An independent protocol supporting real-time cross-network authentication in electric vehicles' network

The absence of charging infrastructure has been highlighted by several researchers as an obstacle in electric vehicle (EV) industry. However, less attention has been drawn to user access to existing charging infrastructure. Therefore, this research investigated the practical methods of increasing accessible charging stations to EV users. EV Service Providers (SP) and EV Networks have been established to provide charging facilities for EV users. However, the business model and method of identifying users have formed a group of closed networks performing in isolation. Despite the availability of charging stations, the isolation of EV networks prevents users from charging their EVs which has created a barrier against the development of EV industry and affected the general acceptance of EVs. Thus, this research aimed at formulating an operational framework which involved a proposed Inter-Service Provider Charging Protocol (ISPCP) that aimed to provide a peer-to-peer communication among networks of charging stations and supports cross-network charging capability for EV users. The framework consisted four phases: review of existing works, development of a protocol, development of a RESTFul WEB API using the protocol, and evaluation of the protocol using the API. To develop the protocol, current state of the art in the networks of EV charging stations was reviewed. In addition, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to investigate the causes and effects of range anxiety and to extract the existing solutions. ISPCP has been implemented, deployed, and tested using a RESTFul WEB API in order to evaluate its feasibility and effectiveness in which performance, response time, and cost were measured and identified as its effectiveness metrics. Findings of the study showed a faster response time of 9.4 seconds which is considered to be a 59.24% improvement when compared to similar protocols. The results obtained in the study provide support for feasibility of ISPCP as it has been proven to increase the number of charging stations accessible to EV users by providing cross-network charging solutions

Random Multi-Augmentation to Improve TensorFlow-Based Vehicle Plate Detection

In the development of the "Machine Learning" education kit, vehicle plate recognition was created using TensorFlow with SSD MobileNetV2. The detection failure rate in the training process with varying distances and lighting from the camera is high if the training data is insufficient. Addressing that notable gap in research, we proposed Random Multi-Augmentation to Improve TensorFlow-Based Vehicle Plate Detection. Augmentation techniques are expected to train data that is manipulated at varying lighting and distance. The proposed method consists of two combining augmentation approaches, namely: position augmentation and lighting augmentation. Position augmentation which consists of Flip, Crop, Rotate, Shift, and Crop is used to enrich the visualization of distance and viewing angle, while Lighting augmentation which consists of Greyscale, Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Exposure, and Blur is used to enrich the visualization of lighting. Variations in values were determined randomly based on variations in values from several previous studies. The comparison of TensorFlow SSD MobileNetV2 and Augmentation were tested using one video Roboflow. TensorFlow without augmentation exhibited an accuracy of 60%, precision of 100%, recall of 60%, and an F1 score of 75%, whereas TensorFlow within augmentation achieved a higher accuracy of 70%, precision of 100%, recall of 70%, and an F1 score of 82.3%. Based on precision measurement, Tensorflow can be claimed to prevent false positives, which indicates that the algorithm did not detect non-plate objects as vehicle plates. Furthermore, a comparison of the use of augmentation shows an increase in plate detection capabilities when using augmentation as Tensorflow preprocessing, which is indicated by an increase in recall and accuracy values. These results emphasize that augmentation is the pre-processing optimizer for vehicle number plate systems

Stiff Person syndrome: a case report

Stiff person syndrome (SPS) is rather unique among neurologic diagnoses. At relaxation, motor- unit activation, continuous agonist and antagonist muscular contractions, as well as contractions triggered by tactile triggers, quiescent stretch, and involuntary movement of affected or unaffected musculature, startled sounds and emotional stimuli are the clinical signs of SPS. Sleep, general anesthesia, myoneural, and peripheral nerve blockage all help to reduce rigidity and spasms. The syndrome may be a sporadic autoimmune syndrome (associated with anti–glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibodies and often accompanied by other autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes) or paraneoplastic (associated with anti–amphiphysin antibodies). People with SPS respond to high doses of diazepam and several anti-convulsants, gabapentin and tiagabine. Immunomodulatory drugs including steroids, plasmapheresis, and intravenous immunoglobulin appear to help significantly. The symptoms of our patient progressed slowly over time. Neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies ruled out other possible causes of comparable symptoms such as neuromyotonia. Raised anti-GAD autoantibodies titer in serum found by immunocytochemistry assays, our patient's history, clinical examination findings, and reaction to benzodiazepines all pointed to SPS.

Inter-service provider charging protocol: A solution to address range anxiety of electric vehicle owners

Range anxiety describes the drivers' stress regarding the available battery range while driving an electric vehicle. Considering this issue as a barrier against general acceptance of electric vehicles, several researches has been reviewed. The results show that there is no direct communication among current networks of charging stations which causes isolation in these networks. Thus, the users are not able to use cross-network facilities which leads to range anxiety. To overcome, a protocol is suggested to be used in development of RESTful web services to provide direct communication among the networks of charging stations

Transforming growth factor beta 1 : Role in the progression of chronic renal failure.

TGF-beta1 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of experimental and clinical glomerulosclerosis and tubufointerstitial fibrosis. Associations have been described between polymorphisms of cytokine and growth factor genes and susceptibility to, or progression of, an increasing number of diseases. In this study, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TGFbeta1 gene were investigated as possible markers for the progression of chronic renal failure (CRF). One hundred and forty two Caucasian patients with CRF were screened for four TGFB1 SNPs: T-509C in the promoter region; Arg25Pro and Leu10Pro in exon 1 and Thr263Ile in exon 5. There were significant differences between CRF patients and controls in allele frequencies of two of the SNPs (Leu10Pro and C-509T), indicating an association with susceptibility to CRF, We also observed a significant association between rate of progression of CRF (the slope of the reciprocal of serum creatinine v time) and genotype, both at codon 25 (odds ratio 3.77, 95% confidence interval, 2.2 - 6, p <0.001) and at the -509 promoter site (odds ratio 1.67, 95% confidence interval 1.1-2.5), p <0.005) in patients with primary nephropathy (excluding PKD). Genotype at codon 25 was also associated with severity of proteinuria (p= 0.038), plasma TGF-B1 protein levels (p = 0,01), and the severity of glomerulosclerosis (p<0.05). Genotype at C-509T was associated with the level of renal tubular TGF-B1 immunostmning (p = 0.0006) and with renal interstitial inflammatory cellular infiltration (p=0,015). There was a highly significant correlation between the degree of cellular infiltration in renal tissues and tubular TGF-beta1 immunostaining

Epidemiological study of risk factors in pediatric asthma

Background: Childhood asthma is a major public health problem in Egypt and worldwide. Epidemiologic, physiologic, and social factors appear to be associated with an increased risk of asthma. Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the most frequent risk factors of childhood asthma exacerbation and severity in our community. Methods: This cross sectional study involved 206 asthmatic children, 5 to 15 years old. They were enrolled from the School Students Health Insurance facility of El-Matareya Teaching Hospital and from the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic of Saint Mark Charity Hospital representing several social and residential classes. They were assessed clinically and by peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Parents of children were interviewed for symptoms and some demographic, social, environmental, housing and familial data as well as asthma triggers through a comprehensive detailed questionnaire. Results: Residential distribution and social status were significantly associated with asthma severity as most moderate persistent asthmatics lived in semi-urban areas (70.8%) and belonged to the low-level segment of social classification (47.9%). In the majority of the study population (69.9%), a family member or more had a positive history of bronchial asthma, and this was especially evident in moderate persistent cases (70.8%). Passive smoking and dust triggered exacerbations in 48.6% and 65% of the studied sample respectively and in most moderate persistent asthmatics (83.4% and 93.7%). Most houses of moderate asthmatics were infested with cockroaches (91.7%) and domestic animals were present in 56.2%. Recurrent chest infections and cold/flu attacks were strongly associated with asthma exacerbation and severity (93.8% and 93.7% of moderate persistent cases respectively). Most moderate persistent asthmatics (91.7%) reported exercise-induced asthma while 64.6% stated that emotional stress triggered their symptoms. Indoor pollutants such as insecticides, household chemicals and odors were strongly associated with asthma severity and exacerbation especially in moderate persistent cases (triggered symptoms in 66.7%, 52.1% and 58.3% of cases respectively). Conclusion: Smoking, emotional stress and dust were the most significant triggers of asthma exacerbation and severity in our series. Identification and avoidance of risk factors for persistent asthma, combined with early institution of pharmacologic and other intervention strategies, may lead to a better outcome.Keywords: asthma severity; asthma triggers; children; residence; risk factors; smoking; social statusEgypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2007; 5(1): 11-1

Epidemiological study of school performance and asthma medications among asthmatic Egyptian school children

Background: Childhood asthma is a major health problem in Egypt and worldwide. Barriers to reducing the burden of asthma include symptom-based rather than disease-based approaches, tendency of care to be ‘‘acute’’ rather than “regular” and cultural attitudes towards drugs and drug delivery systems. Objective: To measure the disease effect on school performance and to map asthma medications with respect to types, routes and course of use. Methods: This cross sectional study involved 206 Cairene asthmatic school children, enrolled from the school students’ health insurance facility of El-Matareya Teaching Hospital and the pediatric outpatient clinic of Saint Mark Charity Hospital representing different social classes and residential locations. Their ages ranged between 5 and 15 years and they comprised 100 males and 106 females. They were assessed clinically and by peak expiratory flowmetry. Parents or caregivers were interviewed about disease symptoms, school achievement and attendance and medications used including relievers and controllers, route and course of use, whether continuously, intermittently and/or during attacks. Results: Asthma had a strong impact on school achievement and school absence; 77.3% of study population reported school absence due to asthma and 41.3% reported weak to average school achievement. School performance was associated with asthma severity; the majority of moderate asthmatics (64.6%) had average and weak school performance. Number of days of school absence demonstrated highly significant relation with asthma severity; 43.6% of moderate asthmatics had 5-6 absent days/month and 33.4% had 3-4 absent days/month. Combined β2-agonists and xanthines was the most commonly used (54.8%) reliever therapy followed by β2-agonists alone (44.2%) while corticosteroids were the most common controllers used (97.6%). Therapy was taken mainly by oral than inhalation route. Other medications like cromolyns, anti-histamines, anti-leukotrienes and anti-cholinergics were rarely used. Both rectal and injection routes were rarely used also. Conclusion: Asthma has a social burden on asthmatic children as it affects both school achievement and school attendance. Medical management of asthma in Egyptian children still lags behind available medical knowledge. Patients’ and health care givers’ education is a cornerstone in improving the current status of asthma management in Egypt.Keywords: asthma medications; asthma severity; children; school performanceEgypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2009;7(1):23-3