Search results for: arithmetic progression

Authors: Shideh Mohseni Movahed, Mansoureh Safari

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Intelligent drug delivery systems (IDDS) are innovative technological innovations and clinical way to advance current treatments. These systems differ in technique of therapeutic administration, intricacy, materials and patient compliance to address numerous clinical conditions that require different pharmacological therapies. IDDS capable of releasing an active molecule at the proper site and at a amount that adjusts in response to the progression of the disease or to certain functions/biorhythms of the organism is particularly appealing. In this paper, we describe the most recent advances in the development of intelligent drug delivery systems.

Keywords: drug delivery systems, IDDS, medicine, health

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Authors: Seree Chadcham, Niphon Sukvilai

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This study is the research and development which is intended to: 1) design of the Intelligent Scaffolding Learning Management System (ISLMS) for vocational education, 2) assess the suitability of the Design of Intelligent Scaffolding Learning Management System for Vocational Education. Its methods are divided into 2 phases. Phase 1 is the design of the ISLMS for Vocational Education and phase 2 is the assessment of the suitability of the design. The samples used in this study are work done by 15 professionals in the field of Intelligent Scaffolding, Learning Management System, Vocational Education, and Information and Communication Technology in education selected using the purposive sampling method. Data analyzed by arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The results showed that the ISLMS for vocational education consists of 2 main components which are: 1) the Intelligent Learning Management System for Vocational Education, 2) the Intelligent Scaffolding Management System. The result of the system suitability assessment from the professionals is in the highest range.

Keywords: intelligent, scaffolding, learning management system, vocational education

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Authors: Emil Sakharov, Alex Zotov, Ilkin Osmanov, Oleg Shelest, Aleksander Troitskiy, Robert Khabazov

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Objective: Since 2015, our center has been actively implementing methods of surgical correction of atrial fibrillation, in particular, in patients with coronary heart disease. The study presents a comparative analysis of the late postoperative period in patients with coronary artery bypass grafting and atrial fibrillation. Methods: The study included 150 patients with ischemic heart disease and atrial fibrillation for the period from 2015 to 2021. Patients were divided into 2 groups. The first group is represented by patients with ischemic heart disease and atrial fibrillation who underwent coronary bypass surgery and surgical correction of atrial fibrillation (N=50). The second group is represented by patients with ischemic heart disease and atrial fibrillation who underwent only myocardial revascularization (N=100). Patients were comparable in age, gender, and initial severity of the condition. Among the patients in group 1 there were 82% were men, while in the second group, their number was 75%. Among the patients of the first group, there were 36% with persistent atrial fibrillation, 20% with long-term persistent atrial fibrillation. In the second group, 10% with persistent atrial fibrillation and 17% with long-term persistent atrial fibrillation. Results: Average follow-up for groups 1 and 2 amounted to 47 months. There were no complications in group 1, such as bleeding and stroke. There was only 1 patient in group 1, who had died from cardiovascular disease. Freedom of atrial fibrillation was in 82% without AADs therapy. In group 2 there were 8 patients who had died from cardiovascular diseases and total freedom of atrial fibrillation was in 35% of patients, among which 42.8% had additional AADs therapy. Follow-up data are presented in Table 2. Progression of heart failure was observed in 3% in group 1 and 7% in group 2. Combined endpoints (recurrence of AF, stroke, progression of heart failure, myocardial infarction) were achieved in 16% in group 1 and 34% in group 2, respectively. Freedom from atrial fibrillation without antiarrhythmic therapy was 82% for group 1 and 35% for group 2. In the first group, there is a more pronounced decrease in heart failure rates. Deaths from cardiovascular causes were recorded in 2% for group 1 and 7% for group 2. Conclusion: Surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation helps to reduce adverse complications in the late postoperative period and contributes to the regression of heart failure.

Keywords: atrial fibrillation, coronary artery bypass grafting, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure

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Authors: Randall E. Osborne

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A four-step ‘humanities’ thought model has been used in an interdisciplinary course for almost two decades and has been proven to aid in student abilities to become more inclusive in their world view. Lack of tolerance for ambiguity can interfere with this progression so we developed an assignment that seems to have assisted students in developing more tolerance for ambiguity and, therefore, opened them up to make more progress on the critical thought model. A four-step critical thought model (built from a humanities education approach) is used in an interdisciplinary course on prejudice, discrimination, and hate in an effort to minimize egocentrism and promote sociocentrism in college students. A fundamental barrier to this progression is a lack of tolerance for ambiguity. The approach to the course is built on the assumption that Tolerance for Ambiguity (characterized by a dislike of uncertain, ambiguous or situations in which expected behaviors are uncertain, will like serve as a barrier (if tolerance is low) or facilitator (if tolerance is high) of active ‘engagement’ with assignments. Given that active engagement with course assignments would be necessary to promote an increase in critical thought and the degree of multicultural attitude change, tolerance for ambiguity inhibits critical thinking and, ultimately multicultural attitude change. As expected, those students showing the least amount of decrease (or even an increase) in intolerance across the semester, earned lower grades in the course than those students who showed a significant decrease in intolerance, t(1,19) = 4.659, p < .001. Students who demonstrated the most change in their Tolerance for Ambiguity (showed an increasing ability to tolerate ambiguity) earned the highest grades in the course. This is, especially, significant because faculty did not know student scores on this measure until after all assignments had been graded and course grades assigned. An assignment designed to assist students in making their assumption and inferences processes visible so they could be explored, was implemented with the goal of this exploration then promoting more tolerance for ambiguity, which, as already outlined, promotes critical thought. The assignment offers students two options and then requires them to explore what they have learned about inferences and/or assumptions This presentation outlines the assignment and demonstrates the humanities model, what students learn from particular assignments and how it fosters a change in Tolerance for Ambiguity which, serves as the foundational component of critical thinking.

Keywords: critical thinking, humanities education, sociocentrism, tolerance for ambiguity

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Authors: Walaa M.Abd-Elhafiez, Wajeb Gharibi

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In this paper a novel color image compression technique for efficient storage and delivery of data is proposed. The proposed compression technique started by RGB to YCbCr color transformation process. Secondly, the canny edge detection method is used to classify the blocks into edge and non-edge blocks. Each color component Y, Cb, and Cr compressed by discrete cosine transform (DCT) process, quantizing and coding step by step using adaptive arithmetic coding. Our technique is concerned with the compression ratio, bits per pixel and peak signal to noise ratio, and produce better results than JPEG and more recent published schemes (like, CBDCT-CABS and MHC). The provided experimental results illustrate the proposed technique which is efficient and feasible in terms of compression ratio, bits per pixel and peak signal to noise ratio.

Keywords: image compression, color image, q-coder, quantization, edge-detection

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Authors: Shreya Sara Ittycheria, K. C. Sivakumar, Shijulal Nelson Sathi, Priya Srinivas

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hCG, a heterodimer composed of α and β subunits, is a peptide hormone having numerous biological functions. Although hCG is expressed by placenta during pregnancy, ectopic β-hCG secretion is observed in many non-trophoblastic tumors including that of breast. In-vitro and in-vivo studies done in the lab, have proved that BRCA1 defective cancers express β-hCG and when β-hCG is expressed or supplemented, it promotes tumor progression and exhibits resistance to carboplatin and ABT888, in such cancers but not in BRCA1 wild type cancers. In cancer cells, instead of binding to its regular receptor, LH-CGR, β-hCG binds with Transforming Growth Factor Receptor 2 (TGFβRII) and phosphorylates it resulting in faster tumor progression through the Smad signaling pathway. Targeting β-hCG could be a potential therapeutic strategy for managing BRCA1 defective cancers. Here, molecular docking and dynamic simulation studies were done to identify potential small molecule inhibitors against β-hCG as there are currently no such inhibitors reported. The binding sites of TGFβRII on β-hCG were identified from the top 10 predicted complexes from Z Dock. Virtual screening of selected commercially available small molecules from various libraries such as ZINC, NCI and Life Chemicals amounting to a total of 50,025 molecules were done. Four potential small molecule inhibitors were identified, RgcbPs-1, RgcbPs-2, RgcbPs-3 and RgcbPs-4 with binding affinities -60.778 kcal/mol, -45.447 kcal/mol, -65.2268 kcal/mol and -82.040 kcal/mol respectively. Further, 100ns Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation showed that these molecules form stable complexes with β-hCG. RgcbPs-1 maintains hydrogen bonds with Q54, L52, Q46, C100, G36, C57, C38 residues, RgcbPs-2 maintains hydrogen bonds with A83 residue, RgcbPs-3 maintains hydrogen bonds with C57, Y58, R94, G101 residues and RgcbPs-4 maintains hydrogen bonds with G36, C38, T40, C57, D99, C100, G101 and L104 residues of β-hCG all of which coincide with the TGFβRII binding site on β-hCG. These results show that these two inhibitors could be used either singly or in combination for inhibiting β-hCG from binding to TGFβRII and thereby directly inhibiting the tumorigenesis pathway.

Keywords: β-hCG, breast cancer, dynamic simulations, molecular docking, small molecule inhibitors, virtual screening.

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Authors: Yujie Yuan, Yiyang Fan, Hong Fan

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Objective: The RNA methylation recognition protein Aly/REF export factor (ALYREF) is considered one type of “reader” protein acting as a recognition protein of m5C, has been reported involved in several biological progresses including cancer initiation and progression. 5-methylcytosine (m5C) is a conserved and prevalent RNA modification in all species, as accumulating evidence suggests its role in the promotion of tumorigenesis. It has been claimed that ALYREF mediates nuclear export of mRNA with m5C modification and regulates biological effects of cancer cells. However, the systematical regulatory pathways of ALYREF in cancer tissues have not been clarified, yet. Methods: The expression level of ALYREF in pan-cancer and their normal tissues was compared through the data acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer data analysis Portal UALCAN was used to analyze the relationship between ALYREF and clinical pathological features. The relationship between the expression level of ALYREF and prognosis of pan-cancer, and the correlation genes of ALYREF were figured out by using Gene Expression Correlation Analysis database GEPIA. Immune related genes were obtained from TISIDB (an integrated repository portal for tumor-immune system interactions). Immune-related research was conducted by using Estimation of STromal and Immune cells in MAlignant Tumor tissues using Expression data (ESTIMATE) and TIMER. Results: Based on the data acquired from TCGA, ALYREF has an obviously higher-level expression in various types of cancers compared with relevant normal tissues excluding thyroid carcinoma and kidney chromophobe. The immunohistochemical images on The Human Protein Atlas showed that ALYREF can be detected in cytoplasm, membrane, but mainly located in nuclear. In addition, a higher expression level of ALYREF in tumor tissue generates a poor prognosis in majority of cancers. According to the above results, cancers with a higher expression level of ALYREF compared with normal tissues and a significant correlation between ALYREF and prognosis were selected for further analysis. By using TISIDB, we found that portion of ALYREF co-expression genes (such as BIRC5, H2AFZ, CCDC137, TK1, and PPM1G) with high Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) were involved in anti-tumor immunity or affect resistance or sensitivity to T cell-mediated killing. Furthermore, based on the results acquired from GEPIA, there was significant correlation between ALYREF and PD-L1. It was exposed that there is a negative correlation between the expression level of ALYREF and ESTIMATE score. Conclusion: The present study indicated that ALYREF plays a vital and universal role in cancer initiation and progression of pan-cancer through regulating mitotic progression, DNA synthesis and metabolic process, and RNA processing. The correlation between ALYREF and PD-L1 implied ALYREF may affect the therapeutic effect of immunotherapy of tumor. More evidence revealed that ALYREF may play an important role in tumor immunomodulation. The correlation between ALYREF and immune cell infiltration level indicated that ALYREF can be a potential therapeutic target. Exploring the regulatory mechanism of ALYREF in tumor tissues may expose the reason for poor efficacy of immunotherapy and offer more directions of tumor treatment.

Keywords: ALYREF, pan-cancer, immunotherapy, PD-L1

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Authors: Anirudh Bhaikhel

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The exclusive objective of this paper is to develop a device which can pass on the interpreted result of the sensed information to the interfaced communicable devices to avoid or minimise accidents. This device may also be used in case of emergencies like kidnapping, robberies, medical emergencies etc. The present era has seen a rapid metamorphosis in the automobile industry with increasing use of technology and speed. The increase in purchasing power of customers and price war of automobile companies has made an easy access to the automobile users. The use of automobiles has increased tremendously in last 4-5 years thus causing traffic congestions and thus making vehicles more prone to accidents. This device can be an effective measure to counteract cases of abduction. Risks of accidents can be decreased tremendously through the notifications received by these alerts. It will help to detect the upcoming emergencies. This paper includes the simulation of the communication and sensing device required in automobiles using VHDL.

Keywords: automobiles, communication, component, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), modulo-2 arithmetic, parity bits, receiver, sensors, transmitter, turns, VHDL (VHSIC hardware descriptive language)

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Authors: Panita Wannapiroon, Noppadon Phumeechanya, Sitthichai Laisema

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This study is the research and development which is intended to: 1) design the ubiquitous cloud learning management system and: 2) assess the suitability of the design of the ubiquitous cloud learning management system. Its methods are divided into 2 phases. Phase 1 is the design of the ubiquitous cloud learning management system, phase 2 is the assessment of the suitability of the design the samples used in this study are work done by 25 professionals in the field of Ubiquitous cloud learning management systems and information and communication technology in education selected using the purposive sampling method. Data analyzed by arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The results showed that the ubiquitous cloud learning management system consists of 2 main components which are: 1) the ubiquitous cloud learning management system server (u-Cloud LMS Server) including: cloud repository, cloud information resources, social cloud network, cloud context awareness, cloud communication, cloud collaborative tools, and: 2) the mobile client. The result of the system suitability assessment from the professionals is in the highest range.

Keywords: learning management system, cloud computing, ubiquitous learning, ubiquitous learning management system

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Authors: Maria Tsouroufli, Andrea Mondokova, Subashini Suresh

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Background: The under-representation of women and consequent failure to fulfil their potential contribution to Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths, and Medicine (STEMM) subjects in the UK is an issue that the Higher Education sector is being encouraged to address. Focus: The aim of this research is to investigate the barriers, facilitators, and incentives that influence diverse groups of women who have embarked upon a related career in STEMM subjects. The project will address a number of interconnected research questions: 1. How do participants perceive the barriers, facilitators and incentives for women in terms of research, teaching and management/leadership at each stage of their development towards forging a career in STEMM? 2. How might gender intersect with ethnicity, pregnancy/maternity and academic grade in the career experiences of women in STEMM? 3. How do participants perceive the example of female role models in emulating them as a career model? 4. How do successful females in STEMM see themselves as role models and what strategies do they employ to promote their careers? 5. How does institutional culture manifest itself as a barrier or facilitator for women in STEMM subjects in the institution? Methodology and Theoretical framework: A mixed-methodology will be employed in a case study of one university. The study will draw on extant quantitative data for context and involve conducting a qualitative inquiry to discover the perceptions of staff and students around the key concepts under study (career progression, sense of belonging and tenure, role-models, personal satisfaction, perceived gender in/equality, institutional culture). The analysis will be informed by an intersectionality framework, feminist and gender theory, and organisational psychology and human resource management perspectives. Implications: Preliminary findings will be collected in 2017. Conclusions will be drawn and used to inform recruitment and retention, and the development and implementation of initiatives to enhance the experiences and outcomes of women working and studying in STEMM subjects in Higher Education.

Keywords: under-representation, women, STEMM subjects, intersectionality

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Authors: Sakchai Rachniyom

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Owing to the ASEAN community will formally take place in the few months; therefore, Thais should realize about the importance of English language. Since, it is regarded as a working language in the community. To promote Science students’ English proficiency, teacher should be able to teach in English language appropriately and effectively. The purposes of the quasi – experimental research are (1) to measure the learning achievement, (2) to evaluate students’ satisfaction on the teaching and learning and (3) to study the consequences of co – teaching method in order comprehend the learning achievement and improvement. The participants were 40 general science students teacher. Two types of research instruments were included; (1) an achievement test, and (2) a questionnaire. This research was conducted for 1 semester. The statistics used in this research were arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The findings of the study revealed that students’ achievement score was significantly increased at statistical level .05 and the students satisfied the teaching and learning at the highest level . The students’ involvement and teachers’ support were promoted. It was also reported students’ learning was improved by co – teaching method.

Keywords: co – teaching method, learning science in english, teacher, education

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Authors: Obaid Algahtani

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An interval may be defined as a convex combination as follows: I=[a,b]={x_α=(1-α)a+αb: α∈[0,1]}. Consequently, we may adopt interval operations by applying the scalar operation point-wise to the corresponding interval points: I ∙J={x_α∙y_α ∶ αϵ[0,1],x_α ϵI ,y_α ϵJ}, With the usual restriction 0∉J if ∙ = ÷. These operations are associative: I+( J+K)=(I+J)+ K, I*( J*K)=( I*J )* K. These two properties, which are missing in the usual interval operations, will enable the extension of the usual linear system concepts to the interval setting in a seamless manner. The arithmetic introduced here avoids such vague terms as ”interval extension”, ”inclusion function”, determinants which we encounter in the engineering literature that deal with interval linear systems. On the other hand, these definitions were motivated by our attempt to arrive at a definition of interval random variables and investigate the corresponding statistical properties. We feel that they are the natural ones to handle interval systems. We will enable the extension of many results from usual state space models to interval state space models. The interval state space model we will consider here is one of the form X_((t+1) )=AX_t+ W_t, Y_t=HX_t+ V_t, t≥0, where A∈ 〖IR〗^(k×k), H ∈ 〖IR〗^(p×k) are interval matrices and 〖W 〗_t ∈ 〖IR〗^k,V_t ∈〖IR〗^p are zero – mean Gaussian white-noise interval processes. This feeling is reassured by the numerical results we obtained in a simulation examples.

Keywords: interval analysis, interval matrices, state space model, Kalman Filter

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Authors: Syed Talib Abbas Raza, Tahseen Ahmed Jilani, Saleem Abdullah

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This paper presents interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy soft sets based TOPSIS method for group decision making. The interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy soft set is a mutation of an interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy set and soft set. In group decision making problems IVIFSS makes the process much more algebraically elegant. We have used weighted arithmetic averaging operator for aggregating the information and define a new Hybrid Score Function as metric tool for comparison between interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy values. In an illustrative example we have applied the developed method to a criminological problem. We have developed a group decision making model for integrating the imprecise and hesitant evaluations of multiple law enforcement agencies working on target killing cases in the country.

Keywords: group decision making, interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy soft set, TOPSIS, score function, criminology

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Authors: Bright Chukwunwike Uzuegbunam, Wojciech Paslawski, Hans Agren, Christer Halldin, Wolfgang Weber, Markus Luster, Thomas Arzberger, Behrooz Hooshyar Yousefi

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There is a need to develop a PET tracer that will enable to diagnosis and track the progression of Alpha-synucleinopathies (Parkinson’s disease [PD], dementia with Lewy bodies [DLB], multiple system atrophy [MSA]) in living subjects over time. Alpha-synuclein aggregates (a-syn), which are present in all the stages of disease progression, for instance, in PD, are a suitable target for in vivo PET imaging. For this reason, we have developed some promising a-syn tracers based on a disarylbisthiazole (DABTA) scaffold. The precursors are synthesized via a modified Hantzsch thiazole synthesis. The precursors were then radiolabeled via one- or two-step radiofluorination methods. The ligands were initially screened using a combination of molecular dynamics and quantum/molecular mechanics approaches in order to calculate the binding affinity to a-syn (in silico binding experiments). Experimental in vitro binding assays were also performed. The ligands were further screened in other experiments such as log D, in vitro plasma protein binding & plasma stability, biodistribution & brain metabolite analyses in healthy mice. Radiochemical yields were up to 30% - 72% in some cases. Molecular docking revealed possible binding sites in a-syn and also the free energy of binding to those sites (-28.9 - -66.9 kcal/mol), which correlated to the high binding affinity of the DABTAs to a-syn (Ki as low as 0.5 nM) and selectivity (> 100-fold) over Aβ and tau, which usually co-exist with a-synin some pathologies. The log D values range from 2.88 - 2.34, which correlated with free-protein fraction of 0.28% - 0.5%. Biodistribution experiments revealed that the tracers are taken up (5.6 %ID/g - 7.3 %ID/g) in the brain at 5 min (post-injection) p.i., and cleared out (values as low as 0.39 %ID/g were obtained at 120 min p.i. Analyses of the mice brain 20 min p.i. Revealed almost no radiometabolites in the brain in most cases. It can be concluded that in silico study presents a new venue for the rational development of radioligands with suitable features. The results obtained so far are promising and encourage us to further validate the DABTAs in autoradiography, immunohistochemistry, and in vivo imaging in non-human primates and humans.

Keywords: alpha-synuclein aggregates, alpha-synucleinopathies, PET imaging, tracer development

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Authors: Abdulhakim Ali Mosleh Alzubidy

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The study's aim was to establish a proposed training program for kindergarten teachers according to their modern professional demands so that they could effectively teach children through movement education and play. The sample, which consisted of (46) teachers and administrators selected at random from the Ibb governorate, represented the study population of kindergarten teachers and administrators. The researcher developed three survey forms as a tool for data collection, and the forms were used with the research sample. The researcher used the descriptive method due to its applicability and the nature of the study, and he also used the appropriate statistical treatment of the data, which is to extract the percentage and the percentage of agreement. The study came to the following conclusions: ● The proposed program is of great importance in preparing the kindergarten teacher in an appropriate manner that keeps pace with modern developments in this field. ● The field of movement education is a necessity for the kindergarten teacher, through which she will be able to prepare the child physically and kinetically and teach him effectively the principles of reading, writing, and numerical and arithmetic concepts.

Keywords: training program, professional needs, kindergarten, kindergarten teacher

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Authors: R. L. Ujjwal, Abhishek Jain

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In the field of computer vision, most facial variations such as identity, expression, emotions and gender have been extensively studied. Automatic age estimation has been rarely explored. With age progression of a human, the features of the face changes. This paper is providing a new comparable study of different type of algorithm to feature extraction [Hybrid features using HAAR cascade & HOG features] & classification [KNN & SVM] training dataset. By using these algorithms we are trying to find out one of the best classification algorithms. Same thing we have done on the feature selection part, we extract the feature by using HAAR cascade and HOG. This work will be done in context of age group classification model.

Keywords: computer vision, age group, face detection

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Authors: S. Koppikar, P. Kulkarni, D. Ingale , N. Wagh, S. Deshpande, A. Mahajan, A. Harsulkar

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Crucial role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the progression Osteoarthritis (OA) pathogenesis has been endorsed several times though its exact mechanism remains unclear. Oxidative stress is known to instigate classical stress factors such as cytokines, chemokines and ROS, which hampers cartilage remodelling process and ultimately results in worsening the disease. Synovial fluid (SF) is a biological communicator between cartilage and synovium that accumulates redox and biochemical signalling mediators. The present work attempts to measure several oxidative stress markers in the synovial fluid obtained from knee OA patients with varying degree of disease severity. Thirty OA and five Meniscal-tear (MT) patients were graded using Kellgren-Lawrence scale and assessed for Nitric oxide (NO), Nitrate-Nitrite (NN), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Potential (FRAP), Catalase (CAT), Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels for comparison. Out of various oxidative markers studied, NO and SOD showed significant difference between moderate and severe OA (p= 0.007 and p= 0.08, respectively), whereas CAT demonstrated significant difference between MT and mild group (p= 0.07). Interestingly, NN revealed statistically positive correlation with OA severity (p= 0.001 and p= 0.003). MDA, a lipid peroxidation by-product was estimated maximum in early OA when compared to MT (p= 0.06). However, FRAP did not show any correlation with OA severity or MT control. NO is an essential bio-regulatory molecule essential for several physiological processes, and inflammatory conditions. However, due to its short life, exact estimation of NO becomes difficult. NO and its measurable stable products are still it is considered as one of the important biomarker of oxidative damage. Levels of NO and nitrite-nitrate in SF of patients with OA indicated its involvement in the disease progression. When SF groups were compared, a significant correlation among moderate, mild and MT groups was established. To summarize, present data illustrated higher levels of NO, SOD, CAT, DPPH and MDA in early OA in comparison with MT, as a control group. NN had emerged as a prognostic bio marker in knee OA patients, which may act as futuristic targets in OA treatment.

Keywords: antioxidant, knee osteoarthritis, oxidative stress, synovial fluid

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Authors: Collins Ekpiwre Augustine

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Taking into account the impact of teacher training on primary and secondary teachers’ classroom competencies and practices, as revealed by many empirical studies, this study investigated the impact of teacher qualifications on the pedagogical competencies of university teachers in Northwest Nigeria.Four research questions were answered while four hypotheses were tested. Both descriptive statistic of frequencies/arithmetic mean and inferential statistic oft-test were used to analyze the data collected. In order to provide a focus to the study,an observational rating scale titled “University Teachers’ Pedagogical Competency Observation Rating Scale” (UTPCORS) was used to collect data for the study. The population for the study comprised all the university teachers in the three Federal Universities in Northwest Nigeria totaling about 3,401. However, this pilot study was administered on 8 teachers - with 4 participants in each comparison group in Bayero University, Kano.The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference in the four hypotheses postulated for the study.

Keywords: impact, university teachers, teachers' qualifications, competencies

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Authors: Soumitr Sanjay Dubey, Shubhajit Roy Chowdhury, Rahul Shrestha

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In this paper, we have presented a novel approach of calculating eigenvalues of any matrix for the first time on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) using Triangular Systolic Arra (TSA) architecture. Conventionally, additional computation unit is required in the architecture which is compliant to the algorithm for determining the eigenvalues and this in return enhances the delay and power consumption. However, recently reported works are only dedicated for symmetric matrices or some specific case of matrix. This works presents an architecture to calculate eigenvalues of any matrix based on QR algorithm which is fully implementable on FPGA. For the implementation of QR algorithm we have used TSA architecture, which is further utilising CORDIC (CO-ordinate Rotation DIgital Computer) algorithm, to calculate various trigonometric and arithmetic functions involved in the procedure. The proposed architecture gives an error in the range of 10−4. Power consumption by the design is 0.598W. It can work at the frequency of 900 MHz.

Keywords: coordinate rotation digital computer, three angle complex rotation, triangular systolic array, QR algorithm

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Authors: Stuart Bassman

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Services that focus on the synthesis of research and clinical practice are vital in providing efficacious change for the men and women who have been victims of childhood sexual abuse. This study will address what processes have been helpful in being a catalyst in changing one’s inner life as well as providing meaningful applications and fulfilling experiences. Initially, we would focus on the Myths regarding childhood sexual abuse. This would include Grooming behaviors and Delayed Disclosures. Subsequently, we would address the Mess that follows from not recognizing the adverse impairments that result from Childhood Sexual Abuse. Finally, we would conclude by looking at the Mastery that could arise from moving from being a Victim to a Survivor and a Thriver.

Keywords: trauma, childhood, somatic, treatment

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Authors: Badriah Alayidi, Emad Alyahya

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Background: Most people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) report worsening balance as the condition progresses. Poor balance control is also well known to be a significant risk factor for both falling and fear of falling. The increased risk of falls with disease progression thus makes balance control an essential target of gait rehabilitation amongst people with MS. Intervention programs have developed various methods to improve balance control, and accumulating evidence suggests that exercise programs may help people with MS improve their balance. Among these methods, virtual reality (VR) is growing in popularity as a balance-training technique owing to its potential benefits, including better compliance and greater user happiness. However, it is not clear if a VR environment will induce different balance control mechanisms in MS as compared to healthy individuals or traditional environments. Therefore, this study aims to examine how individuals with MS control their balance in a VR setting. Methodology: The proposed study takes an empirical approach to estimate and determine the role of balance response in persons with MS using a VR environment. It will use primary data collected through patient observations, physiological and biomechanical evaluation of balance, and data analysis. Results: The preliminary systematic review and meta-analysis indicated that there was variability in terms of the outcome assessing balance response in people with MS. The preliminary results of these assessments have the potential to provide essential indicators of the progression of MS and contribute to the individualization of treatment and evaluation of the interventions’ effectiveness. The literature describes patients who have had the opportunity to experiment in VR settings and then used what they have learned in the real world, suggesting that this VR setting could be more appealing than conditional settings. The findings of the proposed study will be beneficial in estimating and determining the effect of VR on balance control in persons with MS. In previous studies, VR was shown to be an interesting approach to neurological rehabilitation, but more data are needed to support this approach in MS. Conclusions: The proposed study enables an assessment of balance and evaluations of a variety of physiological implications related to neural activity as well as biomechanical implications related to movement analysis.

Keywords: multiple sclerosis, virtual reality, postural control, balance

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Authors: Shih-Wen Hsiao, Chu-Hsuan Lee, Rong-Qi Chen

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When it comes to last, it is regarded as the critical foundation of shoe design and development. Not only the last relates to the comfort of shoes wearing but also it aids the production of shoe styling and manufacturing. In order to enhance the efficiency and application of last development, a computer aided methodology for customized last form designs is proposed in this study. The reverse engineering is mainly applied to the process of scanning for the last form. Then the minimum energy is used for the revision of surface continuity, the surface of the last is reconstructed with the feature curves of the scanned last. When the surface of a last is reconstructed, based on the foundation of the proposed last form reconstruction module, the weighted arithmetic mean method is applied to the calculation on the shape morphing which differs from the grading for the control mesh of last, and the algorithm of subdivision is used to create the surface of last mesh, thus the feet-fitting 3D last form of different sizes is generated from its original form feature with functions remained. Finally, the practicability of the proposed methodology is verified through later case studies.

Keywords: 3D last design, customization, reverse engineering, weighted morphing, shape blending

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Authors: Ibrahim Ilker Ozyigit, Ertugrul Filiz, Seda Birbilener, Semsettin Kulac, Zeki Severoglu

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In this study, we have performed genetic diversity analysis of Tilia tomentosa genotypes by using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers. A total of 28 genotypes, including 25 members from the urban ecosystem and 3 genotypes from forest ecosystem as outgroup were used. 8 RAPD primers produced a total of 53 bands, of which 48 (90.6 %) were polymorphic. Percentage of polymorphic loci (P), observed number of alleles (Na), effective number of alleles (Ne), Nei's (1973) gene diversity (h), and Shannon's information index (I) were found as 94.29 %, 1.94, 1.60, 0.34, and 0.50, respectively. The unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA) cluster analysis revealed that two major groups were observed. The genotypes of urban and forest ecosystems showed a high genetic similarity between 28% and 92% and these genotypes did not separate from each other in UPGMA tree. Also, urban and forest genotypes clustered together in principal component analysis (PCA).

Keywords: Tilia tomentosa, genetic diversity, urban ecosystem, RAPD, UPGMA

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Authors: Khadijeh Abhari, Seyed Shahram Shekarforoush, Saeid Hosseinzadeh

Abstract:

Probiotics have been considered as an approach to treat and prevent a wide range of inflammatory diseases. The spore forming probiotic strain Bacillus coagulans has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects in both animals and humans. The prebiotic, inulin, also potentially affects the immune system as a result of the change in the composition or fermentation profile of the gastrointestinal microbiota. An in vivo trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of probiotic B. coagulans, and inulin, either separately or in combination, on down regulate immune responses and progression of rheumatoid arthritis using induced arthritis rat model. Forty-eight male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups and fed as follow: 1) control: Normal healthy rats fed by standard diet, 2) Disease control (RA): Arthritic induced (RA) rats fed by standard diet, 3) Prebiotic (PRE): RA+ 5% w/w long chain inulin, 4) Probiotic (PRO): RA+ 109 spores/day B. coagulans by orogastric gavage, 5) Synbiotic (SYN): RA+ 5% w/w long chain inulin and 109 spores/day B. coagulans and 6) Treatment control: (INDO): RA+ 3 mg/kg/day indomethacin by orogastric gavage. Feeding with mentioned diets started on day 0 and continued to the end of study. On day 14, rats were injected with complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) to induce arthritis. Arthritis activity was evaluated by biochemical parameters and paw thickness. Biochemical assay for Fibrinogen (Fn), Serum Amyloid A (SAA), TNF-α and Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (α1AGp) was performed on day 21, 28 and 35 (1, 2 and 3 weeks post RA induction). Pretreatment with PRE, PRO and SYN diets significantly inhibit SAA and Fn production in arthritic rats (P < 0.001). A significant decrease in production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, was seen in PRE, PRO and SYN groups (P < 0.001) which was similar to the effect of the anti-inflammatory drug Indomethacin. Further, there were no significant anti-inflammatory effects observed following different treatments using α1AGp as a RA indicator. Pretreatment with all supplied diets significantly inhibited the development of paw swelling induced by CFA (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Results of this study support that oral intake of probiotic B. coagulans and inulin are able to improve biochemical and clinical parameters of induced RA in rat.

Keywords: rheumatoid arthritis, bacillus coagulans, inulin, animal model

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Authors: Nigatu Tadesse, Ying Liu, Juan Li, Hong Ming Liu

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Gastric carcinogenesis is a lengthy process of histopathological transition from normal to atrophic gastritis (AG) to intestinal metaplasia (GIM), dysplasia toward gastric cancer (GC). The stage of GIM identified as precancerous lesions with resistance to H-pylori eradication and recurrence after endoscopic surgical resection therapies. GIM divided in to two morphologically distinct phenotypes such as complete GIM bearing intestinal type morphology whereas the incomplete type has colonic type morphology. The incomplete type GIM considered to be the greatest risk factor for the development of GC. Studies indicated the expression of the caudal type homeobox 2 (CDX2) gene is responsible for the development of complete GIM but its progressive downregulation from incomplete metaplasia toward advanced GC identified as the risk for IM progression and neoplastic transformation. The downregulation of CDX2 gene have promoted cell growth and proliferation in gastric and colon cancers and ascribed in chemo-treatment inefficacies. CDX2 downregulated through promoter region hypermethylation in which the methylation frequency positively correlated with the dietary history of the patients, suggesting the role of diet as methyl carbon donor sources such as methionine. However, the metabolism of exogenous methionine is yet unclear. Targeting exogenous methionine metabolism has become a promising approach to limits tumor cell growth, proliferation and progression and increase treatment outcome. This review article discusses molecular alterations that could shed light on the potential of exogenous methionine metabolisms, such as gut microbiota alteration as sources of methionine to host cells, metabolic pathway signaling via PI3K/AKt/mTORC1-c-MYC to rewire exogenous methionine and signature of increased gene methylation index, cell growth and proliferation in GIM, with insights to new treatment avenue via targeting methionine metabolism, and the need for future integrated studies on molecular alterations and metabolomics to uncover altered methionine metabolism and characterization of CDX2 methylation in gastric intestinal metaplasia for potential therapeutic exploitation.

Keywords: altered methionine metabolism, Intestinal metaplesia, CDX2 gene, gastric cancer

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Authors: Hamdi Belgacem, Fradi Aymen

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In this paper we present a low power, low cost differential logic unit (LU). The proposed LU receives dual-rail inputs and generates dual-rail outputs. The proposed circuit can be used in Arithmetic and Logic Units (ALU) of processor. It can be also dedicated for self-checking applications based on dual duplication code. Four logic functions as well as their inverses are implemented within a single Logic Unit. The hardware overhead for the implementation of the proposed LU is lower than the hardware overhead required for standard LU implemented with standard CMOS logic style. This new implementation is attractive as fewer transistors are required to implement important logic functions. The proposed differential logic unit can perform 8 Boolean logical operations by using only 16 transistors. Spice simulations using a 32 nm technology was utilized to evaluate the performance of the proposed circuit and to prove its acceptable electrical behaviour.

Keywords: differential logic unit, double pass transistor logic, low power CMOS design, low cost CMOS design

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Authors: Chih Yuan Chen, Chien Chon Chen, Jin-Shyong Lin

Abstract:

The microstructure characterization of tempered nanocrystalline bainitic steel is investigated in the present study. It is found that two types of plastic relaxation, dislocation debris and nanotwin, occurs in the displacive transformation due to relatively low transformation temperature and high carbon content. Because most carbon atoms trap in the dislocation, high dislocation density can be sustained during the tempering process. More carbides only can be found in the high tempered temperature due to intense recovery progression.

Keywords: nanostructure bainitic steel, tempered, TEM, nano-twin, dislocation debris, accommodation

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Authors: Sonia Ben Hamza, Sabra Habli, Nejla Mahjoub Said, Hervé Bournot, Georges Le Palec

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In this work, we determine the turbulent dynamic structure of pollutant dispersion in two-phase free surface flow. The numerical simulation was performed using ANSYS Fluent. The flow study is three-dimensional, unsteady and isothermal. The study area has been endowed with a rectangular obstacle to analyze its influence on the hydrodynamic variables and progression of the pollutant. The numerical results show that the hydrodynamic model provides prediction of the dispersion of a pollutant in an open channel flow and reproduces the recirculation and trapping the pollutant downstream near the obstacle.

Keywords: CFD, free surface, polluant dispersion, turbulent flows

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Authors: Doran C. Kalmin

Abstract:

The descending genicular artery (DGA) perforator free flap provides an alternative to free flap reconstruction based on a review of the literature detailing both anatomical and clinical studies. The descending genicular artery (DGA) supplies skin, muscle, tendon, and bone located around the medial aspect of the knee that has been used in several pioneering reports in reconstructing defects located in various areas throughout the body. After the success of the medial femoral condyle flap in early studies, a small number of studies have been published detailing the use of the DGA in free flap reconstruction. Despite early success in the use of the DGA flap, acceptance within the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgical community has been limited due primarily to anatomical variations of the pedicle. This literature review is aimed at detailing the progression of the DGA perforator free flap and its variations as an alternative and reliable free flap for reconstruction of composite defects with an exploration into both anatomical and clinical studies. A literature review was undertaken, and the progression of the DGA flap is explored from the early review by Acland et al. pioneering the saphenous free flap to exploring modern changes and studies of the anatomy of the DGA. An extensive review of the literature was undertaken that details the anatomy and its variations, approaches to harvesting the flap, the advantages, and disadvantages of the DGA perforator free flap as well as flap outcomes. There are 15 published clinical series of DGA perforator free flaps that incorporate cutaneous, osteoperiosteal, cartilage, osteocutaneous, osteoperiosteal and muscle, osteoperiosteal and subcutaneous and tendocutatenous. The commonest indication for using a DGA free flap was for non-union of bone, particularly that of the scaphoid whereby the medial femoral condyle could be used. In the case series, a success rate of over 90% was established, showing that these early studies have had good success with a wide range of tissue transfers. The greatest limitation is the anatomical variation of the DGA and therefore, the challenges associated with raising the flap. Despite the variation in anatomy and around 10-15% absence of the DGA, the saphenous artery can be used as well as the superior medial genicular artery if the vascular bone is required as part of the flap. Despite only a handful of anatomical and clinical studies describing the DGA perforator free flap, it ultimately provides a reliable flap that can include a variety of composite structure used for reconstruction in almost any area throughout the body. Although it has limitations, it provides a reliable option for free flap reconstruction that can routinely be performed as a single-stage procedure.

Keywords: anatomical study, clinical study, descending genicular artery, literature review, perforator free flap reconstruction

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Authors: Shiksha Jain, Ramesh Mishra

Abstract:

One of the most widely used complex signals processing operation is filtering. The most important FIR digital filter are widely used in DSP for filtering to alter the spectrum according to some given specifications. Power consumption and Area complexity in the algorithm of Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter is mainly caused by multipliers. So we present a multiplier less technique (DA technique). In this technique, precomputed value of inner product is stored in LUT. Which are further added and shifted with number of iterations equal to the precision of input sample. But the exponential growth of LUT with the order of FIR filter, in this basic structure, makes it prohibitive for many applications. The significant area and power reduction over traditional Distributed Arithmetic (DA) structure is presented in this paper, by the use of slicing of LUT to the desired length. An architecture of 16 tap FIR filter is presented, with different length of slice of LUT. The result of FIR Filter implementation on Xilinx ISE synthesis tool (XST) vertex-4 FPGA Tool by using proposed method shows the increase of the maximum frequency, the decrease of the resources as usage saving in area with more number of slices and the reduction dynamic power.

Keywords: multiplier less technique, linear phase symmetric FIR filter, FPGA tool, look up table

Procedia PDF Downloads 367