Search results for: crop insurance premium
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1516

Search results for: crop insurance premium

766 Railway Accidents: Using the Global Railway Accident Database and Evaluation for Risk Analysis

Authors: Mathias Linden, André Schneider, Harald F. O. von Korflesch

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The risk of train accidents is an ongoing concern for railway organizations, governments, insurance companies and other depended sectors. Safety technologies are installed to reduce and to prevent potential damages of train accidents. Since the budgetary for the safety of railway organizations is limited, it is necessary not only to achieve a high availability and high safety standard but also to be cost effective. Therefore, an economic assessment of safety technologies is fundamental to create an accurate risk analysis. In order to conduct an economical assessment of a railway safety technology and a quantification of the costs of the accident causes, the Global Railway Accident Database & Evaluation (GRADE) has been developed. The aim of this paper is to describe the structure of this accident database and to show how it can be used for risk analyses. A number of risk analysis methods, such as the probabilistic safety assessment method (PSA), was used to demonstrate this accident database’s different possibilities of risk analysis. In conclusion, it can be noted that these analyses would not be as accurate without GRADE. The information gathered in the accident database was not available in this way before. Our findings are relevant for railway operators, safety technology suppliers, assurances, governments and other concerned railway organizations.

Keywords: accident causes, accident costs, accident database, global railway accident database & evaluation, GRADE, probabilistic safety assessment, PSA, railway accidents, risk analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 341
765 Loan Repayment Prediction Using Machine Learning: Model Development, Django Web Integration and Cloud Deployment

Authors: Seun Mayowa Sunday

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Loan prediction is one of the most significant and recognised fields of research in the banking, insurance, and the financial security industries. Some prediction systems on the market include the construction of static software. However, due to the fact that static software only operates with strictly regulated rules, they cannot aid customers beyond these limitations. Application of many machine learning (ML) techniques are required for loan prediction. Four separate machine learning models, random forest (RF), decision tree (DT), k-nearest neighbour (KNN), and logistic regression, are used to create the loan prediction model. Using the anaconda navigator and the required machine learning (ML) libraries, models are created and evaluated using the appropriate measuring metrics. From the finding, the random forest performs with the highest accuracy of 80.17% which was later implemented into the Django framework. For real-time testing, the web application is deployed on the Alibabacloud which is among the top 4 biggest cloud computing provider. Hence, to the best of our knowledge, this research will serve as the first academic paper which combines the model development and the Django framework, with the deployment into the Alibaba cloud computing application.

Keywords: k-nearest neighbor, random forest, logistic regression, decision tree, django, cloud computing, alibaba cloud

Procedia PDF Downloads 113
764 Reinforcement Learning for Classification of Low-Resolution Satellite Images

Authors: Khadija Bouzaachane, El Mahdi El Guarmah

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The classification of low-resolution satellite images has been a worthwhile and fertile field that attracts plenty of researchers due to its importance in monitoring geographical areas. It could be used for several purposes such as disaster management, military surveillance, agricultural monitoring. The main objective of this work is to classify efficiently and accurately low-resolution satellite images by using novel technics of deep learning and reinforcement learning. The images include roads, residential areas, industrial areas, rivers, sea lakes, and vegetation. To achieve that goal, we carried out experiments on the sentinel-2 images considering both high accuracy and efficiency classification. Our proposed model achieved a 91% accuracy on the testing dataset besides a good classification for land cover. Focus on the parameter precision; we have obtained 93% for the river, 92% for residential, 97% for residential, 96% for the forest, 87% for annual crop, 84% for herbaceous vegetation, 85% for pasture, 78% highway and 100% for Sea Lake.

Keywords: classification, deep learning, reinforcement learning, satellite imagery

Procedia PDF Downloads 190
763 Mapping the Suitable Sites for Food Grain Crops Using Geographical Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Authors: Md. Monjurul Islam, Tofael Ahamed, Ryozo Noguchi

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Progress continues in the fight against hunger, yet an unacceptably large number of people still lack food they need for an active and healthy life. Bangladesh is one of the rising countries in the South-Asia but still lots of people are food insecure. In the last few years, Bangladesh has significant achievements in food grain production but still food security at national to individual levels remain a matter of major concern. Ensuring food security for all is one of the major challenges that Bangladesh faces today, especially production of rice in the flood and poverty prone areas. Northern part is more vulnerable than any other part of Bangladesh. To ensure food security, one of the best way is to increase domestic production. To increase production, it is necessary to secure lands for achieving optimum utilization of resources. One of the measures is to identify the vulnerable and potential areas using Land Suitability Assessment (LSA) to increase rice production in the poverty prone areas. Therefore, the aim of the study was to identify the suitable sites for food grain crop rice production in the poverty prone areas located at the northern part of Bangladesh. Lack of knowledge on the best combination of factors that suit production of rice has contributed to the low production. To fulfill the research objective, a multi-criteria analysis was done and produced a suitable map for crop production with the help of Geographical Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Primary and secondary data were collected from ground truth information and relevant offices. The suitability levels for each factor were ranked based on the structure of FAO land suitability classification as: Currently Not Suitable (N2), Presently Not Suitable (N1), Marginally Suitable (S3), Moderately Suitable (S2) and Highly Suitable (S1). The suitable sites were identified using spatial analysis and compared with the recent raster image from Google Earth Pro® to validate the reliability of suitability analysis. For producing a suitability map for rice farming using GIS and multi-criteria analysis tool, AHP was used to rank the relevant factors, and the resultant weights were used to create the suitability map using weighted sum overlay tool in ArcGIS 10.3®. Then, the suitability map for rice production in the study area was formed. The weighted overly was performed and found that 22.74 % (1337.02 km2) of the study area was highly suitable, while 28.54% (1678.04 km2) was moderately suitable, 14.86% (873.71 km2) was marginally suitable, and 1.19% (69.97 km2) was currently not suitable for rice farming. On the other hand, 32.67% (1920.87 km2) was permanently not suitable which occupied with settlements, rivers, water bodies and forests. This research provided information at local level that could be used by farmers to select suitable fields for rice production, and then it can be applied to other crops. It will also be helpful for the field workers and policy planner who serves in the agricultural sector.

Keywords: AHP, GIS, spatial analysis, land suitability

Procedia PDF Downloads 218
762 Climate Change Impact on Whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) Population Infesting Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentus) in Sub-Himalayan India and Their Sustainable Management Using Biopesticides

Authors: Sunil Kumar Ghosh

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Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentus L.) is an annual vegetable crop grown in the sub-Himalayan region of north east India throughout the year except rainy season in normal field cultivation. The crop is susceptible to various insect pests of which whitefly (Bemesia tabaci Genn.) causes heavy damage. Thus, a study on its occurrence and sustainable management is needed for successful cultivation. The pest was active throughout the growing period. During 38th standard week to 41st standard week that is during 3rd week of September to 2nd week of October minimum population was observed. The maximum population level was maintained during 11th standard week to 18th standard week that is during 2nd week of March to 3rd week of March with peak population (0.47/leaf) was recorded. Weekly population counts on white fly showed non-significant negative correlation (p=0.05) with temperature and weekly total rainfall where as significant negative correlation with relative humidity. Eight treatments were taken to study the management of the white fly pest such as botanical insecticide azadirachtin botanical extracts, Spilanthes paniculata flower, Polygonum hydropiper L. flower, tobacco leaf and garlic and mixed formulation like neem and floral extract of Spilanthes were evaluated and compared with the ability of acetamiprid. The insectide acetamiprid was found most lethal against whitefly providing 76.59% suppression, closely followed by extracts of neem + Spilanthes providing 62.39% suppression. Spectophotometric scanning of crude methanolic extract of Polygonum flower showed strong absorbance wave length between 645-675 nm. Considering the level of peaks of wave length the flower extract contain some important chemicals like Spirilloxanthin, Quercentin diglycoside, Quercentin 3-O-rutinoside, Procyanidin B1 and Isorhamnetin 3-O-rutinoside. These chemicals are responsible for pest control. Spectophotometric scanning of crude methanolic extract of Spilanthes flower showed strong absorbance wave length between 645-675 nm. Considering the level of peaks of wave length the flower extract contain some important chemicals of which polysulphide compounds are important and responsible of pest control. Neem and Spilanthes individually did not produce good results but when used as a mixture they recorded better results. Highest yield (30.15 t/ha) were recorded from acetamiprid treated plots followed by neem + Spilanthes (27.55 t/ha). Azadirachtin and Plant extracts are biopesticides having less or no hazardous effects on human health and environment. Thus they can be incorporated in IPM programmes and organic farming in vegetable cultivation.

Keywords: biopesticides, organic farming, seasonal fluctuation, vegetable IPM

Procedia PDF Downloads 295
761 An Integrated Approach of Islamic Social Financing for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) Through Crowdfunding: A Model for Sharing Economy for Community Development in Bangladesh

Authors: Md. Abu Yousuf

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Islamic social financing (ISF) refers to the fair distribution of wealth and financial dealings and prevents economic exploitation at all levels. ISF instruments include Islamic institutions Zakat (obligatory charity), Sadaqah (voluntary charity) and Waqf (endowment) based on philanthropy such and Qard-al Hasan (beautiful loan), micro takaful (insurance) and social investments through Sukuk (bonds) based on cooperation. ISF contributes to socio-economic development, end poverty, protects environmental sustainability, promotes education, equality, social justice and above all, establishes social well-being since the birth of Islam. ISF tools are instrumental towards achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) set by United Nations (UN). The present study will explore the scope of ISF for community development in Bangladesh and examine the challenges in implementing ISF tools and will provide the most practical model of ISF. The study will adopt a mixed-method (MM) design in the process of data collection and analysis. The researcher will consider all issues related to ethics, reliability, validity and feasibility while conducting the study.

Keywords: Islamic social financing, sustainable development goals, poverty eradication, zakat, waqf, sadaqah, Islamic microfinance

Procedia PDF Downloads 166
760 Analysis of the Relationship between the Old Days Hospitalized with Economic Lost Top Ten Age Productive Disease in Hospital Inpatient Inche Abdul Moeis Samarinda, Indonesia

Authors: Tri Murti Tugiman, Awalyya Fasha

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This research aims to analyze the magnitude of the economic losses incurred as a result of a person suffering from a particular disease of the ten highest in the productive age diseases in Hospitals Inche Abdul Moeis Samarinda. This research was a descriptive survey research and a secondary data analysis. For the analysis of economic losses populations used are all in patients who suffer from the 10 highest diseases in the productive age in hospitals IA Moeis Samarinda in 2011. Sampling was performed by using a stratified random sampling with samples of 77 people. Research results indicate that the direct cost community incurred to obtain medical services in hospitals IA Moeis is IDR 74437520. The amount of indirect costs incurred during service in a community hospital is IDR 10562000. The amount lost due to sickness fee is IDR 5377800. The amount of economic lost people to obtain medical services in hospitals IA Moeis is IDR 90377320. The number of days of hospitalization was as much as 171 respondents throughout the day. This study suggests the economic loss could be prevented by changes in the lifestyle of the people who clean and healthy along with the following insurance.

Keywords: hospitalized, economic lost, productive age diseases, secondary data analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 462
759 The Effects of Land Grabbing on Livelihood Assets and Its Implication on Food Production in Ghana: A Case Study of Bui Dam Construction Project

Authors: Charles Kwaku Oppong

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This study examined the effects of the agricultural land grabbed for the Bui Dam project on the livelihoods assets of the affected people and its implication on food production. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through the use of focus group discussions, questionnaire administration, interview guide, and observations. It was found that the land grabbing incident in the study communities as a result of the Bui Dam construction has resulted in the improvements in the physical assets of the affected people. The findings also indicated that local food crop production and the quantity of fish catch have dwindled after the land grabs. Contrary to this, the local people’s access to the natural capital, particularly the local land for agricultural activities has been worsened. The study recommends alternative sustainable livelihood for the affected people by the local government.

Keywords: land grabbing, livelihood, asset, food production

Procedia PDF Downloads 148
758 Evaluation of the Most Effective Insecticides against the Spodoptera Frugiperda, on the Maize Production

Authors: Ahmed Ali Hassan

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In 2016, the Fall Armyworm (FAW) was first discovered in Africa. FAW is abundantly present in Somalia and seriously harms the maize crop. This investigation examined the impact on maize productivity of three different pesticides used to combat the autumn armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera). During the 2020–2021 growing season, three insecticides (Malathion 57 EC, Ampligo150 ZC, and Carbryle 85 WP) were evaluated at field demonstration plots. Our result showed that, significant mortality of S. frugiperda was observed on the treatment plot treated with Amplico. Ampligo caused over 90% larval mortality after application. Malathion had moderate activity, causing 53.733% mortality after application, while Carbaryl was less effective, causing 36.367% mortality after application. Consequently, the current finding shows that the three selected insecticides reduced the damage and infestation level of S. frugiperda in the maize field conditions and the most effective treatment were Amplico.

Keywords: pesticides, maize fall army worm, insecticides, mortality, S. frugiperda

Procedia PDF Downloads 53
757 The Study of Indigenous Communities in Sefidkuh Makran, the Showcase of Prehistoric Societies in the 21st Century, Based on Ethnoarchaeological Studies

Authors: Hossein Vahedi, Zahra Soleymani Fard

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SefidKuh area in Baluchistan, Iran, is one of the impossible areas which the focused archeological investigations have not been on it. In the Sefidkuh area, there are colonies as if they were stopped in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic ages. These colonies exhibit culturally specific behaviors, which their study can reveal much of the cultural nature of the Neolithic, Chalcolithic inhabitants of the region. In the villages of this area, still, circular architecture is used in different types. The political management of the villages in the region is also the responsibility of Khan, whose characteristics can be compared to the prehistoric era. These people's livelihoods include hunting, animal husbandry, horticulture, and limited crop storage. Residents of Sefidkuh use the exchange of goods to obtain needed supplies that they themselves cannot produce. In this area, there are central location villages that are quite similar to the cluster model, and the Great Khan leads the surrounding villages.

Keywords: archaeology, social structure, neolithic, chalcolithic, Sefidkuh, Baluchistan

Procedia PDF Downloads 101
756 Analysis of Factors Used by Farmers to Manage Risk: A Case Study on Italian Farms

Authors: A. Pontrandolfi, G. Enjolras, F. Capitanio

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The study analyses the strategies Italian farmers use to cope with the risks that face their production. We specifically explore the potential and the limitations of the economic tools for climatic risk management in agriculture of the Common Agricultural Policy 2014-2020, that foresees contributions for economic tools for risk management, in relation to farms’ needs, exposure and vulnerability of agricultural areas to climatic risk. We consider at the farm level approaches to hedge risks in terms of the use of technical tools (agricultural practices, pesticides, fertilizers, irrigation) and economic/financial instruments (insurances, etc.). We develop cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses as well as analyses of correlation that underline the main differences between the way farms adapt their structure and management towards risk. The results show a preference for technical tools, despite the presence of important public aids on economic tools such as insurances. Therefore, there is a strong need for a more effective and integrated risk management policy scheme. Synergies between economic tools and risk reduction actions of a more technical, structural and management nature (production diversification, irrigation infrastructures, technological and management innovations and formation-information-consultancy, etc.) are emphasized.

Keywords: agriculture and climate change, climatic risk management, insurance schemes, farmers' approaches to risk management

Procedia PDF Downloads 328
755 Health Sector Budgetary Allocations and Their Implications on Health Service Delivery and Universal Health Coverage in Uganda

Authors: Richard Ssempala, Francis Kintu, Christine K. Tashobya

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Funding for health remains a key constraint facing many developing countries, Uganda inclusive. Uganda’s health sector budget to the national budgetary allocation has stagnated between 8.2% to 10% over the years. Using data collected from different government documents, we sought to establish the implications of the budget allocation over the period (FY2010/11-2018/19) on health services delivery in Uganda to inform policymakers specifically Members of Parliament who are critical in making sectorial allocation on the steps they can adapt to change the terrain of health financing in Uganda. Findings revealed that the contribution of public funding to the health sector is low (15.7%) with private sources (42.6%) and donors contributing much more, with the bulk of private funds, are out of pocket. The study further revealed that low budget allocation had been manifested in inadequate and poorly motivated health workers, essential drug stock-outs that ultimately contribute to poor access to services, catastrophic health expenditures, and high morbidity rates. We recommend for a substantial and sustained increase in the government health budget, optimizing the available resources by addressing wastages, prioritizing health promotion, prevention and finally, institutionalizing the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Keywords: budget allocations, universal health coverage, health service delivery, Uganda

Procedia PDF Downloads 156
754 Rheological Characterization of Polysaccharide Extracted from Camelina Meal as a New Source of Thickening Agent

Authors: Mohammad Anvari, Helen S. Joyner (Melito)

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Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz is an oilseed crop currently used for the production of biofuels. However, the low price of diesel and gasoline has made camelina an unprofitable crop for farmers, leading to declining camelina production in the US. Hence, the ability to utilize camelina byproduct (defatted meal) after oil extraction would be a pivotal factor for promoting the economic value of the plant. Camelina defatted meal is rich in proteins and polysaccharides. The great diversity in the polysaccharide structural features provides a unique opportunity for use in food formulations as thickeners, gelling agents, emulsifiers, and stabilizers. There is currently a great degree of interest in the study of novel plant polysaccharides, as they can be derived from readily accessible sources and have potential application in a wide range of food formulations. However, there are no published studies on the polysaccharide extracted from camelina meal, and its potential industrial applications remain largely underexploited. Rheological properties are a key functional feature of polysaccharides and are highly dependent on the material composition and molecular structure. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the rheological properties of the polysaccharide extracted from camelina meal at different conditions to obtain insight on the molecular characteristics of the polysaccharide. Flow and dynamic mechanical behaviors were determined under different temperatures (5-50°C) and concentrations (1-6% w/v). Additionally, the zeta potential of the polysaccharide dispersion was measured at different pHs (2-11) and a biopolymer concentration of 0.05% (w/v). Shear rate sweep data revealed that the camelina polysaccharide displayed shear thinning (pseudoplastic) behavior, which is typical of polymer systems. The polysaccharide dispersion (1% w/v) showed no significant changes in viscosity with temperature, which makes it a promising ingredient in products requiring texture stability over a range of temperatures. However, the viscosity increased significantly with increased concentration, indicating that camelina polysaccharide can be used in food products at different concentrations to produce a range of textures. Dynamic mechanical spectra showed similar trends. The temperature had little effect on viscoelastic moduli. However, moduli were strongly affected by concentration: samples exhibited concentrated solution behavior at low concentrations (1-2% w/v) and weak gel behavior at higher concentrations (4-6% w/v). These rheological properties can be used for designing and modeling of liquid and semisolid products. Zeta potential affects the intensity of molecular interactions and molecular conformation and can alter solubility, stability, and eventually, the functionality of the materials as their environment changes. In this study, the zeta potential value significantly decreased from 0.0 to -62.5 as pH increased from 2 to 11, indicating that pH may affect the functional properties of the polysaccharide. The results obtained in the current study showed that camelina polysaccharide has significant potential for application in various food systems and can be introduced as a novel anionic thickening agent with unique properties.

Keywords: Camelina meal, polysaccharide, rheology, zeta potential

Procedia PDF Downloads 234
753 Frailty Models for Modeling Heterogeneity: Simulation Study and Application to Quebec Pension Plan

Authors: Souad Romdhane, Lotfi Belkacem

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When referring to actuarial analysis of lifetime, only models accounting for observable risk factors have been developed. Within this context, Cox proportional hazards model (CPH model) is commonly used to assess the effects of observable covariates as gender, age, smoking habits, on the hazard rates. These covariates may fail to fully account for the true lifetime interval. This may be due to the existence of another random variable (frailty) that is still being ignored. The aim of this paper is to examine the shared frailty issue in the Cox proportional hazard model by including two different parametric forms of frailty into the hazard function. Four estimated methods are used to fit them. The performance of the parameter estimates is assessed and compared between the classical Cox model and these frailty models through a real-life data set from the Quebec Pension Plan and then using a more general simulation study. This performance is investigated in terms of the bias of point estimates and their empirical standard errors in both fixed and random effect parts. Both the simulation and the real dataset studies showed differences between classical Cox model and shared frailty model.

Keywords: life insurance-pension plan, survival analysis, risk factors, cox proportional hazards model, multivariate failure-time data, shared frailty, simulations study

Procedia PDF Downloads 343
752 Feeding Behavior of Sweetpotato Weevil, Cylas formicarius (Fabricius) (Coleoptera:Brentidae) on Three Sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatas L. Cultivars Grown in Tarlac Philippines

Authors: Jerah Mystica B. Novenario, Flor A. Ceballo-Alcantara

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Sweetpotato is grown in tropical countries for its edible tubers, which became an important source of food. It is usually propagated through vine cutting which may be obtained from harvested plants or from nurseries intended for cutting production only. The recurrent use of vines may cause increased weevil infestation. The crop is known to be infested with insect pests, more importantly, the sweetpotato weevil, Cylasformicarius, which targets the tubers and thus cause economic losses. Sweetpotato farmers in Tarlac claim that only one sweetpotato cultivar is being attacked by C. formicarius. However, in was found in this experiment that feeding and feeding behavior of the weevil were not affected by the cultivar provided; such that no significant differences were observed on the average amount of tuber consumed by both male (F=0.86; df=2; P=0.45) and female (F=2.71; df=2; P=0.11) and feeding time (F=0.9; df=2; P=0.43). Conversely, in terms of damage assessment, significantly different (F=1.64; df=2; P=0.23) results were noted.

Keywords: cylas formicarius, feeding behavior, insect pest, sweetpotato

Procedia PDF Downloads 81
751 Effect of Drop Impact Behavior on Spray Retention

Authors: Hassina Hafida Boukhalfa, Mathieu Massinon, Fréderic Lebeau, Mohamed Belhamra

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Drop behaviour during impact affects retention. The increase of adhesion is usually seen as the objective when applying crop protection products, while bouncing and shattering are seen as detrimental to spray retention. However, observation of drop impacts using high speed shadow graphy shows that fragmentation can occur in Wenzel wetting regime. In this case, a part of the drop sticks on the surface, what contributes to retention. Using simultaneous measurements of drop impacts with high speed imaging and of retention with fluorometry for 3 spray mixtures on excised barley leaves allowed us to observe that about 50% of the drops fragmented in Wenzel state remain on the leaf. Depending on spray mixture, these impact outcomes accounted for 25 to 50% of retention, the higher contribution being correlated with bigger VMD (Volume Median Diameter). This contribution is non-negligible and should be considered when a modelling of spray retention process is performed.

Keywords: drop impact, retention, fluorometry, high speed imaging

Procedia PDF Downloads 363
750 Application of Cloud Based Healthcare Information System through a Smart Card in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Authors: Wasmi Woishi

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Smart card technology is a secure and safe technology that is expanding its capabilities day by day in terms of holding important information without alteration. It is readily available, and its ease of portability makes it more efficient in terms of its usage. The smart card is in use by many industries such as financial, insurance, governmental industries, personal identification, to name a few. Smart card technology is popular for its wide familiarity, adaptability, accessibility, benefits, and portability. This research aims to find out the perception toward the application of a cloud-based healthcare system through a smart card in KSA. The research has compiled the countries using a smart card or smart healthcare card and indicated the potential benefits of implementing smart healthcare cards. 120 participants from Riyadh city were surveyed by the means of a closed-ended questionnaire. Data were analyzed through SPSS. This research extends the research body in the healthcare system. Empirical evidence regarding smart healthcare cards is scarce and hence undertaken in this study. The study provides a useful insight into collecting, storing, analyzing, manipulating, and accessibility of medical information regarding smart healthcare cards. Research findings can help achieve KSA's Vision 2030 goals in terms of the digitalization of healthcare systems in improving its efficiency and effectiveness in storing and accessing healthcare data.

Keywords: smart card technology, healthcare using smart cards, smart healthcare cards, KSA healthcare information system, cloud-based healthcare cards

Procedia PDF Downloads 152
749 Using Econometric Methods to Explore Obesity Stigma and Avoidance of Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening

Authors: Stephanie A. Schauder, Gosia Sylwestrzak

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Overweight and obese women report avoiding preventive care due to fear of weight-related bias from medical professionals. Gynecological exams, due to their sensitive and personally invasive nature, are especially susceptible to avoidance. This research investigates the association between body mass index (BMI) and screening rates for breast and cervical cancer using claims data from 1.3 million members of a large health insurance company. Because obesity is associated with increased cancer risk, screenings for these cancers should increase as BMI increases. However, this paper finds that the distribution of cancer screening rates by BMI take an inverted U-shape with underweight and obese members having the lowest screening rates. For cervical cancer screening, those in the target population with a BMI of 23 have the highest screening rate at 68%, while Obese Class III members have a screening rate of 50%. Those in the underweight category have a screening rate of 58%. This relationship persists even after controlling for health and demographic covariates in regression analysis. Interestingly, there is no association between BMI and BRCA (BReast CAncer gene) genetic testing. This is consistent with the narrative that stigma causes avoidance because genetic testing does not involve any assessment of a person’s body. More work must be done to determine how to increase cancer screening rates in those who may feel stigmatized due to their weight.

Keywords: cancer screening, cervical cancer, breast cancer, weight stigma, avoidance of care

Procedia PDF Downloads 175
748 Potyviruses Genomic Analysis and Complete Evaluation

Authors: Narin Salehiyan, Ramin Ghasemi Shayan

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The largest genus of plant viruses, the potyvirus, is responsible for significant crop losses. Potyviruses are aphid sent in a nonpersistent way, and some of them are likewise seed communicated. As significant microorganisms, potyviruses are substantially more examined than other plant infections having a place with different genera, and their review covers numerous parts of plant virology, like utilitarian portrayal of viral proteins, sub-atomic communication with hosts and vectors, structure, scientific classification, development, the study of disease transmission, and determination. Biotechnological utilizations of potyviruses are likewise being investigated. During this last ten years, significant advances have been made in the comprehension of the sub-atomic science of these infections and the elements of their different proteins. Potyvirus multiplication, movement, and transmission, as well as potyvirus/plant compatible interactions, including pathogenicity and symptom determinants, are updated following a general overview of the family Potyviridae and the potyviral proteins. it end the survey giving data on biotechnological uses of potyviruses.

Keywords: virology, poty, virus, genome, genetic

Procedia PDF Downloads 56
747 Traffic Sign Recognition System Using Convolutional Neural NetworkDevineni

Authors: Devineni Vijay Bhaskar, Yendluri Raja

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We recommend a model for traffic sign detection stranded on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). We first renovate the unique image into the gray scale image through with support vector machines, then use convolutional neural networks with fixed and learnable layers for revealing and understanding. The permanent layer can reduction the amount of attention areas to notice and crop the limits very close to the boundaries of traffic signs. The learnable coverings can rise the accuracy of detection significantly. Besides, we use bootstrap procedures to progress the accuracy and avoid overfitting problem. In the German Traffic Sign Detection Benchmark, we obtained modest results, with an area under the precision-recall curve (AUC) of 99.49% in the group “Risk”, and an AUC of 96.62% in the group “Obligatory”.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, support vector machine, detection, traffic signs, bootstrap procedures, precision-recall curve

Procedia PDF Downloads 99
746 Achieving Sustainable Agriculture with Treated Municipal Wastewater

Authors: Reshu Yadav, Himanshu Joshi, S. K. Tripathi

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Fresh water is a scarce resource which is essential for humans and ecosystems, but its distribution is uneven. Agricultural production accounts for 70% of all surface water supplies. It is projected that against the expansion in the area equipped for irrigation by 0.6% per year, the global potential irrigation water demand would rise by 9.5% during 2021-25. This would, on one hand, have to compete against the sharply rising urban water demand. On the other, it would also have to face the fear of climate change, as temperatures rise and crop yields could drop from 10-30% in many large areas. The huge demand for irrigation combined with fresh water scarcity encourages to explore the reuse of wastewater as a resource. However, the use of such wastewater is often linked to the safety issues when used non judiciously or with poor safeguards while irrigating food crops. Paddy is one of the major crops globally and amongst the most important in South Asia and Africa. In many parts of the world, use of municipal wastewater has been promoted as a viable option in this regard. In developing and fast growing countries like India, regularly increasing wastewater generation rates may allow this option to be considered quite seriously. In view of this, a pilot field study was conducted at the Jagjeetpur Municipal Sewage treatment plant situated in the Haridwar town of Uttarakhand state, India. The objectives of the present study were to study the effect of treated wastewater on the production of various paddy varieties (Sharbati, PR-114, PB-1, Menaka, PB1121 and PB 1509) and emission of GHG gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O) as compared to the same varieties grown in the control plots irrigated with fresh water. Of late, the concept of water footprint assessment has emerged, which explains enumeration of various types of water footprints of an agricultural entity from its production to processing stages. Paddy, the most water demanding staple crop of Uttarakhand state, displayed a high green water footprint value of 2966.538 m3/ton. Most of the wastewater irrigated varieties displayed upto 6% increase in production, except Menaka and PB-1121, which showed a reduction in production (6% and 3% respectively), due to pest and insect infestation. The treated wastewater was observed to be rich in Nitrogen (55.94 mg/ml Nitrate), Phosphorus (54.24 mg/ml) and Potassium (9.78 mg/ml), thus rejuvenating the soil quality and not requiring any external nutritional supplements. Percentage increase of GHG gases on irrigation with treated municipal waste water as compared to control plots was observed as 0.4% - 8.6% (CH4), 1.1% - 9.2% (CO2), and 0.07% - 5.8% (N2O). The variety, Sharbati, displayed maximum production (5.5 ton/ha) and emerged as the most resistant variety against pests and insects. The emission values of CH4 ,CO2 and N2O were 729.31 mg/m2/d, 322.10 mg/m2/d and 400.21 mg/m2/d in water stagnant condition. This study highlighted a successful possibility of reuse of wastewater for non-potable purposes offering the potential for exploiting this resource that can replace or reduce existing use of fresh water sources in agricultural sector.

Keywords: greenhouse gases, nutrients, water footprint, wastewater irrigation

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745 Agriculture Yield Prediction Using Predictive Analytic Techniques

Authors: Nagini Sabbineni, Rajini T. V. Kanth, B. V. Kiranmayee

Abstract:

India’s economy primarily depends on agriculture yield growth and their allied agro industry products. The agriculture yield prediction is the toughest task for agricultural departments across the globe. The agriculture yield depends on various factors. Particularly countries like India, majority of agriculture growth depends on rain water, which is highly unpredictable. Agriculture growth depends on different parameters, namely Water, Nitrogen, Weather, Soil characteristics, Crop rotation, Soil moisture, Surface temperature and Rain water etc. In our paper, lot of Explorative Data Analysis is done and various predictive models were designed. Further various regression models like Linear, Multiple Linear, Non-linear models are tested for the effective prediction or the forecast of the agriculture yield for various crops in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states.

Keywords: agriculture yield growth, agriculture yield prediction, explorative data analysis, predictive models, regression models

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744 Importance of Determining the Water Needs of Crops in the Management of Water Resources in the Province of Djelfa

Authors: Imessaoudene Y., Mouhouche B., Sengouga A., Kadir M.

Abstract:

The objective of this work is to determine the virtual water of main crops grown in the province of Djelfa and water use efficiency (W.U.E.), Which is essential to approach the application and better integration with the offer in the region. In the case of agricultural production, virtual water is the volume of water evapo-transpired by crops. It depends on particular on the expertise of its producers and its global production area, warm and dry climates induce higher consumption. At the scale of the province, the determination of the quantities of virtual water is done by calculating the unit water requirements related to water irrigated hectare and total rainfall over the crop using the Cropwat 8.0 F.A.O. software. Quantifying the volume of agricultural virtual water of crops practiced in the study area demonstrates the quantitative importance of these volumes of water in terms of available water resources in the province, so the advantages which can be the concept of virtual water as an analysis tool and decision support for the management and distribution of water in scarcity situation.

Keywords: virtual water, water use efficiency, water requirements, Djelfa

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743 Data-Driven Crop Advisory – A Use Case on Grapes

Authors: Shailaja Grover, Purvi Tiwari, Vigneshwaran S. R., U. Dinesh Kumar

Abstract:

In India, grapes are one of the most important horticulture crops. Grapes are most vulnerable to downy mildew, which is one of the most devasting diseases. In the absence of a precise weather-based advisory system, farmers spray pesticides on their crops extensively. There are two main challenges associated with using these pesticides. Firstly, most of these sprays were panic sprays, which could have been avoided. Second, farmers use more expensive "Preventive and Eradicate" chemicals than "Systemic, Curative and Anti-sporulate" chemicals. When these chemicals are used indiscriminately, they can enter the fruit and cause health problems such as cancer. This paper utilizes decision trees and predictive modeling techniques to provide grape farmers with customized advice on grape disease management. This model is expected to reduce the overall use of chemicals by approximately 50% and the cost by around 70%. Most of the grapes produced will have relatively low residue levels of pesticides, i.e., below the permissible level.

Keywords: analytics in agriculture, downy mildew, weather based advisory, decision tree, predictive modelling

Procedia PDF Downloads 58
742 Analyses of Reference Evapotranspiration in West of Iran under Climate Change

Authors: Saeed Jahanbakhsh Asl, Yaghob Dinpazhoh, Masoumeh Foroughi

Abstract:

Reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) is an important element in the water cycle that integrates atmospheric demands and surface conditions, and analysis of changes in ET₀ is of great significance for understanding climate change and its impacts on hydrology. As ET₀ is an integrated effect of climate variables, increases in air temperature should lead to increases in ET₀. ET₀ estimated by using the globally accepted Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Penman-Monteith (FAO-56 PM) method in 18 meteorological stations located in the West of Iran. The trends of ET₀ detected by using the Mann-Kendall (MK) test. The slopes of the trend lines were computed by using the Sen’s slope estimator. The results showed significant increasing as well as decreasing trends in the annual and monthly ET₀. However, ET₀ trends were increasing. In the monthly scale, the number of the increasing trends was more than the number of decreasing trends, in the majority of warm months of the year.

Keywords: climate change, Mann–Kendall, Penman-Monteith method (FAO-56 PM), reference crop evapotranspiration

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741 Evaluation of Feasibility of Ecological Sanitation in Central Nepal

Authors: K. C. Sharda

Abstract:

Introduction: In the world, almost half of the population are lacking proper access to improved sanitation services. In Nepal, large number of people are living without access to any sanitation facility. Ecological sanitation toilet which is defined as water conserving and nutrient recycling system for use of human urine and excreta in agriculture would count a lot to utilize locally available resources, to regenerate soil fertility, to save national currency and to achieve the goal of elimination open defecation in country like Nepal. The objectives of the research were to test the efficacy of human urine for improving crop performance and to evaluate the feasibility of ecological sanitation in rural area of Central Nepal. Materials and Methods: The field investigation was carried out at Palung Village Development Committee (VDC) of Makawanpur District, Nepal from March – August, 2016. Five eco-san toilets in two villages (Angare and Bhot Khoriya) were constructed and questionnaire survey was carried out. During the questionnaire survey, respondents were asked about socio-economic parameters, farming practices, awareness of ecological sanitation and fertilizer value of human urine and excreta in agriculture. In prior to a field experiment, soil was sampled for analysis of basic characteristics. In the field experiment, cauliflower was cultivated for a month in the two sites to compare the fertilizer value of urine with chemical fertilizer and no fertilizer with three replications. The harvested plant samples were analyzed to understand the nutrient content in plant with different treatments. Results and Discussion: Eighty three percent respondents were engaged in agriculture growing mainly vegetables, which may raise the feasibility of ecological sanitation. In the study area, water deficiencies in dry season, high demand of chemical fertilizer, lack of sanitation awareness were found to be solved. The soil at Angare has sandier texture and lower nitrogen content compared to that in Bhot Khoriya. While the field experiment in Angare showed that the aboveground biomass of cauliflower in the urine fertilized plot were similar with that in the chemically fertilized plot and higher than those in the non-fertilized plots, no significant difference among the treatments were found in Bhot Khoriya. The more distinctive response of crop growth to the three treatments in the former might be attributed to the poorer soil productivity, which in turn could be caused by the poorer inherent soil fertility and the poorer past management by the farmer in Angare. Thus, use of urine as fertilizer could help poor farmers with low quality soil. The significantly different content of nitrogen and potassium in the plant samples among three treatments in Bhot Khoriya would require further investigation. When urine is utilized as a fertilizer, the productivity could be increased and the money to buy chemical fertilizer would be utilized in other livelihood activities. Ecological sanitation is feasible in the area with similar socio-economic parameter.

Keywords: cauliflower, chemical fertilizer, ecological sanitation, Nepal, urine

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740 Combined Machine That Fertilizes Evenly under Plowing on Slopes and Planning an Experiment

Authors: Qurbanov Huseyn Nuraddin

Abstract:

The results of scientific research on a machine that pours an equal amount of mineral fertilizer under the soil to increase the productivity of grain in mountain farming and obtain quality grain are substantiated. The average yield of the crop depends on the nature of the distribution of fertilizers in the soil. Therefore, the study of effective energy-saving methods for the application of mineral fertilizers is the actual task of modern agriculture. Depending on the type and variety of plants in mountain farming, there is an optimal norm of mineral fertilizers. Applying an equal amount of fertilizer to the soil is one of the conditions that increase the efficiency of the field. One of the main agro-technical indicators of the work of mineral fertilizing machines is to ensure equal distribution of mineral fertilizers in the field. Taking into account the above-mentioned issues, a combined plough has been improved in our laboratory.

Keywords: combined plough, mineral fertilizers, sprinkle fluently, fertilizer rate, cereals

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739 Mesotrione and Tembotrione Applied Alone or in Tank-Mix with Atrazine on Weed Control in Elephant Grass

Authors: Alexandre M. Brighenti

Abstract:

The experiment was carried out in Valença, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, to evaluate the selectivity and weed control of carotenoid biosynthesis inhibiting herbicides applied alone or in combination with atrazine in elephant grass crop. The treatments were as follows: mesotrione (0.072 and 0.144 kg ha-1 + 0.5% v/v mineral oil - Assist®), tembotrione (0.075 and 0.100 kg ha-1 + 0.5% v/v mineral oil - Aureo®), atrazine + mesotrione (1.25 + 0.072 kg ha-1 + 0.5% v/v mineral oil - Assist®), atrazine + tembotrione (1.25 + 0.100 kg ha-1 + 0.5% v/v mineral oil - Aureo®), atrazine + mesotrione (1.25 + 0.072 kg ha-1), atrazine + tembotrione (1.25 + 0.100 kg ha-1) and two controls (hoed and unhoed check). Two application rates of mesotrione with the addition of mineral oil or the tank mixture of atrazine plus mesotrione, with or without the addition of mineral oil, did not provide injuries capable to reduce elephant grass forage yield. Tembotrione was phytotoxic to elephant grass when applied with mineral oil. Atrazine and tembotrione in a tank-mix, with or without mineral oil, were also phytotoxic to elephant grass. All treatments provided satisfactory weed control.

Keywords: forage, Napier grass, pasture, Pennisetum purpureum, weeds

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738 Fraud Detection in Credit Cards with Machine Learning

Authors: Anjali Chouksey, Riya Nimje, Jahanvi Saraf

Abstract:

Online transactions have increased dramatically in this new ‘social-distancing’ era. With online transactions, Fraud in online payments has also increased significantly. Frauds are a significant problem in various industries like insurance companies, baking, etc. These frauds include leaking sensitive information related to the credit card, which can be easily misused. Due to the government also pushing online transactions, E-commerce is on a boom. But due to increasing frauds in online payments, these E-commerce industries are suffering a great loss of trust from their customers. These companies are finding credit card fraud to be a big problem. People have started using online payment options and thus are becoming easy targets of credit card fraud. In this research paper, we will be discussing machine learning algorithms. We have used a decision tree, XGBOOST, k-nearest neighbour, logistic-regression, random forest, and SVM on a dataset in which there are transactions done online mode using credit cards. We will test all these algorithms for detecting fraud cases using the confusion matrix, F1 score, and calculating the accuracy score for each model to identify which algorithm can be used in detecting frauds.

Keywords: machine learning, fraud detection, artificial intelligence, decision tree, k nearest neighbour, random forest, XGBOOST, logistic regression, support vector machine

Procedia PDF Downloads 133
737 Resource Sharing Issues of Distributed Systems Influences on Healthcare Sector Concurrent Environment

Authors: Soo Hong Da, Ng Zheng Yao, Burra Venkata Durga Kumar

Abstract:

The Healthcare sector is a business that consists of providing medical services, manufacturing medical equipment and drugs as well as providing medical insurance to the public. Most of the time, the data stored in the healthcare database is to be related to patient’s information which is required to be accurate when it is accessed by authorized stakeholders. In distributed systems, one important issue is concurrency in the system as it ensures the shared resources to be synchronized and remains consistent through multiple read and write operations by multiple clients. The problems of concurrency in the healthcare sector are who gets the access and how the shared data is synchronized and remains consistent when there are two or more stakeholders attempting to the shared data simultaneously. In this paper, a framework that is beneficial to distributed healthcare sector concurrent environment is proposed. In the proposed framework, four different level nodes of the database, which are national center, regional center, referral center, and local center are explained. Moreover, the frame synchronization is not symmetrical. There are two synchronization techniques, which are complete and partial synchronization operation are explained. Furthermore, when there are multiple clients accessed at the same time, synchronization types are also discussed with cases at different levels and priorities to ensure data is synchronized throughout the processes.

Keywords: resources, healthcare, concurrency, synchronization, stakeholders, database

Procedia PDF Downloads 133