An application of a hybrid intelligent system for diagnosing primary headaches

[Abstract] (1) Background: Modern medicine generates a great deal of information that stored in medical databases. Simultaneously, extracting useful knowledge and making scientific decisions for diagnosis and treatment of diseases becomes increasingly necessary. Headache disorders are the most prevalent of all the neurological conditions. Headaches have not only medical but also great socioeconomic significance. The aim of this research is to develop an intelligent system for diagnosing primary headache disorders. (2) Methods: This research applied various mathematical, statistical and artificial intelligence techniques, among which the most important are: Calinski-Harabasz index, Analytical Hierarchy Process, and Weighted Fuzzy C-means Clustering Algorithm. These methods, techniques and methodologies are used to create a hybrid intelligent system for diagnosing primary headache disorders. The proposed intelligent diagnostic system is tested with original real-world data set with different metrics. (3) Results: First at all, nine of 20 attributes – features from International Headache Society (IHS) criteria are selected, and then only five most important attributes from IHS criteria are selected. The calculation result based on the Calinski–Harabasz index value (178) for the optimal number of clusters is three, and they present three classes of headaches: (i) migraine, (ii) tension-type headaches (TTHs), and (iii) other primary headaches (OPHs). The proposed hybrid intelligent system shows the following quality metrics: Accuracy 75%; Precision 67% for migraine, 74% for TTHs, 86% for OPHs, and Average Precision 77%; Recall 86% for migraine, 73% for TTHs, 67% for OPHs, Average Recall 75%; F1 score 75% for migraine, 74% for TTHs, 75% for OPHs, and Average F1 score 75%. (4) Conclusions: The hybrid intelligent system presents qualitative and respectable experimental results. The implementation of existing diagnostics systems and the development of new diagnostics systems in medicine is necessary in order to help physicians make quality diagnosis and decide the best treatments for the patients.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; MINECO-TIN2017-84804-RGobierno del Principado de Asturias; FCGRUPIN-IDI/2018/000226Serbia. Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development; 451-03-68/2020-14/20015

The urban systems of the Balkan and Danube Provinces (2nd – 3rd c. AD)

This study is about the reconstruction of the urban geography of the Balkan and the Danube provinces at the time of the Severan dynasty (AD 193-235). Four basic parameters were in the focus of research: the origin and socio-economic character of the settlements, their size, micro-location and the size of their administrative territories. The principal goal of this exercise was to map the variable developments of the urban network, both between and within the sub-regions that constitute this part of the Roman Empire. This line of inquiry helped to bridge the gap between the regional and the general. In the process of explaining the apparent gaps in the urban map of the study-region or the differential growth of the individual towns and settlements, we were inevitably faced with the question of the role of the town in Roman provincial society and economy or the basic prerequisites for the emergence and prosperity of towns. This study also brought to light the intimate connection between towns and imperialism. The Unification of the Mediterranean World (400 BC - 400 AD

Mapping the biodiversity of today to protect it for the future - The influence of the environment on biodiversity, and its use in conservation -

Biodiversität umfasst Leben in allen Formen und Funktionen. Ihre Komplexität ist auf einen Blick schwer zu erfassen und um dies zu unterstützen, wird die biologische Vielfalt üblicherweise in drei große Kategorien unterteilt: Ökosysteme, Arten und Gene. Obwohl sie die Welt in der wir leben definiert und grundlegende Ökosystemleistungen erbringt, bedrohen menschliche Aktivitäten zunehmend die biologische Vielfalt auf allen Ebenen. Eine Intensivierung der Bemühungen um ihren Schutz ist daher dringend erforderlich. Solche Bemühungen werden oft durch mangelndes Wissen über die Verteilung der Biodiversität behindert. Die Kartierung der biologischen Vielfalt auf allen Organisationsebenen, ist daher ein wesentlicher Schritt, um bessere und erfolgreichere Entscheidungen zum Naturschutz treffen zu können. Die Umwelt ist einer der Schlüsselfaktoren die bestimmt, wo die biologische Vielfalt am reichsten ist, wie sie verteilt ist oder sogar wie gut sich die biologische Vielfalt von Veränderungen und Bedrohungen erholen kann. Da Umweltdaten inzwischen in großem Ausmaß zur Verfügung stehen, kann das Wissen darüber, wie die Umwelt mit dem Vorkommen der biologischen Vielfalt zusammenhängt, die Erstellung kontinuierlicher Karten ihrer Verteilung erheblich erleichtern. Da menschliche Aktivitäten zudem die Umweltbedingungen stark verändern, spielt die Entflechtung ihrer individuellen Auswirkungen auf die räumlichen Muster der Biodiversität eine zentrale Rolle in der Evolutionsbiologie, Ökologie und Naturschutz. Innerhalb einer sich verändernden Umwelt können Lebensräume unbewohnbar werden, und Arten können darauf mit einer Verschiebung ihrer Verbreitungsgebiete reagieren. Der gegenwärtige Grad der Habitatfragmentierung schränkt jedoch die Reichweite solcher „Verschiebungen“ stark ein. Daher müssen die Arten anpassungsfähig sein, um auf den veränderten oder neuen Selektionsdruck reagieren und langfristig überleben zu können. Solche raschen evolutionären Reaktionen basieren auf vorhandener genetischer Variation, die eine Anpassung an die Umwelt ermöglicht. Es ist daher unerlässlich, die räumliche Verteilung der adaptiven genetischen Variation zu kartieren, um das evolutionäre Potenzial der Arten zu maximieren. Auf diese Weise können Wissenschaftler verstehen, wie sich Veränderungen in der Umwelt auf die biologische Vielfalt auswirken können und schließlich zu angemesseneren Erhaltungsmaßnahmen und besseren Managementpraktiken greifen. In dieser Arbeit zielte ich darauf ab, (1) den relativen Einfluss der Umwelt auf verschiedene ökologische und evolutionäre Prozesse abzuschätzen, die ihrerseits die räumlichen Muster der Biodiversität beeinflussen, und (2) zu bewerten, wie dieses Verständnis für die Kartierung und letztlich für den Schutz der Biodiversität genutzt werden kann. Ich habe mich mit verschiedenen Komponenten der Biodiversität, wie Lebensräume, Arten und Gene auseinandergesetzt. Um mehrere Kategorien der Biodiversität abzudecken, untersuchte ich (i) die Verbreitungsmuster zweier eng verwandter Hummelarten (die dunkle Erdhummel (Bombus terrestris) und die helle Erdhummel (Bombus lucorum)) und wie diese Muster durch die Umwelt bestimmt werden; (ii) die Verwendung der Heterogenität der Umwelt als Stellvertreter für die Verteilung der Arten und umgekehrt; (iii) die Rolle der Umwelt bei der Gestaltung der Populationsdivergenz beim Haussperling (Passer domesticus); und (iv) Signale für lokale Anpassungen bei der dunklen Erdhummel (Bombus terrestris). Diese Arbeiten wurden in zwei osteuropäischen Ländern, Rumänien und Bulgarien, durchgeführt. Diese Länder umfassen eine sehr heterogene Umwelt, die ein geeignetes Gebiet für die Bewertung der Auswirkungen der Umwelt auf die Verteilung der Biodiversität (Arten und Gene) darstellt. Teile meiner Arbeit führten zu spezifischen Empfehlungen für die Erhaltung. Diese kommen genau zum richtigen Zeitpunkt, da die Europäische Union neue Ziele für die biologische Vielfalt bis 2030 festgelegt und die Mitgliedstaaten aufgefordert hat, ihr Netz von Schutzgebieten auf 30 % der Gesamtfläche zu erweitern. Meine Ergebnisse zeigen, dass: (i) sowohl Vegetations- als auch Klimavariablen bei der Bestimmung der Verteilung der beiden Hummelarten eine Rolle spielen, insbesondere die Vegetationsbedeckung und die höhenkorrelierten Klimavariablen; (ii) die Heterogenität der Umwelt nicht als ausreichender Stellvertreter für Artenvielfalt (auf der Grundlage von Vogelartdaten) dient, sondern umgekehrt. Das bestätigt die Empfehlung, bei der Festlegung von Prioritäten für Schutzgebiete, mehr als eine Art als Stellvertreter für Biodiversität im Allgemeinen zu verwenden; (iii) und (iv) es Hinweise auf eine Selektion durch die Umwelt (genannt: „Isolation by distance“) gibt, die die Populationsstruktur sowohl bei Hummeln als auch bei Spatzen bestimmen. Ich habe auch eine Reihe von Genen identifiziert, die an die lokalen Bedingungen bei Hummeln angepasst sein könnten. Diese Arbeit zeigt, dass die Umwelt weitgehend bestimmt, wie die biologische Vielfalt verteilt ist und dennoch ein schlechter Ersatz für die Prioritätensetzung bei Schutzgebieten ist. Sie liefert auch überzeugende Beweise dafür, dass die Umwelt eine der Haupttriebkräfte ist, die die genetische Struktur der Arten prägt. Diese Erkenntnisse sollten Wissenschaftler dazu ermutigen, die Kartierung der räumlichen Muster der Biodiversität fortzusetzen und sich insbesondere auf die genetische Ebene der Biodiversität zu konzentrieren. Das Verständnis der Triebkräfte und die Muster der anpassungsfähigen genetischen Variation in Populationen ermöglicht Einblicke in evolutionäre Prozesse und hilft sicherzustellen, dass das evolutionäre Potenzial der Arten maximiert werden kann. Das verstehen der genetischen Muster die Populationen zu Anpassung an die Umwelt benötigen, ermöglicht Einblicke in evolutionäre Prozesse. Mit diesem Verständnis, und dem Wissen über potenzielle Triebkräfte kann das evolutionäre Potenzial von Arten maximiert werden.Biodiversity comprises life in all forms and functions. Its complexity is difficult to grasp in one glance, and to aid in this, biodiversity is commonly divided into three broad categories: ecosystems, species, and genes. Although it defines the world we live in, and provides fundamental ecosystem services, human activities increasingly threaten biodiversity at all levels, and the intensification of efforts to protect it is urgently needed. Such efforts are often impeded by a lack of knowledge on the distribution of biodiversity. Mapping biodiversity at all levels of organization is therefore an essential step in better informing conservation decisions. One of the key factors in determining where biodiversity is richest, how it is distributed or even how well biodiversity can bounce back from changes and threats it might experience, is the environment. Because environmental data have become widely available, knowledge on how the environment is related to the occurrence of biodiversity can greatly facilitate creating continuous maps of its distribution. Moreover, because human activities severely modify environmental conditions, disentangling their individual effects in driving spatial patterns of biodiversity plays a central in evolutionary biology, ecology and conservation. Within a changing environment, habitats may become unfavorable, and species may respond by shifting their ranges. The current level of habitat fragmentation, however, severely limits range shifts. Thus, species must respond adaptively to the modified or new selection pressures in order to persist in the long run. Such rapid evolutionary responses rely on standing genetic variation, representing adaptations to the environment. It is therefore indispensable to map the spatial distribution of adaptive genetic variation in order to maximize species’ evolutionary potential. This equips scientists to understand how changes in the environment may affect biodiversity and can eventually lead to a more fitting and adjusted conservation effort and better management practices. In this thesis, I aimed to (1) assess the relative influence of environment on different ecological and evolutionary processes, which themselves influence spatial patterns of biodiversity and to (2) evaluate how this understanding can be used for mapping and ultimately protecting biodiversity. I focused on several different components of biodiversity: habitats, species and genes. To cover multiple categories of biodiversity, I investigated (i) the distributional patterns of two closely related bumble bee species (the buff-tailed (Bombus terrestris) and the white-tailed bumble bee (Bombus lucorum)), and how those patterns are determined by the environment; (ii) the use in spatial conservation prioritization of environmental heterogeneity as a surrogate for species distributions and vice versa; (iii) the role of environment in shaping population divergence in the house sparrow (Passer domesticus); and (iv) signals of local adaptations in the buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris). This work was conducted in two eastern European countries, Romania and Bulgaria. These countries comprise a highly heterogeneous environment, representing a suitable area for evaluating the effect of the environment on the distribution of biodiversity (species and genes). Parts of my work resulted in specific recommendations for conservation. These are very timely, since the European Union set new biodiversity targets for 2030, requesting member states to increase their protected areas network to 30% of the total land area. I found that: (i) both vegetation and climatic variables play a role in determining the distributions of the two bumble bee species, in particular vegetation cover and elevation-correlated climatic variables; (ii) environmental heterogeneity is not as a sufficient surrogate for species (based on bird species data) as the other way around, confirming the recommendation to use more than one type of surrogate in spatial conservation prioritization; (iii) and (iv) there is evidence of environmental selection and patterns of ‘isolation by environment’ determining population structure in both bumble bees and sparrows. I also identified a set of genes that may be adapted to local conditions in bumble bees. This thesis shows that the environment largely determines how biodiversity is distributed, and yet is a poor surrogate in spatial conservation prioritization. It also provides strong evidence that it is one of the main drivers shaping the genetic structure of species. These findings should encourage scientists to continue mapping spatial patterns of biodiversity and particularly focus on the genetic level of biodiversity. Understanding the drivers and patterns of adaptive genetic variation in populations is providing insight in evolutionary processes and helps ensure that the evolutionary potential of species can be maximized

Business Risk in Changing Dynamics of Global Village 2

The monograph is prepared based on the presentations and discussions made at the II International Conference “BUSINESS RISK IN CHANGING DYNAMICS OF GLOBAL VILLAGE (BRCDGV 2019)”, November, 7th-08th, 2019, in Ternopil, Ukraine. The aim of this scientific international conference is to provide a platform for professional debate with the participation of experts from around the globe in order to identify & analyze risks and opportunities in today’s global business, and specifically in Ukraine. The conference will provide a framework for researchers, business elites and decision makers to uplift the business ties and minimise the risk for creating a better world and better Ukraine.The Conference is designed to call experts around the globe from different sectors of practices which are effected by globalization and watching changes in Europe as well as in Ukraine. It is an excellent platform for interactions and communication between academicians, corporate representatives, policy makers, representatives of organizations and community, as well as individuals being the part of this globalized world. The 1st edition of this conference was held at the University of Applied Sciences in Nysa, Poland (2017); the 2nd edition took place at Ternopil Ivan Puluj National Technical University, Ukraine (2019); the 3rd edition will be organized at Patna University, India (2020) in cooperation with Indo-European Education Foundation (IEEF, Poland) and its partner universities from Poland, India, Europe and other part of the world.Under modern conditions of globalization nowadays, economic activity is undergoing changes. Innovative technologies, new forms of business, dynamic changes taking place in the world today result in the emergence of the necessity to minimize risks in order to maximize benefits. The cooperation between experts from different fields with the aim to ensure sustainable growth – policymakers, scientists, universities representatives and business elites is essential nowadays. With the purpose to bring them together and discuss the main issues of todays’ global world this conference took place in Ternopil, Ukraine. As Ukraine is now passing through a dynamic period of changes, recommendations coming up from such discussions can be very beneficial for building stronger society and meet the risks globalization brings up. This monograph provides a useful review of economic, financial and policy issues in the context of globalization processes and has proven extremely popular with practitioners and industry advisors. This edition is given the continued high demand and interest for experts form different areas working on diminishing of business risks wishing to keep abreast of current thinking on this subject. According to many experts process of managing risks is currently one of the most relevant business technologies and at the same time it is a complex process which requires ground knowledge in the research field and practical experience. The popularity of business risks management is due to objective reasons such as dynamics of society, interconnections and interdependence between different players in the society, increasing role of human capital in the country’s sustainable developmen

Application of Geographic Information Systems

The importance of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can hardly be overemphasized in today’s academic and professional arena. More professionals and academics have been using GIS than ever – urban & regional planners, civil engineers, geographers, spatial economists, sociologists, environmental scientists, criminal justice professionals, political scientists, and alike. As such, it is extremely important to understand the theories and applications of GIS in our teaching, professional work, and research. “The Application of Geographic Information Systems” presents research findings that explain GIS’s applications in different subfields of social sciences. With several case studies conducted in different parts of the world, the book blends together the theories of GIS and their practical implementations in different conditions. It deals with GIS’s application in the broad spectrum of geospatial analysis and modeling, water resources analysis, land use analysis, infrastructure network analysis like transportation and water distribution network, and such. The book is expected to be a useful source of knowledge to the users of GIS who envision its applications in their teaching and research. This easy-to-understand book is surely not the end in itself but a little contribution to toward our understanding of the rich and wonderful subject of GIS

Progress in Landslide Research and Technology, Volume 1 Issue 2, 2022

This open access book provides an overview of the progress in landslide research and technology and is part of a book series of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL). It gives an overview of recent progress in landslide research and technology for practical applications and the benefit for the society contributing to understanding and reducing landslide disaster risk

The development of Knowledge Transfer and Technology Transfer with Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone

Wales has recently seen a concerted attempt by the Government, Academia, and Industry to transform into a knowledge-based economy through increased collaboration across these three sectors. Industry and Academia must share knowledge and technology to assist regional growth. Key to this change has been the emergence of policy-led programmes like Enterprise Zones to catalyse regional growth by focusing support on a specified area. Such efforts to foster innovation in a region have been contested. Can Enterprise Zones benefit from university innovation in Wales? The Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone is a unique illustration of how Enterprise Zones foster regional progress. This study used a qualitative, Action Research approach to map the South West Wales Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone's context. This involved identifying key issues that impact Knowledge and Technology Transfer in the region to identify barriers and possibilities. A careful evaluation of the literature and policy contexts revealed initial focus areas of interest to test throughout the investigation. Interviews were conducted in Academia, Industry, and Government to understand people's experiences and identify enablers and barriers to knowledge and technology transfer. The research findings give examples of regional knowledge and technology initiatives and suggested areas for improvement that might help South West Wales and the Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone promote these activities in the future. This analysis finds that stronger collaboration between Academia and projects like the Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone would boost South West Wales' knowledge and technology transfer potential. The Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone gives a chance to foster Industry, Academic, and Government collaborations. This would minimise the 'University Structure' barrier by allowing Academic stakeholders to work with Industry in a neutral setting. This thesis helps Academics and practitioners understand and create innovation in post-industrial regions