Search results for: therapeutic support

Authors: Walaa Khalaf, Calogero Pace, Manlio Gaudioso

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We present an Electronic Nose (ENose), which is aimed at identifying the presence of one out of two gases, possibly detecting the presence of a mixture of the two. Estimation of the concentrations of the components is also performed for a volatile organic compound (VOC) constituted by methanol and acetone, for the ranges 40-400 and 22-220 ppm (parts-per-million), respectively. Our system contains 8 sensors, 5 of them being gas sensors (of the class TGS from FIGARO USA, INC., whose sensing element is a tin dioxide (SnO2) semiconductor), the remaining being a temperature sensor (LM35 from National Semiconductor Corporation), a humidity sensor (HIH–3610 from Honeywell), and a pressure sensor (XFAM from Fujikura Ltd.). Our integrated hardware–software system uses some machine learning principles and least square regression principle to identify at first a new gas sample, or a mixture, and then to estimate the concentrations. In particular we adopt a training model using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) approach with linear kernel to teach the system how discriminate among different gases. Then we apply another training model using the least square regression, to predict the concentrations. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed multiclassification and regression scheme is effective in the identification of the tested VOCs of methanol and acetone with 96.61% correctness. The concentration prediction is obtained with 0.979 and 0.964 correlation coefficient for the predicted versus real concentrations of methanol and acetone, respectively.

Keywords: Electronic nose, Least square regression, Mixture ofgases, Support Vector Machine.

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Authors: Masoud Mahdavi

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The structure is made using different members and combining them with each other. These members are basically based on technical and engineering principles and are combined in different ways and have their own unique effects on the building. Trusses are one of the most common and important members of the structure, accounting for a large percentage of the power transmission structure in the building. Different types of trusses are based on structural needs and evaluating and making complete comparisons between them is one of the most important engineering analyses. In the present study, four types of trusses have been studied; 1) Hawe truss, 2) Pratt truss, 3) k truss, and 4) warren truss, under cyclic loading for 80 seconds. The trusses are modeled in 3d using st₃₇ steel. The results showed that Hawe trusses had higher values ​​than all other trusses (k, Pratt and Warren) in all the studied indicators. Indicators examined in the study include; 1) von Mises stresses, 2) displacement, 3) support force, 4) velocity, 5) acceleration, 6) capacity (hysteresis curve) and 7) energy diagram. Pratt truss in indicators; Mises stress, displacement, energy have the least amount compared to other trusses. K truss in indicators; support force, speed and acceleration are the lowest compared to other trusses.

Keywords: Hawe truss, Pratt truss, K truss, Warren truss, cyclic loading, finite element method.

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Authors: Clare Watsford, Debra Rickwood

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Client expectations and preferences about therapy represent an important area of investigation as research shows they are linked to engagement in therapy and therapy outcomes. Studies examining young people-s expectations and preferences of therapy remain a neglected area of research. The present study explored what expectations and preferences young people seeking professional help held regarding: their role as a client, their therapist-s role, their therapeutic outcomes, and the processes of therapy. Gender and age differences were also examined. Participants included 188 young people aged 12-25 who completed a survey while attending their initial session at a youth mental health service. Data were analysed using quantitative methods. Results found the young people held significantly more pessimistic expectations around therapy when compared to what they had wanted therapy to be like. Few age and gender differences were found. Results highlight the importance of a collaborative therapy approach when working with young people.

Keywords: Client expectations, mental health services, preferences, young people

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Authors: A. Faro, D. Giordano, F. Maiorana

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Data mining uses a variety of techniques each of which is useful for some particular task. It is important to have a deep understanding of each technique and be able to perform sophisticated analysis. In this article we describe a tool built to simulate a variation of the Kohonen network to perform unsupervised clustering and support the entire data mining process up to results visualization. A graphical representation helps the user to find out a strategy to optimize classification by adding, moving or delete a neuron in order to change the number of classes. The tool is able to automatically suggest a strategy to optimize the number of classes optimization, but also support both tree classifications and semi-lattice organizations of the classes to give to the users the possibility of passing from one class to the ones with which it has some aspects in common. Examples of using tree and semi-lattice classifications are given to illustrate advantages and problems. The tool is applied to classify macroeconomic data that report the most developed countries- import and export. It is possible to classify the countries based on their economic behaviour and use the tool to characterize the commercial behaviour of a country in a selected class from the analysis of positive and negative features that contribute to classes formation. Possible interrelationships between the classes and their meaning are also discussed.

Keywords: Unsupervised classification, Kohonen networks, macroeconomics, Visual data mining, Cluster interpretation.

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Authors: Bello Abdullahi, Yahaya M. Ibrahim, Ahmed D. Ibrahim, Kabir Bala

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Public sector tendering has traditionally been conducted using manual paper-based processes which are known to be inefficient, less transparent and more prone to manipulations and errors. The advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web has led to the development of numerous e-Tendering systems that addressed some of the problems associated with the manual paper-based tendering system. However, most of these systems rarely support the evaluation of tenders and where they do it is mostly based on the single decision maker which is not suitable in public sector tendering, where for the sake of objectivity, transparency, and fairness, it is required that the evaluation is conducted through a tender evaluation committee. Currently, in Nigeria, the public tendering process in general and the evaluation of tenders, in particular, are largely conducted using manual paper-based processes. Automating these manual-based processes to digital-based processes can help in enhancing the proficiency of public sector tendering in Nigeria. This paper is part of a larger study to develop an electronic tendering system that supports the whole tendering lifecycle based on Nigerian procurement law. Specifically, this paper presents the design and implementation of part of the system that supports group evaluation of tenders based on a technique called fuzzy multi-attributes group decision making. The system was developed using Object-Oriented methodologies and Unified Modelling Language and hypothetically applied in the evaluation of technical and financial proposals submitted by bidders. The system was validated by professionals with extensive experiences in public sector procurement. The results of the validation showed that the system called NPS-eTender has an average rating of 74% with respect to correct and accurate modelling of the existing manual tendering domain and an average rating of 67.6% with respect to its potential to enhance the proficiency of public sector tendering in Nigeria. Thus, based on the results of the validation, the automation of the evaluation process to support tender evaluation committee is achievable and can lead to a more proficient public sector tendering system.

Keywords: e-Tendering, e-Procurement, public tendering, tender evaluation, tender evaluation committee, web-based group decision support system.

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Authors: P. Nafisi Poor, P. Javid

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Over the past few years, the idea of adaptive buildings and specifically, adaptive building energy management systems (ABEMS) has become popular. Well-performed management in terms of energy is to create a balance between energy consumption and user comfort; therefore, in new energy management models, efficient energy consumption is not the sole factor and the user's comfortability is also considered in the calculations. One of the main ways of measuring this factor is by analyzing user feedback on the conditions to understand whether they are satisfied with conditions or not. This paper provides a comprehensive review of recent approaches towards energy management systems based on users' feedbacks and subsequently performs a comparison between them premised upon their efficiency and accuracy to understand which approaches were more accurate and which ones resulted in a more efficient way of minimizing energy consumption while maintaining users' comfortability. It was concluded that the highest accuracy rate among the presented works was 95% accuracy in determining satisfaction and up to 51.08% energy savings can be achieved without disturbing user’s comfort. Considering the growing interest in designing and developing adaptive buildings, these studies can support diverse inquiries about this subject and can be used as a resource to support studies and researches towards efficient energy consumption while maintaining the comfortability of users.

Keywords: Adaptive buildings, energy efficiency, intelligent buildings, user comfortability.

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Authors: Emma R. Arakelova, Stepan G. Grigoryan, Ashot M. Khachatryan, Karapet E. Avjyan, Lilia M. Savchenko, Flora G. Arsenyan

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The paper presents a new drugs delivery system, based on the thin film technology. As a model antitumor drug, highly toxic doxorubicin is chosen. The system is based on the technology of obtaining zinc oxide composite of doxorubicin by deposition of nanosize ZnO films on the surface of doxorubicin coating on glass substrate using DC magnetron sputtering of zinc targets in Ar:O₂ medium at room temperature. For doxorubicin zinc oxide compositions in the form of coatings and gels with 180-200nm thick ZnO films, higher (by a factor 2) in vivo (ascitic Ehrlich's carcinoma) antitumor activity is observed at low doses of doxorubicin in comparison with that of the initial preparation at therapeutic doses. The vector character of the doxorubicin zinc oxide composite transport to tumor tissues ensures the increase in antitumor activity as well as decrease of toxicity in comparison with the initial drug.

Keywords: Antitumor activity, doxorubicin, DC magnetron sputtering, zinc oxide.

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Authors: Altab Hossain, Ataur Rahman, A. K. M. Mohiuddin, Yulfian Aminanda

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Modeling of the dynamic behavior and motion are renewed interest in the improved tractive performance of an intelligent air-cushion tracked vehicle (IACTV). This paper presents a new dynamical model for the forces on the developed small scale intelligent air-cushion tracked vehicle moving over swamp peat. The air cushion system partially supports the 25 % of vehicle total weight in order to make the vehicle ground contact pressure 7 kN/m2. As the air-cushion support system can adjust automatically on the terrain, so the vehicle can move over the terrain without any risks. The springdamper system is used with the vehicle body to control the aircushion support system on any undulating terrain by making the system sinusoidal form. Experiments have been carried out to investigate the relationships among tractive efficiency, slippage, traction coefficient, load distribution ratio, tractive effort, motion resistance and power consumption in given terrain conditions. Experiment and simulation results show that air-cushion system improves the vehicle performance by keeping traction coefficient of 71% and tractive efficiency of 62% and the developed model can meet the demand of transport efficiency with the optimal power consumption.

Keywords: Air-cushion system, ground contact pressure, slippage, power consumption.

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Authors: Bousselessela H., Yahia M., Mahboubi A., Benbia S., Yahia Massinissa

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In order to enhance the knowledge of certain phytochemical Algerian plants that are widely used in traditional medicine and to exploit their therapeutic potential in modern medicine, we have done a specific extraction of terpenes and alkaloids from the leaves of Euphorbia granulata to evaluate the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of this extracts. After the extraction it was found that the terpene extract gave the highest yield 59.72% compared with alkaloids extracts. The disc diffusion method was used to determine the antibacterial activity against different bacterial strains: Escherichia coli (ATCC25922), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC27853) and Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923). All extracts have shown inhibition of growth bacteria. The different zones of inhibition have varied from (7 -10 mm) according to the concentrations of extract used. Testing the antiradical activity on DPPH-TLC plates indicated the presence of substances that have potent anti-free radical. As against, the BC-TLC revealed that only terpenes extract which was reacted positively. These results can validate the importance of Euphorbia granulata in traditional medicine.

Keywords: Euphorbia granulata, Euphorbiaceae, alkaloids, terpenoids, antioxidant activity, antibacterial activity.

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Authors: Cheng Shen, LaiHong Shen

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Ammonia is an important carrier of hydrogen energy, with the characteristics of high hydrogen content density and no carbon dioxide emission. Safe and efficient ammonia capture for ammonia synthesis from biomass is an important way to alleviate the energy crisis and solve the energy problem. Metal chloride has a chemical adsorption effect on ammonia and can be desorbed at high temperatures to obtain high-concentration ammonia after combining with ammonia, which has a good development prospect in ammonia capture and separation technology. In this paper, the ammonia adsorption properties of CuCl2 were measured, and the composite adsorbents were prepared by using silicon and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, respectively to support CuCl2, and the ammonia adsorption properties of the composite adsorbents were studied. The study found that the ammonia adsorption capacity of the three adsorbents decreased with the increase in temperature, so metal chlorides were more suitable for the low-temperature adsorption of ammonia. Silicon and multi-walled carbon nanotubes have an enhanced effect on the ammonia adsorption of CuCl2. The reason is that the porous material itself has a physical adsorption effect on ammonia, and silicon can play the role of skeleton support in cupric chloride particles, which enhances the pore structure of the adsorbent, thereby alleviating sintering.

Keywords: Ammonia, adsorption properties, metal chloride, MWCNTs, silicon.

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Authors: Magda Bădescu, Daniela Jitaru, C.Grigoraş, L.Bădescu, I. Topala, Manuela Ciocoiu

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The purpose of our study was to compare spontaneous re-epithelisation characteristics versus assisted re-epithelisation. In order to assess re-epithelisation of the injured skin, we have imagined and designed a burn wound model on Wistar rat skin. Our aim was to create standardised, easy reproducible and quantifiable skin lesions involving entire epidermis and superficial dermis. We then have applied the above mentioned therapeutic strategies to compare regeneration of epidermis and dermis, local and systemic parameter changes in different conditions. We have enhanced the reepithelisation process under a moist atmosphere of a polyurethane wound dress modified with helium non-thermal plasma, and with the aid of direct cold-plasma treatment respectively. We have followed systemic parameters change: hematologic and biochemical parameters, and local features: oxidative stress markers and histology of skin in the above mentioned conditions. Re-epithelisation is just a part of the skin regeneration process, which recruits cellular components, with the aid of epidermal and dermal interaction via signal molecules.

Keywords: Plasma medicine, re-epithelisation and tissue regeneration

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Authors: Deepak Mohan, Sushma Sharma

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Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) are a group of widely used drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid diseases and to relieve pain and inflammation due to their analgesic anti-pyretic and anti-inflammatory properties. The therapeutic and many of the toxic effects of NSAIDs result from reversible inhibition of enzymes in the cyclooxygenase (COX) group. In the present investigation the effect of the drug on the concentration of lipids, and on the activity of the enzymes i.e. acid and alkaline phosphatase, GOT, GPT and lipid peroxidase were studied. There was a significant enhancement in the activities of both acid and alkaline phosphatase after 21 days of treatment. Proportionate increase in the MDA contents was observed after different days of diclofenac treatment. Cellular damage in the liver resulted in decrease in the activity of both GOT (Glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase) and GPT (Glutamate pyruvate transaminase) in both low and high dose groups. Significant decrease in the liver contents was also observed in both dose groups.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatory, cyclooxygenase, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, malondialdehyde.

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Authors: Lily Ingsrisawang, Supawadee Ingsriswang, Saisuda Somchit, Prasert Aungsuratana, Warawut Khantiyanan

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This paper presents the methodology from machine learning approaches for short-term rain forecasting system. Decision Tree, Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) were applied to develop classification and prediction models for rainfall forecasts. The goals of this presentation are to demonstrate (1) how feature selection can be used to identify the relationships between rainfall occurrences and other weather conditions and (2) what models can be developed and deployed for predicting the accurate rainfall estimates to support the decisions to launch the cloud seeding operations in the northeastern part of Thailand. Datasets collected during 2004-2006 from the Chalermprakiat Royal Rain Making Research Center at Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri khan, the Chalermprakiat Royal Rain Making Research Center at Pimai, Nakhon Ratchasima and Thai Meteorological Department (TMD). A total of 179 records with 57 features was merged and matched by unique date. There are three main parts in this work. Firstly, a decision tree induction algorithm (C4.5) was used to classify the rain status into either rain or no-rain. The overall accuracy of classification tree achieves 94.41% with the five-fold cross validation. The C4.5 algorithm was also used to classify the rain amount into three classes as no-rain (0-0.1 mm.), few-rain (0.1- 10 mm.), and moderate-rain (>10 mm.) and the overall accuracy of classification tree achieves 62.57%. Secondly, an ANN was applied to predict the rainfall amount and the root mean square error (RMSE) were used to measure the training and testing errors of the ANN. It is found that the ANN yields a lower RMSE at 0.171 for daily rainfall estimates, when compared to next-day and next-2-day estimation. Thirdly, the ANN and SVM techniques were also used to classify the rain amount into three classes as no-rain, few-rain, and moderate-rain as above. The results achieved in 68.15% and 69.10% of overall accuracy of same-day prediction for the ANN and SVM models, respectively. The obtained results illustrated the comparison of the predictive power of different methods for rainfall estimation.

Keywords: Machine learning, decision tree, artificial neural network, support vector machine, root mean square error.

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Authors: Shin-Jer Yang, Kai-Tai Yang

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In response to a changing world and the fast growth of the Internet, more and more enterprises are replacing web-based services with cloud-based ones. Multi-tenancy technology is becoming more important especially with Software as a Service (SaaS). This in turn leads to a greater focus on the application of Identity and Access Management (IAM). Conventional Near-Field Communication (NFC) based verification relies on a computer browser and a card reader to access an NFC tag. This type of verification does not support mobile device login and user-based access management functions. This study designs an NFC-based third-party cloud identity and access management scheme (NFC-IAM) addressing this shortcoming. Data from simulation tests analyzed with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) suggest that the NFC-IAM not only takes less time in identity identification but also cuts time by 80% in terms of two-factor authentication and improves verification accuracy to 99.9% or better. In functional performance analyses, NFC-IAM performed better in salability and portability. The NFC-IAM App (Application Software) and back-end system to be developed and deployed in mobile device are to support IAM features and also offers users a more user-friendly experience and stronger security protection. In the future, our NFC-IAM can be employed to different environments including identification for mobile payment systems, permission management for remote equipment monitoring, among other applications.

Keywords: Cloud service, multi-tenancy, NFC, IAM, mobile device.

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Authors: Charles P. Mukumba, Kahilu K. Shakantu

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Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is critical to achieving transformational results that support Zambia's developmental agenda. Public procurement is integral to the government's mission to deliver goods and services in a timely and economical manner beyond the value of money spent. This study explores the link between sustainable public procurement and the SDGs in Zambia. To validate the established links with public sector procurement in Zambia, the study employed qualitative research using semi-structured interviews with 12 public procurement officials. The collected data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that public procurement plays a fundamental role in achieving the SDGs by helping deliver core public services that support SDGs and systematizing and co-delivering added value along the way. The study further established the importance of sustainable public procurement within the development context. The interviews were limited to mainstream public sector procurement entities in Lusaka, Zambia. Sustainable public procurement actions have the potential to impact SDGs. Promoting sustainable public procurement will enhance sustainable development and significantly improve the supply chain, benefiting the economy, society and environment. Findings will inform policy-makers how to strategically design sustainable public procurement policy by attuning it to procuring entities' objectives and priorities to contribute to attaining SDGs.

Keywords: Sustainable public procurement, sustainable development goals, SDG targets, Zambia.

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Authors: Saeed Sedighizadeh, Abbas Mansoori, Mohammad Reza Pirestani, Davoud Sedighizadeh

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The usual method of river flow diversion involves construction of tunnels and cofferdams. Given the fact that the cost of diversion works could be as high as 10-20% of the total dam construction cost, due attention should be paid to optimum design of the diversion works. The cost of diversion works depends, on factors, such as: the tunnel dimensions and the intended tunneling support measures during and after excavation; quality and characterizes of the rock through which the tunnel should be excavated; the dimensions of the upstream (and downstream) cofferdams; and the magnitude of river flood the system is designed to divert. In this paper by use of the cost of unit prices for tunnel excavation, tunnel lining, tunnel support (rock bolt + shotcrete) and cofferdam fill the cost function was determined. The function is then minimized by the aid of PSO Algorithm (particle swarm optimization). It is found that the optimum diameter and the total diversion cost are directly related to the river flood discharge (Q). It has also shown that in addition to optimum diameter design discharge (Q), river length, tunnel length, is mainly a function of the ratios (not the absolute values) of the unit prices and does not depend on the overall price levels in the respective country. The results of optimization use in some of the case study lead us to significant changes in the cost.

Keywords: Diversion Tunnel, Optimization, PSO Algorithm

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Authors: C. Gunavathi, K. Premalatha

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Tumor classification is a key area of research in the field of bioinformatics. Microarray technology is commonly used in the study of disease diagnosis using gene expression levels. The main drawback of gene expression data is that it contains thousands of genes and a very few samples. Feature selection methods are used to select the informative genes from the microarray. These methods considerably improve the classification accuracy. In the proposed method, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used for effective feature selection. Informative genes are identified based on the T-Statistics, Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and F-Test values. The initial candidate solutions of GA are obtained from top-m informative genes. The classification accuracy of k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) method is used as the fitness function for GA. In this work, kNN and Support Vector Machine (SVM) are used as the classifiers. The experimental results show that the proposed work is suitable for effective feature selection. With the help of the selected genes, GA-kNN method achieves 100% accuracy in 4 datasets and GA-SVM method achieves in 5 out of 10 datasets. The GA with kNN and SVM methods are demonstrated to be an accurate method for microarray based tumor classification.

Keywords: F-Test, Gene Expression, Genetic Algorithm, k- Nearest-Neighbor, Microarray, Signal-to-Noise Ratio, Support Vector Machine, T-statistics, Tumor Classification.

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Authors: Mrs.K.Kavitha, S.Arivazhagan

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A spatial classification technique incorporating a State of Art Feature Extraction algorithm is proposed in this paper for classifying a heterogeneous classes present in hyper spectral images. The classification accuracy can be improved if and only if both the feature extraction and classifier selection are proper. As the classes in the hyper spectral images are assumed to have different textures, textural classification is entertained. Run Length feature extraction is entailed along with the Principal Components and Independent Components. A Hyperspectral Image of Indiana Site taken by AVIRIS is inducted for the experiment. Among the original 220 bands, a subset of 120 bands is selected. Gray Level Run Length Matrix (GLRLM) is calculated for the selected forty bands. From GLRLMs the Run Length features for individual pixels are calculated. The Principle Components are calculated for other forty bands. Independent Components are calculated for next forty bands. As Principal & Independent Components have the ability to represent the textural content of pixels, they are treated as features. The summation of Run Length features, Principal Components, and Independent Components forms the Combined Features which are used for classification. SVM with Binary Hierarchical Tree is used to classify the hyper spectral image. Results are validated with ground truth and accuracies are calculated.

Keywords: Multi-class, Run Length features, PCA, ICA, classification and Support Vector Machines.

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Authors: A. Tellaeche, X. P. Burgos-Artizzu, G. Pajares, A. Ribeiro

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One important objective in Precision Agriculture is to minimize the volume of herbicides that are applied to the fields through the use of site-specific weed management systems. In order to reach this goal, two major factors need to be considered: 1) the similar spectral signature, shape and texture between weeds and crops; 2) the irregular distribution of the weeds within the crop's field. This paper outlines an automatic computer vision system for the detection and differential spraying of Avena sterilis, a noxious weed growing in cereal crops. The proposed system involves two processes: image segmentation and decision making. Image segmentation combines basic suitable image processing techniques in order to extract cells from the image as the low level units. Each cell is described by two area-based attributes measuring the relations among the crops and the weeds. From these attributes, a hybrid decision making approach determines if a cell must be or not sprayed. The hybrid approach uses the Support Vector Machines and the Fuzzy k-Means methods, combined through the fuzzy aggregation theory. This makes the main finding of this paper. The method performance is compared against other available strategies.

Keywords: Fuzzy k-Means, Precision agriculture, SupportVectors Machines, Weed detection.

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Authors: Raúl González Muñoz, Essam Shehab, Martin Weinitzke, Chris Fowler, Paul Baguley

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Software applications have become crucial to the aerospace industry, providing a wide range of functionalities and capabilities used during the design, manufacturing and support of aircraft. However, as this criticality increases, so too does the risk for business operations when facing a software failure. Hence, there is a need for new methodologies to be developed to support aerospace companies in effectively managing their software portfolios, avoiding the hazards of business disruption and additional costs. This paper aims to provide a definition of operational software maturity, and how this can be used to assess software operational behaviour, as well as a view on the different aspects that drive software maturity within the aerospace industry. The key research question addressed is, how can operational software maturity monitoring assist the aerospace industry in effectively managing large software portfolios? This question has been addressed by conducting an in depth review of current literature, by working closely with aerospace professionals and by running an industry case study within a major aircraft manufacturer. The results are a software maturity model composed of a set of drivers and a prototype tool used for the testing and validation of the research findings. By utilising these methodologies to assess the operational maturity of software applications in aerospace, benefits in maintenance activities and operations disruption avoidance have been observed, supporting business cases for system improvement.

Keywords: Aerospace, capability maturity model, software maturity, software lifecycle.

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Authors: Lara Dutil-Fafard, Caroline Rhéaume, Patrick Archambault, Daniel Lafond, Neal W. Pollock

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Improving resources for medical autonomy of astronauts in prolonged space missions, such as a Mars mission, requires not only technology development, but also decision-making support systems. The Advanced Crew Medical System - Medical Condition Requirements study, funded by the Canadian Space Agency, aimed to create knowledge content and a scenario-based query capability to support medical autonomy of astronauts. The key objective of this study was to create a prototype tool for identifying medical infrastructure requirements in terms of medical knowledge, skills and materials. A multicriteria decision-making method was used to prioritize the highest risk medical events anticipated in a long-term space mission. Starting with those medical conditions, event sequence diagrams (ESDs) were created in the form of decision trees where the entry point is the diagnosis and the end points are the predicted outcomes (full recovery, partial recovery, or death/severe incapacitation). The ESD formalism was adapted to characterize and compare possible outcomes of medical conditions as a function of available medical knowledge, skills, and supplies in a given mission scenario. An extensive literature review was performed and summarized in a medical condition database. A PostgreSQL relational database was created to allow query-based evaluation of health outcome metrics with different medical infrastructure scenarios. Critical decision points, skill and medical supply requirements, and probable health outcomes were compared across chosen scenarios. The three medical conditions with the highest risk rank were acute coronary syndrome, sepsis, and stroke. Our efforts demonstrate the utility of this approach and provide insight into the effort required to develop appropriate content for the range of medical conditions that may arise.

Keywords: Decision support system, event sequence diagram, exploration mission, medical autonomy, scenario-based queries, space medicine.

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Authors: Aleksandra Zysk, Pawel Badura

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Recognizing and controlling vocal registers during singing is a difficult task for beginner vocalist. It requires among others identifying which part of natural resonators is being used when a sound propagates through the body. Thus, an application has been designed allowing for sound recording, automatic vocal register recognition (VRR), and a graphical user interface providing real-time visualization of the signal and recognition results. Six spectral features are determined for each time frame and passed to the support vector machine classifier yielding a binary decision on the head or chest register assignment of the segment. The classification training and testing data have been recorded by ten professional female singers (soprano, aged 19-29) performing sounds for both chest and head register. The classification accuracy exceeded 93% in each of various validation schemes. Apart from a hard two-class clustering, the support vector classifier returns also information on the distance between particular feature vector and the discrimination hyperplane in a feature space. Such an information reflects the level of certainty of the vocal register classification in a fuzzy way. Thus, the designed recognition and training application is able to assess and visualize the continuous trend in singing in a user-friendly graphical mode providing an easy way to control the vocal emission.

Keywords: Classification, singing, spectral analysis, vocal emission, vocal register.

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Authors: Subramaniam Chandran

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This paper presents an assessment study conducted among the distance learners in India. Open and distance learning systems have traveled a long way since its inception and its journey has witnessed the evolution and adoption of different generations of technology. This study focuses on the distant learners in India. Sampling for this study has been derived from the mass enrollment from Tamil Nadu area, a southern state of India. Learners were chosen from dual mode universities, private universities, Tamil Nadu Open University and IGNOU. The main focus of the study is to examine the coverage and appropriation of students support services and learning aids. It explores two aspects: the facilities available and the awareness and use of such services. It includes, self-learning materials, face-to-face counseling, multimedia learning materials, website, e-learning, radio and television services etc. While exploring the student-s perspective on these learning aspects, it is important to understand the perspectives of the teachers. Two different interests are visible among the teachers. Majority of the teachers support faceto- face counseling. However, the young teachers are in favour of online learning and multimedia supports in teaching. Through the awareness is somewhat high, the actual participation in online is very low. This is due to the inadequate infrastructure as well as the traditional attitudes of the teachers. Still the face-to-face sessions remain popular than online.

Keywords: Face-to-face session, online session, distance learning, multimedia

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Authors: H. Yousefnia, S. Zolghadri, A. Golabi Dezfuli

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Abstract—[Tris (1,10-phenanthroline) lanthanum(III)] trithiocyanate is a new compound that has shown high ability for stopping the synthesis of DNA and also acting as a photosensitizer. Nowadays, the radiation dose assessment resource (RADAR) method is known as the most common method for absorbed dose calculation. 177Lu was produced by (n, gamma) reaction in a research reactor. 177Lu-PL3 was prepared in the optimized condition. The radiochemical yield was checked by ITLC method. The biodistribution of the complex was investigated by intravenously injection to wild-type rats via their tail veins. In this study, the absorbed dose of 177Lu-PL3 to human organs was estimated by RADAR method. 177Lu was prepared with a specific activity of 2.6-3 GBq.mg-1 and radionuclide purity of 99.98 %. Final preparation of the radiolabelled complex showed high radiochemical purity of > 99%. The results show that liver and spleen have received the highest absorbed dose of 1.051 and 0.441 mSv/MBq, respectively. The absorbed dose values for these two dose-limiting tissues suggest more biological studies special in tumor-bearing animals.

Keywords: Internal dosimetry, Lutetium-177, radar.

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Authors: Tahvilian R., Siahi Shadbad MR., Hamishehkar H., Aghababa Gharehbagh V.

Abstract:

Nowadays pharmaceutical care departments located in hospitals are amongst the important pillars of the healthcare system. The aim of this study was to evaluate quality of hospital drugstores affiliated with Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. In this cross-sectional study a validated questionnaire was used. The questionnaire was filled in by the one of the researchers in all seventeen hospital drugstores located in the teaching and nonteaching hospitals affiliated with Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. The results shows that in observed hospitals,24% of pharmacy environments, 25% of pharmacy store and storage conditions, 49% of storage procedure, 25% of ordering drugs and supplies, 73% of receiving supplies (proper procedure are fallowed for receiving supplies), 35% of receiving supplies (prompt action taken if deterioration of drugs received is suspected), 23.35% of drugs delivery to patients and finally 0% of stock cards are used for proper inventory control have full compliance with standards.

Keywords: Hospital pharmacy standards, Kermanshah, pharmacy management

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Authors: Xun Ge

Abstract:

Recently, X. Ge and J. Qian investigated some relations between higher mathematics scores and calculus scores (resp. linear algebra scores, probability statistics scores) for Chinese university students. Based on rough-set theory, they established an information system S = (U,CuD,V, f). In this information system, higher mathematics score was taken as a decision attribute and calculus score, linear algebra score, probability statistics score were taken as condition attributes. They investigated importance of each condition attribute with respective to decision attribute and strength of each condition attribute supporting decision attribute. In this paper, we give further investigations for this issue. Based on the above information system S = (U, CU D, V, f), we analyze the decision rules between condition and decision granules. For each x E U, we obtain support (resp. strength, certainty factor, coverage factor) of the decision rule C —>x D, where C —>x D is the decision rule induced by x in S = (U, CU D, V, f). Results of this paper gives new analysis of on higher mathematics scores for Chinese university students, which can further lead Chinese university students to raise higher mathematics scores in Chinese graduate student entrance examination.

Keywords: Rough set, support, strength, certainty factor, coverage factor.

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Authors: M. Graus, K. Westhoff, X. Xu

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The climate change causes a change in all aspects of society. While the expansion of renewable energies proceeds, industry could not be convinced based on general studies about the potential of demand side management to reinforce smart grid considerations in their operational business. In this article, a procedure model for a case-specific data-driven decision support for industrial energy management based on a holistic data analytics approach is presented. The model is executed on the example of the strategic decision problem, to integrate the aspect of renewable energies into industrial energy management. This question is induced due to considerations of changing the electricity contract model from a standard rate to volatile energy prices corresponding to the energy spot market which is increasingly more affected by renewable energies. The procedure model corresponds to a data analytics process consisting on a data model, analysis, simulation and optimization step. This procedure will help to quantify the potentials of sustainable production concepts based on the data from a factory. The model is validated with data from a printer in analogy to a simple production machine. The overall goal is to establish smart grid principles for industry via the transformation from knowledge-driven to data-driven decisions within manufacturing companies.

Keywords: Data analytics, green production, industrial energy management, optimization, renewable energies, simulation.

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Authors: J. P. Dubois, O. M. Abdul-Latif

Abstract:

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a recent class of statistical classification and regression techniques playing an increasing role in applications to detection problems in various engineering problems, notably in statistical signal processing, pattern recognition, image analysis, and communication systems. In this paper, SVM is applied to an infrared (IR) binary communication system with different types of channel models including Ricean multipath fading and partially developed scattering channel with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) at the receiver. The structure and performance of SVM in terms of the bit error rate (BER) metric is derived and simulated for these channel stochastic models and the computational complexity of the implementation, in terms of average computational time per bit, is also presented. The performance of SVM is then compared to classical binary signal maximum likelihood detection using a matched filter driven by On-Off keying (OOK) modulation. We found that the performance of SVM is superior to that of the traditional optimal detection schemes used in statistical communication, especially for very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ranges. For large SNR, the performance of the SVM is similar to that of the classical detectors. The implication of these results is that SVM can prove very beneficial to IR communication systems that notoriously suffer from low SNR at the cost of increased computational complexity.

Keywords: Least square-support vector machine, on-off keying, matched filter, maximum likelihood detector, wireless infrared communication.

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Authors: Sadaf Khalid, Fahim Arif

Abstract:

Wide applicability of concurrent programming practices in developing various software applications leads to different concurrency errors amongst which data race is the most important. Java provides greatest support for concurrent programming by introducing various concurrency packages. Aspect oriented programming (AOP) is modern programming paradigm facilitating the runtime interception of events of interest and can be effectively used to handle the concurrency problems. AspectJ being an aspect oriented extension to java facilitates the application of concepts of AOP for data race detection. Volatile variables are usually considered thread safe, but they can become the possible candidates of data races if non-atomic operations are performed concurrently upon them. Various data race detection algorithms have been proposed in the past but this issue of volatility and atomicity is still unaddressed. The aim of this research is to propose some suggestions for incorporating certain conditions for data race detection in java programs at the volatile fields by taking into account support for atomicity in java concurrency packages and making use of pointcuts. Two simple test programs will demonstrate the results of research. The results are verified on two different Java Development Kits (JDKs) for the purpose of comparison.

Keywords: Aspect Bench Compiler (abc), Aspect OrientedProgramming (AOP), AspectJ, Aspects, Concurrency packages, Concurrent programming, Cross-cutting Concerns, Data race, Eclipse, Java, Java Development Kits (JDKs), Pointcuts

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Authors: Angelica S. Valeriani, Lorenzo Biasiolo

Abstract:

In recent years, the scale of the impact of climate change and its related side effects has become ever more massive and devastating. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), promoted by United Nations, aim to front issues related to climate change, among others. In particular, the project CROWD4SDG focuses on a bunch of SDGs, since it promotes environmental activities and climate-related issues. In this context, we developed a prototype of an application, under advanced development considering web design, that focuses on SDG 13 (SDG on climate action) by providing users with useful instruments to face environmental crises and climate-related disasters. Our prototype is thought and structured for both web and mobile development. The main goal of the application, POLI4SDG, is to help users to get through emergency services. To this extent, an organized overview and classification prove to be very effective and helpful to people in need. A careful analysis of data related to environmental crises prompted us to integrate the user contribution, i.e. exploiting a core principle of Citizen Science, into the realization of a public catalog, available for consulting and organized according to typology and specific features. In addition, gender equality and opportunity features are considered in the prototype, in order to allow women, often the most vulnerable category, to have direct support. The overall description of the application functionalities is detailed. Moreover, implementation features and properties of the prototype are discussed.

Keywords: Crowdsourcing, social media, SDG, climate change, natural disasters, gender equality.

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