Automated Fragmentary Bone Matching

Identification, reconstruction and matching of fragmentary bones are basic tasks required to accomplish quantification and analysis of fragmentary human remains derived from forensic contexts. Appropriate techniques for three-dimensional surface matching have received great attention in computer vision literature, and various methods have been proposed for matching fragmentary meshes; however, many of these methods lack automation, speed and/or suffer from high sensitivity to noise. In addition, reconstruction of fragementary bones along with identification in the presence of reference model to compare with in an automatic scheme have not been addressed. In order to address these issues, we used a multi-stage technique for fragment identification, matching and registration. The study introduces an automated technique for matching of fragmentary human skeletal remains for improving forensic anthropology practice and policy. The proposed technique involves creation of surfaces models for the fragmentary elements which can be done using computerized tomographic scans followed by segmentation. Upon creation of the fragmentary elements models, the models go through feature extraction technique where the surface roughness map of each model is measured using local shape analysis measures. Adaptive thesholding is then used to extract model features. A multi-stage technique is then used to identify, match and register bone fragments to their corresponding template bone model. First, extracted features are used for matching with different template bone models using iterative closest point algorithm with different positions and orientations. The best match score, in terms of minimum root-mean-square error, is used along with the position and orientation and the resulting transformation to register the fragment bone model with the corresponding template bone model using iterative closest point algorithm

Harmonizing the Tenth Malaysia Plan priorities with the new economic model and the green world order

The New Economic Model (NEM) integrates innovative ideas in socio‐economic development of Malaysia. Specifically, it aims at achieving high income, sustainability and inclusiveness in the economic transformation through this new policy initiative. NEM will build resilience into the economic system for sustainable benefits to the society. The sustainability dimension of NEM will require focus on natural resources. This is achievable by aligning our activities with the new concept of ‘Green World Order’. Under this concept, there is a need for making changes in our activities. Development planning will require resetting in the light of environmental limitations to achieve the goals of NEM. With the valuation of ecosystem services becoming increasingly important, we should pursue this matter with a sense of urgency for positioning Malaysia as a major player in the global environmental governance and claimant to a substantial stake in the fund to mitigate the effects of climate change. Out of US$33 trillion per year as the economic value of world ecosystems, our resources such as forests, mangroves and seagrasses, wetlands and groundwater recharge systems, coral refs and ability to implement green technology projects should enable the country to have a significant stake and role in global environmental mitigation programs. With an effective action plan, Malaysia can take advantage of the growing carbon market and green economy. Investment in carbon sinks should be a sort of foreign direct investment free of strings and riders while supporting our national goals of food security, environmental conservation, education, health care and socio‐economic development. However, we need to develop expertise to deal with international institutions in carbon economy. We propose setting up an autonomous center to address all such matters related to human resource needs and global environmental governance to position Malaysia for a fair share of benefits that will accrue

Measurement of uric acid, urea and creatinine in plasma of hypertensive patients in Khartoum Sudan

This study is descriptive analytical cross sectional study, aimed to measure plasma uric acid, urea and creatinine levels in Sudanese hypertensive patients. Blood samples were collected from sixty patients with hypertension (study group) and twenty five samples from healthy, normotensive subjects (control group) from ribat university Hospital during the period from December 2017 to January 2018.Plasma levels of uric acid, urea and creatinine were measured in each group. Results showed that in hypertensive patients, the plasma uric acid mean level was (8.5_+1.6 mg/dl), urea mean level was (40 _+13.4mg/dl) and for creatinine (1.14_+0.28mg/dl) were significantly higher than normotensive. (P.value< 0.03), (p.value< 0.001) and (p.value<0.05) respectively. The study illustrated a moderately weak positive correlation between uric acid and systolic and diastolic measurements of hypertension patient to. (r=0.58, p.value 0.000). Renal function and uric acid should regularly measuredIn hypertensive patients especially in those with prolonged period of the diseas

Review of Tertiary Gambier Limestone aquifer properties, lower South-East, South Australia

Transmissivity and storage coefficients are important properties in the characterisation of aquifers. Transmissivities and storage coefficients have been calculated from aquifer test programs for all known wells from the Tertiary Limestone Aquifer in the Lower South-East and located within the study area. The Tertiary Limestone Aquifer consists of the Gambier Limestone in the Gambier Basin. Transmissivity and specific yield data for the Tertiary Limestone Aquifer (unconfined aquifer) were collated and examined for their reliability. Most of the reported data were of low reliability. Limited data was collected from aquifer tests using one or more observation wells. Some of the observation wells were completed within different intervals from that of the production well. Therefore the specific yield values obtained were rated &lsquo;low&rsquo; reliability. Specific capacity data are usually more abundant than aquifer test data and is used as a measure of the productivity of a well. An empirical relationship was established between transmissivity values calculated from aquifer tests and their related specific capacity data. The resulting best-fit line is T = 3.95 x SC0.89 with R2 = 82.repor

PID Cascade Controller Design for an Unstable System

In control engineering, the control of an unstable system is very concerning. An example of an unstable system that uses control principles is a ball and beam balancer system. This system consists of a long beam attached to a motor at its midpoint. A steel ball moves on the top of the beam with an acceleration proportional to the beam angle. If the system is uncontrolled well, the steel ball may fall from the beam. This paper presents an approach to modeling and controlling the ball position for the ball and beam balancer system. Starting with a mathematical equation for the nonlinear system, the model of the system is produced. Then, it demonstrates the design of the PID cascade controller system to stabilize the system and regulate the ball to its reference position. The performance of the system was evaluated and tested for set-point tracking signal and disturbance rejection test. The simulation studies were done using Matlab Simulink and the results indicated that the proposed approach yields robust closed-loop performance

Characterization of Volatile Compounds of Bulgur (Antep Type) Produced from Durum Wheat

Bulgur is enjoyed and rediscovered by many people as a stable food because of its color, flavor, aroma, texture, and nutritional and economical values. There is more than one type of bulgur overall the world according to production techniques and raw materials. The volatile compounds of bulgur have not been explored yet. In this study, Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction (HS-SPME) and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectroscopy (GS-MS) methods were used to determine the volatile flavor compounds of bulgur (Antep type, produced from Durum wheat). Approaching studies were used and the results were optimized to determine the ideal conditions for the extraction and distinguish the compounds responsible for the flavor of bulgur. Approximately, 47 and 37 important volatile compounds were determined for Durum wheat and bulgur, respectively. The study showed that there was a great diversity of volatiles in bulgur produced using Durum wheat and Antep type production method. These can lead to a better understanding of the combination of compounds that give a unique flavor with more researches

Performance comparison between Dual-blinder and a Phasor-based Out of Step detection functions using hardware in the loop test

When an Out of Step (OOS) event occurs between two connected areas in the power system, the two areas should be separated before the OOS results in generation loss, equipment damage, and eventually a total black-out. This separation is achieved via the OOS function that implemented at specific transmission lines. One of the commonly used methods to achieve the OOS tripping functionality is the Dual-Blinder Scheme, which compare the locally measured impedance to a set value. In this research, a Phasor-Based OOS tripping function, based on the derivatives of the voltage phase angle difference between the two areas, is evaluated against the Dual-Blinder method using a real-time digital simulator, a protective relay, and a Synchrophasor Vector Processor (SVP). The evaluation shows that the Phasor-Based function predicted the OOS before the Dual-Blinder OOS function when the power system was having damping problems. In other cases, the Dual-Blinder OOS function tripped faster in most of the considered cases. Finally, this research suggests some improvements for implementing the Phasor-Based OOS function in the future

Evaluation of Serum Transaminases Levels In Transfused β-Thalssaemia Major Patients

Background: β-thalassemia major is a genetic disorder characterized by reduced rate of β-globin chain production. Clinically, β-thalassemia major is a severe, transfusion-dependant disorder; repeated blood transfusion will lead eventually to chronic liver disease. Patients and Methods: One hundred patients ; 56 males and 44 females who were known cases with β-thalassemia major on regular blood transfusion, aged between 6 months and 18 years, were studied in a private pathology laboratory, between January 2002-January 2006.Blood was drawn to estimate serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) and serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) levels. Results: Sixty-six patients (66%) had elevated SGPT and SGOT levels ranging between two and more than five fold increase than normal.Thirty-four patients (34%) had normal SGPT and SGOT values of less than 40 i.u. /L. The levels of SGPT and SGOT were significantly higher in splenectomised patients than nonsplenectomised. Conclusion: Serum transaminases were elevated in (66%) of transfused patients with B-thalassemia major

Infective endocarditis secondary to mycoplasma pneumoniae

Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) is a gram-positive bacterium most commonly associated with community-acquired pneumonia in adults. It can also involve other systems of the body. Cardiovascular complications include pericarditis, myocarditis, congestive cardiac failure, and, rarely, infective endocarditis. We report a case of infective endocarditis secondary to MP infection in an adult. We treated our patient with doxycycline, which showed significant improvement

EFFECTS OF A COMBINATION THERAPY WITH ATORVASTATIN AND METFORMIN ON THE GLYCEMIC CONTROL AND ADIPOSITY INDICES IN NEWLY DIAGNOSED OVERWEIGHT PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS: A PILOT STUDY

Objective: In many type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, metformin is prescribed concomitantly with hypolipidemic agents, particularly statins. Meanwhile, variability in response to metformin is one of the most important problems in the efficacy of this combination. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of adding atorvastatin with metformin on the glycemic control, adiposity indices, and lipid profile of overweight patients newly diagnosed with type T2DM.Methods: A total of 50 overweight patients with T2DM were allocated into two groups, the first one received 850 mg/day of sustained release metformin and the second group received 10 mg/day atorvastatin in addition to the metformin. The patients were followed for 90 days through evaluating fasting serum glucose (FSG), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), body mass index (BMI), visceral adiposity index (VAI), and the lipid profile at baseline and after 90 days. In addition, the safety of the protocol was monitored through the evaluation of the renal and liver functions.Results: HbA1c, FSG, BMI, and VAI values were significantly decreased in both treatment groups compared with baseline. Meanwhile, the combination improves all the lipid profile components with respect to the baseline. No significant differences reported between the two groups regarding all the measured parameters. The addition of atorvastatin produced a slight but significant negative impact on the renal and liver functions.Conclusion: Addition of 10 mg/day atorvastatin with metformin in the treatment of newly diagnosed T2DM overweight patients did not produce significant improvement in glycemic control, adiposity index, and lipid profile compared with the use of metformin alone