Search results for: invasive techniques

Authors: Stefano Frassinelli, Alessandro Niccolai, Riccardo E. Zich

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Sport performance analysis is a technique that is becoming every year more important for athletes of every level. Many techniques have been developed to measure and analyse efficiently the performance of athletes in some sports, but in combat sports these techniques found in many times their limits, due to the high interaction between the two opponents during the competition. In this paper the problem will be framed. Moreover the physical performance measurement problem will be analysed and three different techniques to manage it will be presented. All the techniques have been used to analyse the performance of 22 high level Judo athletes.

Keywords: sport performance, physical performance, judo, performance coefficients

Procedia PDF Downloads 375

Authors: Thitaporn Thoopputra, Tipaporn Pongmesa, Shuchuen Li

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Aims: To evaluate the application of non-invasive diabetes risk assessment tool in community pharmacy setting. Methods: Thai diabetes risk score was applied to assess individuals at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Interactive computer-based risk screening (IT) and paper-based risk screening (PT) tools were applied. Participants aged over 25 years with no known diabetes were recruited in six participating pharmacies. Results: A total of 187 clients, mean aged (+SD) was 48.6 (+10.9) years. 35% were at high risk. The mean value of willingness-to-pay for the service fee in IT group was significantly higher than PT group (p=0.013). No significant difference observed for the satisfaction between groups. Conclusions: Non-invasive risk assessment tool, whether paper-based or computerized-based can be applied in community pharmacy to support the enhancing role of pharmacists in chronic disease management. Long term follow up is needed to determine the impact of its application in clinical, humanistic and economic outcomes.

Keywords: community pharmacy, intervention, prevention, risk assessment, type 2 diabetes

Procedia PDF Downloads 476

Authors: Fossarello Maurizio, Mattana Giorgio, Tatti Filippo.

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The most widely performed surgical procedure in Open-Angle Glaucoma (OAG) is trabeculectomy. Although this filtering procedure is extremely effective, surgical failure and postoperative complications are reported. Due to the its invasive nature and possible complications, trabeculectomy is usually reserved, in practice, for patients who are refractory to medical and laser therapy. Recently, a number of micro-invasive surgical techniques (MIGS: Micro-Invasive Glaucoma Surgery), have been introduced in clinical practice. They meet the criteria of micro-incisional approach, minimal tissue damage, short surgical time, reliable IOP reduction, extremely high safety profile and rapid post-operative recovery. Xen45 Gel Implant (Allergan, Dublin, Ireland) is one of the MIGS alternatives, and consists in a porcine gelatin tube designed to create an aqueous flow from the anterior chamber to the subconjunctival space, bypassing the resistance of the trabecular meshwork. In this study we report the results of this technique as a favorable option in the treatment of OAG for its benefits in term of efficacy and safety, either alone or in combination with cataract surgery. This is a retrospective, single-center study conducted in consecutive OAG patients, who underwent Xen45 Gel Stent implantation alone or in combination with phacoemulsification, from October 2018 to June 2019. The primary endpoint of the study was to evaluate the reduction of both IOP and number of antiglaucoma medications at 12 months. The secondary endpoint was to correlate filtering bleb morphology evaluated by means of anterior segment OCT with efficacy in IOP lowering and eventual further procedures requirement. Data were recorded on Microsoft Excel and study analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS (IBM). Mean values with standard deviations were calculated for IOPs and number of antiglaucoma medications at all points. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed that IOP followed a normal distribution at all time, therefore the paired Student’s T test was used to compare baseline and postoperative mean IOP. Correlation between postoperative Day 1 IOP and Month 12 IOP was evaluated using Pearson coefficient. Thirty-six eyes of 36 patients were evaluated. As compared to baseline, mean IOP and the mean number of antiglaucoma medications significantly decreased from 27,33 ± 7,67 mmHg to 16,3 ± 2,89 mmHg (38,8% reduction) and from 2,64 ± 1,39 to 0,42 ± 0,8 (84% reduction), respectively, at 12 months after surgery (both p < 0,001). According to bleb morphology, eyes were divided in uniform group (n=8, 22,2%), subconjunctival separation group (n=5, 13,9%), microcystic multiform group (n=9, 25%) and multiple internal layer group (n=14, 38,9%). Comparing to baseline, there was no significative difference in IOP between the 4 groups at month 12 follow-up visit. Adverse events included bleb function decrease (n=14, 38,9%), hypotony (n=8, 22,2%) and choroidal detachment (n=2, 5,6%). All eyes presenting bleb flattening underwent needling and MMC injection. The higher percentage of patients that required secondary needling was in the uniform group (75%), with a significant difference between the groups (p=0,03). Xen45 gel stent, either alone or in combination with phacoemulsification, provided a significant lowering in both IOP and medical antiglaucoma treatment and an elevated safety profile.

Keywords: anterior segment OCT, bleb morphology, micro-invasive glaucoma surgery, open angle glaucoma, Xen45 gel implant

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Marwa I. Shabayek, Ola A. Said, Hanan A. Attaia, Heba A. Awida

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Bladder carcinoma is an important worldwide health problem. Both cystoscopy and urine cytology used in detecting bladder cancer suffer from drawbacks where cystoscopy is an invasive method and urine cytology shows low sensitivity in low grade tumors. This study validates easier and less time-consuming techniques to evaluate the value of combined use of angiogenin and clusterin in comparison and combination with voided urine cytology in the detection of bladder cancer patients. This study includes malignant (bladder cancer patients, n= 50), benign (n=20), and healthy (n=20) groups. The studied groups were subjected to cystoscopic examination, detection of bilharzial antibodies, urine cytology, and estimation of urinary angiogenin and clusterin by ELISA. The overall sensitivity and specifcity were 66% and 75% for angiogenin, 70% and 82.5% for clusterin and 46% and 80% for voided urine cytology. Combined sensitivity of angiogenin and clusterin with urine cytology increased from 82 to 88%.

Keywords: angiogenin, bladder cancer, clusterin, cytology

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Authors: Muhammad Suhail Ibrahim, Ahmad Mujtaba

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Background: The accuracy of the most frequently used tests for diagnosing Helicobacter pylori is always under consideration in clinical settings. A reliable diagnosis is crucial to confirm the success of therapy. Objective: The aim of this research was to study the isolation frequency of H. pylori from patients compatible with gastritis or gastric ulcer and to compare some feasible non-invasive and invasive methods for the diagnosis of infection. Materials and Methods: Ninety-six gastric biopsy and blood samples were obtained with various gastroduodenal symptoms after obtaining informed consent. The biopsies were analyzed and compared using the culture, microscopic examination, histopathology, Rapid urease RUT), serology, biochemical, antibiotic susceptibility test and molecular method. Results: A number of 40 (41.67%) were considered H. pylori positive in both histopathology and RUT. On the other hand, 46 patients were positive against anti IgA and IgG by ELISA. Eighteen biopsies were positive according to the culture test. This was further confirmed by endoscopic examination, urease, catalase and oxidase tests. A high percentage of resistance to polymyxin B, amoxicillin, and kanamycin was observed (100, 88.89, and 77.78%, respectively). A gene (Cag A) was also detected by using molecular technique which appeared positive in 16 patients. The sensitivity/specificity (%) of diagnostic method was 95/77 for histology, 100/83.5 for rapid urease, 85.7/90 for gram staining, 100/66.6 for IgG serology, 100/79.5 for IgA serology, 100/75.0 for PCR, 100/79.04 for combination of RUT and IgG serology and 100/92.4 for combination of RUT, gram staining and IgG serology. Conclusion: In view of the result obtained, PCR appeared to be the most reliable test. However, higher sensitivity and specificity were also recorded for other tests. So, for more accurate results, it is advisable not to rely solely on a single method for detection.

Keywords: helicobacter pylori, isolation, detection, culture, urease, polymerase chain reaction, antibiotic susceptibility test, dyspeptic patients

Procedia PDF Downloads 27

Authors: M. Jayandran

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Continual professional development is an important concept for safety professionals to strengthen the knowledge base and to achieve the required qualifications or international memberships in a given time. But the main problems which have observed among most of the safety aspirants are as follows: lack of focus, inferiority complex, superiority complex, lack of interest and lethargy, family and off job stress, health issues, usage of drugs and alcohol, and absenteeism. A HSE trainer should be an expert in soft skills and other stress, emotional handling techniques, so as to manage the above aspirants during training. To do this practice, a trainer has to brainstorm himself of few of the soft skills like personnel resilience, mnemonic techniques, mind healing, and subconscious suggestion techniques by integrating with an emotional intelligence quotient of the aspirants. By adopting these techniques, a trainer can successfully deliver the course and influence the different types of audience to achieve success in training.

Keywords: personnel resilience, mnemonic techniques, mind healing, sub conscious suggestion techniques

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Authors: Ossama Abdelmotaal, Olfat Shaker, Tarek Salman, Lamiaa Nabeel, Mostafa Shabayek

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Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is an important worldwide health problem. Colonoscopy is used in detecting CRC suffer from drawbacks where colonoscopy is an invasive method. This study validates easier and less time-consuming techniques to evaluate the usefulness of detecting miRNA-21, miRNA-215 and miRNA-378 in the sera of colorectal cancer patients as new diagnostic tools. This study includes malignant (Colo Rectal Cancer patients, n= 64)) and healthy (n=27) groups. The studied groups were subjected to colonoscopic examination and estimation of miRNA-21, miRNA-215 and miRNA-378 in sera by RT-PCR. miRNA-21 showed the statistically significantly highest median fold change. miRNA-378 showed statistically significantly lower value (Both showed over-expression). miRNA-215 showed the statistically significantly lowest median fold change (It showed down-regulation). Overall the miRNA (21-215 and 378) appear to be promising method of detecting CRC and evaluating its stages.

Keywords: colorectal cancer, miRNA-21, miRNA-215, miRNA-378

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: M. L. Gaol, I. W. Mudita

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Indonesia is well known as a country covered by lush tropical rain forests, but in fact, the northeastern part of the country, within the areas geologically known as Lesser Sunda, the dominant vegetation is tropical savanna. Lesser Sunda is a chain of islands located closer to Australia than to islands in the other parts of the country. Among those of islands in the chain which is closes to Australia, and thereby most strongly affected by the hot and dry Australian climate, is the island of Timor, the western part of which belongs to Indonesia and the eastern part is a sovereign state East Timor. Regardless of being the most dominant vegetation cover, tropical savanna in West Timor, especially its understory, is rarely investigated. This research was therefore carried out to investigate the structure, composition and diversity of the understory of this tropical savanna as the basis for looking at the possibility of introducing other spesieis for various purposes. For this research, 14 terrestrial communities representing major types of the existing savannas in West Timor was selected with aid of the most recently available satellite imagery. At each community, one stand of the size of 50 m x 50 m most likely representing the community was as the site of observation for the type of savanna under investigation. At each of the 14 communities, 20 plots of 1 m x 1 m in size was placed at random to identify understory species and to count the total number of individuals and to estimate the cover of each species. Based on such counts and estimation, the important value of each species was later calculated. The results of this research indicated that the understory of savanna in West Timor consisted of 73 understory species. Of this number of species, 18 species are grasses and 55 are non-grasses. Although lower than non-grass species, grass species indeed dominated the savanna as indicated by their number of individuals (65.33 vs 34.67%), species cover (57.80 vs 42.20%), and important value (123.15 vs 76.85). Of the 14 communities, the lowest density of grass was 13.50/m2 and the highest was 417.50/m2. Of 18 grass species found, all were commonly found as agricultural weeds, whereas of 55 non-grass, 10 species were commonly found as agricultural weeds, environmental weeds, or invasive species. In terms of better managing the savanna in the region, these findings provided the basis for planning a more integrated approach in managing such agricultural and environmental weeds as well as invasive species by considering the structure, composition, and species diversity of the understory species existing in each site. These findings also provided the basis for better understanding the flora of the region as a whole and for developing a flora database of West Timor in future.

Keywords: tropical savanna, understory species, integrated management, weedy and invasive species

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Authors: Yusuf Bulale, Mark Prince, Geoff Tansley, Peter Brett

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Cochlear Implantation (CI) which became a routine procedure for the last decades is an electronic device that provides a sense of sound for patients who are severely and profoundly deaf. Today, cochlear implantation technology uses electrode array (EA) implanted manually into the cochlea. The optimal success of this implantation depends on the electrode technology and deep insertion techniques. However, this manual insertion procedure may cause mechanical trauma which can lead to a severe destruction of the delicate intracochlear structure. Accordingly, future improvement of the cochlear electrode implant insertion needs reduction of the excessive force application during the cochlear implantation which causes tissue damage and trauma. This study is examined tool-tissue interaction of large prototype scale digit embedded with distributive tactile sensor based upon cochlear electrode and large prototype scale cochlea phantom for simulating the human cochlear which could lead to small-scale digit requirements. The digit, distributive tactile sensors embedded with silicon-substrate was inserted into the cochlea phantom to measure any digit/phantom interaction and position of the digit in order to minimize tissue and trauma damage during the electrode cochlear insertion. The digit has provided tactile information from the digit-phantom insertion interaction such as contact status, tip penetration, obstacles, relative shape and location, contact orientation and multiple contacts. The tests demonstrated that even devices of such a relative simple design with low cost have a potential to improve cochlear implant surgery and other lumen mapping applications by providing tactile sensory feedback information and thus controlling the insertion through sensing and control of the tip of the implant during the insertion. In that approach, the surgeon could minimize the tissue damage and potential damage to the delicate structures within the cochlear caused by current manual electrode insertion of the cochlear implantation. This approach also can be applied to other minimally invasive surgery applications as well as diagnosis and path navigation procedures.

Keywords: cochlear electrode insertion, distributive tactile sensory feedback information, flexible digit, minimally invasive surgery, tool/tissue interaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Sangho Park, Mansoo Kim, Kyujung Chae, Junhyuk Yang

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The International Maritime Organization (IMO) recognized the problem of invasive species invasion and adopted the "International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments" in 2004, which came into force on September 8, 2017. In 2011, the IMO approved the "Guidelines for the Control and Management of Ships' Biofouling to Minimize the Transfer of Invasive Aquatic Species" to minimize the movement of invasive species by hull-attached organisms and required ships to manage the organisms attached to their hulls. Invasive species enter new environments through ships' ballast water and hull attachment. However, several obstacles to implementing these guidelines have been identified, including a lack of underwater cleaning equipment, regulations on underwater cleaning activities in ports, and difficulty accessing crevices in underwater areas. The shipping industry, which is the party responsible for understanding these guidelines, wants to implement them for fuel cost savings resulting from the removal of organisms attached to the hull, but they anticipate significant difficulties in implementing the guidelines due to the obstacles mentioned above. Robots or people remove the organisms attached to the hull underwater, and the resulting wastewater includes various species of organisms and particles of paint and other pollutants. Currently, there is no technology available to sterilize the organisms in the wastewater or stabilize the heavy metals in the paint particles. In this study, we aim to analyze the characteristics of the wastewater generated from the removal of hull-attached organisms and select the optimal treatment technology. The organisms in the wastewater generated from the removal of the attached organisms meet the biological treatment standard (D-2) using the sterilization technology applied in the ships' ballast water treatment system. The heavy metals and other pollutants in the paint particles generated during removal are treated using stabilization technologies such as thermal decomposition. The wastewater generated is treated using a two-step process: 1) development of sterilization technology through pretreatment filtration equipment and electrolytic sterilization treatment and 2) development of technology for removing particle pollutants such as heavy metals and dissolved inorganic substances. Through this study, we will develop a biological removal technology and an environmentally friendly processing system for the waste generated after removal that meets the requirements of the government and the shipping industry and lays the groundwork for future treatment standards.

Keywords: biofouling, ballast water treatment system, filtration, sterilization, wastewater

Procedia PDF Downloads 82

Authors: Caje F. Pinto, Jivan S. Parab, Gourish M. Naik

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This paper is about the development of non-invasive heart rate and oxygen saturation in human blood using Altera NIOS II soft-core processor system. In today's world, monitoring oxygen saturation and heart rate is very important in hospitals to keep track of low oxygen levels in blood. We have designed an Embedded System On Peripheral Chip (SOPC) reconfigurable system by interfacing two LED’s of different wavelengths (660 nm/940 nm) with a single photo-detector to measure the absorptions of hemoglobin species at different wavelengths. The implementation of the interface with Finger Probe and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) was carried out using NIOS II soft-core system running on Altera NANO DE0 board having target as Cyclone IVE. This designed system is used to monitor oxygen saturation in blood and heart rate for different test subjects. The designed NIOS II processor based non-invasive heart rate and oxygen saturation was verified with another Operon Pulse oximeter for 50 measurements on 10 different subjects. It was found that the readings taken were very close to the Operon Pulse oximeter.

Keywords: heart rate, NIOS II, oxygen saturation, photoplethysmography, soft-core, SOPC

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Saman Namvarrechi, Armin A. Dormeny, Javad Dargahi, Mojtaba Kahrizi

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Since last two decades, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has grown significantly due to its advantages compared to the traditional open surgery like less physical pain, faster recovery time and better healing condition around incision regions; however, one of the important challenges in MIS is getting an effective sensing feedback within the patient’s body during operations. Therefore, surgeons need efficient tactile sensing like determining the hardness of contact tissue for investigating the patient’s health condition. In such a case, MIS tactile sensors are preferred to be able to provide force/pressure sensing, force position, lump detection, and softness sensing. Among different pressure sensor technologies, the piezoelectric operating principle is the fittest for MIS’s instruments, such as catheters. Using PVDF with its copolymer, TrFE, as a piezoelectric material, is a common method of design and fabrication of a tactile sensor due to its ease of implantation and biocompatibility. In this research, PVDF-TrFE polymer is deposited via spin-coating method and treated with various post-deposition processes to investigate its piezoelectricity and amount of electroactive β phase. These processes include different post thermal annealing, the effect of spin-coating speed, different layer of deposition, and the presence of additional hydrate salt. According to FTIR spectroscopy and SEM images, the amount of the β phase and porosity of each sample is determined. In addition, the optimum experimental study is established by considering every aspect of the fabrication process. This study clearly shows the effective way of deposition and fabrication of a tactile PVDF-TrFE based sensor and an enhancement methodology to have a higher β phase and piezoelectric constant in order to have a better sense of touch at the end effector of biomedical devices.

Keywords: β phase, minimally invasive surgery, piezoelectricity, PVDF-TrFE, tactile sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: Omid Allan

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The advent of ultra-narrow diameter implants initially offered an alternative to wider conventional implants. However, their design limitations have restricted their applicability primarily to overdentures and cement-retained fixed prostheses, often with unpredictable long-term outcomes. The introduction of the new Miniature Implants has revolutionized the field of implant dentistry, leading to a more streamlined approach. The utilization of Miniature Implants has emerged as a promising alternative to the traditional approach that entails the traumatic sequential bone drilling procedures and the use of conventional implants for full and partial arch restorations. The innovative "BioMiniatures Implant System serves as a groundbreaking bridge connecting mini implants with standard implant systems. This system allows practitioners to harness the advantages of ultra-small implants, enabling minimally invasive insertion and facilitating the application of fixed screw-retained prostheses, which were only available to conventional wider implant systems. This approach streamlines full and partial arch rehabilitation with minimal or even no bone drilling, significantly reducing surgical risks and complications for clinicians while minimizing patient morbidity. The ultra-narrow diameter and self-advancing features of these implants eliminate the need for invasive and technically complex procedures such as bone augmentation and guided bone regeneration (GBR), particularly in cases involving thin alveolar ridges. Furthermore, the absence of a microcap between the implant and abutment eliminates the potential for micro-leakage and micro-pumping effects, effectively mitigating the risk of marginal bone loss and future peri-implantitis. The cumulative experience of restoring over 50 full and partial arch edentulous cases with this system has yielded an outstanding success rate exceeding 97%. The long-term success with a stable marginal bone level in the study firmly establishes these implants as a dependable alternative to conventional implants, especially for full arch rehabilitation cases. Full arch rehabilitation with these implants holds the promise of providing a simplified solution for edentulous patients who typically present with atrophic narrow alveolar ridges, eliminating the need for extensive GBR and bone augmentation to restore their dentition with fixed prostheses.

Keywords: mini-implant, biominiatures, miniature implants, minimally invasive dentistry, full arch rehabilitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 44

Authors: Umesh Kumar Soni, Suresh Kumar Soni, S. R. Awasthi

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Worldwide biggest difficulties are climate change, future availability of fossil fuels, and economical feasibility of renewable energy. They force us to use to a greater extent renewable energy and develop suitable hybrid renewable systems. Building heating/cooling consumes significant amount of energy. It can be conserved by use of proper heating/cooling techniques. This paper reviews and critically analyzes various active, passive and hybrid heating/cooling techniques used in green buildings.

Keywords: natural ventilation, energy conservation, hybrid ventilation techniques, climate change

Procedia PDF Downloads 571

Authors: R. Gadea, J. M. Monzó, F. J. Puertas, M. Castro, A. Tebar, P. J. Fito, R. J. Colom

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There exists a wide array of ailments impacting the structural soundness of the esophageal walls, predominantly linked to digestive issues. Presently, the techniques employed for identifying esophageal tract complications are excessively invasive and discomforting, subjecting patients to prolonged discomfort in order to achieve an accurate diagnosis. This study proposes the creation of a sensor with profound measuring capabilities designed to detect fluids coursing through the esophageal tract. The multi-sensor detection system relies on radiofrequency photospectrometry. During experimentation, individuals representing diverse demographics in terms of gender and age were utilized, positioning the sensors amidst the trachea and diaphragm and assessing measurements in vacuum conditions, water, orange juice, and saline solutions. The findings garnered enabled the identification of various liquid mediums within the esophagus, segregating them based on their ionic composition.

Keywords: radiofrequency spectrophotometry, medical device, gastroesophageal disease, photonics

Procedia PDF Downloads 46

Authors: M. H. Korayem, N. Sangsefidi

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Magnetically guided soft robots have emerged as a promising technology in minimally invasive surgery due to their ability to adapt to complex environments. However, one of the main challenges in this field is damage to the vascular structure caused by unwanted stress on the vessel wall and deformation of the vessel due to improper control of the shape of the robot body during surgery. Therefore, this article proposes an approach for controlling the form of a magnetic, soft, continuous robot body using a PID controller. The magnetic soft continuous robot is modelled using Cosserat theory in static mode and solved numerically. The designed controller adjusts the position of each part of the robot to match the desired shape. The PID controller is considered to minimize the robot's contact with the vessel wall and prevent unwanted vessel deformation. The simulation results confirmed the accuracy of the numerical solution of the static Cosserat model. Also, they showed the effectiveness of the proposed contouring method in achieving the desired shape with a maximum error of about 0.3 millimetres.

Keywords: PID, magnetic soft continuous robot, soft robot shape control, Cosserat theory, minimally invasive surgery

Procedia PDF Downloads 47

Authors: Ashwani Kumar Aggarwal

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NIR Light is non-ionizing and can pass easily through living tissues such as breast without any harmful effects. Therefore, use of NIR light for imaging the biological tissue and to quantify its optical properties is a good choice over other invasive methods. Optical tomography involves two steps. One is the forward problem and the other is the reconstruction problem. The forward problem consists of finding the measurements of transmitted light through the tissue from source to detector, given the spatial distribution of absorption and scattering properties. The second step is the reconstruction problem. In X-ray tomography, there is standard method for reconstruction called filtered back projection method or the algebraic reconstruction methods. But this method cannot be applied as such, in optical tomography due to highly scattering nature of biological tissue. A hybrid algorithm for reconstruction has been implemented in this work which takes into account the highly scattered path taken by photons while back projecting the forward data obtained during Monte Carlo simulation. The reconstructed image suffers from blurring due to point spread function. This blurred reconstructed image has been enhanced using a digital filter which is optimal in mean square sense.

Keywords: least-squares optimization, filtering, tomography, laser interaction, light scattering

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Authors: Vijay Pal Singh, Yogesh Chandra Kotiyal

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Structures are a combination of various load carrying members which transfer the loads to the foundation from the superstructure safely. At the design stage, the loading of the structure is defined and appropriate material choices are made based upon their properties, mainly related to strength. The strength of materials kept on reducing with time because of many factors like environmental exposure and deformation caused by unpredictable external loads. Hence, to predict the strength of materials used in structures, various techniques are used. Among these techniques, Non-Destructive Techniques (NDT) are the one that can be used to predict the strength without damaging the structure. In the present study, the compressive strength of concrete has been predicted using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The predicted strength was compared with the experimentally obtained actual compressive strength of concrete and equations were developed for different models. A good co-relation has been obtained between the predicted strength by these models and experimental values. Further, the co-relation has been developed using two NDT techniques for prediction of strength by regression analysis. It was found that the percentage error has been reduced between the predicted strength by using combined techniques in place of single techniques.

Keywords: rebound, ultra-sonic pulse, penetration, ANN, NDT, regression

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Authors: Talal Alshammari, Nasser Alshammari, Mohamed Sedky, Chris Howard

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With the widespread adoption of the Internet-connected devices, and with the prevalence of the Internet of Things (IoT) applications, there is an increased interest in machine learning techniques that can provide useful and interesting services in the smart home domain. The areas that machine learning techniques can help advance are varied and ever-evolving. Classifying smart home inhabitants’ Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), is one prominent example. The ability of machine learning technique to find meaningful spatio-temporal relations of high-dimensional data is an important requirement as well. This paper presents a comparative evaluation of state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to classify ADLs in the smart home domain. Forty-two synthetic datasets and two real-world datasets with multiple inhabitants are used to evaluate and compare the performance of the identified machine learning techniques. Our results show significant performance differences between the evaluated techniques. Such as AdaBoost, Cortical Learning Algorithm (CLA), Decision Trees, Hidden Markov Model (HMM), Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP), Structured Perceptron and Support Vector Machines (SVM). Overall, neural network based techniques have shown superiority over the other tested techniques.

Keywords: activities of daily living, classification, internet of things, machine learning, prediction, smart home

Procedia PDF Downloads 312

Authors: Manal Kamel, Sara Maher

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Development of sensitive non-invasive tests for detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigens is imperative to manage the extent of infection throughout the population, yet, it is still challenging. Here, we designed and optimized a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for SARS-CoV-2 S1 antigen detection in saliva. Both saliva samples and nasopharyngeal swapswere collected from 170 PCR-confirmed positive and negative cases. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were conjugated with S1protein receptor binding domain (RBD) nanobodies. Recombinant S1 monoclonal antibodies (S1mAb) as primery antibody and gold conjugated nanobodies as secondary antibody were employed in sandwich ELISA. Our developed system were optimized to achieve 87.5 % sensitivity and 100% specificity for saliva samples compared to 89 % and 100% for nasopharyngeal swaps, respectively. This means that saliva could be a suitable replacement for nasopharyngeal swaps No cross reaction was detected with other corona virus antigens. These results revealed that our developed ELISAcould be establishedas a new, reliable, sensitive, and non-invasive test for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, using the easily collected saliva samples.

Keywords: COVID 19, diagnosis, ELISA, nanobodies

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Hatem A. El-Mezayen, Ahmed Abdelmajeed, Fatehya Metwally, Usama Elsaly, Salwa Atef

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Tumor metastasis involves the dissemination of malignant cells into the basement membrane and vascular system contributes to the circulating pool of these markers. In this context our aim has been focused on development of a non-invasive. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) represent a unique liquid biopsy carrying comprehensive biological information of the primary tumor. Herein, we sought to develop a novel score based on the combination of the most significant CTCs biomarkers with and routine laboratory tests for accurate detection of metastatic breast cancer. Methods: Cytokeratin 18 (CK18), Cytokeratin 19 (CK19), and CA15.3 were assayed in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients (75), non-MBC patients (50) and healthy control (20). Results: Areas under receiving operating curve (AUCs) were calculated and used for construction on novel score. A novel score named MBC-CTCs = CA15.3 (U/L) × 0.08 + CK 18 % × 2.9 + CK19 × 3.1– 510. That function correctly classified 87% of metastatic breast cancer at cut-off value = 0.55. (i.e great than 0.55 indicates patients with metastatic breast cancer and less than 0.55 indicates patients with non-metastatic breast cancer). Conclusion: MBC-CTCs is a novel, non-invasive and simple can applied to discriminate patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Keywords: metastatic breast cancer, circulating tumor cells, cytokeratin, EpiCam

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Suehyun Cho, Darrell Harrington, Florent Cros, Olin Palmer, John Caputo, Michael Kardosh, Eran Oren, William Loudon, Alex Kiselyov, Michael Shpigelmacher

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The Dandy-Walker malformation (DWM) represents a clinical syndrome manifesting as a combination of posterior fossa cyst, hypoplasia of the cerebellar vermis, and obstructive hydrocephalus. Anatomic hallmarks include hypoplasia of the cerebellar vermis, enlargement of the posterior fossa, and cystic dilatation of the fourth ventricle. Current treatments of DWM, including shunting of the cerebral spinal fluid ventricular system and endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV), are frequently clinically insufficient, require additional surgical interventions, and carry risks of infections and neurological deficits. Bionaut Labs develops an alternative way to treat Dandy-Walker Malformation (DWM) associated with non-communicating hydrocephalus. We utilize our discreet microsurgical Bionaut™ particles that are controlled externally and remotely to perform safe, accurate, effective fenestration of the Dandy-Walker cyst, specifically in the posterior fossa of the brain, to directly normalize intracranial pressure. Bionaut™ allows for complex non-linear trajectories not feasible by any conventional surgical techniques. The microsurgical particle safely reaches targets in the lower occipital section of the brain. Bionaut™ offers a minimally invasive surgical alternative to highly involved posterior craniotomy or shunts via direct fenestration of the fourth ventricular cyst at the locus defined by the individual anatomy. Our approach offers significant advantages over the current standards of care in patients exhibiting anatomical challenge(s) as a manifestation of DWM, and therefore, is intended to replace conventional therapeutic strategies. Current progress, including platform optimization, Bionaut™ control, and real-time imaging and in vivo safety studies of the Bionauts™ in large animals, specifically the spine and the brain of ovine models, will be discussed.

Keywords: Bionaut™, cerebral spinal fluid, CSF, cyst, Dandy-Walker, fenestration, hydrocephalus, micro-robot

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Martin Dupuy, Solange Grunenwald, Pierre-Louis Colombo, Laurence Mahieu, Pomone Richard, Philippe Bartoli

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Endonasal endoscopic trans-sphenoidal surgery for pituitary tumours has become a mainstay of treatment over the last two decades. Although it is generally accepted that there is no significant difference between endoscopic versus microscopic approach for surgical outcomes (endocrine and ophthalmologic status), nasal morbidity seems to the benefit of endoscopic procedures. Minimally invasive endoscopic surgery needs an operative learning curve to achieve surgeon’s efficiency. This learning curve is now well known for surgical outcomes and complications rate, however, few data are available for nasal morbidity. The aim of our series is to document operative experience and nasal quality of life after (NQOL) endoscopic trans-sphenoidal surgery. The prospective pituitary surgical cohort consisted of 525 consecutives patients referred to our Skull Base Diseases Department. Endoscopic procedures were performed by a single neurosurgeon using an uninostril approach. NQOL was evaluated using the Sino-Nasal Test (SNOT-22), the Anterior Base Nasal Inventory (ASBNI) and the Skull Base Inventory Score (SBIS). Data were collected before surgery during hospital stay and 3 months after the surgery. The seventy first patients were compared to the latest 70 patients. There was no significant difference between comparison score before versus after surgery for SNOT-22, ASBNI and SBIS during the single surgeon’s learning curve. Our series demonstrates that in our institution there is no statistically significant learning curve for NQOL after uninostril endoscopic pituitary surgery. A careful progression through sinonasal structures with very limited mucosal incision is associated with minimal morbidity and preserves nasal function. Conservative and minimal invasive approach could be achieved early during learning curve.

Keywords: pituitary surgery, quality of life, minimal invasive surgery, learning curve, pituitary tumours, skull base surgery, endoscopic surgery

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Authors: Ahmed Ishtiaq, Maeeda Khalid, Umair Sajjad

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In the fast-moving world, information is the key to success. If information is easily available, then it makes work easy. The Internet is the biggest collection and source of information nowadays, and with every single day, the data on internet increases, and it becomes difficult to find required data. Everyone wants to make his/her website at the top of search results. This can be possible when you have applied some techniques of SEO inside your application or outside your application, which are two types of SEO, onsite and offsite SEO. SEO is an abbreviation of Search Engine Optimization, and it is a set of techniques, methods to increase users of a website on World Wide Web or to rank up your website in search engine indexing. In this paper, we have compared different techniques of Onpage and Offpage SEO, and we have suggested many things that should be changed inside webpage, outside web page and mentioned some most powerful and search engine considerable elements and techniques in both types of SEO in order to gain high ranking on Search Engine.

Keywords: auto-suggestion, search engine optimization, SEO, query, web mining, web crawler

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Authors: Sulaiman Al amro, Ali Alkhalifah

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The growing number of computer viruses and the detection of zero day malware have been the concern for security researchers for a large period of time. Existing antivirus products (AVs) rely on detecting virus signatures which do not provide a full solution to the problems associated with these viruses. The use of logic formulae to model the behaviour of viruses is one of the most encouraging recent developments in virus research, which provides alternatives to classic virus detection methods. In this paper, we proposed a comparative study about different virus detection techniques. This paper provides the advantages and drawbacks of different detection techniques. Different techniques will be used in this paper to provide a discussion about what technique is more effective to detect computer viruses.

Keywords: computer viruses, virus detection, signature-based, behaviour-based, heuristic-based

Procedia PDF Downloads 442

Authors: Alicja Reuben, Amira Annabi

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In this paper, we explore the relationship between the selection of valuation techniques by investment banks and the banks’ risk perceptions and performance in the context of the theory of performativity. We use inferential statistics to study these relationships by building a unique dataset based on the disclosure of 12 investment banks’ 2012-2015 annual financial statements. Moreover, we create two constructs, namely intensity of use and risk perception. We measure the intensity of use as a frequency metric of how often a particular bank adopts valuation techniques for a particular asset or liability. We measure risk perception based on disclosed ranges of values for unobservable inputs. Our results are twofold: we find a significant negative correlation between (1) intensity of use and investment bank performance and (2) intensity of use and risk perception. These results indicate that a performative process takes place, and the valuation techniques are enacting their environment.

Keywords: language, linguistics, performativity, financial techniques

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Baishali Deb, Hari Om Pandey, Shrilla Elangbam, Mukesh Singh, Ayon Tarafdar, A. K. S. Tomar, A. K. Pandey, Triveni Dutt

Abstract:

The goal of the present investigation was to determine the impact of social stress on behavioural characteristics, physiological responses, and haemato-biochemical indicators under various social environments in Tharparkar cattle. Serum cortisol and faecal cortisol metabolites analysis were used to determine the stress level of Tharparkar cattle. Social isolation and social mixing were the two different social circumstances used to evaluate the animals. In both the experiments i.e., social isolation and social mixing, the lying period of animals decreased significantly (p<0.05) while standing period significantly (p<0.05) increased. Frequency and duration of activities like idling, walking, exploration, oral manipulation, and elimination increased significantly (p<0.05) in Tharparkar cattle after being subjected to social isolation and social mixing. Time spent in grooming (self-grooming and allo-grooming) in respect to social isolation significantly increased during isolation and post-reunion, whereas there was a significant (p<0.05) decline in the grooming behaviour especially allo-grooming during mixing of the animals. Feeding and rumination time also decreased significantly (p<0.05) in animals during both the experiments. Physiological parameters such as respiration rate, heart rate and pulse rate increased during the treatment periods. There was no significant difference in the haematological parameters for both the experiments. There was significant (p<0.05) increase in serum cortisol and faecal cortisol metabolites (FCM) concentration in animals subjected to social stress. Therefore, it can be concluded that social stress strongly impacts the behaviour and physiological parameters of the animals, causing stress and nervousness, proving that social stress is a valid psychological stress in animals. The higher concentration of FCM in Tharparkar cattle subjected to social stress, further supported by higher serum cortisol and behaviour manifestations, suggest that FCM could be used to assess stress response as a non-invasive method.

Keywords: social stress, fecal cortisol metabolites, non-invasive, animal welfare, behaviour

Procedia PDF Downloads 60

Authors: Tomas Makaras, Julija Razumienė, Vidutė Gurevičienė, Gintarė Sauliutė, Milda Stankevičiūtė

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Stress responses represent animal’s natural reactions to various challenging conditions and could be used as a welfare indicator. Regardless of the wide use of glucose measurements in stress evaluation, there are some inconsistencies in its acceptance as a stress marker, especially when it comes to comparison with non-invasive cortisol measurements in the fish challenging stress. To meet the challenge and to test the reliability and applicability of glucose measurement in practice, in this study, different environmental/anthropogenic exposure scenarios were simulated to provoke chemical-induced stress in fish (14-days exposure to landfill leachate) followed by a 14-days stress recovery period and under the cumulative effect of leachate fish subsequently exposed to pathogenic oomycetes (Saprolegnia parasitica) to represent a possible infection in fish. It is endemic to all freshwater habitats worldwide and is partly responsible for the decline of natural freshwater fish populations. Brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) and sea trout (Salmo trutta trutta) juveniles were chosen because of a large amount of literature on physiological stress responses in these species was known. Glucose content in fish by applying invasive and non-invasive glucose measurement procedures in different test mediums such as fish blood, gill tissues and fish-holding water were analysed. The results indicated that the quantity of glucose released in the holding water of stressed fish increased considerably (approx. 3.5- to 8-fold) and remained substantially higher (approx. 2- to 4-fold) throughout the stress recovery period than the control level suggesting that fish did not recover from chemical-induced stress. The circulating levels of glucose in blood and gills decreased over time in fish exposed to different stressors. However, the gill glucose level in fish showed a decrease similar to the control levels measured at the same time points, which was found to be insignificant. The data analysis showed that concentrations of β-D glucose measured in gills of fish treated with S. parasitica differed significantly from the control recovery, but did not differ from the leachate recovery group showing that S. parasitica presence in water had no additive effects. In contrast, a positive correlation between blood and gills glucose were determined. Parallel trends in blood and water glucose changes suggest that water glucose measurement has much potency in predicting stress. This study demonstrated that measuring β-D-glucose in fish-holding water is not stressful as it involves no handling and manipulation of an organism and has critical technical advantages concerning current (invasive) methods, mainly using blood samples or specific tissues. The quantification of glucose could be essential for studies examining the stress physiology/aquaculture studies interested in the assessment or long-term monitoring of fish health.

Keywords: brown trout, landfill leachate, sea trout, pathogenic oomycetes, β-D-glucose

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Sijie Fu, Pascal-Henry Biwolé, Christian Mathis

Abstract:

Among modern airflow measurement methods, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV), as visualized and non-instructive measurement techniques, are playing more important role. This paper conducts a comparative experimental study for airflow measurement employing both techniques with the same condition. Velocity vector fields, velocity contour fields, voticity profiles and turbulence profiles are selected as the comparison indexes. The results show that the performance of both PIV and PTV techniques for airflow measurement is satisfied, but some differences between the both techniques are existed, it suggests that selecting the measurement technique should be based on a comprehensive consideration.

Keywords: airflow measurement, comparison, PIV, PTV

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: Piyanud Chompookard

Abstract:

This research aims to study the effect of self-compassion techniques for individuals with depression (A pilot study). A quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest is used to design this work. The research includes 30 participants, divided into the experimental group (ten samples) and the control group (twenty samples). The experimental group received a self-compassion techniques with an appropriate treatment for a total six times. The control group received an appropriate treatment. The measurement of this study using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Thai version). There are significant differences in levels of depression after received a self-compassion techniques with an appropriate treatment (p<.01). And there are significant differences in levels of depression between the experimental group and the control group (p<.01).

Keywords: depression, self compassion techniques, psychotherapy, pilot study

Procedia PDF Downloads 108