HEART RHYTHM CLASSIFICATION FROM STATIC AND ECG TIME-SERIES DATA USING HYBRID MULTIMODAL DEEP LEARNING

Cardiovascular arrhythmia diseases are considered as the most common diseases that cause death around the world. Abnormal arrhythmia diseases can be identified by analyzing heart rhythm using an electrocardiogram (ECG). However, this analysis is done manually by cardiologists, which may be subjective and susceptible to different cardiologist observations and experiences, as well as to noise and irregularities in those signals. This can lead to misdiagnosis. Motivated by this challenge, an automated heart rhythm diagnosis approach from ECG signals using Deep Learning has been proposed. In order to achieve this goal, three research problems have been addressed. First, recognize the role of each single-lead of a 12-lead ECG to classify heart rhythms. Second, understanding the importance of static data (e.g., demographics and clinical profile) in classifying heart rhythms. Third, realizing whether the static data can be combined with the ECG time series data for better classification performance. In this thesis, different deep learning models have been proposed to address these problems and satisfactory results are achieved. Therefore, using this knowledge, an effective hybrid deep learning model to classify heart rhythms has been proposed. As per knowledge obtained from relevant literature, this is the first work to identify the importance of individual lead and combined lead as well as the importance of combining static data with ECG time series data in classifying heart rhythms. Extensive experiments have been performed to evaluate this algorithm on a 12-lead ECG database that contains data from more than 10,000 individual subjects and obtained a high average of accuracy (up to 98.7%) and F1-measure (up to 98.7%). Moreover, in this thesis, the distribution of heart rhythms from the database based on heart rhythm type, gender, and age group have been analyzed, which will be valuable for further improvement of classification performance. This study will provide valuable insights and will prove to be an effective tool in automated heart rhythm classification and will assist cardiologists in effectively and accurately diagnosing heart disease

Proposing A Predictive Model for Assessing the Influence of Employee Empowerment on Organizational Performance

Embracing employee empowerment in the UAE Federal National Council is an absolute necessity for achieving outstanding organizational performance. By granting employees freedom to make decisions, take initiative, and contribute their unique perspectives, it can unleash untapped potential and drive the council towards unparalleled success. Hence, the use of a novel multi-linear regression model in this study is an important step forward in understanding the relationship between employee empowerment and organisational performance. Unlike prior research, which may have ignored essential components, this model incorporates the independent variables meaningfulness, self-determination, impact, and competence. It examines how employee empowerment affects overall organisational performance by taking these essential factors into account. This novel methodology paves the way for new insights and potential breakthroughs in optimising workforce potential and attaining outstanding organisational success. The study used 115 respondents from the employees of UAE Federal National Council Organization to develop the model using multi-linear regression approach. The establish model can be used to predict the performance of UAE Federal National Council Organization by inserting the parameters of the Employee Empowerment which are Meaning; Competence; Impact; and Self-determination. Hopefully, the outcomes of this research contribute to the community of UAE Federal National Council Organization

Assessing Mediating Effect of National Culture on the Relationship of Leadership Style with UAE Smart Government Organizational Performance

This study presents persuasive evidence that national culture acts as a mediator in the relationship between leadership style and organisational performance in the context of UAE Smart Government. By investigating these links, the study emphasises the importance of taking cultural aspects into account when evaluating the impact of leadership on organisational outcomes in the context of smart governance. Data collected through questionnaire survey was used to develop a PLS-SEM mediation model in SmartPLS software. The modelling analysis found that national culture partially mediates the leadership styles with the organisational performance. It further found that Abu Dhabi's smart government had low worker productivity requirements and lacked a strong national culture. Leadership has a major and positive impact on the organization's national culture. As a result, it is acceptable to claim that leadership style has a substantial impact on organisational procedures. According to studies, there is a link between national culture and organisational performance. The findings indicate a connection between leadership styles and the nation's commitment, cohesion, and mission. This implies that an organisational culture in which employees participate in important organisational decisions, that is consistent in its workplace practises, and that is motivated by a clear mission, ultimately affects the organisational performances of employees in such organisations

Ranking of Leadership Styles and National Culture Factors Affecting Smart Government Organizational Performance

Investigating leadership style, organisational performance, and national culture indicators in Abu Dhabi, the smart-government capital of the UAE was carried out through quantitative method of research. Total 274 valid data samples were gathered and analysed with SPSS software to perform descriptive assessment. Reliability test revealed that all the indicators have Cronbach Alpha value above 0.7 confirming the validity of the data. Skeweness and Kutosis values of the parameters showed that the data follows normal distribution. Employee morale and satisfaction were cited as the most critical parameters for gauging organisational performance, while the study found that personal steadiness and stability is the most desired parameters of national culture. All four of the leadership styles that were studied were deemed significant. Based on responses, "my supervisor makes others feel good to be around him/her" is the most important aspect of a transformational leader, while "my supervisor tells others what to do if they want to be rewarded for their work" is the most important aspect of a transactional leader. Among the parameters studied, "As a rule, my supervisor allows me to appraise my own work" ranked highest in accordance with Laissez Faire Leadership, while "Do you agree that the Authoritative leadership style employed by your supervisor contributes to your feelings of insecurity in your work and the need for clear direction?" ranked highest in accordance with Authoritative Leadership. These finding pointed out that the designed parameters can be used for further study related to national culture, organizational performance and leadership styles adopted in UAE in relation with Smart government

Computational Optimization of the Radial and Spiral Distortion Aberration Coefficients of Magnetic Deflector

Abstract:The optimum design of the magnetic deflector with the lowest values of the radial and spiral distortion aberration coefficients was computed. The optimized calculations were made using three models, Glaser bell-shaped, Grivet-lenz and exponential models. By using the optimum axial field distribution, the pole pieces shape which gave rise to those field distributions was found by using the reconstruction method. The calculations show that the results of the three models coincide at the lower values of the excitation parameter. In general the Glaser- bell shaped model gives the optimum results at the whole range of the excitation parameter under investigation.The negative values of the spiral distortion aberration coefficient appears in the results at the same case, therefore the designer can use it as corrector in other optical systems which suffer from this type of aberratio

Effects of Gum Arabic Addition on the Behaviour of Water Base Drilling Fluids

This research paper discusses the use of Gum Arabic as additive materials to the fluids used in drilling and try to answer the following question, how Gum Arabic to a parched additive affects the drilling fluid properties? The researcher did a laboratory tests under different temperatures. The results showed high fluid stability when using Percentage of 0.76 and 21.44% as weight value of Gum Arabic

AN INVESTIGATION INTO HYDROPHOBIC MEMBRANE FOULING IN DESALINATION USING MEMBRANE DISTILLATION TECHNOLOGY

Demand for freshwater supplies is continuously increasing globally to the extent where some parts of the world became highly water stressed. In particular, the Arabian Gulf states rely heavily on seawater desalination for their freshwater supply which is met using commercial seawater desalination technologies like thermal and reverse osmosis (RO) desalination processes. However, these technologies require considerable power input and actually do have a negative impact on the environment in terms of carbon footprint. An alternative technology to the conventional desalination processes with potentially lower environmental impacts is the Membrane Distillation (MD) process. Membrane Distillation is a thermally-driven process that utilizes a hydrophobic micro-porous membrane and can utilize low grade heat and solar energy. The driving force of the process is the vapor pressure difference between the sides of the membrane that is induced by the temperature difference between the feed and distillate. However, one of the challenges facing the deployment of MD in large commercial scale desalination of seawater is membrane fouling. The objective of this study is to investigate and compare the fouling characteristics of three different commercial membranes (PP membrane with pore size of 0.22 μm and 0.45 μm and PTFE membrane with pore size of 0.22 μm) using two feed solutions (seawater from the Arabian Gulf and synthetic 100,000 ppm NaCl solution) using a bench-scale direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) flat sheet module at hot water inlet temperature of 75 oC, cold water inlet temperature of 20 oC, and hot and cold water flow rate of 1.5 L/min. The study was performed by evaluating the distillate flux performance of the various membranes, measuring their contact angle before and after fouling, testing the quality of the distillate produced and examining the salt rejection, and interpreting membrane surface analysis using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) in order to study the morphology and the composition of the fouling layer. Initially, the average flux obtained was 50.5 L/m2h, 50.3 L/m2h, and 38.3 L/m2h for PP (0.22 μm) membrane, PP (0.45 μm) membrane, and PTFE (0.22 μm) membrane, respectively. Therefore, PP membrane generated a higher flux than PTFE membrane. In terms of membrane pore size, the results showed that a larger pore size membrane is more prone to fouling and flux decay. In terms of membrane material, PP membrane showed a more rapid flux decline than PTFE membrane. Moreover, the percentage of drop in the average flux was more than 60%, 97%, and 94% for PP membrane of 0.22 μm, PP membrane of 0.45 μm, and PTFE membrane of 0.22 μm, respectively, after almost 19 h, 30 h, and 25 h of operation, respectively. In terms of feed solution, a lower flux was obtained with the higher salinity feed, the 100,000 ppm NaCl solution. However, the difference was not very large, indicating that initially salinity does not have a great impact on the distillate flux. The results also showed that fouling/scaling causes the quality of the distillates to deteriorate and that membrane wetting has occurred. A salt rejection of more than 99.9% was achieved initially; however, with continuous operation, a salt rejection as low as 83.5% and 69.9% was achieved when the seawater and the 100,000 ppm NaCl solution were used, respectively. PP membrane of 0.22 μm gave a better salt rejection followed by PTFE membrane of the same size then by PP membrane of 0.45 μm. The contact angle of a clean PP (0.22 μm) membrane, PP (0.45 μm) membrane, and PTFE (0.22 μm) membrane was found to be 134.8°, 133.2°, and 136.7°, respectively. However, after fouling, the contact angle dropped to 40.5°, 36.1°, and 13.8° for PP (0.22 μm) membrane, PP (0.45 μm) membrane, and PTFE (0.22 μm) membrane, respectively, indicating significant loss of hydrophobicity. SEM-EDS analysis showed that the salt layer formed on the membranes was not uniform and that the major foulants were CaCO3 and CaSO4. In addition, membrane pore blocking by salts and a cake layer formation (which was a result of the elevated feed temperature that resulted in the formation of temperature polarization) were observed. The results of the study show that fouling needs to be more investigated in MD process to be practically implemented and considered as competitive to the conventional desalination technologies. An optimum temperature and flow rate should be explored; however, the results of the study urge the need for developing new membranes and improved membrane modules and MD configurations as well as finding optimum procedures for membrane cleaning.ConocoPhillips Global Water Sustainability Center (GWSC) and Qatar Universit

Analysis of sports injuries during volleyball lessons in students of Physical Education and Sports Sciences

This study aimed to analyse sports injuries during volleyball lessons in students of Physical Education and Sports Sciences. The research community consisted of 400 students of the third stage of the Faculties of Physical Education and Sports Sciences at the Universities of Kirkuk and Tikrit for the academic year 2022-2023. The research sample included 80 students who were randomly selected. The researchers used an ad-hoc questionnaire as a means to collect the information and data. The statistical analyses were carried out with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 23. Considering the results of the study, the researchers concluded that the most common sports injuries during volleyball lessons in students of Physical Education and Sports Sciences are sprains and muscle contractions (muscle spasm). The injuries on the lower extremities (ankle, knee, thigh and leg) were the most frequent injuries compared to the injuries of the upper extremity (upper limbs, abdomen and shoulder)

Analysis of sports injuries during volleyball lessons in students of Physical Education and Sports Sciences

This study aimed to analyse sports injuries during volleyball lessons in students of Physical Education and Sports Sciences. The research community consisted of 400 students of the third stage of the Faculties of Physical Education and Sports Sciences at the Universities of Kirkuk and Tikrit for the academic year 2022-2023. The research sample included 80 students who were randomly selected. The researchers used an ad-hoc questionnaire as a means to collect the information and data. The statistical analyses were carried out with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 23. Considering the results of the study, the researchers concluded that the most common sports injuries during volleyball lessons in students of Physical Education and Sports Sciences are sprains and muscle contractions (muscle spasm). The injuries on the lower extremities (ankle, knee, thigh and leg) were the most frequent injuries compared to the injuries of the upper extremity (upper limbs, abdomen and shoulder)

Myanmar: Ethnic cleansing of rohingya. From ethnic nationalism to ethno-religious nationalism

Rohingya, an ethnic minority group in the Rakhine state of Myanmar, has been levelled as one of the most persecuted ethnic groups in contemporary time. For the last five decades, they have been undergoing systematic torture ranging from deprivation of citizenship to mass killing and forceful eviction from their inhabitants. The army of Myanmar spearheads this persecution, which is deemed as genocidal. However, the engagement of radical Buddhist groups and support from the local Burmese population worsened the situation. Along with army intervention and ethnic differences, some economic and geostrategic question is highlighted behind this inhuman situation. But Myanmar consists of more than 100 ethnic groups, and there are other similar areas with similar economic and geostrategic importance. Though there are several instances of conflict in some of those areas, they are almost unparalleled comparing that of the Rakhine state. Having acknowledged the multiple genealogies of this conflict, this paper focuses more on the state/nation building process of Myanmar to understand the exceptionalism of Rohingya persecution. We want to argue that rather than ethnic tension or geostrategic interest, the nation/state-building of Myanmar in different phases of its history can put more light on the unique suffering of the Rohingya population in Myanmar. Analyzing the key historical transition of Myanmar, we attempt to trace the gradual exclusivity of the Rohingya people in the evolution of State manufactured discourse on the question of nation and their deliberate enactment of specific identity while alienating the other.WOS:00078424120000