Causal Relationship According to Toda-Yamamoto Methodology Between Economic Growth Rates and Inflation in the Iraqi Economy During the Period (1990 - 2021)

This study aims to test the causal relationship between inflation and economic growth during the period (1990-2021) in Iraq. The long-term causality test was conducted using the Toda-Yamamoto methodology, developed based on a study conducted in 1995 by Toda and Yamamoto. The results indicated a unidirectional causal relationship between economic growth and inflation, meaning that an increase in growth rates has an impact on inflation. The study recommends the implementation of monetary policies to reduce monetary growth. This could include reducing interest rates or implementing other monetary policies to control the increase in money supply, in addition to improving the supply by increasing production and enhancing efficiency in the economy. Policies encouraging investment and promoting production can contribute to meeting growing demand without causing an increase in inflation

ANALISA PEMBAGIAN HARTA BERSAMA TERHADAP PERCERAIAN APARATUR SIPIL NEGARA ATAU PEGAWAI NEGERI SIPIL

ABSTRAK Pasal 35 ayat (1) Undang-Undang Nomor 1 Tahun 1974, yang mengatur tentang perkawinan, menyebutkan bahwa hanya harta benda yang diperoleh suami istri selama perkawinan yang dianggap sebagai harta bersama. Dalam pembagian sumber daya bersama, harus adil antara keduanya mengingat seberapa besar komitmen dalam memperolehnya. Pembagian harta bersama ini juga seringkali menjadi permasalahan antara kedua belah pihak, akibat dari ketidakjelasan kepemilikan dan juga ketidakadilan dalam penbagiannya. Rumusan masalah yang muncul adalah bagaimana prosedur pembagian harta bersama dalam perceraian bagi Aparatur sipil negara atau pegawai negeri sipil. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah penelitian lapangan dengan melakukan wawancara, observasi, dan dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan pembagian harta bersama pada kasus perceraian aparatus sipil negara ini bahwa pembagiannya berdasarkan besaran kontribusi keduanya dalam memperoleh harta tersebut. Jika ada harta yang diperoleh bersama haruslah masing-masing menyiapkan bukti kepemilikan untuk menjadi barang bukti sebelum diputuskan oleh hakim. Pada proses pembagian ini juga dapat diselesaikan melalui pengadilan (litigasi) atau melakukan perdamaian diluar pengadilan (non litigasi). Kata kunci: pembagian harta bersama; perceraian; Pegawai Negeri Sipi

Local flap for reconstruction of nasal defect following excision of basal cell carcinoma of nose

Reconstruction of soft tissue at the nose following excision of basal cell carcinoma is always challenging, because of both functional and aesthetic importance of nose. The local flap is always preferable to skin graft as this produces like with like replacement, pliable cover and vascularized tissue over the skeletal framework. In this paper, we discussed six cases of nasal reconstruction with bilobed flap, forehead flap, and nasolabial flap. All flaps survived and the patients had satisfactory outcome

Pervasive blood pressure monitoring using Photoplethysmogram (PPG) Sensor

Preventive healthcare requires continuous monitoring of the blood pressure (BP) of patients, which is not feasible using conventional methods. Photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals can be effectively used for this purpose as there is a physiological relation between the pulse width and BP and can be easily acquired using a wearable PPG sensor. However, developing real-time algorithms for wearable technology is a significant challenge due to various conflicting requirements such as high accuracy, computationally constrained devices, and limited power supply. In this paper, we propose a novel feature set for continuous, real-time identification of abnormal BP. This feature set is obtained by identifying the peaks and valleys in a PPG signal (using a peak detection algorithm), followed by the calculation of rising time, falling time and peak-to-peak distance. The histograms of these times are calculated to form a feature set that can be used for classification of PPG signals into one of the two classes: normal or abnormal BP. No public dataset is available for such study and therefore a prototype is developed to collect PPG signals alongside BP measurements. The proposed feature set shows very good performance with an overall accuracy of approximately 95\%. Although the proposed feature set is effective, the significance of individual features varies greatly (validated using significance testing) which led us to perform weighted voting of features for classification by performing autoregressive modeling. Our experiments show that the simplest linear classifiers produce very good results indicating the strength of the proposed feature set. The weighted voting improves the results significantly, producing an overall accuracy of about 98%. Conclusively, the PPG signals can be effectively used to identify BP, and the proposed feature set is efficient and computationally feasible for implementation on standalone devices.N/

Gabor Contrast Patterns: A Novel Framework to Extract Features From Texture Images

In this paper, a novel rotation and scale invariant approach for texture classification based on Gabor filters has been proposed. These filters are designed to capture the visual content of the images based on their impulse responses which are sensitive to rotation and scaling in the images. The filter responses are rearranged according to the filter exhibiting the response having largest amplitude, followed by the calculation of patterns after binarizing the responses based on a particular threshold. This threshold is obtained as the average energy of Gabor filter responses at a particular pixel. The binary patterns are converted to decimal numbers, the histograms of which are used as texture features. The proposed features are used to classify the images from two famous texture datasets: Brodatz, CUReT and UMD texture albums. Experiments show that the proposed feature extraction method performs really well when compared with several other state-of-the-art methods considered in this paper and is more robust to noise

Auditing the quality of epidemic decision-making in Somalia: a pilot evaluation

OBJECTIVE: To assess decision-making quality through piloting an audit tool among decision-makers responding to the COVID-19 epidemic in Somalia. DESIGN AND SETTING: We utilised a mixed-methods programme evaluation design comprising quantitative and qualitative methods. Decision-makers in Somalia piloted the audit tool generating a scorecard for decision-making in epidemic response. They also participated in key informant interviews discussing their experience with the audit process and results. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 18 decision-makers from two humanitarian agencies responding to COVID-19 in Somalia were recruited to pilot the audit tool. OUTCOME MEASURES AND ANALYSIS: We used thematic analysis to assess the feasibility and perceived utility of the audit tool by intended users (decision-makers). We also calculated Fleiss' Kappa to assess inter-rater agreement in the audit scorecard. RESULTS: The audit highlighted areas of improvement in decision-making among both organisations including in the dimensions of accountability and transparency. Despite the audit occurring in a highly complex operating environment, decision-makers found the process to be feasible and of high utility. The flexibility of the audit approach allowed for organisations to adapt the audit to their needs. As a result, organisation reported a high level of acceptance of the findings. CONCLUSION: Strengthening decision-making processes is key to realising the objectives of epidemic response. This pilot evaluation contributes towards this goal by the testing what, to our knowledge, may be the first tool designed specifically to assess quality of decision-making processes in epidemic response. The tool has proven feasible and acceptable in assessing decision-making quality in an ongoing response and has potential applicability in assessing decision-making in broader humanitarian response

Health research prioritization in Somalia: setting the agenda for context specific knowledge to advance universal health coverage

IntroductionDespite recognition that health research is an imperative to progress toward universal health coverage, resources for health research are limited. Yet, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 85% of the resources available for health research are spent on answering less relevant research questions. This misalignment is partially due to absence of locally determined health research priorities. In this study, we identified health research priorities which, if implemented, can inform local interventions required to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage in Somalia.MethodsWe adapted the child health and nutrition research initiative method for research priority setting and applied it in 4 major phases: (1) establishment of an exercise management team, (2) a web-based survey among 84 respondents to identify health research questions; (3) categorization of identified health research questions; and (4) a workshop with 42 participants to score and rank the identified health research questions. Ethical approval was received from ethics review committee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Ref:26524) and the Somali Research and Development Institute (Ref: EA0143).ResultsTwo hundred and thirty-one unique health research questions were identified and categorized under health systems, services and social determinants (77), communicable diseases (54), non-communicable diseases (41) and reproductive, maternal, new-born, child, adolescent health and nutrition (59). A priority score ranging from 1 to 9 was assigned to each of the questions. For each category, a list of 10 questions with the highest priority scores was developed. Across the four categories, an overall list of 10 questions with the highest priority scores was also developed. These related to bottlenecks to accessing essential health services, use of evidence in decision making, antimicrobial resistance, distribution and risk factors for non-communicable diseases, post-traumatic stress disorder and factors associated with low antenatal care attendance among others.Conclusion and recommendationsThe developed priority research questions can be used to focus health research and to inform appropriation of health research resources to questions that contribute to generation of local health system knowledge which is required to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage in Somalia. The Somalia national institute of health should set up a consortium for provision of technical and financial support for research addressing the identified priority research questions, establish a mechanism to continuously monitor the extent to which new health interventions in Somalia are informed by knowledge generated through conducting prioritized health research and prioritize interventions aimed at strengthening the broader national health research system for Somalia

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Evaluation of a new radio frequency identification tag for subdermal implantation

This research was aimed at examining the readiness of a prototype implantable tag of dimensions 39 mm x 24 mm x 4.1 mm designed to operate at 915 MHz for monitoring the movement of young sea lions and seals. Several issues had to be resolved, and they include developing and testing a suitable communication protocol between the base station and tag, and way of providing power to the tag. Engineering issues related to longevity of the implantable tag, and power radiated by the loop antenna of the implantable tag in its alumina enclosure, under skin and under the fat underlying the skin, also, had to be addressed. Finally issues related to how data from the tag could be best recorded at haul outs and rookeries were examined. A working prototype of an implantable tag was obtained by reducing the height of the loop antenna by 2 mm and changing the capacitor values in the matching network to 0.2 pF. Field tests using a base station that accepted signal strengths up to -60 dBm indicated that the tag’s range was a maximum of 500 m when it was operated out of a body at a data rate of 1 kbps and the height of the base station antenna was more than 5 m. When the prototype was implanted within its alumina housing under the skin of cavernous tissue, the range of the device fell to an acceptable 180 m. A lifetime model indicated that the longevity of the tag would meet the three year target if it were to be operated using a data rate of 1 kbps, transmission interval of 15 min, packet size of 104 bits and battery capacity of 72 mAh. The lifetime model was verified at the same temperature as a sea lion. A link budget model was developed for the prototype tag, and was used to estimate the performance of the implantable in the sea lion’s environment.Applied Science, Faculty ofElectrical and Computer Engineering, Department ofGraduat

ROBO-SPOT: Detecting Robocalls by Understanding User Engagement and Connectivity Graph

Robo or unsolicited calls have become a persistent is-sue in telecommunication networks, posing significant challenges to individuals, businesses, and regulatory authorities. These calls not only trick users to disclose their private and financial information but also affect their productivity through unwanted phone ringing. A proactive approach to identify and block such unsolicited calls is essential to protect users and service providers from potential harm. Therein, this paper proposes a solution to identify robo-callers in the telephony network utilising a set of novel features to evaluate the trustworthiness of callers in a network. The trust score of the callers is then used along with machine learning models to classify them as legitimate or robo-caller. We used a large anonymized data set (call detailed records) from a large telecommunication provider containing more than 1 billion records collected over 10 days. We have conducted extensive evaluation demonstrating that the proposed approach achieves high accuracy and detection rate whilst minimizing the error rate. Specifically, the proposed features when used collectively achieve a true-positive rate of around 97% with a false-positive rate of less than 0.01