Experimental Study on Previous Concrete with Various Mix Ratios

The pervious concrete is designed with cementitious material content just enough to coat the coarse aggregate particles so that a configuration that allows the passage of water at a much higher rate than conventional concrete. The pervious concrete has many advantages that improves city environment, recharges the ground by rain water and could be used as pavement for light vehicles, pedestrian pathways, parking lots, also it reduces the tire pavement interaction noise etc. In this paper, structural property and permeability of pervious concrete made without and with different ratios of fine aggregate and pozzolan. 9.5 mm maximum size of crushed gravel and constant aggregate/cement ratio of 3.6 were used. Mix design void content is tested 20%. The specific gravity of fine aggregate 2.53 and the specific gravity of crushed stone 2.56. Type I Portland cement and water- reducing and retarding concrete admixture were used. Mix design is based on the no slump method from the American Concrete Institute’s Committee 211.3R-02, “Standard Practice for Selecting Proportions for No Slump Concrete.” This research work was divided into third/three sections. The first section is without pozzolan and fine aggregate and second section is with two different ratios of pozzolan third section is without pozzolan and with fine aggregate. Pozzolan is used as a supplementary cementitious material to partially replace Portland cement in pervious concrete mixes up to 20% by weight. Fine aggregate partially replace as a coarse aggregate in pervious concrete mixes up to 10% by weight. Mix design void content is tested 20%. This concrete is tested for its properties, such as density, void content, compressive strength and water permeability. The most important property of pervious concrete is its water permeability

Characteristics of Different Solar PV Modules under Partial Shading

Partial shadowing is one of the problems that are always faced in terrestrial applications of solar photovoltaic (PV). The effects of partial shadow on the energy yield of conventional mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline PV modules have been researched for a long time. With deployment of new thin-film solar PV modules in the market, it is important to understand the performance of new PV modules operating under the partial shadow in the tropical zone. This paper addresses the impacts of different partial shadowing on the operating characteristics of four different types of solar PV modules that include multi-crystalline, amorphous thin-film, CdTe thin-film and CIGS thin-film PV modules

Operational experiences associated with the implementation of near point-of-care early infant diagnosis of HIV in Myanmar: a qualitative study

Background: Timely diagnosis and early initiation of life-saving antiretroviral therapy are critical factors in preventing mortality among HIV-infected infants. However, resource-limited settings experience numerous challenges associated with centralised laboratory-based testing, including low rates of testing, complex sample referral pathways and unacceptably long turnaround times for results. Point-of-care (POC) HIV testing for HIVexposed infants can enable same-day communication of results and early treatment initiation for HIV-infected infants. However, complex operational issues and service integration can limit utility and must be well understood prior to implementation. We explored and documented the challenges and enabling factors in implementing the POC Xpert® HIV-1 Qual test (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) for early infant diagnosis (EID) as part of routine services in four public hospitals in Myanmar. Methods: This sub-study was part of a randomised controlled stepped-wedge trial (Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number 12616000734460) designed to investigate the impact of POC testing for EID in Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. Infants recruited during the intervention phase underwent POC testing at the participating hospitals as part of routine care. Semi-structured interviews with 23 caregivers, 12 healthcare providers and 10 key informants were used to explore experiences of POC-EID testing. The research team and hospital staff documented and discussed implementation challenges throughout the study. Results: Overall, caregivers and healthcare workers were satisfied with the short turnaround time of the POC test. Occasional delays in POC testing were mostly attributable to late receipt of samples by laboratory technicians and communication constraints among healthcare staff. Hospital staff valued technical assistance from the research group and the National Health Laboratory. Despite staff shortages and infrastructure challenges such as unreliable electricity supply and cramped space, healthcare workers and caregivers found the implementation of the POC test to be feasible at pilot sites. Conclusions: As plans for national scale-up evolve, there needs to be a continual focus on staff training, communication pathways and infrastructure. Other models of care, such as allowing non-laboratory-trained personnel to perform POC testing, and cost effectiveness should also be evaluated

Caregiver experience and perceived acceptability of a novel near point-of-care early infant HIV diagnostic test among caregivers enrolled in the PMTCT program, Myanmar: A qualitative study

Background: The majority of HIV infection among children occurs through mother-to-child transmission. HIV exposed infants are recommended to have virological testing at birth or 4–6 weeks of age but challenges with centralized laboratory-based testing in Myanmar result in low test- ing rates and delays in result communication and treatment initiation. Decentralized point- of-care (POC) testing when integrated in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services, can be an alternative to increase coverage of early infant diagnosis (EID) and timely engagement in HIV treatment and care. Aim: This paper aims to explore experiences of caregivers of HIV-exposed infants enrolled in the PMTCT program in Myanmar and the perceived acceptability of point-of-care EID testing compared to conventional centralised laboratory-based testing. Methods: This is a sub-study of the cluster randomised controlled stepped-wedge trial (Trial registra- tion number: ACTRN12616000734460) that assessed the impact of near POC EID testing using Xpert HIV-1 Qual assay in four public hospitals in Myanmar. Caregivers of infants who were enrolled in the intervention phase of the main study, had been tested with both Xpert and standard of care tests and had received the results were eligible for this qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 caregivers. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English. Thematic data analysis was undertaken using NVivo 12 Software (QSR International). Results: The majority of caregivers were satisfied with the quality of care provided by PMTCT ser- vices. However, they encountered social and financial access barriers to attend the PMTCT clinic regularly. Mothers had concerns about community stigma from the disclosure of their HIV status and the potential consequences for their infants. While medical care at the PMTCT clinics was free, caregivers sometimes experienced financial difficulties associated with out-of-pocket expenses for childbirth and transportation. Some caregivers had to choose not to attend work (impacting their income) or the adult antiretroviral clinic in order to attend the paediatric PMTCT clinic appointment. The acceptability of the Xpert testing pro- cess was high among the caregiver participants and more than half received the Xpert result on the same day as testing. Short turnaround time of the near POC EID testing enabled the caregivers to find out their infants’ HIV status quicker, thereby shortening the stressful wait- ing time for results. Conclusion: Our study identified important access challenges facing caregivers of HIV exposed infants and high acceptability of near POC EID testing. Improving the retention rate in the PMTCT and EID programs necessitates careful attention of program managers and policy makers to these challenges, and POC EID represents a potential solution

Caregiver experience and perceived acceptability of a novel near point-of-care early infant HIV diagnostic test among caregivers enrolled in the PMTCT program, Myanmar : a qualitative study

Background The majority of HIV infection among children occurs through mother-to-child transmission. HIV exposed infants are recommended to have virological testing at birth or 4–6 weeks of age but challenges with centralized laboratory-based testing in Myanmar result in low testing rates and delays in result communication and treatment initiation. Decentralized point-of-care (POC) testing when integrated in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services, can be an alternative to increase coverage of early infant diagnosis (EID) and timely engagement in HIV treatment and care. Aim This paper aims to explore experiences of caregivers of HIV-exposed infants enrolled in the PMTCT program in Myanmar and the perceived acceptability of point-of-care EID testing compared to conventional centralised laboratory-based testing. Methods This is a sub-study of the cluster randomised controlled stepped-wedge trial (Trial registration number: ACTRN12616000734460) that assessed the impact of near POC EID testing using Xpert HIV-1 Qual assay in four public hospitals in Myanmar. Caregivers of infants who were enrolled in the intervention phase of the main study, had been tested with both Xpert and standard of care tests and had received the results were eligible for this qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 caregivers. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English. Thematic data analysis was undertaken using NVivo 12 Software (QSR International). Results The majority of caregivers were satisfied with the quality of care provided by PMTCT services. However, they encountered social and financial access barriers to attend the PMTCT clinic regularly. Mothers had concerns about community stigma from the disclosure of their HIV status and the potential consequences for their infants. While medical care at the PMTCT clinics was free, caregivers sometimes experienced financial difficulties associated with out-of-pocket expenses for childbirth and transportation. Some caregivers had to choose not to attend work (impacting their income) or the adult antiretroviral clinic in order to attend the paediatric PMTCT clinic appointment. The acceptability of the Xpert testing process was high among the caregiver participants and more than half received the Xpert result on the same day as testing. Short turnaround time of the near POC EID testing enabled the caregivers to find out their infants’ HIV status quicker, thereby shortening the stressful waiting time for results. Conclusion Our study identified important access challenges facing caregivers of HIV exposed infants and high acceptability of near POC EID testing. Improving the retention rate in the PMTCT and EID programs necessitates careful attention of program managers and policy makers to these challenges, and POC EID represents a potential solution

XRD and SEM Analysis, and Semiconductor Type Determination of TiO2 for Dye-sensitized Solar Cell

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a wide band-gap n-type semiconductor. Anatase TiO2 is the most common structure used in high performance dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Nanoporous TiO2 serves double-duty as an electron acceptor and a scaffold to hold large numbers of dye molecules in DSSC. The porosity of TiO2 is a key feature as it has roughly a thousand times greater a surface area than the equivalent flat area. In this work, TiO2 crystallite size (43.55 nm) has been calculated by using XRD data, and the morphology and the grain-size of TiO2 (average grain size of 0.2 mm ~ 0.3 mm) with different solvents have been also studied by SEM

A Study of Burkholderia pseudomallei in the Environment of Farms in Thanlyin and Hmawbi Townships, Myanmar.

Melioidosis is a tropical infection, first described in Myanmar but now rarely diagnosed there, which is widespread in Southeast Asia. The infection is predominantly acquired by people and animals through contact with soil or water. This study aimed to detect the causative organism, Burkholderia pseudomallei, in environmental samples from farms in Thanlyin and Hmawbi townships near Yangon, Myanmar. One hundred and twenty soil samples and 12 water samples were collected and processed using standard microbiological methods. Burkholderia species were isolated from 50 of the 120 (42%) soil samples but none of the water samples. Arabinose assimilation was tested to differentiate between B. pseudomallei and the nonpathogenic Burkholderia thailandensis, and seven of 50 isolates (14%) were negative. These were all confirmed as B. pseudomallei by a species-specific multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This is the first study to detect environmental B. pseudomallei in Myanmar and confirms that melioidosis is still endemic in the Yangon area

Automatic Acquisition of Noun Relations for Constructing Myanmar WordNet

This paper describes the acquisition of nounrelations for constructing Myanmar WordNet.WordNet is a useful lexical resource where specificsenses of words are clustered together into synonymysets, and semantic relationships between the sets arespecified. WordNet is used in various NLP research,such as Information Extraction, InformationRetrieval and in most other NLP application. Thesystem has three steps. First, extract the lexicosemantic relations by using LexicoSyntactic Patternmethod. Second, by using information theoreticnotion of mutual information, the new coming wordhas to be estimated to identify and in which theexisting word of the association with sense. Third,refine the sense of noun word by manual. We havecollected the noun word list (8943 words) and 55patterns. We have obtained 87.9 % accuracy in senseidentification. The system shows noun relationshipbetween not only word level but also sense number.The system is implemented using Java

A Hybrid Method for Myanmar Named Entity Identification and Transliteration to English

Named Entity Identification includes locating named entities and classifying those names in text. NEI is an important task in NLP applications such as Information Extraction, Cross Language information Retrieval, Question Answering, and Machine Translation. In this paper, we presented a method for Myanmar Named Entity Identification using hybrid method. A hybrid method is a combination of ruled based and statistical N-grams based method which use name databases. We have examined a sample of 10 Myanmar text files .We obtained 89% of accuracy in Named Entity Identification. We also classified those named entities into three classes. After that, those names are transliterated to their relevant Myanmar phonetics. We have used transliteration table for mapping with English word. In transliteration table, Myanmar syllables are transliterated into English pronunciation. The system is implemented using Java

Font Script Identification Based on N-gram Text Categorization

In this paper, we propose a method for identifyingfont scripts of Myanmar Language. Because of theunavailability of nationwide standardized encodingscheme in Myanmar font scripts, knowledge writtenin Myanmar language are scattered across internetpages. Font scripts Identifier are essential to mergethose scattered knowledge into one for NLPapplication such as text categorization, informationretrieval and text summarization. Our proposedmethod use N-gram based text categorization. Apiece of text for 11 font scripts is taken for training.TF-IDF (Term Frequency-Inverse DocumentFrequency) weights of character N-grams for eachfont script are computed and stored as a profile forthat particular font script. When a new text documentis given to testify, TF-IDF weight is computed forthat font script and cosine similarity is measuredbetween the test and trained profiles. The highestsimilarity scored of the font script is taken as aresult. 100% accuracy is obtained for testing of11different font scripts by applying TF-IDFapproach. Therefore, this method works well forMyanmar font script identification