Modified Shewhart Control Chart Based on CEV for Gamma Distributed Lifetimes in the Presence of Type-I Censored Data

This article explains the modified version of Shewhart control charts for monitoring the mean level of the Gamma lifetimes under the Type-I censored data. Shewhart control chart based on the conditional expected values (CEV) is developed which can efficiently monitor the Type-I censored. The results of the proposed control chart are compared with simple/traditional Shewhart control chart using different censoring rates (Pc). The main focus is the stability of the mean level for which we have considered the specified parameter(s) as well as the unspecified parameter(s) cases (where Maximum Likelihood Estimates (MLE) has been considered). It is observed that in the presence of Type-I censored observation the CEV Shewhart  Control chart outperforms traditional Shewhart control chart. The proposed censoring control charts always outperform when known parameters are used rather than the MLE estimate cases. The proposed charting methodology is also illustrated by an example

Knowledge causes and practice of self-medication during COVID-19: A population-based survey in Pakistan

Background: Self-medication (SM) is a public health issue upsurge day by day and its side effects accelerate the burden on healthcare, pharmacists, and the economy. The demand for self-prescribed medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic was found to be on the rise globally.Methods: The survey was conducted during June-August 2021 to analyses knowledge, causes, and practices of self-medication in Pakistan. The Chi-square test was used to examine the relationships between the categorical variable: The Pearson Correlation coefficient determined the relationship between quantitative variables. Age, gender, marital status, education, profession, field, knowledge, causes and practice of SM were variables included in survey.Result: 203 responses were received in the online survey and results from demographic factors were 104 (51.7%) male, 114(56.7%) single, 20-30 years (42.3%) age group, 44.8% were MS/M. Phil, 31.3% were teacher and 74.1% respondents belongs to the bioscience field. 20.4% considered it good practice while 42.3% responded to it as an acceptable practice. Quarantine was the most significant factor for SM during COVID-19 (68.7%). Discrimination after infection (37.8%) was also of higher priority and SM practiced under the influence of friends and social media, emergency illness, distance to hospitals (19.9%), and prescribed by medical personnel in a health facility (31.3%) followed by own self (22.9%), 19.9% by a friend, and 15.4% by pharmacist. 52.7% used self-prescribed antibiotics with the appearance of symptoms of fever, chills, and tiredness (37.30%). Conclusion: This population-based survey suggested that legislation, awareness campaigns, media, community, and government should play their part to fight misinformation about alleged COVID-19 preventive medicines on different platforms

Reversal of Multidrug Resistance in Mouse Lymphoma Cells by Extracts and Flavonoids from Pistacia integerrima

Phytochemical investigation of Pistacia integerrima has highlighted isolation of two known compounds naringenin (1) and dihydrokaempferol (2). A crude extract and these isolated compounds were here evaluated for their effects on reversion of multidrug resistance (MDR) mediated by P-glycoprotein (P-gp). The multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein is a target for chemotherapeutic drugs from cancer cells. In the present study rhodamine- 123 exclusion screening test on human mdr1 gene transfected mouse gene transfected L5178 and L5178Y mouse T-cell lymphoma cells showed excellent MDR reversing effects in a dose dependent manner. In-silico molecular docking investigations demonstrated a common binding site for Rhodamine123, and compounds naringenin and dihydrokaempferol. Our results showed that the relative docking energies estimated by docking softwares were in satisfactory correlation with the experimental activities. Preliminary interaction profile of P-gp docked complexes were also analysed in order to understand the nature of binding modes of these compounds. Our computational investigation suggested that the compounds interactions with the hydrophobic pocket of P-gp are mainly related to the inhibitory activity. Moreover this study s a platform for the discovery of novel natural compounds from herbal origin, as inhibitor molecules against the P-glycoprotein for the treatment of cancer

An acoustic investigation of primary and secondary lexical stress of Urdu

This paper investigated acoustic correlates of primary and secondary stress in Urdu language. Urdu is not a sufficiently researched language in the context of lexical stress. A few researches (Mehrotra, 1965; Hussain, 1997; Nair, 1999; Mumtaz, 2014, and Qurrat-Ul-Ain & Mahmood (2017) discussed stress in Urdu/Hindi language. Perhaps, Qurrat-Ul-Ain & Mahmood (2017) study is the first to phonetically document the presence of secondary stress in Urdu using the cue of duration. The present study focused on the four popular acoustic cues of lexical stress to see how Urdu lexical stress (primary as well as secondary) behaves against these cues. The stimuli of the study consist of six tri-syllabic words (embedded with low-back-long vowel /a:/ in all syllables) uttered by nine female Urdu speakers from Lahore. Four popular stress cues (duration, vowel quality, pitch, and intensity) have been analyzed to see their correlation with Urdu lexical stress. The analysis reveals three levels of lexical stress: primary, secondary, and unstressed. Vowel duration is the strongest cue to correlate with the levels of stress in Urdu while stressed segments prone to have higher values of intensity. Overall, a trend of lower F0 and higher formant values could be seen against stressed syllables. The study, however, needs to be expanded further by using words having other vowel sounds. Moreover, the phenomenon of word final lengthening can be taken into account in the potential researches

Field, capital and the policing habitus: nderstanding Bourdieu through The NYPD’s post-9/11 counterterrorism practices

This article extends existing Bourdieusian theory in criminology and security literature through examining the practices of the New York City Police Department in the post-9/11 counterterrorism field. This article makes several original contributions. First, it explores the resilient nature of the policing habitus, extending Bourdieusian criminological findings that habitus are entrenched and difficult to change. Second, this article examines the way the resilient habitus drives subordinate factions to displace dominant factions in a field’s established social hierarchy through boundary-pushing practices, a concept previously unexamined in Bourdieusian criminology. Drawing on original documentary analysis, this article uses the illustrative example of the NYPD’s post-9/11 counterterrorism practices, exploring how it sought to displace the existing social structure by using its aggressive policing habitus and an infusion of ‘War on Terror’ capital to challenge the dominant position of the FBI in the post-9/11 counterterrorism field. The NYPD’s habitus driven counterterrorism practices were novel and unprecedented, creating strain with both the FBI and local communities

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

New Shewhart and EWMA Type Control Charts using Exponential Type Estimator with Two Auxiliary Variables under Two Phase Sampling

In this paper, two new control charts have been proposed, one is shewhart-type and other one is EWMA-type control chart. The proposed control charts are based on the exponential type estimator for mean proposed by Noor-ul-Amin and Hanif (2012). We name them as DS-Shewhart control chart and DS-EWMA control chart. The results shows that the DS-Shewhart control chart shows more efficient results to traditional/simple Shewhart  and EWMA control charts whereas, the DS-EWMA control chart shows more efficient results to traditional Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) and Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) control charts because they uses the information from two phase sampling with two auxiliary variables. The proposed control charts can be used for efficient monitoring of the production process in manufacturing industries. The control limits of the proposed chart are based on estimator, its mean square errors and bias. A simulated example has been used to compare the proposed and traditional/simple EWMA and CUSUM control charts performance based on the average run length-out of control (ARL1). It is observed that the proposed chart performs better than existing EWMA and CUSUM control charts. At the end of the paper a real life implementation of the proposed control charts is also provided

New Shewhart and EWMA Type Control Charts using Exponential Type Estimator with Two Auxiliary Variables under Two Phase Sampling

In this paper, two new control charts have been proposed, one is shewhart-type and other one is EWMA-type control chart. The proposed control charts are based on the exponential type estimator for mean proposed by Noor-ul-Amin and Hanif (2012). We name them as DS-Shewhart control chart and DS-EWMA control chart. The results shows that the DS-Shewhart control chart shows more efficient results to traditional/simple Shewhart  and EWMA control charts whereas, the DS-EWMA control chart shows more efficient results to traditional Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) and Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) control charts because they uses the information from two phase sampling with two auxiliary variables. The proposed control charts can be used for efficient monitoring of the production process in manufacturing industries. The control limits of the proposed chart are based on estimator, its mean square errors and bias. A simulated example has been used to compare the proposed and traditional/simple EWMA and CUSUM control charts performance based on the average run length-out of control (ARL1). It is observed that the proposed chart performs better than existing EWMA and CUSUM control charts. At the end of the paper a real life implementation of the proposed control charts is also provided

Exploring mixture estimators in stratified random sampling

Advancements in sensor technology have brought a revolution in data generation. Therefore, the study variable and several linearly related auxiliary variables are recorded due to cost-effectiveness and ease of recording. These auxiliary variables are commonly observed as quantitative and qualitative (attributes) variables and are jointly used to estimate the study variable's population mean using a mixture estimator. For this purpose, this work proposes a family of generalized mixture estimators under stratified sampling to increase efficiency under symmetrical and asymmetrical distributions and study the estimator's behavior for different sample sizes for its convergence to the Normal distribution. It is found that the proposed estimator estimates the population mean of the study variable with more precision than the competitor estimators under Normal, Uniform, Weibull, and Gamma distributions. It is also revealed that the proposed estimator follows the Cauchy distribution when the sample size is less than 35; otherwise, it converges to normality. Furthermore, the implementation of two real-life datasets related to the health and finance sectors is also presented to support the proposed estimator's significance