A robust method for diagnosis of morphological arrhythmias based on Hermitian model of higher-order statistics

Abstract Background Electrocardiography (ECG) signal is a primary criterion for medical practitioners to diagnose heart diseases. The development of a reliable, accurate, non-invasive and robust method for arrhythmia detection could assists cardiologists in the study of patients with heart diseases. This paper provides a method for morphological heart arrhythmia detection which might have different shapes in one category and also different morphologies in relation to the patients. The distinctive property of this method in addition to accuracy is the robustness of that, in presence of Gaussian noise, time and amplitude shift. Methods In this work 2nd, 3rd and 4th order cumulants of the ECG beat are calculated and modeled by linear combinations of Hermitian basis functions. Then, the parameters of each cumulant model are used as feature vectors to classify five different ECG beats namely as Normal, PVC, APC, RBBB and LBBB using 1-Nearest Neighborhood (1-NN) classifier. Finally, after classifying each model, a final decision making rule apply to these specified classes and the type of ECG beat is defined. Results The experiment was applied for a set of ECG beats consist of 9367 samples in 5 different categories from MIT/BIH heart arrhythmia database. The specificity of 99.67% and the sensitivity of 98.66% in arrhythmia detection are achieved which indicates the power of the algorithm. Also, the accuracy of the system remained almost intact in the presence of Gaussian noise, time shift and amplitude shift of ECG signals. Conclusions This paper presents a novel and robust methodology in morphological heart arrhythmia detection. The methodology based on the Hermite model of the Higher-Order Statistics (HOS). The ability of HOS in suppressing morphological variations of different class-specific arrhythmias and also reducing the effects of Gaussian noise, made HOS, suitable for detection morphological heart arrhythmias. The proposed method exploits these properties in conjunction with Hermitian model to perform an efficient and reliable classification approach to detect five morphological heart arrhythmias. And the time consumption of this method for each beat is less than the period of a normal beat.</p

Optimizing Crew Performance through Integration of Human Resource Strategies into Planning of Construction Activities

This thesis aims at improving workforce performance through integration of human resource strategies into planning of construction activities. This goal is studied and implemented through three major phases of planning a construction project. The first phase takes place at the project outset when HR is hired for construction of a building/facility. The second phase concurs at the start of the execution phase when a well-performing crew is selected for construction activities. The last phase occurs on a daily basis when jobs are distributed among members of a crew in the real course of the project. Multi-skilling, safety protection, skill level enhancement, addressing aging problem, and preserving labour rights are the main HR strategies integrated with the project planning practices of this thesis. On-the-job training of human resource, activating indolent potential of detailed and individualized data, and combining theory and practice are three pillars which the presented research is built upon. The proposed planning frameworks are devised by investing in young inexperienced workers who have the highest on-the-job learning capacity. The proposed frameworks use learning theory, cognitive load theory, and notion of brain resources to model performance of workers under different HR strategies. These theories integrate HR strategies with project planning practices in which technical and contractual requirements of construction activities, such as quality, time, and budget constraints are taken into account. The proposed frameworks use detailed and classified data imported from different databases, including historical performance records, contractual and regulatory data sources, HR information systems, and Building Information Models (BIM). Such information is then utilized in algorithms developed for workforce planning. The optimization and computational tools and techniques established include dynamic programming, constraint programming, genetic algorithms, statistical analysis, and discrete event simulation. Application of the proposed frameworks is demonstrated in a few contexts including optimization of employment, crew composition, and workload distribution in the real world cases. The findings confirm that integration of HR strategies with planning of construction activities not only result in positive impacts on HR development, but also on performance of a project through reduced employment cost, decreased duration, and increased daily throughput

Monoclinic modification of 1,2-bis­(diphenyl­seleno­phosphino­yl)ethane

The complete mol­ecule of the title compound, C26H24P2Se2, is generated by crystallographic 2-fold symmetry, with the rotation axis bisecting the central C—C bond. The dihedral angle between the terminal aromatic rings is 74.1 (1)°

The Relationship Between Reserve Items and Exchange Rate in Malaysia: Evidence from Non-linear Model

The objectives of this study are first, to examine a nonlinear long-run relationship between exchange rate and reserve and related item in Malaysia. Second, to examine the causal relationship between exchange rate, reserve and related item, money supply, interest rate, foreign direct investment, and price in Malaysia. Third, to forecast the relationship between exchange rate, reserve and related item, money supply, interest rate, foreign direct investment, and price in Malaysia for the next 50 years. To achieve our objective, we employed the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model (NARDL), Toda Yamamoto causality test and variance decomposition. We utilize a time series dataset from 1982 to 2018. We find reserve items are significant to have a negative relationship with exchange rate. However, it limits to only a decrease in reserve items will encourage the Ringgit to be depreciated. On the other hand, reserve items are expected to influence more in exchange rate fluctuation in the next 50 years. On the other hand, reserve items are significant to cause FDI inflow in Malaysia

P117 Surgical management of Ureteropelvic Junction Obstruction (UPJO) in Neonates amid COVID-19 pandemic; Review of Literature and a Cohort Study in Iran

Introduction The current study presents a systematic review of literature on surgical management of ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) alongside an ongoing cohort study of neonates presenting with high grades of hydronephrosis due to UPJO requiring urgent treatment in a developing country amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy and cost effectiveness of laparoscopic-assisted pyeloplasty. Methods Patients’ demographics, clinical presentations and treatment outcomes are recorded. The cohort is classified into 3 groups based on type of surgical treatment offered including open, laparoscopic and laparoscopic-assisted pyeloplasty. All patients admitted with grade 3-4 hydronephrosis due to UPJO are included. Patients with UPJO as part of a complex multisystemic syndrome are excluded. Literature review was conducted from 2000/1/1 to 2020/1/1 to include all original research papers on surgical management of UPJO. The age group was limited to neonates (under 1 year-old). Results 32 articles were included in the review. 20 papers (62.5%) recommended open pyeloplasty, 10 papers (31.3%) recommended laparoscopic pyeloplasty and 2 papers (6.25%) recommended laparoscopic-assisted pyeloplasty. The cohort study is currently recruiting patients treated by the 3 surgical approaches. Conclusion The majority of studies are focusing on open pyeloplasty. However, as more surgeons are going through the learning curve of laparoscopic pyeloplasty, the trend is towards more laparoscopic management in the future. It is important to discover the advantages of laparoscopic-assisted approach as a new technique to improve the outcome and shorten the hospital stay amid the COVID-19 pandemic

The role of long non-coding RNAs and circular RNAs in cervical cancer: modulating miRNA function

Cervical cancer (CC) is a primary global health concern, ranking as the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in women. Despite advancements in prognosis, long-term outcomes remained poor. Beyond HPV, cofactors like dietary deficiencies, immunosuppression, hormonal contraceptives, co-infections, and genetic variations are involved in CC progression. The pathogenesis of various diseases, including cancer, has brought to light the critical regulatory roles of microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs). The aberrant expression of these miRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs plays a pivotal role in the initiation and progression of CC. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the recent literature regarding the involvement of lncRNAs and circRNAs in modulating miRNA functions in cervical neoplasia and metastasis. Studies have shown that lncRNAs and circRNAs hold great potential as therapeutic agents and innovative biomarkers in CC. However, more clinical research is needed to advance our understanding of the therapeutic benefits of circRNAs and lncRNAs in CC

Active tectonics of Iran deduced from earthquakes, active faulting and GPS evidences

Iran is an ideal natural laboratory for studying the kinematics and dynamics of plate interactions because of the various tectonic processes encountered, including continental collision, subduction of oceanic lithosphere (Makran) and a sharp transition between a young orogen (Zagros) and a subduction zone (Makran). In this research, tectonic evolution of Iranian Plateau during Cenozoic convergence between Arabian and Eurasian plates is reviewed and youngest tectonic activities in the plateau such as active faults, earthquakes, magmatism, and young volcanism and GPS velocities are described. Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major fault lines that cover at least 90% of the country. These earthquakes occurred along the active faults of Iran and show various mechanisms of fault movements

Recent tectonic activity of Iran deduced from young magmatism evidences

Closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean during Mesozoic and Cenozoic is one of the most important stages of tectonic evolution of Iranian Plateau. Subduction of the oceanic lithosphere under the southwestern border of Central Iran, caused plutonic and volcanic activity between the Jurassic and Quaternary within and adjacent to the southern margin of Central Iran. During closure of the ocean, two major subduction-related arcs trending parallel to the Main Zagros Thrust, the Mesozoic Sanandaj-Sirjan (SSMA) and the Tertiary to Plio- Quaternary Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arcs (UDMA) have been formed. Quaternary volcanic activity, generated by a complex combination of geodynamic and petrogenetic processes associated with the evolution of the Alpine-Himalayan collision belt. This volcanic activity has produced both andesitic stratovolcanoes and fields of basaltic cones and plateau lavas. Upper Miocene to Pliocene-Quaternary volcanic activity is observable in Makran, UDMA, Qom-Baft, Anar and northern Lut