Search results for: debts reconstruction

Authors: Kelum N. Manamendra-Arachchi, Kalangi Rodrigo

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Bones, teeth, and shells have been acknowledged over the last two centuries as evidence of chronology, Palaeo-environment, and human activity. Faunal traces are valid evidence of past situations because they have properties that have not changed over long periods of time. Sri Lanka has been known as an Island, which has a diverse variation of prehistoric occupation among ecological zones. Defining the Paleoecology of the past societies has been an archaeological thought developed in the 1960s. It is mainly concerned with the reconstruction from available geological and biological evidence of past biota, populations, communities, landscapes, environments, and ecosystems. Sri Lanka has dealt with this subject and considerable research has been already undertaken. The fossil and material record of Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone tropical forests continues from c. 38,000–34,000 ybp. This early and persistent human fossil, technical, and cultural florescence, as well as a collection of well-preserved tropical-forest rock shelters with associated ' on-site ' Palaeoenvironmental records, makes Sri Lanka a central and unusual case study to determine the extent and strength of early human tropical forest encounters. Excavations carried out in prehistoric caves in the low country wet zone has shown that in the last 50,000 years, the temperature in the lowland rainforests has not exceeded 5 degrees. Based on Semnopithecus Priam (Gray Langur) remains unearned from wet zone prehistoric caves, it has been argued that periods of momentous climate changes during the LGM and Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene boundary, with a recognizable preference for semi-open ‘Intermediate’ rainforest or edges. Continuous Genus Acavus and Oligospira occupation along with uninterrupted horizontal pervasive of Canarium sp. (‘kekuna’ nut) have proven that temperatures in the lowland rain forests have not changed by at least 5 oC over the last 50,000 years. Site Catchment or Territorial analysis cannot be no longer defensible, due to time-distance based factors as well as optimal foraging theory failed as a consequences of prehistoric people were aware of the decrease in cost-benefit ratio and located sites, and generally played out a settlement strategy that minimized the ratio of energy expanded to energy produced.

Keywords: palaeo-environment, prehistory, palaeo-ecology, zooarchaeology

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Authors: Jiankang Wang, Hongyang Yu

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This paper proposes a portable online 3D modeling method. The method first utilizes a depth camera to collect data and compresses the depth data using a frame-by-frame lossless data compression method. The color image is encoded using the H.264 encoding format. After the cloud obtains the color image and depth image, a 3D modeling method based on bundlefusion is used to complete the 3D modeling. The results of this study indicate that this method has the characteristics of portability, online, and high efficiency and has a wide range of application prospects.

Keywords: 3D reconstruction, bundlefusion, lossless compression, depth image

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Authors: Chia-Yu Lin, Yu-Hsiang Shen, Cing-Ciao Ke, Chia-Hao Chang, Fan-Pin Tseng, Yu-Ching Ni, Sheng-Pin Tseng

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Tomosynthesis is an imaging system that generates a 3D image by scanning in a limited angular range. It could provide more depth information than traditional 2D X-ray single projection. Radiation dose in tomosynthesis is less than computed tomography (CT). Because of limited angular range scanning, there are many properties depending on scanning direction. Therefore, non-coplanar imaging technique was developed to improve image quality in traditional tomosynthesis. The purpose of this study was to establish the non-coplanar imaging technique of tomosynthesis system and evaluate this technique by the reconstructed image. INER prototype tomosynthesis system contains an X-ray tube, a flat panel detector, and a motion machine. This system could move X-ray tube in multiple directions during the acquisition. In this study, we investigated three different imaging techniques that were 2D X-ray single projection, traditional tomosynthesis, and non-coplanar tomosynthesis. An anthropopathic chest phantom was used to evaluate the image quality. It contained three different size lesions (3 mm, 5 mm and, 8 mm diameter). The traditional tomosynthesis acquired 61 projections over a 30 degrees angular range in one scanning direction. The non-coplanar tomosynthesis acquired 62 projections over 30 degrees angular range in two scanning directions. A 3D image was reconstructed by iterative image reconstruction algorithm (ML-EM). Our qualitative method was to evaluate artifacts in tomosynthesis reconstructed image. The quantitative method was used to calculate a peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) that means the intensity ratio of the lesion to the background. We used PVRs to evaluate the contrast of lesions. The qualitative results showed that in the reconstructed image of non-coplanar scanning, anatomic structures of chest and lesions could be identified clearly and no significant artifacts of scanning direction dependent could be discovered. In 2D X-ray single projection, anatomic structures overlapped and lesions could not be discovered. In traditional tomosynthesis image, anatomic structures and lesions could be identified clearly, but there were many artifacts of scanning direction dependent. The quantitative results of PVRs show that there were no significant differences between non-coplanar tomosynthesis and traditional tomosynthesis. The PVRs of the non-coplanar technique were slightly higher than traditional technique in 5 mm and 8 mm lesions. In non-coplanar tomosynthesis, artifacts of scanning direction dependent could be reduced and PVRs of lesions were not decreased. The reconstructed image was more isotropic uniformity in non-coplanar tomosynthesis than in traditional tomosynthesis. In the future, scan strategy and scan time will be the challenges of non-coplanar imaging technique.

Keywords: image reconstruction, non-coplanar imaging technique, tomosynthesis, X-ray imaging

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Authors: Dariusz Jacek Jakóbczak

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Mathematics and computer science are interested in methods of 2D curve interpolation and extrapolation using the set of key points (knots). A proposed method of Hurwitz- Radon Matrices (MHR) is such a method. This novel method is based on the family of Hurwitz-Radon (HR) matrices which possess columns composed of orthogonal vectors. Two-dimensional curve is interpolated via different functions as probability distribution functions: polynomial, sinus, cosine, tangent, cotangent, logarithm, exponent, arcsin, arccos, arctan, arcctg or power function, also inverse functions. It is shown how to build the orthogonal matrix operator and how to use it in a process of curve reconstruction.

Keywords: 2D data interpolation, hurwitz-radon matrices, MHR method, probabilistic modeling, curve extrapolation

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Authors: Aljoša Šorgo

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Recent scholarship on Phrygian has begun to more closely examine the long-held belief that Greek and Phrygian are two very closely related languages. It is now clear that Graeco-Phrygian can be firmly postulated as a subclade of the Indo-European languages. The present paper will focus on the reconstruction of the phonological and phonetic segments of Proto-Graeco-Phrygian (= PGPh.) by providing relevant correspondence sets and reconstructing the classes of segments. The PGPh. basic vowel system consisted of ten phonemic oral vowels: */a e o ā ē ī ō ū/. The correspondences of the vowels are clear and leave little open to ambiguity. There were four resonants and two semi-vowels in PGPh.: */r l m n i̯ u̯/, which could appear in both a consonantal and a syllabic function, with the distribution between the two still being phonotactically predictable. Of note is the fact that the segments *m and *n seem to have merged when their phonotactic position would see them used in a syllabic function. Whether the segment resulting from this merger was a nasalized vowel (most likely *[ã]) or a syllabic nasal *[N̥] (underspecified for place of articulation) cannot be determined at this stage. There were three fricatives in PGPh.: */s h ç/. *s and *h are easily identifiable. The existence of *ç, which may seem unexpected, is postulated on the basis of the correspondence Gr. ὄς ~ Phr. yos/ιος. It is of note that Bozzone has previously proposed the existence of *ç ( < PIE *h₁i̯-) in an early stage of Greek even without taking into account Phrygian data. Finally, the system of stops in PGPh. distinguished four places of articulation (labial, dental, velar, and labiovelar) and three phonation types. The question of which three phonation types were actually present in PGPh. is one of great importance for the ongoing debate on the realization of the three series in PIE. Since the matter is still very much in dispute, we ought to, at this stage, endeavour to reconstruct the PGPh. system without recourse to the other IE languages. The three series of correspondences are: 1. Gr. T (= tenuis) ~ Phr. T; 2. Gr. D (= media) ~ Phr. T; 3. Gr. TA (= tenuis aspirata) ~ Phr. M. The first series must clearly be reconstructed as composed of voiceless stops. The second and third series are more problematic. With a bottom-up approach, neither the second nor the third series of correspondences are compatible with simple modal voicing, and the reflexes differ greatly in voice onset time. Rather, the defining feature distinguishing the two series was [±spread glottis], with ancillary vibration of the vocal cords. In PGPh. the second series was undergoing further spreading of the glottis. As the two languages split, this process would continue, but be affected by dissimilar changes in VOT, which was ultimately phonemicized in both languages as the defining feature distinguishing between their series of stops.

Keywords: bottom-up reconstruction, Proto-Graeco-Phrygian, spread glottis, syllabic resonant

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Authors: Hyohun Kim, Dongwha Shin, Yeonseok Kim, Ji-Su Ahn, Kensuke Nakamura, Dongeun Choi, Byung-Woo Hong

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Artefacts are commonly encountered in the imaging process of clinical computed tomography (CT) where the artefact refers to any systematic discrepancy between the reconstructed observation and the true attenuation coefficient of the object. It is known that CT images are inherently more prone to artefacts due to its image formation process where a large number of independent detectors are involved, and they are assumed to yield consistent measurements. There are a number of different artefact types including noise, beam hardening, scatter, pseudo-enhancement, motion, helical, ring, and metal artefacts, which cause serious difficulties in reading images. Thus, it is desired to remove nuisance factors from the degraded image leaving the fundamental intrinsic information that can provide better interpretation of the anatomical and pathological characteristics. However, it is considered as a difficult task due to the high dimensionality and variability of data to be recovered, which naturally motivates the use of machine learning techniques. We propose an image restoration algorithm based on the deep neural network framework where the denoising auto-encoders are stacked building multiple layers. The denoising auto-encoder is a variant of a classical auto-encoder that takes an input data and maps it to a hidden representation through a deterministic mapping using a non-linear activation function. The latent representation is then mapped back into a reconstruction the size of which is the same as the size of the input data. The reconstruction error can be measured by the traditional squared error assuming the residual follows a normal distribution. In addition to the designed loss function, an effective regularization scheme using residual-driven dropout determined based on the gradient at each layer. The optimal weights are computed by the classical stochastic gradient descent algorithm combined with the back-propagation algorithm. In our algorithm, we initially decompose an input image into its intrinsic representation and the nuisance factors including artefacts based on the classical Total Variation problem that can be efficiently optimized by the convex optimization algorithm such as primal-dual method. The intrinsic forms of the input images are provided to the deep denosing auto-encoders with their original forms in the training phase. In the testing phase, a given image is first decomposed into the intrinsic form and then provided to the trained network to obtain its reconstruction. We apply our algorithm to the restoration of the corrupted CT images by the artefacts. It is shown that our algorithm improves the readability and enhances the anatomical and pathological properties of the object. The quantitative evaluation is performed in terms of the PSNR, and the qualitative evaluation provides significant improvement in reading images despite degrading artefacts. The experimental results indicate the potential of our algorithm as a prior solution to the image interpretation tasks in a variety of medical imaging applications. This work was supported by the MISP(Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the National Program for Excellence in SW (20170001000011001) supervised by the IITP(Institute for Information and Communications Technology Promotion).

Keywords: auto-encoder neural network, CT image artefact, deep learning, intrinsic image representation, noise reduction, total variation

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Authors: Alireza Akbari, Gelareh Babaee Khou

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Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is an important nondestructive remote sensing tool that has been used in both military and civilian fields. Recently, GPR imaging has attracted lots of attention in detection of subsurface shallow small targets such as landmines and unexploded ordnance and also imaging behind the wall for security applications. For the monostatic arrangement in the space-time GPR image, a single point target appears as a hyperbolic curve because of the different trip times of the EM wave when the radar moves along a synthetic aperture and collects reflectivity of the subsurface targets. With this hyperbolic curve, the resolution along the synthetic aperture direction shows undesired low resolution features owing to the tails of hyperbola. However, highly accurate information about the size, electromagnetic (EM) reflectivity, and depth of the buried objects is essential in most GPR applications. Therefore hyperbolic curve behavior in the space-time GPR image is often willing to be transformed to a focused pattern showing the object's true location and size together with its EM scattering. The common goal in a typical GPR image is to display the information of the spatial location and the reflectivity of an underground object. Therefore, the main challenge of GPR imaging technique is to devise an image reconstruction algorithm that provides high resolution and good suppression of strong artifacts and noise. In this paper, at first, the standard back-projection (BP) algorithm that was adapted to GPR imaging applications used for the image reconstruction. The standard BP algorithm was limited with against strong noise and a lot of artifacts, which have adverse effects on the following work like detection targets. Thus, an improved BP is based on cross-correlation between the receiving signals proposed for decreasing noises and suppression artifacts. To improve the quality of the results of proposed BP imaging algorithm, a weight factor was designed for each point in region imaging. Compared to a standard BP algorithm scheme, the improved algorithm produces images of higher quality and resolution. This proposed improved BP algorithm was applied on the simulation and the real GPR data and the results showed that the proposed improved BP imaging algorithm has a superior suppression artifacts and produces images with high quality and resolution. In order to quantitatively describe the imaging results on the effect of artifact suppression, focusing parameter was evaluated.

Keywords: algorithm, back-projection, GPR, remote sensing

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Authors: Omotoyosi Bilikies Ilori, Adekunle Saheed Ajisebiyawo

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After the Second World War, there was an emergence of a new stage of capitalist globalization with its Neo-liberal ideology. There were global economic and political restructurings that affected third-world countries like Nigeria. Neo-liberalism is the driving force of globalization, which is the latest manifestation of imperialism that engenders endemic poverty in Nigeria. Poverty is severe and widespread in Nigeria. Poverty entails a situation where a person lives on less than one dollar per day and has no access to basic necessities of life. Poverty is inhuman and a breach of human rights. The Nigerian government initiated some strategies in the past to help in poverty reduction. Neo-liberalism manifested in the Third World, such as Nigeria, through the privatization of public enterprises, trade liberalization, and the rollback of the state investments in providing important social services. These main ideas of Neo-liberalism produced poverty in Nigeria and also encouraged the abandonment of the social contract between the government and the people. There is thus a gap in the provision of social services and subsidies for the masses, all of which Neo-liberal ideological positions contradict. This paper is a qualitative study which draws data from secondary sources. The theoretical framework is anchored on the market theory of capitalist globalization and public choice theory. The objectives of this study are to (i) examine the impacts of Neo-liberalism on poverty in Nigeria as a typical example of a Third World country and (ii) find out the effects of Neo-liberalism on the provision of social services and subsidies and employment. The findings from this study revealed that (i) the adoption of the Neo-liberal ideology by the Nigerian government has led to increased poverty and poor provision of social services and employment in Nigeria; and (ii) there is an increase in foreign debts which compounds poverty situation in Nigeria. This study makes the following recommendations: (i) Government should adopt strategies that are pro-poor to eradicate poverty; (ii) The Trade Unions and the masses should develop strategies to challenge Neo-liberalism and reject Neo-liberal ideology.

Keywords: neo-liberalism, poverty, employment, poverty reduction, structural adjustment programme

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Authors: Mehmet Bulent Ozdemir, Sultan Çagirici, Sahika Pinar Akyer, Fikri Turk

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Neuroanatomical appearance can be correlated with clinical or other characteristics of illness. With the introduction of diagnostic imaging machines, producing 3D images of anatomic structures, calculating the correlation between subjects and pattern of the structures have become possible. The aim of this study is to examine the 3D structure of hippocampus in cases with Alzheimer disease in different dementia severity. For this purpose, 62 female and 38 male- 68 patients’s (age range between 52 and 88) MR scanning were imported to the computer. 3D model of each right and left hippocampus were developed by a computer aided propramme-Surf Driver 3.5. Every reconstruction was taken by the same investigator. There were different apperance of hippocampus from normal to abnormal. In conclusion, These results might improve the understanding of the correlation between the morphological changes in hippocampus and clinical staging in Alzheimer disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer disease, hippocampus, computer-assisted anatomy, 3D

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Authors: Kais Manai

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The main part of this work focuses on the study of pion/muon separation at low energy using a nuclear Emulsion Cloud Chamber (ECC) made of lead and nuclear emulsion films. The work consists of two parts: particle reconstruction algorithm and a Neural Network that assigns to each reconstructed particle the probability to be a muon or a pion. The pion/muon separation algorithm has been optimized by using a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the ECC and tested on real data. The algorithm allows to achieve a 60% muon identification efficiency with a pion misidentification smaller than 3%.

Keywords: nuclear emulsion, particle identification, tracking, neural network

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Authors: Kristel Faye Tandog

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The State Owned Enterprise (SOE) or also called Public Enterprise (PE) has been playing a vital role in a country’s social and economic development. Following this idea, this study focused on the Factor Structures of Financial Performance of the Local Economic Enterprises (LEEs) namely: Food Court, Market, Slaughterhouse, and Terminal in Matalam, Cotabato. It aimed to determine the profile of the LEEs in terms of organizational structure, manner of creation, years in operation, source of initial operating requirements, annual operating budget, geographical location, and size or description of the facility. This study also included the different financial ratios of LEE that covered a five year period from Calendar Year 2009 to 2013. Primary data using survey questionnaire was administered to 468 respondents and secondary data were sourced out from the government archives and financial documents of the said LGU. There were 12 dominant factors identified namely: “management”, “enforcement of laws”, “strategic location”, “existence of non-formal competitors”, “proper maintenance”, “pricing”, “customer service”, “collection process”, “rentals and services”, “efficient use of resources”, “staffing”, and “timeliness and accuracy”. On the other hand, the financial performance of the LEE of Matalam, Cotabato using financial ratios needs reformatting. This denotes that refinement as to the following ratios: Cash Flow Indicator, Activity, Profitability and Growth is necessary. The cash flow indicator ratio showed difficulty in covering its debts in successive years. Likewise, the activity ratios showed that the LEE had not been effective in putting its investment at work. Moreover, profitability ratios revealed that it had operated in minimum capacity and had incurred net losses and thus, it had a weak profit performance. Furthermore, growth ratios showed that LEE had a declining growth trend particularly in net income.

Keywords: factor structures, financial performance, financial ratios, state owned enterprises

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Authors: Joe Collins, Matthias Rother

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Background: Oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used for the relief of joint pain during and post-exercise. However, oral NSAIDs increase the risk of systemic side effects, even in healthy individuals, and retard recovery from muscle soreness. TDT 064 (Flexiseq®), a topical formulation containing ultra-deformable drug-free Sequessome™ vesicles, has demonstrated equivalent efficacy to oral celecoxib in reducing osteoarthritis-associated joint pain and stiffness. TDT 064 does not cause NSAID-related adverse effects. We describe clinical study data and a case report on the effectiveness of TDT 064 in reducing joint pain after exercise. Methods: Participants with a pain score ≥3 (10-point scale) 12–16 hours post-exercise were randomized to receive TDT 064 plus oral placebo, TDT 064 plus oral ketoprofen, or ketoprofen in ultra-deformable phospholipid vesicles plus oral placebo. Results: In the 168 study participants, pain scores were significantly higher with oral ketoprofen plus TDT 064 than with TDT 064 plus placebo in the 7 days post-exercise (P = 0.0240) and recovery from muscle soreness was significantly longer (P = 0.0262). There was a low incidence of adverse events. These data are supported by clinical experience. A 24-year-old male professional rugby player suffered a traumatic lisfranc fracture in March 2014 and underwent operative reconstruction. He had no relevant medical history and was not receiving concomitant medications. He had undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in 2008. The patient reported restricted training due to pain (score 7/10), stiffness (score 9/10) and poor function, as well as pain when changing direction and running on consecutive days. In July 2014 he started using TDT 064 twice daily at the recommended dose. In November 2014 he noted reduced pain on running (score 2-3/10), decreased morning stiffness (score 4/10) and improved joint mobility and was able to return to competitive rugby without restrictions. No side effects of TDT 064 were reported. Conclusions: TDT 064 shows efficacy against exercise- and injury-induced joint pain, as well as that associated with osteoarthritis. It does not retard muscle soreness recovery after exercise compared with an oral NSAID, making it an alternative approach for the treatment of joint pain during and post-exercise.

Keywords: exercise, joint pain, TDT 064, phospholipid vesicles

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Authors: Irina Maria Artinescu, Costin Radu Boldea, Eduard-Ionut Matei

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The paper is a comparative study of two classical variants of parallel projection methods for solving the convex feasibility problem with their equivalents that involve variable weights in the construction of the solutions. We used a graphical representation of these methods for inpainting a convex area of an image in order to investigate their effectiveness in image reconstruction applications. We also presented a numerical analysis of the convergence of these four algorithms in terms of the average number of steps and execution time in classical CPU and, alternatively, in parallel GPU implementation.

Keywords: convex feasibility problem, convergence analysis, inpainting, parallel projection methods

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Authors: R. Daïra, V. Chalvidan

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We present the speckle interferometry method to determine the deformation of a piece. This method of holographic imaging using a CCD camera for simultaneous digital recording of two states object and reference. The reconstruction is obtained numerically. This latest method has the advantage of being simpler than the methods currently available, and it does not suffer the holographic configuration faults online. Furthermore, it is entirely digital and avoids heavy analysis after recording the hologram. This work was carried out in the laboratory HOLO 3 (optical metrology laboratory in Saint Louis, France) and it consists in controlling qualitatively and quantitatively the deformation of object by using a camera CCD connected to a computer equipped with software of Fringe Analysis.

Keywords: speckle, nondestructive testing, interferometry, image processing

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Authors: Prasannakumar Palaniappan, Dong Ho Shin, Chul Gyu Song

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The photoacoustic images are obtained from a custom developed linear array photoacoustic tomography system. The biological specimens are imitated by conducting phantom tests in order to retrieve a fully functional photoacoustic image. The acquired image undergoes the active region based contour filtering to remove the noise and accurately segment the object area for further processing. The universal back projection method is used as the image reconstruction algorithm. The active contour filtering is analyzed by evaluating the signal to noise ratio and comparing it with the other filtering methods.

Keywords: contour filtering, linear array, photoacoustic tomography, universal back projection

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Authors: Hangsik Shin

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The purpose of this research is to restore the feature location of under-sampled photoplethysmogram using spline interpolation and to investigate feasibility for feature shape restoration. We obtained 10 kHz-sampled photoplethysmogram and decimated it to generate under-sampled dataset. Decimated dataset has 5 kHz, 2.5 k Hz, 1 kHz, 500 Hz, 250 Hz, 25 Hz and 10 Hz sampling frequency. To investigate the restoration performance, we interpolated under-sampled signals with 10 kHz, then compared feature locations with feature locations of 10 kHz sampled photoplethysmogram. Features were upper and lower peak of photplethysmography waveform. Result showed that time differences were dramatically decreased by interpolation. Location error was lesser than 1 ms in both feature types. In 10 Hz sampled cases, location error was also deceased a lot, however, they were still over 10 ms.

Keywords: peak detection, photoplethysmography, sampling, signal reconstruction

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Authors: Alexis Aldo Mendoza Villarroel, Ademir Clemente Villena Zevallos, Cristian Jose Lopez Del Alamo

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With the advancement of technology it is now possible to scan entire objects and obtain their digital representation by using point clouds or polygon meshes. However, some objects may be broken or have missing parts; thus, several methods focused on this problem have been proposed based on Geometric Deep Learning, such as GCNN, ACNN, PointNet, among others. In this article an approach from a different paradigm is proposed, using metric data structures to index global descriptors in the spectral domain and allow the recovery of a set of similar models in polynomial time; to later use the Iterative Close Point algorithm and recover the parts of the incomplete model using the geometry and topology of the model with less Hausdorff distance.

Keywords: 3D reconstruction method, point cloud completion, shape completion, similarity search

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Authors: Johan Loeckx, Joeri Bultheel

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Recently, the application of deep learning to music has gained popularity. Its true potential, however, has been largely unexplored. In this paper, a new idea for representing the dynamic behavior of music is proposed. A ”forward” conditional RBM takes into account not only preceding but also future samples during training. Though this may sound controversial at first sight, it will be shown that it makes sense from a musical and neuro-cognitive perspective. The model is applied to reconstruct music based upon the first notes and to improvise in the musical style of a composer. Different to expectations, reconstruction accuracy with respect to a regular CRBM with the same order, was not significantly improved. More research is needed to test the performance on unseen data.

Keywords: deep learning, restricted boltzmann machine, music generation, conditional restricted boltzmann machine (CRBM)

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Authors: Spencer Rutherford, Shadi Saleh

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War and conflict negatively impact all facets of a health system; services cease to function, resources become depleted, and any semblance of governance is lost. Following cessation of conflict, the rebuilding process includes a wide array of international and local actors. During this period, stakeholders must contend with various trade-offs, including balancing sustainable outcomes with immediate health needs, introducing health reform measures while also increasing local capacity, and reconciling external assistance with local legitimacy. Compounding these factors are additional challenges, including coordination amongst stakeholders, the re-occurrence of conflict, and ulterior motives from donors and governments, to name a few. Therefore, the present paper evaluated health system development in three post-conflict countries over a 12-year timeline. Specifically, health policies, health inputs (such infrastructure and human resources), and measures of governance, from the post-conflict periods of Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Mozambique, were assessed against health outputs and other measures. All post-conflict countries experienced similar challenges when rebuilding the health sector, including; division and competition between donors, NGOs, and local institutions; urban and rural health inequalities; and the re-occurrence of conflict. However, countries also employed unique and effective mechanisms for reconstructing their health systems, including; government engagement of the NGO and private sector; integration of competing factions into the same workforce; and collaborative planning for health policy. Based on these findings, best-practice development strategies were determined and compiled into a 12-year framework. Briefly, during the initial stage of the post-conflict period, primary stakeholders should work quickly to draft a national health strategy in collaboration with the government, and focus on managing and coordinating NGOs through performance-based partnership agreements. With this scaffolding in place, the development community can then prioritize the reconstruction of primary health care centers, increasing and retaining health workers, and horizontal integration of immunization services. The final stages should then concentrate on transferring ownership of the health system national institutions, implementing sustainable financing mechanisms, and phasing-out NGO services. Overall, these findings contribute post-conflict health system development by evaluating the process holistically and along a timeline and can be of further use by healthcare managers, policy-makers, and other health professionals.

Keywords: Afghanistan, Cambodia, health system development, health system reconstruction, Mozambique, post-conflict, state-building

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Authors: Lin Zhang

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Neighborhood redevelopment is vital to improve residents’ living environment, and there has been a national neighborhood micro-redevelopment initiative in China since 2020, which is largely different from the previous large-scale demolition and reconstruction projects. Yet, few studies systematically examine the new interactions of multiple actors in this initiative. China’s neighborhood (micro-) redevelopment is a kind of governance network, and the complexity perspective could reflect the dynamic nature of multiple actors and their relationships in governance networks. In order to better understand the fundamental shifts of governance networks in China’s neighborhood micro-redevelopment, this paper adopted a theoretical framework of complexity in governance networks and analyzed the new governance networks of neighborhood micro-redevelopment projects in Haikou accordingly.

Keywords: neighborhood redevelopment, governance, networks, Haikou

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Authors: Sharvari Parikh

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Climate change has always been looked upon as a threat. Increased use of fossil fuels, depletion of bio diversity, certain human activities, rising levels of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are the factors that have caused climate change. Climate change is creating new risks and aggravating the existing ones. The paper focuses on breaking the stereotypical perception of climate change and draws attention towards the constructive side of it. Researches around the world have concluded that climate change has provided us with many untapped opportunities. The next 15 years will be crucial, as it is in our hands whether we are able to grab these opportunities or just let the situation get worse. The world stands at a stage where we cannot think of making a choice between averting climate change and promoting growth and development. In fact, the solution to climate change itself has got economic opportunities. The data evidences from the paper show how we can create the opportunity to improve the lives of the world’s population at large through structural change which will promote environment friendly investments. Rising Investment in green energy and increased demand of climate friendly products has got ample of employment opportunities. Old technologies and machinery which are employed today lack efficiency and demand huge maintenance because of which we face high production cost. This can be drastically brought down by adaptation of Green technologies which are more accessible and affordable. Overall GDP of the world has been heavily affected in aggravating the problems arising out of increasing weather problems. Shifting to green economy can not only eliminate these costs but also build a sound economy. Accelerating the economy in direction of low-carbon future can lessen the burdens such as subsidies for fossil fuels, several public debts, unemployment, poverty, reduce healthcare expenses etc. It is clear that the world will be dragged into the ‘Darker phase’ if the current trends of fossil fuels and carbon are being consumed. Switching to Green economy is the only way in which we can lift the world from darker phase. Climate change has opened the gates for ‘Green and Clean economy’. It will also bring countries of the world together in achieving the common goal of Green Economy.

Keywords: climate change, economic opportunities, green economy, green technology

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Authors: Lara Leite Barbosa, Marco Imperadori

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This article aims to define strategies for applying innovative technology so that housing in regions subject to floods can be more resilient to disasters. Based on case studies of seven amphibious and floating projects, it proposes design guidelines to implement this practice. Its originality consists of transposing a technology developed for fluctuating buildings for housing types in regions affected by flood disasters. The proposal could be replicated in other contexts, endowing vulnerable households with the ability to resist rising water levels after a flood. The results of this study are design guidelines to adapt for houses in areas subject to flooding, contributing to the mitigation of this disaster.

Keywords: amphibious housing, disaster resilience, floating architecture, flood mitigation, post-disaster reconstruction

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Authors: Nileshkumar Vishnav, Aditya Tatu

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A recent approach of representing graph signals and graph filters as polynomials is useful for graph signal processing. In this approach, the adjacency matrix plays pivotal role; instead of the more common approach involving graph-Laplacian. In this work, we follow the adjacency matrix based approach and corresponding algebraic signal model. We further expand the theory and introduce the concept of similarity of two graphs. The similarity of graphs is useful in that key properties (such as filter-response, algebra related to graph) get transferred from one graph to another. We demonstrate potential applications of the relation between two similar graphs, such as nonuniform filter design, DTMF detection and signal reconstruction.

Keywords: graph signal processing, algebraic signal processing, graph similarity, isospectral graphs, nonuniform signal processing

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Authors: Ling-Ling E., Hong-Chen Liu, Dong-Sheng Wang, Fang Su, Xia Wu, Zhan-Ping Shi, Yan Lv, Jia-Zhu Wang

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Objective: The objective of the present study is to evaluate the capacity of a tissue-engineered bone complex of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2) mediated dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) and nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen/poly(L-lactide)(nHAC/PLA) to reconstruct critical-size alveolar bone defects in New Zealand rabbit. Methods: Autologous DPSCs were isolated from rabbit dental pulp tissue and expanded ex vivo to enrich DPSCs numbers, and then their attachment and differentiation capability were evaluated when cultured on the culture plate or nHAC/PLA. The alveolar bone defects were treated with nHAC/PLA, nHAC/PLA+rhBMP-2, nHAC/PLA+DPSCs, nHAC/PLA+DPSCs+rhBMP-2, and autogenous bone (AB) obtained from iliac bone or were left untreated as a control. X-ray and a polychrome sequential fluorescent labeling were performed post-operatively and the animals were sacrificed 12 weeks after operation for histological observation and histomorphometric analysis. Results: Our results showed that DPSCs expressed STRO-1 and vementin, and favoured osteogenesis and adipogenesis in conditioned media. DPSCs attached and spread well, and retained their osteogenic phenotypes on nHAC/PLA. The rhBMP-2 could significantly increase protein content, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity/protein, osteocalcin (OCN) content, and mineral formation of DPSCs cultured on nHAC/PLA. The X-ray graph, the fluorescent, histological observation and histomorphometric analysis showed that the nHAC/PLA+DPSCs+rhBMP-2 tissue-engineered bone complex had an earlier mineralization and more bone formation inside the scaffold than nHAC/PLA, nHAC/PLA+rhBMP-2 and nHAC/PLA+DPSCs, or even autologous bone. Implanted DPSCs contribution to new bone were detected through transfected eGFP genes. Conclutions: Our findings indicated that stem cells existed in adult rabbit dental pulp tissue. The rhBMP-2 promoted osteogenic capability of DPSCs as a potential cell source for periodontal bone regeneration. The nHAC/PLA could serve as a good scaffold for autologous DPSCs seeding, proliferation and differentiation. The tissue-engineered bone complex with nHAC/PLA, rhBMP-2, and autologous DPSCs might be a better alternative to autologous bone for the clinical reconstruction of periodontal bone defects.

Keywords: nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen/poly (L-lactide), dental pulp stem cell, recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein, bone tissue engineering, alveolar bone

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Authors: Ajish Sreedharan

Abstract:

With the fast evolution of digital data exchange, security information becomes much important in data storage and transmission. Due to the increasing use of images in industrial process, it is essential to protect the confidential image data from unauthorized access. As encryption process is applied to the whole image in AES ,it is difficult to improve the efficiency. In this paper, wavelet decomposition is used to concentrate the main information of image to the low frequency part. Then, AES encryption is applied to the low frequency part. The high frequency parts are XORed with the encrypted low frequency part and a wavelet reconstruction is applied. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has high efficiency, and satisfied security suits for image data transmission.

Keywords: discrete wavelet transforms, AES, dynamic SBox

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Authors: Martin Kendra, Jaroslav Mašek, Juraj Čamaj, Matej Babin

Abstract:

The railway transport is considered as a one of the most environmentally friendly mode of transport. With future prediction of increasing of freight transport there are lines facing problems with demanded capacity. Increase of the track capacity could be achieved by infrastructure constructive adjustments. The contribution shows how the travel time can be minimized and the track capacity increased by changing some of the basic infrastructure and operation parameters, for example, the minimal curve radius of the track, the number of tracks, or the usable track length at stations. Calculation of the necessary parameter changes is based on the fundamental physical laws applied to the train movement, and calculation of the occupation time is dependent on the changes of controlling the traffic between the stations.

Keywords: curve radius, maximum curve speed, track mass capacity, reconstruction

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Authors: Abdulah Hamads Alatiah

Abstract:

The green architecture represents the essence of the sustainability process and the fundamental rule in the desert areas' reconstruction seeking to maintain the environmental balance. This study is based on the analytical descriptive approach, to extract the objectives of green architecture in the desert areas, and reveal the most important principles that contribute to highlight its economic, social, and environmental importance, in addition to standing on the most important technical standards that can be relied upon to deal with its environmental problems. The green architecture aims: making use of the alternative energy, reducing the conventional energy consumption, addressing its negative effects, adapting to the climate, innovation in design, providing the individuals' welfare and rationalizing the use of the available resources to maintain its environmental sustainability.

Keywords: green architecture, the warm-dry climate, natural lighting, environmental quality, renewable energy, weather changes

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Authors: Divya SY. Ang, Mark B. Tan, Nicholas EM. Yeo, Siti RB. Sudirman, Khong Yik Chew

Abstract:

Introduction: The importance of the amalgamation of technological and engineering advances with surgical principles of reconstruction cannot be overemphasized. With earlier detection of cancer, consequences of high-speed living and neglect, like traumatic injuries and infection, resulting in increasingly younger patients with bone defects. This may result in malformations and suboptimal function that is more noticeable and palpable in the younger, active demographic. Our team proposes a technique that encapsulates a mesh of multidisciplinary effort, tissue engineering and reconstructive principles. Methods/Materials: Our patient was a young competitive footballer in his early 30s who was diagnosed with submandibular adenoid cystic carcinoma with bony involvement. He was thus counselled for a right hemi mandibulectomy, the floor of mouth resection, right selective neck dissection, tracheostomy, and free fibular flap reconstruction of his mandible and required post-operative radiotherapy. Being young and in his prime sportsman years, he was unable to accept the morbidities associated with using his fibula to reconstruct his mandible despite it being the gold standard reconstructive option. The fibula is an ideal vascularized bone flap because it’s reliable and easily shaped with relatively minimal impact on functional outcomes. The fibula contributes to 30% of weightbearing and is the attachment for the lateral compartment muscles; it is stronger in footballers concerning lateral bending. When harvesting the fibula, the distal 6-8cm and up to 10% of the total length is preserved to maintain the ankle’s stability, thus, minimizing the impact on daily activities. There are studies that have noted gait variability post-operatively. Therefore, returning to a premorbid competitive level may be doubtful. To improve his functional outcomes, the decision was made to try and restore the fibula's form and function. Using the concept of Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), our team comprising of Plastics, Otolaryngology, Orthopedics and Radiology, worked with Osteopore to design a 3D bioresorbable implant to regenerate the fibula defect (14.5cm). Bone marrow was harvested via reaming the contralateral hip prior to the wide resection. 30mls of his blood was obtained for extracting platelet rich plasma. These were packed into the Osteopore 3D-printed bone scaffold. This was then secured into the fibula defect with titanium plates and screws. The flexor hallucis longus and soleus were anchored along the construct and intraosseous membrane, done in a single setting. Results: He was reviewed closely as an outpatient over 10 months post operatively. He reported no discernable loss or difference in ankle function. He is satisfied and back in training and our team has video and photographs that substantiate his progress. Conclusion: FDM allows regeneration of long bone defects. However, we aimed to also restore his eversion and inversion that is imperative for footballers and hence reattached his previously dissected muscles along the length of the Osteopore implant. We believe that the reattachment of the muscle stabilizes not only the construct but allows optimum muscle tensioning when moving his ankle. This is a simple but effective technique in restoring complete function and form in a young patient whose minute muscle control is imperative to life.

Keywords: fused deposition modelling, functional reconstruction, lower limb bony defects, regenerative surgery, 3D printing, tissue engineering

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Authors: Katarzyna Oberda

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to conceptual emotions in the process of mediation. Although human emotions have been approached from various disciplines and perspectives, e.g. philosophy, linguistics, psychology and neurology, this complex phenomenon still needs further investigation into its discursive character with the an open mind and heart. To attain this aim, the theoretical and practical considerations are taken into account both to contextualize the discursive psychology of emotions in mediation and show how cognitive and linguistic activity expressed in language may lead to the emotional turn in the process of mediation. The double directions of this research into the discursive psychology of emotions have been partially inspired by the evaluative components of mediation forms. In the conducted research, we apply the methodology of discursive psychology with the discourse analysis as a tool. The practical data come from the recorded mediations online. The major findings of the conducted research result in the reconstruction of the emotional transformation model in mediation.

Keywords: discourse analysis, discursive psychology, emotions, mediation

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Authors: Maryam Bakhtyar-Pegah Akrami

Abstract:

The relationship between spiritual health and spirituality is one of the important is that in recent years, the research about it is expanding and due to the rich heritage of the in this field of study and research in this important field more than before and we will come to spiritual life and healthier than before. In this research, we provide the following and the basics of Islamic Mysticism in the realm of spiritual health thoughts. This research is based on a descriptive method and comparison with analytical-method to data collected. The findings show that human beings due to this pivotal topic of full Islamic slab, and mental and physical education with the sought to reach the human place are complete, we can provide the basics along with new discussions of spiritual health help human beings to spiritual education along with our faiths in the reconstruction of the spiritual foundations of spiritual health are extremely helpful

Keywords: spirituality, health, Islam, mysticism, perfect human

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