Search results for: combined therapy

Authors: Keith Schofield, Garry R. Prentice

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The perceptions of the work an academic does, and the environment in which they do it, contributes to the professional identity of that academic. In turn, this has implications for the level of involvement they have in their job, their satisfaction, and their work product. This research explores academic identities in British and Irish institutions and considers the complex interplay between identity, practice, and participation. Theoretical assumptions made in this paper assert that meaningful work has positive effects on work pride, organisational commitment, organisational citizenship, and motivation; when employees participate enthusiastically they are likely to be more engaged, more successful, and more satisfied. Further examination is given to the context in which this participation happens; the nature of institutional process, management, and relationships with colleagues, team members, and students is considered. The present study follows a mixed-methods approach to explore work satisfaction constructs in a number of academic contexts in the UK and Ireland. The quantitative component of this research (Convenience Sample: 155 academics, and support/ administrative staff; 36.1% male, 63.9% female; 60.8% academic staff, 39.2% support/ administration staff; across a number of universities in the UK and Ireland) was based on an established emotional labour model and was tested across gender groups, job roles, and years of service. This was complimented by qualitative semi-structured interviews (Purposive Sample: 10 academics, and 5 support/ administrative staff across the same universities in the UK and Ireland) to examine various themes including values within academia, work conditions, professional development, and transmission of knowledge to students. Experiences from both academic and support perspectives were sought in order to gain a holistic view of academia and to provide an opportunity to explore the dynamic of the academic/administrator relationship within the broader institutional context. The quantitative emotional labour model, tested via a path analysis, provided a robust description of the relationships within the data. The significant relationships found within the quantitative emotional labour model included a link between non-expression of true feelings resulting in emotional labourious work and lower levels of intrinsic motivation and higher levels of extrinsic motivation. Higher levels of intrinsic motivation also linked positively to work pride. These findings were further explored in the qualitative elements of the research where themes emerged including the disconnection between faculty management and staff, personal fulfilment and the friction between the identities of teacher, researcher/ practitioner and administrator. The implications of the research findings from this study are combined and discussed in relation to possible identity-related and emotional labour management-related interventions. Further, suggestions are made to institutions concerning the application of these findings including the development of academic practices, with specific reference to the duality of identity required to service the combined teacher/ researcher role. Broader considerations of the paper include how individuals and institutions may engage with the changing nature of students-as-consumers as well as a recommendation to centralise personal fulfillment through the development of professional academic identities.

Keywords: academic work, emotional labour, identity friction, mixed methods

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Authors: Riaz Ahmad, Jiazhong Zhang, Asma Farooqi

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In this study, mass transport between separation bubbles and the flow around a two-dimensional airfoil are numerically investigated using Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCSs). Finite Time Lyapunov Exponent (FTLE) technique is used for the computation to identify invariant manifolds and LCSs. Moreover, the Characteristic Base Split (CBS) scheme combined with dual time stepping technique is applied to simulate such transient flow at low Reynolds number. We then investigate the evolution of vortex structures during the transport process with the aid of LCSs. To explore the vortex formation at the surface of the airfoil, the dynamics of separatrix is also taken into account which is formed by the combination of stable-unstable manifolds. The Lagrangian analysis gives a detailed understanding of vortex dynamics and separation bubbles which plays a significant role to explore the performance of the unsteady flow generated by the airfoil. Transport process and flow separation phenomena are studied extensively to analyze the flow pattern by Lagrangian point of view.

Keywords: transport phenomena, CBS Method, vortex formation, Lagrangian Coherent Structures

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Authors: Abdelaziz Beddiaf

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In this work, we present an analysis based on the study of mobility which is a very important electrical parameter of a piezoresistor and which is directly bound to the piezoresistivity effect in piezoresistive pressure sensors. We determine how the temperature affects mobility when the electric potential is applied. For this, a theoretical approach based on mobility in a p-type Silicon piezoresistor with that of a finite difference model for self-heating is developed. So, the evolution of mobility has been established versus time for different doping levels and with temperature rise provoked by self-heating using a numerical model combined with that of mobility. Furthermore, it has been calculated for some geometrical parameters of the sensor, such as membrane side length and thickness. Also, it is computed as a function of bias voltage. It was observed that mobility is strongly affected by the temperature rise induced by the applied potential when the sensor is actuated for a prolonged time as a consequence of drifting in the output response of the sensor. Finally, this work makes it possible to predict their temperature behavior due to self-heating and to improve this effect by optimizing the geometric properties of the device and by reducing the voltage source applied to the bridge.

Keywords: Sensors, Piezoresistivity, Mobility, Bias voltage

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Authors: Jian-Xiu Wan, Yao Yin

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In complex terrain and poor geological conditions areas, Railway, highway and other transportation constructions are still strongly developing. However, various geological disasters happened such as landslide, rock heap and so on. According to the results of geological investigation, the form of skirt (trapezoidal), semicircle and triangle rock heaps are mainly due to complex internal force and external force, in a certain extent, which is related to the terrain, the nature of the rock mass, the supply area and the surface shape of rock heap. Combined with the above factors, discrete element numerical simulation of rock mass is established under different terrain conditions based on 3DEC, and accelerated formation process of rock heap under seismic action is simulated. The fragmentation structure supply area is calculated, in which the most dangerous area is located. At the same time, the formation mechanism and development process are studied in different terrain conditions, and the structure of rock heap is judged by section, which can provide a strong theoretical and technical support for the prevention and control of geological disasters.

Keywords: 3DEC, fragmentation structure, rock heap, slope, seismic action

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Authors: Ugwu Blessing Nkiruka

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This paper seeks to examine Nigerian National Agency for the control of AIDS (NACA) and international response to the control of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. The paper adopted the Functionalist theory alongside Liberalism and Idealism, but anchored extensively on functionalism. On the response of HIV/AIDS, Functionalist theory advocated for international corporation of both intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations as the basis for the reduction of the virus. the study adopted secondary source of data i.e journals, articles, newspapers and policy briefs to discuss the reduction of the pandemic (HIV/AIDS).This paper discovered that although HIV/AIDS is a global threat, especially to developing countries where the prevalence rate is still very high, yet international governmental and non-governmental organisation have been able to collaborate with National agencies like NACA in Nigeria and respond speedily through diverse initiatives and action plans to curb the spread of the virus. The study therefore recommends greater awareness on testing and early introduction of antiretroviral therapy, proper screening of blood before transfusion, absolute faithfulness among partners. Similarly, sharing of sharp objects like needles, knives and syringes should be avoided at all cost.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, developing countries, Nigeria, international organizations, NACA

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Authors: Siyuan Cai

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COVID-19 has triggered the planning circles to think about how to improve the city's ability to respond to public health emergencies. From the perspective of the community, this article reviews the risk cases in Wuhan Chenjiadun Community and other communities under the epidemic, and analyzes the response to public health emergencies such as infectious disease outbreaks in the excellent cases of resilient epidemic prevention communities. Then, combined with the planning of the living circle, it demonstrates the necessity of integrating the concept of resilience into the 15-minute community living circle to make up for the shortcomings of infectious disease prevention. Finally, it is proposed to strictly control the source and tail of the epidemic in the layout of the living circle, daily health and epidemic emergency should be taken into account in planning, community medical resources should be decentralized in management, and the application of smart technologies in the planning of living circle should be fully emphasized, so as to improve the community's ability to respond to public health emergencies.

Keywords: pandemic, resilient cities, resilient community, 15-minute community life circle

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Authors: Avinash Thakur, Parmjit S. Panesar, Manohar Singh

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The distribution coefficient, KD for the reactive extraction of lactic acid from aqueous solutions of lactic acid using 10-30% (v/v) tri-n-octyl amine (extractant) dissolved in n-hexane (inert diluent) and 20% (v/v) oleyl alcohol (modifier) was optimized by using response surface methodology (RSM). A three level Box-Behnken design was employed for experimental design, analysis of the results and to depict the combined interactive effect of seven independent variables, viz lactic acid concentration (cl), pH, TOA concentration in organic phase (ψ), treat ratio (φ), temperature (T), agitation speed (ω) and batch agitation time (τ) on distribution coefficient of lactic acid. The regression analysis recommended that the quadratic model is significant (R2 and adjusted R2 are 98.72 % and 98.69 % respectively) for analysis. A numerical optimization had resulted in maximum lactic acid distribution coefficient (KD) of 3.16 at the optimized values for test variables, cl, pH, ψ, φ, T, ω and τ as 0.15 [M], 3.0, 22.75% (v/v), 1.0 (v/v), 26°C, 145 rpm and 23 min respectively. A good agreement between the predicted and experimentally obtained values for distribution coefficient using the optimized conditions was exhibited.

Keywords: Distribution coefficient, tri-n-octylamine, lactic acid, response surface methodology

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Authors: Nurudeen O. Lasisi, Sirajo Abdulrahman, Abdulkareem A. Ibrahim

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Newcastle disease is an infection of domestic poultry and other bird species with the virulent Newcastle disease virus (NDV). In this paper, we study the dynamics of the modeling of the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) using a novel quarantine-adjusted incidence. The comparison of Vaccination, linear incident rate and novel quarantine-adjusted incident rate in the models are discussed. The dynamics of the models yield disease-free and endemic equilibrium states.The effective reproduction numbers of the models are computed in order to measure the relative impact of an individual bird or combined intervention for effective disease control. We showed the local and global stability of endemic equilibrium states of the models and we found that the stability of endemic equilibrium states of models are globally asymptotically stable if the effective reproduction numbers of the models equations are greater than a unit.

Keywords: effective reproduction number, Endemic state, Mathematical model, Newcastle disease virus, novel quarantine-adjusted incidence, stability analysis

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Authors: Buket Boz, Alvaro Diez

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Waste heat recovery by means of Organic Rankine Cycle is a promising technology for the recovery of engine exhaust heat. However, it is complex to find out the optimum cycle conditions with appropriate working fluids to match exhaust gas waste heat due to its high temperature. Hence, this paper focuses on comparing sub-critical and supercritical ORC conditions with eight working fluids on a combined diesel engine-ORC system. The model employs two ORC designs, Regenerative-ORC and Pre-Heating-Regenerative-ORC respectively. The thermodynamic calculations rely on the first and second law of thermodynamics, thermal efficiency and exergy destruction factors are the fundamental parameters evaluated. Additionally, in this study, environmental and safety, GWP (Global Warming Potential) and ODP (Ozone Depletion Potential), characteristic of the refrigerants are taken into consideration as evaluation criteria to define the optimal ORC configuration and conditions. Consequently, the studys outcomes reveal that supercritical ORCs with alkane and siloxane are more suitable for high temperature exhaust waste heat recovery in contrast to sub-critical conditions.

Keywords: internal combustion engine, organic Rankine cycle, waste heat recovery, working fluids

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Authors: Jia-Shiun Chen, Quoc-Viet Huynh

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This work develops a flexible-body dynamic model of an all-terrain vehicle (ATV), capable of recovering dynamic stresses while the ATV travels on random bumpy roads. The fatigue life of components is forecasted as well. While considering the interaction between dynamic forces and structure deformation, the proposed model achieves a highly accurate structure stress prediction and fatigue life prediction. During the simulation, stress time history of the ATV structure is retrieved for life prediction. Finally, the hot sports of the ATV frame are located, and the frame life for combined road conditions is forecasted, i.e. 25833.6 hr. If the usage of vehicle is eight hours daily, the total vehicle frame life is 8.847 years. Moreover, the reaction force and deformation due to the dynamic motion can be described more accurately by using flexible body dynamics than by using rigid-body dynamics. Based on recommendations made in the product design stage before mass production, the proposed model can significantly lower development and testing costs.

Keywords: flexible-body dynamics, veicle, dynamics, fatigue, durability

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Authors: Jin-Woo Park, Sung-Soo Lee, Nong-Moon Hwang

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The generation of charged nanoparticles in the gas phase during the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) process has been frequently reported with their subsequent deposition into films and nanostructures in many systems such as carbon, silicon and zinc oxide. The microstructure evolution of films and nanostructures is closely related with the size distribution of charged nanoparticles. To confirm the generation of charged nanoparticles during GaN, the generation of GaN charged nanoparticles was examined in an atmospheric pressure CVD process using a Differential Mobility Analyser (DMA) combined with a Faraday Cup Electrometer (FCE). It was confirmed that GaN charged nanoparticles were generated under the condition where GaN nanostructures were synthesized on the bare and Au-coated Si substrates. In addition, the deposition behaviour depends strongly on the charge transfer rate of metal substrates. On the metal substrates of a lower CTR such as Mo, the deposition rate of GaN was much lower than on those of a higher CTR such as Fe. GaN nanowires tend to grow on the substrates of a lower CTR whereas GaN thin films tend to be deposited on the substrates of a higher CTR.

Keywords: chemical vapour deposition, charged cluster model, generation of charged nanoparticles, deposition behaviour, nanostructures, gan, charged transfer rate

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Authors: Hene L. Hapinat, Mae D. Dumapig

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This study aimed to determine the lime potential of 3 mollusks, namely: Crassostrea iredalei (Oyster shell), Turritella terebra (Turret shell), and Anodontia edentula (Mangrove clam shell) as alternative for commercially produced agricultural lime. The hydrogen ion concentration (pH) and the lime concentration using Calcium Carbonate Equivalent (CCE) of each shellfish species were measured and tested for the enhancement of an acidic soil. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 4 treatments replicated 3 times. The treatments were as follows: Treatment A- 100 g agricultural lime; B- 100 g oyster shell lime; C- 100 g turret shell lime; and D- 100 g mangrove clam shell lime. Each treatment was combined to the acidic soil sample. The results were statistically analyzed using One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Least Square Difference (LSD) at 0.01 and 0.05 levels of significance. Results revealed that lime produced from the 3 selected mollusks can be a potential source of alternative and/or supplement materials for agricultural lime in dealing with soil acidity, entailing lower cost of farm production.

Keywords: shell lime, pH, calcium carbonate concentrations, mollusks, agricultural lime, lime potential concentration, acidic soil

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Authors: M. S. Deshpande, Snehal D. Bomble

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Tuberculosis (TB) is a deadly contagious disease that is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. More than sixty years ago, the introduction of the first anti-TB drugs for the treatment of TB (streptomycin (STR), p-aminosalcylic acid (PAS), isoniazid (INH), and then later ethambutol (EMB) and rifampicin (RIF)) gave optimism to the medical community, and it was believed that the disease would be completely eradicated soon. Worldwide, the number of TB cases has continued to increase, but the incidence rate has decreased since 2003. Recently, highly drug-resistant forms of TB have emerged worldwide. The prolonged use of classical drugs developed a growing resistance and these drugs have gradually become less effective and incapable to meet the challenges, especially those of multi drug resistant (MDR)-TB, extensively drug resistant (XDR)-TB, and HIV-TB co-infections. There is an unmet medical need to discover newer synthetic molecules and new generation of potent drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis which will shorten the time of treatment, be potent and safe while effective facing resistant strains and non-replicative, latent forms, reduce adverse side effect and not interfere in the antiretroviral therapy. This paper attempts to bring out the review of anti-TB drugs, and presents a novel method of synthesizing new anti-tuberculosis drugs and potential compounds to overcome the bacterial resistance and combat the re-emergence of tuberculosis.

Keywords: tuberculosis, mycobacterium, multi-drug resistant (MDR)-TB, extensively drug resistant (XDR)-TB

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Authors: Alazar G. Ejigu

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Cities have traditionally been designed for and by men. Despite positive changes in this regard, contemporary cities appear to offer limited options and experiences to women in their everyday life. There are differences regarding the quality of space. Distressed or disadvantaged areas often have less access to urban qualities, such as services, parks, and public places, than more privileged ones. The most attractive meeting-places are located centrally, whereas many suburban areas lack these elements. By focusing on young women living in multi-ethnic working-class suburban areas in Stockholm - a group generally ignored and disadvantaged; the study aims to examine various forms of inequality or equality in three selected neighborhoods. Spatial data was collected through walk-along with the young girls, inventory of the places, and geodata made available by Statistics Sweden (SCB). The combined data was analyzed with the help of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In line with Crenshaw - one of the forerunners of intersectional thinking – the project departs from the idea that if we address the needs of those who are disadvantaged and restructure urban space accordingly, then others will benefit too. Thus, working our way towards a more equal city.

Keywords: GIS, segregation, gender equality, urban planning

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Authors: Jaime Carpio-García, Elena Blanco-Fernández, Javier González-Fernández, Daniel Castro-Fresno

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Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) are more often used in order to prevent floods, water treatment, fight against pollution, urban heat island effect, and global warming in applications like green roofs, permeable pavements, and others. Furthermore, geosynthetics are also worldwide used as a part of drainage systems in road construction. Geotextiles are an essential part of both, and one of the main geotextile properties in those applications is permeability, whose behavior is not well established along its service life. In this paper, clogging reduction design factors for an estimated service life of 25 years are experimentally obtained for five different geotextiles used in SUDS and roads combined with two different soils and with two pollutants, motor oil, and lime, in order to evaluate chemical clogging, too. The effect of characteristic opening size and other characteristics of the geosynthetics are also discussed in order to give civil engineers, together with the clogging reduction factors, a better long-time design of geotextiles used in their SUDS and roads.

Keywords: geotextiles, drainage, clogging, reduction factor

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Authors: Ziyad S. Haidar

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Background: Saliva plays a major role in maintaining oral, dental, and general health and well-being; where it normally bathes the oral cavity acting as a clearing agent. This becomes more apparent when the amount and quality of saliva are significantly reduced due to medications, salivary gland neoplasms, disorders such as Sjögren’s syndrome, and especially ionizing radiation therapy for tumors of the head and neck, the 5th most common malignancy worldwide, during which the salivary glands are included within the radiation field/zone. Clinically, patients affected by salivary gland dysfunction often opt to terminate their radiotherapy course prematurely as they become malnourished and experience a significant decrease in their QoL. Accordingly, the formulation of a radio-protection/-prevention modality and development of an alternative Rx to restore damaged salivary gland tissue is eagerly awaited and highly desirable. Objectives: Assess the pre-clinical radio-protective effect and reparative/regenerative potential of layer-by-layer self-assembled lipid-polymer-based core-shell nanocapsules designed and fine-tuned for the sequential (ordered) release of dual cytokines, following a single local administration (direct injection) into a murine sub-mandibular salivary gland model of irradiation. Methods: The formulated core-shell nanocapsules were characterized by physical-chemical-mechanically pre-/post-loading with the drugs, followed by optimizing the pharmaco-kinetic profile. Then, nanosuspensions were administered directly into the salivary glands, 24hrs pre-irradiation (PBS, un-loaded nanocapsules, and individual and combined vehicle-free cytokines were injected into the control glands for an in-depth comparative analysis). External irradiation at an elevated dose of 18Gy was exposed to the head-and-neck region of C57BL/6 mice. Salivary flow rate (un-stimulated) and salivary protein content/excretion were regularly assessed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (3-month period). Histological and histomorphometric evaluation and apoptosis/proliferation analysis followed by local versus systemic bio-distribution and immuno-histochemical assays were then performed on all harvested major organs (at the distinct experimental end-points). Results: Monodisperse, stable, and cytocompatible nanocapsules capable of maintaining the bioactivity of the encapsulant within the different compartments with the core and shell and with controlled/customizable pharmaco-kinetics, resulted, as is illustrated in the graphical abstract (Figure) below. The experimental animals demonstrated a significant increase in salivary flow rates when compared to the controls. Herein, salivary protein content was comparable to the pre-irradiation (baseline) level. Histomorphometry further confirmed the biocompatibility and localization of the nanocapsules, in vivo, into the site of injection. Acinar cells showed fewer vacuoles and nuclear aberration in the experimental group, while the amount of mucin was higher in controls. Overall, fewer apoptotic activities were detected by a Terminal deoxynucleotidyl Transferase (TdT) dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) assay and proliferative rates were similar to the controls, suggesting an interesting reparative and regenerative potential of irradiation-damaged/-dysfunctional salivary glands. The Figure below exemplifies some of these findings. Conclusions: Biocompatible, reproducible, and customizable self-assembling layer-by-layer core-shell delivery system is formulated and presented. Our findings suggest that localized sequential bioactive delivery of dual cytokines (in specific dose and order) can prevent irradiation-induced damage via reducing apoptosis and also has the potential to promote in situ proliferation of salivary gland cells; maxSALIVA is scalable (Good Manufacturing Practice or GMP production for human clinical trials) and patent-pending.

Keywords: cancer, head and neck, oncology, drug development, drug delivery systems, nanotechnology, nanoncology

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Authors: Geetanjali Saggar

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Background: Partial hearing loss is the inability to hear effectively as a normal hearing individual whose hearing threshold is 20 dB or better in both ears. Individuals with partial hearing loss may benefit from non-invasive electrical stimulation as a method of therapy and possible intervention. Objective: The project aims to assess and relate the efficacy of electrical stimulation on individuals with partial hearing loss. The study's goal was to evaluate the different sorts of non-invasive electrical stimulation in tinnitus and hearing loss in order to build the framework for future research. Method: In this pilot study, a total of five patients of age group above 50 years were selected with partial hearing loss. The electrical modality of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (RTMS) was used among the patients and was evaluated using gold questionnaires- HHIA and APHAB for hearing at intervals of 0-7-14 days. The statistical data was analyzed by SPSS software-16. Results: There were not much significant changes in the hearing of the patients when non-invasive electrical modality was applied as an intervention in the partial hearing loss condition. However, there was minimal change in the daily functioning of the patient with the application of intervention. Conclusion: This study concluded that non-invasive electrical stimulation had minimal to no effect on the partial hearing of the patients.

Keywords: non-invasive, hearing loss, transcranial magnetic stimulation, partial deafness, transcranial direct current stimulation, tinnitus

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Authors: Ying Zhao, Xingyan Bin

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Semi-supervised clustering algorithms have been shown effective to improve clustering process with even limited supervision. However, semi-supervised hierarchical clustering remains challenging due to the complexities of expressing constraints for agglomerative clustering algorithms. This paper proposes novel semi-supervised agglomerative clustering algorithms to build a hierarchy based on a known reference tree. We prove that by enforcing distance constraints defined by a reference tree during the process of hierarchical clustering, the resultant tree is guaranteed to be consistent with the reference tree. We also propose a framework that allows the hierarchical tree generation be aware of levels of levels of the agglomerative tree under creation, so that metric weights can be learned and adopted at each level in a recursive fashion. The experimental evaluation shows that the additional cost of our contraint-based semi-supervised hierarchical clustering algorithm (HAC) is negligible, and our combined semi-supervised HAC algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms on real-world datasets. The experiments also show that our proposed methods can improve clustering performance even with a small number of unevenly distributed labeled data.

Keywords: semi-supervised clustering, hierarchical agglomerative clustering, reference trees, distance constraints

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Authors: Roshani Gusain, Deep Sinha, Karan Nayal, Anmol Kumar Mishra, Manav Singh

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In this research paper, we introduce "Mind Care Assistant - Companion App", which is a Flutter and Firebase-based mental health monitor. The app wants to improve and monitor the mental health of its users, it uses noninvasive ways to check for a change in their emotional state. By responding to questions, the app will provide individualized suggestions ᅳ tasks and mindfulness exercises ᅳ for users who are depressed or anxious. The app features a chat-bot that incorporates cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) principles and combines natural language processing with machine learning to develop personalised responses. The feature of the app that makes it easy for us to choose between iOS and Android is cross-platform, which allows users from both mobile systems to experience almost no changes in their interfaces. With Firebase integration synchronized and real-time data storage, security is easily possible. The paper covers the architecture of the app, how it was developed and some important features. The primary research result presents the promise of a "Mind Care Assistant" in mental health care using new wait-for-health technology, proposing a full stack application to be able to manage depression/anxiety and overall Mental well-being very effectively.

Keywords: mental health, mobile application, flutter, firebase, Depression, Anxiety

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Authors: P. Parthiban, Sonu Rajak, R. Dhanalakshmi

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This paper presents an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) approach, combined with a Speed Optimization Algorithm (SOA) to solve the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) with environmental considerations, which is well known as Pollution-Routing Problem (PRP). It consists of routing a number of vehicles to serve a set of customers, and determining fuel consumption, driver wages and their speed on each route segment, while respecting the capacity constraints and time windows. Since VRP is NP-hard problem, so PRP also a NP-hard problem, which requires metaheuristics to solve this type of problems. The proposed solution method consists of two stages. Stage one is to solve a Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Window (VRPTW) using ACO and in the second stage, a SOA is run on the resulting VRPTW solution. Given a vehicle route, the SOA consists of finding the optimal speed on each arc of the route to minimize an objective function comprising fuel consumption costs and driver wages. The proposed algorithm tested on benchmark problem, the preliminary results show that the proposed algorithm can provide good solutions within reasonable computational time.

Keywords: ant colony optimization, CO2 emissions, speed optimization, vehicle routing

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Authors: Jiabei Zhang, Ying Qi

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The purpose of this study was to develop a descriptive profile of the adapted physical activity research using single subject experimental designs. All research articles using single subject experimental designs published in the journal of Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly from 1984 to 2013 were employed as the data source. Each of the articles was coded in a subcategory of seven categories: (a) the size of sample; (b) the age of participants; (c) the type of disabilities; (d) the type of data analysis; (e) the type of designs, (f) the independent variable, and (g) the dependent variable. Frequencies, percentages, and trend inspection were used to analyze the data and develop a profile. The profile developed characterizes a small portion of research articles used single subject designs, in which most researchers used a small sample size, recruited children as subjects, emphasized learning and behavior impairments, selected visual inspection with descriptive statistics, preferred a multiple baseline design, focused on effects of therapy, inclusion, and strategy, and measured desired behaviors more often, with a decreasing trend over years.

Keywords: adapted physical activity research, single subject experimental designs, physical education, sport science

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Authors: Simon B. N. Thompson

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Cortisol is essential to the regulation of the immune system and yawning is a pathological symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS). Electromyography activity (EMG) in the jaw muscles typically rises when the muscles are moved and with yawning is highly correlated with cortisol levels in healthy people. Saliva samples from 59 participants were collected at the start and after yawning, or at the end of the presentation of yawning-provoking stimuli, in the absence of a yawn, together with EMG data and questionnaire data: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Yawning Susceptibility Scale, General Health Questionnaire, demographic, health details. Exclusion criteria: chronic fatigue, diabetes, fibromyalgia, heart condition, high blood pressure, hormone replacement therapy, multiple sclerosis, stroke. Significant differences were found between the saliva cortisol samples for the yawners, t (23) = -4.263, p = 0.000, as compared with the non-yawners between rest and post-stimuli, which was non-significant. Significant evidence was found to support the Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis suggesting that rises in cortisol levels are associated with yawning. Further research is exploring the use of cortisol as an early diagnostic tool for MS. Ethics approval granted and professional code of conduct, confidentiality, and safety issues are approved therein.

Keywords: cortisol, multiple sclerosis, yawning, thompson cortisol hypothesis

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Authors: Eddy K. Mukadi

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This work is a documentary and descriptive study devoted to the epidemiological, clinical, histopathological and therapeutic profile of breast cancer deals with the department of gynecology and obstetrics of the university clinics of Kinshasa during the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014. We have identified 56 cases of breast cancer. These cancers accounted for 45.2% of gynecological mammary cancers. The youngest in our series was 18 years old while the oldest was 74 years old; And the mean age of these patients was 43.4 years and mostly multiparous (35.7%). Brides (60.7%) and bachelors (26.8%) were the most affected by breast cancer. The reasons for consultation were dominated by nodules in the breast (48.2%) followed by pain (35.7%) and nipple discharge (14.3%). In 89.2% of the cases, it was the advanced clinical stage (stage 3 and 4) and the infiltrating ductal carcinoma was the most frequent histological type (75%) The malignant tumor was mainly in the left breast (55.3%), and chemotherapy with hormone therapy and patey was the most convenient treatment (42.8%), while patey mastectomy was performed in 12.5% of patients. Because of the high incidence of breast cancer identified in our study, some preventive measures must be taken into account to address this public health problem, including breast autopalpation once a month, Early detection system development of a national breast cancer policy and the implementation of a national breast cancer control program.

Keywords: breast cancer, histopathological profile, epidemiological profile, Kinshasa

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Authors: Nattapong Techarattanased

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The objectives of this research were to study the influence of market orientation and supply chain management on competitive capability in case of the automotive parts industry in Thailand. This study employed by survey research and questionnaire was used to collect the data from 400 entrepreneurs in the automotive parts industry in Thailand. The descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze data. The results revealed that the overall dimensions of marketing orientation, namely, responsiveness, intelligence generation, and intelligence dissemination were rated at the high level. As well, the overall dimensions of supply chain management, namely, collaboration, communication, trust, and commitment were also rated at the high level. Furthermore, the hypothesis testing results showed that supply chain management and market orientation affected competitive capability of the automotive parts industry in Thailand which these two variables could be combined to predict competitive capability of the automotive parts industry in Thailand by 31.5 percent.

Keywords: automotive parts industry, competitive capability, market orientation, supply chain management

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Authors: Awdhesh Narayan Sharma

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The use of herbal medicines for the cure of various ailments among the tribal population is as old as human origin itself. Most of the tribal populations of Madhya Pradesh inhabit in remote and inaccessible ecological setup. From long back, tribals and forests are interrelated to each other. They use an enormous range of wild plants for their basic needs and medicines. The tribal developed a unique understanding with wild plants, herbs, etc., and earned specialized knowledge of disease pattern and curative therapy-through hard experiences, common sense, trial, and error methods. They have passed this knowledge through traditions, taboos, totems, folklore by words of mouth from generation to generation. Here, an attempt has been made to study the possible aspects of herbal medicine for the cure of Jaundice among the tribal populations of Madhya Pradesh, India, through primary data as well as available secondary data. The data have been collected from the 305 Bharias of Patalkot, Madhya Pradesh, India, and included available secondary source of data by various investigators. It may be concluded that a sizable herbal medicinal plants' wealth exists in Madhya Pradesh, India, which still awaits for scientific exploration. The existing herbal medicines used for the cure of jaundice need an extensive investigation from the pharmaceutical point of view.

Keywords: Bharias, herbal medicine, tribal, Madhya Pradesh

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Authors: Rabia Shabbir, Sheikh Saeed Ahmad, Amna Butt

Abstract:

Rapid land use changes have taken place in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, over the past decades due to accelerated urbanization and industrialization. In this study, land use changes in the metropolitan area of Islamabad was observed by the combined use of GIS and satellite remote sensing for a time period of 15 years. High-resolution Google Earth images were downloaded from 2000-2015, and object-based classification method was used for accurate classification using eCognition software. The information regarding urban settlements, industrial area, barren land, agricultural area, vegetation, water, and transportation infrastructure was extracted. The results showed that the city experienced a spatial expansion, rapid urban growth, land use change and expanding transportation infrastructure. The study concluded the integration of GIS and remote sensing as an effective approach for analyzing the spatial pattern of urban growth and land use change.

Keywords: land use change, urban growth, Islamabad, object-based classification, Google Earth, remote sensing, GIS

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Authors: Virgil Miranda, Gissele Mosqueda, Pablo Delgado, Yimesker Yihun

Abstract:

Muscular fatigue affects the muscle activation that is needed for producing the desired clinical outcome. Integrating optimal muscle relaxation periods into a variety of health care rehabilitation protocols is important to maximize the efficiency of the therapy. In this study, four muscle relaxation periods (30, 60, 90, and 120 seconds) and their effectiveness in producing consistent muscle activation of the muscle biceps brachii between sets of elbow flexion and extension task was investigated among a sample of 10 subjects with no disabilities. The same resting periods were then utilized in a controlled exoskeleton-based exercise for a sample size of 5 subjects and have shown similar results. On average, the muscle activity of the biceps brachii decreased by 0.3% when rested for 30 seconds, and it increased by 1.25%, 0.76%, and 0.82% when using muscle relaxation periods of 60, 90, and 120 seconds, respectively. The preliminary results suggest that a muscle relaxation period of about 60 seconds is needed for optimal continuous muscle activation within rehabilitation regimens. Robot-based rehabilitation is good to produce repetitive tasks with the right intensity, and knowing the optimal resting period will make the automation more effective.

Keywords: rest intervals, muscle biceps brachii, robot rehabilitation, muscle fatigue

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Authors: A. Calvin Antony, Sakthi Kumar Arul Prakash, V. R. Sanal Kumar

Abstract:

In this paper a unique alpha-beta double piston 'stirling engine' is designed, manufactured and conducted laboratory test to ameliorate the efficiency of the stirling engine. The paper focuses on alpha and beta type engines, capturing their benefits and eradicating their short comings; along with the output observed from the flywheel. In this model alpha engine is kinematically with a piston cylinder arrangement which works quite like a beta engine. The piston of the new cylinder is so designed that it replicates a glued displacer and power piston as similar to that of beta engine. The bigger part of the piston is the power piston, which has a gap around it, while the smaller part of the piston is tightly fit in the cylinder and acts like the displacer piston. We observed that the alpha-beta double piston stirling engine produces 25% increase in power compare to a conventional alpha stirling engine. This working model is a pointer towards for the design and development of an alpha-beta double piston Stirling engine for industrial applications for producing electricity from the heat producing exhaust gases.

Keywords: alpha-beta double piston stirling engine , alpha stirling engine , beta double piston stirling engine , electricity from stirling engine

Procedia PDF Downloads 536

Authors: Chiung-Ju Huang, Yuan-Hong Ho

Abstract:

This study utilizes the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Fiscal Rules Dataset focusing on four specific fiscal rules such as expenditure rule, revenue rule, budget balance rule, and debt rule and five main characteristics of each fiscal rule those are monitoring, enforcement, coverage, legal basis, and escape clause to construct the Fiscal Rule Index for nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region from 1996 to 2015. After constructing the fiscal rule index for each country, we utilize the Panel Generalized Method of Moments (Panel GMM) by using the constructed fiscal rule index to examine the effectiveness of fiscal rules in reducing procyclicality. Empirical results show that national fiscal rules have a significantly negative impact on procyclicality of government expenditure. Additionally, stricter fiscal rules combined with high government effectiveness are effective in reducing procyclicality of government expenditure. Results of this study indicate that for nine Asia-Pacific countries, policymakers’ use of fiscal rules and government effectiveness to reducing procyclicality of fiscal policy are effective.

Keywords: counter-cyclical policy, fiscal rules, government efficiency, procyclical policy

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: Sarah Nauwelaerts, Koen De Cremer, Alfred Bernard, Meredith Verlooy, Kristel Heremans, Natalia Bustos Sierra, Katrien Tersago, Tim Nawrot, Jordy Vercauteren, Christophe Stroobants, Sigrid C. J. De Keersmaecker, Nancy Roosens

Abstract:

Projected climate changes could lead to exacerbation of respiratory disorders associated with reduced air quality. Air pollution and climate changes influence each other through complex interactions. The poor air quality in urban and rural areas includes high levels of particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), representing a major threat to public health and especially for the most vulnerable population strata, and especially young children. In this study, we aim to develop generic standardized policy supporting tools and methods that allow evaluating in future follow-up larger scale epidemiological studies the risks of the combined short-term effects of O3 and PM on the cardiorespiratory system of children. We will use non-invasive indicators of airway damage/inflammation and of genetic or epigenetic variations by using urine or saliva as alternative to blood samples. Therefore, a multi-phase field study will be organized in order to assess the sensitivity and applicability of these tests in large cohorts of children during episodes of air pollution. A first test phase was planned in March 2018, not yet taking into account ‘critical’ pollution periods. Working with non-invasive samples, choosing the right set-up for the field work and the volunteer selection were parameters to consider, as they significantly influence the feasibility of this type of study. During this test phase, the selection of the volunteers was done in collaboration with medical doctors from the Centre for Student Assistance (CLB), by choosing a class of pre-pubertal children of 9-11 years old in a primary school in Flemish Brabant, Belgium. A questionnaire, collecting information on the health and background of children and an informed consent document were drawn up for the parents as well as a simplified cartoon-version of this document for the children. A detailed study protocol was established, giving clear information on the study objectives, the recruitment, the sample types, the medical examinations to be performed, the strategy to ensure anonymity, and finally on the sample processing. Furthermore, the protocol describes how this field study will be conducted in relation with the prevision and monitoring of air pollutants for the future phases. Potential protein, genetic and epigenetic biomarkers reflecting the respiratory function and the levels of air pollution will be measured in the collected samples using unconventional technologies. The test phase results will be used to address the most important bottlenecks before proceeding to the following phases of the study where the combined effect of O3 and PM during pollution peaks will be examined. This feasibility study will allow identifying possible bottlenecks and providing missing scientific knowledge, necessary for the preparation, implementation and evaluation of federal policies/strategies, based on the most appropriate epidemiological studies on the health effects of air pollution. The research leading to these results has been funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office through contract No.: BR/165/PI/PMOLLUGENIX-V2.

Keywords: air pollution, biomarkers, children, field study, feasibility study, non-invasive

Procedia PDF Downloads 181