Search results for: Md. Omar Bin Harun Khan

Authors: Norsuhana Omar, Amilia Aminuddina Zaiton Zakaria, Raifana Rosa Mohamad Sattar, Kalaivani Chellappan, Mohd Alauddin Mohd Ali, Norizam Salamt, Zanariyah Asmawi, Norliza Saari, Aini Farzana Zulkefli, Nor Anita Megat Mohd. Nordin

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Inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of vascular dysfunction leading to arterial stiffness. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AS), as tools for the assessment of vascular damages are widely used and have been shown to predict cardiovascular disease (CVD). C-reactive protein (CRP) is a marker of inflammation. Several studies noted that regular exercise is associated with reduced arterial stiffness. The lack of exercise among Malaysians and the increasing CVD morbidity and mortality among young men are of concern. In Malaysia data on the workplace exercise intervention is scarce. A programme was designed to enable subjects to increase their level of walking as part of their daily work routine and self-monitored by using pedometers. The aim of this study to evaluate the reducing of inflammation by measuring CRP and improvement arterial stiffness measured by carotid femoral PWV (PWVCF) and AI. A total of 70 young men (20 - 40 years) who were sedentary, achieving less than 5,000 steps/day in casual walking with 2 or more cardiovascular risk factors were recruited in Institute of Vocational Skills for Youth (IKBN Hulu Langat). Subjects were randomly assigned to a control (CG) (n=34; no change in walking) and pedometer group (PG) (n=36; minimum target: 8,000 steps/day). The CRP was measured by using immunological method while PWVCF and AI were measured using Vicorder. All parameters were measured at baseline and after 12 weeks. Data for analysis was conducted using Statistical Package of Social Sciences Version 22 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). At post intervention, the CG step counts were similar (4983 ± 366vs 5697 ± 407steps/day). The PG increased step count from 4996 ± 805 to 10,128 ±511 steps/day (P<0.001). The PG showed significant improvement in anthropometric variables and lipid (time and group effect p<0.001). For vascular assessment, the PG showed significantly decreased for time and effect (p<0.001) for PWV (7.21± 0.83 to 6.42 ± 0.89) m/s; AI (11.88± 6.25 to 8.83 ± 3.7) % and CRP (pre= 2.28 ± 3.09, post=1.08± 1.37mg/L). However, no changes were seen in CG. As a conclusion, a pedometer-based walking programme may be an effective strategy for promoting increased daily physical activity which reduces cardiovascular risk markers and thus improve cardiovascular health in terms of inflammation and arterial stiffness. The community intervention for health maintenance has potential to adopt walking as an exercise and adopting vascular fitness index as the performance measuring tools.

Keywords: arterial stiffness, exercise, inflammation, pedometer

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Authors: Khalil Ullah Khan

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Linguistic abilities in students with hearing impairment yet remain a concern for educationists. The emerging technological support and provisions in the recent era vow to have addressed the situation and claim significant contributions in terms of linguistic repertoire. Being a descriptive and quantitative paradigm of study, the purpose of this research set forth was to assess the linguistic competencies of students with hearing impairment in the English language. The goals were further broken down to identify the level of reading abilities in the subject population. The population involved students with HI studying at a higher secondary level in Lahore. A simple random sampling technique was used to choose a sample of fifty students. A purposive curriculum-based assessment was designed in line with the accelerated learning program by the Punjab Government to assess Linguistic competence among the sample. Further to it, an Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) corresponding to reading levels was also developed by researchers duly validated and piloted before the final use. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to reach the findings. Spearman’s correlation was used to find out the relationship between the degree of hearing loss, grade level, gender and type of amplification device. An Independent sample t-test was used to compare means among groups. Major findings of the study revealed that students with hearing impairment exhibit significant deviation from the mean scores when compared in terms of grades, severity and amplification device. The study divulged that respective students with HI have yet failed to qualify for an independent level of reading according to their grades, as the majority fall at the frustration level of word recognition and passage comprehension. The poorer performance can be attributed to lower linguistic competence, as it is shown in the frustration levels of reading, writing and comprehension. The correlation analysis did reflect an improved performance grade. Wise. However, scores could only correspond to frustration level, and independent levels were never achieved. Reported achievements at the instructional level of the subject population may further to linguistic skills if practiced purposively.

Keywords: linguistic competence, hearing impairment, reading levels, educationist

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Authors: Muhammad Ather Nadeem, Bilal Ahmad Khan, Tasawer Abbas

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Nanoherbicides utilize nanotechnology to enhance the delivery of biological or chemical herbicides using combinations of nanomaterials. The aim of this research was to examine the efficacy of chitosan nanoparticles containing MCPA herbicide as a potential eco-friendly alternative for weed control in wheat crops. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and ultraviolet absorbance were used to analyze the developed nanoparticles. The SEM analysis indicated that the average size of the particles was 35 nm, forming clusters with a porous structure. Both nanoparticles of fluroxyper + MCPA exhibited maximal absorption peaks at a wavelength of 320 nm. The compound fluroxyper +MCPA has a strong peak at a 2θ value of 30.55°, which correlates to the 78 plane of the anatase phase. The weeds, including Chenopodium album, Lathyrus aphaca, Angalis arvensis, and Melilotus indica, were sprayed with the nanoparticles while they were in the third or fourth leaf stage. There were seven distinct dosages used: doses (D0 (Check weeds), D1 (Recommended dose of traditional herbicide, D2 (Recommended dose of Nano-herbicide (NPs-H)), D3 (NPs-H with 05-fold lower dose), D4 ((NPs-H) with 10-fold lower dose), D5 (NPs-H with 15-fold lower dose), and D6 (NPs-H with 20-fold lower dose)). The chitosan-based nanoparticles of MCPA at the prescribed dosage of conventional herbicide resulted in complete death and visual damage, with a 100% fatality rate. The dosage that was 5-fold lower exhibited the lowest levels of plant height (3.95 cm), chlorophyll content (5.63%), dry biomass (0.10 g), and fresh biomass (0.33 g) in the broad-leaved weed of wheat. The herbicide nanoparticles, when used at a dosage 10-fold lower than that of conventional herbicides, had a comparable impact on the prescribed dosage. Nano-herbicides have the potential to improve the efficiency of standard herbicides by increasing stability and lowering toxicity.

Keywords: mortality, visual injury, chlorophyl contents, chitosan-based nanoparticles

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Authors: Omar Faruqe Hamim, M. Shamsul Hoque, Rich C. McIlroy, Katherine L. Plant, Neville A. Stanton

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Road safety has become an alarming issue, especially in low-middle income developing countries. The traditional approaches lack the out of the box thinking, making engineers confined to applying usual techniques in making roads safer. A socio-technical approach has recently been introduced in improving road intersections through designing with intent. This Design With Intent (DWI) approach aims to give practitioners a more nuanced approach to design and behavior, working with people, people’s understanding, and the complexities of everyday human experience. It's a collection of design patterns —and a design and research approach— for exploring the interactions between design and people’s behavior across products, services, and environments, both digital and physical. Through this approach, it can be seen that how designing with people in behavior change can be applied to social and environmental problems, as well as commercially. It has a total of 101 cards across eight different lenses, such as architectural, error-proofing, interaction, ludic, perceptual, cognitive, Machiavellian, and security lens each having its own distinct characteristics of extracting ideas from the participant of this approach. For this research purpose, a three-legged accident blackspot intersection of a national highway has been chosen to perform the DWI workshop. Participants from varying fields such as civil engineering, naval architecture and marine engineering, urban and regional planning, and sociology actively participated for a day long workshop. While going through the workshops, the participants were given a preamble of the accident scenario and a brief overview of DWI approach. Design cards of varying lenses were distributed among 10 participants and given an hour and a half for brainstorming and generating ideas to improve the safety of the selected intersection. After the brainstorming session, the participants spontaneously went through roundtable discussions regarding the ideas they have come up with. According to consensus of the forum, ideas were accepted or rejected. These generated ideas were then synthesized and agglomerated to bring about an improvement scheme for the intersection selected in our study. To summarize the improvement ideas from DWI approach, color coding of traffic lanes for separate vehicles, channelizing the existing bare intersection, providing advance warning traffic signs, cautionary signs and educational signs motivating road users to drive safe, using textured surfaces at approach with rumble strips before the approach of intersection were the most significant one. The motive of this approach is to bring about new ideas from the road users and not just depend on traditional schemes to increase the efficiency, safety of roads as well and to ensure the compliance of road users since these features are being generated from the minds of users themselves.

Keywords: design with intent, road safety, human experience, behavior

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Authors: Selim M. Khan

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Indoor air quality is strongly influenced by the presence of radioactive radon (222Rn) gas. Indeed, exposure to high 222Rn concentrations is unequivocally linked to DNA damage and lung cancer and is a worsening issue in North American and European built environments, having increased over time within newer housing stocks as a function of as yet unclear variables. Indoor air radon concentration can be influenced by a wide range of environmental, structural, and behavioral factors. As some of these factors are quantitative while others are qualitative, no single statistical model can determine indoor radon level precisely while simultaneously considering all these variables across a complex and highly diverse dataset. The ability of AI- machine (deep) learning to simultaneously analyze multiple quantitative and qualitative features makes it suitable to predict radon with a high degree of precision. Using Canadian and Swedish long-term indoor air radon exposure data, we are using artificial deep neural network models with random weights and polynomial statistical models in MATLAB to assess and predict radon health risk to human as a function of geospatial, human behavioral, and built environmental metrics. Our initial artificial neural network with random weights model run by sigmoid activation tested different combinations of variables and showed the highest prediction accuracy (>96%) within the reasonable iterations. Here, we present details of these emerging methods and discuss strengths and weaknesses compared to the traditional artificial neural network and statistical methods commonly used to predict indoor air quality in different countries. We propose an artificial deep neural network with random weights as a highly effective method for assessing and predicting indoor radon.

Keywords: radon, radiation protection, lung cancer, aI-machine deep learnng, risk assessment, risk prediction, Europe, North America

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Authors: Riya Bose, Ashok Bera, Manas R. Parida, Anirudhha Adhikari, Basamat S. Shaheen, Erkki Alarousu, Jingya Sun, Tom Wu, Osman M. Bakr, Omar F. Mohammed

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This work reports visualization of charge carrier dynamics on the surface of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGSe) nanocrystals in real space and time using four-dimensional scanning ultrafast electron microscopy (4D S-UEM) and correlates it with the optoelectronic properties of the nanocrystals. The surface of the nanocrystals plays a key role in controlling their applicability for light emitting and light harvesting purposes. Typically for quaternary systems like CIGSe, which have many desirable attributes to be used for optoelectronic applications, relative abundance of surface trap states acting as non-radiative recombination centre for charge carriers remains as a major bottleneck preventing further advancements and commercial exploitation of these nanocrystals devices. Though ultrafast spectroscopic techniques allow determining the presence of picosecond carrier trapping channels, because of relative larger penetration depth of the laser beam, only information mainly from the bulk of the nanocrystals is obtained. Selective mapping of such ultrafast dynamical processes on the surfaces of nanocrystals remains as a key challenge, so far out of reach of purely optical probing time-resolved laser techniques. In S-UEM, the optical pulse generated from a femtosecond (fs) laser system is used to generate electron packets from the tip of the scanning electron microscope, instead of the continuous electron beam used in the conventional setup. This pulse is synchronized with another optical excitation pulse that initiates carrier dynamics in the sample. The principle of S-UEM is to detect the secondary electrons (SEs) generated in the sample, which is emitted from the first few nanometers of the top surface. Constructed at different time delays between the optical and electron pulses, these SE images give direct and precise information about the carrier dynamics on the surface of the material of interest. In this work, we report selective mapping of surface dynamics in real space and time of CIGSe nanocrystals applying 4D S-UEM. We show that the trap states can be considerably passivated by ZnS shelling of the nanocrystals, and the carrier dynamics can be significantly slowed down. We also compared and discussed the S-UEM kinetics with the carrier dynamics obtained from conventional ultrafast time-resolved techniques. Additionally, a direct effect of the state trap removal can be observed in the enhanced photoresponse of the nanocrystals after shelling. Direct observation of surface dynamics will not only provide a profound understanding of the photo-physical mechanisms on nanocrystals’ surfaces but also enable to unlock their full potential for light emitting and harvesting applications.

Keywords: 4D scanning ultrafast microscopy, charge carrier dynamics, nanocrystals, optoelectronics, surface passivation, trap states

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Authors: Peter W. Woodruff, Georgios Ponirakis, Reem Ibrahim, Amani Ahmed, Hoda Gad, Ioannis N. Petropoulos, Adnan Khan, Ahmed Elsotouhy, Surjith Vattoth, Mahmoud K. M. Alshawwaf, Mohamed Adil Shah Khoodoruth, Marwan Ramadan, Anjushri Bhagat, James Currie, Ziyad Mahfoud, Hanadi Al Hamad, Ahmed Own, Peter Haddad, Majid Alabdulla, Rayaz A. Malik

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Introduction:- We aimed to test the hypothesis that, using corneal confocal microscopy (a non-invasive method for assessing corneal nerve fibre integrity), patients with schizophrenia would show neuronal abnormalities compared with healthy participants. Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental and progressive neurodegenerative disease, for which there are no validated biomarkers. Corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) is a non-invasive ophthalmic imaging biomarker that can be used to detect neuronal abnormalities in neuropsychiatric syndromes. Methods:- Patients with schizophrenia (DSM-V criteria) without other causes of peripheral neuropathy and healthy controls underwent CCM, vibration perception threshold (VPT) and sudomotor function testing. The diagnostic accuracy of CCM in distinguishing patients from controls was assessed using the area under the curve (AUC) of the Receiver Operating Characterstics (ROC) curve. Findings:- Participants with schizophrenia (n=17) and controls (n=38) with comparable age (35.7±8.5 vs 35.6±12.2, P=0.96) were recruited. Patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher body weight (93.9±25.5 vs 77.1±10.1, P=0.02), lower Low Density Lipoproteins (2.6±1.0 vs 3.4±0.7, P=0.02), but comparable systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HbA1c, total cholesterol, triglycerides and High Density Lipoproteins were comparable with control participants. Patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD, fibers/mm2) (23.5±7.8 vs 35.6±6.5, p<0.0001), branch density (CNBD, branches/mm2) (34.4±26.9 vs 98.1±30.6, p<0.0001), and fiber length (CNFL, mm/mm2) (14.3±4.7 vs 24.2±3.9, p<0.0001) but no difference in VPT (6.1±3.1 vs 4.5±2.8, p=0.12) and electrochemical skin conductance (61.0±24.0 vs 68.9±12.3, p=0.23) compared with controls. The diagnostic accuracy of CNFD, CNBD and CNFL to distinguish patients with schizophrenia from healthy controls were, according to the AUC, (95% CI): 87.0% (76.8-98.2), 93.2% (84.2-102.3), 93.2% (84.4-102.1), respectively. Conclusion:- In conclusion, CCM can be used to help identify neuronal changes and has a high diagnostic accuracy to distinguish subjects with schizophrenia from healthy controls.

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Authors: Saima Saleem, Zubair Abbasi, Abdul Hameed, Mansoor Ahmed Khan, Navid Rashid Qureshi, Abid Azhar

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Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is the leading cause of death in the developing countries like Pakistan. This problem aggravates because of the excessive use of available chewing products. In spite of widespread information on their use and purported legislations against their use the Pakistani markets are classical examples of selling chewable carcinogenic mutagens. Reported studies indicated that these products are rich in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and polyphenols. TP53 gene is involved in the suppression of tumor. It has been reported that somatic mutations caused by TP53 gene are the foundation of the cancer. This study aims to find the loss of TP53 functions due to mutation/polymorphism caused by genomic alteration and interaction with tobacco and its related ingredients. Total 260 tissues and blood specimens were collected from OSCC patients and compared with age and sex matched controls. Mutations in exons 2-11 of TP53 were examined by PCR-SSCP. Samples showing mobility shift were directly sequenced. Two mutations were found in exon 4 at nucleotide position 108 and 215 and one in exon 7 at nucleotide position 719 of the coding sequences in patient’s tumor samples. These results show that substitution of proline with arginine at codon 72 and serine with threonine at codon 240 of p53 protein. These polymorphic changes, found in tumor samples of OSCC, could be involved in loss of heterozygocity and apoptotic activity in the binding domain of TP53. The model of the mutated TP53 gene elaborated a nonfunctional unfolded p53 protein, suggesting an important role of these mutations in p53 protein inactivation and malfunction. This nonfunctional 3D model also indicates that exogenous tobacco related carcinogens may act as DNA-damaging agents affecting the structure of DNA. The interpretations could be helpful in establishing the pathways responsible for tumor formation in OSCC patients.

Keywords: TP53 mutation/polymorphism, OSCC, PCR-SSCP, direct DNA sequencing, 3D structure

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Authors: Imad Khan, Imran Shafi, Sarmad Farooq

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Large diameter pipes, barrels, tubes, and ducts are used in a variety of applications covering civil and defense-related technologies. This may include heating/cooling networks, sign poles, bracing, casing, and artillery and tank gun barrels. These large diameter assemblies require regular inspection and cleaning to increase their life and reduce replacement costs. This paper describes the design, development, and testing results of an efficient yet simplified, low maintenance mechanical design controlled with minimal essential electronics using an electric motor for a non-technical staff. The proposed solution provides a simplified user interface and an automated cleaning mechanism that requires a single user to optimally clean pipes and barrels in the range of 105 mm to 203 mm caliber. The proposed system employs linear motion of specially designed brush along the barrel using a chain of specific strength and a pulley anchor attached to both ends of the barrel. A specially designed and manufactured gearbox is coupled with an AC motor to allow movement of contact brush with high torque to allow efficient cleaning. A suitably powered AC motor is fixed to the front adapter mounted on the muzzle side whereas the rear adapter has a pulley-based anchor mounted towards the breach block in case of a gun barrel. A mix of soft nylon and hard copper bristles-based large surface brush is connected through a strong steel chain to motor and anchor pulley. The system is equipped with limit switches to auto switch the direction when one end is reached on its operation. The testing results based on carefully established performance indicators indicate the superiority of the proposed user-friendly cleaning mechanism vis-à-vis its life cycle cost.

Keywords: pipe cleaning mechanism, limiting switch, pipe cleaning robot, large pipes

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Authors: Zahid Khalil, Saad Ul Haque, Asif Khan

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Decision making about identifying suitable sites for any project by considering different parameters is difficult. Using GIS and Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) can make it easy for those projects. This technology has proved to be an efficient and adequate in acquiring the desired information. In this study, GIS and MCA were employed to identify the suitable sites for small dams in Dadu Tehsil, Sindh. The GIS software is used to create all the spatial parameters for the analysis. The parameters that derived are slope, drainage density, rainfall, land use / land cover, soil groups, Curve Number (CN) and runoff index with a spatial resolution of 30m. The data used for deriving above layers include 30-meter resolution SRTM DEM, Landsat 8 imagery, and rainfall from National Centre of Environment Prediction (NCEP) and soil data from World Harmonized Soil Data (WHSD). Land use/Land cover map is derived from Landsat 8 using supervised classification. Slope, drainage network and watershed are delineated by terrain processing of DEM. The Soil Conservation Services (SCS) method is implemented to estimate the surface runoff from the rainfall. Prior to this, SCS-CN grid is developed by integrating the soil and land use/land cover raster. These layers with some technical and ecological constraints are assigned weights on the basis of suitability criteria. The pairwise comparison method, also known as Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is taken into account as MCA for assigning weights on each decision element. All the parameters and group of parameters are integrated using weighted overlay in GIS environment to produce suitable sites for the Dams. The resultant layer is then classified into four classes namely, best suitable, suitable, moderate and less suitable. This study reveals a contribution to decision-making about suitable sites analysis for small dams using geospatial data with minimal amount of ground data. This suitability maps can be helpful for water resource management organizations in determination of feasible rainwater harvesting structures (RWH).

Keywords: Remote sensing, GIS, AHP, RWH

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Authors: M. Masroor Akhtar Khan, Moin Uddin, Lalit Varshney

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Recently, there has been a rapidly expanding interest in finding applications of natural polymers in view of value addition to agriculture. It is now being realized that radiation processing of natural polysaccharides can be beneficially utilized either to improve the existing methodologies used for processing the natural polymers or to impart value addition to agriculture by converting them into more useful form. Gamma-ray irradiation is employed to degrade and lower the molecular weight of some of the natural polysaccharides like alginates, chitosan and carrageenan into small sized oligomers. When these oligomers are applied to plants as foliar sprays, they elicit various kinds of biological and physiological activities, including promotion of plant growth, seed germination, shoot elongation, root growth, flower production, suppression of heavy metal stress, etc. Furthermore, application of these oligomers can shorten the harvesting period of various crops and help in reducing the use of insecticides and chemical fertilizers. In recent years, the oligomers of sodium alginate obtained by irradiating the latter with gamma-rays at 520 kGy dose are being employed. It was noticed that the oligomers derived from the natural polysaccharides could induce growth, photosynthetic efficiency, enzyme activities and most importantly the production of secondary metabolite in the plants like Artemisia annua, Beta vulgaris, Catharanthus roseus, Chrysopogon zizanioides, Cymbopogon flexuosus, Eucalyptus citriodora, Foeniculum vulgare, Geranium sp., Mentha arvensis, Mentha citrata, Mentha piperita, Mentha virdis, Papaver somniferum and Trigonella foenum-graecum. As a result of the application of these oligomers, the yield and/or contents of the active constituents of the aforesaid plants were significantly enhanced. The productivity, as well as quality of medicinal and aromatic plants, may be ameliorated by this novel technique in an economical way as a very little quantity of these irradiated (depolymerised) polysaccharides is needed. Further, this is a very safe technique, as we did not expose the plants directly to radiation. The radiation was used to depolymerize the polysaccharides into oligomers.

Keywords: essential oil, medicinal and aromatic plants, plant production, radiation processed polysaccharides, active constituents

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Authors: Muhammad Arif Khan, Haroon Idrees, Imran Aziz, Sidra Mushtaq

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Social platforms like online discussion and mailing groups are well aligned with academic as well as professional learning spaces. Professional communities are increasingly moving to online forums for sharing and capturing the intellectual abilities. This study investigated dynamics of social connectivity of yahoo mailing groups of Pakistani Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals using Graph Theory technique. Design/Methodology: Social Network Analysis is the increasingly concerned domain for scientists in identifying whether people grow together through online social interaction or, whether they just reflect connectivity. We have conducted a longitudinal study using Network Graph Theory technique to analyze the large data-set of email communication. The data was collected from three yahoo mailing groups using network analysis software over a period of six months i.e. January to June 2016. Findings of the network analysis were reviewed through focus group discussion with LIS experts and selected respondents of the study. Data were analyzed in Microsoft Excel and network diagrams were visualized using NodeXL and ORA-Net Scene package. Findings: Findings demonstrate that professionals and students exhibit intellectual growth the more they get tied within a network by interacting and participating in communication through online forums. The study reports on dynamics of the large network by visualizing the email correspondence among group members in a network consisting vertices (members) and edges (randomized correspondence). The model pair wise relationship between group members was illustrated to show characteristics, reasons, and strength of ties. Connectivity of nodes illustrated the frequency of communication among group members through examining node coupling, diffusion of networks, and node clustering has been demonstrated in-depth. Network analysis was found to be a useful technique in investigating the dynamics of the large network.

Keywords: emailing networks, network graph theory, online social platforms, yahoo mailing groups

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Authors: Asim Laeeq Khan, Mazhar Amjad Gilani, Tayub Raza

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The use of fossil fuels for energy generation leads to the emission of greenhouse gases particularly CO2 into the atmosphere. To date, several techniques have been proposed for the efficient removal of CO2 from flue gas mixtures. Membrane technology is a promising choice due to its several inherent advantages such as low capital cost, high energy efficiency, and low ecological footprint. One of the goals in the development of membranes is to achieve high permeability and selectivity. Mixed matrix membranes comprising of inorganic fillers embedded in polymer matrix are a class of membranes that have showed improved separation properties. One of the biggest challenges in the commercialization if mixed matrix membranes are the removal of non-selective voids existing at the polymer-filler interface. In this work, mixed matrix membranes were prepared using polysulfone as polymer matrix and ordered mesoporous MCM-41 as filler materials. A new approach to removing the interfacial voids was developed by introducing room temperature ionic (RTIL) at the polymer-filler interface. The results showed that the imidazolium based RTIL not only provided wettability characteristics but also helped in further improving the separation properties. The removal of interfacial voids and good contact between polymer and filler was verified by SEM measurement. The synthesized membranes were tested in a custom built gas permeation set-up for the measurement of gas permeability and ideal gas selectivity. The results showed that the mixed matrix membranes showed significantly higher CO2 permeability in comparison to the pristine membrane. In order to have further insight into the role of fillers, diffusion and solubility measurements were carried out. The results showed that the presence of highly porous fillers resulted in increasing the diffusion coefficient while the solubility showed a slight drop. The RTIL filled membranes showed higher CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 selectivity than unfilled membranes while the permeability dropped slightly. The increase in selectivity was due to the highly selective RTIL used in this work. The study revealed that RTIL filled mixed matrix membranes are an interesting candidate for gas separation membranes.

Keywords: ionic liquids, CO2 separation, membranes, mixed matrix membranes

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Authors: Zahid Ullah, Atlas Khan

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This abstract focuses on the advancements in mathematical modeling and optimization techniques that play a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency, reliability, and performance of these systems. In this era of rapidly evolving technology, mathematical modeling and optimization offer powerful tools to tackle the complex challenges faced by control, signal processing, and energy systems. This abstract presents the latest research and developments in mathematical methodologies, encompassing areas such as control theory, system identification, signal processing algorithms, and energy optimization. The abstract highlights the interdisciplinary nature of mathematical modeling and optimization, showcasing their applications in a wide range of domains, including power systems, communication networks, industrial automation, and renewable energy. It explores key mathematical techniques, such as linear and nonlinear programming, convex optimization, stochastic modeling, and numerical algorithms, that enable the design, analysis, and optimization of complex control and signal processing systems. Furthermore, the abstract emphasizes the importance of addressing real-world challenges in control, signal processing, and energy systems through innovative mathematical approaches. It discusses the integration of mathematical models with data-driven approaches, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to enhance system performance, adaptability, and decision-making capabilities. The abstract also underscores the significance of bridging the gap between theoretical advancements and practical applications. It recognizes the need for practical implementation of mathematical models and optimization algorithms in real-world systems, considering factors such as scalability, computational efficiency, and robustness. In summary, this abstract showcases the advancements in mathematical modeling and optimization techniques for control, signal processing, and energy systems. It highlights the interdisciplinary nature of these techniques, their applications across various domains, and their potential to address real-world challenges. The abstract emphasizes the importance of practical implementation and integration with emerging technologies to drive innovation and improve the performance of control, signal processing, and energy.

Keywords: mathematical modeling, optimization, control systems, signal processing, energy systems, interdisciplinary applications, system identification, numerical algorithms

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Authors: Salima Kerai, Muhammad Islam, Uzma Khan, Nargis Asad, Junaid Razzak, Omrana Pasha

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Background: Pre-hospital care providers are exposed to various kinds of stressors. Their daily exposure to diverse critical and traumatic incidents can lead to stress reactions like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Consequences of PTSD in terms of work loss can be catastrophic because of its compound effect on families, which affect them economically, socially and emotionally. Therefore, it is critical to assess the association between PTSD and Work performance in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) if exist any. Methods: This prospective observational study was carried out at AMAN EMS in Karachi, Pakistan. EMS personnel were screened for potential PTSD using impact of event scale-revised (IES-R). Work performance was assessed on basis of five variables; number of late arrivals to work, number of days absent, number of days sick, adherence to protocol and patient satisfaction survey over the period of 3 months. In order to model outcomes like number of late arrivals to work, days absent and days late; negative binomial regression was used whereas logistic regression was applied for adherence to protocol and linear for patient satisfaction scores. Results: Out of 536 EMS personnel, 525 were found to be eligible, of them 518 consented. However data on 507 were included because 7 left the job during study period. The mean score of PTSD was found to be 24.0 ± 12.2. However, weak and insignificant association was found between PTSD and work performance measures: number of late arrivals (RRadj 0.99; 95% CI 0.98-1.00), days absent (RRadj 0.98; 95% CI 0.96-0.99), days sick (Rradj 0.99; 95% CI 0.98 to 1.00), adherence to protocol (ORadj 1.01: 95% CI 0.99 to 1.04) and patient satisfaction (0.001% score; 95% CI -0.03% to 0.03%). Conclusion: No association was found between PTSD and Work performance in the selected EMS population in Karachi Pakistan. Further studies are needed to explore the phenomenon of resiliency in these populations. Moreover, qualitative work is required to explore perceptions and feelings like willingness to go to work, readiness to carry out job responsibilities.

Keywords: trauma, emergency medical service, stress, pakistan

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Authors: Mohammad M. Khan, Gajendra Dixit

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Partially lubricated sliding wear behaviour of a zinc-based alloy reinforced with 10wt% SiC particles has been studied as a function of applied load and solid lubricant particle size and has been compared with that of matrix alloy and conventionally used grey cast iron. The wear tests were conducted at the sliding velocities of 2.1m/sec in various partial lubricated conditions using pin on disc machine as per ASTM G-99-05. Base oil (SAE 20W-40) or mixture of the base oil with 5wt% graphite of particle sizes (7-10 µm) and (100 µm) were used for creating lubricated conditions. The matrix alloy revealed primary dendrites of a and eutectoid a + h and Î phases in the Inter dendritic regions. Similar microstructure has been depicted by the composite with an additional presence of the dispersoid SiC particles. In the case of cast iron, flakes of graphite were observed in the matrix; the latter comprised of (majority of) pearlite and (limited quantity of) ferrite. Results show a large improvement in wear resistance of the zinc-based alloy after reinforcement with SiC particles. The cast iron shows intermediate response between the matrix alloy and composite. The solid lubrication improved the wear resistance and friction behaviour of both the reinforced and base alloy. Moreover, minimum wear rate is obtained in oil+ 5wt % graphite (7-10 µm) lubricated environment for the matrix alloy and composite while for cast iron addition of solid lubricant increases the wear rate and minimum wear rate is obtained in case of oil lubricated environment. The cast iron experienced higher frictional heating than the matrix alloy and composite in all the cases especially at higher load condition. As far as friction coefficient is concerned, a mixed trend of behaviour was noted. The wear rate and frictional heating increased with load while friction coefficient was affected in an opposite manner. Test duration influenced the frictional heating and friction coefficient of the samples in a mixed manner.

Keywords: solid lubricant, sliding wear, grey cast iron, zinc based metal matrix composites

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Authors: Syed Dawood Md. Taimur, Saidur Rahman Khan, Farzana Islam

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Objective: To evaluate the factors which predetermine the coronary artery disease in patients having positive Exercise Tolerance Test (ETT) that is treadmill results and coronary artery findings. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted at Department of Cardiology, Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital & Research Institute,Dhaka,Bangladesh from 1st January, 2014 to 31st August, 2014. All patients who had done ETT (treadmill) for chest pain diagnosis were studied. One hundred and four patients underwent coronary angiogram after positive treadmill result. Patients were divided into two groups depending upon the angiographic findings, i.e. true positive and false positive. Positive treadmill test patients who have coronary artery involvement these are called true positive and who have no involvement they are called false positive group. Both groups were compared with each other. Results: Out of 104 patients, 81 (77.9%) patients had true positive ETT and 23 (22.1%) patients had false positive ETT. The mean age of patients in positive ETT was 53.46± 8.06 years and male mean age was 53.63±8.36 years and female was 52.87 ± 7.0 years. Sixty nine (85.19%) male patients and twelve (14.81%) female patients had true positive ETT, whereas 15 (65.21%) males and 8 (34.79%) females had false positive ETT, this was statistically significant (p<0.032)difference in the two groups(sex) in comparison of true and false positive ETT. The risk factors of these patients like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, family history and smoking were seen among these patients. Hypertensive patients having true positive which were statically significant (p<0.004) and diabetic, dyslipidaemic patients having true positive which were statically significant (p < 0.032 & 0.030).True positive patients had family history were 68 (83.95%) and smoking were 52 (64.20%), where family history patients had statistically significant(p<0.017) between two groups of patients and smokers were significant (p<0.012). 46 true positive patients achieved THR which was not statistically significant (P<0.138)and 79 true patients had abnormal resting ECG whether it was significant (p<0.036). Amongst the vessels involvement the most common was LAD 55 (67.90%), followed by LCX 42 (51.85%), RCA 36 (44.44%) and the LMCA was 9 (11.11%), .40 patients (49.38%) had SVD, 26 (30.10%) had DVD, 15(18.52%) had TVD and 23 had normal coronary arteries. Conclusion: It can be concluded that among the female patients who have positive ETT with normal resting ECG, who had achieved target heart rate are likely to have a false positive test result. Conversely male patients,resting abnormal ECG who had not achieved THR, symptom limited ETT, have a hypertension, diabetis, dyslipidaemic, family history and smoking are likely to have a true positive treadmill test result.

Keywords: exercise tolerance test, coronary artery disease, coronary angiography, true positive, false positive

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Authors: Muhammad Zaman Khan, Vijay Baheti, Jiri Militky

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The present study is focused on the development of multifunctional cotton fabric while having good physiological comfort properties. The functional properties developed include superhydrophobicity (Lotus effect) and UV protection. For this, TiO₂ nanoparticles along with fluorocarbon and organic-inorganic binder have been used to optimize the multifunctional properties. Deposition of TiO₂ nanoparticles with water repellent finish on cotton fabric has been carried out using the pad dry cure method at fix parameters. The morphology and elemental composition of as-deposited particles have been studied by using SEM and EDS. The chemical composition of nanoparticles was determined using energy dispersive spectroscopy. The treated samples exhibited excellent water repellency and UV protection factor. The study of the comfort properties of fabric showed that it had excellent physiological comfort properties. Optimized concentration of water repellent chemical (50g/l) was used in formulations with TiO₂ nanoparticles and organic-inorganic binder. Four formulations were prepared according to the design of the experiment. The formulations were applied to the cotton fabric by roller padding at room temperature (15–20°C). Surface morphology was investigated via SEM images. EDS analysis was also carried out to analyze the composition and atomic percentage of elements. The water contact angle (WCA) of cotton fabric increases with increase in TiO₂ nanoparticles concentration and reaches its maximum value (157°) when the concentration of TiO₂ is 20g/l. The water sliding angle (WSA) decreases and gains minimum value at the same concentration of TiO₂ at which WCA is highest. It was seen samples treated with formulations of TiO₂ nanoparticles exhibits excellent UPF, UV-A and UV-B blocking. However, there was no significant deterioration of air permeability. The water vapor permeability was also slightly decreased (4%) but is acceptable. It can be concluded that there is no significant change in both air and water vapor permeability after nanoparticles coating on the surface of the cotton fabric. The coated cotton fabric has little effect on the stiffness. The stiffness of coated samples was not increased significantly; thus comfort of cotton fabric is not decreased. This functionalized cotton fabric also exhibits good physiological comfort properties. ''The authors are also thankful to student grant competition 21312 provided at Technical University of Liberec''.

Keywords: comfort, functional, nanoparticles, UV protective

Procedia PDF Downloads 134

Authors: Imran Khan Swati, Mohammad Younas

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This work aims to explore the potential applications of polymeric hydrophobic membranes and green ionic liquids (ILs). Protic and aprotic ILs were synthesized in the lab., characterized, and tested for CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/CH₄ separation using hydrophobic polymeric membranes via supported ionic liquid membrane (SILM). ILs were verified by FTIR spectroscopy. The SILMs were stable at room temperature up to 0.5 MPa. For CO₂, [BSmim][tos] had the greatest coefficient of solubility and permeability, along with all ILs. At 0.5 MPa, IL [BSmim][tos] was found with a selectivity of 56.2 and 47.5 for pure CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/CH₄, respectively. The ILs synthesized for this study are rated as [BSmim][tos]>[BSmpy][tos]>[Bmim][Cl]>[Bpy][Cl] based on their SILM separation performance. Furthermore, high values of selectivity of [BSmim][tos] and [BSmpy][tos] support the use of ILs for CO₂ separation using SILMs. The study was extended to synthesize and test the ammonium-based ILs, [2-HEA][f] and [2-HEA][Hs]. These ILs achieved 50 % less selectivity for CO₂/N₂ as compared to [BSmim][tos] and [BSmpy][tos]. Nevertheless, the permeability of CO₂ achieved with [2-HEA][f] and [2-HEA][Hs] is more than 20 times higher than the [BSmim][tos] and [BSmpy][tos]. Later, the CO₂/N₂ permeability and selectivity study was extended using a flat sheet membrane contactor with recirculated IL. The contact angle effects, liquid entry pressure (LEP), initial CO₂ concentration, and type of solvents and membrane material on the CO₂ capture efficiency and membrane wetting in the post-combustion capture (PCC) process have been experimentally investigated and evaluated. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) has shown the most hydrophobic property with 6-170 loss in the contact angle. Furthermore, [Omim][BF4] and [Bmim][BF6] have exhibited only 5-8 % loss in LEP using PTFE membrane support. The CO₂ capture efficiency has been achieved as 80.8-99.8 % in different combinations of ILs and membrane support, keeping all other variables constant. While increasing CO₂ concentration from 15 to 45 % vol., an increase of nearly three folds in the CO₂ mass transfer flux was observed. The combination of [Omim][BF4] and PTFE membrane witnessed good long-term stability with only a 20 % loss in CO₂ capture efficiency in 480 min of continuous operation. A 3- D simulation model for non-dispersive solvent absorption in membrane contactors provides insight into the optimum design of a separation system for a specific application minimizing the overall cost and making the process environment-friendly.

Keywords: Post-combustion CO2 capture, membrane synthesis, process development, permeability and selectivity, ionic liquids

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Authors: Rezki Omar

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Openness cosmic shares dramatically in the order of something quite a bit of neglected priorities within the community at the level of thought and consciousness, and these priorities provider of legal and human rights awareness after a long delay in the process of awareness of human rights, there is no doubt that the long and arduous road. As is obvious to any observer public affairs as well as the specialist and the observer that there is growth and development in the scene and the legal movement is unprecedented, many when dealing with many of the details sought and tries as much as possible to know what is the natural rights, and duties that must comply with legally in no charge with the issue of what is going on, any attempt of weakness and lack of self-reliance and obstacles level during the search show him by virtue of the difficulty of the availability of legal information in some cases on a particular issue, whether or not the image is complete, legally insufficient. Law relationship to society basically a close relationship, there is no law society, a society is impossible without both at the level of domestic relations or international law: «There is a close link between law and society. The law remains influenced by the society in which it grew, as well as the law affects the society, which is governed by, the relationship between the community and law affected and the impact of relationship ». The law of the most important objectives of protecting members of society, and its role is based on the distribution of rights and duties in a fair way, and protect the public interest of the citizen’s basis. The word community when some sociologists are limited to the group that gathered, including cultural unity Cultural Group distinguish between society and the last. In the recent period issued a set of regulations in the various branches of law, which is different from the class and important one hand, and here is important study of the interaction between law and society, and how to make the laws effective in the community? The opposite is true as well. The law as a social phenomenon is impossible to understand and analyzed without taking into account the extent of their impact and vulnerability within the community and accepted. Must evoke the basis that it was developed to address the problems faced by citizens. The over-age and amplify the sanctions are a contradiction of that fundamental reform of the basic objectives of the offender more than anything else Calantqam and revenge, and if the process is not human mistakes. Michel Foucault believes that «tighten laws and regulations against criminals will not reduce the crime rate in the community, so you must activate the system of moral values of society after more deterrent, and the threat of scandal on a social level.» Besson and refers to the legislators, saying the law: «The only way to reduce the crime rate to strengthen the ethical system of the society, especially in the social Amnhoha sanctity of conscience, then you will not be forced to issue harsh sentences against criminals».In summary, it is necessary to combine the enactment of laws and activate the system of moral values and educational values on the ground, and to understand the causes of social problems at the root of all for the equation is complete, and that the law was drafted to serve the citizens and not to harm him.

Keywords: legislators, distinguish, awareness, insufficient

Procedia PDF Downloads 477

Authors: Munawar Malik, Muntaha Ahmad, Khalil Ullah Khan

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Linguistic abilities in students with hearing impairment yet remain a concern for educationists. The emerging technological support and provisions in recent era vows to have addressed the situation and claims significant contribution in terms of linguistic repertoire. Being a descriptive and quantitative paradigm of study, the purpose of this research set forth was to assess linguistic competencies of students with hearing impairment in English language. The goals were further broken down to identify level of reading abilities in the subject population. The population involved students with HI studying at higher secondary level in Lahore. Simple random sampling technique was used to choose a sample of fifty students. A purposive curriculum-based assessment was designed in line with accelerated learning program by Punjab Government, to assess Linguistic competence among the sample. Further to it, an Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) corresponding to reading levels was also developed by researchers duly validated and piloted before the final use. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to reach to the findings. Spearman’s correlation was used to find out relationship between degree of hearing loss, grade level, gender and type of amplification device. Independent sample t-test was used to compare means among groups. Major findings of the study revealed that students with hearing impairment exhibit significant deviation from the mean scores when compared in terms of grades, severity and amplification device. The study divulged that respective students with HI have yet failed to qualify an independent level of reading according to their grades as majority falls at frustration level of word recognition and passage comprehension. The poorer performance can be attributed to lower linguistic competence as it shows in the frustration levels of reading, writing and comprehension. The correlation analysis did reflect an improved performance grade wise, however scores could only correspond to frustration level and independent levels was never achieved. Reported achievements at instructional level of subject population may further to linguistic skills if practiced purposively.

Keywords: linguistic competence, hearing impairment, reading levels, educationist

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Authors: Tasnuba Binte Jamal, Khan Mahmud Amanat

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Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite materials have proven to have valuable properties and suitability to be used in the construction of new buildings and in upgrading the existing ones due to its effectiveness, ease of implementation and many more. In the present study, a numerical finite element investigation has been conducted using ANSYS 18.1 to study the behavior of square HSS AISC sections under eccentric compressive loading strengthened with CFRP materials. A three-dimensional finite element model for square HSS section using shell element was developed. Application of CFRP strengthening was incorporated in the finite element model by adding an additional layer of shell elements. Both material and geometric nonlinearities were incorporated in the model. The developed finite element model was applied to simulate experimental studies done by past researchers and it was found that good agreement exists between the current analysis and past experimental results, which established the acceptability and validity of the developed finite element model to carry out further investigation. Study was then focused on some selected non-compact AISC square HSS columns and the effects of number of CFRP layers, amount of eccentricities and cross-sectional geometry on the strength gain of those columns were observed. Load was applied at a distance equal to the column dimension and twice that of column dimension. It was observed that CFRP strengthening is comparatively effective for smaller eccentricities. For medium sized sections, strengthening tends to be effective at smaller eccentricities as well. For relatively large AISC square HSS columns, with increasing number of CFRP layers (from 1 to 3 layers) the gain in strength is approximately 1 to 38% to that of unstrengthened section for smaller eccentricities and slenderness ratio ranging from 27 to 54. For medium sized square HSS sections, effectiveness of CFRP strengthening increases approximately by about 12 to 162%. The findings of the present study provide a better understanding of the behavior of HSS sections strengthened with CFRP subjected to eccentric compressive load.

Keywords: CFRP strengthening, eccentricity, finite element model, square hollow section

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Mehdi Boukri, Mohammed Naboussi Farsi, Mounir Naili, Omar Amellal, Mohamed Belazougui, Ahmed Mebarki, Nabila Guessoum, Brahim Mezazigh, Mounir Ait-Belkacem, Nacim Yousfi, Mohamed Bouaoud, Ikram Boukal, Aboubakr Fettar, Asma Souki

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The seismic risk to which the urban centres are more and more exposed became a world concern. A co-operation on an international scale is necessary for an exchange of information and experiments for the prevention and the installation of action plans in the countries prone to this phenomenon. For that, the 1990s was designated as 'International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)' by the United Nations, whose interest was to promote the capacity to resist the various natural, industrial and environmental disasters. Within this framework, it was launched in 1996, the RADIUS project (Risk Assessment Tools for Diagnosis of Urban Areas Against Seismic Disaster), whose the main objective is to mitigate seismic risk in developing countries, through the development of a simple and fast methodological and operational approach, allowing to evaluate the vulnerability as well as the socio-economic losses, by probable earthquake scenarios in the exposed urban areas. In this paper, we will present the adaptation and application of this methodology to the Algerian context for the seismic risk evaluation in urban areas potentially exposed to earthquakes. This application consists to perform an earthquake scenario in the urban centre of Constantine city, located at the North-East of Algeria, which will allow the building seismic damage estimation of this city. For that, an inventory of 30706 building units was carried out by the National Earthquake Engineering Research Centre (CGS). These buildings were digitized in a data base which comprises their technical information by using a Geographical Information system (GIS), and then they were classified according to the RADIUS methodology. The study area was subdivided into 228 meshes of 500m on side and Ten (10) sectors of which each one contains a group of meshes. The results of this earthquake scenario highlights that the ratio of likely damage is about 23%. This severe damage results from the high concentration of old buildings and unfavourable soil conditions. This simulation of the probable seismic damage of the building and the GIS damage maps generated provide a predictive evaluation of the damage which can occur by a potential earthquake near to Constantine city. These theoretical forecasts are important for decision makers in order to take the adequate preventive measures and to develop suitable strategies, prevention and emergency management plans to reduce these losses. They can also help to take the adequate emergency measures in the most impacted areas in the early hours and days after an earthquake occurrence.

Keywords: seismic risk, mitigation, RADIUS, urban areas, Algeria, earthquake scenario, Constantine

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: Burhan Khan

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Objective: This study aims to enhance the body of knowledge about the vulnerabilities of child waste pickers in solid waste management. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the occupational menaces and their potential harm to the health of child waste pickers. Material and Methods: The present study design is descriptive in nature and involves children aged 5 through 14, who were rummaging through garbage in the roads and streets of Aligarh city, Uttar Pradesh. The researcher adopted an empirical approach to interview 65 participants (27 boys and 38 girls) across Aligarh city, Uttar Pradesh. The majority of the participants are Muslims (76.9 %), scheduled Castes (13.8 %), and Hindus (9.2 %). Out of 65 participants, 73.8% of children were migrated within the last five years. The primary data were analysed by utilising descriptive statistics, including frequencies, cross-tabs, means, and percentages. Results: The results show that the vast majority of children (87.7%) have experienced superficial injuries or open wound at their work. More than 32% were suffering from respiratory problems such as coughing, wheezing and short of breath, close to 37% reported skin problems like allergy, irritation and bruising and 4.6% had eye problems such as pain and irritation in eyes. Nearly 78% of children lift and carry a heavy load like large garbage bags. Over 83% informed that they sort through refuse in a filthy environment such as open dumpsites, effluents, and runnels. Conclusion: This research provides pieces of evidence of how children are being tormented in the rag-picking sector. It has been observed that child rag pickers are susceptible to injuries or illnesses due to work-related risks and toxic environment. In India, there is no robust policy to address the concerns of waste pickers and laws to protect their rights. Consequently, these deprived communities of rag pickers, especially children, have become more vulnerable over time in India. Hence, this research paper calls for a quick response to the exigencies of child rag picker by developing a holistic approach that deals with education, medical care, sanitation, and nutrition for child rag pickers.

Keywords: child rag pickers, health impairments, occupational hazards, toxic environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Silsila Sherzad, Hazrat Ali Khan, Tabasum Sherzad, Hazratullah, Sanaullah

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Objective: To study the prevalence of common Mental health disorders among forcibly displaced people and to compare with the common mental health disorders among host community members. Study design: Analytical Study. Place of study: Balochistan institute of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Quetta, Baluchistan, Pakistan. Methodology: Data from the Outpatient department were analyzed to numerate both the host community and refugees. Out of 4120, 354 refugee patients were identified using their proof registration (POR) card and for 3776 of the host community using their computerized national identity card (CNIC), data was analyzed for the prevalence of mental health disorders among them. Results: This study states that Afghan Refugees presented to OPD services of Balochistan institute of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, 47% were diagnosed as Major depressive disorder with/without psychosis, 19% with Generalized anxiety disorder, 5% were diagnosed as Bipolar Affective disorder, 5% With schizophrenia, 4% as Post-traumatic stress disorder, 3% as migraine, 3% conversion disorder, 2% Obsessive-compulsive disorder, 1% somatoform disorder and 10% of them presented with other psychiatric disorders, while in host community 21% were diagnosed as Major depressive disorder with/without psychosis, 24% as Generalized anxiety disorder, 12% as somatoform disorder, 10% as Obsessive-compulsive disorder, 8% as migraine, 7% as conversion disorder, 4% as Bipolar Affective disorder, 3% as schizophrenia, 3% as Mental and behavioral disorder due to substance misuse and rest of 7% presented with other psychiatric disorders. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study states that mental health disorders are more common among refugees than in other populations. The result of this study shows that there is a big difference in the prevalence of mental health disorders among displaced people and the rest of the population. Some Mental health disorders are present in a higher percentage among displaced people rather than among the host community, while some other disorders are present in a lower percentage among displaced people rather than among the host community. This study also highlights that further studies are needed to determine risk and protective factors within the host community.

Keywords: forced displacement, mental health, Afghan refugees, depression

Procedia PDF Downloads 94

Authors: Nabil Omar, Farah Jibril, Oraib Amjad

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Purpose: Trabecatine is a is a potent marine-derived antineoplastic drug which binds to the minor groove of the DNA, bending DNA towards the major groove resulting in a changed conformation that interferes with several DNA transcription factors, repair pathways and cell proliferation. Trabectedin was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA; London, UK) for the treatment of adult patients with advanced stage soft tissue sarcomas in whom treatment with anthracyclines and ifosfamide has failed, or for those who are not candidates for these therapies. The recommended dosing regimen is 1.5 mg/m2 IV over 24 hours every 3 weeks. The purpose of this study was to comprehensively review available data on the safety and efficacy of trabectedin used as indicated for patients at a Tertiary Cancer Center at Qatar. Methods: A medication administration report generated in the electronic health record identified all patients who received trabectedin between November 1, 2015 and November 1, 2017. This retrospective chart review evaluated the indication of trabectedin use, compliance to administration protocol and the recommended monitoring parameters, number of patients improved on the drug and continued treatment, number of patients discontinued treatment due to side-effects and the reported side effects. Progress and discharged notes were utilized to report experienced side effects during trabectedin therapy. A total of 3 patients were reviewed. Results: Total of 2 out of 3 patients who received trabectedin were receiving it for non-FDA and non-EMA, approved indications; metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma and ovarian cancer stage IV with poor prognosis. And only one patient received it as indicated for leiomyosarcoma of left ureter with metastases to liver, lungs and bone. None of the patients has continued the therapy due to development of serious side effects. One patient had stopped the medication after one cycle due to disease progression and transient hepatic toxicity, the other one had disease progression and developed 12 % reduction in LVEF after 12 cycles of trabectedin, and the third patient deceased, had disease progression on trabectedin after the 10th cycle that was received through peripheral line which resulted in developing extravasation and left arm cellulitis requiring debridement. Regarding monitoring parameters, at baseline the three patients had ECHO, and Creatine Phosphokinase (CPK) but it was not monitored during treatment as recommended. Conclusion: Utilizing this medication as indicated with performing the appropriate monitoring parameters as recommended can benefit patients who are receiving it. It is important to reinforce the intravenous administration via central intravenous line, the re-assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) by echocardiogram or multigated acquisition (MUGA) scan at 2- to 3-month intervals thereafter until therapy is discontinued, and CPK and LFTs levels prior to each administration of trabectedin.

Keywords: trabectedin, drug-use evaluation, safety, effectiveness, adverse drug reaction, monitoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 121

Authors: David Abrahams

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In October 2016 South Africa deposited its ‘instrument of withdrawal’ from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Rome Statute is the founding document of the treaty-based International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC has jurisdiction to hear cases where crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide have been committed, on the basis of individual criminal responsibility. It is therefore not surprising that one of the ICCs mandates is to ensure that the sufferings, due to gross human rights violations towards the civilian population is, in principle, brought to an end by punishing those individuals responsible, thus providing justice to the victims. The ICC is unable to effectively fulfill its mandate and thus depends, in part on the willingness of states to assist the Court in its functions. This requires states to ratify the Statute and to domesticate its provisions, depending on whether it is a monist or dualist state. South Africa ratified the Statute in November 2000, and domesticated the Statute in 2002 by virtue of the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002. South Africa thus remains under an obligation to cooperate with the ICC until the final date of withdrawal, which is October 2017. An AU Summit was hosted by South Africa during June 2015. Omar Al-Bashir, whom the prosecutor of the ICC has indicted on two separate occasions, was invited to the summit. South Africa made an agreement with the AU that it will honour its obligations in terms of its Diplomatic and Immunities Privileges Act of 2001, by granting immunity to all heads of state, including that of Sudan. This decision by South Africa has raised a plethora of questions regarding the status and hierarchy of international laws versus regional laws versus domestic laws. In particular, this paper explores whether a state’s international law treaty obligations may be suspended in favour of, firstly, regional peace (thus safeguarding the security of the civilian population against further atrocities and other gross violations of human rights), and secondly, head of state immunity. This paper also reflects on the effectiveness of the trias politca in South Africa in relation the manner in which South African courts have confirmed South Africa’s failure in fulfilling its obligations in terms of the Rome Statute. A secondary question which will also be explored, is whether the Rome Statute is currently an effective tool in dealing with gross violations of human rights, particularly in a regional African context, given the desire by a number of African states currently party to the Statute, to engage in a mass exodus from the Statute. Finally, the paper concludes with a proposal that there can be no justice for victims of gross human rights violations unless states are serious in playing an instrumental role in bringing an end to impunity in Africa, and that withdrawing from the ICC without an alternative, effective system in place, will simply perpetuate impunity.

Keywords: African Union, diplomatic immunity, impunity, international criminal court, South Africa

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Authors: Faiz Khan Mohammad, Saumya Ray Chaudhari, Raghunathan Rengaswamy, Swagatika Sahoo

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Cholera caused by pathogenic gut bacteria Vibrio Cholerae (VC), is a major health problem in developing countries. Different strains of VC exhibit variable responses subject to different extracellular medium (Nag et al, Infect Immun, 2018). In this study, we present a new approach to model the variable VC responses in mono- and co-cultures, subject to continuously changing growth medium, which is otherwise difficult via simple FBA model. Nine VC strain and seven E. coli (EC) models were assembled and considered. A continuously changing medium is modelled using a new iterative-based controlled medium technique (ITC). The medium is appropriately prefixed with the VC model secretome. As the flux through the bacteria biomass increases secretes certain by-products. These products shall add-on to the medium, either deviating the nutrient potential or block certain metabolic components of the model, effectively forming a controlled feed-back loop. Different VC models were setup as monoculture of VC in glucose enriched medium, and in co-culture with VC strains and EC. Constrained to glucose enriched medium, (i) VC_Classical model resulted in higher flux through acidic secretome suggesting a pH change of the medium, leading to lowering of its biomass. This is in consonance with the literature reports. (ii) When compared for neutral secretome, flux through acetoin exchange was higher in VC_El tor than the classical models, suggesting El tor requires an acidic partner to lower its biomass. (iii) Seven of nine VC models predicted 3-methyl-2-Oxovaleric acid, mysirtic acid, folic acid, and acetate significantly affect corresponding biomass reactions. (iv) V. parhemolyticus and vulnificus were found to be phenotypically similar to VC Classical strain, across the nine VC strains. The work addresses the advantage of the ITC over regular flux balance analysis for modelling varying growth medium. Future expansion to co-cultures, potentiates the identification of novel interacting partners as effective cholera therapeutics.

Keywords: cholera, vibrio cholera El. tor, vibrio cholera classical, acetate

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Rima T. Alfaraj, Murtadha J. Al Tammar, Khaqan Khan, Khalid M. Alruwaili

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OBJECTIVE/SCOPE (25-75): Caliper logging data provides critical information about wellbore shape and deformations, such as stress-induced borehole breakouts or washouts. Multiarm mechanical caliper logs are often run using wireline, which can be time-consuming, costly, and/or challenging to run in certain formations. To minimize rig time and improve operational safety, it is valuable to develop analytical solutions that can estimate caliper logs using available Logging-While-Drilling (LWD) data without the need to run wireline caliper logs. As a first step, the objective of this paper is to perform statistical analysis using an extensive datasetto identify important physical parameters that should be considered in developing such analytical solutions. METHODS, PROCEDURES, PROCESS (75-100): Caliper logs and LWD data of eleven wells, with a total of more than 80,000 data points, were obtained and imported into a data analytics software for analysis. Several parameters were selected to test the relationship of the parameters with the measured maximum and minimum caliper logs. These parameters includegamma ray, porosity, shear, and compressional sonic velocities, bulk densities, and azimuthal density. The data of the eleven wells were first visualized and cleaned.Using the analytics software, several analyses were then preformed, including the computation of Pearson’s correlation coefficients to show the statistical relationship between the selected parameters and the caliper logs. RESULTS, OBSERVATIONS, CONCLUSIONS (100-200): The results of this statistical analysis showed that some parameters show good correlation to the caliper log data. For instance, the bulk density and azimuthal directional densities showedPearson’s correlation coefficients in the range of 0.39 and 0.57, which wererelatively high when comparedto the correlation coefficients of caliper data with other parameters. Other parameters such as porosity exhibited extremely low correlation coefficients to the caliper data. Various crossplots and visualizations of the data were also demonstrated to gain further insights from the field data. NOVEL/ADDITIVE INFORMATION (25-75): This study offers a unique and novel look into the relative importance and correlation between different LWD measurements and wireline caliper logs via an extensive dataset. The results pave the way for a more informed development of new analytical solutions for estimating the size and shape of the wellbore in real-time while drilling using LWD data.

Keywords: LWD measurements, caliper log, correlations, analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 107

Authors: Sameer A. Pathan, Biswadev Mitra, Salman Mirza, Umais Momin, Zahoor Ahmed, Lubna G. Andraous, Dharmesh Shukla, Mohammed Y. Shariff, Magid M. Makki, Tinsy T. George, Saad S. Khan, Stephen H. Thomas, Peter A. Cameron

Abstract:

Study objective: Emergency physician’s (EP) ability to identify hydronephrosis on point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has been assessed in the past using CT scan as the reference standard. We aimed to assess EP interpretation of POCUS to identify and grade the hydronephrosis in a direct comparison with the consensus-interpretation of POCUS by radiologists, and also to compare the EP and radiologist performance using CT scan as the criterion standard. Methods: Using data from a POCUS databank, a prospective interpretation study was conducted at an urban academic emergency department. All POCUS exams were performed on patients presenting with renal colic to the ED. Institutional approval was obtained for conducting this study. All the analyses were performed using Stata MP 14.0 (Stata Corp, College Station, Texas). Results: A total of 651 patients were included, with paired sets of renal POCUS video clips and the CT scan performed at the same ED visit. Hydronephrosis was reported in 69.6% of POCUS exams by radiologists and 72.7% of CT scans (p=0.22). The κ for consensus interpretation of POCUS between the radiologists to detect hydronephrosis was 0.77 (0.72 to 0.82) and weighted κ for grading the hydronephrosis was 0.82 (0.72 to 0.90), interpreted as good to very good. Using CT scan findings as the criterion standard, Eps had an overall sensitivity of 81.1% (95% CI: 79.6% to 82.5%), specificity of 59.4% (95% CI: 56.4% to 62.5%), PPV of 84.3% (95% CI: 82.9% to 85.7%), and NPV of 53.8% (95% CI: 50.8% to 56.7%); compared to radiologist sensitivity of 85.0% (95% CI: 82.5% to 87.2%), specificity of 79.7% (95% CI: 75.1% to 83.7%), PPV of 91.8% (95% CI: 89.8% to 93.5%), and NPV of 66.5% (95% CI: 61.8% to 71.0%). Testing for a report of moderate or high degree of hydronephrosis, specificity of EP was 94.6% (95% CI: 93.7% to 95.4%) and to 99.2% (95% CI: 98.9% to 99.5%) for identifying severe hydronephrosis alone. Conclusion: EP POCUS interpretations were comparable to the radiologists for identifying moderate to severe hydronephrosis using CT scan results as the criterion standard. Among patients with moderate or high pre-test probability of ureteric calculi, as calculated by the STONE-score, the presence of moderate to severe (+LR 6.3 and –LR 0.69) or severe hydronephrosis (+LR 54.4 and –LR 0.57) was highly diagnostic of the stone disease. Low dose CT is indicated in such patients for evaluation of stone size and location.

Keywords: renal colic, point-of-care, ultrasound, bedside, emergency physician

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