109 research outputs found

    Guidelines for a short course on Egyptian marine officers\u27 responsibilities for the marine environment

    Get PDF
    Egypt has a strategic geographical location straddling both the Mediterranean and the Red Seas that constitute two of the major enclosed coastal seas in the world. Egyptian coasts have a total length of about 1630 Ian in the Mediterranean and Red Seas. A large part of the coastal areas in Egypt is contaminated with oil from various sources. Shipping activity contributes significantly to the current situation regarding oil pollution of the country\u27s territorial waters. The reasons for oil pollution in Egyptian waters are many, and Egyptian marine officers play a significant role in contributing to the pollution of the marine environment. This research examined the causes behind the prevailing lack of knowledge among Egyptian marine officers regarding oil pollution matters. The methodology adopted was the development of a questionnaire that was distributed to a sample of marine officers represented the overall situation among Egyptian marine officers. Through an analysis of the completed responses, a better understanding of the causes of oil pollution in Egyptian water was revealed. The analysis revealed that the lack of knowledge relating to international conventions, especially MARPOL 73/78, reflected the area of greatest ignorance. The potential damage resulting from oil spills holds the second position of greatest ignorance. The significance of ship/shore safety check lists and the existence of oil spill contingency plans occupy the third and forth positions respectively. This research has also focused on explaining the importance of each subject area identified for inclusion in the short course. It concludes with a recommended model for a short course curriculum aiming to assist those marine officers to have a greater appreciation for the importance of protecting the marine environment from oil pollution from ships

    Dynamic Detection of Software Defects Using Supervised Learning Techniques

    Get PDF
    Software testing is the main step of detecting the faults in Software through executing it. Therefore, it is substantial to predict the faults that may happen while executing the software to maintain the existence of the software. There are different techniques of artificial intelligence that are utilized to predict future defects. The Machine learning is one of the most significant technique that used to build predicting models. In this paper, conducted a systematic review of the supervised machine learning techniques which are used for software defect prediction and evaluated the performance. Thus, using five state-of-the-art supervised machine learning (classifiers), for the evaluation, several of the data are used to predict software fault. In addition to, compared the performance of these classifiers with various parameters. After that, proceeds many experiments to improve the efficiency of the prediction of the defect through modifying the default parameters of the classifier. The results showed the ability of supervised machine learning algorithms to classify classes as bugs or not bugs. Thus, using supervised machine learning models for predicting software bugs is better than the traditional statistical models. Additionally, using PCA never noticeable impact on prediction systems performance while modifying the default parameters positively impact classifier values, especially with Artificial Neural Network (ANN).The main finding of this paper is gained through the application of Ensemble Learning methods, whereas Bagging achieves 95.1% accuracy with Mozilla dataset and Voting achieves 93.79% accuracy with kc1 dataset

    Risk Factors Associated With Hip Fractures among Adult People in Babylon City, Iraq

    Get PDF
    BACKGROUND: The fractures of hip joint considered as a serious problem in public health in the medical and socioeconomic issues, the incidence of the fracture neck femur is significantly increased with the increment of general population life span. AIM: The goal of this study is to highlight and focus on the most important risk factor for the hip fractures in our Babylon society, and to improve our understanding of the medical and social aspects of these predisposing factors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A case-control study of older adults (above 60 years old). The study was done on tow samples. First, one consisting of 75 cases those having fracture neck femur considered as cases, and second sample as a control group, consisting of 150 people as a healthy control group having no fracture. A pre-tested questionnaire was prepared to collect data from both samples; the questionnaire included demographic data and information about potential risk factors of hip fracture. RESULTS: Most of the people in the study samples in both groups were, married women, housekeepers, illiterate and from urban dwellers. There was highly significant association between case-control groups regarding, Continuous using of medication such as cortisone which was found to be a potential risk factor of hip fracture (Unadjusted OR = 3.636), low income was positively associated risk factor of hip fracture in this study (OR = 2.377), low milk intake, low sun exposure, tobacco smoking were positively associated with this health problem (OR = 1.794), while physical exercise was protective factor (OR = 0.489). CONCLUSION: The highest risk factors associated with increased occurrence of hip fracture were using cortisone, Osteoporosis, tobacco smoking, consuming soft drinks, and less exposure to sunlight

    Supervised Learning Algorithms in Educational Data Mining: A Systematic Review

    Get PDF
    The academic institutions always looking for tools that improve their performance and enhance individuals outcomes. Due to the huge ability of data mining to explore hidden patterns and trends in the data, many researchers paid attention to Educational Data Mining (EDM) in the last decade. This field explores different types of data using different algorithms to extract knowledge that supports decision-making and academic sector development. The researchers in the field of EDM have proposed and adopted different algorithms in various directions. In this review, we have explored the published papers between 2010-2020 in the libraries (IEEE, ACM, Science Direct, and Springer) in the field of EDM are to answer review questions. We aimed to find the most used algorithm by researchers in the field of supervised machine learning in the period of 2010-2020. Additionally, we explored the most direction in the EDM and the interest of the researchers. During our research and analysis, many limitations have been examined and in addition to answering the review questions, some future works have been presented

    Assessment of Chronic Sublethal Effects of Imidacloprid on Honey Bee Colony Health

    Get PDF
    Funding for Open Access provided by the UMD Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund.Here we present results of a three-year study to determine the fate of imidacloprid residues in hive matrices and to assess chronic sublethal effects on whole honey bee colonies fed supplemental pollen diet containing imidacloprid at 5, 20 and 100 μg/kg over multiple brood cycles. Various endpoints of colony performance and foraging behavior were measured during and after exposure, including winter survival. Imidacloprid residues became diluted or non-detectable within colonies due to the processing of beebread and honey and the rapid metabolism of the chemical. Imidacloprid exposure doses up to 100 μg/kg had no significant effects on foraging activity or other colony performance indicators during and shortly after exposure. Diseases and pest species did not affect colony health but infestations of Varroa mites were significantly higher in exposed colonies. Honey stores indicated that exposed colonies may have avoided the contaminated food. Imidacloprid dose effects was delayed later in the summer, when colonies exposed to 20 and 100 μg/kg experienced higher rates of queen failure and broodless periods, which led to weaker colonies going into the winter. Pooled over two years, winter survival of colonies averaged 85.7, 72.4, 61.2 and 59.2% in the control, 5, 20 and 100 μg/kg treatment groups, respectively. Analysis of colony survival data showed a significant dose effect, and all contrast tests comparing survival between control and treatment groups were significant, except for colonies exposed to 5 μg/kg. Given the weight of evidence, chronic exposure to imidacloprid at the higher range of field doses (20 to 100 μg/kg) in pollen of certain treated crops could cause negative impacts on honey bee colony health and reduced overwintering success, but the most likely encountered high range of field doses relevant for seed-treated crops (5 μg/kg) had negligible effects on colony health and are unlikely a sole cause of colony declines

    Perspective Chapter: The Toxic Silver (Hg)

    Get PDF
    In the late 1950s, residents of a Japanese fishing village known as “Minamata” began falling ill and dying at an alarming rate. The Japanese authorities stated that methyl-mercury-rich seafood and shellfish caused the sickness. Burning fossil fuels represent ≈52.7% of Hg emissions. The majorities of mercury’s compounds are volatile and thus travel hundreds of miles with wind before being deposited on the earth’s surface. High acidity and dissolved organic carbon increase Hg-mobility in soil to enter the food chain. Additionally, Hg is taken up by areal plant parts via gas exchange. Mercury has no identified role in plants while exhibiting high affinity to form complexes with soft ligands such as sulfur and this consequently inactivates amino acids and sulfur-containing antioxidants. Long-term human exposure to Hg leads to neurotoxicity in children and adults, immunological, cardiac, and motor reproductive and genetic disorders. Accordingly, remediating contaminated soils has become an obligation. Mercury, like other potentially toxic elements, is not biodegradable, and therefore, its remediation should encompass either removal of Hg from soils or even its immobilization. This chapter discusses Hg’s chemical behavior, sources, health dangers, and soil remediation methods to lower Hg levels

    Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

    Get PDF
    Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030
    corecore