Probabilistic Assessment of Coastal Bridge Vulnerability to Wave Loading During Hurricanes

Bridges located in coastal areas may be subjected to extreme wave and surge loading during coastal storm events, potentially leading to damage or even collapse. Understanding the loading and response of bridges during storms is critical to ensuring the resilience and reliability of transportation infrastructure in coastal regions. This study develops and applies a probabilistic bridge vulnerability framework that allows for coupled simulation of time-varying wave loading using OpenFOAM, dynamic structural response using OpenSees, and uncertainty quantification using Dakota. The framework is applied to evaluate bridge failure potential under wave and surge loading based on conditions observed during Hurricane Ike. Simulations were run on the Stampede2 system at TACC. Results indicate that waves with high peak periods and long wavelengths are the primary contributors to bridge instability. During Hurricane Ike, extreme wave loading exceeds the resistance of the typical bridge structure over 70% of the time, leading to sliding, uplifting, and overturning. Vertical stability of the bridge is most sensitive to uncertainties in the concrete density, while horizontal stability is most sensitive to uncertainties in the lateral stiffness of the bearings. Results from this research can inform the development of improved design standards for coastal bridges and/or the selection of appropriate countermeasures to improve bridge stability. The proposed computational framework can be applied across transportation systems to quantify failure probabilities and prioritize maintenance and retrofitting efforts for coastal bridges.Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC

Does more testing in routine preoperative evaluation benefit the orthopedic patient? Case control study from a resource-constrained setting

Background: Routine preoperative tests in healthy patients not only cause extra anxiety, but may delay treatment without influencing surgical plan. This has worse impact in resource-constrained settings where fee for service rather than health insurance is the usual norm. Investigators aim to determine if routine pre-operative tests are justified in healthy orthopedic patients.Methods: We conducted a non-commercialized, non-funded matched case control study in tertiary care university hospital and a level-1 trauma centre for healthy patients (ASA-1&2) admitted from January 2014-December 2016 for elective orthopedic intermediate and major procedures. Cases (patient who had a change in his/her surgical plan after admission) and controls were selected independently of the exposure of interest then matched randomly to cases on age, gender and procedure type. Primary exposure was the routine preoperative lab tests, as defined by the American Society of Anesthesiologist, which included 13 blood tests. Analysis was done using Principle Component Analysis and Conditional logistic regression at univariate and multivariable levels reporting matched adjusted Odds Ratios. The data was reported in line with STROCSS criteria.Results: Overall, 7610 preoperative tests were done for 670 patients with 62% men among cases and 53% men among controls with mean age of 49.9 ± role= presentation style= box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; line-height: 0; font-size: 18.08px; overflow-wrap: normal; word-spacing: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; position: relative; \u3e±± 22.5 years and 41.1 ± role= presentation style= box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; line-height: 0; font-size: 18.08px; overflow-wrap: normal; word-spacing: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; position: relative; \u3e±± 23.0 years, respectively. There were 1076 (14%) abnormal result that influenced surgical plan in 0.96% cases only. Matched adjusted OR with 95% confidence interval of primary exposure was insignificant.Conclusion: Routine preoperative tests were superfluous and did not influence the surgical plan when adjusted for other variables in the model as well as after matching on potential confounders. This study would be amongst first steps to move towards an evidence based surgical practice for preoperative evaluation

Hip replacement for femur neck fracture in the elderly, effects of delayed surgical intervention on morbidity and mortality, a retrospective comparative study

Hip fracture is one of the most common injuries in the elderly population. Delay in operating on patients with hip fracture is associated with greater mortality and morbidity. A retrospective review of medical charts of patients who underwent primary total hip replacement (THR) for neck of femur fractures at our tertiary care level 1 trauma was carried out. Data was collected from the patients\u27 charts and analysed for 30-day mortality and morbidity. A total of 96 patients were included in the study. Out of the 36 patients in the delayed THR group, mortality within 30 days was observed in 4 (11.1%) patients while none was noted in the early THR group. The difference was statistically significant with a P-value of 0.008. With regards to post-operative complications, significantly higher percentage of patients were noted to have developed electrolyte imbalances (P = 0.003), postoperative psychosis (P = 0.02), and acute kidney injury (AKI) (P = 0.02) in the delayed THR group compared to the early THR group. Delay in surgery for neck of femur fracture is associated with increased 30-day mortality and postoperative complications

Covid-19 pandemic: Economic burden on patients with musculoskeletal injuries in a tertiary care hospital of LMIC; retrospective cross sectional study

Covid-19 has adversely impacted the health care organizations by over burdening with Covid patients and suspending the elective surgeries and clinics. Hospitalization during pandemic may increase health cost of patients for elective and emergency procedure due to extra cost of covid testing and isolation. A single center retrospective study was conducted to quantify losses due to postponement of elective surgeries and extra cost for procurement of PPEs. The secondary objective was to see the effect of Covid -19 on the total costs of inpatient care during Covid era.Patient and method: We included all the patients admitted in orthopedic section for operative intervention of fractures and elective procedures from January 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020. We divided this period into two halves; the first half was from January first to March 15 named as PreCovid Era and second half was from March 16, to May 31, 2020, termed as Covid Era. The total number of trauma procedures and elective procedures were compared in both eras. We compared six procedures each from upper and lower limit for cost analysis and length of stay. We also analyzed the extra cost for procurement of PPEs.Results: A total 625 patients were admitted during study period; 417 in precovid and 208 in covid era. There was 50% reduction in patients admissions during Covid era. There was no statistically significant difference in age and gender of both groups. A total of 840 (591in preCovid era and 251 in Covid era) procedures were performed on these 625 patients. Elective and emergency procedures were significantly reduced in Covid era. There was 55.7% drop in the collective revenue generated in covid era as compared to that of Precovid era. The average length of stay was decreased in Covid era. No statistically significance difference was found in inpatient hospital charges of both groups except for two procedures ankle and proximal humeral fractures; that was significantly reduced in Covid era. There was significantly increase in use of PPE in covid era.Conclusion: The financial income of our service decreased more than 55% due to postponement of elective work. The number of elective and procedures related to musculoskeletal trauma also decreased. The cost for inpatient care did not increase during covid era. There was significant reduction in inpatient hospital stay during covid era. The hospital management had to spent additional expenses on procurement of PPEs

Potential of organic amendments for heavy metal contamination in soil–coriander system: environmental fate and associated ecological risk

Pollution by organic wastes and manures is an important problem in tropical and sub-tropical countries and novel solutions for their proper management and valorization are needed. Waste-derived organic manures may increase metal load in the soil–plant ecosystem and food chain, with potential risks to public health. The aim of this work was to evaluate the impact of three manures (poultry waste (PW), press mud (PM), and farmyard manure (FYM)) on heavy metals (HMs) (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe, Mn) toxicity in a soil and coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) system and their environmental impact (bioaccumulation, pollution load) and the consequent risk to human health via consumption. Results demonstrated that HMs in coriander fluctuated from 0.40 to 0.43 for Cd, 1.84 to 3.52 for Co, 0.15 to 0.16 for Cr, 1.32 to 1.40 for Cu, 0.05 to 0.09 for Pb, 1.32 to 2.51 for Fe, 0.10 to 0.32 for Mn, and 2.01 to 8.70 mg/kg for Zn, respectively. Highest pollution load index value was 2.89 for Cd and Mn showed the lowest (0.005). Daily intake of metal was noticed to be higher for Zn (0.049 mg/kg/day) for PW and lower for Mn (0.0005) at FYM treatment. The health risk index value was <1 and in the range of 2.30–2.50 for Cd showing potential carcinogenicity. It was concluded that as the organic amendments have the widest application in vegetables, it should be prudent to avoid their contamination and mobilization in plant–soil ecosystems to protect public health perspectives.King Saud University | Ref. RSP-2021/21

Parents’ self-directed practices towards the use of antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections in Makkah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract Background Excessive and inappropriate antimicrobial use in the community is one risk factor that can result in the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Upper respiratory tract infections are most frequently reported among children and mainly of viral origin and do not require antibiotics. We have conducted Knowledge, Attitude and Perception (KAP) survey of parents to explore the parent’s knowledge, attitude & perception of Saudi parents. Methods A knowledge attitude perception questioner was adopted from a previous study conducted in Greece by Panagakou et al. Raosoft online sample size calculator calculated the sample size by adding the total estimated Makkah population of 5,979,719 with a response rate of 30%, 5% margin of error and 99% confidence interval. Based on the described criteria five hundred & fifty-eight was the required sample size of the study. Incomplete questioners were excluded from the statistical analysis. SPSS version 21 was used to analyse data and to produce descriptive statistics. Results Most of the mothers (95%) responded among parents. 67% had no health insurance to cover medications costs. Most of them (74%) were related to medium income level. Seventy per cent of the parents believed physicians as a source of information for judicious antibiotics use. Interestingly, only 8% were agreed that most of the upper respiratory tract infections are caused by viral reasons. Majority of Saudi parents (53%) expect pediatricians to prescribe antimicrobials for their children for symptoms like a cough, nose discharge, sore throat and fever. Moreover, most the parents had the poor knowledge to differentiate commonly used OTC medications for URTI and antibiotics like Augmentin (Co-amoxiclav), Ceclor (cefaclor) and Erythrocin (Erythromycin). While comparing males and female’s knowledge level, few males have identified Amoxil (Amoxicillin). Similarly, parents of age 20–30 years have good knowledge about the antibiotics. Conclusions Majority of Saudi parents believe in pediatricians and use antibiotics on physician’s advice. Most of them expect antibiotics from their physicians as a primary treatment for upper respiratory tract infections. There is need for more educational activities to parents by the pharmacists to prevent antibiotics overuse among children

Understanding Challenges in the Data Pipeline for Development Data

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2019The developing world is relying more and more on data driven policies. Numerous development agencies have pushed for on-ground data collection to support the development work they pursue. Many governments have launched efforts for more frequent information gathering. Overall, the amount of data collected is tremendous, yet we face significant issues in doing useful analysis. Most of these barriers are around data cleaning and merging, and they require a data engineer to support some parts of the analysis. This thesis aims to understand the pain points of cleaning development data. It also proposes solutions that harness the thought process of a data engineer to reduce the manual workload of the tedious process of cleaning such data. To achieve these goals, two research areas are critical: (1) to discern current data usage patterns and to build a taxonomy of data cleaning in the developing world; and (2) to create algorithms to support automated data cleaning, which target selected problems including matching transliterated names. With these goals, this thesis will empower regular data users to easily do the necessary data cleaning and scrubbing for analysis

Evaluation of Ice loads on Beitstadsundet bridge by deterministic and probabilistic approaches

Ice loads on the bridge piers can be one of the major components for the Extreme Limit State (ELS) combinations, specified in the Euro Code. In arctic and sub-arctic regions, the ice action on infrastructures such as platforms, lighthouses, sub-sea pipelines, or wind turbines may exceed the total forces of wind, waves and currents and may, therefore, determine the design. For example, in regions such as Beitstad in Norway, ice loads can be the predominant lateral force in the design of bridge sub-structures. Therefore, accurate estimation of ice forces that can act on bridge piers in northern climates is critical in both cases – the design of new bridges and the structural evaluation of existing bridges. Different design codes provide empirical formulae to calculate the design ice forces, based on the effective ice strength, thickness and other important empirical environmental or climatic coefficients. Ice forces must be considered in the design of the coastal and hydraulic structures. Both the ice conditions and the environmental factors are combined in a formula to calculate the magnitude of ice forces that a structure is expected to withstand in the future and over its lifetime. The existing standards for estimation of the ice loads on vertical and sloping structures adopt different analysis methods, and to determine the global ice loads on these structures, the ice-structure interaction scenarios must be identified. In this study, most of the focus will be on fjord and lake ice conditions and their loading on a bridge pier will be assessed and compared by using different shapes of structure and standards of different countries, followed by the deterministic extreme value analysis , probabilistic assessment and uncertainty analysis of the ice loading during the design lifetime of the bridge sub-structure.CoMEMCoastal and Marine Engineering and Management (CoMEM

Cartoonization, Caricature and Emotion Generation from A Single Intensity Frontal Facial Image

Interest in research activities in facial processing especially cartoonization, caricature and emotion generation have gradually increased over the recent years. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it provides an algorithms along with its results in which exaggerated cartoon like effects are added into a single facial frontal image according to the given cartoon template. The cartoon formed in this process will have similar features as of original image. Secondly, the study provides facial transformation algorithms and techniques to generate various artifacts and emotions including  sad, shy, happy, blank, serious, surprise and innocent. Thirdly, the study discusses different transformation algorithms to generate various caricatures from the single frontal facial image. The output images generated using these open source algorithms and techniques are also provided in this paper to assess their subjective quality