Human dynamic networks in opportunistic routing and epidemiology

Measuring human behavioral patterns has broad application across different sciences. An individual’s social, proximal and geographical contact patterns can have significant importance in Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) and epidemiological modeling. Recent advances in computer science have not only provided the opportunity to record these behaviors with considerably higher temporal resolution and phenomenological accuracy, but also made it possible to record specific aspects of the behaviors which have been previously difficult to measure. This thesis presents a data collection system using tiny sensors which is capable of recording humans’ proximal contacts and their visiting pattern to a set of geographical locations. The system also collects information on participants’ health status using weekly surveys. The system is tested on a population of 36 participants and 11 high-traffic public places. The resulting dataset offers rich information on human proximal and geographic contact patterns cross-linked with their health information. In addition to the basic analysis of the dataset, the collected data is applied to two different applications. In DTNs the dataset is used to study the importance of public places as relay nodes, and described an algorithm that takes advantage of stationary nodes to improve routing performance and load balancing in the network. In epidemiological modeling, the collected dataset is combined with data on H1N1 infection spread over the same time period and designed a model on H1N1 pathogen transmission based on these data. Using the collected high-resolution contact data as the model’s contact patterns, this work represents the importance of contact density in addition to contact diversity in infection transmission rate. It also shows that the network measurements which are tied to contact duration are more representative of the relation between centrality of a person and their chance of contracting the infection

The Development of Conceptual Fluency and Metaphorical Competence in L2 Learners

Conceptual Fluency (CF) and Metaphorical Competence (MC) have piqued the interest of a number of L2 researchers. Leading the front are Danesi (1992; 1995; 2003) and Johnson and Rosano (1993) who contend that metaphorical language cannot afford to be ignored by L2 curricula anymore. Their push is to instill in L2 learners a more functional communicative competence over a traditional formal competence. This article reports on a study carried out to scrutinize the development of CF and MC in Persian students of English. First, a group of language students (95 freshmen, 92 sophomores, 139 juniors, and 90 seniors) were tested to see whether they were conceptually and metaphorically competent, and the results showed they were almost bereft of such a competence, and the analysis of their written discourse uncovered a very low level of metaphorical density. The findings were in line with what Danesi (1992) has averred: L2 learners do not necessarily develop CF and MC after several years of study. Then, the juniors partook in the study for a six-month period in which they were exposed to and taught about the metaphorical language of English. The posttest results were indicative that they had developed their CF and MC to a large extent and that their written discourse was almost as metaphorically dense as that of native speakers. That is, the findings revealed that it is possible to develop CF and MC in a classroom setting. Finally, the data indicated that there is a relationship between CF and MC

Comparison of Effectiveness of Transactional Analysis, Exposure and Response Prevention and Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy on Students' Academic Anxiety

Introduction: The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the effects of three training courses including transactional analysis (TA), exposure and response prevention (ERP) and intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP) on reducing academic anxiety among students in Tehran. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was a multi-lateral pretest-posttest with control group. Phillips Anxiety Test (1978) was used to measure the dependent variable, academic anxiety. In this research, 45 students who obtained higher score in academic anxiety test were subjected to three variables (educational methods) in three groups of 15 (experimental group) and 15 people were randomly selected for control group. Results: The results showed significant differences between the pretest and posttest scores of all groups except the control group on the level of anxiety (P <0.05). Also, the difference between the three experimental groups in all four components of academic anxiety (test anxiety, fear of assertiveness, lack of self-confidence and physiological reactions) was significant at P <0.05 level. Discussion: TA, ERP and ISTDP training courses help to reduce students' academic anxiety

Fire safety in high rise residential building in Malaysia

With the increase in the high number of tall buildings being constructed in Malaysia, the building owners face many challenges. Not only the building owners will have to look after the maintenance of the buildings but they have also to consider the safety of the occupants, especially, in case there is a fire break out. The fire department will need the necessary equipment to ‘fight’ the fire and they need to be updated in the construction of these buildings. The aim of this study is to assess the fire safety regulation and also the factors taken into consideration in designing the fire safety requirements. The objectives of the study are to study the requirements of By-Laws 1984 (Malaysia) regarding the fire i.e. escape staircase, to identify the factors taken into consideration by building owners in term of fire regulation requirements, to assess the risk of fire in building and to evaluate the perception and behavior of occupants in case of fire outbreak. The study is focused on high-rise residential buildings with minimum of five storey’s height. The data was gathered from observing five numbers of selected high-rise residential buildings in Kuala Lumpur. The data is also collected through questionnaires. From the study, the staircase width and intermediate floor depth are designed and constructed using different dimensions. There are five basic steps to carry out a fire safety risk assessment in buildings i.e. to identify fire hazards, identify people at risk, ‘evaluate, remove, reduce and protect from risk’, ‘record, plan, inform, instruct and train’ and review. The perception and behavior of occupants in case of fire outbreak is that they will immediately evacuate the building if the fire alarm goes off. The occupants wish to evacuate the building using the staircase instead of the elevator

Ab-initio Modeling of CBRAM Cells: from Ballistic Transport Properties to Electro-Thermal Effects

We present atomistic simulations of conductive bridging random access memory (CBRAM) cells from first-principles combining density-functional theory and the Non-equilibrium Green's Function formalism. Realistic device structures with an atomic-scale filament connecting two metallic contacts have been constructed. Their transport properties have been studied in the ballistic limit and in the presence of electron-phonon scattering, showing good agreement with experimental data. It has been found that the relocation of few atoms is sufficient to change the resistance of the CBRAM by 6 orders of magnitude, that the electron trajectories strongly depend on the filament morphology, and that self-heating does not affect the device performance at currents below 1 $\mu$A.Comment: 6 figures, conferenc

Corneal endothelial cell density and morphology in normal Iranian eyes

BACKGROUND: We describe corneal endothelial cell density and morphology in normal Iranian eyes and compare endothelial cell characteristics in the Iranian population with data available in the literature for American and Indian populations. METHODS: Specular microscopy was performed in 525 eyes of normal Iranian people aged 20 to 85 years old. The studied parameters including mean endothelial cell density (MCD), mean cell area (MCA) and coefficient of variation (CV) in cell area were analyzed in all of the 525 eyes. RESULTS: MCD was 1961 ± 457 cell/mm(2 )and MCA was 537.0 ± 137.4 μm(2). There was no statistically significant difference in MCD, MCA and CV between genders (Student t-test, P = 0.85, P = 0.97 and P = 0.15 respectively). There was a statistically significant decrease in MCD with age (P < 0.001, r = -0.64). The rate of cell loss was 0.6% per year. There was also a statistically significant increase in MCA (P < 0.001,r = 0.56) and CV (P < 0.001, r = 0.30) from 20 to 85 years of age. CONCLUSION: The first normative data for the endothelium of Iranian eyes seems to confirm that there are no differences in MCD, MCA and CV between genders. Nevertheless, the values obtained in Iranian eyes seem to be different to those reported by the literature in Indian and American populations

The Relation of Q Angle and Anthropometric Measures with Ankle Sprain; a Case-control study

Introduction: Since most studies on ankle sprain are medical and sports-related and not much epidemiologic and etiologic data from the general population exist in this field, the present study evaluates the relationship between Q angle and anthropometric measures with ankle sprain in the general population.Methods: In the present case-control study, all of the patients over 18 years age presenting to emergency departments (ED) of two educational Hospitals, complaining from ankle sprain, were evaluated during more than 1 year. A checklist consisting of demographic data, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and history of ankle sprain, as well as degree of Q angle was filled for all participants. The correlation of mentioned variables with incidence of ankle sprain was calculated using SPSS 22.Results: 300 patients with ankle sprain were evaluated (53.5% male). Mean age of the patients was 37.03 ± 14.20 years. Mean weight, height, and BMI were 71.71 ± 11.26 (43 – 114), 168.74 ± 8.63 (143 – 190) and 25.14 ± 3.19 (18.41 – 38.95), respectively. Mean Q angle of the patients was 12.78 ± 3.19 degrees (5 – 23). There was a significant correlation between weight (p &lt; 0.001), BMI (p = 0.001), history of sprain (r: 0.26, p &lt; 0.001) and Q angle (p = 0.002) with incidence of ankle sprain. In addition, there was a significant statistical correlation between weight (p = 0.031), BMI (p = 0.020) and Q angle (p = 0.004) with history of ankle sprain. In patients with a history of ankle sprain, Q angle was wider by about 2 degrees.Conclusion: It seems that the prevalence of ankle sprain directly correlates with high weight, BMI, and Q angle and is more prevalent in those with a history of sprain. Although the findings of the present study show a statistically significant correlation between these factors and ankle sprain, the correlation is not clinically significant

Diagnostic Accuracy of High Resolution Cone-beam Computed Tomography and Standard Mode Cone-beam Computed Tomography in Internal Root Resorption

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to compare the high resolution cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and standard mode CBCT diagnostic accuracy in internal root resorption with different sites and sizes. Methods and Materials: Eighty single rooted human teeth with visible pulps in periapical radiography were split mesiodistally along the coronal plane. Internal resorption like lesions were created in three areas (cervical, middle and apical) in labial wall of the canals in different diameters. High resolution CBCT (CBCT-H) and standard mode CBCT (CBCT-C) were taken from each tooth. Two observers examined the high resolution CBCT and standard mode CBCT to evaluate the presence of resorption cavities. The data were statistically analyzed and degree of agreement was calculated using Cohen’s kappa (k) values. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20 software and sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive value for both methods were calculated. Data were analyzed using the Mac-Nemar and chi-square tests. Result: The positive predictive value and negative predictive value in CBCT-H was higher than that of CBCT-C, all of which indicates that the CBCT-H diagnostic test is more sensitive and more accurate than CBCT-C. Kappa statistics showed that there is a strong and complete agreement between the CBCT high resolution and reality (kappa: 0.72) and in the Standard CBCT method, a moderate agreement has been obtained with reality (Kappa: 0.45). Conclusion: According to our in vitro study CBCT high resolution has a higher diagnostic accuracy than conventional CBCT.Keyword: CBCT; Cone-beam Computed Tomography; High Resolution CBCT; Root Resorption; Standard Mode CBC