Ebola Contact Tracing Study data

The collection contains four datasets captured in the Ebola Contact Tracing Study: [1] 'summary_data_cases' contains details of the 41 confirmed Ebola cases included in the study; [2] 'app_data_contacts' contains details of the 646 Ebola contacts registered on the Ebola Contact Tracing App (ECT) smartphone app. These originate from 18 Ebola cases (16 were laboratory confirmed and 2 were “secret burials” that were not confirmed); [3] 'paper_data_contacts' describes 408 Ebola contacts who were identified from 25 Ebola cases for monitoring using the standard paper-based system for contact tracing; and [4] 'main_analysis_dataset' contains information on 804 Ebola contacts and their contact tracing monitoring status collected using both the ECT app and paper-based system

Comparing the Overall Effectiveness of Pre- Laboratory Data Activities and Scaffolded Laboratory Procedures in Calculus- Based Physics I

Laboratory courses expose students to the important skills of thinking and working scientifically; this may mean looking for correlational variables, testing a hypothesis, or confirming a theory. In the Calculus-Based Physics I course at Bridgewater State University, students are introduced to the idea of using an experimental setup to confirm fundamental physical principles studied in class. Students often struggle to master this idea of making a connection between theory and experiment, so we tested two different methods of improving the laboratory experience: prelaboratory data activities and scaffolded laboratory procedures. By tracking student progress through laboratory journals and conceptual tests, normalizing grades recorded for different groups, and calculating the gains made in each semester involved in the project, we can begin to see the effect of these different curriculum designs. Results of this project support methods which emphasize laboratory process over course content: semesters where pre-laboratory data activities were used showed a negligible laboratory gain of +0.0625, while the semester where scaffolded laboratory procedures were used showed a high positive gain of +3.69. These findings will be used during curriculum development of future Calculus-Based Physics I semesters to provide students with more opportunities for growth

Optimization of processing parameters on the yield of oleoresin from zingiber zerumbet and its antibacterial activity

The effect of processing parameters on the yield of oleoresin from Zingiber zerumbet and its antibacterial activity was investigated. The preliminary experiments were carried out to determine the main parameters that affect the yield of oleoresin, zerumbone content and antibacterial activity on the Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus of Z. zerumbet oleoresin. The main parameters were found to be extraction time, type of solvent used and blanching treatment. The range of those parameters that was investigated to get the highest of all yield were blanching treatments (untreated, boiled, steamed), solvent (acetone, ethanol and methanol) and extraction time (6 hours to 18 hours). A D-optimal design was employed to study the effect of different range parameter of Z. zerumbet oleoresin on four response variables; the yield of oleoresin, the zerumbone content, the antibacterial activity on the E. coli and S. aureus. Analysis of variance and response surface methodology were applied to identify the optimal processing parameter. The optimal processing parameters that fulfilled the requirement for yield of oleoresin, zerumbone content, antibacterial activity on the E. coli and S. aureus with high desirability were found to be 18 hours of extraction time, methanol as the solvent used and steaming as the blanching treatment. The desirability value was 84 %. Meanwhile, the optimal yield of Z. zerumbet oleoresin was 31.50 % (w/w), the zerumbone content was 0.56 % (w/w) and the antibacterial activities (inhibition zone) on the E. coli and S. aureus were 14.58 mm and 13.51 mm respectively. Processing optimization has resulted in an increase of overall antibacterial activity on the E. coli and S. aureus of Z. zerumbet oleoresin as well as the increment yield of oleoresin and zerumbone conten

Information provision and retrieval in the farming industry in Western Australia

Agricultural information dissemination to farmers has been studied extensively. However, farmers preferred methods of delivery has not been investigated thoroughly within a Western Australia (WA) context. Availability of different information delivery channels have led to the overwhelming and overlapping of information available to farmers. As a consequence, the type of information required by WA farmers should be considered as knowing information needs could allow farmers to access relevant, concise and timely agricultural information. To answer the research questions, a survey was designed, using Likert-scale, close ended and open ended questions techniques, enabling qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The study‘s findings are relevant to agricultural information providers, government and public agencies, and other researchers who work in the agricultural and farming industries in Western Australia, and Australia

Dielectric, elastic and optical properties of 80TeO2-(20-x) MnO2-xFe2O3 and 30Li2O-4MoO3-(66-x)TeO2-xV2O5 mixed oxide tellurite glasses in the conductivity anomaly region / Rosdiyana Hasham @ Hisam

In this study, two series of mixed oxide tellurite based glasses with composition 80TeO2-(20-x)MnO2-xFe2O3 (x = 5 mol% to 20 mol%) and 30Li2O-4MoO3-(66-x)TeO2-xV2O5 (x = 0.2–1.2 mol%) were prepared using melt-quenching method to investigate their dielectric, AC conductivity, elastic and optical properties. For the 80TeO2-(20-x)MnO2- xFe2O3 glass samples, the dielectric constant showed strong variation with Fe2O3 at a frequency ≥ 10 kHz, where ε′ decreased to a minimum value at x = 10 mol% before increasing for x >10%. The decrease in ε′ may be attributed to some form of hindrance effect on heavy dipoles caused by the mixed transition-ion effect (MTE). Meanwhile, variation of AC conductivity with Fe2O3 showed non-linear increase for x ≤ 10 mol% before dropping to a minimum at 15 mol% Fe2O3. This result is attributed to Anderson localization because of the disorder in the glass system. On the other hand, DC conductivity for the same glass system showed a strong increase for x ≤ 10 mol% Fe2O3 before reaching a saddle-like behavior between 10 mol % ≤ x ≤ 15 mol%, followed by a large increase for x > 15 mol%. Independent longitudinal modulus (CL), shear modulus (μ) and bulk modulus (Ke) showed increased values for x ≤ 10 mol% with an anomalous drop at x = 15 mol% Fe2O3, followed by a large increase at x > 15 mol%. The anomalous region between 10 mol% ≤ x ≤ 15 mol% coincided with DC conductivity saddle-like region and is suggested to be related to the MTE. Meanwhile, in the same region, optical band gap (Eopt) exhibited a maxima, whereas refractive index showed a minima, thereby indicating a variation in polarizability due to changes in concentration of bridging and non-bridging oxygens. For the 30Li2O-4MoO3-(66-x) TeO2-xV2O5 glasses, the variation of AC conductivity with V2O5 showed This thesis presents a simulation study on parameter estimation for binary and multinomial logistic regression, and the extension of the clustering partitioning strategy for goodness-of-fit test to multinomial logistic regression model. The motivation behind this study is influenced by two main factors. Firstly, parameter estimation is often sensitive to sample size and types of data. Simulation studies are useful to assess and confirm the effects of parameter estimation for binary and multinomial logistic regression under various conditions. The first phase of this study covers the effect of different types of covariate, distributions and sample size on parameter estimation for binary and multinomial logistic regression model. Data were simulated for different sample sizes, types of covariate (continuous, count, categorical) and distributions (normal or skewed for continuous variable). The simulation results show that the effect of skewed and categorical covariate reduces as sample size increases. The parameter estimates for normal distribution covariate apparently are less affected by sample size. For multinomial logistic regression model with a single covariate, a sample size of at least 300 is required to obtain unbiased estimates when the covariate is positively skewed or is a categorical covariate. A much larger sample size is required when covariates are 21 22 a non-linear increase for x ≤ 0.6 mol% before decreasing to a minimum at 0.8 mol% V2O5

Identification of Canola Seeds through Computer Vision Image Processing

The objectives of this research are to present the automatic organization of agricultural seeds with the explosion of digital information through compute image vision processing. In this research paper CVIP (computer vision image processing) tool has been applied on different varieties and categorized of canola seeds. We had the 4 different varieties of canola seeds which were named as Gobhi Sarson (A), Barassica comp (B), Sathri (C) and Rocket Herbof (D). Each variety had 10 images and total 10*4 =40 images of canola seeds. We took the train data results of all kinds of canola seeds. After that the train data results were compared for pattern classification and apply the nearest neighbor and k-nearest neighbor algorithms for final classification. We achieved in nearest neighbor 85% and 76% average and k-nearest neighbor 90% and 73% average as a final pattern classification results. These are the best percentage for classification and provide more accuracy. The formers can select best healthy seed variety with the help of the results of this research. Keywords:  Features, Pattern classification, nearest neighbor, k-nearest neighbo