Search results for: statistical area

Authors: Jonathan Andres Pullas Navarrete, Ernesto Hale de la Torre Chauvin

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In this work, the antibacterial effect of activated carbon fibers (ACF) impregnated with ionic silver particles was studied. ACF were prepared from samples of cotton woven wastes (cotton based fabrics 5x10 cm) by applying a chemical activation procedure with H3PO4. This treatment was performed using several H3PO4: Cotton based fabrics weight ratios (1:2–2:1), temperatures (600–900 ºC) and activation times (0.5–2 h). The ACF obtained under the best activation conditions showed BET surface area of 1103 m2/g; this result along with iodine index demonstrated the microporous nature of the fibers herein obtained. Then, the obtained fibers were impregnated with ionic silver particles by immersion in 0.1 and 0.5 M AgNO3 solutions followed by drying and thermal decomposition in order to fix the silver particles in the structure of ACF. It was determined that the presence of Ag ions lowered the BET surface area of the ACF in approximately 17 % due to the obstruction of the porosities along the carbonized structure. Finally, the antibacterial effect of the ACF impregnated with silver was studied through direct counting method for coliforms. The antibacterial activity of the impregnated fibers was demonstrated, and it was attributed to the strongly inhibition of bacteria growth because of chemical properties of the particles of silver inside the ACF. This behavior was demonstrated at concentrations of silver as low as 0.035 % w/w.

Keywords: activated carbon, adsorption, antibacterial activity, coliforms, surface area

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Hamidreza Joodaki, Sara Farzaneh, Jaleh Afshar Qhazvin

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Tourism industry is considered as the greatest and most various industry in the world. Most of these countries know this dynamic industry as main source of income, occupation, growth of private sector and development of infrastructure. One of the old methods of investment in countries such as Iran have transitional economy, is buying land and house, sometimes is resulted to high profit and of course for this reason hustler's are very interested in this background. Nowadays buying and selling land in the areas with pleasant climate in our country is considered. Since, Shahmirzad is a city with fair and desired environmental attractions is located in the border of deserted cities, mainly has special climatic position and these conditions are resulted to attraction of passenger, tourist for passing their leisure hours from Semnan and other cities of the area and from other provinces in hot seasons and with regard to these suitable conditions in the city buying land and housing also have been considered by most of residents of Semnan and cities around Shahmirzad by now. The aim of present research is investigation the role of tourism in increasing price of land and housing in Shahmirzad city. By studying on price of land and housing especially in central area, that gardens of the city are located in this area, we have concluded that role of tourism have caused in price of land and housing specially these prices in central and old areas are more expensive than towns around the city.

Keywords: tourism, climate conditions, price of land and housing, Shahmirzad

Procedia PDF Downloads 294

Authors: Mengdi Zhang, Xufeng Liu, Zhenji Gao, Ying Li, Zhu Rao, Yi Huang

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As an open system, the earth is constantly undergoing the transformation and release of matter and energy. Fault zones are relatively discontinuous and fragile geological structures, and the release of material and energy inside the Earth is strongest in relatively weak fault zones. Earthquake events frequently occur in fault zones and are closely related to tectonic activity in these zones. In earthquake precursor observation, monitoring the spatiotemporal changes in the release of related gases near fault zones (such as radon gas, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, helium), and analyzing earthquake precursor anomalies, can be effective means to forecast the occurrence of earthquake events. Radon gas, as an inert radioactive gas generated during the decay of uranium and thorium, is not only a indicator for monitoring tectonic and seismic activity, but also an important topic for ecological and environmental health, playing a crucial role in uranium exploration. At present, research on soil radon gas mainly focuses on the measurement of soil gas concentration and flux in fault zone profiles, while research on the correlation between spatiotemporal concentration changes in the same region and its geological background is relatively little. In this paper, Tangshan area in north China is chosen as research area. An analysis was conducted on the seismic geological background of Tangshan area firstly. Then based on quantitative analysis and comparison of measurement radon concentrations of 2023 and 2010, combined with the study of seismic activity and environmental changes during the time period, the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and influencing factors were explored, in order to analyze the gas emission characteristics of the Tangshan fault zone and its relationship with fault activity, which aimed to be useful for the future work in earthquake monitor of Tangshan area.

Keywords: radon, Northern China, soil gas, earthquake

Procedia PDF Downloads 72

Authors: M. R. Gad El- Kareem, A. M. K. Abdel Aal, A. Y. Mohamed

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During 2011 and 2012 seasons, Zaghloul date palms received four sprays of silicon (Si) at 0.05 to 0.1% and selenium (Se) at 0.01 to 0.02%. Growths, nutritional status, yield as well as physical and chemical characteristics of the fruits in response to application of silicon and selenium were investigated. Single and combined applications of silicon at 0.05 to 0.1% and selenium at 0.01 to 0.02% was very effective in enhancing the leaf area, total chlorophylls, percentages of N, P, and K in the leaves, yield, bunch weight as well as physical and chemical characteristics of the fruits in relative to the check treatment. Silicon was superior to selenium in this respect. Combined application was favourable than using each alone in this connection. Treating Zaghloul date palms four times with a mixture of silicon at 0.05% + selenium at 0.01% resulted in an economical yield and producing better fruit quality.

Keywords: date palms, Zaghloul, silicon, selenium, leaf area

Procedia PDF Downloads 383

Authors: Nasser Karami

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Piracy in the North West of Indian Ocean and the Red Sea has become a global crisis in recent years. Pirates of this area are often very poor people from the Horn of Africa and the western coast of the Red Sea. Climatic and geographical evidence suggests that poverty and destruction of social structures in the region have directly relation to prolonged-drought. Indeed, after the seventies (more than 40 years ago) due to the long-term drought in the region, all political, economic and social structures had declined. Spread of terrorism, violent extremism and of course piracy, are main effects of climate change and drought of this regression. It is disturbing to say the climatic documents say that because of global climate change, severe drought will continue in this region. This mean that the dangers worse than piracy threatens the future of this area. Forty-year data that has assessed in this study indicate that there is direct relationship between spread of drought and piracy in the Red Sea.

Keywords: climate, poverty, climate change, drought, piracy in red sea

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Authors: Araya Yordchim, Rosjana Chandhasa, Suwaree Yordchim

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This research aims to study guidelines on the development of management process for research journals in order to develop Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University to international standards. This research investigated affecting elements ranging from the format of the article, evaluation form for research article quality, the process of creating a scholarly journal, satisfaction level of those with knowledge and competency to conduct research, arisen problems, and solutions. Drawing upon the sample size of 40 persons who had knowledge and competency in conducting research and creating scholarly journal articles at an international level, the data for this research were collected using questionnaires as a tool. Through the usage of computer software, data were analyzed by using the statistics in the forms of frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The majority of participants were civil servants with a doctorate degree, followed by civil servants with a master's degree. Among them, the suitability of the article format was rated at a good level while the evaluation form for research articles quality was assessed at a good level. Based on participants' viewpoints, the process of creating scholarly journals was at a good level, while the satisfaction of those who had knowledge and competency in conducting research was at a satisfactory level. The problems encountered were the difficulty in accessing the website. The solution to the problem was to develop a website with user-friendly accessibility, including setting up a Google scholar profile for the purpose of references counting and the articles being used for reference in real-time. Research article format influenced the level of satisfaction of those who had the knowledge and competency to conduct research with statistical significance at the 0.01 level. The research article quality assessment form (preface section, research article writing section, preparation for research article manuscripts section, and the original article evaluation form for the author) affected the satisfaction of those with knowledge and competency to conduct research with the statistical significance at the level of 0.01. The process of establishing journals had an impact on the satisfaction of those with knowledge and ability to conduct research with statistical significance at the level of .05

Keywords: guidelines, development of management, research journals, international standards

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Authors: Ivana Cestar, Ivica Stančerić, Saša Ahac, Vesna Dragčević, Tamara Džambas

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On special paved areas, such as road intersections, vehicles are usually moving through horizontal curves with smaller radii and occupy considerably greater area compared to open road segments. Planning procedure of these areas is mainly an iterative process that consists of designing project elements, assembling those elements to a design project, and analyzing swept paths for the design vehicle. If applied elements do not fulfill the swept path requirements for the design vehicle, the process must be carried out again. Application of specialized computer software for swept path analysis significantly facilitates planning procedure of special paved areas. There are various software of this kind available on the global market, and each of them has different specifications. In this paper, comparison of two software commonly used in Croatia (Auto TURN and Vehicle Tracking) is presented, their advantages and disadvantages are described, and their applicability on a particular paved area is discussed. In order to reveal which one of the analyszed software is more favorable in terms of swept paths widths, which one includes input parameters that are more relevant for this kind of analysis, and which one is more suitable for the application on a certain special paved area, the analysis shown in this paper was conducted on a number of different intersection types.

Keywords: software comparison, special paved areas, swept path analysis, swept path input parameters

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Authors: Chung-Yuan Wang, Min Hsu, Bo-Ya Juan, Hsiv Ching Lin, Hsveh Min Lin, Hsiu-Fang Yeh

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The success of Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) system attracts widespread praise from the international society. However, the availability of medical care in a emote area is limited. Without the convenient public transportation system and mature social welfare policy, these people are difficult to regain their health and prevent disability. Preterm children have more risk to get development delay. Preterm children in a remote area have the human right to get rehabilitation resources as those in the city area. Therefore, the aim of this study was to show the importance of development screening to preterm children in a remote area and a tract the government to notice the issue. In Pingtung, children who are suspected development delay would be suggested to take a skillful screening evaluation in our hospital. Those preterm children (within 1-year-old) visited our pediatric clinic would also be referred to take the development evaluation. After the physiatrist’s systemic evaluation, the subjects would be scheduled to take the development evaluation. Gross motor, fine motor, speech comprehension/expression and mental study were included. The evaluation was in-charged by a physical therapist, occupational therapy, speech therapist and pediatric psychologist. The tools were Peabody developmental scale, Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III) and Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R). In 2013, 459 children received the service in our hospital. Among these children, fifty-seven were noted with preterm baby history (gestation within 37 weeks). Thirty-six of these preterm children, who had never receive development evaluation, were included in this study. Thirty-six subjects (twenty-six male and ten female) were included. Nineteen subjects were found development delay. Six subjects were found suspected development delay. In gross motor, six subjects were development delay and eight were suspected development delay. In fine motor, five subjects were development delay and three were suspected development delay. In speech, sixteen subjects were development delay and six were suspected development delay. In our study, through the provision of development evaluation service, 72.2% preterm baby were found their development delay or suspected delay. They need further early intervention rehabilitation service. We made their parents realize that when development delay was recognized at the early stage, they are often reversible. No only the patients but also their families were improved their health status. The number of the subjects was limited in our study. Further study might be needed. Compared with 770 physical therapist (PT) and 370 occupational therapy (OT) in Taipei, there are only 108 PT and 54 OT in Pingtung. Further, there are much fewer therapists working on the field of pediatric rehabilitation. Living healthy is a human's right, no matter where does he live. For those development delay children in remote area, particularly preterm children, early detection, and early intervention rehabilitation service could play an important role in decreasing their disability and improving their quality of life. Through this study, we suggest the government to add more national resources on the development evaluation to preterm children in a remote area.

Keywords: development, early intervention, preterm children, rehabilitation

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Authors: Iman A. Saad, Loay E. George

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Iris pattern is an important biological feature of human body; it becomes very hot topic in both research and practical applications. In this paper, an algorithm is proposed for iris recognition and a simple, efficient and fast method is introduced to extract a set of discriminatory features using first order gradient operator applied on grayscale images. The gradient based features are robust, up to certain extents, against the variations may occur in contrast or brightness of iris image samples; the variations are mostly occur due lightening differences and camera changes. At first, the iris region is located, after that it is remapped to a rectangular area of size 360x60 pixels. Also, a new method is proposed for detecting eyelash and eyelid points; it depends on making image statistical analysis, to mark the eyelash and eyelid as a noise points. In order to cover the features localization (variation), the rectangular iris image is partitioned into N overlapped sub-images (blocks); then from each block a set of different average directional gradient densities values is calculated to be used as texture features vector. The applied gradient operators are taken along the horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions. The low order norms of gradient components were used to establish the feature vector. Euclidean distance based classifier was used as a matching metric for determining the degree of similarity between the features vector extracted from the tested iris image and template features vectors stored in the database. Experimental tests were performed using 2639 iris images from CASIA V4-Interival database, the attained recognition accuracy has reached up to 99.92%.

Keywords: iris recognition, contrast stretching, gradient features, texture features, Euclidean metric

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Authors: Akinbo Razak Yinka, Adesanya Kehinde Kazeem, Oladokun Oluwagbenga Peter

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Time series data are sequences of observations collected over a period of time. Such data can be used to predict health outcomes, such as disease progression, mortality, hospitalization, etc. The Statistical approach is based on mathematical models that capture the patterns and trends of the data, such as autocorrelation, seasonality, and noise, while Neural methods are based on artificial neural networks, which are computational models that mimic the structure and function of biological neurons. This paper compared both parametric and non-parametric time series models of patients treated for malaria in Maternal and Child Health Centres in Lagos State, Nigeria. The forecast methods considered linear regression, Integrated Moving Average, ARIMA and SARIMA Modeling for the parametric approach, while Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Network were used for the non-parametric model. The performance of each method is evaluated using the Mean Absolute Error (MAE), R-squared (R2) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) as criteria to determine the accuracy of each model. The study revealed that the best performance in terms of error was found in MLP, followed by the LSTM and ARIMA models. In addition, the Bootstrap Aggregating technique was used to make robust forecasts when there are uncertainties in the data.

Keywords: ARIMA, bootstrap aggregation, MLP, LSTM, SARIMA, time-series analysis

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Authors: Jalila Jbilou, Salaheddine El Adlouni, Pierre Gosselin

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Background: West Nile virus is increasingly an important public health issue in North America. In Canada, WVN was officially reported in Toronto and Montréal for the first time in 2001. During the last decade, several WNV events have been reported in several Canadian provinces. The main objective of the present study is to update the frequency of the climate conditions favorable to WNV outbreaks in Canada. Method: Statistical frequency analysis has been used to estimate the return period for climate conditions associated with WNV outbreaks for the 1961–2050 period. The best fit is selected through the Akaike Information Criterion, and the parameters are estimated using the maximum likelihood approach. Results: Results show that the climate conditions related to the 2002 event, for Montreal and Toronto, are becoming more frequent. For Saskatoon, the highest DD20 events recorded for the last few decades were observed in 2003 and 2007. The estimated return periods are 30 years and 70 years, respectively. Conclusion: The emergence of WNV was related to extremely high DD values in the summer. However, some exceptions may be related to several factors such as virus persistence, vector migration, and also improved diagnosis and reporting levels. It is clear that such climate conditions have become much more common in the last decade and will likely continue to do so over future decades.

Keywords: West Nile virus, climate, North America, statistical frequency analysis, risk estimation, public health, modeling, scenario, temperature, precipitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Amirmohsen Behjat, Aleck Ostry, Christina Miewald, Bernie Pauly

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Substantial research has indicated that socioeconomic and demographic characteristics’ of neighborhoods are strong determinants of food security. The aim of this study was to develop a Food Insecurity Neighborhood Index (FINI) based on the associated socioeconomic and demographic variables to identify the areas at potential risk of food insecurity in rural British Columbia (BC). Principle Component Analysis (PCA) technique was used to calculate the FINI for each rural Dissemination Area (DA) using the food security determinant variables from Canadian Census data. Using ArcGIS, the neighborhoods with the top quartile FINI values were classified as food insecure. The results of this study indicated that the most food insecure neighborhood with the highest FINI value of 99.1 was in the Bulkley-Nechako (central BC) area whereas the lowest FINI with the value of 2.97 was for a rural neighborhood in the Cowichan Valley area. In total, 98.049 (19%) of the rural population of British Columbians reside in high food insecure areas. Moreover, the distribution of food insecure neighborhoods was found to be strongly dependent on the degree of rurality in BC. In conclusion, the cluster of food insecure neighbourhoods was more pronounced in Central Coast, Mount Wadington, Peace River, Kootenay Boundary, and the Alberni-Clayoqout Regional Districts.

Keywords: neighborhood food insecurity index, socioeconomic and demographic determinants, principal component analysis, Canada census, ArcGIS

Procedia PDF Downloads 161

Authors: Mehdi Mirzaei Alavijeh, Farzad Jalilian

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Background: Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug worldwide, especially among adolescents and young adults, which can cause numerous complications. The aim of this study was to determine the pattern, motivation use, and factors related to marijuana use among Iranian youths based on the integrative model of behavioral prediction Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 174 youths marijuana user in Kermanshah County and Isfahan County, during summer 2014 which was selected with the convenience sampling for participation in this study. A self-reporting questionnaire was applied for collecting data. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 21 using bivariate correlations and linear regression statistical tests. Results: The mean marijuana use of respondents was 4.60 times at during week [95% CI: 4.06, 5.15]. Linear regression statistical showed, the structures of integrative model of behavioral prediction accounted for 36% of the variation in the outcome measure of the marijuana use at during week (R2 = 36% & P < 0.001); and among them attitude, marijuana refuse, and subjective norms were a stronger predictors. Conclusion: Comprehensive health education and prevention programs need to emphasize on cognitive factors that predict youth’s health-related behaviors. Based on our findings it seems, designing educational and behavioral intervention for reducing positive belief about marijuana, marijuana self-efficacy refuse promotion and reduce subjective norms encourage marijuana use has an effective potential to protect youths marijuana use.

Keywords: marijuana, youth, integrative model of behavioral prediction, Iran

Procedia PDF Downloads 551

Authors: Pubudu K. Hitigala Kaluarachchilage, Champike Attanayake, Sasith Rajasooriya, Chris P. Tsokos

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Operating system (OS) security is a key component of computer security. Assessing and improving OSs strength to resist against vulnerabilities and attacks is a mandatory requirement given the rate of new vulnerabilities discovered and attacks occurring. Frequency and the number of different kinds of vulnerabilities found in an OS can be considered an index of its information security level. In the present study five mostly used OSs, Microsoft Windows (windows 7, windows 8 and windows 10), Apple’s Mac and Linux are assessed for their discovered vulnerabilities and the risk associated with each. Each discovered and reported vulnerability has an exploitability score assigned in CVSS score of the national vulnerability database. In this study the risk from vulnerabilities in each of the five Operating Systems is compared. Risk Indexes used are developed based on the Markov model to evaluate the risk of each vulnerability. Statistical methodology and underlying mathematical approach is described. Initially, parametric procedures are conducted and measured. There were, however, violations of some statistical assumptions observed. Therefore the need for non-parametric approaches was recognized. 6838 vulnerabilities recorded were considered in the analysis. According to the risk associated with all the vulnerabilities considered, it was found that there is a statistically significant difference among average risk levels for some operating systems, indicating that according to our method some operating systems have been more risk vulnerable than others given the assumptions and limitations. Relevant test results revealing a statistically significant difference in the Risk levels of different OSs are presented.

Keywords: cybersecurity, Markov chain, non-parametric analysis, vulnerability, operating system

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Muhammad Randhawa, Muhammad Nadeem

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Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is a vital source of minerals, vitamins, dietary fiber and antioxidants. Owing to highly perishable nature and proning towards chilling injury, diseases, insect-pests and physical damage the main drawbacks of guava after harvesting, present study was designed. Due to its delicacy in physiology, economic importance, effects of pre and postharvest factors and maturity indices, guava fruits should be given prime importance for good quality attributes. In this study guava fruits were stored at 10°C with 80% relative humidity after treating with different levels of sulphate salt of magnesium followed by dipping in cellulose based edible coating hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC). The main objective of this coating was to enhance the shelf life of guava by inhibiting the respiration and also by binding the dissolved solids with salt application. Characterization for quality attributes including physical, physiological and bio chemical analysis was performed after every 7 days interval till the fruit remains edible during the storage period of 4 weeks. Finally, data obtained was subjected to statistical analysis. It was concluded on statistical basis that Surahi variety (treated with 5% MgSO4) showed best storage stability and kept its original quality up to almost 23 days during storage.

Keywords: edible coating, guava cultivars, physicochemical attributes, storage

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Authors: A. M. Daneshian Moghaddam, A. H. Hosseinzadeh, A. Bandehagh

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To investigate the effect of cadmium heavy metal stress on five ecotype of dill, this experiment was conducted in the greenhouse of Tabriz University and Shabestar Islamic Azad University’s laboratories with tree replications. After growing the plants, cadmium treatments (concentration 0,300, 600 µmol) were applied. The essential oil of the samples was measured by hydro distillation and using a Clevenger apparatus. Variables used in this study include: wet and dry roots and aerial part of plant, plant height, stem diameter, and root length. The results showed that different concentrations of heavy metal has statistical difference (p < 0.01) on the fresh weight, dry weight, plant height and root length but hadn’t significant difference on essential oil percentage and root length. Dill ecotypes have statistical significant difference on essential oil percent, fresh plant weight, plant height, root length, except plant dry weight. The interactions between Cd concentration and dill ecotypes have not significant effect on all traits, except root length. Maximum fresh weight (4.98 gr) and minimum amount (3.13 gr) were obtained in control trait and 600 ppm of cd concentration, respectively. Highest amount of fresh weight (4.78 gr) was obtained in Birjand ecotype. Maximum plant dry weight (1.2 gr) was obtained at control. The highest plant height (32.54 cm) was obtained in control and with applies cadmium concentrations from zero to 300 and 600 ppm was found significantly reduced in plant height.

Keywords: pollution, essential oil, ecotype, dill, heavy metals, cadmium

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Authors: Fanous Mohammadi, Majid H. Tangestani, Mohammad H. Tayebi

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This research aims to evaluate and compare Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based fuzzy models for producing orogenic gold prospectivity maps in the Saqqez area, NW of Iran. Gold occurrences are hosted in sericite schist and mafic to felsic meta-volcanic rocks in this area and are associated with hydrothermal alterations that extend over ductile to brittle shear zones. The predictor maps, which represent the Pre-(Source/Trigger/Pathway), syn-(deposition/physical/chemical traps) and post-mineralization (preservation/distribution of indicator minerals) subsystems for gold mineralization, were generated using empirical understandings of the specifications of known orogenic gold deposits and gold mineral systems and were then pre-processed and integrated to produce mineral prospectivity maps. Five fuzzy logic operators, including AND, OR, Fuzzy Algebraic Product (FAP), Fuzzy Algebraic Sum (FAS), and GAMMA, were applied to the predictor maps in order to find the most efficient prediction model. Prediction-Area (P-A) plots and field observations were used to assess and evaluate the accuracy of prediction models. Mineral prospectivity maps generated by AND, OR, FAP, and FAS operators were inaccurate and, therefore, unable to pinpoint the exact location of discovered gold occurrences. The GAMMA operator, on the other hand, produced acceptable results and identified potentially economic target sites. The P-A plot revealed that 68 percent of known orogenic gold deposits are found in high and very high potential regions. The GAMMA operator was shown to be useful in predicting and defining cost-effective target sites for orogenic gold deposits, as well as optimizing mineral deposit exploitation.

Keywords: mineral prospectivity mapping, fuzzy logic, GIS, orogenic gold deposit, Saqqez, Iran

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Saba Fahham, Supak Ngamsom, Suchaya Damrongsri

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Objective: The objective is to determine the optimal threshold of Romexis software for the airway volume and minimum cross-section area (MCA) analysis using Image J as a gold standard. Materials and Methods: A total of ten cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images were collected. The airway volume and MCA of each patient were analyzed using the automatic airway segmentation function in the CBCT DICOM viewer (Romexis). Airway volume and MCA measurements were conducted on each CBCT sagittal view with fifteen different threshold values from the Romexis software, Ranging from 300 to 1000. Duplicate DICOM files, in axial view, were imported into Image J for concurrent airway volume and MCA analysis as the gold standard. The airway volume and MCA measured from Romexis and Image J were compared using a t-test with Bonferroni correction, and statistical significance was set at p<0.003. Results: Concerning airway volume, thresholds of 600 to 850 as well as 1000, exhibited results that were not significantly distinct from those obtained through Image J. Regarding MCA, employing thresholds from 400 to 850 within Romexis Viewer showed no variance from Image J. Notably, within the threshold range of 600 to 850, there were no statistically significant differences observed in both airway volume and MCA analyses, in comparison to Image J. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the utilization of Planmeca Romexis Viewer 6.4.3.3 within threshold range of 600 to 850 yields airway volume and MCA measurements that exhibit no statistically significant variance in comparison to measurements obtained through Image J. This outcome holds implications for diagnosing upper airway obstructions and post-orthodontic surgical monitoring.

Keywords: airway analysis, airway segmentation, cone beam computed tomography, threshold

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Authors: Massimiliano Frezza, Sergio Bianchi, Augusto Pianese

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Introduced by Shannon in 1948 in the field of information theory as the average rate at which information is produced by a stochastic set of data, the concept of entropy has gained much attention as a measure of uncertainty and unpredictability associated with a dynamical system, eventually depicted by a stochastic process. In particular, the Shannon entropy measures the degree of order/disorder of a given signal and provides useful information about the underlying dynamical process. It has found widespread application in a variety of fields, such as, for example, cryptography, statistical physics and finance. In this regard, many contributions have employed different measures of entropy in an attempt to characterize the financial time series in terms of market efficiency, market crashes and/or financial crises. The Shannon entropy has also been considered as a measure of the risk of a portfolio or as a tool in asset pricing. This work investigates the theoretical link between the Shannon entropy and the multifractional Brownian motion (mBm), stochastic process which recently is the focus of a renewed interest in finance as a driving model of stochastic volatility. In particular, after exploring the current state of research in this area and highlighting some of the key results and open questions that remain, we show a well-defined relationship between the Shannon (log)entropy and the memory function H(t) of the mBm. In details, we allow both the length of time series and time scale to change over analysis to study how the relation modify itself. On the one hand, applications are developed after generating surrogates of mBm trajectories based on different memory functions; on the other hand, an empirical analysis of several international stock indexes, which confirms the previous results, concludes the work.

Keywords: Shannon entropy, multifractional Brownian motion, Hurst–Holder exponent, stock indexes

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Authors: In Su Na, Gunwon Lee, Seiyong Kim

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This study analyzed the effect of area variables and economic variables on the length of each period of the project in order to analyze the effect of agreement rate on project implementation in housing renewal projects. In conclusion, as can be seen from these results, a low agreement rate may not translate into project promotion, and a higher agreement rate may not translate into project delay. The expectation of the policy is that the lower the agreement rate, the more projects would be promoted, but that is not the actual effect. From a policy consistency viewpoint, changing the agreement rate frequently, depending on the decision of the public, is not reasonable. The policy of using agreement rate as a necessary condition for project implementation should be reconsidered.

Keywords: Area and Economic Variables, Elapsed time, Housing Renewal Project

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Authors: Yasin Ghasemi-Zadeh, Yousef Kavian

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Wireless body area networks (WBANs) technology has achieved lots of popularity over the last decade with a wide range of medical applications. This paper presents an asynchronous media access control (MAC) protocol based on B-MAC protocol by giving an application for medical issues. In WBAN applications, there are some serious problems such as energy, latency, link reliability (quality of wireless link) and throughput which are mainly due to size of sensor networks and human body specifications. To overcome these problems and improving link reliability, we concentrated on MAC layer that supports mobility models for medical applications. In the presented protocol, preamble frames are divided into some sub-frames considering the threshold level. Actually, the main reason for creating shorter preambles is the link reliability where due to some reasons such as water, the body signals are affected on some frequency bands and causes fading and shadowing on signals, therefore by increasing the link reliability, these effects are reduced. In case of mobility model, we use MoBAN model and modify that for some more areas. The presented asynchronous MAC protocol is modeled by OMNeT++ simulator. The results demonstrate increasing the link reliability comparing to B-MAC protocol where the packet reception ratio (PRR) is 92% also covers more mobility areas than MoBAN protocol.

Keywords: wireless body area networks (WBANs), MAC protocol, link reliability, mobility, biomedical

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Authors: A. J. Julius, E. Imoagene, O. A. Ganiyu

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The purpose of this study is to estimate the economic value of the services and functions rendered by the forest landscape using a conditional logit model. For this study, attributes and levels of forest landscape were chosen; specifically, attributes include topographical forest type, forest type, forest density, recreational factor (side trip, accessibility of valley), and willingness to participate (WTP). Based on these factors, 48 choices sets with balanced and orthogonal form using statistical analysis system (SAS) 9.1 was adopted. The efficiency of the questionnaire was 6.02 (D-Error. 0.1), and choice set and socio-economic variables were analyzed. To reduce the cognitive load of respondents, the 48 choice sets were divided into 4 types in the questionnaire, so that respondents could respond to 12 choice sets, respectively. The study populations were citizens from seven metropolitan cities including Ibadan, Ilorin, Osogbo, etc. and annual WTP per household was asked by using the interview questionnaire, a total of 267 copies were recovered. As a result, Oshogbo had 0.45, and the statistical similarities could not be found except for urban forests, forest density, recreational factor, and level of WTP. Average annual WTP per household for forest landscape was 104,758 Naira (Nigerian currency) based on the outcome from this model, total economic value of the services and functions enjoyed from Nigerian forest landscape has reached approximately 1.6 trillion Naira.

Keywords: economic valuation, urban cities, services, forest landscape, logit model, nigeria

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Authors: Gladys Oppong, Saumya Singh, Pramod Pathak

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Women entrepreneurship has started establishing itself globally. Despite various social hurdles, Indian women have proved their strength in the area of entrepreneurship. Rising pattern of women entrepreneurship in Indian context make it significant to know the reason behind it. It’s a normal perception that women with financially strong backgrounds are highly motivated to progress in the area of entrepreneurship while lack of money becomes a major restraint for others. The proposed study attempts to identify the motivational factors for becoming women entrepreneur. The research work is to be conducted on women entrepreneurs. For this purpose, factor analysis will be used. The study has identified a set of motivational factors namely family business, social status, education and qualification, self-fulfillment and achievement among others that give momentum to the women to become an entrepreneur. The outcome of the study will be helpful in developing women entrepreneurship in India.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship, motivation, family business, social status

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Authors: Kassaye Bewketu Zellelew

Abstract:

The Main Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes suffer from water level fluctuations due to several natural and anthropocentric factors. Lakes located at terminal positions are highly affected by the fluctuations. These fluctuations are disturbing the stability of ecosystems, putting very serious impacts on the lives of many animals and plants around the lakes. Hence, studying the hydrodynamics of the lakes was found to be very essential. The main purpose of this study is to find the most significant factors that contribute to the water level fluctuations and also to quantify the fluctuations so as to identify lakes that need special attention. The research method included correlations, least squares regressions, multi-temporal satellite image analysis and land use change assessment. The results of the study revealed that much of the fluctuations, specially, in Central Ethiopian Rift are caused by human activities. Lakes Abiyata, Chamo, Ziway and Langano are declining while Abaya and Hawassa are rising. Among the studied lakes, Abiyata is drastically reduced in size (about 28% of its area in 1986) due to both human activities (most dominant ones) and natural factors. The other seriously affected lake is Chamo with about 11% reduction in its area between 1986 and 2010. Lake Abaya was found to be relatively stable during this period (showed only a 0.8% increase in its area). Concerned bodies should pay special attention to and take appropriate measures on lakes Abiyata, Chamo and Hawassa.

Keywords: correlations, hydrodynamics, lake level fluctuation, landsat satellite images

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Authors: Jose A. Alvarez Aldegunde, Adrian Fernandez Sanchez, Matthew D. Menden, Bernardo Vila Rodriguez

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Up to five statistical pre-processings have been carried out considering the pollutant records of the stations present in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, also taking into account the childhood asthma incidence surveys conducted in hospitals in the city by the Health Ministry of Colombia for this study. These pre-processings have consisted of different techniques such as the determination of the quality of data collection, determination of the quality of the registration network, identification and debugging of errors in data collection, completion of missing data and purified data, as well as the improvement of the time scale of records. The characterization of the quality of the data has been conducted by means of density analysis of the pollutant registration stations using ArcGis Software and through mass balance techniques, making it possible to determine inconsistencies in the records relating the registration data between stations following the linear regression. The results obtained in this process have highlighted the positive quality in the pollutant registration process. Consequently, debugging of errors has allowed us to identify certain data as statistically non-significant in the incidence and series of contamination. This data, together with certain missing records in the series recorded by the measuring stations, have been completed by statistical imputation equations. Following the application of these prior processes, the basic series of incidence data for respiratory disease and pollutant records have allowed the characterization of the influence of pollutants on respiratory diseases such as, for example, childhood asthma. This characterization has been carried out using statistical correlation methods, including visual correlation, simple linear regression correlation and spectral analysis with PAST Software which identifies maximum periodicity cycles and minimums under the formula of the Lomb periodgram. In relation to part of the results obtained, up to eleven maximums and minimums considered contemporary between the incidence records and the particles have been identified taking into account the visual comparison. The spectral analyses that have been performed on the incidence and the PM2.5 have returned a series of similar maximum periods in both registers, which are at a maximum during a period of one year and another every 25 days (0.9 and 0.07 years). The bivariate analysis has managed to characterize the variable "Daily Vehicular Flow" in the ninth position of importance of a total of 55 variables. However, the statistical correlation has not obtained a favorable result, having obtained a low value of the R2 coefficient. The series of analyses conducted has demonstrated the importance of the influence of pollutants such as PM2.5 in the development of childhood asthma in Cartagena. The quantification of the influence of the variables has been able to determine that there is a 56% probability of dependence between PM2.5 and childhood respiratory asthma in Cartagena. Considering this justification, the study could be completed through the application of the BenMap Software, throwing a series of spatial results of interpolated values of the pollutant contamination records that exceeded the established legal limits (represented by homogeneous units up to the neighborhood level) and results of the impact on the exacerbation of pediatric asthma. As a final result, an economic estimate (in Colombian Pesos) of the monthly and individual savings derived from the percentage reduction of the influence of pollutants in relation to visits to the Hospital Emergency Room due to asthma exacerbation in pediatric patients has been granted.

Keywords: Asthma Incidence, BenMap, PM2.5, Statistical Analysis

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Authors: Paria Baharvand, Mohammad Reza Abbasi, Soha Namazi

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Introduction: Uremic pruritus (UP) is one of the major complaints in hemodialysis patients. The aim of this randomized clinical trial study was the evaluation of the anti-pruritus effect of Melatonin on hemodialysis patients with UP. Methods: This multi-centered double, blinded randomized clinical trial study was conducted on hemodialysis patients with UP that referred to the dialysis department of Imam Khomeini Hospital, Labbafinezhad Hospital and Ghiasi Hospital in Tehran, Iran, in 2018. Forty participants were enrolled and block randomization was performed by using a randomized list and divided into 2 groups of twenty patients. Evaluation of the 12-Item Pruritus Severity Scale (12-PSS), Visual analog scale (VAS), and Calculation of the affected body surface area for pruritus extent (BSA %) was performed every week. The Melatonin group received a 10 mg soft gel capsule, and the placebo group received a soft gel capsule placebo after dinner. For statistical analysis used by SPSS version 21(IRCT20180714040462N1). Results: 38 hemodialysis patients enrolled in this study. The mean age in the placebo group and in the Melatonin group was 55.88 ± 11.70 and 54.52 ± 13.00 years (p> 0.05). Also, 46% of all participants were female. Aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase and C-reactive protein have significant differences between the two groups (p< 0.05). VAS score reduction in the two groups had a statistically significant (CI 95% = -1.71, P= 0.015(.The results of BSA% showed Melatonin had a significant effect on the decrease of the pruritus extent compared to placebo (CI 95% = -22.82, P= 0.001(. Conclusion: According to the results of this study and the preliminary effects of Melatonin on uremic pruritus, we suggest performing advanced clinical trials studies.

Keywords: Melatonin, Uremic Pruritus, hemodialysis, anti-pruritus

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Authors: Sunil Chandra, Himanshu Rawat, Vikas Gusain, Triparna Barman

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Forest fires are a recurrent phenomenon in the Himalayan region owing to the presence of vulnerable forest types, topographical gradients, climatic weather conditions, and anthropogenic pressure. The present study focuses on the identification of forest fire-affected areas in a small part of the West Himalayan region using a differential normalized burnt ratio method and spectral unmixing methods. The study area has a rugged terrain with the presence of sub-tropical pine forest, montane temperate forest, and sub-alpine forest and scrub. The major reason for fires in this region is anthropogenic in nature, with the practice of human-induced fires for getting fresh leaves, scaring wild animals to protect agricultural crops, grazing practices within reserved forests, and igniting fires for cooking and other reasons. The fires caused by the above reasons affect a large area on the ground, necessitating its precise estimation for further management and policy making. In the present study, two approaches have been used for carrying out a burnt area analysis. The first approach followed for burnt area analysis uses a differenced normalized burnt ratio (dNBR) index approach that uses the burnt ratio values generated using the Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) band and Near Infrared (NIR) bands of the Sentinel-2 image. The results of the dNBR have been compared with the outputs of the spectral mixing methods. It has been found that the dNBR is able to create good results in fire-affected areas having homogenous forest stratum and with slope degree <5 degrees. However, in a rugged terrain where the landscape is largely influenced by the topographical variations, vegetation types, tree density, the results may be largely influenced by the effects of topography, complexity in tree composition, fuel load composition, and soil moisture. Hence, such variations in the factors influencing burnt area assessment may not be effectively carried out using a dNBR approach which is commonly followed for burnt area assessment over a large area. Hence, another approach that has been attempted in the present study utilizes a spectral mixing method where the individual pixel is tested before assigning an information class to it. The method uses a neural network approach utilizing Sentinel-2 bands. The training and testing data are generated from the Sentinel-2 data and the national field inventory, which is further used for generating outputs using ML tools. The analysis of the results indicates that the fire-affected regions and their severity can be better estimated using spectral unmixing methods, which have the capability to resolve the noise in the data and can classify the individual pixel to the precise burnt/unburnt class.

Keywords: categorical data, log linear modeling, neural network, shifting cultivation

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Authors: V. Kuzhandai Velu, R. Ramesh

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Background and objectives: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the most common cause of mortality and morbidity. Over the last decade, microRNAs (miRs) have emerged as a potential marker for detecting AMI. The current study evaluates the kinetics and importance of miRs in the differential diagnosis of ST-segment elevated MI (STEMI) and non-STEMI (NSTEMI) and its correlation to conventional biomarkers and to predict the immediate outcome of AMI for arrhythmias and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. Materials and Method: A total of 100 AMI patients were recruited for the study. Routine cardiac biomarker and miRNA levels were measured during diagnosis and serially at admission, 6, 12, 24, and 72hrs. The baseline biochemical parameters were analyzed. The expression of miRs was compared between STEMI and NSTEMI at different time intervals. Diagnostic utility of miR-1, miR-133, miR-208, and miR-499 levels were analyzed by using RT-PCR and with various diagnostics statistical tools like ROC, odds ratio, and likelihood ratio. Results: The miR-1, miR-133, and miR-499 showed peak concentration at 6 hours, whereas miR-208 showed high significant differences at all time intervals. miR-133 demonstrated the maximum area under the curve at different time intervals in the differential diagnosis of STEMI and NSTEMI which was followed by miR-499 and miR-208. Evaluation of miRs for predicting arrhythmia and LV dysfunction using admission sample demonstrated that miR-1 (OR = 8.64; LR = 1.76) and miR-208 (OR = 26.25; LR = 5.96) showed maximum odds ratio and likelihood respectively. Conclusion: Circulating miRNA showed a highly significant difference between STEMI and NSTEMI in AMI patients. The peak was much earlier than the conventional biomarkers. miR-133, miR-208, and miR-499 can be used in the differential diagnosis of STEMI and NSTEMI, whereas miR-1 and miR-208 could be used in the prediction of arrhythmia and LV dysfunction, respectively.

Keywords: myocardial infarction, cardiac biomarkers, microRNA, arrhythmia, left ventricular dysfunction

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Authors: Trikhun Rotkasem

Abstract:

This research paper aimed to investigate hotel customers’ attitudes towards the service marketing, service behavior and perceived brand value. The focus of the study was on the Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University’s hotel. It is a small hotel which aims to provide service to mainly university’s guests. A simple random sampling technique was conducted to obtain a sample group that included 200 respondents. The research question was established as follows: What are customers’ attitudes towards the service marketing mix of hotel customers? The findings revealed the respondents’ attitudes towards the service marketing mix indicated high level in the area of product, place or distribution channel, people, and physical evidence, whereas, the respondents’ attitude towards the service marketing mix indicated medium level in the area of price, promotion, and process.

Keywords: marketing mix, perceived brand value, service behavior, hotel customers

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Authors: Morar (Bumbu) Nicoleta Ileana

Abstract:

Located in the northeastern part of Romania in a cross-border area, Bucovina region, due to historical events that took place here, is characterized by the cohabitation in the same area of a significant number of ethnic communities, represented in 54% by rural population. In addition to providing the natural, economic history and decision makers, the demographic component is responsible for the region's development trajectory to which it belongs. The influence that people exert on rural development is shown by the values of the different demographic indicator. This study will analyze the demographic indicators obtained against a strong database, emphasizing the indicators that favor the rural development of the region and those that prevent it. The study is useful in defining the rightful directions that rural economic development can focus on, also representing an important tool in developing strategies for the development of rural settlements of Bucovina region.

Keywords: Bucovina, development directions, demographic indicators, rural development

Procedia PDF Downloads 292