set of legal methods was supplemented by the international relations science prognostic methods. The key elements of the model are the international economic organizations and states' associations existing in the Eurasian space (the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the European Union (EU), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Chinese project ‘One belt-one road’ (OBOR), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), BRICS, etc.). A general term for the elements of the model is proposed - the interstate interaction mechanisms (IIM). The aim of building a model of current and future Eurasian economic integration is to show optimal options for joint economic development of the states and IIMs. The long-term goal of this development is the new economic and political space, so-called the ‘Great Eurasian Community’. The process of achievement this long-term goal consists of successive steps. Modeling the integration architecture and dividing the interaction into stages led us to the following conclusion: the SCO is able to transform Eurasia into a single economic space. Gradual implementation of the complex phased model, in which the SCO+ plays a key role, will allow building an effective economic integration for all its participants, to create an economically strong community. The model can have practical value for politicians, lawyers, economists and other participants involved in the economic integration process. A clear, systematic structure can serve as a basis for further governmental action.

Keywords: economic integration, The Eurasian Economic Union, The European Union, The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, The Silk Road Economic Belt

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Authors: Mahdi Akhbardeh

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St John's wort plant can help to treat depression disease through decreasing this disease symptom, due to having some similar features of Prozac (Fluoxetine Hcl) pill. People suffering from slight depression who have fear of using antidepressants side effects can use St John's wort drops under doctor observation. This method of treatment is proposed specially to those women who are spending menopause or depression resulted from this period. St John's wort plant have proposed traditional and plant medicine as newest researches in treating mood disorders compared to Prozac (Fluoxetine Hcl) drug in treating depression disease which is being administrated in clinic research center of Washington. Objective: the aim of this study is to find an alternative treatment method in people suffering from depression which are treated with Prozac (Fluoxetine Hcl). Almost 70 percent of treatment failures with Prozac (Fluoxetine Hcl) drug in patients suffering from slight to normal depression is due to intensive side effects including: decrease in blood pressure, reduce in sexual desire and 30 percent of it is due to this drug affectless in treatment procedure which leads to leaving treatment. Results of Hypercuim plant function are exactly similar to antidepressants. Increase in serotonin amount in brain synopsis terminal end causes increase in existence time of this material in this part. In fact these two drugs have similar function. Though side effects of Hypercuim plant(St John's wort) including headache and slight nausea tolerable. Results: St John's wort plant can be used lonely in slight to normal depressions in which patients are avoiding Prozac (Fluoxetine Hcl) drug due to it's side effects. In intensive depressions through which general patients don’t indicate positive response to drug, it is probably expected relative or even complete treatment through combining antidepressants drugs with this plant. This treatment method has been investigated and confirmed in clinical tests and researches.

Keywords: depression, St John's wort, Prozac, antidepressant

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Authors: Kuo-Kai Lin, Po-Lun Chang

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Background: The Emergency Care Research Institute released a list for the top 10 medical technology hazards in 2017, with the following hazard topping the list: ‘infusion errors can be deadly if simple safety steps are overlooked.’ In addition, hospitals use various assessment items to evaluate the safety of their medical equipment, confirming the importance of medical equipment safety. In recent years, the topic of patient safety has garnered increasing attention. Accordingly, various agencies have established patient safety-related committees to coordinate, collect, and analyze information regarding abnormal events associated with medical practice. Activities to promote and improve employee training have been introduced to diminish the recurrence of medical malpractice. Objective: To allow nursing personnel to acquire the skills needed to operate common medical equipment and update and review such skills whenever necessary to elevate medical care quality and reduce patient injuries caused by medical equipment operation errors. Method: In this study, a quasi-experimental design was adopted and nurses from a regional teaching hospital were selected as the study sample. Online videos instructing the operation method of common medical equipment were made and quick response codes were designed for the nursing personnel to quickly access the videos when necessary. Senior nursing supervisors and equipment experts were invited to formulate a ‘Scale-based Questionnaire for Assessing Nursing Personnel’s Operational Knowledge of Common Medical Equipment’ to evaluate the nursing personnel’s literacy regarding the operation of the medical equipment. From March to October 2017, an employee training on medical equipment operation and a practice course (simulation course) were implemented, after which the effectiveness of the training and practice course were assessed. Results: Prior to and after the training and practice course, the 66 participating nurses scored 58 and 87 on ‘operational knowledge of common medical equipment,’ respectively (showing a significant statistical difference; t = -9.407, p < .001); 53.5 and 86.3 on ‘operational knowledge of 12-lead electrocardiography’ (z = -2.087, p < .01), respectively; 40 and 79.5 on ‘operational knowledge of cardiac defibrillators’ (z = -3.849, p < .001), respectively; 90 and 98 on ‘operational knowledge of Abbott pumps’ (z = -1.841, p = 0.066), respectively; and 8.7 and 13.7 on ‘perceived competence’ (showing a significant statistical difference; t = -2.77, p < .05). In the participating hospital, medical equipment operation errors were observed in both 2016 and 2017. However, since the implementation of the intervention, medical equipment operation errors have not yet been observed up to October 2017, which can be regarded as the secondary outcome of this study. Conclusion: In this study, innovative teaching strategies were adopted to effectively enhance the professional literacy and skills of nursing personnel in operating medical equipment. The training and practice course also elevated the nursing personnel’s related literacy and perceived competence of operating medical equipment. The nursing personnel was thus able to accurately operate the medical equipment and avoid operational errors that might jeopardize patient safety.

Keywords: medical equipment, digital teaching plan, simulation-based teaching plan, operational knowledge, patient safety

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Authors: Marc Sango, Olimpia Hoinaru, Christophe Gransart, Laurence Duchien

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Ontologies offer a means for representing and sharing information in many domains, particularly in complex domains. For example, it can be used for representing and sharing information of System Requirement Specification (SRS) of complex systems like the SRS of ERTMS/ETCS written in natural language. Since this system is a real-time and critical system, generic ontologies, such as OWL and generic ERTMS ontologies provide minimal support for modeling temporal information omnipresent in these SRS documents. To support the modeling of temporal information, one of the challenges is to enable representation of dynamic features evolving in time within a generic ontology with a minimal redesign of it. The separation of temporal information from other information can help to predict system runtime operation and to properly design and implement them. In addition, it is helpful to provide a reasoning and querying techniques to reason and query temporal information represented in the ontology in order to detect potential temporal inconsistencies. Indeed, a user operation, such as adding a new constraint on existing planning constraints can cause temporal inconsistencies, which can lead to system failures. To address this challenge, we propose a lightweight 3-layer temporal Quality of Service (QoS) ontology for representing, reasoning and querying over temporal and non-temporal information in a complex domain ontology. Representing QoS entities in separated layers can clarify the distinction between the non QoS entities and the QoS entities in an ontology. The upper generic layer of the proposed ontology provides an intuitive knowledge of domain components, specially ERTMS/ETCS components. The separation of the intermediate QoS layer from the lower QoS layer allows us to focus on specific QoS Characteristics, such as temporal or integrity characteristics. In this paper, we focus on temporal information that can be used to predict system runtime operation. To evaluate our approach, an example of the proposed domain ontology for handover operation, as well as a reasoning rule over temporal relations in this domain-specific ontology, are given.

Keywords: system requirement specification, ERTMS/ETCS, temporal ontologies, domain ontologies

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Authors: Anishur Rahman, Maria Areias, Diogo Simões, Ana Figeuiredo, Filipa Figueiredo, João Nunes

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The circular economy (CE) has gained increased awareness among academics, businesses, and decision-makers as it stimulates resource circularity in the production and consumption systems. A large epistemological study has explored the principles of CE, but scant attention eagerly focused on analysing how CE is evaluated, consented to, and enforced using economic metabolism data and business intelligent framework. Economic metabolism involves the ongoing exchange of materials and energy within and across socio-economic systems and requires the assessment of vast amounts of data to provide quantitative analysis related to effective resource management. Limited concern, the present work has focused on the regional flows pilot region from Portugal. By addressing this gap, this study aims to promote eco-innovation and sustainability in the regions of Intermunicipal Communities Região de Coimbra, Viseu Dão Lafões and Beiras e Serra da Estrela, using this data to find precise synergies in terms of material flows and give companies a competitive advantage in form of valuable waste destinations, access to new resources and new markets, cost reduction and risk sharing benefits. In our work, emphasis on applying artificial intelligence (AI) and, more specifically, on implementing state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms is placed, contributing to construction a business intelligent approach. With the emergence of new approaches generally highlighted under the sub-heading of AI and machine learning (ML), the methods for statistical analysis of complex and uncertain production systems are facing significant changes. Therefore, various definitions of AI and its differences from traditional statistics are presented, and furthermore, ML is introduced to identify its place in data science and the differences in topics such as big data analytics and in production problems that using AI and ML are identified. A lifecycle-based approach is then taken to analyse the use of different methods in each phase to identify the most useful technologies and unifying attributes of AI in manufacturing. Most of macroeconomic metabolisms models are mainly direct to contexts of large metropolis, neglecting rural territories, so within this project, a dynamic decision support model coupled with artificial intelligence tools and information platforms will be developed, focused on the reality of these transition zones between the rural and urban. Thus, a real decision support tool is under development, which will surpass the scientific developments carried out to date and will allow to overcome imitations related to the availability and reliability of data.

Keywords: circular economy, artificial intelligence, economic metabolisms, machine learning

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Authors: J. J. Mathew

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Pulmonary tuberculosis is highly prevalent in the Indian subcontinent. Most cases of pulmonary tuberculosis are diagnosed with sputum examinations and the vast majority of these are undertaken by the government run establishments. However, mycobacterial cultures are not routinely done, unless drug resistance is detected based on clinical response. Modern diagnostic tests like bronchoscopy and Genexpert are not routinely employed in the government institutions for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, but have been accepted widely by good private institutions. The utility of these investigations in the private sector is not yet well recognized. This retrospective study aims to assess the usefulness of bronchoscopy and Genexpert in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in quaternary care private hospital in India. 30 patients with respiratory symptoms raising the possibility of tuberculosis based on clinical and radiological features, but without any significant sputum production, were subject to bronchoscopy and BAL samples taken for microbiological studies, including Genexpert. 6 out of the 30 patients were found to be Genexpert positive and none of them showed Rifampicin resistance. All the 6 cases had upper zone predominant disease. One of the 6 cases of tuberculosis had another co-existent bacterial infection according to the routine culture studies. 6 other cases were proven to be due to other bacterial infections alone, 2 had a malignant diagnosis and the remaining cases were thought to be non-infective pathologies. The Genexpert results were made available within 48 hours in the 6 positive cases. All of them were commenced on standard anti-tuberculous regimen with excellent clinical response. The other infective cases were also managed successfully based on the drug susceptibilities. The study has shown the usefulness of these investigations as early intervention enabled diagnosis facilitating treatment and prevention of any clinical deterioration. The study lends support to early bronchoscopy and Genexpert testing in suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis without significant sputum production, in a high prevalence country which normally relies on sputum examination for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Keywords: pulmonary, tuberculosis, bronchoscopy, genexpert

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: D. Zhigulskaya, V. Anisimov, A. Pikunov, K. Babanova, S. Zuev, A. Latyshkova, K. Сhernozatonskiy, A. Revazov

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Electrophysiology of information processing in reading is certainly a popular research topic. Natural reading, however, has been relatively poorly studied, despite having broad potential applications for learning and education. In the current study, we explore the relationship between text categories and spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) while reading. Thirty healthy volunteers (mean age 26,68 ± 1,84) participated in this study. 15 Russian-language texts were used as stimuli. The first text was used for practice and was excluded from the final analysis. The remaining 14 were opposite pairs of texts in one of 7 categories, the most important of which were: interesting/boring, fiction/non-fiction, free reading/reading with an instruction, reading a text/reading a pseudo text (consisting of strings of letters that formed meaningless words). Participants had to read the texts sequentially on an Apple iPad Pro. EEG was recorded from 12 electrodes simultaneously with eye movement data via ARKit Technology by Apple. EEG spectral amplitude was analyzed in Fz for theta-band (4-8 Hz) and in C3, C4, P3, and P4 for alpha-band (8-14 Hz) using the Friedman test. We found that reading an interesting text was accompanied by an increase in theta spectral amplitude in Fz compared to reading a boring text (3,87 µV ± 0,12 and 3,67 µV ± 0,11, respectively). When instructions are given for reading, we see less alpha activity than during free reading of the same text (3,34 µV ± 0,20 and 3,73 µV ± 0,28, respectively, for C4 as the most representative channel). The non-fiction text elicited less activity in the alpha band (C4: 3,60 µV ± 0,25) than the fiction text (C4: 3,66 µV ± 0,26). A significant difference in alpha spectral amplitude was also observed between the regular text (C4: 3,64 µV ± 0,29) and the pseudo text (C4: 3,38 µV ± 0,22). These results suggest that some brain activity we see on EEG is sensitive to particular features of the text. We propose that changes in theta and alpha bands during reading may serve as electrophysiological tools for assessing the reader’s cognitive state as well as his or her attitude to the text and the perceived information. These physiological markers have prospective practical value for developing technological solutions and biofeedback systems for reading in particular and for education in general.

Keywords: EEG, natural reading, reader's cognitive state, theta-rhythm, alpha-rhythm

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Authors: Getaneh Berie Tarekegn

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A precise localization system is crucial for many artificial intelligence Internet of Things (AI-IoT) applications in the era of smart cities. Their applications include traffic monitoring, emergency alarming, environmental monitoring, location-based advertising, intelligent transportation, and smart health care. The most common method for providing continuous positioning services in outdoor environments is by using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Due to nonline-of-sight, multipath, and weather conditions, GNSS systems do not perform well in dense urban, urban, and suburban areas.This paper proposes a generative AI-based positioning scheme for large-scale wireless settings using fingerprinting techniques. In this article, we presented a novel semi-supervised deep convolutional generative adversarial network (S-DCGAN)-based radio map construction method for real-time device localization. We also employed a reliable signal fingerprint feature extraction method with t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), which extracts dominant features while eliminating noise from hybrid WLAN and long-term evolution (LTE) fingerprints. The proposed scheme reduced the workload of site surveying required to build the fingerprint database by up to 78.5% and significantly improved positioning accuracy. The results show that the average positioning error of GAILoc is less than 39 cm, and more than 90% of the errors are less than 82 cm. That is, numerical results proved that, in comparison to traditional methods, the proposed SRCLoc method can significantly improve positioning performance and reduce radio map construction costs.

Keywords: location-aware services, feature extraction technique, generative adversarial network, long short-term memory, support vector machine

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Authors: Helene Eller

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The aim of non-profit organizations (NPO) is to provide services and goods for its clientele, with profit being a minor objective. By having this definition as the basic purpose of doing business, it is obvious that the goal of an organisation is to serve several bottom lines and not only the financial one. This approach is underpinned by the non-distribution constraint which means that NPO are allowed to make profits to a certain extent, but not to distribute them. The advantage is that there are no single shareholders who might have an interest in the prosperity of the organisation: there is no pie to divide. The gained profits remain within the organisation and will be reinvested in purposeful projects. Good governance is mandatory to support the aim of NPOs. Looking for a measure of good governance the principals of corporate governance (CG) will come in mind. The purpose of CG is direction and control, and in the field of NPO, CG is enlarged to consider the relationship to all important stakeholders who have an impact on the organisation. The recognition of more relevant parties than the shareholder is the link to corporate social responsibility (CSR). It supports a broader view of the bottom line: It is no longer enough to know how profits are used but rather how they are made. Besides, CSR addresses the responsibility of organisations for their impact on society. When transferring the concept of CSR to the non-profit area it will become obvious that CSR with its distinctive features will match the aims of NPOs. As a consequence, NPOs who apply CG apply also CSR to a certain extent. The research is designed as a comprehensive theoretical and empirical analysis. First, the investigation focuses on the theoretical basis of both concepts. Second, the similarities and differences are outlined and as a result the interconnection of both concepts will show up. The contribution of this research is manifold: The interconnection of both concepts when applied to NPOs has not got any attention in science yet. CSR and governance as integrated concept provides a lot of advantages for NPOs compared to for-profit organisations which are in a steady justification to show the impact they might have on the society. NPOs, however, integrate economic and social aspects as starting point. For NPOs CG is not a mere concept of compliance but rather an enhanced concept integrating a lot of aspects of CSR. There is no “either-nor” between the concepts for NPOs.

Keywords: business ethics, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, non-profit organisations

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Authors: K. M. S. Weerasinghe, A. H. K. Balasooriya, S. L. Ransingha, G. D. Krishantha, R. S. Brhakamanagae, L. C. Wijethilke

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Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is a major horticultural crop with an estimated global production of over 120 million metric tons and ranks first as a processing crop. The average tomato productivity in Sri Lanka (11 metric tons/ha) is much lower than the world average (24 metric tons/ha).To meet the tomato demand for the increasing population the productivity has to be intensified through the agronomic-techniques. Nutrition is one of the main factors which govern the growth and yield of tomato and the main nutrient source soil affect the plant growth and quality of the produce. Continuous cropping, improper fertilizer usage etc., cause widespread nutrient deficiencies. Therefore synthetic fertilizers and organic manures were introduced to enhance plant growth and maximize the crop yields. In this study, effects of macro and micronutrient supplementations on improvement of growth and yield of tomato were investigated. Selected tomato variety is Maheshi and plants were grown in Regional Agricultural and Research Centre Makadura under the Department of Agriculture recommended (DOA) macro nutrients and various combination of Ontario recommended dosages of secondary and micro fertilizer supplementations. There were six treatments in this experiment and each treatment was replicated in three times and each replicate consisted of six plants. Other than the DOA recommendation, five combinations of Ontario recommended dosage of secondary and micronutrients for tomato were also used as treatments. The treatments were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design. All cultural practices were carried out according to the DOA recommendations. The mean data was subjected to the statistical analysis using SAS package and mean separation (Duncan’s Multiple Range test at 5% probability level) procedures. Secondary and micronutrients containing treatments significantly increased most of the growth parameters. Plant height, plant girth, number of leaves, leaf area index etc. Fruits harvested from pots amended with macro, secondary and micronutrients performed best in terms of total yield; yield quality; to pots amended with DOA recommended dosage of fertilizer for tomato. It could be due to the application of all essential macro and micro nutrients that rise in photosynthetic activity, efficient translocation and utilization of photosynthates causing rapid cell elongation and cell division in actively growing region of the plant leading to stimulation of growth and yield were caused. The experiment revealed and highlighted the requirements of essential macro, secondary and micro nutrient fertilizer supplementations for tomato farming. The study indicated that, macro and micro nutrient supplementation practices can influence growth and yield performances of tomato fruits and it is a promising approach to get potential tomato yields.

Keywords: macro and micronutrients, tomato, SAS package, photosynthates

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Authors: Werede Girmay Tesfasilasiea

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Three stratigraphic sections of the Antalo Limestone successions in Mekelle Outlier, northern Ethiopia (at Hagere-Selam, Messobo, and Wukro sections) have been investigated to distinguish their microfacies features, reservoir characterization, and their equivalent depositional environments. The Antalo Limestone successions were deposited in the Mekelle Outlier during the Upper Jurassic period as a result of flooding of the area by the Tethys Ocean toward the southeast direction. This study is based on field description and petrographic analysis to determine the depositional environment, age, and reservoir characteristics of the carbonate units. According to petrographical studies of 100 thin sections and field investigation, 14 microfacies types are recognized. These are grouped into 4 microfacies association of a tidal flat (MFT1-2), lagoons (MFL1-2), shoal (MFS1-4), and open marine environment (MFO1-6). Hence, the Antalo limestone successions are deposited in shallow carbonate ramps with a wide lateral and vertical distribution of facies. The carbonate units in the studied sections are affected by bioturbation, micritization, cementation, dolomitization, dissolution, silicification, and compaction type of early diagenetic alteration. Dissolution and dolomitization affected the type of rock, showing good reservoir quality, while cementation and compaction affected the type of rock, resulting in poor reservoir quality in the Antalo Limestone successions of the Mekelle outlier. Based on the abundant distribution of the Alveosepta jaccardi (Schrodt), Pseudocyclammina lituus (Yokoyama), Kurnubia palestiniensis (Henson), and Somalirhynchia africana in the studied sections the Antalo Limestone successions assigned to the Late Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian age.

Keywords: Antelo limestone successions, depositional environment, Mekelle outlier, microfacies analysis, diagenesis, reservoir quality

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Authors: Seyyed Mohammad Amin Mousavi Sagharchi, Elham Javanroudi

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Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a known disease with hidden features caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). This disease, which is one of the 10 deadliest in the world, has caused millions of deaths in recent decades. Furthermore, TB is responsible for infecting about 30% population of world. Like any infection, TB can activate the immune system by locating and colonization in the human body, especially in the alveoli. TB is granulomatosis, so MTB can absorb the host’s immune cells and other cells to form granuloma. Method: Different databases (e.g., PubMed) were recruited to prepare this paper and fulfill our goals to search and find effective papers and investigations. Results: Immune response to MTB is related to T cell killers and contains CD1, CD4, and CD8 T lymphocytes. CD1 lymphocytes can recognize glycolipids, which highly exist in the Mycobacterial fatty cell wall. CD4 lymphocytes and macrophages form granuloma, and it is the main line of immune response to Mycobacteria. On the other hand, CD8 cells have cytolytic function for directly killing MTB by secretion of granulysin. Other functions and secretion to the deal are interleukin-12 (IL-12) by induction of expression interferon-γ (INF-γ) for macrophages activation and creating a granuloma, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) by promoting macrophage phagolysosomal fusion. Conclusion: Immune cells in battle with MTB are macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs), neutrophils, and natural killer (NK) cells. These immune cells can recognize the Mycobacterium by various receptors, including Toll-like receptors (TLRs), Nod-like receptors (NLRs), and C-type lectin receptors (CLRs) located in the cell surface. In human alveoli exist about 50 dendritic macrophages, which have close communication with other immune cells in the circulating system and epithelial cells to deal with Mycobacteria. Against immune cells, MTB handles some factors (e.g., cordfactor, O-Ag, lipoarabinomannan, sulfatides, and adenylate cyclase) and practical functions (e.g., inhibition of macrophages).

Keywords: mycobacterium tuberculosis, immune responses, immunological mechanisms, respiratory tuberculosis

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Authors: Savas Yildiz

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The article assesses the performance of international aid donors to determine the sub-national distribution of their aid projects dependent on recipient countries’ governance. The present paper extends the scope from a cross-country perspective to a more detailed analysis by looking at the effects of institutional qualities on the sub-national distribution of foreign aid. The analysis examines geo-referenced aid project in 37 countries and 404 regions at the first administrative division level in Sub-Saharan Africa from the World Bank (WB) and the African Development Bank (ADB) that were approved between the years 2000 and 2011. To measure the influence of institutional qualities on the distribution of aid the following measures are used: control of corruption, government effectiveness, regulatory quality and rule of law from the World Governance Indicators (WGI) and the corruption perception index from Transparency International. Furthermore, to assess the importance of ethnic heterogeneity on the sub-national distribution of aid projects, the study also includes interaction terms measuring ethnic fragmentation. The regression results indicate a general skew of aid projects towards regions which hold capital cities, however, being incumbent presidents’ birth region does not increase the allocation of aid projects significantly. Nevertheless, with increasing quality of institutions aid projects are less skewed towards capital regions and the previously estimated coefficients loose significance in most cases. Higher ethnic fragmentation also seems to impede the possibility to allocate aid projects mainly in capital city regions and presidents’ birth places. Additionally, to assess the performance of the WB based on its own proclaimed goal to aim the poor in a country, the study also includes sub-national wealth data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DSH), and finds that, even with better institutional qualities, regions with a larger share from the richest quintile receive significantly more aid than regions with a larger share of poor people. With increasing ethnic diversity, the allocation of aid projects towards regions where the richest citizens reside diminishes, but still remains high and significant. However, regions with a larger share of poor people still do not receive significantly more aid. This might imply that the sub-national distribution of aid projects increases in general with higher ethnic fragmentation, independent of the diverse regional needs. The results provide evidence that institutional qualities matter to undermine the influence of incumbent presidents on the allocation of aid projects towards their birth regions and capital regions. Moreover, even for countries with better institutional qualities the WB and the ADB do not seem to be able to aim the poor in a country with their aid projects. Even, if one considers need-based variables, such as infant mortality and child mortality rates, aid projects do not seem to be allocated in districts with a larger share of people in need. Therefore, the study provides further evidence using more detailed information on the sub-national distribution of aid projects that aid is not being allocated effectively towards regions with a larger share of poor people to alleviate poverty in recipient countries directly. Institutions do not have any significant influence on the sub-national distribution of aid towards the poor.

Keywords: aid allocation, georeferenced data, institutions, spatial analysis

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Authors: Rishabh Nagpal, Riya Uchagaonkar, Venkata Naga Narasimha Ashish Mernedi, Ahmed Hambaba

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The rapid evolution of technology in the communication sector continually seeks to bridge the gap between different communities, notably between the deaf community and the hearing world. This project develops a comprehensive American Sign Language (ASL) recognition system, leveraging the advanced capabilities of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and vision transformers (ViTs) to interpret and translate ASL in real-time. The primary objective of this system is to provide an effective communication tool that enables seamless interaction through accurate sign language interpretation. The architecture of the proposed system integrates dual networks -VGG16 for precise spatial feature extraction and vision transformers for contextual understanding of the sign language gestures. The system processes live input, extracting critical features through these sophisticated neural network models, and combines them to enhance gesture recognition accuracy. This integration facilitates a robust understanding of ASL by capturing detailed nuances and broader gesture dynamics. The system is evaluated through a series of tests that measure its efficiency and accuracy in real-world scenarios. Results indicate a high level of precision in recognizing diverse ASL signs, substantiating the potential of this technology in practical applications. Challenges such as enhancing the system’s ability to operate in varied environmental conditions and further expanding the dataset for training were identified and discussed. Future work will refine the model’s adaptability and incorporate haptic feedback to enhance the interactivity and richness of the user experience. This project demonstrates the feasibility of an advanced ASL recognition system and lays the groundwork for future innovations in assistive communication technologies.

Keywords: sign language, computer vision, vision transformer, VGG16, CNN

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Authors: Satender Saraswat, Dharmendra Prasad Singh, Rajesh Kumar Verma, Swati Sarswat

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Background and Purpose: The predominant cause of candidiasis was Candida albicans which has shifted towards non-Candida albicans Candida (NCAC) (Candida species other than the C. albicans). NCAC, earlier considered non-pathogenic or minimally virulent, are now considered a primary cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised. With the NCAC spp. gaining weightage in the clinical cases, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of NCAC spp. in different clinical specimens and to assess a few of their virulence factors. Material and Methods: Routine samples for bacterial culture and sensitivity, showing colony characteristics like Candida on Blood Agar and microscopic features resembling Candida spp. were processed further. Candida isolates were tested for chlamydospore formation, biochemical tests including sugar fermentation and sugar assimilation tests, and growth at 42oC, colony colour on HiCrome™ Candida Differential Agar, HiCandida Identification Kit and VITEK-2 Compact. Virulence factors like adherence to buccal epithelial cells (ABEC), biofilm formation, hemolytic activity, and production of coagulase enzyme were also tested. Results: Mean age of the patients was 38.46 with a male-female ratio of 1.36:1. 137 Candida isolates were recovered. 45.3% isolates were isolated from urine, 19.7% from vaginal swabs and 13.9% from oropharyngeal swabs. 55 (40.1%) isolates of C. albicans and 82 (59.9%) of NCAC spp. were identified, with C. tropicalis (23.4%) in NCAC. C. albicans (3; 50%) was the commonest species in cases of candidemia. Haemolysin production (85.5%) and ABEC (78.2%) were the major virulence factors in C. albicans. C. tropicalis (59.4%) and C. dubliniensis (50%) showed maximum ABEC. Biofilm forming capacity was higher in C. tropicalis (78.1%) than C. albicans (67%). Conclusion: This study suggests varied prevalence and virulence based on geographical locations, even within a subcontinent. It clearly demarcates the emergence of NCAC and their predominance in different body fluids. Identification of Candida to species level should become a routine in all the laboratories.

Keywords: ABEC, NCAC, non-Candida albicans Candida, Vitek-2TM compact

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Authors: Fathi Kallel, Abdulelah Alabd Uljabbar, Abdulrahman Aldukhail, Abdulaziz Alomran

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The brain is an important organ in our body since it is responsible about the majority actions such as vision, memory, etc. However, different diseases such as Alzheimer and tumors could affect the brain and conduct to a partial or full disorder. Regular diagnosis are necessary as a preventive measure and could help doctors to early detect a possible trouble and therefore taking the appropriate treatment, especially in the case of brain tumors. Different imaging modalities are proposed for diagnosis of brain tumor. The powerful and most used modality is the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). MRI images are analyzed by doctor in order to locate eventual tumor in the brain and describe the appropriate and needed treatment. Diverse image processing methods are also proposed for helping doctors in identifying and analyzing the tumor. In fact, a large Computer Aided Diagnostic (CAD) tools including developed image processing algorithms are proposed and exploited by doctors as a second opinion to analyze and identify the brain tumors. In this paper, we proposed a new advanced CAD for brain tumor identification, classification and feature extraction. Our proposed CAD includes three main parts. Firstly, we load the brain MRI. Secondly, a robust technique for brain tumor extraction is proposed. This technique is based on both Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). DWT is characterized by its multiresolution analytic property, that’s why it was applied on MRI images with different decomposition levels for feature extraction. Nevertheless, this technique suffers from a main drawback since it necessitates a huge storage and is computationally expensive. To decrease the dimensions of the feature vector and the computing time, PCA technique is considered. In the last stage, according to different extracted features, the brain tumor is classified into either benign or malignant tumor using Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm. A CAD tool for brain tumor detection and classification, including all above-mentioned stages, is designed and developed using MATLAB guide user interface.

Keywords: MRI, brain tumor, CAD, feature extraction, DWT, PCA, classification, SVM

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Authors: Diana A. Sokolova

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This article is devoted to one of the possibilities for identifying the author of an oral or written text - sociolinguistic profiling. Sociolinguistic profiling is utilized as a forensic linguistics technique to identify individuals through language patterns, particularly in criminal cases. It examines how social factors influence language use. This study aims to showcase the significance of linguistic profiling for attributing authorship in texts and emphasizes the necessity for its continuous enhancement while considering its strengths and weaknesses. The study employs semantic-syntactic, lexical-semantic, linguopragmatic, logical, presupposition, authorization, and content analysis methods to investigate linguistic profiling. The research highlights the relevance of sociolinguistic profiling in authorship attribution and underscores the importance of ongoing refinement of the technique, considering its limitations. This study emphasizes the practical application of linguistic profiling in legal settings and underscores the impact of social factors on language use, contributing to the field of forensic linguistics. Data collection involves collecting oral and written texts from criminal and civil court cases to analyze language patterns for authorship attribution. The collected data is analyzed using various linguistic analysis methods to identify individual characteristics and patterns that can aid in authorship attribution. The study addresses the effectiveness of sociolinguistic profiling in identifying authors of texts and explores the impact of social factors on language use in legal contexts. In spite of advantages challenges in linguistics profiling have spurred debates and controversies in academic circles, legal environments, and the public sphere. So, this research highlights the significance of sociolinguistic profiling in authorship attribution and emphasizes the need for further development of this method, considering its strengths and weaknesses.

Keywords: authorship attribution, detection of identifying, dialect, features, forensic linguistics, social influence, sociolinguistics, unique speech characteristics

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Authors: Sheikh Nawaz Ali, Pratima Pandey, P. Morthekai, Jyotsna Dubey, Md. Firoze Quamar

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The high mountain glaciers are one of the most sensitive recorders of climate changes, because they have the tendency to respond to the combined effect of snow fall and temperature. The Himalayan glaciers have been studied with a good pace during the last decade. However, owing to its large ecological diversity and geographical vividness, major part of the Indian Himalaya is uninvestigated, and hence the palaeoclimatic patterns as well as the chronology of past glaciations in particular remain controversial for the entire Indian Himalayan transect. Although the Himalayan glaciers are nourished by two important climatic systems viz. the southwest summer monsoon and the mid-latitude westerlies, however, the influence of these systems is yet to be understood. Nevertheless, existing chronology (mostly exposure ages) indicate that irrespective of the geographical position, glaciers seem to grow during enhanced Indian summer monsoon (ISM). The Himalayan mountain glaciers are referred to the third pole or water tower of Asia as they form a huge reservoir of the fresh water supplies for the Asian countries. Mountain glaciers are sensitive probes of the local climate, and, thus, they present an opportunity and a challenge to interpret climates of the past as well as to predict future changes. The principle object of all the palaeoclimatic studies is to develop a futuristic models/scenario. However, it has been found that the glacial chronologies bracket the major phases of climatic events only, and other climatic proxies are sparse in Himalaya. This is the reason that compilation of data for rapid climatic change during the Holocene shows major gaps in this region. The sedimentation in proglacial lakes, conversely, is more continuous and, hence, can be used to reconstruct a more complete record of past climatic variability that is modulated by changing ice volume of the valley glacier. The Himalayan region has numerous proglacial lacustrine deposits formed during the late Quaternary period. However, there are only few such deposits which have been studied so far. Therefore, this is the high time when efforts have to be made to systematically map the moraines located in different climatic zones, reconstruct the local and regional moraine stratigraphy and use multiple dating techniques to bracket the events of glaciation. Besides this, emphasis must be given on carrying multiproxy studies on the lacustrine sediments that will provide a high resolution palaeoclimatic data from the alpine region of the Himalaya. Although the Himalayan glaciers fluctuated in accordance with the changing climatic conditions (natural forcing), however, it is too early to arrive at any conclusion. It is very crucial to generate multiproxy data sets covering wider geographical and ecological domains taking into consideration multiple parameters that directly or indirectly influence the glacier mass balance as well as the local climate of a region.

Keywords: glacial chronology, palaeoclimate, multiproxy, Himalaya

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Authors: Ana Alvarenga De Castro

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Food sovereignty has been brought by the international peasants’ movement, La Via Campesina, as a precondition to food security, speaking about the right of each nation to keep its own supply of foods respecting cultural, sustainable practices and productive diversity. The political conceptualization nowadays goes beyond saying that this term is about achieving the rights of farmers to control the food systems according to local specificities, and about equality in the access to natural resources and quality food. The current feminization of agroecosystems and of food insecurity identified by researchers and recognized by international agencies like the UN and FAO has enhanced the feminist discourse into the food sovereignty movement, considering the historical inequalities that place women farmers in subaltern positions inside the families and rural communities. The current tendency in many rural areas of more women taking responsibility for food production and still facing the lack of access to natural resources meets particular aspects in Latin America due to the global economic logic which places the Global South in the position of raw material supplier for the industrialized North, combined with regional characteristics. In this context, Latin American countries play the role of commodities exporters in the international labor division, including among exported items grains, soybean paste, and ores, to the expense of local food chains which provide domestic quality food supply under more sustainable practices. The connections between gender inequalities and global territorial inequalities related to the access and control of food and natural resources are pointed out by feminist political ecology - FPE - authors, and are linked in this article to the potentialities and limitations of women farmers to reproduce diversified agroecosystems in the tropical environments. The work brings the importance of local practices held by women farmers which are crucial to maintaining sustainable agricultural systems and their results on seeds, soil, biodiversity and water conservation. This work presents an analysis of documents, releases, videos and other publicized experiences launched by some peasants’ organizations in Latin America which evidence the different technical and political answers that meet food sovereignty from peasants’ groups that are attributed to women farmers. They are associated with articles presenting the empirical analysis of women farmers' practices in Latin America. The combination drove to discuss the benefits of peasants' conceptions about food systems and their connections with local realities and the gender issues linked to the food sovereignty conceptualization. Conclusion meets that reality on the field cannot reach food sovereignty's ideal homogeneously and that agricultural sustainable practices are dependent on rights' achievement and social inequalities' eradication.

Keywords: food sovereignty, gender, diversified agricultural systems, access to natural resources

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Authors: Hardik Goswami, Gayatri Swarnakar

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-Mastitis disease has been known as one of the most costly diseases of dairy cattle and observed as an inflammatory disease of cow and buffalo udder. Mastitis badly affected animal health, quality of milk and economics of milk production along with cause’s great economic loss. Bacteria have been representing the most common etiological agents of mastitis. The antibiotic sensitivity test was important to attain accurate treatment of mastitis. The aim of present research work was to explore prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of bacterial isolates recovered from cow and buffalo clinical mastitis milk sample. During the period of April 2010 to April 2014, total 1487 clinical mastitis milk samples of cow and buffalo were tested to check the prevalence of mastitis causing bacterial isolates. Milk samples were collected aseptically from the udder at the time of morning milking. The most prevalent bacterial isolates were Staphylococcus aureus (24.34%) followed by coliform bacteria (15.87%), coagulase negative Staphylococcus aureus (13.85%), non-coliform bacteria (13.05%), mixed infection (12.51%), Streptococcus spp. (10.96%). Out of 1487, 140 (9.42%) mastitis milk samples showed no growth on culture media. Identification of bacteria made on the basis of Standard Microbial features and procedures. Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial isolates was investigated by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. In vitro Antibiotic susceptibility test of bacterial isolates revealed higher sensitivity to Gentamicin (74.6%), Ciprofloxacin (62.1%) and Amikacin (59.4%). The lower susceptibility was shown to Amoxicillin (21.6%), Erythromycin (26.4%) and Ceftizoxime (29.9%). Antibiotic sensitivity pattern revealed Gentamicin are the possible effective antibiotic against the major prevalent mastitis pathogens. Present research work would be helpful in increase production, quality and quantity of milk, increase annual income of dairy owners and improve health of cow and buffaloes.

Keywords: antibiotic, buffalo, cow, mastitis, prevalence

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Authors: Christopher B. Obida, George A. Blackburn, James D. Whyatt, Kirk T. Semple

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In many regions of the world, especially in developing countries, river network data are outdated or completely absent, yet such information is critical for supporting important functions such as flood mitigation efforts, land use and transportation planning, and the management of water resources. In this study, a method was developed for delineating river networks using Sentinel 1 imagery. Unsupervised classification was applied to multi-temporal Sentinel 1 data to discriminate water bodies from other land covers then the outputs were combined to generate a single persistent water bodies product. A thinning algorithm was then used to delineate river centre lines, which were converted into vector features and built into a topologically structured geometric network. The complex river system of the Niger Delta was used to compare the performance of the Sentinel-based method against alternative freely available water body products from United States Geological Survey, European Space Agency and OpenStreetMap and a river network derived from a Shuttle Rader Topography Mission Digital Elevation Model. From both raster-based and vector-based accuracy assessments, it was found that the Sentinel-based river network products were superior to the comparator data sets by a substantial margin. The geometric river network that was constructed permitted a flow routing analysis which is important for a variety of environmental management and planning applications. The extracted network will potentially be applied for modelling dispersion of hydrocarbon pollutants in Ogoniland, a part of the Niger Delta. The approach developed in this study holds considerable potential for generating up to date, detailed river network data for the many countries where such data are deficient.

Keywords: Sentinel 1, image processing, river delineation, large scale mapping, data comparison, geometric network

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Authors: Norzaliza Md. Nor, Sh-Hussain Salleh, Mahyar Hamedi, Hadrina Hussain, Wahab Abdul Rahman

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Motivational factor is mainly the students’ desire to involve in learning process. However, it also depends on the goal towards their involvement or non-involvement in academic activity. Even though, the students’ motivation might be in the same level, but the basis of their motivation may differ. In this study, it focuses on the intrinsic motivational factor which student enjoy learning or feeling of accomplishment the activity or study for its own sake. The intrinsic motivational factor of students in learning mathematics and science has found as difficult to be achieved because it depends on students’ interest. In the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) for mathematics and science, Malaysia is ranked as third lowest. The main problem in Malaysian educational system, students tend to have extrinsic motivation which they have to score in exam in order to achieve a good result and enrolled as university students. The use of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals has found to be scarce especially to identify the students’ intrinsic motivational factor in learning science and mathematics. In this research study, we are identifying the correlation between precursor emotion and its dynamic emotion to verify the intrinsic motivational factor of students in learning mathematics and science. The 2-D Affective Space Model (ASM) was used in this research in order to identify the relationship of precursor emotion and its dynamic emotion based on the four basic emotions, happy, calm, fear and sad. These four basic emotions are required to be used as reference stimuli. Then, in order to capture the brain waves, EEG device was used, while Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) was adopted to be used for extracting the features before it will be feed to Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) to classify the valence and arousal axes for the ASM. The results show that the precursor emotion had an influence the dynamic emotions and it identifies that most students have no interest in mathematics and science according to the negative emotion (sad and fear) appear in the EEG signals. We hope that these results can help us further relate the behavior and intrinsic motivational factor of students towards learning of mathematics and science.

Keywords: EEG, MLP, MFCC, intrinsic motivational factor

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Authors: Tadesse Menjetta, Daniel Dana, Serkadis Debalke

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Schistosomiasis/Bilharziasis is one of the neglected tropical parasitic diseases caused by different species of genus Schistosoma. Among the species, S. mansoni (causative agents of intestinal schistosomiasis) is one of the causes of severe intestinal parasitic infections with high public and medical importance in Ethiopia. There is a scarcity of information about the status of S. mansoni infection among the fisherman in our study area and in the country at large. Therefore, this study was designed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of S.mansoni infection among fishermen at Lake Hawassa, southern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the fishermen from April to June 2013 in Hawassa, Southern Ethiopia. A total of 243 fishermen were included by systematic sampling from the lists of the fishermen members in the registration book of fishermen associations in the Hawassa Town. Data on socio-demographic features and risk factors were collected by using semi-structured questionnaires. Stool samples were collected and processed using Kato-Katz thick smear techniques and examined between 30- 40 minute for hookworm and after 24 hours for S. mansoni and other soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). The overall prevalence of S.mansoni among the fishermen was 29.21% (71/243), and the mean intensity of infection was 158.88 egg per gram (EPG). The prevalence of intestinal helminths including S. mansoni was 69.54% (169/243). Moreover, the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) was 40.74% (99/243), 35.80% (87/243) and 5.76% (14/243) for A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura and hookworm species, respectively. Almost similar prevalence of S.mansoni, 31.82%, 31.75%, 31.94% were recorded in age groups of 15-19, 20-24 and 25-29 years, respectively. Fishermen who are swimming always were 2.92 times [95% CI: 1.554, 5.502] more likely to acquire S. mansoni infection than other water contacting habit of the study participants. The results of the current investigation indicated the moderate endemicity of S. mansoni among the fishermen at Lake Hawassa, southern Ethiopia. Fishermen could be the potential risk group for S. mansoni infection and might be responsible for the transmission of S. mansoni to other segments of the communities. Since the high prevalence of STH was recorded among the fishermen, integrated prevention and control strategies from different sectors might be important to tackle the problem.

Keywords: S. mansoni, soil transmitted helminths, fishermen, Lake Hawassa, Ethiopia

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Authors: Gregor Kosec

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Simple and robust numerical approach for solving flow problems is presented, where involved physical fields are represented through the local approximation functions, i.e., the considered field is approximated over a local support domain. The approximation functions are then used to evaluate the partial differential operators. The type of approximation, the size of support domain, and the type and number of basis function can be general. The solution procedure is formulated completely through local computational operations. Besides local numerical method also the pressure velocity is performed locally with retaining the correct temporal transient. The complete locality of the introduced numerical scheme has several beneficial effects. One of the most attractive is the simplicity since it could be understood as a generalized Finite Differences Method, however, much more powerful. Presented methodology offers many possibilities for treating challenging cases, e.g. nodal adaptivity to address regions with sharp discontinuities or p-adaptivity to treat obscure anomalies in physical field. The stability versus computation complexity and accuracy can be regulated by changing number of support nodes, etc. All these features can be controlled on the fly during the simulation. The presented methodology is relatively simple to understand and implement, which makes it potentially powerful tool for engineering simulations. Besides simplicity and straightforward implementation, there are many opportunities to fully exploit modern computer architectures through different parallel computing strategies. The performance of the method is presented on the lid driven cavity problem, backward facing step problem, de Vahl Davis natural convection test, extended also to low Prandtl fluid and Darcy porous flow. Results are presented in terms of velocity profiles, convergence plots, and stability analyses. Results of all cases are also compared against published data.

Keywords: fluid flow, meshless, low Pr problem, natural convection

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Authors: Dalila Chaid, Bennameur Fedilli, Mohammed Amine Bellelou

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The study focuses on the experience of lower-limb amputees, who face both physical and psychological challenges due to their disability. Chronic neuropathic pain and various types of limb pain are common in these patients. They often require orthopaedic interventions for issues such as dressings, infection, ulceration, and bone-related problems. Research Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the most suitable anaesthetic technique for lower-limb amputees, which can provide them with the greatest comfort and prolonged analgesia. The study also aims to demonstrate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ultrasound-guided local regional anaesthesia (LRA) in this patient population. Methodology: The study is an observational analytical study conducted over a period of eight years, from 2010 to 2018. It includes a total of 955 cases of revisions performed on lower limb stumps. The parameters analyzed in this study include the effectiveness of the block and the use of sedation, the duration of the block, the post-operative visual analog scale (VAS) scores, and patient comfort. Findings: The study findings highlight the benefits of ultrasound-guided LRA in providing comfort by optimizing post-operative analgesia, which can contribute to psychological and bodily repair in lower-limb amputees. Additionally, the study emphasizes the use of alpha2 agonist adjuvants with sedative and analgesic properties, long-acting local anaesthetics, and larger volumes for better outcomes. Theoretical Importance: This study contributes to the existing knowledge by emphasizing the importance of choosing an appropriate anaesthetic technique for lower-limb amputees. It highlights the potential of ultrasound-guided LRA and the use of specific adjuvants and local anaesthetics in improving post-operative analgesia and overall patient outcomes. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: Data for this study were collected through the analysis of medical records and relevant documentation related to the 955 cases included in the study. The effectiveness of the anaesthetic technique, duration of the block, post-operative pain scores, and patient comfort were analyzed using statistical methods. Question Addressed: The study addresses the question of which anaesthetic technique would be most suitable for lower-limb amputees to provide them with optimal comfort and prolonged analgesia. Conclusion: The study concludes that ultrasound-guided LRA, along with the use of alpha2 agonist adjuvants, long-acting local anaesthetics, and larger volumes, can be an effective approach in providing comfort and improving post-operative analgesia for lower-limb amputees. This technique can potentially contribute to the psychological and bodily repair of these patients. The findings of this study have implications for clinical practice in the management of lower-limb amputees, highlighting the importance of personalized anaesthetic approaches for better outcomes.

Keywords: neuropathic pain, ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve block, DN4 quiz, EMG

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Authors: Ajay Gogia, Svs Deo, Dn Sharma, Atul Batra, Ashutash Mishra

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Background and Aims: Breast cancer in women aged less than 25 years (defined as very young breast cancer, VYBC) is rare and accounts for 0.25% of all breast cancer in the West. There is no data available on VYBC from developing countries. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical, pathological, and prognostic factors and outcomes in VYBC. Methods: This retrospective analysis was performed on 80 patients aged 25 years or less (screened 8000 files of female BC) who were registered at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India, over a 15-year period between 2011 and 2023. Results: The median age was 21.5 years (range 16-25). A positive family history (siblings and parents) was elicited in 30% of cases, and breast cancer gene (BRCA1/2) mutation was found in 33% of cases patients. Ten patients (12.5%) patients have pregnancy-associated breast cancer (BC detected during pregnancy or 1 year after postpartum period). The TNM stage distribution was Stage I was 0, stage II -30%, stage III –60% and Stage IV -10 %patients. Seventy percent of tumors were high grade, and 90% had pathological node-positive disease. Estrogen, Progesterone, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)/neu positivity were 25%,25% and 35%, respectively. Triple-negative breast cancer constituted 40% of patients. With a median follow-up of 42 months, 3 years, relapse-free survival (nonmetastatic disease), progression-free survival (metastatic disease) and overall survival were 30%, 15% and 50%, respectively. Conclusions: Very young women constituted 1% of all breast cancer cases. Advanced disease at presentation and high-risk pathological features result in poor outcomes. One-third of VYBCs are associated with BRCA mutation, which requires genetic counseling and risk reduction surgery if required. Due to the aggressive behavior of BC in this age group, need early diagnosis and prompt treatment

Keywords: very young, breast cancer, outcome, developing country, India

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Authors: Nikhil A. Gavhane, Sachin Shah, Ishant S. Mahajan, Pawan D. Bahekar

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Introduction: Millions of people are affected with dengue fever every year, which drives up healthcare expenses in many low-income countries. Organ failure and other serious symptoms may result. Another worldwide public health problem is sickle cell anaemia, which is most prevalent in Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe. Dengue epidemics have reportedly occurred in locations with a high frequency of sickle cell disease, compounding the health problems in these areas. Aims and Objectives: This study examines dengue infection in sickle cell disease-afflicted pre-schoolers. Method:This Retrospective cohort study examined paediatric patients. Young people with sickle cell disease (SCD), dengue infection, and a control group without SCD or dengue were studied. Data on demographics, SCD consequences, medical treatments, and laboratory findings were gathered to analyse the influence of SCD on dengue severity and clinical outcomes, classified as severe or non-severe by the 2009 WHO classification. Using fever or admission symptoms, the research estimated acute illness duration. Result: Table 1 compares haemoglobin genotype-based dengue episode features in SS, SC, and controls. Table 2 shows that severe dengue cases are older, have longer admission delays, and have particular symptoms. Table 3's multivariate analysis indicates SS genotype's high connection with severe dengue, multiorgan failure, and acute pulmonary problems. Table 4 relates severe dengue to greater white blood cell counts, anaemia, liver enzymes, and reduced lactate dehydrogenase. Conclusion: This study is valuable but confined to hospitalised dengue patients with sickle cell illness. Small cohorts limit comparisons. Further study is needed since findings contradict predictions.

Keywords: dengue, chills, headache, severe myalgia, vomiting, nausea, prostration

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Authors: Shareefa Abdullah Al-Maqtari, Ruzaika Omar Basaree, Rafeah Legino

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A pictorial representation of hybrid forms in science-art collaboration has become a crucial issue in the course of exploring a new painting technique development. This is straight related to the reception of an invisible-recognition phenomenology. In hybrid pictorial representation of invisible-recognition phenomenology, the challenging issue is how to depict the pictorial features of indescribable objects from its mental source, modality and transparency. This paper proposes the hybrid technique of painting Demonstrate, Resemble, and Synthesize (DRS) through a combination of the hybrid aspect-recognition representation of understanding picture, demonstrative mod, the number theory, pattern in the modular arithmetic system, and the coherence theory of visual attention in the dynamic scenes representation. Multi-methods digital gaze data analyses, pattern-modular table operation design, and rotation parameter were used for the visualization. In the scientific processes, Eye-trackingvideo-sections based was conducted using Tobii T60 remote eye tracking hardware and TobiiStudioTM analysis software to collect and analyze the eye movements of ten participants when watching the video clip, Alexander Paulikevitch’s performance’s ‘Tajwal’. Results: we found that correlation of fixation count in section one was positively and moderately correlated with section two Person’s (r=.10, p < .05, 2-tailed) as well as in fixation duration Person’s (r=.10, p < .05, 2-tailed). However, a paired-samples t-test indicates that scores were significantly higher for the section one (M = 2.2, SD = .6) than for the section two (M = 1.93, SD = .6) t(9) = 2.44, p < .05, d = 0.87. In the visual process, the exported data of gaze number N was resembled the hybrid forms of visuospatial attention using the table-mod-analyses operation. The explored hybrid guideline was simply applicable, and it could be as alternative approach to the sustainability of contemporary visual arts.

Keywords: science-art collaboration, hybrid forms, pictorial representation, visuospatial attention, modular arithmetic

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