Model-driven decision support system for estimating number of ambulances required during earthquake disaster relief operation

Most of human life has been encountered danger due to natural disasters nowadays. One of these natural disasters that endanger human lives and which causes lot of damages is earthquake. A proper emergency response after an earthquake happening is important and has high priority in earthquake emergency management to reduce number of damages. Decision making for critical resources in the phase of response, is one of the main concerns for managers. Ambulance, as one of the critical resource that can help to reduce earthquake losses and costs, needs to be planned. Confusion in the number of victims in the early stages of earthquake, access complexity to the required data of different organizations by the pressing time, complicated nature of estimation, diversity of models and limitation of time for decision making are the main problems associated with estimating ambulances during earthquake disaster which makes estimation too difficult. In addition, there is a call for research in determining the number of required ambulances during earthquake emergency management, due to high error in estimating the number of ambulances in the current methods, which leads to unnecessary expenses and thereby helping to ensure that disaster sites are not overcrowded with emergency workers impeding each other's effectiveness. Such complexity suggests the introduction of Decision Support System (DSS). More accurate estimation of the number of required ambulances using a decision support system can help managers to speed up the process of decision making and thus reducing error and costs. Since the number of ambulances needed during a disaster is directly proportional to the number of victims requiring hospital treatment and in order to reach the first objective of this study, factors determining the number of human casualties in earthquake disaster i.e. population, modified Mercalli, age, time, building occupancy and gender are selected as the most relevant factors which have high probability in creating human casualties. The collected data from various relevant sources is used in proposing the model of this research. After testing different approaches, Fuzzy rule-based approach is being used, after defining the rules for each aforementioned factors and optimization is conducted in order to minimize the error for estimating the number of human casualties. Finally, by using de Boer formula and obtained number of human casualties, the number of required ambulances is estimated accurately. The results indicate that the error is decreased by more than 50% in the proposed method. A prototype of Model-Driven Decision Support System was developed based on the proposed model that can be used to aid emergency response planners for their decision making process prior to take any action during earthquake emergency management

Hybrid Palm Oil Mills Maintenance System

This paper proposes a technique that enhances snapshot model for cause of failure and decision analysis in order to easily assist maintenance engineers during identification and definition of the actual maintenance problem. The technique is a hybrid of failure mode, effect and criticality analysis, information technology and decision analysis into the snapshot model. A tool that automates the hybrid of snapshot modelling for cause of failure and decision analysis is also developed. This tool aims to ensure maintenance engineers can conduct snapshot modelling with little or without the help of operation research experts to facilitate in the cause of failure and decision analysis process

Knowledge Discovery Database (KDD)-Data Mining Application in Transportation

In this paper, an understanding and a review of data mining (DM) development and its applications in logistics and specifically transportation are highlighted. Even though data mining has been successful in becoming a major component of various business processes and applications, the benefits and real-world expectations are very important to consider. It is also surprising to note that very little is known to date about the usefulness of applying data mining in transport related research. From the literature, the frameworks for carrying out knowledge discovery and data mining have been revised over the years to meet the business expectations. In this paper, we apply CRISP-DM for formulating effective tire maintenance strategy within the context of a Malaysian's logistics company. The results of applying CRISP-DM for tire maintenance decisions are presented and discussed

Proximate composition, sugar profiles, minerals and carotenoids content and antioxidant capacity of momordica cochinchinensis L. Spreng or Gac (Vietnam) or Teruah (Malaysia) fruit fractions (peel, pulp, and aril)

The proximates, sugar profiles, minerals, carotenoids, and antioxidant capacity of Momordica cochinchinensis L. Spreng or Gac (Vietnam) or Teruah (Malaysia) fruits fractions (peel, pulp, and aril); were evaluated. Results showed Gac aril to contain the significant highest carbohydrate (55.6g/100g); compared to the pulp (30.9g/100g) and peel (19.3g/100g). Meanwhile, Gac peel contained the highest protein (6.2g/100g) and dietary fibre (56.9g to 58.1g/100g). Glucose and fructose are present in Gac fruit. Glucose was the main type of sugar in both Gac pulp and aril, with a significant value of 6.66 g/100 g and 7.55 g/100 g, respectively. Meanwhile, fructose also detected in Gac pulp and aril amounted to 5.84 g/100 g and 6.45 g/100 g, respectively. Potassium was the most abundant mineral in the Gac peel (817.59 mg/100g), followed by pulp (658.20 mg/100g) and aril (228.79 mg/100g). Lycopene was the main carotenoid found in Gac aril (31.7 – 103.7 mg/g) followed by β-carotene (2.9 – 9.6 mg/g); astaxanthin, (1.54 – 4.91 mg/g); lutein, (0.16 – 1.35 mg/g) and zeaxanthin (0.35 – 1.49 mg/g) in the pulp. Antioxidant activities of Gac were found between 22.61% – 58.76%, 37.63% – 41.64% and 2.46% –19.66% in the gac peel, pulp, and aril, respectively, using the DPPH assay. In conclusion, Gac pulp and aril contained good sources of carbohydrates, minerals, lycopene, and β-carotene

Targeting double genes in multiplex PCR for discriminating bovine, buffalo and porcine materials in food chain

Beef, buffalo and pork are the major meat of economic, religious and health concern. Current methods to authenticate these materials in food chain are based on mainly single gene targets which are susceptible to break down by food processing treatments. We, for the first time, described here a double gene targeting short-amplicon length multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay for discriminating bovine, buffalo and porcine materials in a single assay platform. The advantage of the assay is evidenced in terms of fidelity, cost and time since it is highly unlikely that two different targets would be missing even in a decomposed specimen. Detection of multiple targets in a single assay definitely saves analytical cost and time. Mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) and ND5 genes were targeted and six different targets (length: 90–146 bp), two for each of cow (120 and 106bp), buffalo (90 and 138bp) and pig (73 and 146bp), were amplified from raw, boiled, autoclaved and microwaved cooked meat under pure and mixed matrices. The detection limit was 0.02 ng DNA under pure states and 0.1% meat in binary mixtures and meatball products. Screening of Malaysian meatball products revealed all beef products were buffalo positive in which 35% were totally replaced. In contrast, all pork products were found uncontaminated from beef and buffalo

Seroprevalence of leptospiral antibodies among market workers and food handlers in the central state of Malaysia

Objective:The high prevalence of leptospirosis in humans is of great public health concern, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of leptospiral antibodies and distribution of serovars, and to assess the usefulness of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as a screening method for leptospiral antibodies in a high-risk healthy community. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 231 market workers and food handlers in wet markets and food premises from two localities in central Malaysia. Respondents' background information was obtained using a questionnaire. Serum samples were tested for leptospiral antibodies using ELISA and microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Results: Seroprevalence of leptospirosis among healthy workers was 46.3%. Detection of seropositivity was higher by MAT (46%) than ELISA (15%). We observed high seropositivity among local workers (49%), food handlers (49.5%), females (60.8%) and those aged 34 years and older (46.3%). Local strain LEP175 was the predominant serovar, followed by WHO strain Patoc. Conclusion: Overall seroprevalence among healthy food handlers and market workers was high in this study. The workplace places susceptible individuals at risk of leptospirosis

African Dreams: Locating Urban Infrastructure in the 2030 Sustainable Developmental Agenda

This paper examines African urban infrastructure and service delivery as an entry point for connecting African aspirations with the harsh developmental imperatives of urban management, creating a dialogue between scholarly knowledge and sustainable development policy aspirations. We note a shift to multi-nodal urban governance and highlight the significance of the synthesis of social, economic and ecological values in a normative vision of what an African metropolis might aspire to by 2030. The sustainable development vision provides a useful stimulus for Africa’s urban poly-crisis, demanding fresh interdisciplinary and normatively explicit thinking, grounded in a practical and realistic understanding of Africa’s infrastructure and governance challenges

Characterization of a K+-induced conformational switch in a human telomeric DNA oligonucleotide using 2-aminopurine fluorescence

Human telomeric DNA consists of tandem repeats of the DNA sequence d(GGGTTA). Oligodeoxynucletotide telomere models such as d[A(GGGTTA)(3)GGG] (Tel22) fold in a cation-dependent manner into quadruplex structures consisting of stacked G-quartets linked by d(TTA) loops. NMR has shown that in Na(+) solutions Tel22 forms a ‘basket’ topology of four antiparallel strands; in contrast, Tel22 in K(+) solutions consists of a mixture of unknown topologies. Our previous studies on the mechanism of folding of Tel22 and similar telomere analogs utilized changes in UV absorption between 270 and 325 nm that report primarily on G-quartet formation and stacking showed that quadruplex formation occurs within milliseconds upon mixing with an appropriate cation. In the current study, we assessed the dynamics and equilibria of folding of specific loops by using Tel22 derivatives in which the dA residues were serially substituted with the fluorescent reporter base, 2-aminopurine (2-AP). Tel22 folding induced by Na(+) or K(+) assessed by changes in 2-AP fluorescence consists of at least three kinetic steps with time constants spanning a range of ms to several hundred seconds. Na(+)-dependent equilibrium titrations of Tel22 folding could be approximated as a cooperative two-state process. In contrast, K(+)-dependent folding curves were biphasic, revealing that different conformational ensembles are present in 1 mM and 30 mM K(+). This conclusion was confirmed by (1)H NMR. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed a K(+) binding pocket in Tel22 located near dA1 that is specific for the so-called hybrid-1 conformation in which strand 1 is in a parallel arrangement. The possible presence of this topologically specific binding site suggests that K(+) may play an allosteric role in regulating telomere conformation and function by modulating quadruplex tertiary structure

Proliferation of Acid-Secretory Cells in the Kidney during Adaptive Remodelling of the Collecting Duct

The renal collecting duct adapts to changes in acid-base metabolism by remodelling and altering the relative number of acid or alkali secreting cells, a phenomenon termed plasticity. Acid secretory A intercalated cells (A-IC) express apical H+-ATPases and basolateral bicarbonate exchanger AE1 whereas bicarbonate secretory B intercalated cells (B-IC) express basolateral (and apical) H+-ATPases and the apical bicarbonate exchanger pendrin. Intercalated cells were thought to be terminally differentiated and unable to proliferate. However, a recent report in mouse kidney suggested that intercalated cells may proliferate and that this process is in part dependent on GDF-15. Here we extend these observations to rat kidney and provide a detailed analysis of regional differences and demonstrate that differentiated A-IC proliferate massively during adaptation to systemic acidosis. We used markers of proliferation (PCNA, Ki67, BrdU incorporation) and cell-specific markers for A-IC (AE1) and B-IC (pendrin). Induction of remodelling in rats with metabolic acidosis (with NH4Cl for 12 hrs, 4 and 7 days) or treatment with acetazolamide for 10 days resulted in a larger fraction of AE1 positive cells in the cortical collecting duct. A large number of AE1 expressing A-IC was labelled with proliferative markers in the cortical and outer medullary collecting duct whereas no labeling was found in B-IC. In addition, chronic acidosis also increased the rate of proliferation of principal collecting duct cells. The fact that both NH4Cl as well as acetazolamide stimulated proliferation suggests that systemic but not urinary pH triggers this response. Thus, during chronic acidosis proliferation of AE1 containing acid-secretory cells occurs and may contribute to the remodelling of the collecting duct or replace A-IC due to a shortened life span under these conditions