Formatting and searching a massive, multi-parameter clinical information database

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-120).Formatting data and executing time-oriented queries on a massive, multi-parameter clinical information database poses significant computational challenges. The challenges encountered in converting high-resolution waveform and trend signals in the MIMIC II (Multi-parameter Intelligent Monitoring for Intensive Care II) database from an error-prone proprietary format to a stable open-source WFDB (Waveform Database) format is presented in the first half of this thesis. The design and implementation of a search engine that is capable of executing time-series queries on clinical information in the MIMIC II database such as lab results, medications, and nurse-verified values from bedside monitors is presented in the second half of this thesis. The search engine employs simple algorithms with little storage overhead to identify time periods in patient records that satisfy time series criteria based on thresholds and gradients of unevenly-sampled measurements. Results from queries executed on the search engine to detect physiological events of clinical interest were presented. Case studies on patient records returned as hits for queries were performed to review the strengths and limitations of the search engine.by Tin Htet Kyaw.M.Eng

A path finding simulation model for human crowd using agent based ant colony optimization

Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is a popular meta-heuristic used to solve NP problems such as TSP and is popular in areas such as Robotic. This paper will study the feasibility of using ACO to plan a path for human crowd simulation. The idea here is not to find only optimal paths, but to find suitable paths for human crowd which can be more than one and not necessarily optimal. As the traditional ACO uses Pheromone convergence to find optimal paths, this paper will look at a Hybrid ACO which incorporates shortest Euclidean distance with the traditional ACO to do path planning. This means that ant in the Hybrid model will move with some influence of choosing shortest Euclidean distance path and converge using the traditional Pheromone method. With the paths found, it can then be used to derive waypoints which can then be used for human agents in a crowd simulation. Experiments conducted compared the performance of the Hybrid ant model with the traditional Pheromone ant model and the extreme Euclidean Distance bias ant model. The performance measures will include the exploration, convergence, and number of ants that found food.Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Engineering

In Vitro Regeneration of Selected Rice Genotypes (Oryza sativa L.) through Anther Culture

Rice is one of the most important cereal crops in the world. Anther culture, one of the double hap-loid techniques, is simple and efficient for rice breeding. The present study was carried out to evaluate callus induction ability of the selected rice genotypes on the media supplemented with two different car-bon sources and to investigate suitable Benzylaminopurine (BAP) concentrations on plant regeneration of anther-derived calli. The selected 19 rice genotypes (14 indica and 5 tropical japonica) were used in the experiment. Anthers of each genotype were cultured on Chu (N6) medium supplemented with two types of carbon sources (4% maltose and 4% sucrose), 2mg.L-1 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 0.5 mg.L-1 kinetin for callus induction. Anther-derived calli were transferred to Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with (0, 0.5, 1) mg.L-1 BAP, 1 mg.L-1 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and 1 mg.L-1 l kinetin for regeneration. The seventeen out of 19 rice genotypes produced callus on media supplemented with maltose while only 13 genotypes produced callus on media supplemented with sucrose due to genotype dependency. Tropical japonica had more callus induction from anther than indica among the tested genotypes. Callus induction varied from 0 to 19.22%. Paw San Taung Pyan Hmwe (tropical japonica) had the highest callus induction (19.22%) among the tested all. Yebaw Sein depicted the highest callus induction (6.78%) among the tested indica rice genotypes. Plant regeneration from callus varied from 0 to 25.15%. In tropical japonica genotypes, Bay Kyar Taung Pyan gave the highest value (25.15%) in green plants regeneration, while Hnan Kar gave the highest value (13.33%) among indica genotypes. In this experiment, both MS media supplemented with 0.5mg.L-1 BAP and 1mg.L-1 BAP showed maximum green plant regeneration although maximum green spot formation oc-curred only on media supplemented with 1mg.L-1 BAP

Underweight Prevalence Among Young Adults from Rural Areas, Salin Township, Magwe Region

Maintaining a normal body mass index (BMI) throught the life-span of a person may reduce occurence as well as the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), in terms of years lived with disability and premature death. Lifestyle and socioeconomic factors like physical activity and availability of healthy or unhealthy food may contribute to both extremes of BMI, namely under-weight and overweight/ obesity