Optimization of Computer generated holography rendering and optical design for a compact and large eyebox Augmented Reality glass

Thesis (Master of Science in Informatics)--University of Tsukuba, no. 41288, 2019.3.2

Empirijske metode za konverziju razdiobe intenziteta oborine s nekoliko dužih intervala na 1-minutni intenzitet u Maleziji

The rapid development of the radio communications system, especially in developed countries, has drawn the attention of telecommunication systems engineers to explore the frequency band above the Ku band. Because radio communication systems operating in the frequency band above the Ku band (10 G Hz) suffer from rain attenuation during rainy conditions, prediction of rain attenuation using a 1-min rainfall rate distribution is indeed vital. However, a 1-min rainfall rate distribution is not widely available compared to rainfall rate distributions with longer integration times. Therefore, a suitable conversion method is required to predict 1-min rainfall rate distributions of distinct integration times. This paper presents several conversion methods such as Segal, Burgueno et al., Chebil and Rahman, Joo et al., EXCELL RSC and LG . The Segal method provides an overall Root Mean Square (RMS ) error below 5% at different integration times and is suitable to be used in Malaysia.Brzi razvoj sustava radio komunikacija, a što je naročito izraženo u razvijenim zemljama, potaknuo je inženjere na istraživanje frekvencijskog pojasa iznad tzv. Ku pojasa. Naime, radiokomunikacijski sustavi koji rade u frekvencijskom pojasu iznad Ku-pojasa (10 GHz) podložni su prigušenju u oborinskim uvjetima. Stoga je predviđanje atenuacije radio signala korištenjem 1-min intenziteta oborine od velike važnosti. Međutim, za razliku od razdioba intenziteta oborine za duža kumulacijska vremena, razdiobe 1-min intenziteta nisu široko dostupne. Stoga je neophodna metoda konverzije za predviđanje distribucije 1-min intenziteta oborine za različita kumulacijska vremena. U ovom radu je prikazano nekoliko metoda konverzije kao što su metode Segala, Burguena i suradnika, Chebila i Rahmana, Jooa i suradnika, te EXCELL RSC i LG metoda. Metoda Segala daje ukupnu srednju kvadratnu pogrešku (Root Mean Square Error – RMS ) ispod 5% za različita kumulacijska vremena i pokazuje se prikladnom za upotrebu u Maleziji

Optimizing Vancomycin Dosing in Chronic Kidney Disease by Deriving and Implementing a Web-Based Tool Using a Population Pharmacokinetics Analysis.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients requiring intravenous vancomycin bear considerable risks of adverse outcomes both from the infection and vancomycin therapy itself, necessitating especially precise dosing to avoid sub- and supratherapeutic vancomycin exposure. Methods: In this retrospective study, we performed a population pharmacokinetic analysis to construct a vancomycin dose prediction model for CKD patients who do not require renal replacement therapy. The model was externally validated on an independent cohort of patients to assess its prediction accuracy. The pharmacokinetic parameter estimates and the equations were productized into a Web application (VancApp) subsequently implemented in routine care. The association between VancApp-based dosing and time-to-target concentration attainment, 30-day mortality, and nephrotoxicity were assessed postimplementation. Results: The model constructed from an initial cohort (n = 80) revealed a population clearance and volume of distribution of 1.30 L/h and 1.23 L/kg, respectively. External model validation (n = 112) demonstrated a mean absolute prediction error of 1.25 mg/L. Following 4 months of clinical implementation of VancApp as an optional alternative to usual care [VancApp (n = 22) vs. usual care (n = 21)], patients who had received VancApp-based dosing took a shorter time to reach target concentrations (median: 66 vs. 102 h, p = 0.187) and had fewer 30-day mortalities (14% vs. 24%, p = 0.457) compared to usual care. While statistical significance was not achieved, the clinical significance of these findings appear promising. Conclusion: Clinical implementation of a population pharmacokinetic model for vancomycin in CKD can potentially improve dosing precision in CKD and could serve as a practical means to improve vital clinical outcomes

Blood-Based Biomarkers of Aggressive Prostate Cancer

Purpose: Prostate cancer is a bimodal disease with aggressive and indolent forms. Current prostate-specific-antigen testing and digital rectal examination screening provide ambiguous results leading to both under-and over-treatment. Accurate, consistent diagnosis is crucial to risk-stratify patients and facilitate clinical decision making as to treatment versus active surveillance. Diagnosis is currently achieved by needle biopsy, a painful procedure. Thus, there is a clinical need for a minimally-invasive test to determine prostate cancer aggressiveness. A blood sample to predict Gleason score, which is known to reflect aggressiveness of the cancer, could serve as such a test. Materials and Methods: Blood mRNA was isolated from North American and Malaysian prostate cancer patients/controls. Microarray analysis was conducted utilizing the Affymetrix U133 plus 2·0 platform. Expression profiles from 255 patients/controls generated 85 candidate biomarkers. Following quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, ten disease-associated biomarkers remained for paired statistical analysis and normalization. Results: Microarray analysis was conducted to identify 85 genes differentially expressed between aggressive prostate cancer (Gleason score ≥8) and controls. Expression of these genes was qRT-PCR verified. Statistical analysis yielded a final seven-gene panel evaluated as six gene-ratio duplexes. This molecular signature predicted as aggressive (ie, Gleason score ≥8) 55% of G6 samples, 49% of G7(3+4), 79% of G7(4+3) and 83% of G8-10, while rejecting 98% of controls. Conclusion: In this study, we have developed a novel, blood-based biomarker panel which can be used as the basis of a simple blood test to identify men with aggressive prostate cancer and thereby reduce the overdiagnosis and overtreatment that currently results from diagnosis using PSA alone. We discuss possible clinical uses of the panel to identify men more likely to benefit from biopsy and immediate therapy versus those more suited to an “active surveillance” strategy

Analisis kesan frekuensi dan sudut dongakan terhadap pelemahan hujan di Malaysia

Kesesakan spektrum jalur frekuensi yang telah ditetapkan sejak sekian lama telah mendorong kepada penggunaan frekuensi yang lebih tinggi iaitu melebihi 10 GHz bagi memenuhi kehendak dan keperluan para pengguna. Namun demikian, operasi di jalur frekuensi ini akan menyebabkan sistem lebih mudah terdedah kepada kehilangan isyarat akibat dari fenomena alam semulajadi seperti hujan lebat. Disebabkan oleh kesan pudaran hujan, ramalan pelemah hujan menggunakan taburan kadar hujan 1-minit menjadi semakin penting. Ramai penyelidik telah mencadangkan pelbagai jenis model ramalan untuk menganggar pelemahan hujan di seluruh dunia. Namun demikian, tidak ada model yang sesuai yang boleh meramalkan pelemah hujan dengan tepat. Di Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), model International Telecommunication Union–Region (ITU-R) telah menunjukkan ramalan yang terbaik berbanding model-model yang lain. Model ITU-R digunakan untuk menganalisis kesan-kesan pelemahan hujan pada frekuensi dan sudut dongakan yang berbeza. Daripada analisis yang telah dilakukan, didapati bahawa peningkatan frekuensi operasi dan penurunan dalam sudut dongakan akan mengakibatkan peningkatan dalam pelemahan hujan. Namun demikian penjelasan seperti di atas boleh dilihat bagi sudut dongakan melebihi ketinggian 50°

The landscape ecological view of vertebrate species richness in urban areas across biogeographic realms

Abstract Understanding how the spatial arrangement of remnant green spaces in cities complements biodiversity provides an opportunity for synergy between urban development and biological conservation. However, the geography of urbanization is shifting from Europe and North America to Asia and Africa, and more research is needed for fast-growing regions. To understand how shifting urbanization shapes biodiversity patterns, we analyzed the contribution of landscape factors in explaining vertebrate species richness in urban areas across biogeographic realms. We used variation partitioning to quantify and compare the relative importance of landscape factors (composition and configuration) and environmental factors (climate, elevation, and latitude) in explaining vertebrate species richness in landscapes with at least a million inhabitants across biogeographic realms. Our results pointed out that in the Indo-Malayan, the Afrotropical, and the Neotropical realm (on average of 16.46%) and China and India (11.88%), the influence of landscape factors on vertebrate species richness are significantly higher than that of the Palearctic and Nearctic realms (6.48%). Our findings outline the importance of landscape composition and configuration in shaping biodiversity patterns in regions with fast urban growth during the next two decades, such as Africa, Latin America, and Southeastern Asia. We suggest improving land governance and urban planning to construct eco-friendly landscape structures to mitigate biodiversity loss due to urbanization

Kinetic and thermodynamic studies of lysozyme adsorption on cibacron blue F3GA dye-ligand immobilized on aminated nanofiber membrane

The polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber membrane was prepared by the electrospinning technique. The nitrile group on the PAN nanofiber surface was oxidized to carboxyl group by alkaline hydrolysis. The carboxylic group on the membrane surface was then converted to dye affinity membrane through reaction with ethylenediamine (EDA) and Cibacron Blue F3GA, sequentially. The adsorption characteristics of lysozyme onto the dye ligand affinity nanofiber membrane (namely P-EDA-Dye) were investigated under various conditions (e.g., adsorption pH, EDA coupling concentration, lysozyme concentration, ionic strength, and temperature). Optimum experimental parameters were determined to be pH 7.5, a coupling concentration of EDA 40 μmol/mL, and an immobilization density of dye 267.19 mg/g membrane. To understand the mechanism of adsorption and possible rate controlling steps, a pseudo first-order, a pseudo second-order, and the Elovich models were first used to describe the experimental kinetic data. Equilibrium isotherms for the adsorption of lysozyme onto P-EDA-Dye nanofiber membrane were determined experimentally in this work. Our kinetic analysis on the adsorption of lysozyme onto P-EDA-Dye nanofiber membranes revealed that the pseudo second-order rate equation was favorable. The experimental data were satisfactorily fitted by the Langmuir isotherm model, and the thermodynamic parameters including the free energy change, enthalpy change, and entropy change of adsorption were also determined accordingly. Our results indicated that the free energy change had a negative value, suggesting that the adsorption process occurred spontaneously. Moreover, after five cycles of reuse, P-EDA-Dye nanofiber membranes still showed promising efficiency of lysozyme adsorption