Search results for: evaluating usability in non-user entered designs

Authors: Panagiotis Svarnas, Polykarpos Papadopoulos

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Atmospheric-pressure cold plasmas continue to gain increasing interest for various applications due to their unique properties, like cost-efficient production, high chemical reactivity, low gas temperature, adaptability, etc. Numerous designs have been proposed for these plasmas production in terms of electrode configuration, driving voltage waveform and working gas(es). However, in order to exploit most of the advantages of these systems, the majority of the designs are based on dielectric-barrier discharges (DBDs) either in filamentary or glow regimes. A special category of the DBD-based atmospheric-pressure cold plasmas refers to the so-called plasma jets, where a carrier noble gas is guided by the dielectric barrier (usually a hollow cylinder) and left to flow up to the atmospheric air where a complicated hydrodynamic interplay takes place. Although it is now well established that these plasmas are generated due to ionizing waves reminding in many ways streamer propagation, they exhibit discrete characteristics which are better mirrored on the terms 'guided streamers' or 'plasma bullets'. These 'bullets' travel with supersonic velocities both inside the dielectric barrier and the channel formed by the noble gas during its penetration into the air. The present work is devoted to the interpretation of the electro-hydrodynamic effects that take place downstream of the dielectric barrier opening, i.e., in the noble gas-air mixing area where plasma bullet propagate under the influence of local electric fields in regions of variable noble gas concentration. Herein, we focus on the role of the local space charge and the residual ionic charge left behind after the bullet propagation in the gas flow field modification. The study communicates both experimental and numerical results, coupled in a comprehensive manner. The plasma bullets are here produced by a custom device having a quartz tube as a dielectric barrier and two external ring-type electrodes driven by sinusoidal high voltage at 10 kHz. Helium gas is fed to the tube and schlieren photography is employed for mapping the flow field downstream of the tube orifice. Mixture mass conservation equation, momentum conservation equation, energy conservation equation in terms of temperature and helium transfer equation are simultaneously solved, leading to the physical mechanisms that govern the experimental results. Namely, we deal with electro-hydrodynamic effects mainly due to momentum transfer from atomic ions to neutrals. The atomic ions are left behind as residual charge after the bullet propagation and gain energy from the locally created electric field. The electro-hydrodynamic force is eventually evaluated.

Keywords: atmospheric-pressure plasmas, dielectric-barrier discharges, schlieren photography, electro-hydrodynamic force

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Authors: Pei-Chun Lee, Sheng-Shih Wang

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This paper presents a route guidance system for car owners to find their cars in parking garages. The presents system comprises a positioning-assisting subsystem and a car-finding mobile app. The positioning-assisting subsystem mainly uses the iBeacon technology for indoor positioning. The car-finding mobile app guides car owners to their cars based on a non-map navigation strategy. This study also designs a virtual coordinate system to support identifying the locations of parking spaces and iBeacon devices. We use Arduino and Android as the platforms to implement the proposed positioning-assisting subsystem and car-finding mobile app, respectively. We have also deployed the system in a parking garage in our campus for testing. Experimental results verify that our system can efficiently and correctly guide car owners to the parking spaces of their cars.

Keywords: guidance, iBeacon, mobile app, navigation

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Authors: Mahdi Momeni

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The arrival of Mysticism to the subcontinent can be generally divided into two periods. The first period, was the Sporadic arrival of Sufis whom were traveling to the subcontinent according to the tradition of disquisition and the second period was; when the Sufi dynasties were sending missionaries and caliphs to guide and promote people from different direction to that land. Among the Sufi dynasty that entered to India in the thirteenth century, two dynasties of Chishti and Suhrawardîya were more successful than other Sufi dynasties. And thus they are very important in the spread of Islam and Mysticism to the subcontinent. Suhrawardiyya dynasty was founded by Sheikh Ziauddin Abu Najib Suhrawardi and was developed and spread by his nephew Sheikh Shahabuddin Suhrawardi Abo hafs Omar. Sheikh Shahabuddin sent many Caliphs and missionaries to India. Among these missionaries were People like Sultan Sakhi Sarwar, Seyyed Noureddin Mobarak Ghaznavi, Sheikh Jalal al-din Tabrizi and Sheikh Zakariya Multani. Since Suhrawardiyya doctrine relies on Asceticism and Sharia, so one of the important elements among Suhrawardiyya missionaries was inviting people to Islam. Accordingly Sheikh Shahab Caliphs had a great role in the spread of Islam and Mysticism in different territories, especially India. Such that it can be pointed out is the the role of Sheikh Baha-ud-din Zakariya Multani, the founder of Suhrawardiyya Dynasty in India. Sheikh Zakaria Multani after working in three areas, establishing monasteries, training managers, having numerous trips to different places, participating to social affairs provided the spread of Islam and Mysticism in subcontinent. This paper studies his role and actions in the subcontinent.

Keywords: islam, sufism, Suhrawardiyya, subcontinent, Multan

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Authors: Suhayla Reda Al-Banai

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Problem Statement: Tooth whitening was used for over one hundred and fifty year. The question concerning the whiteness of teeth is a complex one since tooth whiteness will vary from individual to individual, dependent on age and culture, etc. Tooth whitening following treatment may be dependent on the type of whitening system used to whiten the teeth. There are a few side-effects to the process, and these include tooth sensitivity and gingival irritation. Some individuals may experience no pain or sensitivity following the procedure. Purpose: To systematically review the available published literature until 31st December 2021 to identify all relevant studies for inclusion and to determine whether there was any evidence demonstrating that the application of whitening procedures resulted in the tooth sensitivity. Aim: Systematically review the available published works of literature to identify all relevant studies for inclusion and to determine any evidence demonstrating that application of 10% & 15% carbamide peroxide in tooth whitening procedures resulted in tooth sensitivity. Material and Methods: Following a review of 70 relevant papers from searching both electronic databases (OVID MEDLINE and PUBMED) and hand searching of relevant written journals, 49 studies were identified, 42 papers were subsequently excluded, and 7 studies were finally accepted for inclusion. The extraction of data for inclusion was conducted by two reviewers. The main outcome measures were the methodology and assessment used by investigators to evaluate tooth sensitivity in tooth whitening studies. Results: The reported evaluation of tooth sensitivity during tooth whitening procedures was based on the subjective response of subjects rather than a recognized methodology for evaluating. One of the problems in evaluating was the lack of homogeneity in study design. Seven studies were included. The studies included essential features namely: randomized group, placebo controls, doubleblind and single-blind. Drop-out was obtained from two of included studies. Three of the included studies reported sensitivity at the baseline visit. Two of the included studies mentioned the exclusion criteria Conclusions: The results were inconclusive due to: Limited number of included studies, the study methodology, and evaluation of DS reported. Tooth whitening procedures adversely affect both hard and soft tissues in the oral cavity. Sideeffects are mild and transient in nature. Whitening solutions with greater than 10% carbamide peroxide causes more tooth sensitivity. Studies using nightguard vital bleaching with 10% carbamide peroxide reported two side effects tooth sensitivity and gingival irritation, although tooth sensitivity was more prevalent than gingival irritation

Keywords: dentine, sensitivity, bleaching, carbamide peroxde

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Authors: Mohammed Alkahtani, Ahmed El-Sherbeeny

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Industrial engineering is among engineering disciplines that have been introduced relatively recently to higher education in Saudi Arabian engineering colleges. The objective of this paper is to shed light on the history and status of IE higher education in different Saudi universities, including statistics comparing student enrollment and graduation in different Saudi public and private universities. This paper then proposes how industrial engineering programs could participate successfully in the Saudi Vision 2030. Finally, the authors show the results of a survey conducted on a number of IE students evaluating various academic and administrative aspects of the IE program at King Saud University.

Keywords: higher education, history, industrial engineering, Vision 2030

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Authors: Sheng-Shih Wang, Wei-Ting Wang

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This paper designs an intelligent guidance system, based on wireless sensor networks, for efficient parking in parking lots. The proposed system consists of a parking space allocation subsystem, a parking space monitoring subsystem, a driving guidance subsystem, and a vehicle detection subsystem. In the system, we propose a novel and effective virtual coordinate system for sensing and displaying devices to determine the proper vacant parking space and provide the precise guidance to the driver. This study constructs a ZigBee-based wireless sensor network on Arduino platform and implements the prototype of the proposed system using Arduino-based complements. Experimental results confirm that the proposed prototype can not only work well, but also provide drivers the correct parking information.

Keywords: Arduino, parking guidance, wireless sensor network, ZigBee

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Authors: Vaibhav Dalmia, Manoj Phirke, Renith G

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With the wide adoption of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in various industries by the government as well as private corporations for solving computer vision tasks it’s necessary that their potential is analyzed completely. Recent advances in Deep Learning have also left us with a plethora of algorithms to solve different computer vision tasks. This study provides a comprehensive survey on solving the Visual Object Tracking problem and explains the tradeoffs involved in building a real-time yet reasonably accurate object tracking system for UAVs by looking at existing methods and evaluating them on the aerial datasets. Finally, the best trackers suitable for UAV-based applications are provided.

Keywords: deep learning, drones, single object tracking, visual object tracking, UAVs

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Authors: A. Oliveira-Brochado, R. Silva, C. Paulino

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The aim of this paper is to use an experiential view of wine tourism to develop a battery of items that can potentially capture the overall Douro Valley experience from the tourist’s perspective. The Douro Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage region located in Portugal, was the target of this study. The research took a mixed approach using both qualitative and quantitative designs. Firstly, we combine the literature review on service quality scales with a content analysis of five in-depth interviews with winery managers and a focus group with wine tourists to identify the main dimensions of the overall tourism experience and to develop a battery of items for each dimension. Eight dimensions of the overall wine tourism experience came out, as follows: winery service and staff, winery facilities, winery service, wine product, wine region environment, wine region accessibilities, wine region´s offerings, and the wine region and winery reputation.

Keywords: wine tourism, Douro region, survey, wineries, experience

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Authors: Elise M. Shauf

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Beryllium can be found naturally in some fruits and vegetables (carrots, garden peas, kidney beans, pears) at very low concentrations, but is typically not clinically significant due to the low-level exposure and limited absorption of beryllium by the stomach and intestines. However, acute or chronic beryllium exposure can result in harmful toxic and carcinogenic biological effects. Beryllium can be both a workplace hazard and an environmental pollutant, therefore determining the presence of beryllium at trace levels can be essential to protect workers as well as the environment. Analysis of gallein, C₂₀H₁₂O₇, to determine if it is usable as a fluorescent dye for beryllium detection. The primary detection method currently in use includes hydroxybenzoquinoline sulfonates (HBQS), for which alternative indicators are desired. Unfortunately, gallein does not have the desired aspects needed as a dye for beryllium detection due to the peak shift properties.

Keywords: beryllium detection, fluorescent, gallein dye, indicator, spectroscopy

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Authors: Myriam Rudaz, Thomas Ledermann, Frank D. Fincham

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We provide initial findings on the development and validation of the Genuine Happiness Scale (GHS). Based on the Buddhist view of happiness, genuine happiness can be described as an unlimited, everlasting inner joy and peace that gives a person the inner resources to deal with whatever comes his or her way in life. The sample consisted of 678 young adults, with 432 adults participating twice, approximately six weeks apart. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported a unidimensional factor structure of the GHS. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that caring for bliss, mindfulness, and compassion predicted genuine happiness longitudinally above and beyond genuine happiness at baseline. We discuss the usefulness of the GHS as an outcome measure for evaluating mindfulness- and compassion-based intervention programs.

Keywords: happiness, bliss, well-being, caring for bliss, mindfulness, compassion

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Authors: Bezuglov Eduard, Achkasov Evgeniy, Emanov Anton, Shagiakhmetova Larisa, Pirmakhanov Bekzhan, Morgans Ryland

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Background: Previous studies have found that there is a wide range of the relative age effect (RAE) in young athletes, which is dependent on age and gender. However, there is currently scant data comparing the prevalence of the RAE in successful athletes across different age groups from the same sport during the same time period. We aimed to compare the prevalence of the RAE in different age groups of successful athletes. Materials and methods: The date of birth of all youth (under 18 years old) and senior (20 years and above) male and female track and field athletes were analyzed. All athletes had entered the World Top 20 rankings in disciplines where performance rules were the same at youth and adult levels. Data were collected from the website www. tilostopaja.eu between 1999 and 2006. Results: A significant prevalence of RAE in successful youth track and field athletes were reported. Early-born (61,1%) and late-born (38,9%) athletes were represented respectively (χ2 = 131,1, p < 0,001, ϖ = 0,24). The RAE is not significant in successful senior track and field athletes. Athletes born in the first half of the year are only 0.4% more prevalent than athletes born in the second half of the year (50,2% and 49,8%, respectively). Olympic Games and World Championship medalists are more often late-born athletes (44,1% and 55,9%, respectively) (p = 0,014, χ2 = 6,1, ϖ = 0,20). Conclusion: The RAE is only prevalent in successful young track and field athletes. The RAE was not observed in successful senior track and field athletes, regardless of gender, in any of the analyzed discipline groups. The RAE reverse was observed in successful senior track and field athletes.

Keywords: relative age effect, track, and field, talent identification, underdog effect

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Authors: A. Buruzs, M. F. Hatwágner, A. Torma, L. T. Kóczy

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The development, operation and maintenance of Integrated Waste Management Systems (IWMS) affects essentially the sustainable concern of every region. The features of such systems have great influence on all of the components of sustainability. In order to reach the optimal way of processes, a comprehensive mapping of the variables affecting the future efficiency of the system is needed such as analysis of the interconnections among the components and modelling of their interactions. The planning of a IWMS is based fundamentally on technical and economical opportunities and the legal framework. Modelling the sustainability and operation effectiveness of a certain IWMS is not in the scope of the present research. The complexity of the systems and the large number of the variables require the utilization of a complex approach to model the outcomes and future risks. This complex method should be able to evaluate the logical framework of the factors composing the system and the interconnections between them. The authors of this paper studied the usability of the Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM) approach modelling the future operation of IWMS’s. The approach requires two input data set. One is the connection matrix containing all the factors affecting the system in focus with all the interconnections. The other input data set is the time series, a retrospective reconstruction of the weights and roles of the factors. This paper introduces a novel method to develop time series by content analysis.

Keywords: content analysis, factors, integrated waste management system, time series

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Authors: Ashok Sachdeva

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This research paper delves into the application of digital tools, especially Voyant Tools and AntConc version 4.0, for the analysis and interpretation of Seamus Heaney's poems. Scholars and literary aficionados can acquire deeper insights into Heaney's writings by utilising these tools, revealing hidden nuances and improving their knowledge. This paper outlines the methodology used, presents sample analyses and evaluates the merits and limitations of using digital tools in literary analysis. The combination of traditional close reading with digital analysis tools promises to offer new paths for understanding Heaney's vast tapestry of poetry. Seamus Heaney, a Nobel winner known for his vivid poetry, provides a treasure mine of literary discovery. The advent of digital tools gives an exciting opportunity to reveal previously unknown layers of meaning within his works. This paper investigates the use of Voyant Tools and AntConc version 4.0 to analyse and understand Heaney's writings, demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between traditional literary analysis and cutting-edge digital methodologies. Methodology: To demonstrate the efficiency of digital tools in the analysis of Heaney's poetry, a sample of his notable works will be entered into Voyant Tools and AntConc version 4.0. The former provides a graphic representation of word frequency, word clouds, and patterns over numerous poems. The latter, a concordance tool, enables detailed linguistic analysis, revealing patterns, and linguistic subtleties.

Keywords: digital tools, resonance, assonance, alliteration, creative quotient

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Authors: Awais Naeem, Osama Shakeel, Faizan Ullah, Abdul Wahid Anwer

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Introduction: To study the clinic-pathological factors, diagnostic factors and survival of extra-pulmonary small cell carcinoma. Methodology: From 1995 to 2017 all patients with a diagnosis of extra-pulmonary small cell carcinoma were included in the study. Demographic variables and clinic-pathological factors were collected. Management of disease was recorded. Short and long term oncological outcomes were recorded. All data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 21. Results: A total of 14 patients were included in the study. Median age was 53.42 +/- 16.1 years. There were 5 male and 9 female patients. Most common presentation was dysphagia in 16 patient among esophageal small cell carcinoma and while other patient had pain in abdomen. Mean duration of symptoms was 4.23+/-2.91 months .Most common site is esophagus (n=6) followed by gall bladder(n=3). Almost all of the patients received chemo-radiotherapy. Majority of the patient presented with extensive disease. Five patients (35.7%) died during the follow up period, two (14.3%) were alive and rest of the patients were lost to follow up. Mean follow up period was 22.92 months and median follow up was 15 months. Conclusion: Extra-pulmonary small cell carcinoma is rare and needs to be managed aggressively. All patients should be treated with both systemic and local therapies.

Keywords: small cell carcinoma of esophagus, extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma of gall bladder, small cell carcinoma of rectum, small cell carcinoma of stomach

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Authors: Antonio D. Lee, Steven X. Jiang

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A variety of techniques and methods are available to evaluate cognitive performance in Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) applications. However, traditional cognitive performance evaluation techniques typically incorporate either the conscious or systematic aspect, failing to take into consideration the subconscious or intuitive aspect. This leads to incomplete measures and produces ineffective designs. In order to fill the gaps in past research, this study developed a theoretical framework to facilitate the integration of situation awareness (SA) and intuitive pattern recognition (IPR) to enhance the cognitive performance representation in USAR applications. This framework provides guidance to integrate both SA and IPR in order to evaluate the cognitive performance of the USAR responders. The application of this framework will help improve the system design.

Keywords: cognitive performance, intuitive pattern recognition, situation awareness, urban search and rescue

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Authors: Soad Abokhamis Mousavi

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The Trombe wall is an ancient technique that continues to serve as an effective feature of a passive solar system. However, in practice, architects and their clients are not opting for the Trombe wall because of the view of the Trombe wall on the facades of the buildings. Therefore, this study has two main goals, and one of the goals is to find out why the Trombe wall is not considered in the buildings in the Mediterranean region. And the second goal is to find a solution to facilitate the societal acceptance of the Trombe walls in buildings. To cover the goals, the present work attempts to develop and design a different Trombe Wall with different Materials and views in the facades of the buildings. A qualitative data method was used in this article. The qualitative method was developed based on observation and questionnaires with different clients and expert architects in the selected region. Results indicate that the view of the Trombe wall in the facade of buildings can be used with different designs in order to not affect the beauty of the buildings.

Keywords: trombe wall, societal acceptance, building, energy efficacy

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Authors: G. Schuh, S. Woelk, D. Schraknepper, A. Such

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The systematic evaluation of manufacturing technologies with regard to the potential for product designing constitutes a major challenge. Until now, conventional evaluation methods primarily consider the costs of manufacturing technologies. Thus, the potential of manufacturing technologies for achieving additional product design features is not completely captured. To compensate this deficit, final evaluations of new technologies are mainly intuitive in practice. Therefore, an additional evaluation dimension is needed which takes the potential of manufacturing technologies for specific realizable product designs into account. In this paper, we present the approach of an evaluation method for selecting manufacturing technologies with regard to their potential for product designing. This research is done within the Fraunhofer innovation cluster »AdaM« (Adaptive Manufacturing) which targets the development of resource efficient and adaptive manufacturing technology processes for complex turbo machinery components.

Keywords: manufacturing, product design, production, technology assessment, technology management

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Authors: Shurouq Munzer

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This study investigates methods for inferring the presence of cooking activity at an archaeological site through the study of cooking tools, contextual evidence, and food preparation techniques. This paper examines the patterns of cooking utensils and categorizes the morphological features as well as the types of clay utilized in manufacturing such cooking utensils. Despite challenges in accessing such evidence due to its limited availability in books and excavations. The excavation results provide the point for evaluating progress in daily life and underscore the cultural, social, and economic significance of studying cooking activity at archaeological sites within their archaeological contexts.

Keywords: coarse ware, cooking utensils, ḥisba, waqif, muḥtasib, foodways, practice, cuisine, food preparation

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Authors: Marcus Bellett-Travers

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Different modelling approaches have been used to determine or predict yield of crops in different geographies. Central to the methodologies are the presumption that it is the absolute yield of the crop in a given location that is of the highest priority to those requiring information on crop productivity. Most individuals, companies and organisations within the agri-food sector need to be able to balance the supply of crops with the demand for them. Different modelling approaches have been used to determine and predict crop yield. The growing need to ensure certainty of supply and stability of prices requires an approach that describes the risk in producing a crop. A review of current methodologies to evaluate the risk to food production from changes in the weather and climate is presented.

Keywords: crop production, risk, climate, modelling

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Authors: Pachawo Bisani, Goodall Nyirenda

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The Malawi National Antiretroviral Therapy (NART) Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system was designed and developed with guidance from the Ministry of Health through the Department of HIV and AIDS (DHA) with the aim of supporting the management of HIV patient data and reporting in high prevalence ART clinics. As of 2021, the system has been scaled up to over 206 facilities across the country. The system is integrated with the clinical decision support system (CDSS) to assist healthcare providers in making a decision about an individual patient at a particular point in time. Despite NART EMR undergoing several evaluations and assessments, little has been done to evaluate the clinical decision support system in the NART EMR system. Hence, the study aimed to evaluate the use of CDSS in the NART EMR system in Malawi. The study adopted a mixed-method approach, and data was collected through interviews, observations, and questionnaires. The study has revealed that the CDSS tools were integrated into the ART clinic workflow, making it easy for the user to use it. The study has also revealed challenges in system reliability and information accuracy. Despite the challenges, the study further revealed that the system is effective and efficient, and overall, users are satisfied with the system. The study recommends that the implementers focus more on the logic behind the clinical decision-support intervention in order to address some of the concerns and enhance the accuracy of the information supplied. The study further suggests consulting the system's actual users throughout implementation.

Keywords: clinical decision support system, electronic medical record system, usability, antiretroviral therapy

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Authors: Elham Rajabian

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The ascent of cybersecurity incidents is a rising threat to most organisations in general, while the impact of the incidents is unique to each of the organizations. It is a need for behavioural sciences to concentrate on employees’ behaviour in order to prepare key security mitigation opinions versus cybersecurity incidents. There are noticeable differences among users of a computer system in terms of complying with security behaviours. We can discuss the people's differences under several subjects such as delaying tactics on something that must be done, the tendency to act without thinking, future thinking about unexpected implications of present-day issues, and risk-taking behaviours in security policies compliance. In this article, we introduce high-profile cyber-attacks and their impacts on weakening cyber resiliency in organizations. We also give attention to human errors that influence network security. Human errors are discussed as a part of psychological matters to enhance compliance with the security policies. The organizational challenges are studied in order to shape a sustainable cyber risks management approach in the related work section. Insiders’ behaviours are viewed as a cyber security gap to draw proper cyber resiliency in section 3. We carry out the best cybersecurity practices by discussing four CIS challenges in section 4. In this regard, we provide a guideline and metrics to measure cyber resilience in organizations in section 5. In the end, we give some recommendations in order to build a cybersecurity culture based on individual behaviours.

Keywords: cyber resilience, human factors, cybersecurity behavior, attitude, usability, security culture

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Authors: Rajeshwari Biradar

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Background: The anecdotal evidences indicate that utilization of HIV services especially in Government facilities is affected by stigma and discrimination among HIV positive female sex workers (FSWs) in Karnataka. To our knowledge, there is no quantitative study on this issue. In this study an attempt is made to examine these aspects among positive FSWs exposed to prevention programs. Methods: This is a cross‐ sectional quantitative survey of HIV positive FSWs in the 3 districts of northern Karnataka using a structured questionnaire. The list of HIV Positive FSWs was organized by stratification, and 607 positive FSWs were selected using a systematic random selection. The data were analyzed using both bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques. Results: Half of the sex workers (52%) are traditional (devadasi, dedicated to the temple), 22% are widowed and the mean age is 33 years. The FSWs practice sex work on an average 13 days a month with 2.3 clients per day and was in sex work for about 13 years. Almost all of them (97%) used condom with the clients they had on the last day of sex work. About 74% were ever registered in the ART center and 47% of them reported being ever on ART, of which 6% dropped out. Multivariate results support the hypothesis that the interventions addressing stigma and discrimination enabled accessing health services in the government facilities (AOR=1.37; p=0.17). Conclusions: Based on the results of the study, programs addressing stigma, discrimination and positive prevention can be implemented in places where government health services are not utilized by HIV positive FSWs. However, the study may be limited by the fact that majority of the FSWs entered into sex work through the traditional devadasi system, which may not be the case in other parts of India.

Keywords: sex work, HIV/AIDS, female sex workers, health

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Authors: Zeynep Aytaç, Nuri Yücel

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Today, as the need for high efficiency and fuel-efficient engines have increased, centrifugal compressor designs are expected to be high-efficient and have high-pressure ratios than ever. The present study represents a design methodology of centrifugal compressor placed in a mini jet engine for the design and off-design points with the utilization of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and compares the performance characteristics at the mentioned two points. Although the compressor is expected to provide the required specifications at the design point, it is known that it is important for the design to deliver the required parameters at the off-design point also as it will not operate at the design point always. It was observed that the obtained mass flow rate, pressure ratio, and efficiency values are within the limits of the design specifications for the design and off-design points. Despite having different design inputs for the mentioned two points, they reveal similar flow characteristics in the general frame.

Keywords: centrifugal compressor, computational fluid dynamics, design point, off-design point

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Authors: Mahdiar Hosseighadiry, Farnaz Fotovatikhah, Razali Ismail, Mohsen Khaledian, Mehdi Saeidemanesh

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In this paper, a new low-power high-performance full adder is presented based on a new design method. The proposed method relies on pass gate design and provides full-swing circuits with minimum number of transistors. The method has been applied on SUM, COUT and XOR-XNOR modules resulting on rail-to-rail intermediate and output signals with no feedback transistors. The presented full adder cell has been simulated in 45 and 32 nm CMOS technologies using HSPICE considering parasitic capacitance and compared to several well-known designs from literature. In addition, the proposed cell has been extensively evaluated with different output loads, supply voltages, temperatures, threshold voltages, and operating frequencies. Results show that it functions properly under all mentioned conditions and exhibits less PDP compared to other design styles.

Keywords: full adders, low-power, high-performance, VLSI design

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Authors: Alden Boby, Dane Brown, James Connan

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Character recognition is a well-researched topic across disciplines. Regardless, creating a solution that can cater to multiple situations is still challenging. Vehicle licence plates lack an international standard, meaning that different countries and regions have their own licence plate format. A problem that arises from this is that the typefaces and designs from different regions make it difficult to create a solution that can cater to a wide range of licence plates. The main issue concerning detection is the character recognition stage. This paper aims to create an object detection-based character recognition model trained on a custom dataset that consists of typefaces of licence plates from various regions. Given that characters have featured consistently maintained across an array of fonts, YOLO can be trained to recognise characters based on these features, which may provide better performance than OCR methods such as Tesseract OCR.

Keywords: computer vision, character recognition, licence plate recognition, object detection

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Authors: Amir T. Payandeh Najafabadi

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This article considers the problem of evaluating infinite-time (or finite-time) ruin probability under a given compound Poisson surplus process by approximating the claim size distribution by a finite mixture exponential, say Hyperexponential, distribution. It restates the infinite-time (or finite-time) ruin probability as a solvable ordinary differential equation (or a partial differential equation). Application of our findings has been given through a simulation study.

Keywords: ruin probability, compound poisson processes, mixture exponential (hyperexponential) distribution, heavy-tailed distributions

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Authors: Abdel Hadi N. Ebraheim, Eman Azomi, Nefisa A. Fahmy

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This paper designs and implements a computer-aided system (CAS) to help detect and diagnose liver cirrhosis in patients with Chronic Hepatitis C. Our system reduces the required features (tests) the patient is asked to do to tests to their minimal best most informative subset of tests, with a diagnostic accuracy above 99%, and hence saving both time and costs. We use the Support Vector Machine (SVM) with cross-validation, a Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP), and a Generalized Regression Neural Network (GRNN) that employs a base of radial functions for functional approximation, as classifiers. Our system is tested on 199 subjects, of them 99 Chronic Hepatitis C.The subjects were selected from among the outpatient clinic in National Herpetology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute (NHTMRI).

Keywords: liver cirrhosis, artificial neural network, support vector machine, multi-layer perceptron, classification, accuracy

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Authors: Hirbaye Mokona, Abebaw Gebeyehu, Aemro Zerihun

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Introduction: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is serious public health problem affecting millions of children throughout the world. Method: A cross-sectional study conducted from May to June 2015 among children age 6 to 17 years living in rural area of Girja district. Multi-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select 1302 study participants. Disruptive Behavior Disorder rating scale was used to collect the data. Data were coded, entered and cleaned by Epi-Data version 3.1 and analyzed by SPSS version 20. Logistic regression analysis was used and Variables that have P-values less than 0.05 on multivariable logistic regression was considered as statistically significant. Results: Prevalence of Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among children age 6 to 17 years was 7.3%. Being male [AOR=1.81, 95%CI: (1.13, 2.91)]; living with single parent [AOR=5.0, 95%CI: (2.35, 10.65)]; child birth order/rank [AOR=2.35, 95%CI: (1.30, 4.25)]; low family socio-economic status [AOR= 2.43, 95%CI: (1.29, 4.59)]; maternal alcohol/khat use during pregnancy [AOR=3.14, 95%CI: (1.37, 7.37)] and complication at delivery [AOR=3.56, 95%CI: (1.19, 10.64)] were more likely to develop Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Conclusion: In this study, the prevalence of Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was similar with worldwide prevalence. Prevention and early management of its modifiable risk factors should be carryout alongside increasing community awareness.

Keywords: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, associated factors, children, prevalence

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Authors: Mateusz Paszko, Ksenia Siadkowska

Abstract:

Due to the low-altitude and relatively low-speed flight, helicopters are easy targets for actual combat assets e.g. infrared-guided missiles. Current techniques aim to increase the combat effectiveness of the military helicopters. Protection of the helicopter in flight from early detection, tracking and finally destruction can be realized in many ways. One of them is cooling hot exhaust gasses, emitting from the engines to the atmosphere in special heat exchangers. Nowadays, this process is realized in ejective coolers, where strong heat and momentum exchange between hot exhaust gases and cold air ejected from atmosphere takes place. Flow effects of air, exhaust gases; mixture of those two and the heat transfer between cold air and hot exhaust gases are given by differential equations of: Mass transportation–flow continuity, ejection of cold air through expanding exhaust gasses, conservation of momentum, energy and physical relationship equations. Calculation of those processes in ejective cooler by means of classic mathematical analysis is extremely hard or even impossible. Because of this, it is necessary to apply the numeric approach with modern, numeric computer programs. The paper discussed the general usability of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in a process of projecting the ejective exhaust gases cooler cooperating with helicopter turbine engine. In this work, the CFD calculations have been performed for ejective-based cooler cooperating with the PA W3 helicopter’s engines.

Keywords: aviation, CFD analysis, ejective-cooler, helicopter techniques

Procedia PDF Downloads 308

Authors: Zakia Belhadj, Bing He, Hua Zhang, Xueqing Wang, Wenbing Dai, Qiang Zhang

Abstract:

Mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) forms an abominable obstacle hampering the tumor delivery efficiency of nanoparticles. Passively targeted nanocarriers have received clinical approval over the past 20 years. However, none of the actively targeted nanocarriers have entered clinical trials. Thus it is important to endue effective targeting ability to actively targeted approaches by overcoming biological barriers to nanoparticle drug delivery. Here, it presents that an Esomeprazole-based preconditioning strategy for regulating nanocarrier-MPS interaction to substantially prolong circulation time and enhance tumor targeting of nanoparticles. In vitro, the clinically approved proton pump inhibitor Esomeprazole “ESO” was demonstrated to reduce interactions between macrophages and subsequently injected targeted vesicles by interfering with their lysosomal trafficking. Of note, in vivo studies demonstrated that ESO pretreatment greatly decreased the liver and spleen uptake of c(RGDm7)-modified vesicles, highly enhanced their tumor accumulation, thereby provided superior therapeutic efficacy of c(RGDm7)-modified vesicles co-loaded with Doxorubicin (DOX) and Gefitinib (GE). This MPS-preconditioning strategy using ESO provides deeper insights into regulating nanoparticles interaction with the phagocytic system and enhancing their cancer cells' accessibility for anticancer therapy.

Keywords: esomeprazole (ESO), mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS), preconditioning strategy, targeted lipid vesicles

Procedia PDF Downloads 161