Search results for: electronic medical record systems

Authors: Zeynep Üskül Engin

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Looking upon the world’s history, one can easily understand that the most drastic and evil comes to the human from his own kind. Human, proving that Hobbs was actually right, finally have agreed on taking some necessary measures after the destructive effects of the great World Wars. Surely after this, human rights have been more commonly mentioned in written form and now the priority of the values and goals of a democratic society is to protect its individuals. Due to this fact, the right of living is found to be valuable and all the existing forms of torture, anti-human and humiliating activities have been banned. Turkey, having signed the international papers of human rights, has aimed for eliminating torture through changing its laws and regulations to a certain extent. Monitoring Turkey’s experience, it is likely to say that during certain periods of time systematic torture has been applied. The urge to enter the European Union and verdicts against Turkey, have led to considerable progress in human rights. Besides, changes in law and the comprehensive training for the police, judges, medical and prison staff have resulted in positive improvement related to this issue. Certainly, this current legal update does not completely mean the total elimination of the practice of torture; however, in the commitment of this crime, the ones who have committed are standing a trial and facing severe punishments. In this article, Turkey, with a notorious reputation in international arena is going to be examined through its policy towards torture and defects in practice.

Keywords: torture, human rights, impunity of torture, sociology

Procedia PDF Downloads 448

Authors: Vinayambika S. Bhat, S. Shanmuga Priya, I. Thirunavukkarasu, Shreeranga Bhat

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An attempt has been made to design a decoupling controller for systems with more inputs more outputs with dead time in it. The de-coupler is designed for the chemical process industry 3×3 plant transfer function with dead time. The Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT) based controller has also been designed here for the 2×2 distillation column transfer function. The developed control techniques were simulated using the MATLAB/Simulink. Also, the stability of the process was analyzed, together with the presence of various perturbations in it. Time domain specifications like setting time along with overshoot and oscillations were analyzed to prove the efficiency of the de-coupler method. The load disturbance rejection was tested along with its performance. The QFT control technique was synthesized based on the stability and performance specifications in the presence of uncertainty in time constant of the plant transfer function through sequential loop shaping technique. Further, the energy efficiency of the distillation column was improved by proper tuning of the controller. A distillation column consumes 3% of the total energy consumption of the world. A suitable control technique is very important from an economic point of view. The real time implementation of the process is under process in our laboratory.

Keywords: distillation, energy, MIMO process, time delay, robust stability

Procedia PDF Downloads 397

Authors: Mukesh Kumar Shah, Tushar Gupta

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An Upgraded Cuckoo Search Algorithm is proposed here to solve optimization problems based on the improvements made in the earlier versions of Cuckoo Search Algorithm. Short comings of the earlier versions like slow convergence, trap in local optima improved in the proposed version by random initialization of solution by suggesting an Improved Lambda Iteration Relaxation method, Random Gaussian Distribution Walk to improve local search and further proposing Greedy Selection to accelerate to optimized solution quickly and by “Study Nearby Strategy” to improve global search performance by avoiding trapping to local optima. It is further proposed to generate better solution by Crossover Operation. The proposed strategy used in algorithm shows superiority in terms of high convergence speed over several classical algorithms. Three standard algorithms were tested on a 6-generator standard test system and the results are presented which clearly demonstrate its superiority over other established algorithms. The algorithm is also capable of handling higher unit systems.

Keywords: economic dispatch, gaussian selection operator, prohibited operating zones, ramp rate limits

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: Sankalp Devanand, Prateek Agasimani, Shamith V. S., Rohith Neeraje

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Machine translation has witnessed significant advancements in recent years, but the translation of languages with distinct linguistic characteristics, such as English and Sanskrit, remains a challenging task. This research presents the development of a dedicated English-to-Sanskrit machine translation model, aiming to bridge the linguistic and cultural gap between these two languages. Using a variety of natural language processing (NLP) approaches, including FastText embeddings, this research proposes a thorough method to improve word meaning retrieval. Data preparation, part-of-speech tagging, dictionary searches, and transliteration are all included in the methodology. The study also addresses the implementation of an interpreter pattern and uses a word similarity task to assess the quality of word embeddings. The experimental outcomes show how the suggested approach may be used to enhance word meaning retrieval tasks with greater efficacy, accuracy, and adaptability. Evaluation of the model's performance is conducted through rigorous testing, comparing its output against existing machine translation systems. The assessment includes quantitative metrics such as BLEU scores, METEOR scores, Jaccard Similarity, etc.

Keywords: machine translation, English to Sanskrit, natural language processing, word meaning retrieval, fastText embeddings

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Authors: Ahmed O. Babaleye, Rafet E. Kurt

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The global oil and gas industry is beginning to witness an increase in the number of installations moving towards decommissioning. Decommissioning of offshore installations is a complex, costly and hazardous activity, making safety one of the major concerns. Among existing removal options, complete and partial removal options pose the highest risks. Therefore, a dynamic risk model of the accidents from the two options is important to assess the risks on an overall basis. In this study, a risk-based safety model is developed to conduct quantitative risk analysis (QRA) for jacket structure systems failure. Firstly, bow-tie (BT) technique is utilised to model the causal relationship between the system failure and potential accident scenarios. Subsequently, to relax the shortcomings of BT, Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) were established to dynamically assess associated uncertainties and conditional dependencies. The BBN is developed through a similitude mapping of the developed bow-tie. The BBN is used to update the failure probabilities of the contributing elements through diagnostic analysis, thus, providing a case-specific and realistic safety analysis method when compared to a bow-tie. This paper presents the application of dynamic safety analysis to guide the allocation of risk control measures and consequently, drive down the avoidable cost of remediation.

Keywords: Bayesian belief network, offshore decommissioning, dynamic safety model, quantitative risk analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 266

Authors: David Downey

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With the introduction of additive manufacturing (3D printing) to produce titanium (Ti6Al4V) components in the medical/aerospace and automotive industries, intricate geometries can be produced with virtually complete design freedom. However, the consideration of microstructural anisotropy resulting from the additive manufacturing process becomes necessary due to this design flexibility and the need to print a geometric shape that can consist of numerous angles, radii, and swept surfaces. A femoral knee implant serves as an example of a 3D-printed near-net-shaped product. The mechanical properties of the printed components, and consequently, their machinability, are affected by microstructural anisotropy. Currently, finish-machining operations performed on titanium printed parts using selective laser melting (SLM) utilize the same cutting tools employed for processing wrought titanium components. Cutting forces for components manufactured through SLM can be up to 70% higher than those for their wrought counterparts made of Ti6Al4V. Moreover, temperatures at the cutting interface of 3D printed material can surpass those of wrought titanium, leading to significant tool wear. Although the criteria for tool wear may be similar for both 3D printed and wrought materials, the rate of wear during the machining process may differ. The impact of these issues on the choice of cutting tool material and tool lifetimes will be discussed.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, build orientation, microstructural anisotropy, printed titanium Ti6Al4V, tool wear

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Seema Chopra, Amandeep Kaur, Vanita Suri, Shalini Gainder, Minakshi Rohilla

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Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) associated with pregnancy is a serious medical complication which can lead to significant maternal as well as perinatal morbidity and mortality. Material and methods: This prospective observational study was carried out in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department and dialysis unit of Nephrology department of PGIMER, Chandigarh from July 2013 to June 2014. Forty antenatal/postnatal/postabortal patients who fulfilled the AKIN criteria were enrolled in the study. All patients were followed up till 3 months postpartum. Results: Majority of the patients 23/40 (57.5%) with AKI presented in postpartum period, 14/40 (35%) developed AKI in antenatal period, and 3/40 (7.5%) were postabortal. AKI was attributable mostly to sepsis in 11/40 (27.5%) and PPH in 5/40 (12.5%). Hypertension and its complications causing AKI included eclampsia in 5/40 (12.5%) followed by 3/40 (7.5%) as HELLP syndrome and abruption placentae in 2/40(5%) patients. Three patients each (7.5%) had AFLP, TMA, and HEV as the cause of AKI. Renal replacement therapy in the form of hemodialysis was the treatment in majority of them (28 (70%)). After the acute event, 25 (62.5%) had complete recovery of their renal functions at 3 months follow up. Maternal mortality was seen in 25% (n=10) of the study patients. Conclusion: Timely initiation of RRT in patients with AKI associated with pregnancy has a good maternal outcome in the form of complete recovery of renal functions in 62.5% (25/40) of patients.

Keywords: AKI, dialysis, hypertension, sepsis, renal parameters

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Nato Kutaladze, George Mikuchadze, Giorgi Sokhadze

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Precipitation forecasts are one of the most demanding applications in numerical weather prediction (NWP). Georgia, as the whole Caucasian region, is characterized by very complex topography. The country territory is prone to flash floods and mudflows, quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) and quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) at any leading time are very important for Georgia. In this study, advanced research weather forecasting model’s skill in QPF is investigated over Georgia’s territory. We have analyzed several convection parameterization and microphysical scheme combinations for different rainy episodes and heavy rainy phenomena. We estimate errors and biases in accumulated 6 h precipitation using different spatial resolution during model performance verification for 12-hour and 24-hour lead time against corresponding rain gouge observations and satellite data. Various statistical parameters have been calculated for the 8-month comparison period, and some skills of model simulation have been evaluated. Our focus is on the formation and organization of convective precipitation systems in a low-mountain region. Several problems in connection with QPF have been identified for mountain regions, which include the overestimation and underestimation of precipitation on the windward and lee side of the mountains, respectively, and a phase error in the diurnal cycle of precipitation leading to the onset of convective precipitation in model forecasts several hours too early.

Keywords: extremal dependence index, false alarm, numerical weather prediction, quantitative precipitation forecasting

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Aymen H. Khalil, Ashraf M. Heniegal, Bassam A. Abdelsalam

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There are many problems related to cantilever slabs such as the time-dependent deformation, corrosion problems of steel reinforcement, and lack of experimental studies on the strength of strengthened cantilever slabs. This paper presents an investigation to evaluate the behavior of reinforced concrete cantilever slabs after strengthening with different techniques. Six medium scale specimens, divided into three groups, were tested along with a control slab. The first group consists of two specimens which were repaired and strengthened using reinforced concrete jacket above with and without shear connector bars, whereas the second group contained two slabs which were strengthened using two strips of two layers of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) covering 60% and 90% from the cantilever length. The last group involves two specimens strengthened with two steel plates. In one specimen, the steel plates were glued to the surface using epoxy resin. The second specimen, the steel plates were affixed to the concrete surface using expansion bolts. The loading was conducted in two phases. Firstly, the samples were subjected to 40% of the ultimate load of the control slab. Secondly, the specimens reloaded after being strengthened up to failure. The load-deflection, steel strain, concrete strain, failure mode, toughness, and ductility index are discussed in this paper.

Keywords: repair, strengthened, GFRP layers, reloaded, jacketing, cantilever slabs

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Aaron Akinloye

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This research examined the influence of jungle justice as it affects the emotional health challenges among residents in Lagos metropolitan city. Descriptive survey research design was used along with the questionnaire as research instrument. Population for the study comprised residents in Yaba and Shomolu Communities of Lagos State, Nigeria. Accidental sampling technique was used to sample 300 Residents. Self-developed questionnaire was used to obtain data on the variables under investigation. Research instrument was validated following the face, content, and construct validation of the instrument. Thereafter, the reliability coefficient yielded 0.84. It is therefore concluded and recommended that; there is a significant influence of jungle justice on trauma among residents- df (298) t= 2.33, p< 0.05; there is a significant influence of jungle justice on pressure among residents- df (298) t= 2.16, p< 0.05: there is a significant influence of jungle justice on fear among residents- df (298) t= 2.20, p< 0.05; there is a significant influence of jungle justice on depression among residents- df (298) t= 2.14, p< 0.05. Recommendations were made that; there should be deliberate effort to implement comprehensive awareness campaigns to educate the residents on the detrimental effects of jungle justice on individuals and the community members as a whole; there should be an improvement in the effectiveness and efficiency of the existing law enforcement agencies in Lagos metropolitan city; development and implementation of support systems for victims of jungle justice, which include trauma, counselling, mental health services, and rehabilitation programmes; there should be proper review and revision of the legal framework to address the issue of jungle justice effectively.

Keywords: jungle justice, emotional health, depression, fear

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: Joshua Paul Steimel, Michael Pappas, Ethan Hall

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Particle-particle interactions are critical in determining the state of an active matter system. Unique and ubiquitous non-equilibrium behavior like swarming, vortexing, spiraling, and much more is governed by interactions between active units or particles. In hybrid active-passive matter systems, the attraction between spinning active units in a 2D monolayer of passive particles is controlled by the mechanical behavior of the passive monolayer. We demonstrate here that the range and dynamics of this attraction can be controlled by changing the composition of the passive monolayer by adding dopant passive particles. These dopant passive particles effectively pin the movement of dislocation motion in the passive media and reduce the probability of defect motion required to erode the bridge of passive particles between active spinners, thus reducing the range of attraction. Additionally, by adding an out of plane component to the magnetic moment and creating a top-like motion a short range repulsion emerges between the top-like particle. At inter-top distances less than four particle diameters apart, the tops repel but beyond that, distance attract up to 13 particle diameters apart. The tops were also able to locally and transiently anneal the passive monolayer. Thus we demonstrate that by tuning several parameters of the hybrid active matter system, one can observe very different emergent behavior.

Keywords: active matter, colloids, ferromagnetic, annealing

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Authors: M. H. Shwehdi, S. Raja Mohammad

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Recently energy savings have become more pronounced as a result of the world financial crises as well the unstable oil prices. Certainly all entities needs to adapt Energy Conservation and Management Strategies due to high monthly consumption of their spread locations and advancements of its telecom systems. These system improvements necessitate the establishment of more exchange centers as well provide energy savings. This paper investigates the impact of HVAC System Characteristics, Operational Strategies, the impact of Envelope Thermal Characteristics, and energy conservation measures. These are classified under three types of measures i.e. Zero-Investment; Low-Investment and High-Investment Energy Conservation Measures. The study shows that the Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) pertaining to the HVAC system characteristics and operation represent the highest potential for energy reduction, attention should be given to window thermal and solar radiation characteristics when large window areas are used. The type of glazing system needs to be carefully considered in the early design phase of future buildings. Paper will present the thermal optimization of different size centers in the two hot-dry and hot-humid Saudi Arabian city of Al Khobar, East province.

Keywords: energy conservation, optimization, thermal design, intermittent operation, exchange centers, hot-humid climate, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Yeonjeong Lee, Kyoung-jae Kim, Youngtae Kim

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This study proposes a novel recommender system that uses data mining and multi-model ensemble techniques to enhance the recommendation performance through reflecting the precise user’s preference. The proposed model consists of two steps. In the first step, this study uses logistic regression, decision trees, and artificial neural networks to predict customers who have high likelihood to purchase products in each product group. Then, this study combines the results of each predictor using the multi-model ensemble techniques such as bagging and bumping. In the second step, this study uses the market basket analysis to extract association rules for co-purchased products. Finally, the system selects customers who have high likelihood to purchase products in each product group and recommends proper products from same or different product groups to them through above two steps. We test the usability of the proposed system by using prototype and real-world transaction and profile data. In addition, we survey about user satisfaction for the recommended product list from the proposed system and the randomly selected product lists. The results also show that the proposed system may be useful in real-world online shopping store.

Keywords: product recommender system, ensemble technique, association rules, decision tree, artificial neural networks

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Authors: Kinjal Trivedi, Ramesh V. Upadhyay

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Magnetic fluid as a nanolubricant is a most recent field of study due to its unusual properties that can be tuned by applying a magnetic field. In present work, four ball tester has been used to investigate the tribological properties of the magnetic fluid having a 4 wt% of nanoparticles. The structural characterization of fluid shows crystallite size of particle is 11.7 nm and particles are nearly spherical in nature. The magnetic characterization shows the fluid saturation magnetization is 2.2 kA/m. The magnetic field applied using permanent strip magnet (0 to 1.6 mT) on the faces of the lock nut and fixing a solenoid (0 to 50 mT) around a shaft, such that shaft rotates freely. The magnetic flux line for both the systems analyzed using finite elemental analysis. The coefficient of friction increases with the application of magnetic field using permanent strip magnet compared to zero field value. While for the solenoid, it decreases at 20 mT. The wear scar diameter is lower for 1.1 mT and 20 mT when the magnetic field applied using permanent strip magnet and solenoid, respectively. The coefficient of friction and wear scar reduced by 29 % and 7 % at 20 mT using solenoid. The worn surface analysis carried out using Scanning Electron Microscope and Atomic Force Microscope to understand the wear mechanism. The results are explained on the basis of structure formation in a magnetic fluid upon application of magnetic field. It is concluded that the tribological properties of magnetic fluid depend on magnetic field and its applied direction.

Keywords: four ball tester, magnetic fluid, nanolubricant, tribology

Procedia PDF Downloads 220

Authors: Minh Nguyen

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Today, QR or Quick Response Codes are prevalent, and mobile/smart devices can efficiently read and understand them. Therefore, we can see their appearance in many areas, such as storing web pages/websites, business phone numbers, redirecting to an app download, business location, social media. The popularity of the QR Code is mainly because of its many advantages, such as it can hold a good amount of information, is small, easy to scan and read by a general RGB camera, and it can still work with some damages on its surface. However, there are still some issues. For instance, some areas needed to be kept untouched for its successful decode (e.g., the “Finder Patterns,” the “Quiet Zone,” etc.), the capability of built-in auto-correction is not robust enough, and it is not flexible enough for many application such as Augment Reality (AR). We proposed a new Colour Quick Response Code that has several advantages over the original ones: (1) there is no untouchable area, (2) it allows up to 40% of the entire code area to be damaged, (3) it is more beneficial for Augmented Reality applications, and (4) it is back-compatible and readable by available QR Code scanners such as Pyzbar. From our experience, our Colour Quick Response Code is significantly more flexible on damage compared to the original QR Code. Our code is believed to be suitable in situations where standard 2D Barcodes fail to work, such as curved and shiny surfaces, for instance, medical blood test sample tubes and syringes.

Keywords: QR code, computer vision, image processing, 2D barcode

Procedia PDF Downloads 100

Authors: Meltem Eryılmaz

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With the emergence of the COVID-19 infection outbreak, the socio-cultural, political, economic, educational systems dynamics of the world have gone through a major change, especially in the educational field, specifically dentistry preclinical education, where the students must have a certain amount of real-time experience in endodontics and other various procedures. The totality of the digital and physical elements that make our five sense organs feel as if we really exist in a virtual world is called virtual reality. Virtual reality, which is very popular today, has started to be used in education. With the inclusion of developing technology in education and training environments, virtual learning platforms have been designed to enrich students' learning experiences. The field of health is also affected by these current developments, and the number of virtual reality applications developed for students studying dentistry is increasing day by day. The most widely used tools of this technology are virtual reality glasses. With virtual reality glasses, you can look any way you want in a world designed in 3D and navigate as you wish. With this project, solutions that will respond to different types of dental practices of students who study dentistry with virtual reality applications are produced. With this application, students who cannot find the opportunity to work with patients in distance education or who want to improve themselves at home have unlimited trial opportunities. Unity 2021, Visual Studio 2019, Cardboard SDK are used in the study.

Keywords: dentistry, intelligent tutoring system, virtual reality, online learning, COVID-19

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Yao-Hong Tsai

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Due to the sensor technology, video surveillance has become the main way for security control in every big city in the world. Surveillance is usually used by governments for intelligence gathering, the prevention of crime, the protection of a process, person, group or object, or the investigation of crime. Many surveillance systems based on computer vision technology have been developed in recent years. Moving target tracking is the most common task for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to find and track objects of interest in mobile aerial surveillance for civilian applications. The paper is focused on vision-based collision avoidance for UAVs by recurrent neural networks. First, images from cameras on UAV were fused based on deep convolutional neural network. Then, a recurrent neural network was constructed to obtain high-level image features for object tracking and extracting low-level image features for noise reducing. The system distributed the calculation of the whole system to local and cloud platform to efficiently perform object detection, tracking and collision avoidance based on multiple UAVs. The experiments on several challenging datasets showed that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle, object tracking, deep learning, collision avoidance

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Authors: Habibullah Pathan

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The present study aims to explore problems faced by English Language Teachers (ELT) while implementing the Outcome Based Education (OBE) model in engineering universities of Sindh. OBE is an emerging model initiative of the International Engineering Alliance. Traditional educational systems are teacher-centered or curriculum-centered, in which learners are not able to achieve desired outcomes, but the OBE model enables learners to know the outcomes before the start of the program. OBE is a circular process that begins from the needs and demands of society to stakeholders who ask the experts to produce the alumnus who can fulfill the needs and ends up getting new enrollment in the respective programs who can work according to the demands. In all engineering institutions, engineering courses besides English language courses are taught on the OBE model. English language teachers were interviewed to learn the in-depth of the problems faced by them. The study found that teachers were facing problems including pedagogical, OBE training, assessment, evaluation and administrative support. This study will be a guide for public and private English language teachers to cope with these challenges while teaching the English language on the OBE model. OBE is an emerging model by which the institutions can produce such a product that can meet the demands.

Keywords: problems of ELT teachers, outcome based education (OBE), implementing, assessment

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Authors: Elyas Akbari, Jafar Hasani, Newsha Dehestani, Mohammad Khaleghi, Alireza Moradi

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The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of emotional experience induction in the mirror neurons systems (MNS) activity with regard to the spectrum of depressive symptoms. For this purpose, at first stage, 449 students of Kharazmi University of Tehran were selected randomly and completed the second version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Then, 36 students with standard Z-score equal or above +1.5 and equal or equal or below -1.5 were selected to construct two groups of high and low spectrum of depressive symptoms. In the next stage, the basic activity of MNS was recorded (mu wave) before presenting the positive and negative emotional video clips by Electroencephalography (EEG) technique. The findings related to emotion induction (neutral, negative and positive emotion) demonstrated that the activity of recorded mirror neuron areas had a significant difference between the depressive and non-depressive groups. These findings suggest that probably processing of negative emotions in depressive individuals is due to the idea that the mirror neurons in motor cortex matched up the activity of cognitive regions with the person’s schema. Considering the results of the present study, it could be said that the MNS provides a substrate where emotional disorders can be studied and evaluated.

Keywords: emotional experiences, mirror neurons, depressive symptoms, negative and positive emotion

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Authors: Evelyn Castle, Adam Thompson

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Background: In 2013, the Kano State Primary Health Care Management Board redesigned its Routine immunization supply chain from diffused pull to direct delivery push. It addressed issues around stockouts and reduced time spent by health facility staff collecting, and reporting on vaccine usage. The health care board sought the help of a 3PL for twice-monthly deliveries from its cold store to 484 facilities across 44 local governments. eHA’s Health Delivery Systems group formed a 3PL to serve 326 of these new facilities in partnership with the State. We focused on designing and implementing a technology system throughout. Basic methodologies: GIS Mapping: - Planning the delivery of vaccines to hundreds of health facilities requires detailed route planning for delivery vehicles. Mapping the road networks across Kano and Bauchi with a custom routing tool provided information for the optimization of deliveries. Reducing the number of kilometers driven each round by 20%, - reducing cost and delivery time. Direct Delivery Information System: - Vaccine Direct Deliveries are facilitated through pre-round planning (driven by health facility database, extensive GIS, and inventory workflow rules), manager and driver control panel customizing delivery routines and reporting, progress dashboard, schedules/routes, packing lists, delivery reports, and driver data collection applications. Move: Last Mile Logistics Management System: - MOVE has improved vaccine supply information management to be timely, accurate and actionable. Provides stock management workflow support, alerts management for cold chain exceptions/stock outs, and on-device analytics for health and supply chain staff. Software was built to be offline-first with user-validated interface and experience. Deployed to hundreds of vaccine storage site the improved information tools helps facilitate the process of system redesign and change management. Findings: - Stock-outs reduced from 90% to 33% - Redesigned current health systems and managing vaccine supply for 68% of Kano’s wards. - Near real time reporting and data availability to track stock. - Paperwork burdens of health staff have been dramatically reduced. - Medicine available when the community needs it. - Consistent vaccination dates for children under one to prevent polio, yellow fever, tetanus. - Higher immunization rates = Lower infection rates. - Hundreds of millions of Naira worth of vaccines successfully transported. - Fortnightly service to 326 facilities in 326 wards across 30 Local Government areas. - 6,031 cumulative deliveries. - Over 3.44 million doses transported. - Minimum travel distance covered in a round of delivery is 2000 kms & maximum of 6297 kms. - 153,409 kms travelled by 6 drivers. - 500 facilities in 326 wards. - Data captured and synchronized for the first time. - Data driven decision making now possible. Conclusion: eHA’s Vaccine Direct delivery has met challenges in Kano and Bauchi State and provided a reliable delivery service of vaccinations that ensure t health facilities can run vaccination clinics for children under one. eHA uses innovative technology that delivers vaccines from Northern Nigerian zonal stores straight to healthcare facilities. Helped healthcare workers spend less time managing supplies and more time delivering care, and will be rolled out nationally across Nigeria.

Keywords: direct delivery information system, health delivery system, GIS mapping, Northern Nigeria, vaccines

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Authors: Maria Nejjari, Michel Cloutier, Guylaine Talbot, Martin Lanthier

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The fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a staining technique that allows the identification, detection and quantification of microorganisms without prior cultivation by means of epifluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Oligonucleotide probes have been used to detect bacteria and archaea that colonize the cattle and swine digestive systems. These bacterial strains have been obtained from fecal samples issued from cattle manure and swine slurry. The collection of these samples has been done at 3 different pit’s levels A, B and C with same height. Two collection depth levels have been taken in consideration, one collection level just under the pit’s surface and the second one at the bottom of the pit. Cells were fixed and FISH was performed using oligonucleotides of 15 to 25 nucleotides of length associated with a fluorescent molecule Cy3 or Cy5. The double hybridization using Cy3 probe targeting bacteria (Cy3-EUB338-I) along with a Cy5 probe targeting Archaea (Gy5-ARCH915) gave a better signal. The CLSM images show that there are more bacteria than archaea in swine slurry. However, the choice of fluorescent probes is critical for getting the double hybridization and a unique signature for each microorganism. FISH technique is an easy way to detect pathogens like E. coli O157, Listeria, Salmonella that easily contaminate water streams, agricultural soils and, consequently, food products and endanger human health.

Keywords: archaea, bacteria, detection, FISH, fluorescence

Procedia PDF Downloads 376

Authors: Aijuka Nicholas

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A research study was undertaken to characterize the aquifers and identify the potential groundwater recharge zones in the Kagandi district. Quantitative characterization of hydraulic conductivities of aquifers is of fundamental importance to the study of groundwater flow and contaminant transport in aquifers. A conditional approach is used to represent the spatial variability of hydraulic conductivity. Briefly, it involves using qualitative and quantitative geologic borehole-log data to generate a three-dimensional (3D) hydraulic conductivity distribution, which is then adjusted through calibration of a 3D groundwater flow model using pumping-test data and historic hydraulic data. The approach consists of several steps. The study area was divided into five sub-watersheds on the basis of artificial drainage divides. A digital terrain model (DTM) was developed using Arc GIS to determine the general drainage pattern of Kagandi watershed. Hydrologic characterization involved the determination of the various hydraulic properties of the aquifers. Potential groundwater recharge zones were identified by integrating various thematic maps pertaining to the digital elevation model, land use, and drainage pattern in Arc GIS and Sufer golden software. The study demonstrates the potential of GIS in delineating groundwater recharge zones and that the developed methodology will be applicable to other watersheds in Uganda.

Keywords: aquifers, Arc GIS, groundwater recharge, recharge zones

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Authors: Agung Budi Muljono, I Made Ginarsa, I Made Ari Nrartha

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A large-scale power system (LSPS) consists of two or more sub-systems connected by inter-connecting transmission. Loading pattern on an LSPS always changes from time to time and varies depend on consumer need. The serious instability problem is appeared in an LSPS due to load fluctuation in all of the bus. Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS)-based power system stabilizer (PSS) is presented to cover the stability problem and to enhance the stability of an LSPS. The ANFIS control is presented because the ANFIS control is more effective than Mamdani fuzzy control in the computation aspect. Simulation results show that the presented PSS is able to maintain the stability by decreasing peak overshoot to the value of −2.56 × 10−5 pu for rotor speed deviation Δω2−3. The presented PSS also makes the settling time to achieve at 3.78 s on local mode oscillation. Furthermore, the presented PSS is able to improve the peak overshoot and settling time of Δω3−9 to the value of −0.868 × 10−5 pu and at the time of 3.50 s for inter-area oscillation.

Keywords: ANFIS, large-scale, power system, PSS, stability enhancement

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Authors: K. Shaji Mon, P. R. John Sreenidhi

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In deep-submicrometer CMOS processes, time-domain resolution of a digital signal is becoming higher than voltage resolution of analog signals. This claim is nowadays pushing toward a new circuit design paradigm in which the traditional analog signal processing is expected to be progressively substituted by the processing of times in the digital domain. Within this novel paradigm, digitally controlled delay lines (DCDL) should play the role of digital-to-analog converters in traditional, analog-intensive, circuits. Digital delay locked loops are highly prevalent in integrated systems.The proposed paper addresses the glitches present in delay circuits along with area,power dissipation and signal integrity.The digitally controlled delay lines(DCDL) under study have been designed in a 90 nm CMOS technology 6 layer metal Copper Strained SiGe Low K Dielectric. Simulation and synthesis results show that the novel circuits exhibit no glitches for dual output coarse DCDL with less power dissipation and consumes less area compared to the glitch free NAND based DCDL.

Keywords: glitch free, NAND-based DCDL, CMOS, deep-submicrometer

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Authors: Mehaiguene Madjid, Meddi Mohamed

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The results of applying the model WEAP 21 or 'Water Evaluation and Planning System' in Upper and Middle Cheliff are presented in cartographic and graphic forms by considering two scenarios: -Reference scenario 1961-1990, -Climate change scenarios (low and high) for 2020 and 2050. These scenarios are presented together in the results and compared them to know the impact on aquatic systems and water resources. For the low scenario for 2050, a decrease in the rate of runoff / infiltration will be 81.4 to 3.7 Hm3 between 2010 and 2050. While for the high scenario for 2050, the reduction will be 87.2 to 78.9 Hm3 between 2010 and 2050. Comparing the two scenarios, shows that the water supplied will increase by 216.7 Hm3 to 596 Hm3 up to 2050 if we do not take account of climate change. Whereas, if climate change will decrease step by step: from 2010 to 2026: for the climate change scenario (high scenario) by 2050, water supplied from 346 Hm3 to 361 Hm3. That of the reference scenario (1961-1990) will increase to 379.7 Hm3 in 2050. This is caused by the increased demand (increased population, irrigated area, etc ). The balance water management basin is positive for the different Horizons and different situations. If we do not take account of climate change will be the outflow of 5881.4 Hm3. This excess at the basin can be used as part of a transfer for example.

Keywords: balance water, management basin, climate change scenario, Upper and Middle Cheliff

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Authors: D. Li

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Optical thin films are used in a wide variety of optical components and there are many software tools programmed for advancing multilayer thin film design. The available software packages for designing the thin film structure may not provide optimum designs. Normally, almost all current software programs obtain their final designs either from optimizing a starting guess or by technique, which may or may not involve a pseudorandom process, that give different answers every time, depending upon the initial conditions. With the increasing power of personal computers, functional methods in optimization and synthesis of optical multilayer systems have been developed such as DGL Optimization, Simulated Annealing, Genetic Algorithms, Needle Optimization, Inductive Optimization and Flip-Flop Optimization. Among these, DGL Optimization has proved its efficiency in optical thin film designs. The application of the DGL optimization technique to the design of optical coating is presented. A DGL optimization technique is provided, and its main features are discussed. Guidelines on the application of the DGL optimization technique to various types of design problems are given. The innovative global optimization strategies used in a software tool, OnlyFilm, to optimize multilayer thin film designs through different filter designs are outlined. OnlyFilm is a powerful, versatile, and user-friendly thin film software on the market, which combines optimization and synthesis design capabilities with powerful analytical tools for optical thin film designers. It is also the only thin film design software that offers a true global optimization function.

Keywords: optical coatings, optimization, design software, thin film design

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Authors: Pankaj Prashar, Bimlesh Kumar, Ankita Sood, Anamika Gautam

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Pharmacovigilance (PV) is a rapidly growing discipline in pharmaceutical industries as an integral part of clinical research and drug development over the past few decades. PV carries a breadth of scope from drug manufacturing to its regulation with safer utilization. The fundamental steps of PV not only includes data collection and verification, coding of drugs with adverse drug reactions, causality assessment and timely reporting to the authorities but also monitoring drug manufacturing, safety issues, product quality and conduction of due diligence. Standardization of adverse event information, collaboration of multiple departments in different companies, preparation of documents in accordance to both governmental as well as non-governmental organizations (FDA, EMA, GVP, ICH) are the advancements in discipline of PV. De-harmonization, lack of predictive drug safety models, improper funding by government, non-reporting, and non-acceptability of ADRs by developing countries and reports directly from patients to the monitoring centres respectively are the major road backs of PV. Mandatory pharmacovigilance reporting, frequent inspections, funding by government, educating and training medical students, pharmacists and nurses in this segment can bring about empowerment in PV. This area needs to be addressed with a sense of urgency for the safe utilization of pharmaceuticals.

Keywords: pharmacovigilance, regulatory, adverse event, drug safety

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Authors: Ben Clapperton, Daniel Stahl, Kimberley Goldsmith, Trudie Chalder

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Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a condition characterised by chronic disabling fatigue and other symptoms that currently can't be explained by any underlying medical condition. Although clinical trials support the effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), the success rate for individual patients is modest. Patients vary in their response and little is known which factors predict or moderate treatment outcomes. The aim of the project is to develop a prediction model from baseline characteristics of patients, such as demographics, clinical and psychological variables, which may predict likely treatment outcome and provide guidance for clinical decision making and help clinicians to recommend the best treatment. The project is aimed at identifying subgroups of patients with similar baseline characteristics that are predictive of treatment effects using modern cluster analyses and data mining machine learning algorithms. The characteristics of these groups will then be used to inform the types of individuals who benefit from a specific treatment. In addition, results will provide a better understanding of for whom the treatment works. The suitability of different clustering methods to identify subgroups and their response to different treatments of CFS patients is compared.

Keywords: chronic fatigue syndrome, latent class analysis, prediction modelling, self-organizing maps

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Authors: Loretta Ichim, Dan Popescu, Grigore Stamatescu

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The paper reports the collaboration between a top university from Romania and three companies for the implementation of a research project in a multidisciplinary domain, focusing on the impact and benefits both for the education and industry. The joint activities were developed under the Space Technology and Advanced Research Program (STAR), funded by the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) for a university-industry partnership. The context was defined by linking the European Space Agency optional programs, with the development and promotion national research, with the educational and industrial capabilities in the aeronautics, security and related areas by increasing the collaboration between academic and industrial entities as well as by realizing high-level scientific production. The project name is Multisensory Robotic System for Aerial Monitoring of Critical Infrastructure Systems (MUROS), which was carried 2013-2016. The project included the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (coordinator) and three companies, which manufacture and market unmanned aerial systems. The project had as main objective the development of an integrated system for combined ground wireless sensor networks and UAV monitoring in various application scenarios for critical infrastructure surveillance. This included specific activities related to fundamental and applied research, technology transfer, prototype implementation and result dissemination. The core area of the contributions laid in distributed data processing and communication mechanisms, advanced image processing and embedded system development. Special focus is given by the paper to analyzing the impact the project implementation in the educational process, directly or indirectly, through the faculty members (professors and students) involved in the research team. Three main directions are discussed: a) enabling students to carry out internships at the partner companies, b) handling advanced topics and industry requirements at the master's level, c) experiments and concept validation for doctoral thesis. The impact of the research work (as the educational component) developed by the faculty members on the increasing performances of the companies’ products is highlighted. The collaboration between university and companies was well balanced both for contributions and results. The paper also presents the outcomes of the project which reveals the efficient collaboration between high education and industry: master thesis, doctoral thesis, conference papers, journal papers, technical documentation for technology transfer, prototype, and patent. The experience can provide useful practices of blending research and education within an academia-industry cooperation framework while the lessons learned represent a starting point in debating the new role of advanced research and development performing companies in association with higher education. This partnership, promoted at UE level, has a broad impact beyond the constrained scope of a single project and can develop into long-lasting collaboration while benefiting all stakeholders: students, universities and the surrounding knowledge-based economic and industrial ecosystem. Due to the exchange of experiences between the university (UPB) and the manufacturing company (AFT Design), a new project, SIMUL, under the Bridge Grant Program (Romanian executive agency UEFISCDI) was started (2016 – 2017). This project will continue the educational research for innovation on master and doctoral studies in MUROS thematic (collaborative multi-UAV application for flood detection).

Keywords: education process, multisensory robotic system, research and innovation project, technology transfer, university-industry partnership

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Authors: Xue Bai, Ranran He, Chang Liu

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Care planning before the onset of intensive care needs can benefit older adults’ psychological well-being and increases families’ ability to manage caregiving crises and cope with care transitions. Effective care planning requires collaborative ‘team-work’ in families. However, future care planning has not been substantially examined in intergenerational or family contexts, let alone among immigrant families who have to face particular challenges in parental caregiving. From a family systems perspective, this study intends to explore the extent, processes, and contents of intergenerational care planning of Mainland immigrant ageing families in Hong Kong and to examine the intergenerational congruence and discrepancies in the care planning process. Adopting a qualitative research design, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 adult child-older parent pairs and another 33 adult children. In total, 50 adult children who migrated to Hong Kong after the age of 18 with more than three years’ work experience in Hong Kong had at least one parent aged over 55 years old who was not a Hong Kong resident and considered his/herself as the primary caregiver of the parent were recruited. Seventeen ageing parents of the recruited adult children were invited for dyadic interviews. Scarcity of caregiving resources in the context of cross-border migration, intergenerational discrepancies in care planning stages, both generations’ struggle and ambivalence toward filial care, intergenerational transmission of care values, and facilitating role of accumulated family capital in care preparation were primary themes concluded from participants’ narratives. Compared with ageing parents, immigrant adult children generally displayed lower levels of care planning. Although with a strong awareness of parents’ future care needs, few adult children were found engaged in concrete planning activities. This is largely due to their uncertainties toward future life and career, huge work and living pressure, the relatively good health status of their parents, and restrictions of public welfare policies in the receiving society. By contrast, children’s cross-border migration encouraged ageing parents to have early and clear preparation for future care. Ageing parents mostly expressed low filial care expectations when realizing the scarcity of family caregiving resources in the cross-border context. Even though they prefer in-person support from children, most of them prepare themselves for independent ageing to prioritize the next generation’s needs or choose to utilize paid services, welfare systems, friend networks, or extended family networks in their sending society. Adult children were frequently found caught in the dilemma of desiring to provide high quality and in-person support for their parents but lacking sufficient resources. Notably, a salient pattern of intergenerational transmission in terms of family and care values and ideal care arrangement emerged from intergenerational care preparation. Moreover, the positive role of accumulated family capital generated by a reunion in care preparation and joint decision-making were also identified. The findings of the current study will enhance professionals’ and service providers’ awareness of intergenerational care planning in cross-border migration contexts, inform services to alleviate unpreparedness for elderly care and intergenerational discrepancies concerning care arrangements and broaden family services to encompass intergenerational care planning interventions. Acknowledgment: This study is supported by a General Research Grant from the Research Grants Council of the HKSAR, China (Project Number: 15603818).

Keywords: intergenerational care planning, mainland immigrants in Hong Kong, migrant family, older adults

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