Search results for: Human health

Authors: Naira Sahakyan, Margarit Petrosyan, Armen Trchounian

Abstract:

One of the tasks in contemporary biotechnology, pharmacology and other fields of human activities is to obtain biologically active substances from plants. They are very essential in the treatment of many diseases due to their actually high therapeutic value without visible side effects. However, sometimes the possibility of obtaining the metabolites is limited due to the reduction of wild-growing plants. That is why the plant cell cultures are of great interest as alternative sources of biologically active substances. Besides, during the monitored cultivation, it is possible to obtain substances that are not synthesized by plants in nature. Isolated culture of Ajuga genevensis with high growth activity and ability of regeneration was obtained using MS nutrient medium. The agar-diffusion method showed that aqueous extracts of callus culture revealed high antimicrobial activity towards various gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis A1WT; B. mesentericus WDCM 1873; Staphylococcus aureus WDCM 5233; Staph. citreus WT) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli WKPM M-17; Salmonella typhimurium TA 100) microorganisms. The broth dilution method revealed that the minimal and half maximal inhibitory concentration values against E. coli corresponded to the 70 μg/mL and 140 μg/mL concentration of the extract respectively. According to the photochemiluminescent analysis, callus tissue extracts of leaf and root origin showed higher antioxidant activity than the same quantity of A. genevensis intact plant extract. A. genevensis intact plant and callus culture extracts showed no cytotoxic effect on K-562 suspension cell line of human chronic myeloid leukemia. The GC-MS analysis showed deep differences between the qualitative and quantitative composition of callus culture and intact plant extracts. Hexacosane (11.17%); n-hexadecanoic acid (9.33%); and 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (4.28%) were the main components of intact plant extracts. 10-Methylnonadecane (57.0%); methoxyacetic acid, 2-tetradecyl ester (17.75%) and 1-Bromopentadecane (14.55%) were the main components of A. genevensis callus culture extracts. Obtained data indicate that callus culture of A. genevensis can be used as an alternative source of biologically active substances.

Keywords: Ajuga genevensis, antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity, callus cultures.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1563

Authors: Jadwiga R. Ziolkowska

Abstract:

In this paper, a fuzzy algorithm and a fuzzy multicriteria decision framework are developed and used for a practical question of optimizing biofuels policy making. The methodological framework shows how to incorporate fuzzy set theory in a decision process of finding a sustainable biofuels policy among several policy options. Fuzzy set theory is used here as a tool to deal with uncertainties of decision environment, vagueness and ambiguities of policy objectives, subjectivities of human assessments and imprecise and incomplete information about the evaluated policy instruments.

Keywords: Fuzzy set theory, multi-criteria decision-makingsupport, uncertainties, policy making, biofuels

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2030

Authors: Ahmad M. Shafiee, Mehrdad Montazeri, Mahdi Nikdast

Abstract:

Every day human life experiences new equipments more automatic and with more abilities. So the need for faster processors doesn-t seem to finish. Despite new architectures and higher frequencies, a single processor is not adequate for many applications. Parallel processing and networks are previous solutions for this problem. The new solution to put a network of resources on a chip is called NOC (network on a chip). The more usual topology for NOC is mesh topology. There are several routing algorithms suitable for this topology such as XY, fully adaptive, etc. In this paper we have suggested a new algorithm named Intermittent X, Y (IX/Y). We have developed the new algorithm in simulation environment to compare delay and power consumption with elders' algorithms.

Keywords: Computer architecture, parallel computing, NOC, routing algorithm.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1678

Authors: Prof. Chokri SLIM

Abstract:

A Novel fuzzy neural network combining with support vector learning mechanism called support-vector-based fuzzy neural networks (SVBFNN) is proposed. The SVBFNN combine the capability of minimizing the empirical risk (training error) and expected risk (testing error) of support vector learning in high dimensional data spaces and the efficient human-like reasoning of FNN.

Keywords: Neural network, fuzzy inference, machine learning, fuzzy modeling and rule extraction, support vector regression.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16687

Authors: Koushlendra Kumar Singh, Manish Kumar Bajpai, Rajesh K. Pandey

Abstract:

The edges of low contrast images are not clearly distinguishable to human eye. It is difficult to find the edges and boundaries in it. The present work encompasses a new approach for low contrast images. The Chebyshev polynomial based fractional order filter has been used for filtering operation on an image. The preprocessing has been performed by this filter on the input image. Laplacian of Gaussian method has been applied on preprocessed image for edge detection. The algorithm has been tested on two test images.

Keywords: Chebyshev polynomials, Fractional order differentiator, Laplacian of Gaussian (LoG) method, Low contrast image.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3276

Authors: Tadatsugu Kitamoto

Abstract:

Recently, a quality of motors is inspected by human ears. In this paper, I propose two systems using a method of speech recognition for automation of the inspection. The first system is based on a method of linear processing which uses K-means and Nearest Neighbor method, and the second is based on a method of non-linear processing which uses neural networks. I used motor sounds in these systems, and I successfully recognize 86.67% of motor sounds in the linear processing system and 97.78% in the non-linear processing system.

Keywords: Acoustical diagnosis, Neural networks, K-means, Short-time Fourier transformation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1700

Authors: U. K. Hulihalli, Shantveerayya

Abstract:

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) is an annual crop belongs to family Poligonaceae. The cultivated buckwheat species are notable for their exceptional nutritive values. It is an important source of carbohydrates, fibre, macro, and microelements such as K, Ca, Mg, Na and Mn, Zn, Se, and Cu. It also contains rutin, flavonoids, riboflavin, pyridoxine and many amino acids which have beneficial effects on human health, including lowering both blood lipid and sugar levels. Rutin, quercetin and some other polyphenols are potent carcinogens against colon and other cancers. Buckwheat has significant nutritive value and plenty of uses. Cultivation of buckwheat in Sothern part of India is very meager. Hence, a study was planned with an objective to know the performance of buckwheat genotypes to different planting geometries and fertility levels. The field experiment was conducted at Main Agriculture Research Station, University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad, India, during 2017 Kharif. The experiment was laid-out in split-plot design with three replications having three planting geometries as main plots, two genotypes as sub plots and three fertility levels as sub-sub plot treatments. The soil of the experimental site was vertisol. The standard procedures are followed to record the observations. The planting geometry of 30*10 cm was recorded significantly higher seed yield (893 kg/ha⁻¹), stover yield (1507 kg ha⁻¹), clusters plant⁻¹ (7.4), seeds clusters⁻¹ (7.9) and 1000 seed weight (26.1 g) as compared to 40*10 cm and 20*10 cm planting geometries. Between the genotypes, significantly higher seed yield (943 kg ha⁻¹) and harvest index (45.1) was observed with genotype IC-79147 as compared to PRB-1 genotype (687 kg ha⁻¹ and 34.2, respectively). However, the genotype PRB-1 recorded significantly higher stover yield (1344 kg ha⁻¹) as compared to genotype IC-79147 (1173 kg ha⁻¹). The genotype IC-79147 was recorded significantly higher clusters plant⁻¹ (7.1), seeds clusters⁻¹ (7.9) and 1000 seed weight (24.5 g) as compared PRB-1 (5.4, 5.8 and 22.3 g, respectively). Among the fertility levels tried, the fertility level of 60:30 NP kg ha⁻¹ recorded significantly higher seed yield (845 kg ha^-1) and stover yield (1359 kg ha⁻¹) as compared to 40:20 NP kg ha^-1 (808 and 1259 kg ha⁻¹ respectively) and 20:10 NP kg ha^-1 (793 and 1144 kg ha⁻¹ respectively). Within the treatment combinations, IC 79147 genotype having 30*10 cm planting geometry with 60:30 NP kg ha⁻¹ recorded significantly higher seed yield (1070 kg ha⁻¹), clusters plant⁻¹ (10.3), seeds clusters⁻¹ (9.9) and 1000 seed weight (27.3 g) compared to other treatment combinations.

Keywords: Buckwheat, fertility levels, genotypes, geometry, polyphenols, rutin.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 837

Authors: Surbhi Gupta, Alka Handa, Parvinder S.Sandhu

Abstract:

Stegnography is a new way of secret communication the most widely used mechanism on account of its simplicity is the use of the least significant bit. We have used the least significant bit (2 LSB and 4 LSB) substitution method. Depending upon the characteristics of the individual portions of cover image we decide whether to use 2 LSB or 4 LSB thus it is an adaptive stegnography technique. We used one of the three channels to behave as indicator to indicate the presence of hidden data in other two channels. The module showed impressive results in terms of capacity to hide the data. In proposed method, instead of using RGB color space directly, YCbCr color space is used to make use of human visual system characteristic.

Keywords: Stegoimage, steganography, Pixel indicator, segmentation, YCbCr..

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2184

Authors: Mihriban Korukluoglu, Goksen Arik, Cagla Erdogan, Selen Kocakoglu

Abstract:

Kefir is a traditional fermented refreshing beverage which is known for its valuable and beneficial properties for human health. Mainly yeast species, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains and fewer acetic acid bacteria strains live together in a natural matrix named “kefir grain”, which is formed from various proteins and polysaccharides. Different microbial species live together in slimy kefir grain and it has been thought that synergetic effect could take place between microorganisms, which belong to different genera and species. In this research, yeast and LAB were isolated from kefir samples obtained from Uludag University Food Engineering Department. The cell morphology of isolates was screened by microscopic examination. Gram reactions of bacteria isolates were determined by Gram staining method, and as well catalase activity was examined. After observing the microscopic/morphological and physical, enzymatic properties of all isolates, they were divided into the groups as LAB and/or yeast according to their physicochemical responses to the applied examinations. As part of this research, the antagonistic/synergistic efficacy of the identified five LAB and five yeast strains to each other were determined individually by disk diffusion method. The antagonistic or synergistic effect is one of the most important properties in a co-culture system that different microorganisms are living together. The synergistic effect should be promoted, whereas the antagonistic effect is prevented to provide effective culture for fermentation of kefir. The aim of this study was to determine microbial interactions between identified yeast and LAB strains, and whether their effect is antagonistic or synergistic. Thus, if there is a strain which inhibits or retards the growth of other strains found in Kefir microflora, this circumstance shows the presence of antagonistic effect in the medium. Such negative influence should be prevented, whereas the microorganisms which have synergistic effect on each other should be promoted by combining them in kefir grain. Standardisation is the most desired property for industrial production. Each microorganism found in the microbial flora of a kefir grain should be identified individually. The members of the microbial community found in the glue-like kefir grain may be redesigned as a starter culture regarding efficacy of each microorganism to another in kefir processing. The main aim of this research was to shed light on more effective production of kefir grain and to contribute a standardisation of kefir processing in the food industry.

Keywords: Antagonistic effect, kefir, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), synergistic, yeast.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1523

Authors: Petra Horváthová, Irena Durdová

Abstract:

The article is aimed at bringing information on the scope and the level of use of talent management by organizations in one of the Czech Republic regions, in the Moravian-Silesian Region. On the basis of data acquired by a questionnaire survey it has been found out that organizations in the above-mentioned region are implementing the system of talent management on a small scale: this approach is used by 3.8 % of organizations only that is 9 from 237 (100 %) of the approached respondents. The main reasons why this approach is not used is either that organizations have no knowledge of it or there is lack of financial and personnel resources. In the article recommendations suggested by the author can be found for a wider application of talent management in the Czech practice.

Keywords: Talent, talent management, use, mind map of talent management.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2167

Authors: Muhammad Raza Ali, Tim Morris

Abstract:

Skin color is an important visual cue for computer vision systems involving human users. In this paper we combine skin color and optical flow for detection and tracking of skin regions. We apply these techniques to gesture recognition with encouraging results. We propose a novel skin similarity measure. For grouping detected skin regions we propose a novel skin region grouping mechanism. The proposed techniques work with any number of skin regions making them suitable for a multiuser scenario.

Keywords: Bayesian tracking, chromaticity space, optical flowgesture recognition

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1928

Authors: Alan Luo, Hunter N. B. Moseley

Abstract:

Many macromolecular structure entries in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) have a range of regional (localized) quality issues, be it derived from X-ray crystallography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, or other experimental approaches. However, most PDB entries are judged by global quality metrics like R-factor, R-free, and resolution for X-ray crystallography or backbone phi-psi distribution statistics and average restraint violations for NMR. Regional quality is often ignored when PDB entries are re-used for a variety of structurally based analyses. The binding of ligands, especially ligands involved in energy metabolism, is of particular interest in many structurally focused protein studies. Using a regional quality metric that provides chemically interpretable information from electron density maps, a significant number of outliers in regional structural quality was detected across X-ray crystallographic PDB entries for proteins bound to biochemically critical ligands. In this study, a series of analyses was performed to evaluate both specific and general potential factors that could promote these outliers. In particular, these potential factors were the minimum distance to a metal ion, the minimum distance to a crystal contact, and the isotropic atomic b-factor. To evaluate these potential factors, Fisher’s exact tests were performed, using regional quality criteria of outlier (top 1%, 2.5%, 5%, or 10%) versus non-outlier compared to a potential factor metric above versus below a certain outlier cutoff. The results revealed a consistent general effect from region-specific normalized b-factors but no specific effect from metal ion contact distances and only a very weak effect from crystal contact distance as compared to the b-factor results. These findings indicate that no single specific potential factor explains a majority of the outlier ligand-bound regions, implying that human error is likely as important as these other factors. Thus, all factors, including human error, should be considered when regions of low structural quality are detected. Also, the downstream re-use of protein structures for studying ligand-bound conformations should screen the regional quality of the binding sites. Doing so prevents misinterpretation due to the presence of structural uncertainty or flaws in regions of interest.

Keywords: Biomacromolecular structure, coenzyme, electron density discrepancy analysis, X-ray crystallography.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 255

Authors: Halim Djerroud, Arab Ali Cherif

Abstract:

We assume that conscious functions are implemented automatically. In other words that consciousness as well as the non-consciousness aspect of human thought, planning and perception, are produced by biologically adaptive algorithms. We propose that the mechanisms of consciousness can be produced using similar adaptive algorithms to those executed by the mechanism. In this paper, we present a computational model of consciousness, the ”Global Abstraction Workspace” which is an internal environmental modelling perceived as a multi-agent system. This system is able to evolve and generate new data and processes as well as actions in the environment.

Keywords: Artificial consciousness, cognitive architecture, global abstraction workspace, mutli-agents system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1584

Authors: P. Thongmuang

Abstract:

The purposes of this research were 1) to survey the number of drugstores that unlawful dispense of asthma prescription drugs, in form of drug combinations in the Phaya Thai district of Bangkok, 2) to find the steroids contained in that drug combinations, 3) to find a means for informing general public about the dangers of drugs and for a campaign to stop dispensing them. Researcher collected drug combinations from 69 drugstores in Phaya Thai district from Feb 15, 2012 to Mar 15, 2012. The survey found 30.43%, 21, drug stores, sold asthma drug combinations to customers without a prescription. These collected samples were tested for steroid contamination by using Immunochromatography kits. Eleven samples, 52.38%, were found contaminated with steroids. In short, there should be control and inspection of drugstores in the distribution of steroid medications. To improve the knowledge of self health maintenance and drug usage among public, Thai Government and Department of Public Health should educate people about the side effects of using drug combinations and steroids.

Keywords: Dispensing, Drug Combinations, Steroids

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2059

Authors: Maciej Zasuwa, Grzegorz Ptasinski, Antoni Kopyt

Abstract:

Nowadays flight simulators offer tremendous possibilities for safe and cost-effective pilot training, by utilization of powerful, computational tools. Due to technology outpacing methodology, vast majority of training related work is done by human instructors. It makes assessment not efficient, and vulnerable to instructors’ subjectivity. The research presents an Objective Assessment Tool (gOAT) developed at the Warsaw University of Technology, and tested on SW-4 helicopter flight simulator. The tool uses database of the predefined manoeuvres, defined and integrated to the virtual environment. These were implemented, basing on Aeronautical Design Standard Performance Specification Handling Qualities Requirements for Military Rotorcraft (ADS-33), with predefined Mission-Task-Elements (MTEs). The core element of the gOAT enhanced algorithm that provides instructor a new set of information. In details, a set of objective flight parameters fused with report about psychophysical state of the pilot. While the pilot performs the task, the gOAT system automatically calculates performance using the embedded algorithms, data registered by the simulator software (position, orientation, velocity, etc.), as well as measurements of physiological changes of pilot’s psychophysiological state (temperature, sweating, heart rate). Complete set of measurements is presented on-line to instructor’s station and shown in dedicated graphical interface. The presented tool is based on open source solutions, and flexible for editing. Additional manoeuvres can be easily added using guide developed by authors, and MTEs can be changed by instructor even during an exercise. Algorithm and measurements used allow not only to implement basic stress level measurements, but also to reduce instructor’s workload significantly. Tool developed can be used for training purpose, as well as periodical checks of the aircrew. Flexibility and ease of modifications allow the further development to be wide ranged, and the tool to be customized. Depending on simulation purpose, gOAT can be adjusted to support simulator of aircraft, helicopter, or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Keywords: Automated assessment, flight simulator, human factors, pilot training.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 808

Authors: Maxence Queyrel, Edi Prifti, Alexandre Templier, Jean-Daniel Zucker

Abstract:

Analysis of the human microbiome using metagenomic sequencing data has demonstrated high ability in discriminating various human diseases. Raw metagenomic sequencing data require multiple complex and computationally heavy bioinformatics steps prior to data analysis. Such data contain millions of short sequences read from the fragmented DNA sequences and stored as fastq files. Conventional processing pipelines consist in multiple steps including quality control, filtering, alignment of sequences against genomic catalogs (genes, species, taxonomic levels, functional pathways, etc.). These pipelines are complex to use, time consuming and rely on a large number of parameters that often provide variability and impact the estimation of the microbiome elements. Training Deep Neural Networks directly from raw sequencing data is a promising approach to bypass some of the challenges associated with mainstream bioinformatics pipelines. Most of these methods use the concept of word and sentence embeddings that create a meaningful and numerical representation of DNA sequences, while extracting features and reducing the dimensionality of the data. In this paper we present an end-to-end approach that classifies patients into disease groups directly from raw metagenomic reads: metagenome2vec. This approach is composed of four steps (i) generating a vocabulary of k-mers and learning their numerical embeddings; (ii) learning DNA sequence (read) embeddings; (iii) identifying the genome from which the sequence is most likely to come and (iv) training a multiple instance learning classifier which predicts the phenotype based on the vector representation of the raw data. An attention mechanism is applied in the network so that the model can be interpreted, assigning a weight to the influence of the prediction for each genome. Using two public real-life data-sets as well a simulated one, we demonstrated that this original approach reaches high performance, comparable with the state-of-the-art methods applied directly on processed data though mainstream bioinformatics workflows. These results are encouraging for this proof of concept work. We believe that with further dedication, the DNN models have the potential to surpass mainstream bioinformatics workflows in disease classification tasks.

Keywords: Metagenomics, phenotype prediction, deep learning, embeddings, multiple instance learning.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 910

Authors: Songyi Kim, Kwangwoo Lee, Seungjoo Kim, Dongho Won

Abstract:

RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) system has been widely used in our life, such as transport systems, passports, automotive, animal tracking, human implants, library, and so on. However, the RFID authentication protocols between RF (Radio Frequency) tags and the RF readers have been bring about various privacy problems that anonymity of the tags, tracking, eavesdropping, and so on. Many researchers have proposed the solution of the problems. However, they still have the problem, such as location privacy, mutual authentication. In this paper, we show the problems of the previous protocols, and then we propose a more secure and efficient RFID authentication protocol.

Keywords: RFID, mutual authentication, serverless, anonymity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1934

Authors: Hasliza A. Rahim, Fareq Malek, Ismahayati Adam, Ahmad Sahadah, Nur B. M. Hashim, Nur A. M. Affendi, Azuwa Ali, Norshafinash Saudin, Latifah Mohamed

Abstract:

This paper discusses the investigation of a wearable textile monopole antenna on specific absorption rate (SAR) for bodycentric wireless communication applications at 2.45 GHz. The antenna is characterized on a realistic 8 x 8 x 8 mm3 resolution truncated Hugo body model in CST Microwave Studio software. The result exhibited that the simulated SAR values were reduced significantly by 83.5% as the position of textile monopole was varying between 0 mm and 15 mm away from the human upper arm. A power absorption reduction of 52.2% was also noticed as the distance of textile monopole increased.

Keywords: Monopole antenna, specific absorption rate, textile antenna.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2127

Authors: Gamze Fahriye Pehlivan, Tulay Canitez

Abstract:

The traditional Turkish houses becoming unusable are a result of the deterioration of the balanced interaction between users and house (human and house) continuing during the history. Especially depending upon the change in social structure, the houses becoming neglected do not meet the desires of the users and do not have the meaning but the shelter are becoming unusable and are being destroyed. A conservation policy should be developed and renovations should be made in order to pass the traditional houses carrying the quality of a cultural and historical document presenting the social structure, the lifestyle and the traditions of its own age to the next generations and to keep them alive.

Keywords: House, social structural change, social structural, traditional Turkish houses.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1707

Authors: P. Pongsumpun

Abstract:

A new strain of Type A influenza virus can cause the transmission of H1N1 virus. This virus can spread between the people by coughing and sneezing. Because the people are always movement, so this virus can be easily spread. In this study, we construct the dynamical network model of H1N1 virus by separating the human into five groups; susceptible, exposed, infectious, quarantine and recovered groups. The movement of people between houses (local level) is considered. The behaviors of solutions to our dynamical model are shown for the different parameters.

Keywords: Dynamical network, H1N1virus, local level, simulation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1547

Authors: Joe Walsh, Mike Climstein, Ian Timothy Heazlewood, Stephen Burke, Jyrki Kettunen, Kent Adams, Mark DeBeliso

Abstract:

Thousands of masters athletes participate quadrennially in the World Masters Games (WMG), yet this cohort of athletes remains proportionately under-investigated. Due to a growing global obesity pandemic in context of benefits of physical activity across the lifespan, the BMI trends for this unique population was of particular interest. The nexus between health, physical activity and aging is complex and has raised much interest in recent times due to the realization that a multifaceted approach is necessary in order to counteract the obesity pandemic. By investigating age based trends within a population adhering to competitive sport at older ages, further insight might be gleaned to assist in understanding one of many factors influencing this relationship.BMI was derived using data gathered on a total of 6,071 masters athletes (51.9% male, 48.1% female) aged 25 to 91 years ( =51.5, s =±9.7), competing at the Sydney World Masters Games (2009). Using linear and loess regression it was demonstrated that the usual tendency for prevalence of higher BMI increasing with age was reversed in the sample. This trend in reversal was repeated for both male and female only sub-sets of the sample participants, indicating the possibility of improved prevalence of BMI with increasing age for both the sample as a whole and these individual sub-groups.This evidence of improved classification in one index of health (reduced BMI) for masters athletes (when compared to the general population) implies there are either improved levels of this index of health with aging due to adherence to sport or possibly the reduced BMI is advantageous and contributes to this cohort adhering (or being attracted) to masters sport at older ages.

Keywords: Aging, masters athlete, Quetelet Index, sport

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1712

Authors: Essam Abd-Elrazek

Abstract:

With the rapid growth in business size, today-s businesses orient Throughout thirty years local, national and international experience in medicine as a medical student, junior doctor and eventually Consultant and Professor in Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Management, I note significant generalised dissatisfaction among medical students and doctors regarding their medical education and practice. We repeatedly hear complaints from patients about the dysfunctional health care system they are dealing with and subsequently the poor medical service that they are receiving. Medical students are bombarded with lectures, tutorials, clinical rounds and various exams. Clinicians are weighed down with a never-ending array of competing duties. Patients are extremely unhappy about the long waiting lists, loss of their records and the continuous deterioration of the health care service. This problem has been reported in different countries by several authors [1,2,3]. In a trial to solve this dilemma, a genuine idea has been suggested implementing computer technology in medicine [2,3]. Computers in medicine are a medium of international communication of the revolutionary advances being made in the application of the computer to the fields of bioscience and medicine [4,5]. The awareness about using computers in medicine has recently increased all over the world. In Misr University for Science & Technology (MUST), Egypt, medical students are now given hand-held computers (Laptop) with Internet facility making their medical education accessible, convenient and up to date. However, this trial still needs to be validated. Helping the readers to catch up with the on going fast development in this interesting field, the author has decided to continue reviewing the literature, exploring the state-of-art in computer based medicine and up dating the medical professionals especially the local trainee Doctors in Egypt. In part I of this review article we will give a general background discussing the potential use of computer technology in the various aspects of the medical field including education, research, clinical practice and the health care service given to patients. Hope this will help starting changing the culture, promoting the awareness about the importance of implementing information technology (IT) in medicine, which is a field in which such help is needed. An international collaboration is recommended supporting the emerging countries achieving this target.

Keywords: Medical Informatics, telemedicine, e-health systems.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2633

Authors: Cherry Dhiman, Ayushi Paliwal, Mohd. Shahid Khan, M. N. Reddy, Vinay Gupta, Monika Tomar

Abstract:

The laser based high resolution spectroscopic experimental techniques such as Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Rotating Disk Electrode Optical Emission spectroscopy (RDE-OES) and Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) have been used for the study of composition and degradation analysis of used engine oils. Engine oils are mainly composed of aliphatic and aromatics compounds and its soot contains hazardous components in the form of fine, coarse and ultrafine particles consisting of wear metal elements. Such coarse particulates matter (PM) and toxic elements are extremely dangerous for human health that can cause respiratory and genetic disorder in humans. The combustible soot from thermal power plants, industry, aircrafts, ships and vehicles can lead to the environmental and climate destabilization. It contributes towards global pollution for land, water, air and global warming for environment. The detection of such toxicants in the form of elemental analysis is a very serious issue for the waste material management of various organic, inorganic hydrocarbons and radioactive waste elements. In view of such important points, the current study on used engine oils was performed. The fundamental characterization of engine oils was conducted by measuring water content and kinematic viscosity test that proves the crude analysis of the degradation of used engine oils samples. The microscopic quantitative and qualitative analysis was presented by RDE-OES technique which confirms the presence of elemental impurities of Pb, Al, Cu, Si, Fe, Cr, Na and Ba lines for used waste engine oil samples in few ppm. The presence of such elemental impurities was confirmed by LIBS spectral analysis at various transition levels of atomic line. The recorded transition line of Pb confirms the maximum degradation which was found in used engine oil sample no. 3 and 4. Apart from the basic tests, the calculations for dielectric constants and refractive index of the engine oils were performed via SPR analysis.

Keywords: Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy, rotating disk electrode optical emission spectroscopy, surface plasmon resonance, ICCD spectrometer, Nd:YAG laser, engine oil.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 752

Authors: M. Rozanek, K. Roubik

Abstract:

The article deals with development, design and implementation of a mathematical model of the human respiratory system. The model is designed in order to simulate distribution of important intrapulmonary parameters along the bronchial tree such as pressure amplitude, tidal volume and effect of regional mechanical lung properties upon the efficiency of various ventilatory techniques. Therefore exact agreement of the model structure with the lung anatomical structure is required. The model is based on the lung morphology and electro-acoustic analogy is used to design the model.

Keywords: Model of the respiratory system, total lung impedance, intrapulmonary parameters.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1837

Authors: Inas S. Khayal, Weiping Zhou, Jonathan Skinner

Abstract:

Healthcare delivery systems around the world are in crisis. The need to improve health outcomes while decreasing healthcare costs have led to an imminent call to action to transform the healthcare delivery system. While Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering have primarily focused on biological level data and biomedical technology, there is clear evidence of the importance of the delivery of care on patient outcomes. Classic singular decomposition approaches from reductionist science are not capable of explaining complex systems. Approaches and methods from systems science and systems engineering are utilized to structure healthcare delivery system data. Specifically, systems architecture is used to develop a multi-scale and multi-dimensional characterization of the healthcare delivery system, defined here as the Healthcare Delivery System Knowledge Base. This paper is the first to contribute a new method of structuring and visualizing a multi-dimensional and multi-scale healthcare delivery system using systems architecture in order to better understand healthcare delivery.

Keywords: Health informatics, systems thinking, systems architecture, healthcare delivery system, data analytics.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1138

Authors: Ho-Yeon Kim, Dong-Min Kang, Jun-Ho Lee, Tai-Myoung Chung

Abstract:

Recently, a vehicular ad-hoc networks(VANETs) for Intelligent Transport System(ITS) have become able safety and convenience services surpassing the simple services such as an electronic toll collection system. To provide the proper services, VANET needs infrastructure over the country infrastructure. Thus, we have to spend a huge sum of human resources. In this reason, several studies have been made on the usage of cellular networks instead of new protocols this study is to assess a performance evaluation of the cellular network for VANET. In this paper, the result of a for the suitability of cellular networks for VANET experiment, The LTE(Long Term Evolution) of cellular networks found to be most suitable among the others cellular networks

Keywords: Vehicle communication, VANET, Cellular network

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2715

Authors: Elia Favarelli, Enrico Testi, Andrea Giorgetti

Abstract:

Autonomous structural health monitoring (SHM) of many structures and bridges became a topic of paramount importance for maintenance purposes and safety reasons. This paper proposes a set of machine learning (ML) tools to perform automatic feature selection and detection of anomalies in a bridge from vibrational data and compare different feature extraction schemes to increase the accuracy and reduce the amount of data collected. As a case study, the Z-24 bridge is considered because of the extensive database of accelerometric data in both standard and damaged conditions. The proposed framework starts from the first four fundamental frequencies extracted through operational modal analysis (OMA) and clustering, followed by time-domain filtering (tracking). The fundamental frequencies extracted are then fed to a dimensionality reduction block implemented through two different approaches: feature selection (intelligent multiplexer) that tries to estimate the most reliable frequencies based on the evaluation of some statistical features (i.e., entropy, variance, kurtosis), and feature extraction (auto-associative neural network (ANN)) that combine the fundamental frequencies to extract new damage sensitive features in a low dimensional feature space. Finally, one-class classification (OCC) algorithms perform anomaly detection, trained with standard condition points, and tested with normal and anomaly ones. In particular, principal component analysis (PCA), kernel principal component analysis (KPCA), and autoassociative neural network (ANN) are presented and their performance are compared. It is also shown that, by evaluating the correct features, the anomaly can be detected with accuracy and an F1 score greater than 95%.

Keywords: Anomaly detection, dimensionality reduction, frequencies selection, modal analysis, neural network, structural health monitoring, vibration measurement.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 708

Authors: D. Kısınma, A. B. Tugrul

Abstract:

The aim of the study is evaluation of absorbed doses for thyroids by using neck phantoms. For this purpose, it was arranged the irradiation set with different phantoms. Three different materials were used for phantom materials as, water, parafine and wood. The phantoms were three different dimensions for simulation of different ages and human race for each material. Co-60 gammao source was used for irradiation and the experimental procedure applied rigorously with narrow beam geometry.  As the results of the experiments the relative radiation doses are evaluated for therapic applications for thyroids and backscattering factors were calculated and shown that water, parafine and wood can appropriate for phantom material with the converge values of backscattering factors.

Keywords: Co-60, Dosimetry, phantom, thyroids.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1631

Authors: Turki M. Habeebullah, Atef M. F. Mohammed, Essam A. Morsy

Abstract:

In recent decades, particulate matter (PM10) have received much attention due to its potential adverse health impact and the subsequent need to better control or regulate these pollutants. The aim of this paper is focused on study risk assessment of PM10 in four different districts (Shebikah, Masfalah, Aziziyah, Awali) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia during the period from 1 Ramadan 1434 AH - 27 Safar 1435 AH. Samples were collected by using Low Volume Sampler (LVS Low Volume Sampler) device and filtration method for estimating the total concentration of PM10. The study indicated that the mean PM10 concentrations were 254.6 (186.1 - 343.2) μg/m3 in Shebikah, 184.9 (145.6 - 271.4) μg/m3 in Masfalah, 162.4 (92.4-253.8) μg/m3 in Aziziyah, and 56.0 (44.5 - 119.8) μg/m3 in Awali. These values did not exceed the permissible limits in PME (340 μg/m3 as daily average). Furthermore, health assessment is carried out using AirQ2.2.3 model to estimate the number of hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases. The cumulative number of cases per 100,000 were 1534 (18-3050 case), which lower than that recorded in the United States, Malaysia. The concentration response coefficient was 0.49 (95% CI 0.05 - 0.70) per 10 μg/m3 increase of PM10.

Keywords: Air pollution, Respiratory diseases, AirQ2.2.3, Makkah.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2596

Authors: Bastian Haarmann, Lukas Sikorski

Abstract:

In this paper, we introduce an NLG application for the automatic creation of ready-to-publish texts from big data. The resulting fully automatic generated news stories have a high resemblance to the style in which the human writer would draw up such a story. Topics include soccer games, stock exchange market reports, and weather forecasts. Each generated text is unique. Readyto-publish stories written by a computer application can help humans to quickly grasp the outcomes of big data analyses, save timeconsuming pre-formulations for journalists and cater to rather small audiences by offering stories that would otherwise not exist. 

Keywords: Big data, natural language generation, publishing, robotic journalism.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1687