GSU Event Portal

This sophisticated web application, GSU Event Portal, would allow visitors to search for events happening around the city with the ability of paying for interested up-coming event using a debit/credit card. As the name implies, this web application would display tangible information of such event to event goers. The technology behind this application is to make visitors more informative and feature in dynamic events which might be live music, live festivals and many more. On the user interface, visitors should be able to search for up-coming events by city, time and event type. The result of the search would provide all events that will be happening at the specified time based on a visitor’s search criteria. Event organizers would as well be able to advertise their events ahead of time. The web application will be available on any device that could browse with internet connected and will be designed in three consoles: The Organizer console, Admin console and user interface. Organizer console will be able to create and edit events, view registration for an event and verify payments. The Admin console will be able to give permissions to Organizers and visitors, edit user’s profile and delete user account. The User interface console will be available to visitors and users who would like to register for an up-coming event. In addition to that, it will include map functionality that will show the event location on map. Visitors can only view event listings but to participate in an event, registration would be required for allocation of space

THROMBOLYTIC ACTIVITY OF C.AMADA AND C.CAESIA

Objective: To compare the thrombolytic activity of C.amada and C. caesia.Methods: Hydro alcoholic extractions of C.amada and C. caesia were prepared. Clot lysis potential of the extracts was checked and the results were statistically analysed.Result and Conclusion: On comparing the thrombolytic potential, the % of clot lysis of silver nanoparticle synthesized using C. caesia (51%) was found to be higher than C.amada (34.7%) extract. Similarly C. caesia extract (38.75 ± 2.217) showed higher % of clot lysis than C.amada (34.74 ± 6.074). The mean percentage of clot lysis of rhizome extracts and synthesized silver nanoparticle were statistically more significant (p value < 0.05) when compared to the positive control streptokinase and negative control water. Active component involvement analysis will be helpful to utilize the C.amada and C. caesia as potent therapeutic agent.Key words: C.amada, C. caesia, thrombolytic potential

Computing Accurate Probabilistic Estimates of One-D Entropy from Equiprobable Random Samples

We develop a simple Quantile Spacing (QS) method for accurate probabilistic estimation of one-dimensional entropy from equiprobable random samples, and compare it with the popular Bin-Counting (BC) method. In contrast to BC, which uses equal-width bins with varying probability mass, the QS method uses estimates of the quantiles that divide the support of the data generating probability density function (pdf) into equal-probability-mass intervals. Whereas BC requires optimal tuning of a bin-width hyper-parameter whose value varies with sample size and shape of the pdf, QS requires specification of the number of quantiles to be used. Results indicate, for the class of distributions tested, that the optimal number of quantile-spacings is a fixed fraction of the sample size (empirically determined to be ~0.25-0.35), and that this value is relatively insensitive to distributional form or sample size, providing a clear advantage over BC since hyperparameter tuning is not required. Bootstrapping is used to approximate the sampling variability distribution of the resulting entropy estimate, and is shown to accurately reflect the true uncertainty. For the four distributional forms studied (Gaussian, Log-Normal, Exponential and Bimodal Gaussian Mixture), expected estimation bias is less than 1% and uncertainty is relatively low even for very small sample sizes. We speculate that estimating quantile locations, rather than bin-probabilities, results in more efficient use of the information in the data to approximate the underlying shape of an unknown data generating pdf.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure

Rationale and protocol for estimating the economic value of a multicomponent quality improvement strategy for diabetes care in South Asia

Background: Economic dimensions of implementing quality improvement for diabetes care are understudied worldwide. We describe the economic evaluation protocol within a randomised controlled trial that tested a multi-component quality improvement (QI) strategy for individuals with poorly-controlled type 2 diabetes in South Asia. Methods/Design: This economic evaluation of the Centre for Cardiometabolic Risk Reduction in South Asia (CARRS) randomised trial involved 1146 people with poorly-controlled type 2 diabetes receiving care at 10 diverse diabetes clinics across India and Pakistan. The economic evaluation comprises both a within-trial cost-effectiveness analysis (mean 2.5 years follow up) and a microsimulation model-based cost-utility analysis (life-time horizon). Effectiveness measures include multiple risk factor control (achieving HbA1c \u3c 7% and blood pressure \u3c 130/80 mmHg and/or LDL-cholesterol\u3c 100 mg/dl), and patient reported outcomes including quality adjusted life years (QALYs) measured by EQ-5D-3 L, hospitalizations, and diabetes related complications at the trial end. Cost measures include direct medical and non-medical costs relevant to outpatient care (consultation fee, medicines, laboratory tests, supplies, food, and escort/accompanying person costs, transport) and inpatient care (hospitalization, transport, and accompanying person costs) of the intervention compared to usual diabetes care. Patient, healthcare system, and societal perspectives will be applied for costing. Both cost and health effects will be discounted at 3% per year for within trial cost-effectiveness analysis over 2.5 years and decision modelling analysis over a lifetime horizon. Outcomes will be reported as the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) to achieve multiple risk factor control, avoid diabetes-related complications, or QALYs gained against varying levels of willingness to pay threshold values. Sensitivity analyses will be performed to assess uncertainties around ICER estimates by varying costs (95% CIs) across public vs. private settings and using conservative estimates of effect size (95% CIs) for multiple risk factor control. Costs will be reported in US$ 2018. Discussion: We hypothesize that the additional upfront costs of delivering the intervention will be counterbalanced by improvements in clinical outcomes and patient-reported outcomes, thereby rendering this multi-component QI intervention cost-effective in resource constrained South Asian settings

Healthcare utilisation and expenditure patterns for cardio-metabolic diseases in South Asian cities: The CARRS study

Objective: To estimate average annual expenditures per person, total economic burden and distress health financing associated with the treatment of five cardio-metabolic diseases (CMDs-hypertension, diabetes, heart disease (angina, myocardial infarction and heart failure), stroke and chronic kidney disease) in three metropolitan cities in South Asia.Design: Cross-sectional surveys.Setting: We analysed community-based baseline data from the Centre for cArdio-metabolic Risk Reduction in South Asia (CARRS) Study collected in 2010-2011 representing Chennai and New Delhi (India), and Karachi (Pakistan).Participants: We used data from non-pregnant adults (≥20 years) from the aforementioned cities that responded to a cost-of-illness questionnaire. We estimated health utilisation and expenditures among those reporting taking treatment(s) for the aforementioned CMDs in the last 1 year. We converted all costs to International Dollars (Int$2011) and inflated to 2018 values. The annual costs per person were stratified by city, sociodemographic characteristics, contributor of costs and financing methods. The total economic burden of CMDs for each city was projected using age-standardised prevalence and per-person costs of diseases reported in CARRS, applying these to population data from the most recent census. We also calculated distress financing (DF) as having to borrow or sell assets to pay for CMD treatment and identified sociodemographic groups at most risk of DF using multiple regression.Results: Of 16 287 CARRS participants, 2883 (17.7$358 to Int$2425. Medications constituted 46$0.42 billion, Int$3.4 billion and Int$1.4 billion in Chennai, New Delhi and Karachi, respectively. Overall, 36.1% experienced DF, and women (OR=4.4), unemployed (OR=10.7) and uninsured (OR=8.1) adults experienced higher odds of DF.Conclusion: CMDs are associated with large economic burdens in South Asia. Due to most payments coming from OOP expenditures and limited insurance, the odds of DF are high

Diversity, distribution, and density of marine mammals along the Saudi waters of the Arabian Gulf: update from a multi-method approach

Despite the important role of marine mammals in marine ecosystems and the imperative for their conservation, there is still a great lack of information on the diversity, distribution, and density of these animals in the Saudi waters of the Arabian Gulf. To fill this gap, an integrative data-collection approach including fishermen’s questionnaires, opportunistic sighting reports, and directed boat-based surveys, was undertaken between 2016 and 2020, leading to the first scientific report of marine mammal diversity, distribution, and density in the region. The results of the different approaches carried out during the study confirmed a high diversity of cetaceans on the west coast of the study area, with bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), humpback dolphins (Sousa plumbea) and dugongs (Dugong dugon) as the most common species. While the two dolphin species were found to be widely distributed in both coastal and offshore waters, D. dugon appears to occur exclusively in coastal waters in the southern part of the study area, mainly in the Gulf of Salwah. The presence of both species of dolphins increased during the summer months and in the vicinity of the numerous oil and gas facilities in this region. The distribution of the observed dolphins was found mostly within a 10–20 km radius around each facility. Other cetacean species observed less frequently in the area include Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni), killer whale (Orcinus orca), common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides). Regarding the density of marine mammals in the region, boat-based surveys confirmed the results of fishermen’s questionnaires and reports of opportunistic sightings, with bottlenose and humpback dolphins being the most abundant species. These results provide a baseline for policies oriented to the conservation of mammals in the Saudi waters of the Arabian Gulf.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Clinical Performance of an Automated Reader in Interpreting Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests in Tanzania.

Parasitological confirmation of malaria is now recommended in all febrile patients by the World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce inappropriate use of anti-malarial drugs. Widespread implementation of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) is regarded as an effective strategy to achieve this goal. However, the quality of diagnosis provided by RDTs in remote rural dispensaries and health centres is not ideal. Feasible RDT quality control programmes in these settings are challenging. Collection of information regarding diagnostic events is also very deficient in low-resource countries. A prospective cohort of consecutive patients aged more than one year from both genders, seeking routine care for febrile episodes at dispensaries located in the Bagamoyo district of Tanzania, were enrolled into the study after signing an informed consent form. Blood samples were taken for thick blood smear (TBS) microscopic examination and malaria RDT (SD Bioline Malaria Antigen Pf/PanTM (SD RDT)). RDT results were interpreted by both visual interpretation and DekiReaderTM device. Results of visual interpretation were used for case management purposes. Microscopy was considered the "gold standard test" to assess the sensitivity and specificity of the DekiReader interpretation and to compare it to visual interpretation. In total, 1,346 febrile subjects were included in the final analysis. The SD RDT, when used in conjunction with the DekiReader and upon visual interpretation, had sensitivities of 95.3% (95% CI, 90.6-97.7) and 94.7% (95% CI, 89.8--97.3) respectively, and specificities of 94.6% (95% CI, 93.5--96.1) and 95.6% (95% CI, 94.2--96.6), respectively to gold standard. There was a high percentage of overall agreement between the two methods of interpretation. The sensitivity and specificity of the DekiReader in interpretation of SD RDTs were comparable to previous reports and showed high agreement to visual interpretation (>98%). The results of the study reflect the situation in real practice and show good performance characteristics of DekiReader on interpreting malaria RDTs in the hands of local laboratory technicians. They also suggest that a system like this could provide great benefits to the health care system. Further studies to look at ease of use by community health workers, and cost benefit of the system are warranted

Glycopolymer-based materials : Synthesis, properties, and biosensing applications

Glycopolymer materials have emerged as a significant biopolymer class that has piqued the scientific community's attention due to their potential applications. Recently, they have been found to be a unique synthetic biomaterial; glycopolymer materials have also been used for various applications, including direct therapeutic methods, medical adhesives, drug/gene delivery systems, and biosensor applications. Therefore, for the next stage of biomaterial research, it is essential to understand current breakthroughs in glycopolymer-based materials research. This review discusses the most widely utilized synthetic methodologies for glycopolymer-based materials, their properties based on structure–function interactions, and the significance of these materials in biosensing applications, among other topics. When creating glycopolymer materials, contemporary polymerization methods allow precise control over molecular weight, molecular weight distribution, chemical activity, and polymer architecture. This review concludes with a discussion of the challenges and complexities of glycopolymer-based biosensors, in addition to their potential applications in the future. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Mobile station movement direction prediction (MMDP) based handover scanning for mobile WiMAX system

Mobile WiMAX is a broadband technology that is capable of delivering triple play services (voice, data, and video). However, mobility in mobile WiMAX system is still an issue when the mobile station (MS) moves and its connection is handed over between base stations (BSs). In the handover process, scanning is one of the required phases to find the target BS. During the handover scanning process, the MS must synchronize with all the advertised neighbour BSs (nBSs) to select the best BS candidate for the incoming handover action. Without terminating the connection between the SBS and MS, the SBS will schedule the scanning intervals and sleep-intervals (also called interleaving interval) to MS for the handover scanning. However, during the scanning interval period, all the coming transmissions will be paused. Therefore, the redundant or unnecessary scanning of neighbouring BS cause delay and MAC overhead which may affect real-time applications. In this paper, the MS movement direction prediction (MMDP) based handover scanning scheme is introduced to overcome the mobile WiMAX handover scanning issue. It based on dividing the BS coverage area is into zones and sectors. According to the signal quality; there are three zones, no handover (No-HO), low handover (Low-HO) and high handover (High-HO) zones respectively and six sectors. In this scheme, only two BSs can become candidates; the two that the MS moves toward them will be chosen as the candidate for the handover scanning purpose. Hence, the handover scanning process repetition will be reduced with these two shortlisted BS candidates instead of scanning all nBSs. Thus, MMDP will reduce scanning delay and the number of exchange messages during the handover scanning comparing to the conventional scanning scheme. Although, the MMDP may need an extra computational time, the prediction and scanning process will be finished before the MS reach the High-HO zone, which mean the end-user’s running application will be affected. Simulation results show that the proposed MMDP scheme reduces the total handover scanning delay and scanning interval duration by 25 and 50 % respectively. Also, the size of scanning message is reduced, which leads to reduced signalling overhead