Search results for: fuzzy probability score

Authors: K. Swapna

Abstract:

A Series of Alkali-Earth Boro Tellurite (AEBT) glasses doped with different concentrations of Dy³⁺ ions have been prepared by using melt quenching technique and characterized through spectroscopic techniques such as optical absorption, excitation, emission and photoluminescence decay to understand their utility in optoelectronic devices such as lasers and white light emitting diodes (w-LEDs). Raman spectrum recorded for an undoped glass is used to measure the phonon energy of the host glass and various functional groups present in the host glass (AEBT). The intensities of the electronic transitions and the ligand environment around the Dy³⁺ ions were studied by applying Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory to the recorded absorption spectra of the glasses. The evaluated J-O parameters are subsequently used to measure various radiative parameters such as transition probability (AR), radiative branching ratio (βR) and radiative lifetimes (τR) for the prominent fluorescent levels of Dy³⁺ ions in the as-prepared glasses. The luminescence spectra recorded at 387 nm excitation show three emission transitions (⁴F9/2→⁶H15/2 (blue), ⁴F9/2→⁶H13/2 (yellow) and ⁴F9/2 → ⁶H11/2 (red)) of which the yellow transition observed at 575 nm is found to be highly intense. The experimental branching ratio (βexp) and stimulated emission crosssection (σse) were measured from luminescence spectra. The experimental lifetimes (τexp) measured from the decay spectral profiles are combined with radiative lifetimes to measure quantum efficiencies of the as-prepared glasses. The yellow to blue intensity ratios and chromaticity color coordinates are found to vary with Dy³⁺ ion concentrations. The aforementioned results reveal that these glasses are aptly suitable for w-LEDs and laser devices.

Keywords: glasses, J-O parameters, photoluminescence, I-H model

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Asamaporn Puetpaiboon, Sunisa Chatmongkolchart, Nalinee Kovitwanawong, Osaree Akaraborworn

Abstract:

Traumatic patients with massive bleeding require intensive resuscitation. The actual cost of anesthesia per case has never been clarified, so our study aimed to quantify the direct cost, and cost-to-charge ratio of anesthetic care in traumatic patients with intraoperative massive bleeding. This study was a prospective, observational, cost analysis study, conducted in Prince of Songkla University hospital, Thailand, with traumatic patients, of any mechanisms being recruited. Massive bleeding was defined as estimated blood loss of at least one blood volume in 24 hours, or a half of blood volume in 3 hours. The cost components were identified by the micro-costing method, and valued by the bottom-up approach. The direct cost was divided into 4 categories: the labor cost, the capital cost, the material cost and the cost of drugs. From September 2017 to August 2018, 10 patients with multiple injuries were included. Seven patients had motorcycle accidents, two patients fell from a height and another one was in a minibus accident. Two patients died on the operating table, and another two died within 48 hours. The median Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score was 8. The median intraoperative blood loss was 3,500 ml. The median direct cost, per case, was 250 United States Dollars (2017 exchange rate), and the cost-to-charge ratio was 0.53. In summary, the direct cost was nearly half of the hospital charge, for these traumatic patients with massive bleeding. However, our study did not analyze the indirect cost.

Keywords: cost, cost-to-charge ratio, micro-costing, trauma

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Suppara Charoenpoom

Abstract:

This study focuses on 1) a good-quality management procedures of buildings and environment in schools 2) designing the management procedures and 3) creating an operation manual for the procedures. This study is the combination of qualitative and quantitative research method. Populations in the research were 83 deans and directors of primary and secondary schools from the 10th educational district in Samut Songkram. Sample group was selected from the voluntary deans and directors. There were 14 participants in sample group. Research tools in this study were divided into 2 categories. The first one was data-collecting tools, which were in-depth interview and questionnaires. The second one was the designing tools to help creating management procedures: quality business, quality work procedure and key quality indicator of each activity in schools. All data were analyzed by mean and standard deviation. The result from this study has found out 1 effective process of building and environment management for basic education schools which is called Quality Business Process (QBP) and 7 Quality Work Procedures (QWP). In terms of academic feasibility checkup by experts, the research had shown that new design of building and environment management was approved unanimously. It means that new process of building and environment management in schools works very well and can be adapted. After examining the possibility of management process being used in schools by calculating the mean value among sample group (14 school deans and directors), the mean value was between 0.64-1.00. It means that the new design of building and environment management can be operated effectively in schools. For the satisfaction part, deans and school directors gave the satisfaction score in the highest level (Mean = 4.7372, S.D. = 0.4385).

Keywords: buildings, environment, procedures, quality management

Procedia PDF Downloads 211

Authors: Rinat Arbel-Goren, Joel Stavans

Abstract:

Cell-to-cell variations in transcript or protein abundance, called noise, may give rise to phenotypic variability between isogenic cells, enhancing the probability of survival under stress conditions. These variations may be introduced by post-transcriptional regulatory processes such as non-coding, small RNAs stoichiometric degradation of target transcripts in bacteria. We study the iron homeostasis network in Escherichia coli, in which the RyhB small RNA regulates the expression of various targets as a model system. Using fluorescence reporter genes to detect protein levels and single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization to monitor transcripts levels in individual cells, allows us to compare noise at both transcript and protein levels. The experimental results and computer simulations show that extrinsic noise buffers through a feed-forward loop configuration the increase in variability introduced at the transcript level by iron deprivation, illuminating the important role that extrinsic noise plays during stress. Surprisingly, extrinsic noise also decouples of fluctuations of two different targets, in spite of RyhB being a common upstream factor degrading both. Thus, phenotypic variability increases under stress conditions by the decoupling of target fluctuations in the same cell rather than by increasing the noise of each. We also present preliminary results on the adaptation of cells to prolonged iron deprivation in order to shed light on the evolutionary role of post-transcriptional downregulation by small RNAs.

Keywords: cell-to-cell variability, Escherichia coli, noise, single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization (smFISH), transcript

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Vivek Ku, A. K. Janmeja, D. Aggarwal, R. Gupta

Abstract:

Purpose: Pulmonary rehabilitation plays a key role in management of chronic lung diseases. However, pulmonary rehabilitation is an underused modality in the management of interstitial lung disease (ILD). This is because limited information is available in literature and no data is available from India on this issue so far. The study was carried out to evaluate the role of pulmonary rehabilitation on respiratory parameters in ILD patients. Methods: The present study was a prospective randomized non-blind case control study. Total of 40 ILD patients were randomized into 2 groups of 20 patients each viz ‘pulmonary rehabilitation group’ and ‘control group’. Pulmonary rehabilitation group underwent 8 weeks pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) along with medical management as per guidelines and the control group was advised only medical management. Results: Mean age in case group was 59.15 ± 10.39 years and in control group was 62.10 ± 14.54 years. The case and the control groups were matched for age and sex. Mean MRC grading at the end of 8 weeks showed significant improvement in the case group as compared to control group (p= 0.011 vs p = 0.655). Similarly, mean St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score also showed significant improvement in pulmonary rehabilitation group at the end of the study (p= 0.001 vs p= 0.492). However, FEV1 and FVC had no significant change in the case and control group. Similarly, blood gases also did not show any significant difference in the group. Conclusion: Pulmonary rehabilitation improves breathlessness and thereby improves quality of life in the patients suffering from ILD. However, the pulmonary function values and blood gases are unaffected by pulmonary rehabilitation. Clinical Implications: Further large scale multicentre study is needed to ascertain the association.

Keywords: ILD, pulmonary rehabilitation, quality of life, pulmonary functions

Procedia PDF Downloads 244

Authors: Rana Bilal, Faiz-Ul-Hassan, Moazzam Jameel

Abstract:

There is a dire need to replace high-cost protein with more economical protein to overcome animal protein shortage in developing nations especially countries like Pakistan. In conjunction with these efforts, the current study was planned to evaluate the effects of various dried distillery yeast sludge (DYS) levels on the immune level, egg quality, and performance of layers by replacing soybean meal. The study was designed with two hundred layers of Hy-Line variety. Distillery yeast sludge was dried and ground for 2 mm mesh size and after this proximate and mineral analysis was determined. Five isocaloric and isonitrogeneous feeds were given containing C (control), 5, 10, 15, 20% distillery yeast sludge by replacing soybean meal. The trial was performed in the completely randomized design with five treatments, 4 replicates and 10 hen per replicate. Results demonstrated that feed intake, egg production, feed conversion ratio decreased (P < 0.05) with the increased dietary DYS. However, statistically significant decrease (P < 0.05) was found in hens having DYS20 diet than control. Layers on Diets C, DYS5 and DYS10 exerted a higher immune level than DYS15 and DYS20 diets. Egg weight, eggshell weight, eggshell thickness, egg albumen height as well as haugh unit score were affected significantly by the increased level of DYS. In general, results of this study demonstrated that inclusion of DYS up to 10% showed no adverse effects on health and performance of layers.

Keywords: egg quality, immunity, layers, performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 201

Authors: Deepak Ganjiwale, Karthik Vishwanathan

Abstract:

Objective: Splinting is a great domain of occupational therapy profession.Making a splint for the patient would depend upon the need or requirement of the problems and deformities. Swan neck deformity is not very common in finger it may occur after any disease. Conservative treatment of the swan neck deformity is available by using different static splints only. There are very few reports of surgical correction of swan-neck deformity in benign hypermobility syndrome. Method: This case report describes the result of surgical intervention and hand splint in a twenty year old lady with past history of cardiovascular stroke with no residual neurological deficit. She presented with correctable swan neck deformity and failed to improve with static ring splints to correct the deformity. She was noted to have hyperlaxity (EhlerDanlos type) as per modified Beighton’s score of 5/9. She underwent volar plate plication of the proximal interphalangeal joint of the left ring finger along with hemitenodesis of ulnar slip of flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) tendon whereby, the ulnar slip of FDS was passed through a small surgically created rent in A2 pulley and sutured back to itself. Result: Postoperatively, the patient was referred to occupational therapy for splinting with the instruction that the splint would work some time for as static and some time as dynamic for positional and correction of the finger. Conclusion: After occupational therapy intervention and splinting, the patient had a full correction of the swan-neck deformity with near full flexion of the operated finger and is able to work independently.

Keywords: swan neck, finger, deformity, splint, hypermobility

Procedia PDF Downloads 235

Authors: Mahshid Asadollahi, Mohammad Akbari Asl

Abstract:

The restaurant industry is highly competitive, and restaurants are constantly looking for ways to attract new customers and retain their existing ones. Nonverbal communication is an important factor in creating a positive customer experience and can play a significant role in attracting customers to restaurants. Nonverbal communication can include body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, and physical proximity, among other things. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of nonverbal communication between restaurant employees and customers on attracting customers in food courts in Tehran. The research method was descriptive-correlational, and the statistical population of this study included all customers of food court restaurants in Tehran, which was about 30 restaurants. The research sample was selected through probability sampling, and 440 customers completed emotional response, customer satisfaction, and nonverbal communication questionnaires in person. The data obtained were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The results showed that vocal language, employee proximity, physical appearance, and speech movements, as components of nonverbal communication of restaurant employees, had an impact on attracting customers. Additionally, positive and negative emotions of customers have a significant relationship with customer attraction in Food Court restaurants. The study shows that various nonverbal communication factors can play a significant role in attracting customers, and that positive and negative customer emotions can affect customer satisfaction. Therefore, restaurant owners and managers should pay attention to nonverbal communication and train their employees accordingly to create a positive and welcoming atmosphere for customers.

Keywords: verbal language, proximity of employees, physical appearance, speech gestures, nonverbal communication, customer emotions, customer attraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: Saeideh Lotfi Nikoo, Azadeh Ghaheri, Reza Omani Samani

Abstract:

Context: In most cultures around the globe, infertility is recognized as a crisis and exposed infertile couples are under psychosocial pressure. Indeed, the quality of life (QoL) for infertile women is lower in comparison with fertile control. Objective, The purpose of this study, was to investigate the impact of social support and hope on QoL in women undergoing infertility treatment. Methods: A cross-sectional study. Patient(s): In this cross-sectional study, 350 infertile women were recruited who were referred to an infertility clinic for the first time and had no history of Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART) failure. Intervention(s): Questionnaires on the Fertility Quality of Life (FertiQoL), Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (family and friends), and Snyder Hope Scale (pathway and agency) were used to collect data. Data analysis was done by univariate and multivariate analysis. P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result(s): Multivariate analysis indicated that infertile women with a higher score of social support (by family & friends) (b= 0.59 (CI 95%: 0.03, 1.15) (P = 0.040), b= 0.61 (CI 95%: 0.17, 1.04) (P = 0.006)) and hope (pathway & agency) (b= 0.94 (CI 95%: 0.29, 1.59) (P = 0.005), b= 1.13 (CI 95%: 0.45, 1.82) (P = 0.001) respectively) have significantly better Core FertiQoL. The result revealed that social support and hope are significantly and positively associated with other subscales of FertiQoL as well. Conclusions: According to the results, lifestyle interventions such as receiving social support, building a sound family with effective communication, and providing appropriate health education are of crucial importance to address psychological distress and improve the fertility QoL of women experiencing fertility problems.

Keywords: inertility, social support, infertile women, hope

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: Haleh Dadgostar, Faramarz Akbari, Hosien Vahid Tari, Masoud Solaymani-Dodaran, Mohammad Razi

Abstract:

Introduction: There are a number of exercises-protocols have been applied to improve low back pain. We compared the effect of supervised exercise therapy and home-based exercise therapy among patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain. Methods: 70 patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain were randomly (using a random number generator, excel) divided into two groups to compare the effects of two types of exercise therapy. After a common educational session to learn how to live with low back pain as well as to use core training protocols to strengthen the muscles, the subjects were randomly assigned to follow supervised exercise therapy (n = 31) or home-based exercise therapy (n = 34) for 20 weeks. Results: Although both types of exercise programs resulted in reduced pain, this factor decreased more significantly in supervised exercise program. All scores of fitness improved significantly in supervised exercise group. But only knee extensor strength score was increased in the home base exercise group. Conclusion: Comparing between two types of exercise, supervised group exercise showed more effective than the other one. Reduction in low back pain severity and improvement in muscle flexibility and strength can be more achieved by using a 20-week supervised exercise program compared to the home-based exercise program in patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain.

Keywords: low back pain, anthropometric parameters, supervised exercise therapy, home-based exercise therapy

Procedia PDF Downloads 302

Authors: Maria Magdy Danial Riad

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of different protein sources with different degradability ratios during late gestation of ewes on colostrum composition and its IgG concentration, body weight change of dams, and birth weight of their lambs. Objectives: 35 multiparous native crossbred ewes (BW= 59±2.5kg) were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments (7 ewes / treatment) for 2 months prior to lambing. Methods: Experimental diets were isonitrogenous (12.27% CP) and isocaloric (2.22 Mcal ME/kg DM). In diet I (the control), solvent extract soybeans (SESM 33% RUP of CP), II feed grade urea (FGU 31% RUP), III slow release urea (SRU 31% RUP). As sources of undegradable protein, extruded expeller SBM-EESM 40 (37% RUP) and extruded expeller SBM-EESM 60 (41% RUP) were used in groups IV and V, respectively. Results showed no significant effect on feed intake, crude protein (CP), metabolizable energy (ME), and body condition score (BCS). Ewes fed the 37% RUP diet gained more (p<0.05) weight compared with ewes fed the 31% RUP diet (5.62 vs. 2.5kg). Ewes in EESM 60 had the highest levels of fat, protein, total solid, solid not fat, and immunoglobulin and the lowest in urea N content (P< 0.05) in colostrum during the first 24hrs after lambing. Conclusions: Protein source and RUP levels in ewes’ diets had no significant effect (P< 0.05) on lambs’ birth weight and ewes' blood biochemical parameters. Increasing the RUP content of diet during late gestation resulted in an increase in colostrum constituents and its IgG level but had no effect on ewes’ performance and their lambs’ outcome.

Keywords: colostrum, ewes, lambs output, pregnancy, undegradable protein

Procedia PDF Downloads 28

Authors: Fenni Sim

Abstract:

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between family functioning and level of self-efficacy: how family functioning can potentially affect self-efficacy which will eventually lead to better clinical outcomes. The hypothesis was ‘Patients on haemodialysis with perceived higher family functioning are more likely to have higher perceived level of self-efficacy’. Methods: The study was conducted with a mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative data collection of survey and semi-structured interview respectively. The General Self-Efficacy scale and SCORE-15 were self-administered by participants. The data will be analysed with correlation analysis method using Microsoft Excel. 79 patients were recruited for the study through random sampling. 6 participants whose results did not reflect the hypothesis were then recruited for the qualitative study. Interpretive phemenological analysis was then used to analyse the qualitative data. Findings: The hypothesis was accepted that higher family functioning leads to higher perceived self-efficacy. The correlation coefficient of -0.21 suggested a mild correlation between the two variables. However, only 4.6% of the variation in perceived self-efficacy is accounted by the variation in family functioning. The qualitative study extrapolated three themes that might explain the variations in the outliers: (1) level of physical functioning affects perceived self-efficacy, (2) instrumental support from family influenced perceived level of family functioning, and self-efficacy, (3) acceptance of illness reflects higher level of self-efficacy. Conclusion: While family functioning does have an impact on perceived self-efficacy, there are many intrapersonal and physical factors that may affect self-efficacy. The concepts of family functioning and self-efficacy are more appropriately seen as complementing each other to help a patient in managing his illness. Healthcare social workers can look at how family functioning is supporting the individual needs of patients with different trajectory of ESRD and the support we can provide to improve one’s self-efficacy.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease, coping of illness, family functioning, self efficacy

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Niroshan K. Walgama Wellalage, Tieling Zhang, Richard Dwight

Abstract:

State-based Markov deterioration models (SMDM) sometimes fail to find accurate transition probability matrix (TPM) values, and hence lead to invalid future condition prediction or incorrect average deterioration rates mainly due to drawbacks of existing nonlinear optimization-based algorithms and/or subjective function types used for regression analysis. Furthermore, a set of separate functions for each condition state with age cannot be directly derived by using Markov model for a given bridge element group, which however is of interest to industrial partners. This paper presents a new approach for generating Homogeneous SMDM model output, namely, the Modified Weibull approach, which consists of a set of appropriate functions to describe the percentage condition prediction of bridge elements in each state. These functions are combined with Bayesian approach and Metropolis Hasting Algorithm (MHA) based Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation technique for quantifying the uncertainty in model parameter estimates. In this study, factors contributing to rail bridge deterioration were identified. The inspection data for 1,000 Australian railway bridges over 15 years were reviewed and filtered accordingly based on the real operational experience. Network level deterioration model for a typical bridge element group was developed using the proposed Modified Weibull approach. The condition state predictions obtained from this method were validated using statistical hypothesis tests with a test data set. Results show that the proposed model is able to not only predict the conditions in network-level accurately but also capture the model uncertainties with given confidence interval.

Keywords: bridge deterioration modelling, modified weibull approach, MCMC, metropolis-hasting algorithm, bayesian approach, Markov deterioration models

Procedia PDF Downloads 704

Authors: Pawit Tangviroon, Apichit Svang-Ariyaskul

Abstract:

As the limited availability of petroleum-based fuel has been a major concern, biodiesel is one of the most attractive alternative fuels because it is renewable and it also has advantages over the conventional petroleum-base diesel. At Present, productions of biodiesel generally perform by transesterification of vegetable oils with low molecular weight alcohol, mainly methanol, using chemical catalysts. Methanol is petrochemical product that makes biodiesel producing from methanol to be not pure renewable energy source. Therefore, ethanol as a product produced by fermentation processes. It appears as a potential feed stock that makes biodiesel to be pure renewable alternative fuel. The research is conducted based on two biodiesel production processes by reacting soybean oils with methanol and ethanol. Life cycle assessment was carried out in order to evaluate the environmental impacts and to identify the process alternative. Nine mid-point impact categories are investigated. The results indicate that better performance on Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP) and Acidification Potential (AP) are observed in biodiesel production from methanol when compared with biodiesel production from ethanol due to less energy consumption during the production processes. Except for ADP and AP, using methanol as feed stock does not show any advantages over biodiesel from ethanol. The single score method is also included in this study in order to identify the best option between two processes of biodiesel production. The global normalization and weighting factor based on eco-taxes are used and it shows that producing biodiesel form ethanol has less environmental load compare to biodiesel from methanol.

Keywords: biodiesel, ethanol, life cycle assessment, methanol, soybean oil

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: Junhong Li, Danni Cheng, Yaxin Luo, Xiaowei Yi, Ke Qiu, Wendu Pang, Minzi Mao, Yufang Rao, Yao Song, Jianjun Ren, Yu Zhao

Abstract:

Background: The number of multiple cancer patients was increasing, and the impact of prior cancer history on salivary gland cancer patients remains unclear. Methods: Clinical, demographic and pathological information on salivary gland cancer patients were retrospectively collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 2004 to 2017, and the characteristics and prognosis between patients with a prior cancer and those without prior caner were compared. Univariate and multivariate cox proportional regression models were used for the analysis of prognosis. A risk score model was established to exam the impact of treatment on patients with a prior cancer in different risk groups. Results: A total of 9098 salivary gland cancer patients were identified, and 1635 of them had a prior cancer history. Salivary gland cancer patients with prior cancer had worse survival compared with those without a prior cancer (p<0.001). Patients with a different type of first cancer had a distinct prognosis (p<0.001), and longer latent time was associated with better survival (p=0.006) in the univariate model, although both became nonsignificant in the multivariate model. Salivary gland cancer patients with a prior cancer were divided into low-risk (n= 321), intermediate-risk (n=223), and high-risk (n=62) groups and the results showed that patients at high risk could benefit from surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, and those at intermediate risk could benefit from surgery. Conclusion: Prior cancer history had an adverse impact on the survival of salivary gland cancer patients, and individualized treatment should be seriously considered for them.

Keywords: prior cancer history, prognosis, salivary gland cancer, SEER

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: Mukesh K., Siddiqui A. K., Abbas H., Gupta R.

Abstract:

Background: General Anesthesia is a standard for breast onco-surgery. The issue of postoperative pain and the occurrence of nausea and vomiting has prompted the quest for a superior methodology with fewer complications. Over the recent couple of years, paravertebral block (PVB) has acquired huge fame either in combination with GA or alone for anesthetic management. In this study, we aim to evaluate the efficacy of morphine and clonidine as an adjunct to ropivacaine in a paravertebral block in breast cancer patients undergoing modified radical mastectomy. Methods: In this study, total 90 patients were divided into three groups (30 each) on the basis of computer-generated randomization. Group C (Control): Paravertebral block with 0.25% ropivacaine (19ml) and 1 ml saline; Group M- Paravertebral block with 0.25% ropivacaine(19ml) + 20 microgram/kg body weight morphine; Group N: Paravertebral block with 0.25% ropivacaine(19ml) +1.0 microgram/kg body weight clonidine. The postoperative pain intensity was recorded using the visual analog scale (VAS) and Sedation was observed by the Ramsay Sedation score (RSS). Results: The VAS was similar at 0hr, 2hr and 4 hr in the postoperative period among all the groups. There was a significant (p=0.003) difference in VAS from 6 hr to 20 hr in the postoperative period among the groups. A significant (p<0.05) difference was observed among the groups at 8 hr to 20 hr). The first requirement of analgesia was significantly (p=0.001) higher in Group N (7.70±1.74) than in Group C (4.43±1.43) and Group M (7.33±2.21). Conclusion: The morphine in the paravertebral block provides better postoperative analgesia. The consumption of rescue analgesia was significantly reduced in the morphine group as compared to the clonidine group. The procedure also proved to be safe as no complication was encountered in the paravertebral block in our study.

Keywords: ropivacaine, morphine, clonidine, paravertebral block

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Wasantha Subasinghe

Abstract:

Crimes are one of big social problems in Sri Lanka. Crimes can be seen as simply way as an activity that against for the society or public law. There are offences in minor crimes and grave crimes including murder, rape, trafficking, robbery, excise, narcotic, kidnapping and so on. There are various forms of punishment such as bailing, fining, and prisoning to the death penalty. Death penalty contains the killing of an offender for an offense. There are 23 prison institutions in Sri Lanka including 03 closed prisoners and 20 remand prisons. There are 10 work camps, 02 open prison camps, 01 training school for youthful offenders and 02 correctional centers for youthful offenders. Capital punishment is legal in Sri Lanka as many other countries as India, Japan, Bangladesh, Iran and Iraq so on. When compared unconvicted prisoners from 2006-2010 there is an increase. It was 89190 in 2006 and it was 100191 in 2010. There were 28732 of convicted prisoners and it was 32128 in 2010. There were 165 Death sentences in 2006 and it was 96 in 2010. There are 540 individuals had been sentenced to death. The death penalty has not been implemented in Sri Lanka since 1976. Research problem: What are the feelings of prisoners as waiting for death?’ Objectives of the study were identifying prisoners’ point of view on their punishment and root causes for their offence. Case studies were conducted to identify the research problem and data were collected using formal interviews. Research area was Welikada prison. Stratified sampling method in probability samplings was used. Sample size was 20 cases from death penalty and life in prison prisoners and 20 from other convicted prisoners. Findings revealed causes and feelings them as offenders. They need if death penalty or freedom. Some of them need to convert death sentence to life imprisonment. They are physically and mentally damaged after their imprisonment. Lack of hope and as well as lack of welfare and rehabilitation programs they suffered their lives.

Keywords: death penalty, expectations, life imprisonment, rehabilitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Engi E. I. Sarhan, Usama M. Rashad, Ibrahim M. I. Hamoda, Mohammed K. Mohamed

Abstract:

Background: This study aimed to know the effect of nitrogen-based cryotherapy on the spasticity of calf muscle in stroke patients. Patients were selected from the outpatient clinic of Neurology, Al-Mansoura general hospital, Al-Mansoura University. Subjects and methods: Thirty Stroke Patients of both sexes ranged from 45 to 60 years old were divided randomly into two equal groups, a study group (A) received a nitrogen-based cryotherapy, a selective physical therapy program and ankle foot orthosis (AFO), while as patients in control group (B) received the same program and AFO only. The treatment duration was three times per week for four weeks for both groups. We assessed spasticity of calf muscle before and after treatment subjectively using modified Ashworth scale (MAS) and objectively via measuring H / M ratio on electromyography machine. We also assessed ankle dorsiflexion ROM objectively using two dimensions motion analysis (2D). Results: After treatment, there was a highly significant improvement in the study group compared to the control group regarding the score of MAS, no significant difference in the study group compared to the control group regarding the readings of H / M ratio, highly significant improvement in the study group compared to the control group regarding the 2D motion analysis findings. Conclusion: This modality considers effective in reducing spasticity in the calf muscle and improving ankle dorsiflexion of the affected limb.

Keywords: ankle foot orthosis, nitrogen-based cryotherapy, stroke, spasticity

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Gülden Küçükakça, Şefika Dilek Güven, Rahşan Kolutek, Seçil Taylan

Abstract:

Objective: Nursing students face with stress factors affecting academic performance and quality of life as from first moments of their educational life. Stress causes health problems in students such as physical, psycho-social, and behavioral disorders and might damage formation of professional identity by decreasing efficiency of education. In addition to determination of stress experienced by nursing students during their education, it was aimed to help review theoretical and clinical education settings for bringing stress of nursing students into positive level and to raise awareness of educators concerning their own professional behaviors. Methods: The study was conducted with 315 students studying at nursing department of Semra and Vefa Küçük Health High School, Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University in the academic year of 2015-2016 and agreed to participate in the study. “Personal Information Form” prepared by the researchers upon the literature review and “Nursing Education Stress Scale (NESS)” were used in this study. Data were assessed with analysis of variance and correlation analysis. Results: Mean NESS Scale score of the nursing students was estimated to be 66.46±16.08 points. Conclusions: As a result of this study, stress level experienced by nursing undergraduate students during their education was determined to be high. In accordance with this result, it can be recommended to determine sources of stress experienced by nursing undergraduate students during their education and to develop approaches to eliminate these stress sources.

Keywords: stress, nursing education, nursing student, nursing education stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 443

Authors: Xavier Lorang, Ahmadali Tahmasebimoradi, Chetra Mang, Sylvain Girard

Abstract:

The additive manufacturing processes (e.g. selective laser melting) allow us to produce lattice structures which have less weight, higher impact absorption capacity, and better thermal exchange property compared to the classical structures. Unfortunately, geometric imperfections (defects) in the lattice structures are by-products results of the manufacturing process. These imperfections decrease the lifetime and the strength of the lattice structures and alternate their mechanical responses. The objective of the paper is to present a simulation strategy which allows us to take into account the effect of the geometric imperfections on the mechanical response of the lattice structure. In the first part, an identification method of geometric imperfection parameters of the lattice structure based on point clouds is presented. These point clouds are based on tomography measurements. The point clouds are fed into the platform LATANA (LATtice ANAlysis) developed by IRT-SystemX to characterize the geometric imperfections. This is done by projecting the point clouds of each microbeam along the beam axis onto a 2D surface. Then, by fitting an ellipse to the 2D projections of the points, the geometric imperfections are characterized by introducing three parameters of an ellipse; semi-major/minor axes and angle of rotation. With regard to the calculated parameters of the microbeam geometric imperfections, a statistical analysis is carried out to determine a probability density law based on a statistical hypothesis. The microbeam samples are randomly drawn from the density law and are used to generate lattice structures. In the second part, a finite element model for the lattice structure with the simplified geometric imperfections (ellipse parameters) is presented. This numerical model is used to simulate the generated lattice structures. The propagation of the uncertainties of geometric imperfections is shown through the distribution of the computed mechanical responses of the lattice structures.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, finite element model, geometric imperfections, lattice structures, propagation of uncertainty

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Carol Anne Hargreaves

Abstract:

A key issue in stock investment is how to select representative features for stock selection. The objective of this paper is to firstly determine whether an automated stock investment system, using machine learning techniques, may be used to identify a portfolio of growth stocks that are highly likely to provide returns better than the stock market index. The second objective is to identify the technical features that best characterize whether a stock’s price is likely to go up and to identify the most important factors and their contribution to predicting the likelihood of the stock price going up. Unsupervised machine learning techniques, such as cluster analysis, were applied to the stock data to identify a cluster of stocks that was likely to go up in price – portfolio 1. Next, the principal component analysis technique was used to select stocks that were rated high on component one and component two – portfolio 2. Thirdly, a supervised machine learning technique, the logistic regression method, was used to select stocks with a high probability of their price going up – portfolio 3. The predictive models were validated with metrics such as, sensitivity (recall), specificity and overall accuracy for all models. All accuracy measures were above 70%. All portfolios outperformed the market by more than eight times. The top three stocks were selected for each of the three stock portfolios and traded in the market for one month. After one month the return for each stock portfolio was computed and compared with the stock market index returns. The returns for all three stock portfolios was 23.87% for the principal component analysis stock portfolio, 11.65% for the logistic regression portfolio and 8.88% for the K-means cluster portfolio while the stock market performance was 0.38%. This study confirms that an automated stock investment system using machine learning techniques can identify top performing stock portfolios that outperform the stock market.

Keywords: machine learning, stock market trading, logistic regression, cluster analysis, factor analysis, decision trees, neural networks, automated stock investment system

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Takashi Kaburagi, Masashi Takenaka, Yosuke Kurihara, Takashi Matsumoto

Abstract:

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental illnesses today. It is believed to be caused by a combination of several factors, including stress. Stress can be quantitatively evaluated using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), one of the best indices to evaluate anxiety. Although STAI scores are widely used in applications ranging from clinical diagnosis to basic research, the scores are calculated based on a self-reported questionnaire. An objective evaluation is required because the subject may intentionally change his/her answers if multiple tests are carried out. In this article, we present a modified index called the “multi-channel Laterality Index at Rest (mc-LIR)” by recording the brain activity from a wider area of the frontal lobe using multi-channel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The presented index aims to measure multiple positions near the F_pz defined by the international 10-20 system positioning. Using 24 subjects, the dependencies on the number of measuring points used to calculate the mc-LIR and its correlation coefficients with the STAI scores are reported. Furthermore, a simple linear regression was performed to estimate the STAI scores from mc-LIR. The cross-validation error is also reported. The experimental results show that using multiple positions near the Fpz will improve the correlation coefficients and estimation than those using only two positions.

Keywords: frontal lobe, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, state-trait anxiety inventory score, stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 228

Authors: Camille Charlebois-Plante, Marie-Ève Bourassa, Gaelle Dumel, Meriem Sabir, Louis De Beaumont

Abstract:

To the extent of our knowledge, there has been little interest in the chronic effects of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) on cognition during normal aging. This is rather surprising considering the impacts on daily and social functioning. In addition, sustaining a mTBI during late adulthood may increase the effect of normal biological aging in individuals who consider themselves normal and healthy. The objective of this study was to characterize the persistent neuropsychological repercussions of mTBI sustained during late adulthood, on average 12 months prior to testing. To this end, 35 mTBI patients and 42 controls between the ages of 50 and 69 completed an exhaustive neuropsychological assessment lasting three hours. All mTBI patients were asymptomatic and all participants had a score ≥ 27 at the MoCA. The evaluation consisted of 20 standardized neuropsychological tests measuring memory, attention, executive and language functions, as well as information processing speed. Performance on tests of visual (Brief Visuospatial Memory Test Revised) and verbal memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and WMS-IV Logical Memory subtest), lexical access (Boston Naming Test) and response inhibition (Stroop) revealed to be significantly lower in the mTBI group. These findings suggest that a mTBI sustained during late adulthood induces lasting effects on cognitive function. Episodic memory and executive functions seem to be particularly vulnerable to enduring mTBI effects.

Keywords: cognitive function, late adulthood, mild traumatic brain injury, neuropsychology

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: Camille Lacan, Pierre Desmet

Abstract:

In the crowdfunding model, a campaign succeeds by collecting the funds required over a predefined duration. The success of a CF campaign depends both on the capacity to attract members of the online communities concerned, and on the community members’ involvement in online word-of-mouth recommendations. To maximize the campaign's success probability, project creators (i.e., an organization appealing for financial resources) send messages to contributors to ask them to issue word of mouth. Internet users relay information about projects through Word of Mouth which is defined as “a critical tool for facilitating information diffusion throughout online communities”. The effectiveness of these messages depends on the message framing and the time at which they are sent to contributors (i.e., at the start of the campaign or close to the deadline). This article addresses the following question: What are the effect of message framing and temporal distance on the willingness to share word of mouth? Drawing on Perspectives Theory and Construal Level Theory, this study examines the interplay between message framing (Gains vs. Losses) and temporal distance (message while the deadline is coming vs. far) on intention to share word of mouth. A between-subject experimental design is conducted to test the research model. Results show significant differences between a loss-framed message (lack of benefits if the campaign fails) associated with a short deadline (ending tomorrow) compared to a gain-framed message (benefits if the campaign succeeds) associated with a distant deadline (ending in three months). However, this effect is moderated by the anticipated regret of a campaign failure and the temporal orientation. These moderating effects contribute to specifying the boundary condition of the framing effect. Handling the message framing and the temporal distance are thus the key decisions to influence the willingness to share word of mouth.

Keywords: construal levels, crowdfunding, message framing, word of mouth

Procedia PDF Downloads 227

Authors: Yosi Maria Wijaya, Florisma Arista Riti Tegu

Abstract:

Background: Hypertension in pregnancy can be prevented by controlling the lifestyle. However, the majority of research on this topic has been conducted on lifestyle in women with normal pregnancy. Few studies of lifestyle have focused on Indonesian pregnant women with hypertension. Aim: The purpose of this study is to determine the association of demographic characteristics and the lifestyle of pregnant women who have hypertension. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 76 women with hypertension during pregnancy were recruited from primary health care, West Java, Indonesia. Inclusion criteria were gestational age ≥ 28 weeks with the blood pressure systole ≥ 140 mmHg and diastole ≥ 90 mmHg. Data were collected using two instruments: demographic data and Health Promoting Life Style Profile (HPLP II). Data were analyzed with descriptive statistic and linear regression analysis. Results: The majority of participants were married, mean age was 27.96 years old (SD=6.77) with the mean of gestational age 33.21 (SD=3.49), most of them unemployed (94.7%) and more than a half participants have an education less than twelve years (59.2%). The total score of lifestyle was 2.44 (SD=0.34), more than a half participants experience unhealthy lifestyle (59.2%). Lifestyle was predicted by income, education years, occupation, and access to health care services, accounting for 20.8% of the total variance. Conclusion: Pregnant women with hypertension with low income, low level of education, non-occupational and hard to access health care services were related to unhealthy lifestyle. Understanding the lifestyle and associated factors contributes to health care providers ability to design effective interventions intended to improve healthy lifestyle among pregnant women with hypertension.

Keywords: demographic characteristics, hypertension, lifestyle, pregnancy

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Harman Jaggi, David Steinsaltz, Shripad Tuljapurkar

Abstract:

Understanding the effect of fluctuations on populations is crucial in the context of increasing habitat fragmentation, climate change, and biological invasions, among others. Migration in response to environmental disturbances enables populations to escape unfavorable conditions, benefit from new environments and thereby ride out fluctuations in variable environments. Would populations disperse if there is no uncertainty? Karlin showed in 1982 that when sub-populations experience distinct but fixed growth rates at different sites, greater mixing of populations will lower the overall growth rate relative to the most favorable site. Here we ask if and when environmental variability favors migration over no-migration. Specifically, in random environments, would a small amount of migration increase the overall long-run growth rate relative to the zero migration case? We use analysis and simulations to show how long-run growth rate changes with migration rate. Our results show that when fitness (dis)advantages fluctuate over time across sites, migration may allow populations to benefit from variability. When there is one best site with highest growth rate, the effect of migration on long-run growth rate depends on the difference in expected growth between sites, scaled by the variance of the difference. When variance is large, there is a substantial probability of an inferior site experiencing higher growth rate than its average. Thus, a high variance can compensate for a difference in average growth rates between sites. Positive correlations in growth rates across sites favor less migration. With multiple sites and large fluctuations, the length of shortest cycle (excursion) from the best site (on average) matters, and we explore the interplay between excursion length, average differences between sites and the size of fluctuations. Our findings have implications for conservation biology: even when there are superior sites in a sea of poor habitats, variability and habitat quality across space may be key to determining the importance of migration.

Keywords: migration, variable-environments, random, dispersal, fluctuations, habitat-quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 120

Authors: Geno Paul S. Cumla, Jan Mariel M. Gentiles, M. Brenda Gajelan-Samson

Abstract:

Eutrophication is a process where in there is a surplus of nutrients present in a lake or river. Harmful cyanobacteria, hypoxia, and primarily algae, which contain toxins, grow because of the excess nutrients. Algal blooms can cause fish kills, limiting the light penetration which reduces growth of aquatic organisms, causing die-offs of plants and produce conditions that are dangerous to aquatic and human life. The main cause for eutrophication is the presence of excessive amounts of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N). Nitrogen is necessary for the production of the plant tissues and is usually used to synthesize proteins. Nitrate is a compound that contains nitrogen, and at elevated levels it can cause harmful effects. Excessive amounts of phosphorus, displaced through human activity, is the major cause of algae growth and as well as degraded water quality. To accomplish this study the Assessment of Soluble inorganic nitrogen (SIN), Assessment of Soluble reactive phosphate (SRP), Determination of Chlorophyll a (Chl-a) concentration, and Determination of Dominating Taxa were done. The study addresses the high probability of algal blooms in Maqueda Bay by assessing the biotic and abiotic factors of Antiao and Jiabong rivers. The data predicts the overgrowth of algae and to create awareness to prevent the event from taking place. The study assesses the adverse effects that could be prevented by understanding and controlling algae. This should predict future cases of algal blooms and allow government agencies which require data to create programs to prevent and assess these issues.

Keywords: eutrophication, chlorophyll a, nitrogen, phosphorus, red tide, Kjeldahl method, spectrophotometer, assessment of soluble inorganic nitrogen, SIN, assessment of soluble reactive phosphate, SRP

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Febri Ramadhan, Sigid Hariyadi, Niken Tunjung Murti Pratiwi, Budiman Djoko Said

Abstract:

The scope about maritime security copes all of the problems emanating from maritime domain. Those problems can give such threats to national security of the state. One of threats taking place nowadays in maritime domain is about pollution. Pollution coming from many sources may increase water-borne disease risk that can cause the instability of national security. Pollution coming from many sources may increase water-borne disease risk. Hence the pollution makes an improper condition of environments for humans and others biota dwelling in the waters. One of the tools that can determine about pollution is by measuring about the water quality of its waters. In this case, what brings the waste and pollutants is there an activity of tidal waves introducing substances or energy into the natural environment. Cengkareng Drain is one of the water channels which is affected by tidal waves. Cengkareng Drain was become an observation area to examine the relation between water quality and tide waves. This research was conducted monthly from July to November 2015. Sampling of water was conducted every ebb and tide in every observation. Pollution index showed that the level of pollution on Cengkareng drain was moderately polluted, with the score about 7.7-8.6. Based on the results of t-test and analysis of similarity, the characteristic of water quality on rising tide does not significantly differ from the characteristic of water quality on ebbing tide. Therefore, we need a proper management as a means to control the pollutants in order to make good maritime security strategy.

Keywords: maritime security, Cengkareng drain, water quality, tidal waves

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Ibrahim Ahmed, Richard Amoateng, Akhil Jain, Mohamed Ahmed

Abstract:

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a type of acquired cardiomyopathy caused by chronic alcohol consumption. Frequently ACM is associated with arrhythmias such as atrial flutter. Our aim was to characterize the patient demographics and investigate the effect of atrial flutter (AF) on ACM. This was a retrospective cohort study using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database to identify admissions in adults with principal and secondary diagnoses of alcoholic cardiomyopathy and atrial flutter from 2019. Multivariate linear and logistic regression models were adjusted for age, gender, race, household income, insurance status, Elixhauser comorbidity score, hospital location, bed size, and teaching status. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality, and secondary outcomes were the length of stay (LOS) and total charge in USD. There was a total of 21,855 admissions with alcoholic cardiomyopathy, of which 1,635 had atrial flutter (AF-ACM). Compared to Non-AF-ACM cohort, AF-ACM cohort had fewer females (4.89% vs 14.54%, p<0.001), were older (58.66 vs 56.13 years, p<0.001), fewer Native Americans (0.61% vs2.67%, p<0.01), had fewer smaller (19.27% vs 22.45%, p<0.01) & medium-sized hospitals (23.24% vs28.98%, p<0.01), but more large-sized hospitals (57.49% vs 48.57%, p<0.01), more Medicare (40.37% vs 34.08%, p<0.05) and fewer Medicaid insured (23.55% vs 33.70%, p=<0.001), fewer hypertension (10.7% vs 15.01%, p<0.05), and more obesity (24.77% vs 16.35%, p<0.001). Compared to Non-AF-ACM cohort, there was no difference in AF-ACM cohort mortality rate (6.13% vs 4.20%, p=0.0998), unadjusted mortality OR 1.49 (95% CI 0.92-2.40, p=0.102), adjusted mortality OR 1.36 (95% CI 0.83-2.24, p=0.221), but there was a difference in LOS 1.23 days (95% CI 0.34-2.13, p<0.01), total charge $28,860.30 (95% CI 11,883.96-45,836.60, p<0.01). In patients admitted with ACM, the presence of AF was not associated with a higher all-cause mortality rate or odds of all-cause mortality; however, it was associated with 1.23 days increase in LOS and a $28,860.30 increase in total hospitalization charge. Native Americans, older age and obesity were risk factors for the presence of AF in ACM.

Keywords: alcoholic cardiomyopathy, atrial flutter, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Phayong Thepaksorn

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to assess whether living in proximity to a roofing fiber cement factory in southern Thailand was associated with physical, mental, social, and spiritual health domains measured in a self-reported health risk assessment (HRA) questionnaire. A cross-sectional study was conducted among community members divided into two groups: near population (living within 0-2 km of factory) and far population (living within 2-5 km of factory)(N=198). A greater proportion of those living far from the factory (65.34%) reported physical health problems than the near group (51.04 %)(p=0.032). This study has demonstrated that the near population group had higher proportion of participants with positive ratings on mental assessment (30.34%) and social health impacts (28.42%) than far population group (10.59% and 16.67 %, respectively) (p<0.001). The near population group (29.79%) had similar proportion of participants with positive ratings in spiritual health impacts compared with far population group (27.08%). Among females, but not males, this study demonstrated that a higher proportion of the near population had a positive summative score for the self-HRA, which included all four health domain, compared to the far population (p <0.001 for females; p=0.154 for males). In conclusion, this self-HRA of physical, mental, social, and spiritual health domains reflected the risk perceptions of populations living in the vicinity of the roofing fiber cement factory. This type of tool can bring attention to population concerns and complaints in the factory’s surrounding community. Our findings may contribute to future development of self-HRA for HIA development procedure in Thailand.

Keywords: cement dust, health impact assessment, risk assessment, walk-though survey

Procedia PDF Downloads 354