Search results for: dashboard camera records
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1491

Search results for: dashboard camera records

471 A Preliminary Survey on Butterfly Fauna at Rajagala Archaeological Site, Ampara, Sri Lanka

Authors: D. Eranda N. Mandawala, P. A. D. Mokshi V. Perera

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The RajagalaArchaeological site (RAS) is located 26 km from Ampara town (7º29'25.22" N, 81º36'59.05" E) accessible through the Ampara-Uhana-MahaOya highway of the Eastern province of Sri Lanka. This site has recently been added to the tentative list of UNESCO world heritage site and is also a forest reserve. This dry zone forest consists of tropical mixed evergreen vegetation and scrublands on a rocky outcrop of elevation of about 350 meters above mean sea level. It is also scattered with several ponds of differing sizes on rocky outcrops, rocky cliffs, and about 50 cave dwellings. No comprehensive biodiversity survey of any sorts has been conducted at the RAS so far. Therefore, a preliminary survey was conducted to determine its butterfly fauna diversity. An opportunistic Visual Encounter Survey method was used to observe various butterfly species during the morning between 8:00am-12:00noon and in the evening between 2:00-6:00pm on 3 site visits in October 2017, February 2018, and November 2019. All encountered species were photographed using a Nikon D750 camera with Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM macro lens, and field guide books were used to identify them. Sri Lanka is home to 248 species of butterflies, of which are 26 are endemic. At RAS, we observed a total of 39 species (15%) of butterflies belonging to 5 Lepidoptera families. Out of these, one endemic species(4%) and 9 endemic subspecieswere also identified. The former was Troidesdarsius, also known as the Sri Lanka birdwing which is the national butterfly and the largest butterfly in Sri Lanka, and the latter were Plains cupid (Chiladespandavalanka), Yamfly (Loxuraatymnus arcuate), Common Cerulean (Jamidescelenotissama), Tawny Rajah(Charaxespsaphonpsaphon), Tamil Yeoman(Cirrochroathaislanka), Angled Castor(Ariadne ariadneminorata), GladeyeBushbrown(Mycalesispatnia patina), Common Crow (Euploea core asela)and Blue Mormon (Papiliopolymnestorparinda). The endemic subspecies belonged to 3 Lepidoptera families (3from Lycaenidae, 5 from Nymphalidae, and 1 from Papilionidae family). Anthropogenic activities such as unauthorized cattle farming, forest clearance, and man-made forest fires currently threaten this site. If such trends continue, it may lead to the reduction of butterfly fauna diversity within this area in the future.

Keywords: lepidoptera, rajagala, Sri Lanka birdwing, endemic

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470 The Relationship between Body Positioning and Badminton Smash Quality

Authors: Gongbing Shan, Shiming Li, Zhao Zhang, Bingjun Wan

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Badminton originated in ancient civilizations in Europe and Asia more than 2000 years ago. Presently, it is played almost everywhere with estimated 220 million people playing badminton regularly, ranging from professionals to recreational players; and it is the second most played sport in the world after soccer. In Asia, the popularity of badminton and involvement of people surpass soccer. Unfortunately, scientific researches on badminton skills are hardly proportional to badminton’s popularity. A search of literature has shown that the literature body of biomechanical investigations is relatively small. One of the dominant skills in badminton is the forehand overhead smash, which consists of 1/5 attacks during games. Empirical evidences show that one has to adjust the body position in relation to the coming shuttlecock to produce a powerful and accurate smash. Therefore, positioning is a fundamental aspect influencing smash quality. A search of literature has shown that there is a dearth/lack of study on this fundamental aspect. The goals of this study were to determine the influence of positioning and training experience on smash quality in order to discover information that could help learn/acquire the skill. Using a 10-camera, 3D motion capture system (VICON MX, 200 frames/s) and 15-segment, full-body biomechanical model, 14 skilled and 15 novice players were measured and analyzed. Results have revealed that the body positioning has direct influence on the quality of a smash, especially on shuttlecock release angle and clearance height (passing over the net) of offensive players. The results also suggest that, for training a proper positioning, one could conduct a self-selected comfort position towards a statically hanged shuttlecock and then step one foot back – a practical reference marker for learning. This perceptional marker could be applied in guiding the learning and training of beginners. As one gains experience through repetitive training, improved limbs’ coordination would increase smash quality further. The researchers hope that the findings will benefit practitioners for developing effective training programs for beginners.

Keywords: 3D motion analysis, biomechanical modeling, shuttlecock release speed, shuttlecock release angle, clearance height

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469 Assessment of Cattle Welfare Traveling Long Distance from Jessore (Indian Border) to Chittagong, Bangladesh

Authors: Mahabub Alam, Mohammad Mahmudul Hassan, M. Hasanuzzaman, M. Ahasanul Hoque

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Animals are transported from one place to another for different purposes in Bangladesh. However, the potential effect of long-distance transport on cattle health has not frequently been studied. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess health conditions of cattle transported from a long distance to Chittagong in Bangladesh. A total of 100 adult cattle, regardless of breed and sex, were selected at Benapole live cattle market in Jessore between August and September 2015 for the study. Blood samples were taken from 50 randomly selected cattle at 0 hours before transportation, just after transportation, at 12-16 hours post-conclusion of transportation, and 24 hours after transportation. The external health conditions and injuries of the cattle were assessed by close inspection, and the trader was interviewed using the structured questionnaire. Images of cattle injuries were taken with a camera. The basic internal health of the cattle was evaluated using standard hemato-biochemical tests. Animals were fasted and remained standing within a small space allocation (8-10 sq feet/animal) in the vehicle during transportation. Animals were provided only with paddy straw and water prior to selling at the destination market. The overall frequency of cattle injuries varied significantly (26% before vs. 47% after transportation; p < 0.001). The frequency of different cattle injuries also significantly varied by types such as abrasion (11% vs. 21%; p < 0.05) and barbed wire injury (9% vs. 18%; p < 0.05). Single cattle injury differed significantly (21% vs. 36%; p < 0.001). Cattle health conditions varied significantly (nasal discharge: 15% vs. 28%; p < 0.05; diarrhea: 15% vs. 23%; p < 0.05 and severe dehydration: 8% vs. 20%; p < 0.001). The values of hemoglobin (Hb), total erythrocyte count (TEC), total leukocyte count (TLC), lymphocyte (L), neutrophil (N) and eosinophil (E) varied significantly (p ≤ 0.01) (Hb: 11.1mg/dl vs. 12.3mg/dl; TEC: 4.7 million/ml vs. 5.7million/ml; TLC: 6.2 thousand/ml vs. 7.3 thousand/ml; L: 61.7% vs. 58.1%; N: 29.7% vs. 32.8%; E: 3.8% vs. 4.7%). The values of serum total protein (TP), creatine kinase (CK), triglyceride (TG), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) significantly differed (p ≤ 0.05) (TP: 6.8g/dl vs. 8.2g/dl; CK:574.9u/l vs. 1288u/l; TG: 104.7mg/dl vs. 127.7mg/dl; Ca: 11.3mg/dl vs. 13mg/dl; P: 7.3mg/dl vs. 7.6mg/dl; ALP: 303u/l vs. 363u/l). The identified status of external and internal health conditions of the cattle for trading purpose due to long-distance transportation in the present study indicates a high degree of transport stress and poor animal welfare.

Keywords: animal welfare, cattle, external and internal health conditions, transportation

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468 From Parchment to Pixels: Digital Preservation for the Future

Authors: Abida Khatoon

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This study provides an overview of ancient manuscripts, including their historical significance, current digital preservation methods, and the challenges we face in safeguarding these invaluable resources. India has a long-standing tradition of manuscript preservation, with texts that span a wide range of subjects, from religious scriptures to scientific treatises. These manuscripts were written on various materials, including palm leaves, parchment, metal, bark, wood, animal skin, and paper. These manuscripts offer a deep insight into India's cultural and intellectual history. Ancient manuscripts are crucial historical records, providing valuable insights into past civilizations and knowledge systems. As these physical documents become increasingly fragile, digital preservation methods have become essential to ensure their continued accessibility. Digital preservation involves several key techniques. Scanning and digitization create high-resolution digital images of manuscripts, while reprography produces copies to reduce wear on originals. Digital archiving ensures proper storage and management of these digital files, and preservation of electronic data addresses modern formats like web pages and emails. Despite its benefits, digital preservation faces several challenges. Technological obsolescence, data integrity issues, and the resource-intensive nature of the process are significant hurdles. Securing adequate funding is particularly challenging due to high initial costs and ongoing expenses. Looking ahead, the future of digital preservation is promising. Advancements in technology, increased collaboration among institutions, and the development of sustainable funding models will enhance the preservation and accessibility of these important historical documents.

Keywords: preservation strategies, Indian manuscript, cultural heritage, archiving

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467 Influence of Environment-Friendly Organic Wastes on the Properties of Sandy Soil under Growing Zea mays L. in Arid Regions

Authors: Mohamed Rashad, Mohamed Hafez, Mohamed Emran, Emad Aboukila, Ibrahim Nassar

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Environment-friendly organic wastes of Brewers' spent grain, a byproduct of the brewing process, have recently used as soil amendment to improve soil fertility and plant production. In this work, treatments of 1% (T1) and 2% (T2) of spent grains, 1% (C1) and 2% (C2) of compost and mix of both sources (C1T1) were used and compared to the control for growing Zea mays L. on sandy soil under arid Mediterranean climate. Soils were previously incubated at 65% saturation capacity for a month. The most relevant soil physical and chemical parameters were analysed. Water holding capacity and soil organic matter (OM) increased significantly along the treatments with the highest values in T2. Soil pH decreased along the treatments and the lowest pH was in C1T1. Bicarbonate decreased by 69% in C1T1 comparing to control. Total nitrogen (TN) and available P varied significantly among all treatments and T2, C1T1 and C2 treatments increased 25, 17 and 11 folds in TN and 1.2, 0.6 and 0.3 folds in P, respectively related to control. Available K showed the highest values in C1T1. Soil micronutrients increased significantly along all treatments with the highest values in T2. After corn germination, significant variation was observed in the velocity of germination coefficients (VGC) among all treatments in the order of C1T1>T2>T1>C2>C1>control. The highest records of final germination and germination index were in C1T1 and T2. The spent grains may compensate deficiencies of macro and micronutrients in newly reclaimed sandy soils without adverse effects to sustain crop production with a rider that excessive or continuous use need to be circumvented.

Keywords: corn and squash germination, environmentally friendly organic wastes, soil carbon sequestration, spent grains as soil amendment, water holding capacity

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466 An Adaptive Conversational AI Approach for Self-Learning

Authors: Airy Huang, Fuji Foo, Aries Prasetya Wibowo

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In recent years, the focus of Natural Language Processing (NLP) development has been gradually shifting from the semantics-based approach to deep learning one, which performs faster with fewer resources. Although it performs well in many applications, the deep learning approach, due to the lack of semantics understanding, has difficulties in noticing and expressing a novel business case with a pre-defined scope. In order to meet the requirements of specific robotic services, deep learning approach is very labor-intensive and time consuming. It is very difficult to improve the capabilities of conversational AI in a short time, and it is even more difficult to self-learn from experiences to deliver the same service in a better way. In this paper, we present an adaptive conversational AI algorithm that combines both semantic knowledge and deep learning to address this issue by learning new business cases through conversations. After self-learning from experience, the robot adapts to the business cases originally out of scope. The idea is to build new or extended robotic services in a systematic and fast-training manner with self-configured programs and constructed dialog flows. For every cycle in which a chat bot (conversational AI) delivers a given set of business cases, it is trapped to self-measure its performance and rethink every unknown dialog flows to improve the service by retraining with those new business cases. If the training process reaches a bottleneck and incurs some difficulties, human personnel will be informed of further instructions. He or she may retrain the chat bot with newly configured programs, or new dialog flows for new services. One approach employs semantics analysis to learn the dialogues for new business cases and then establish the necessary ontology for the new service. With the newly learned programs, it completes the understanding of the reaction behavior and finally uses dialog flows to connect all the understanding results and programs, achieving the goal of self-learning process. We have developed a chat bot service mounted on a kiosk, with a camera for facial recognition and a directional microphone array for voice capture. The chat bot serves as a concierge with polite conversation for visitors. As a proof of concept. We have demonstrated to complete 90% of reception services with limited self-learning capability.

Keywords: conversational AI, chatbot, dialog management, semantic analysis

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465 Negative Pressure Wound Therapy in Complex Injuries of the Limbs

Authors: Mihail Nagea, Olivera Lupescu, Nicolae Ciurea, Alexandru Dimitriu, Alina Grosu

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Introduction: As severe open injuries are more and more frequent in modern traumatology, threatening not only the integrity of the affected limb but even the life of the patients, new methods desired to cope with the consequences of these traumas were described. Vacuum therapy is one such method which has been described as enhancing healing in trauma with extensive soft-tissue injuries, included those with septic complications. Material and methods: Authors prospectively analyze 15 patients with severe lower limb trauma with MESS less than 6, with considerable soft tissue loss following initial debridement and fracture fixation. The patients needed serial debridements and vacuum therapy was applied after delayed healing due to initial severity of the trauma, for an average period of 12 days (7 - 23 days).In 7 cases vacuum therapy was applied for septic complications. Results: Within the study group, there were no local complications; secondary debridements were performed for all the patients and vacuum system was re-installed after these debridements. No amputations were needed. Medical records were reviewed in order to compare the outcome of the patients: the hospital stay, anti-microbial therapy, time to healing of the bone and soft tissues (there is no standard group to be compared with) and the result showed considerable improvements in the outcome of the patients. Conclusion: Vacuum therapy improves healing of the soft tissues, including those infected; hospital stay and the number of secondary necessary procedures are reduced. Therefore it is considered a valuable support in treating trauma of the limbs with severe soft tissue injuries.

Keywords: complex injuries, negative pressure, open fractures, wound therapy

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464 The Recording of Personal Data in the Spanish Criminal Justice System and Its Impact on the Right to Privacy

Authors: Deborah García-Magna

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When a person goes through the criminal justice system, either as a suspect, arrested, prosecuted or convicted, certain personal data are recorded, and a wide range of persons and organizations may have access to it. The recording of data can have a great impact on the daily life of the person concerned during the period of time determined by the legislation. In addition, this registered information can refer to various aspects not strictly related directly to the alleged or actually committed infraction. In some areas, the Spanish legislation does not clearly determine the cancellation period of the registers nor what happens when they are cancelled since some of the files are not really erased and remain recorded, even if their consultation is no more allowed or it is stated that they should not be taken into account. Thus, access to the recorded data of arrested or convicted persons may reduce their possibilities of reintegration into society. In this research, some of the areas in which data recording has a special impact on the lives of affected persons are analyzed in a critical manner, taking into account Spanish legislation and jurisprudence, and the influence of the European Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe and other supranational instruments. In particular, the analysis cover the scope of video-surveillance in public spaces, the police record, the recording of personal data for the purposes of police investigation (especially DNA and psychological profiles), the registry of administrative and minor offenses (especially as they are taken into account to impose aggravating circumstaces), criminal records (of adults, minors and legal entities), and the registration of special circumstances occurred during the execution of the sentence (files of inmates under special surveillance –FIES–, disciplinary sanctions, special therapies in prison, etc.).

Keywords: ECHR jurisprudence, formal and informal criminal control, privacy, disciplinary sanctions, social reintegration

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463 The Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility in the Philippines: Balancing International Standards and Domestic Concerns

Authors: Harold P. Pareja

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This paper answers the question whether the minimum age of criminal responsibility under the Republic Act No. 9344 (Juvenile Justice Act) as amended by Republic Act No. 10630 should be lowered to 15 years of age or not in the light of international standards and domestic concerns both of which will definitely elicit strong views. It also explores the specific provision on the minimum age of criminal responsibility under the Republic Act No. 9344 (Juvenile Justice Act) and traces the bases of such law by discussing its presented evidences and justifications as reflected in the records of proceedings in the law-making phase. On one hand, the paper discusses the impact of lowering the minimum age to the state of juvenile delinquencies and to the rate of rehabilitation for those CICL who have undergone the DSWD-supervised recovery programs. On the other hand, it presents its impact to the international community specifically to the Committee of the Rights of the Child and the UNICEF considering that the even the current minimum age set in RA 9344 is lower than the international standards. Document review and content analysis are the major research tools. Primary and secondary sources were used as references such as Philippine laws on juvenile justice and from the different states international think-tanks. The absence of reliable evidences on criminal capacity made the arguments in increasing the MACR in the harder position. Studies on criminal capacity vary from different countries and from practitioners in in the fields of psychology, psychiatry and forensics. Juvenile delinquency is mainly contributed by poverty and dysfunctional families. On the other hand, the science of the criminal mind specifically among children has not been established yet. Philippines have the legal obligations to be faithful to the CRC and other related international instruments for the juvenile justice and welfare system. Decreasing MACR does not only send wrong message to the international community but the Philippines is violating its own laws.

Keywords: juvenile justice, minimum age of responsibility (MAR), juvenile justice act of the Philippines, children in conflict with the law, international standards on juvenile justice

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462 Assessment of Vehicular Accidents and Possible Mitigation Measures: A Case of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Authors: K. Omkar, D. Nayan

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Rapid urbanization is one of the consequences of rapid population explosion, which has also led to massive increase in number of motorized vehicles essential for carrying out all activities needed for sustaining urban livelihood. With this increased use of motorized vehicles over the time there has also been an increase in number of accidents. Study of road network and geometric features are essential to tackle problems of road accidents in any district or town. The increase in road accidents is one of the burning issues in the present society. Records show that there is one death at every 3.7 minutes because of road accident. It has been found from the research that, accidents occur due to, mistakes of the driver (86%) followed by bad street condition (5%), mistake of pedestrian (4%), as well as technical and maintenance defects (1%). Here, case study of Ahmedabad, Gujarat is taken up where first road safety level is assessed considering various parameters. The study confined to accident characteristics of all types of vehicles. For deeper analysis, road safety index for various stretches in Ahmedabad was found out. Crash rate for same stretches was found out. Based on various parameters priority was decided so that which stretch should be look out first to minimize road accidents on that stretch and which stretch should look out last. The major findings of the study are that accident severity of Ahmedabad has increased, but accident fatality risk has decreased; thus there is need to undertake some traffic engineering measures or make some traffic rules that are strictly followed by traffic. From the above study and literature studied it is found that Ahmedabad is suffering from similar problem of accidents and injuries and deaths caused by them, after properly investigating the issue short-term and long-term solutions to minimize road accidents have been presented in this paper.

Keywords: accident severity index, accident fatality rate, accident fatality risk, accident risk, road safety index

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461 Machine Learning Techniques in Bank Credit Analysis

Authors: Fernanda M. Assef, Maria Teresinha A. Steiner

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The aim of this paper is to compare and discuss better classifier algorithm options for credit risk assessment by applying different Machine Learning techniques. Using records from a Brazilian financial institution, this study uses a database of 5,432 companies that are clients of the bank, where 2,600 clients are classified as non-defaulters, 1,551 are classified as defaulters and 1,281 are temporarily defaulters, meaning that the clients are overdue on their payments for up 180 days. For each case, a total of 15 attributes was considered for a one-against-all assessment using four different techniques: Artificial Neural Networks Multilayer Perceptron (ANN-MLP), Artificial Neural Networks Radial Basis Functions (ANN-RBF), Logistic Regression (LR) and finally Support Vector Machines (SVM). For each method, different parameters were analyzed in order to obtain different results when the best of each technique was compared. Initially the data were coded in thermometer code (numerical attributes) or dummy coding (for nominal attributes). The methods were then evaluated for each parameter and the best result of each technique was compared in terms of accuracy, false positives, false negatives, true positives and true negatives. This comparison showed that the best method, in terms of accuracy, was ANN-RBF (79.20% for non-defaulter classification, 97.74% for defaulters and 75.37% for the temporarily defaulter classification). However, the best accuracy does not always represent the best technique. For instance, on the classification of temporarily defaulters, this technique, in terms of false positives, was surpassed by SVM, which had the lowest rate (0.07%) of false positive classifications. All these intrinsic details are discussed considering the results found, and an overview of what was presented is shown in the conclusion of this study.

Keywords: artificial neural networks (ANNs), classifier algorithms, credit risk assessment, logistic regression, machine Learning, support vector machines

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460 Evaluation of NASA POWER and CRU Precipitation and Temperature Datasets over a Desert-prone Yobe River Basin: An Investigation of the Impact of Drought in the North-East Arid Zone of Nigeria

Authors: Yusuf Dawa Sidi, Abdulrahman Bulama Bizi

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The most dependable and precise source of climate data is often gauge observation. However, long-term records of gauge observations, on the other hand, are unavailable in many regions around the world. In recent years, a number of gridded climate datasets with high spatial and temporal resolutions have emerged as viable alternatives to gauge-based measurements. However, it is crucial to thoroughly evaluate their performance prior to utilising them in hydroclimatic applications. Therefore, this study aims to assess the effectiveness of NASA Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (NASA POWER) and Climate Research Unit (CRU) datasets in accurately estimating precipitation and temperature patterns within the dry region of Nigeria from 1990 to 2020. The study employs widely used statistical metrics and the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) to effectively capture the monthly variability of precipitation and temperature and inter-annual anomalies in rainfall. The findings suggest that CRU exhibited superior performance compared to NASA POWER in terms of monthly precipitation and minimum and maximum temperatures, demonstrating a high correlation and much lower error values for both RMSE and MAE. Nevertheless, NASA POWER has exhibited a moderate agreement with gauge observations in accurately replicating monthly precipitation. The analysis of the SPI reveals that the CRU product exhibits superior performance compared to NASA POWER in accurately reflecting inter-annual variations in rainfall anomalies. The findings of this study indicate that the CRU gridded product is often regarded as the most favourable gridded precipitation product.

Keywords: CRU, climate change, precipitation, SPI, temperature

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459 The Effect of Undernutrition on Sputum Culture Conversion and Treatment Outcomes among People with Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Authors: Fasil Wagnew, Kerri Viney, Kefyalew Addis Alene, Matthew Kelly, Darren Gray

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Background: Undernutrition is a risk factor for tuberculosis (TB), including poor treatment outcomes. However, evidence regarding the effect of undernutrition on TB treatment outcomes is not well understood. We aimed to evaluate the effect of undernutrition on sputum culture conversion and treatment outcomes among people with multi-drug resistance (MDR)-TB. Methods: We searched for publications in the Medline, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases without restrictions on geography or year of publication. We conducted a random-effect meta-analysis to estimate the effects of undernutrition on sputum culture conversion and treatment outcomes. Two reviewers independently assessed the study eligibility, extracted the necessary information, and assessed the risk of bias. Depending on the nature of the data, odds ratio (OR) and hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to summarize the effect estimates. Potential publication bias was checked using funnel plots and Egger’s tests. Results: Of 2358 records screened, 59 studies comprising a total of 31,254 people with MDR-TB were included. Undernutrition was significantly associated with a lower sputum culture conversion rate (HR 0·7, 95% CI 0·6–0·9, I2=67·1%) and a higher rate of mortality (OR 2·9, 95%CI 2·1–3·8, I2=23·7%) and unfavourable treatment outcomes (OR 1·8, 95%CI 1·5–2·0, I2=72·7%). There was no statistically significant publication bias in the included studies. Three studies were low, forty-two studies were moderate, and fourteen studies were high quality. Interpretations: Undernutrition was significantly associated with unfavourable treatment outcomes, including mortality and lower sputum culture conversion among people with MDR-TB. These findings have implications for supporting targeted nutritional interventions alongside standardised second-line TB drugs.

Keywords: undernutrition, MDR-TB, sputum culture conversion, treatment outcomes, meta-analysis

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458 Challenges and Prospects of Preservation of Tangible Cultural Heritage Management: A Case Study in Lake Tana Islands, Ethiopia

Authors: Ayele Tamene

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Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. Tangible heritage e includes buildings and historic places, monuments, artifacts, etc., which are considered worthy of preservation for the future. These include objects significant to the archaeology, architecture, science or technology of a specific culture. The research addressed the challenges and prospects of preservation of tangible cultural heritage management in Lake Tana islands; Amahara Regional State. Specifically, the research inquired the major factors which affected tangible cultural heritage management, investigated how communities successfully involved in tangible cultural heritage management, and described the contribution of cultural management to tourism development. It employed qualitative research approaches to grasp the existing condition in the study area. Major techniques of data gathering such as in-depth interview, observation/photographing and Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) were used. Related documents collected through secondary sources were examined and analyzed. In Lake Tana Islands precious heritages such as ancient religious manuscripts (written since 9th century), sacral wall paintings, gold and silver Crosses, crowns and prestigious clothes of the various kings of the medieval and the 19th century are found. The study indicated that heritages in Tana islands were affected by both natural and manmade problems. In Lake Tana Islands, movable heritages were looted several times by foreign aggressors, tourists, and local people who serve there. Some heritages were affected by visitors by their camera flash light and hand touch. Most heritages in the Tana islands lacked community ownership and preserved non- professionally which highly affected their originality and authenticity. Therefore, the local community and the regional government should work together in the preservation of these heritage sites and enhance their role for socio-economic development as a center of research and tourist destinations.

Keywords: cultural heritages, heritage preservation, lake Tana heritages, non professional preservation tangible heritages

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457 The Continuation of Trauma through Transcribing: Second Generation Survivors and the Inability for a 'Post-Holocaust'

Authors: Sarah Snyder

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Historians use the term ‘post-Holocaust’ to indicate the period from 1945 onward; however, for survivors of the Holocaust and their families, the Holocaust did not end in 1945. In fact, for some, it was just the beginning of their struggles. There are those who could not return to their homes, find loved ones, or fight off night terrors. Additionally, they continue to suffer from mental illness or physical disease stemming from the Holocaust. In order for historians to have a clearer understanding of the trauma survivors have endured, it is must to approach time differently. Trauma does not operate on a timeline and thereby, our understanding of ‘before,’ ‘during’ and ‘after’ are flawed. In order to convey this flaw, this study will examine memoirs of second and third-generation survivors and of child survivors. Within the second and third generation group, there are two types of generational memoirs that are scrutinized for this case study. The first being when a child or grandchild records the stories of their parent(s) or grandparent(s) without any of the second or third generation’s stories implicitly written. ‘Implicitly’ is used in the context that it is impossible for any writer to not impose at least some stylistic portion of themselves into writing, but the intent was to focus on the parent or grandparent. The other type of memoir is when they write their parent(s) or grandparent(s) story intertwined with their own story. Additionally, the child survivor has a unique role in memory and trauma studies. Much like later generations who write about the Holocaust but have not experienced the trauma firsthand, the child survivor must write about what they lived through and experienced but cannot remember without the assistance of research or other survivors. This study shows that survivors continue to demonstrate trauma-related paranoia. They fear experiencing another Holocaust. In their minds, they replay the horrors that they had experienced. A pilgrimage to a 20th century Europe, unlike one of the 1940s, causes uncertainty, confusion, and additional paranoia. It is through these findings that it becomes evident that historians must learn to study trauma without placing strict timelines that prevent understanding of how trauma impacts those who have experienced complex trauma.

Keywords: holocaust, generational, memoirs, trauma

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456 Ventriculo-Gallbladder Shunt: Case Series and Literature Review

Authors: Sandrieli Afornali, Adriano Keijiro Maeda, Renato Fedatto Beraldo, Carlos Alberto Mattozo, Ricardo Nascimento Brito

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BACKGROUND: The most used variety in hydrocephalus treatment is the ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS). However, it may fails in 20 to 70% of cases. It makes necessary to have alternative cavities for the implantation of the distal catheter. Ventriculo-atrial shunting (VAS) is described as the second option. To our knowledge, there are 121 reported cases of VGB shunt in children until 2020 and a highly variable success rate, from 25 to 100%, with an average of 63% of patients presenting good long-term results. Our goal is to evaluate the epidemiological profile of patients submitted to ventriculo-gallbladder (VGB) shunt and, through a review of literature, to compare our results with others series. METHODS: a retrospective cross-sectional observational study of a case series of nine patients. The medical records of all patients were reviewed, who underwent VGB shunt at the Hospital Pequeno Príncipe from Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, from January 2014 to October 2022. The inclusion criteria were: patients under 17 years of age with hydrocephalus of any etiology, currently using or prior to VGB shunt. RESULTS: There were 6 (66,7%) male and 3 (33,3%) female. The average age of 73.6 months or 6.1 years at the time of surgery. They were submitted on average 5.1 VPS reviews previous to VGB shunt. Five (55,5%) had complications of VGB shunt: infection (11.1%), atony (11.1%), hypodrainage due to kinking the distal catheter in the solution (11.1%) and ventriculoenteric fistula (22.2%); all these patients were cured at surgical reapproach, and in 2 of them the VGB shunt was reimplanted. Two patients died (22.2%), and five (55,5%) patients maintained the use of VGB shunt in the follow-up period; and in 4 (44.4%) there was never need for review. CONCLUSION: VGB shunt tends to be underestimated because it is still unconventional and little publicized in literature. Our article shows a lower risk of death and similar risk of complications when compared to others altenatives shunts. We emphasize VGB shunt as a safe procedure to be the second option when VPS fails or has contraindications.

Keywords: hydrocephalus, ventricular-gallbladder shunt, VGB shunt, VPS, ventriculoperitoneal shunt, ventriculoatrial shunt

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455 Urgent Care Centres in the United Kingdom

Authors: Mohammad Ansari, Satinder Mann, Ahmed Ismail

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Primary care patients in Emergency Departments (ED) have been the topic of discussion since 1998 in the United Kingdom. Numerous studies have analysed attendances in EDs retrospectively and suggest that at least one third to fifty percent patients attending ED with problems which could be managed appropriately in General Practice or minor injuries units. The pattern of ED Usage seems to be International. In Australia and many departments in the United States include walk in facilities staffed by physicians on family practice residency programme. It clearly appears in the United Kingdom that EDs have to accept that such patients with primary care problems will attend the ED and facilities will have to be provided to see and treat such patients. Urgent care centres were introduced in the United Kingdom nearly a decade ago to reduce the pressure on EDs. Most of these were situated near pre-existing EDs. Unfortunately these centres failed to have the desired effect of reducing the number of patients visiting EDs, it has been noticed that when more patients were seen in Urgent Care centres there were increased attendances in ED as well. A new model of Urgent Care centre was started in the ED of George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton, UK. We looked at the working of the centre by looking at the number of patients seen daily against the number of total attendances in the ED. We studied the number and type of patients seen by the Urgent Care Doctor. All the medical records of the patients were seen and the time patients spent in the Urgent Care centre was recorded. The total number of patients seen during this study were 1532. 219 (14.3% ) were seen within our Urgent Care centre. None of the patients waited over four hours to be seen. It has been recognised that primary care patients in the ED are a major part of attendances of the department and unless these patients are seen in Urgent Care centres, overcrowding and long waits cannot been avoided. It has been shown that employing primary care Physicians in Urgent Care centres reduces overall cost because they do not carry out as many investigations as Junior Doctors. In our study over 14% patients were seen by Urgent Care Physicians and none of the patients waited for more than four hours and we feel that care provided to the patients by Urgent Care centre was highly effective and satisfying for the patient.

Keywords: urgent care centres, primary care physicians, overcrowding, cost

Procedia PDF Downloads 441
454 Effects of Zinc and Vitamin A Supplementation on Prognostic Markers and Treatment Outcomes of Adults with Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Authors: Fasil Wagnew, Kefyalew Addis Alene, Setegn Eshetie, Tom Wingfield, Matthew Kelly, Darren Gray

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Introduction: Undernutrition is a major and under-appreciated risk factor for TB, which is estimated to be responsible for 1.9 million TB cases per year globally. The effectiveness of micronutrient supplementation on TB treatment outcomes and its prognostic markers such as sputum conversion and serum zinc, retinol, and hemoglobin levels has been poorly understood. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the association between zinc and vitamin A supplementation and TB treatment outcomes and its prognostic markers. Methods: A systematic literature search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was performed in PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases. Meta-analysis with a random effect model was performed to estimate risk ratio (RR) and mean difference (MD), with a 95% confidence interval (CI), for dichotomous and continuous outcomes, respectively. Results: Our search identified 2,195 records. Of these, nine RCTs consisting of 1,375 participants were included in the final analyses. Among adults with pulmonary TB, zinc (RR: 0.94, 95%CI: 0.86, 1.03), vitamin A (RR: 0.90, 95%CI: 0.80, 1.01), and combined zinc and vitamin A (RR: 0.98, 95%CI: 0.89, 1.08) supplementation were not significantly associated with TB treatment success. Combined zinc and vitamin A supplementation was significantly associated with increased sputum smear conversion at 2 months (RR: 1.16, 95%CI: 1.03, 1.32), serum zinc levels at 2 months (MD of 0.86umol/l, 95% CI: 0.14, 1.57), serum retinol levels at 2 months (MD: 0.06umol/l, 95 % CI: 0.04, 0.08) and 6 months (MD: 0.12umol/l, 95 % CI: 0.10, 0.14), and serum hemoglobin level at 6 months (MD: 0.29 ug/dl, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.51), among adults with TB. Conclusions: Providing zinc and vitamin A supplementation to adults with pulmonary TB during treatment may increase early sputum smear conversion, serum zinc, retinol, and hemoglobin levels. However, the use of zinc, vitamin A, or both were not associated with TB treatment success.

Keywords: zinc and vitamin A supplementation, tuberculosis, treatment outcomes, meta-analysis, RCT

Procedia PDF Downloads 174
453 A Taxonomic Study on Cephalopods (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) from the Northern Bay of Bengal

Authors: Foyezunnesa Setu, S. M. Sharifuzzaman

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Cephalopods, belonging to the taxonomic class Cephalopoda under the phylum Mollusca, have a global distribution and are particularly common in the coastal waters of Bangladesh, specifically in the southeast and southwest regions. Identifying them can be difficult due to their pliable anatomical characteristics. Due to the presence of concealed cephalopod species within the orders Sepioidea, Teuthoidea, and Octopoda, these groupings of invertebrates, which share common characteristics, are frequently misidentified as distinct entities. Until now, cephalopods have been ignored because there is not enough knowledge about the specific species and the necessary preliminary research has not been done. This study offers a systematic description of various cephalopod species found along the south eastern coast of Bangladesh. A combined total of 25 cuttlefish specimens, four squid specimens, and five octopus specimens were gathered from the shores of Saint Martin's Island and Cox's Bazar. Based on morphological analysis, a total of 14 cephalopod species are identified. These species include Sepia aculeata, Sepia esculenta, Sepia pharaonis, Sepia prashadi, Sepiella inermis, Sepiella japonica, Uroteuthis duvauceli, Doryteuthis singhalensis, Sepioteuthis sepioidea, Eupryma stenodactyla, Amphioctopus aegina, Callistoctopus macropus, Octopus ceynea, and Octopus vulgaris. Six newly discovered species, including Sepia prashadi, Sepiella japonica, Sepioteuthis sepioidea, Eupryma stenodactyla, Callistoctopus macropus, and Octopus ceynea, have been identified in Bangladesh. Taxonomically, the identification of cephalopods is difficult due to the significant resemblance between species and the scarcity of information and preparatory research. This study offers significant insights about the cephalopod fauna found in the northern region of the Bay of Bengal.

Keywords: cephalopods, new records, northern bay of bengal, taxonomic identification

Procedia PDF Downloads 92
452 Comparison of Health Related Quality of Life in End Stage Renal Diseases Undergoing Twice and Thrice Hemodialysis

Authors: Anamika A. Sharma, Arezou Ahmadi R. A., Narendra B. Parihar, Manjusha Sajith

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Introduction: Hemodialysis is the most effective therapeutic technique for patient with ESRD second to renal transplantation. However it is a lifelong therapy which requires frequent hospital, or dialysis centers visits mainly twice and thrice weekly, thus considerably changes the normal way of patient’s living. So this study aimed to Assess Health-Related Quality of life in End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Undergoing Twice and Thrice weekly Hemodialysis. Method: A prospective observational, cross-sectional study was carried out from September 2016 to April 2017 in end-stage renal disease patients undergoing hemodialysis. Socio-demographic and clinical details of patients were obtained from the medical records. WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was used to Access Health-Related Quality Of Life. Quality of Life scores of Twice weekly and Thrice weekly hemodialysis was analyzed by Kruskal Wallis Test. Results: Majority of respondents were male (72.55%), married (89.31%), employed (58.02%), belong to middle class (71.00%) and resides in rural area (58.78%). The mean ages in the patient undergoing twice weekly and thrice weekly hemodialysis were 51.89 ± 15.64 years and 51.33 ± 15.70 years respectively. Average Quality of Life scores observed in twice weekly and thrice weekly hemodialysis was 52.07 ± 13.30 (p=0.0037) and 52.87 ± 13.47 (p=0.0004) respectively. The hemoglobin of thrice weekly dialysis patients (10.28 gm/dL) was high as compared to twice weekly dialysis (9.23 gm/dL). Patients undergoing thrice weekly dialysis had improved serum urea, serum creatinine values (95.85 mg/dL, 8.32 mg/dL) as compared to twice weekly hemodialysis ( 104.94 mg/dL, 8.68 mg/dL). Conclusion: Our study concluded that there was no significant difference between overall Health-Related Quality Of Life in twice weekly and thrice weekly hemodialysis. Frequent hemodialysis was associated with improved control of hypertension, serum urea, serum creatinine levels.

Keywords: end stage renal disease, health related quality of life, twice weekly hemodialysis, thrice weekly hemodialysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 181
451 Comparison of Statins Dose Intensity on HbA1c Control in Outpatients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study

Authors: Mohamed A. Hammad, Dzul Azri Mohamed Noor, Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman, Ahmed A. Khamis, Abeer Kharshid, Nor Azizah Aziz

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The effect of statins dose intensity (SDI) on glycemic control in patients with existing diabetes is unclear. Also, there are many contradictory findings were reported in the literature; thus, it is limiting the possibility to draw conclusions. This project was designed to compare the effect of SDI on glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c%) control in outpatients with Type 2 diabetes in the endocrine clinic at Hospital Pulau Pinang, Malaysia, between July 2015 and August 2016. A prospective cohort study was conducted, where records of 345 patients with Type 2 diabetes (Moderate-SDI group 289 patients and high-SDI cohort 56 patients) were reviewed to identify demographics and laboratory tests. The target of glycemic control (HbA1c < 7% for patient < 65 years, and < 8% for patient ≥ 65 years) was estimated, and the results were presented as descriptive statistics. From 289 moderate-SDI cohorts with a mean age of 57.3 ± 12.4 years, only 86 (29.8%) cases were shown to have controlled glycemia, while there were 203 (70.2%) cases with uncontrolled glycemia with confidence interval (CI) of 95% (6.2–10.8). On the other hand, the high-SDI group of 56 patients with Type 2 diabetes with a mean age 57.7±12.4 years is distributed among 11 (19.6%) patients with controlled diabetes, and 45 (80.4%) of them had uncontrolled glycemia, CI: 95% (7.1–11.9). The study has demonstrated that the relative risk (RR) of uncontrolled glycemia in patients with Type 2 diabetes that used high-SDI is 1.15, and the excessive relative risk (ERR) is 15%. The absolute risk (AR) is 10.2%, and the number needed to harm (NNH) is 10. Outpatients with Type 2 diabetes who use high-SDI of statin have a higher risk of uncontrolled glycemia than outpatients who had been treated with a moderate-SDI.

Keywords: cohort study, diabetes control, dose intensity, HbA1c, Malaysia, statin, type 2 diabetes mellitus, uncontrolled glycemia

Procedia PDF Downloads 307
450 Conversational Assistive Technology of Visually Impaired Person for Social Interaction

Authors: Komal Ghafoor, Tauqir Ahmad, Murtaza Hanif, Hira Zaheer

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Assistive technology has been developed to support visually impaired people in their social interactions. Conversation assistive technology is designed to enhance communication skills, facilitate social interaction, and improve the quality of life of visually impaired individuals. This technology includes speech recognition, text-to-speech features, and other communication devices that enable users to communicate with others in real time. The technology uses natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to analyze spoken language and provide appropriate responses. It also includes features such as voice commands and audio feedback to provide users with a more immersive experience. These technologies have been shown to increase the confidence and independence of visually impaired individuals in social situations and have the potential to improve their social skills and relationships with others. Overall, conversation-assistive technology is a promising tool for empowering visually impaired people and improving their social interactions. One of the key benefits of conversation-assistive technology is that it allows visually impaired individuals to overcome communication barriers that they may face in social situations. It can help them to communicate more effectively with friends, family, and colleagues, as well as strangers in public spaces. By providing a more seamless and natural way to communicate, this technology can help to reduce feelings of isolation and improve overall quality of life. The main objective of this research is to give blind users the capability to move around in unfamiliar environments through a user-friendly device by face, object, and activity recognition system. This model evaluates the accuracy of activity recognition. This device captures the front view of the blind, detects the objects, recognizes the activities, and answers the blind query. It is implemented using the front view of the camera. The local dataset is collected that includes different 1st-person human activities. The results obtained are the identification of the activities that the VGG-16 model was trained on, where Hugging, Shaking Hands, Talking, Walking, Waving video, etc.

Keywords: dataset, visually impaired person, natural language process, human activity recognition

Procedia PDF Downloads 60
449 The Construction Technology of Dryer Silo Materials to Grains Made from Webbing Bamboo: A Drying Technology Solutions to Empowerment Farmers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Authors: Nursigit Bintoro, Abadi Barus, Catur Setyo Dedi Pamungkas

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Indonesia is an agrarian country have almost population work as farmers. One of the popular agriculture commodity in Indonesia is paddy and corn. Production of paddy and corn are increased, but not balanced to the development of appropriate technology to farmers. Methods of drying applied with farmers still using sunshine. Drying by this method has some drawbacks, such as differences moisture content of corn grains, time used to dry around 3 days, and less quality of the products obtained. Beside it, the method of drying by using sunshine can’t do when the rainy season arrives. On this season the product obtained has less quality. One solution to the above problems is to create a dryer with simple technology. That technology is made silo dryer from webbing bamboo and wood. This technology is applicable to be applied to farmers' groups as well as the creation technology is quite cheap. The experiment material used in this research will be obtained from the corn grains. The equipment used are woven bamboo with a height of 3 meters and have capacity of up to 900 kgs as a silo, gas, burner, blower, bucket elevators, thermocouple, Arduino microcontroller 2560. This tools automatically records all the data of temperature and relative humidity. During on drying, each 30 minutes take 9 sample for measuring moisture content with moisture meter. By using this technology, farmers can save time, energy, and cost to the drying their agriculture product. In addition, by using this technology have good quality moisture content of grains and have a longer shelf life because the temperature when the heating process is controlled. Therefore, this technology is applicable to be applied to the public because the materials used to make the dryer easier to find, cheaper, and manufacture of the dryer made simple with good quality.

Keywords: grains, dryer, moisture content, appropriate technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 359
448 Verification Protocols for the Lightning Protection of a Large Scale Scientific Instrument in Harsh Environments: A Case Study

Authors: Clara Oliver, Oibar Martinez, Jose Miguel Miranda

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This paper is devoted to the study of the most suitable protocols to verify the lightning protection and ground resistance quality in a large-scale scientific facility located in a harsh environment. We illustrate this work by reviewing a case study: the largest telescopes of the Northern Hemisphere Cherenkov Telescope Array, CTA-N. This array hosts sensitive and high-speed optoelectronics instrumentation and sits on a clear, free from obstacle terrain at around 2400 m above sea level. The site offers a top-quality sky but also features challenging conditions for a lightning protection system: the terrain is volcanic and has resistivities well above 1 kOhm·m. In addition, the environment often exhibits humidities well below 5%. On the other hand, the high complexity of a Cherenkov telescope structure does not allow a straightforward application of lightning protection standards. CTA-N has been conceived as an array of fourteen Cherenkov Telescopes of two different sizes, which will be constructed in La Palma Island, Spain. Cherenkov Telescopes can provide valuable information on different astrophysical sources from the gamma rays reaching the Earth’s atmosphere. The largest telescopes of CTA are called LST’s, and the construction of the first one was finished in October 2018. The LST has a shape which resembles a large parabolic antenna, with a 23-meter reflective surface supported by a tubular structure made of carbon fibers and steel tubes. The reflective surface has 400 square meters and is made of an array of segmented mirrors that can be controlled individually by a subsystem of actuators. This surface collects and focuses the Cherenkov photons into the camera, where 1855 photo-sensors convert the light in electrical signals that can be processed by dedicated electronics. We describe here how the risk assessment of direct strike impacts was made and how down conductors and ground system were both tested. The verification protocols which should be applied for the commissioning and operation phases are then explained. We stress our attention on the ground resistance quality assessment.

Keywords: grounding, large scale scientific instrument, lightning risk assessment, lightning standards and safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 124
447 Implementation of Chlorine Monitoring and Supply System for Drinking Water Tanks

Authors: Ugur Fidan, Naim Karasekreter

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Healthy and clean water should not contain disease-causing micro-organisms and toxic chemicals and must contain the necessary minerals in a balanced manner. Today, water resources have a limited and strategic importance, necessitating the management of water reserves. Water tanks meet the water needs of people and should be regularly chlorinated to prevent waterborne diseases. For this purpose, automatic chlorination systems placed in water tanks for killing bacteria. However, the regular operation of automatic chlorination systems depends on refilling the chlorine tank when it is empty. For this reason, there is a need for a stock control system, in which chlorine levels are regularly monitored and supplied. It has become imperative to take urgent measures against epidemics caused by the fact that most of our country is not aware of the end of chlorine. The aim of this work is to rehabilitate existing water tanks and to provide a method for a modern water storage system in which chlorination is digitally monitored by turning the newly established water tanks into a closed system. A sensor network structure using GSM/GPRS communication infrastructure has been developed in the study. The system consists of two basic units: hardware and software. The hardware includes a chlorine level sensor, an RFID interlock system for authorized personnel entry into water tank, a motion sensor for animals and other elements, and a camera system to ensure process safety. It transmits the data from the hardware sensors to the host server software via the TCP/IP protocol. The main server software processes the incoming data through the security algorithm and informs the relevant unit responsible (Security forces, Chlorine supply unit, Public health, Local Administrator) by e-mail and SMS. Since the software is developed base on the web, authorized personnel are also able to monitor drinking water tank and report data on the internet. When the findings and user feedback obtained as a result of the study are evaluated, it is shown that closed drinking water tanks are built with GRP type material, and continuous monitoring in digital environment is vital for sustainable health water supply for people.

Keywords: wireless sensor networks (WSN), monitoring, chlorine, water tank, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 161
446 Predictors of Survival of Therapeutic Hypothermia Based on Analysis of a Consecutive American Inner City Population over 4 Years

Authors: Jorge Martinez, Brandon Roberts, Holly Payton Toca

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Background: Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is the international standard of care for all comatose patients after cardiac arrest, but criticism focuses on poor outcomes. We sought to develop criteria to identify American urban patients more likely to benefit from TH. Methods: Retrospective chart review of 107 consecutive adults undergoing TH in downtown New Orleans from 2010-2014 yielded records for 99 patients with all 44 survivors or families contacted up to four years. Results: 69 males and 38 females with a mean age of 60.2 showed 63 dead (58%) and 44 survivors (42%). Presenting cardiac rhythm was divided into shockable (Pulseless Ventricular Tachycardia, Ventricular Fibrillation) and non-shockable (Pulseless Electrical Activity, Asystole). Presenting in shockable rhythms with ROSC <20 minutes were 21 patients with 15 (71%) survivors (p=.001). Time >20 minutes until ROSC in shockable rhythms had 5 patients with 3 survivors (78%, p=0.001). Presenting in non-shockable rhythms with ROSC <20 minutes were 54 patients with 18 survivors (33%, p=.001). ROSC >20 minutes in non-shockable rhythms had 19 patients with 2 survivors (8%, p=.001). Survivors of shockable rhythms showed 19 (100%) living post TH. 15 survivors (79%, n=19, p=.001) had CPC score 1 or 2 with 4 survivors (21%, n=19) having a CPC score of 3. A total of 25 survived non-shockable rhythm. Acute survival of patients with non-shockable rhythm showed 18 expired <72 hours (72%, n=25) with long-term survival of 4 patients (5%, n=74) and CPC scores of 1 or 2 (p=.001). Interestingly, patients with time to ROSC <20 minutes exhibiting more than one loss of sustained ROSC showed 100% mortality (p=.001). Patients presenting with shockable >20 minutes ROSC had overall survival of 70% (p=.001), but those undergoing >3 cardiac rhythm changes had 100% mortality (p=.001). Conclusion: Patients presenting with shockable rhythms undergoing TH had overall acute survival of 70% followed by long-term survival of 100% after 4 years. In contrast, patients presenting with non-shockable rhythm had long-term survival of 5%. TH is not recommended for patients presenting with non-shockable rhythm and requiring greater than 20 minutes for restoration of ROSC.

Keywords: cardiac rhythm changes, Pulseless Electrical Activity (PEA), Therapeutic Hypothermia (TH)

Procedia PDF Downloads 212
445 Impact Assessment of Climate Change on Water Resources in the Kabul River Basin

Authors: Tayib Bromand, Keisuke Sato

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This paper presents the introduction to current water balance and climate change assessment in the Kabul river basin. The historical and future impacts of climate change on different components of water resources and hydrology in the Kabul river basin. The eastern part of Afghanistan, the Kabul river basin was chosen due to rapid population growth and land degradation to quantify the potential influence of Gobal Climate Change on its hydrodynamic characteristics. Luck of observed meteorological data was the main limitation of present research, few existed precipitation stations in the plain area of Kabul basin selected to compare with TRMM precipitation records, the result has been evaluated satisfactory based on regression and normal ratio methods. So the TRMM daily precipitation and NCEP temperature data set applied in the SWAT model to evaluate water balance for 2008 to 2012. Middle of the twenty – first century (2064) selected as the target period to assess impacts of climate change on hydrology aspects in the Kabul river basin. For this purpose three emission scenarios, A2, A1B and B1 and four GCMs, such as MIROC 3.2 (Med), CGCM 3.1 (T47), GFDL-CM2.0 and CNRM-CM3 have been selected, to estimate the future initial conditions of the proposed model. The outputs of the model compared and calibrated based on (R2) satisfactory. The assessed hydrodynamic characteristics and precipitation pattern. The results show that there will be significant impacts on precipitation patter such as decreasing of snowfall in the mountainous area of the basin in the Winter season due to increasing of 2.9°C mean annual temperature and land degradation due to deforestation.

Keywords: climate change, emission scenarios, hydrological components, Kabul river basin, SWAT model

Procedia PDF Downloads 466
444 Forestalling Heritage: Photography inside the Narrative of Catastrophe

Authors: Claudia Pimentel, Nuno Resende, Maria Fatima Lambert

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In the present time, catastrophe seems to be inevitable, and individuals are permanently overwhelmed with challenges that test one’s ability to cope with reality. Undoubtedly, photography surpassed the barrier of efficient communication in a world filled with omnifarious narratives. It wandered an outing shorter than words and younger than other sciences but became, nowadays, imperative in the context of several fields of knowledge, namely Heritage studies. Heritage and photography thus emerge as unapologetically related concepts, a fact that makes them equally relevant in today's society. Political, economic, social and humanitarian challenges alter the way in which the relationship with the past is managed and the way in which identities and ideas for the future are constructed. Ruins and destruction have become part of aesthetics discourse since the 18th century and are an area of interest when we discuss cultural heritage preservation. The image proves to be a unique way of revealing the event details when we refer to a catastrophic situation, whether it be anthropic, social or climatic. Like poetry, which has a challenging connection with silence, image is capable of creating spaces of sound and silence, and it is often these “pseudo-voids” that capture the attention of the spectator, of the one who sees/observes/contacts with the photography. The way we look at the catastrophe, how we describe it, and the images we keep in our memory will determine the record/capture/news of the event. We, thus, have a visual record, a document that will contribute to the creation of individual and collective identity, in a jigsaw puzzle of memories, pseudo memories and post memories. Based on photographic records in the Portuguese press, we intend to rethink the earthquake at Angra do Heroísmo – Azores in 1980, exploring the viewer´s perspective on the catastrophe’s iconography under the perspective of aesthetics and genealogy of the catastrophe.

Keywords: photography, aesthetics, catastrophe, Portugal

Procedia PDF Downloads 78
443 A Retrospective Study of Pain Management Strategies for Pediatric Hypospadias Surgery in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Western Rajasthan

Authors: Darshana Rathod, Kirtikumar Rathod, Kamlesh Kumari, Abhilasha Motghare

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Background and Aims: Hypospadias is one of the common congenital anomalies in males. Various modalities are used for pain management, including caudal, penile, pudendal, ring blocks, and systemic analgesics. There has yet to be a consensus regarding the most effective and safe analgesic method for controlling pain in these children. We planned this study to determine our institute's pain management practices for hypospadias surgeries. Material and Methods: This retrospective cohort study reviewed 150 children with hypospadias undergoing surgery from January 2020 to December 2023. Data regarding the mode of pain management, postoperative opioid requirement, PACU discharge, and complications was collected from the records. Results: For postoperative pain, 33 (22%) children received caudal block, 60 (40%) penile block, and 57 (38%) were managed by intravenous analgesics. A significant difference was found in the three groups, with the IV analgesic group requiring significantly higher opioid boluses in PACU [43 (75.4%) required two boluses (p < 0.05)]. The difference in PACU discharge time among the three groups was statistically significant (p< 0.05), with IV analgesics groups having the highest (55 mins [47, 60]), the Caudal group at 35mins (30, 40), and the dorsal penile block group at 35mins (25, 40). There was no significant difference in complications like edema, meatal stenosis, urethra-cutaneous fistula, or wound dehiscence among all three groups. Conclusion: Intravenous analgesics and regional blocks like caudal and penile blocks are the common pain management modalities in our institute. The regional blocks are effective in managing pain in the postoperative period and are not significantly associated with complications.

Keywords: caudal block, hypospadias, pain management, penile block

Procedia PDF Downloads 45
442 An Unsupervised Domain-Knowledge Discovery Framework for Fake News Detection

Authors: Yulan Wu

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With the rapid development of social media, the issue of fake news has gained considerable prominence, drawing the attention of both the public and governments. The widespread dissemination of false information poses a tangible threat across multiple domains of society, including politics, economy, and health. However, much research has concentrated on supervised training models within specific domains, their effectiveness diminishes when applied to identify fake news across multiple domains. To solve this problem, some approaches based on domain labels have been proposed. By segmenting news to their specific area in advance, judges in the corresponding field may be more accurate on fake news. However, these approaches disregard the fact that news records can pertain to multiple domains, resulting in a significant loss of valuable information. In addition, the datasets used for training must all be domain-labeled, which creates unnecessary complexity. To solve these problems, an unsupervised domain knowledge discovery framework for fake news detection is proposed. Firstly, to effectively retain the multidomain knowledge of the text, a low-dimensional vector for each news text to capture domain embeddings is generated. Subsequently, a feature extraction module utilizing the unsupervisedly discovered domain embeddings is used to extract the comprehensive features of news. Finally, a classifier is employed to determine the authenticity of the news. To verify the proposed framework, a test is conducted on the existing widely used datasets, and the experimental results demonstrate that this method is able to improve the detection performance for fake news across multiple domains. Moreover, even in datasets that lack domain labels, this method can still effectively transfer domain knowledge, which can educe the time consumed by tagging without sacrificing the detection accuracy.

Keywords: fake news, deep learning, natural language processing, multiple domains

Procedia PDF Downloads 101