1,294 research outputs found
MatriVasha: A Multipurpose Comprehensive Database for Bangla Handwritten Compound Characters
At present, recognition of the Bangla handwriting compound character has been
an essential issue for many years. In recent years there have been
application-based researches in machine learning, and deep learning, which is
gained interest, and most notably is handwriting recognition because it has a
tremendous application such as Bangla OCR. MatrriVasha, the project which can
recognize Bangla, handwritten several compound characters. Currently, compound
character recognition is an important topic due to its variant application, and
helps to create old forms, and information digitization with reliability. But
unfortunately, there is a lack of a comprehensive dataset that can categorize
all types of Bangla compound characters. MatrriVasha is an attempt to align
compound character, and it's challenging because each person has a unique style
of writing shapes. After all, MatrriVasha has proposed a dataset that intends
to recognize Bangla 120(one hundred twenty) compound characters that consist of
2552(two thousand five hundred fifty-two) isolated handwritten characters
written unique writers which were collected from within Bangladesh. This
dataset faced problems in terms of the district, age, and gender-based written
related research because the samples were collected that includes a verity of
the district, age group, and the equal number of males, and females. As of now,
our proposed dataset is so far the most extensive dataset for Bangla compound
characters. It is intended to frame the acknowledgment technique for
handwritten Bangla compound character. In the future, this dataset will be made
publicly available to help to widen the research.Comment: 19 fig, 2 tabl
Amelioration of a saline sodic soil through cultivation of a salt-tolerant grass Leptochloa fusca
Reclamation of saline lands seems difficult for climatic and economic reasons, but cultivation of salt-tolerant plants is an approach to increasing productivity and improvement of salt-affected wastelands. A five-year field study was conducted to evaluate the effects of growing a salt-tolerant species Leptochloa fusca (L.) Kunth (kallar grass) on chemical properties of a saline sodic soil irrigated with poor quality groundwater. Soil salinity, sodicity and pH decreased exponentially by growing kallar grass as a result of leaching of salts from surface (0â20 cm) to lower depths (>100 cm). Concentrations of soluble cations (Na+, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+) and anions (Clâ, SO42â and HCO3â) were reduced through to greater soil depths. A significant decline in soil pH was attributed to release of CO2 by grass roots and solublization of CaCO3. Both soil salinity and soil pH were significantly correlated with Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Clâ, HCO3â and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR). Significant correlations were found between soluble cations (Na+, Ca2+ and K+), soluble anions (Clâ, SO42â and HCO3â) and the SAR. In contrast, there were negative correlations between soil organic matter content and all chemical properties. The ameliorative effects on the soil chemical environment were pronounced after three years of growing kallar grass. Cultivation of kallar grass enhanced leaching and interactions among soil chemical properties and thus restored soil fertility. The soil maintained the improved characteristics with further growth of the grass up to five years suggesting that growing salt-tolerant plants is a sustainable approach to biological amelioration of saline wastelands.J. Akhter, K. Mahmood, K.A. Malik, S. Ahmed and R. Murra
Dyslipidemia and its relation with body mass index versus waist hip ratio
To study the magnitude of dyslipidemia in asymptomatic subjects and its relation to body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip-ratio (WHR), 88 subjects attending the health analysis programme were examined and their age, sex, BMI, WHR, fasting blood glucose and lipids were measured. The distribution of the lipid levels and the frequency of dyslipidemia were noted. Forty-eight percent had a total cholesterol of \u3e 200 mg/dl and 50% had an HDL-cholesterol of \u3c 40 mg/dl. On comparing the means of total cholesterol to BMI and WHR, it was found that total cholesterol level was statistically significant for WHR above and below 0.9 for males and 0.8 for females, whereas not so for BMI above and below 27 kg/m2. The prevalence of dyslipidemia in asymptomatic people in this group emphasizes the need for routine health screening for early institution of preventive measures. The correlation with WHR rather than BMI points towards importance of measuring parameters of central obesity rather than body weight and height only
Principles and mechanisms of ultraviolet light emitting diode technology for food industry applications
peer-reviewedThe application of ultraviolet (UV) light to water, food contact surfaces and medical equipment for microbial inactivation is widely employed. To date, UV disinfection sources employed are primarily low-pressure and medium-pressure mercury lamps; emitting monochromatic and polychromatic light, respectively. Despite the widespread use of mercury lamps, there are multiple drawbacks associated with their use including; high energy consumption, large size which limits reactor design, high heat emission and the presence of mercury. Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have potential for use as a highly efficient UV decontamination technology. Recent advances in semiconductor development have resulted in UV-LEDs becoming more widely available. UV-LEDs emit monochromatic light, which enables customised UV-LED disinfection systems at specific wavelengths to be developed. The application of UV-LEDs for disinfection purposes has been studied in recent years, particularly with respect to water disinfections systems. In this review, studies relating to UV-LED food applications are discussed. Furthermore, the chemical changes induced in foods, as a result of UV treatment, together with advantages and limitations of the technology are outlined
The Gender Pain Gap: gender inequalities in pain across 19 European countries
Aims: Chronic pain is increasingly considered to be an international public health issue â but gender differences in chronic pain in Europe are under-examined. This work aimed to examine gender inequalities in pain across Europe. Methods: Data for 27,552 men and women aged 25-74 years in 19 European countries were taken from the social determinants of health module of the European Social Survey (2014). Inequalities in reporting pain were measured by means of adjusted rate differences (ARD) and relative adjusted rate risks (ARR). Results: At the pooled pan-European level, a greater proportion of women (62.3%) reported pain than men (55.5%) (ARD 5.5% [95% CI 4.1%, 6.9%], ARR 1.10 [95% CI 1.08, 1.13]). These inequalities were greatest for back/neck pain (ARD 5.8% [95% CI 4.4%, 7.1%], ARR 1.15 [95% CI 1.12, 1.19]), but were also significant for hand/arm pain (ARD 4.6% [95% CI 3.5%, 5.7%], ARR 1.24 [95% CI 1.17, 1.30]), and foot/leg pain (ARD 2.6% [95% CI 1.5%, 3.8%], ARR 1.12 [95% CI 1.07, 1.18]). There was considerable crossânational variation in gender pain inequalities across European countries. Conclusions: Significant gender pain inequalities exist across Europe whereby women experience more pain than men; this was most pronounced for back/neck pain. The extent of the gender pain gap varies by country. The gender pain gap is a public health concern, and should be considered in future prevention and management strategies
Lower k-record values from unit-Gompertz distribution and associated inference
Mazucheli et al. (2019) introduced the unit-Gompertz (UG) distribution and
studied some of its properties. More specifically, they considered the random
variable X =exp(-Y), where Y has the Gompertz distribution. In this paper, we
consider the lower k-record values from this distribution. We obtain exact
explicit expressions as well as several recurrence relations for the single and
product moments of lower k-record values and then we use these results to
compute the means, variances and the covariances of the lower k-record values.
We make use of these calculated moments to find the best linear unbiased
estimators (BLUEs) of the location and scale parameters of the UG distribution.
Applying the relation between the BLUE and the best linear invariant estimator
(BLIE), we obtain the BLIEs of the location and scale parameters, as well. In
addition, based on the observed k-records, we investigate how to obtain the
best linear unbiased predictor (BLUP) and best linear invariant predictor
(BLIP) for a future k-record value. Confidence intervals for the unknown
parameters and prediction intervals for future k-records are also discussed. A
simulation study is performed to assess the point and interval estimators and
predictors proposed in the paper. The results show that the BLIE and BLIP
outperform the BLUE and BLIP, in the sense of mean squared error criterion,
respectively. Finally, a real data set pertaining to COVID-19 2-records is
analyzed
Non-Hermitian Mode Cleaning in Periodically Modulated Multimode Fibers
We show that the simultaneous modulation of the propagation constant and of
the gain/loss coefficient along the multimode fibers results in unidirectional
coupling among the modes, which, depending on the modulation parameters, leads
to the enhancement or reduction of the excitation of higher order transverse
modes. In the latter case, effective mode-cleaning is predicted, in ideal case
resulting in single-mode spatially coherent output. The effect is
semi-analytically predicted on a simplified Gaussian beam approximation and
numerically proven by solving the wave propagation equation introducing the
modulated potential
Restoration of myocardial β-adrenergic receptor signaling after left ventricular assist device support
ObjectiveLeft ventricular assist device support for patients with chronic heart failure can significantly improve β-adrenergic receptor signaling, which is likely critical to myocardial recovery. The mechanism underlying the restoration of β-adrenergic receptor signaling is unclear. This study investigates our hypothesis that restoration of cardiac β-adrenergic receptor signaling by left ventricular assist devices results from inhibition of the G proteinâcoupled receptor kinase-2, a G proteinâcoupled receptor kinase that specifically phosphorylates and desensitizes agonist-occupied β-adrenergic receptors.MethodsLeft ventricular β-adrenergic receptor signaling was assessed in biopsy specimens taken from patients with chronic heart failure (n = 12) at the time of left ventricular assist device implantation (heart failure group) and again at the time of heart transplantation (left ventricular assist device group). Signaling was also studied in left ventricular biopsy specimens from nonfailing control (n = 8) hearts (nonfailing control group). Signaling was assessed by measuring sarcolemmal membrane β-adrenergic receptor density, adenylyl cyclase activity, G protein expression, and G proteinâcoupled receptor kinase-2 expression and activity.ResultsLeft ventricular β-adrenergic receptor signaling was severely decreased in the heart failure group versus that seen in the nonfailing control group, as demonstrated by adenylyl cyclase activity. G proteinâcoupled receptor kinase-2 expression and activity was increased 3-fold in the heart failure group versus that seen in the nonfailing control group. After left ventricular assist device support, β-adrenergic receptor signaling was restored to levels similar to those seen in the nonfailing control group. G proteinâcoupled receptor kinase-2 expression and activity were markedly diminished after left ventricular assist device support compared with that seen in the heart failure group and were not different from that seen in the nonfailing control group.ConclusionIn chronic heart failure left ventricular assist device support leads to restoration of cardiac β-adrenergic receptor signaling. The primary mechanism appears to be diminished myocardial G proteinâcoupled receptor kinase-2 activity. This demonstrates the potentially beneficial effects of G proteinâcoupled receptor kinase-2 inhibition on β-adrenergic receptor signaling in heart failure and might represent a novel therapeutic strategy for this disease process
Consumer online purchase behaviour: perception versus expectation
Conceptualising online customer behaviour is very important, as more and more customers are interested in buying products through online. To capture online customer behaviour, this study has conducted empirical research in Bangladesh among general online customers who have experience in online buying or have an intention to buy from online boutique websites in Bangladesh. In this regard, the quality-purchase interaction model that was developed, based on both customer perception and the expectation of buying online from business-to-consumer electronic-commerce in Bangladesh, was used to capture actual customer behaviour or behavioural intention for online purchasing. We conducted path analysis through LISREL to reveal the causal relation between independent and dependent variables. There are some significant differences between online buying behaviour and the behavioural intention to buy online, that is between customers who have experience of online buying from a boutique website and those who have the intention to buy online but have not yet gotten an online buying experience
Mifepristone alone versus mifepristone-misoprostol combination regimen for management of intrauterine fetal death
Background: Early pregnancy failure is a common complication of pregnancy. If women do not abort spontaneously, they will undergo medical or surgical treatment in order to remove the products of conception from the uterus. Curettage, although highly effective, is associated with a risk of complications; medical treatment with misoprostol is a safe and less expensive alternative. Unfortunately, after 1 week of expectant management in case of EPF, medical treatment with misoprostol has a complete evacuation rate of approximately 50%. Misoprostol treatment results may be improved by pre-treatment with mifepristone; its effectiveness has already been proven for other indications of pregnancy termination. The study objective was to compare the outcome of Mifepristone alone with the Mifepristone- Misoprostol combination regimen for the management of IUFD.Methods: This was a Prospective clinical trial at the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Chittagong. From March 2016 (Actual patient enrolment started after obtaining ethical clearance i.e. March 2018) to September 2018.Results: A subjects delivered earlier than group B and the mean induction delivery interval in Group A is significantly less in comparison to Group B (p=<0.001). Out of 50 women, 2(4%) and 10(20%) women in Groups A and B required oxytocin infusion to establish good contractions, and completion of termination who regarded as a failure. In the mifepristone alone group, the success rate is significantly higher than in the combination group.Conclusions: The efficacy of mifepristone alone was found superior to that of the mifepristone misoprostol combination regimen in the present study.
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