Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors for Flexible Medical Instruments

Minimally invasive procedures are favored over open surgeries as they cause less trauma to healthy tissue and this leads to shorter recovery time, and thus lower medical costs. These procedures often utilize flexible instruments because they improve access to the operating areas within the body. However, localization of flexible instruments relative to the anatomy is a challenge. In this thesis, this challenge is undertaken, and a technique is developed to localize these instruments. More specifically, methods are presented that can acquire the shape, position, and orientation of a flexible instrument. Fiber Bragg gratings are employed as strain gauges, and the sensor measurements are combined with a mathematical model of curves to determine the instrument's location. Various validation experiments are conducted where these methods are applied to a flexible instrument designed for minimally invasive neurosurgery. The results show that fiber Bragg gratings are effective localization sensors for flexible medical instruments. Moreover, optical fiber sensors have a high potential to further enhance these instruments and research continues to utilize them to their full potential

Measuring Relationship between Digital Skills and Employability

In the growing economies like Pakistan and other countries, digital skils such as computer, communication, internet and advance digital skills are predictable to offer possible employees a major rim in securing their jobs and also protecting relatively high-paying jobs. Digital skills are not dual it has ranges and stages. There are number of International organizations that are making efforts on improving the people’s employability. I need more data in order to know the relationship between digital skills and employability in terms of which level of digital skills are enough for civilizing emplyability.  In this study I observe the digital skills assosiation with the employabilty using the Paf-Kiet University and National Foods Limited as a comparative study. Findings highlighted that digital skills can be a interpreter of employnment, the level of digital skills necessary to achieve these jobs is very high as one might imagine. In the rising economies perspective, digital skills are linked with high status jobs mainly combine with other reasons such as higher education. Implementation strategy  on the basis of the finiding of this study in order to improve employabilty, advising that revise the education policy and training efforts should focus on digital skills. Key words: Digital Skills, employabilty, Students’s, Employers, Relationship

Microservices Metrics Visualization

Many companies are using a distributed approach where systems can be developed in smaller chunks of functionalities called microservices. Due to their smaller size, microservices offer benefits such as smaller development teams, independent choice of developmental technologies and a lesser time to market to name a few. However, as the systems grow bigger, the number of microservices can increase up to hundreds and thousands which makes all this more challenging for the development teams and the project managers to analyse the services performance, prioritize resources and the ability to see the overall picture from business and management perspective. This thesis aims to look for a possibility to develop a tool by combining existing open source tools which could help overcome this challenge. The thesis aims to research and explore various existing open source microservices monitoring and tracing tools to figure out if they could be utilized to develop a microservices visualization tool comprised of a dynamic call graph displaying performance and business metrics for individual microservices. These tools are individually explored and run with test projects to verify their potential and the output is carefully analysed before deciding if the tool should be included in the implementation. The results show that such a tool can be developed by using some existing open source tools such as Jaeger, Prometheus and Grafana. The implemented tool is capable of constructing a microservices dynamic dependency network graph which includes various metrics e.g. number of calls being made from one microservice to the other, average response time per service, average load per minute per service, ratio of open and closed issues, ratio of open and closed bugs, ratio of cost and revenue and the amount of effort spent for each microservice in the system. This tool can make it easier for the developers and managers to visualize the number of calls being made and performance related challenges in microservices architecture-based systems only by looking at the graph and it can also help the business managers to make some strategic decisions on the basis of an overall picture of the system

Phytochemical screening and antibacterial effect of root extract of Boerhaavia diffusa L. (Family Nyctaginaceae)

Boerhaavia diffusa belonging to the family of the Nyctaginaceae is mainly a diffused perennial herbaceous creeping weed of India. The present study deals with the investigation of phytochemical analysis and evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of the aqueous and methanolic extract of the roots of Boerhaavia diffusa. The result revealed the presence of alkaloid, glycoside, saponins, flavonoids, polysaccharides, steroid and tannin in both the root extracts. B. diffusa root extract possesses antimicrobial activity as the zone of inhibition was observed for both gram positive as well as gram negative bacterial strains

Navigating through the maze of caesarean myomectomy: generating evidence

Management of myomas during pregnancy and labor is a contested subject so far. Currently no recommended national or international guidelines are in place resulting in conflicted opinion and management variation across the globe. Many obstetricians still discourage its practice due to fear of uncontrolled haemorrhage which may lead to unwanted hysterectomy in a reproductive age. However, some researchers have challenged the conventional perspective and argue that caesarean myomectomy (CM) is a safe procedure. The aim of this study is to examine all aspects of CM with an evaluative lens and to weigh its risk-benefit ratio.  For this purpose, we conducted a literature review of studies, including those from low-resource countries indexed in scientific databases like PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus. Most recent articles that reported benefits, complications and different techniques to safely perform caesarean myomectomy with proven benefit for the patient were examined thoroughly so that solid evidence on pros and cons of caesarean myomectomy could be generated. There is a dire need to conduct large sample size studies or randomized controlled trials for the risk-benefit evaluation of CM and to produce evidence-based clinical conclusion

Physico-chemical and phytoplanktonic characteristics of river Tons at Dehradun (Uttarakhand), India

The physico-chemical and phytoplankton characteristics of the Tons River were analyzed during August 2011-July 2012. The samples were collected from Garhi Cant (Site 1) and Tapkeshwar temple (Site 2) at Dehradun. The results showed that temperature, velocity, DO, nitrate and phosphate affected the phytoplanktonic diversity of river Tons. Thirty five genera of phytoplankton belonging to three families of Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and Myxophyceae were also identified in the river water. The family Bacillariophyceae was dominating the river with much abundance throughout the study period. Bacillariophyceae was recorded with the maximum of 222.25±90.84 Unit/L at sampling site 1 and 239.08±125.41 Unit/L at sampling site 2. The greater number of individuals was in family Bacillariophyceae (239.08±125.41 Unit/L) followed by Chlorophyceae (183.75±112.50 Unit/L) and Myxophyceae(40.91±36.16 Unit/L) during the study period. Both the number of genera and number of individuals belonging to each genera was maximum in case of family Bacillariophyceae followed by Chlorophyceae and Myxophyceae. The present study revealed that the water quality of river Tons was fairly good for the growth and survival of phytoplankton, and as a result it sustains the higher phytoplankton diversity of Tons river

Trust Violations and Positive Emotions: Moderating Role of Initial Trust: A Case of Kindergartens in China

This paper examines the moderating role of initial trust of parents between positive emotions of parents and apology with an internal or external attribution after a competence or integrity-based trust violation by the Kindergarten for the purpose of trust repair. We asked about 855 parents to respond to a scenario in which they read about violation of competence with apology internal or about violation of integrity with apology external. After reading a scenario based hypothetical situation they respond to a questionnaire. Each participant was presented with one of the scenarios.The results revealed a significant interaction whereby positive emotions were produced more successfully when kindergarten apologized with an internal attribution in matters of violation concerned matters of competence but apologized with an external attribution when the trust violation concerned matters of integrity. Initial trust positively moderates the relationship between apology with internal and external attributions in matters concerning competence and integrity and positive emotions. Keywords: Trust Violation, Competence, Integrity, Apology, Attribution, Kindergarten, Emotions, Initial Trust, Public Organization

Trust Repair by Public Kindergartens: Mediating Role of Positive Emotions: A case of kindergartens in Anhui Province, China

The trust of the public for public organizations is greatly damaged because of the repeated occurrence of violations of trust events, which has an outcome in the form of serious trust deficit. This paper examines the post-trust of parents in kindergarten that extends apology with an internal or external attribution after a competence or integrity-based trust violation. We asked about 855 parents to respond to a scenario in which they read about violation of competence with apology internal or about violation of integrity with apology external. After reading a scenario based hypothetical situation they respond to a questionnaire. Each participant was presented with one of the scenarios. The results revealed a significant interaction whereby parent’s leads to post trust more successfully when kindergarten apologized with an internal attribution in matters of violation concerned matters of competence but apologized with an external attribution when the trust violation concerned matters of integrity. Positive emotions mediate the relationship between apology with internal attribution in matters of competence violation or apology with external attribution in matters of integrity violation and post trust. Keywords: Trust Repair, Trust Violation, Competence, Integrity, Apology, Attribution, Kindergarten, Emotions

Current trends of consanguineous marriages and its association with socio-demographic variables in Pakistan

Background: A high proportion of marriages in South and Middle East Asia are contracted between close biological relatives due to cultural preference as it is a deeply rooted social fashion among these societies. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of consanguineous marriages and ascertain their relationship to relevant sociodemographic variables.  Methods: This was a cross sectional descriptive study conducted in tertiary care hospital of Islamabad. Data were collected on a specially designed questionnaire form. Age of participants, their education, socioeconomic status, castes and number of anomalous children born to these participants, degree of consanguinity and reasons of preferences were inquired.  Results: Out of 300 women chosen by convenience sampling technique, 62% had consanguineous marriages, and 38% had a non-consanguineous union. The mean age of women presenting to maternal and child health centre was 27 years. The average age of a woman having consanguineous marriage was 21 years in contrast to 24 years for non-consanguineous nuptial. About 18% of women in consanguineous marriages were illiterate as compared to 5.4% (p = 0.001) of women in non-consanguineous unions. First cousin marriages were more common among certain castes like Rajput and Awan. None in the consanguineous group had any anomalous baby in contrast to non-consanguineous who had two anomalous children (p = 0.0001). There was no significant association between type of marriage and the number of miscarriages (p=0.69).Conclusions: Majority women still prefer cousin unions for their progeny due to traditions and family security reasons irrespective of their education and social status. Therefore, it is important to incorporate prenatal genetic counseling sessions in community programs to raise awareness about repercussions of consanguinity on future generations

Cognitive Determinants of Chinese Entrepreneurs’ Intention to Adopt Marketing Approach in SMEs: A Case from Anhui, China

This paper examines the cognitive determinants of entrepreneurs regarding intentions to adopt/or not marketing approach in SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in Anhui, China. Ajzens (1991) model of predicting human and organization behavior i.e. TPB (Theory of planned behavior) was used to determine the cognitive behavior through attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control in addition with salient beliefs. Data was collected randomly across different industrial sectors with different levels of sales and number of employees. Results of 172 SMEs in Anhui, China show that attitude or behavioral beliefs , perception of entrepreneurs regarding advantages or disadvantages of the factors influencing entrepreneurs intentions to adopt marketing approach in their firms and subjective norms or normative beliefs, the social referents influencing entrepreneurs intention to adopt marketing approach i.e. corporate culture, seem to influence and considered to be the main determinants  of Chinese SMEs entrepreneurs intention to adopt marketing approach. This research limitation includes the analyses and findings of this research study on limited sample of SMEs located in Anhui, China. Keywords: SMEs (small and medium enterprises); Cognitive determinants; TPB (Theory of planned behavior; Marketing; Anhui, China