An Investigation on Disparity Responds of Machine Learning Algorithms to Data Normalization Method

Data normalization can be useful in eliminating the effect of inconsistent ranges in some machine learning (ML) techniques and in speeding up the optimization process in others. Many studies apply different methods of data normalization with an aim to reduce or eliminate the impact of data variance on the accuracy rate of ML-based models. However, the significance of this impact aligning with the mathematical concept of the ML algorithms still needs more investigation and tests. To identify that, this work proposes an investigation methodology involving three different ML algorithms, which are support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (ANN), and Euclidean-based K-nearest neighbor (E-KNN). Throughout this work, five different datasets have been utilized, and each has been taken from different application fields with different statistical properties. Although there are many data normalization methods available, this work focuses on the min-max method, because it actively eliminates the effect of inconsistent ranges of the datasets. Moreover, other factors that are challenging the process of min-max normalization, such as including or excluding outliers or the least significant feature, have also been considered in this work. The finding of this work shows that each ML technique responds differently to the min-max normalization. The performance of SVM models has been improved, while no significant improvement happened to the performance of ANN models. It is been concluded that the performance of E-KNN models may improve or degrade with the min-max normalization, and it depends on the statistical properties of the dataset

Chaos in Sandpile Models

We have investigated the "weak chaos" exponent to see if it can be considered as a classification parameter of different sandpile models. Simulation results show that "weak chaos" exponent may be one of the characteristic exponents of the attractor of \textit{deterministic} models. We have shown that the (abelian) BTW sandpile model and the (non abelian) Zhang model posses different "weak chaos" exponents, so they may belong to different universality classes. We have also shown that \textit{stochasticity} destroys "weak chaos" exponents' effectiveness so it slows down the divergence of nearby configurations. Finally we show that getting off the critical point destroys this behavior of deterministic models.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Experimental Establishing of Moving Hydraulic Jump in a Trapezoidal Channel

This research was prepared as a preliminary laboratory study to achieve a moving hydraulic jump with controlled discharges. It is an initial part of the study that is being prepared to treat the salt tide occurring in the Shatt al-Arab due to the lack of water imports that were coming from the Karun and Karkheh rivers from Iranian territory, as this scarcity caused a salt tide that affected significantly the environmental reality of the city of Basra and the agricultural lands surrounding the Shatt al-Arab, such as the Shatt al-Arab district and the Siba orchards. As part of the proposed solutions, a moving hydraulic jump is created that pushes the salt tongue into the Persian Gulf; the results were promising. A moving hydraulic leap is a good example of unstable super- and sub-critical flow regimes and is regarded as a specific case of unsteady flow in a channel. There aren't many published experiments on this particular flow type, and the quantitative simulation of such a flow state has some inherent complexity. An experimental setup was created for this work in order to assess the hydraulic performance of a moving hydraulic jump in a trapezoidal flume. A sluice gate was installed at the flume's upstream edge to provide an unstable supercritical flow regime, movable hydraulic jumps along the channel, and temporal water stages at the gate's upstream side for the various downstream end boundary situations. Several flow factors, including energy head, pressure head, and flow depth, were estimated from the recorded data. The study found connections between discharge and shifting hydraulic jump variables. By employing relatively stable momentum and energy formulas, simple and time-independent formulas were developed that accurately predicted the pressure head in the subcritical region of an unstable mixed flow. As a result, the moving hydraulic jump factor can be correctly predicted using time-independent correlations by using the discharge variation as a boundary scenario. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2023-09-04-08 Full Text: PD

Improving newborn health in countries exposed to political violence: an assessment of the availability, accessibility, and distribution of neonatal health services at Palestinian hospitals

Introduction: Geopolitical segregation of Palestine has left a fragile healthcare system with an unequal distribution of services. Data from the Gaza Strip reflect an increase in infant mortality that coincided with a significant increase in neonatal mortality (12.0 to 20.3 per 1,000 live births). Objective: A baseline study was carried out to evaluate available resources in neonatal units throughout Palestine. Study Design: A cross-sectional, hospital-based study was conducted in 2017 using the World Health Organization's "Hospital care for mothers and newborn babies: quality assessment and improvement tool." Data on the main indicators were updated in 2018. Results: There were 38 neonatal units in Palestine: 27 in the West Bank, 3 in East Jerusalem, and 8 in the Gaza Strip. There was an uneven geographic distribution of incubators in relation to population and births that was more marked in the Gaza Strip; 79% of neonatal units and 75% of incubators were in the West Bank. While almost all hospitals with neonatal units accepted very and extremely low birth weight and admitted out-born neonatal cases, there was a shortage in the availability of incubators with humidifiers, high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, mechanical ventilators with humidifiers and isolation wards. There was also a considerable shortage in neonatologists, neonatal nurses, and pediatric subspecialties. Conclusion: Almost all the neonatal units accepted extremely low birth weight neonatal cases despite not being ready to receive these newborns due to considerable shortages in human resources, equipment, drugs, and essential blood tests, as well as frequent disruptions in the availability of based amenities. Together, these factors contribute to the burden of providing quality care to newborns, which is further exacerbated by the lack of referral guidelines and challenges to timely referrals resulting from Israeli measures. Ultimately, this contributes to suboptimal care for neonates and negatively impacts future health outcomes

Social mobilisation, drug coverage and compliance and adverse reactions in a Mass Drug Administration (MDA) Programme for the Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis in Sri Lanka

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Gene expression profile of oral squamous cell carcinomas from Sri Lankan betel quid users

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the major health problems in Sri Lanka and the disease is associated with the habit of Betel Quid (BQ) chewing. Using 35k oligo microarrays, we analyzed the gene expression profile of 15 Sri Lankan patients diagnosed with OSCCs and pair-wised normal controls and correlated the findings with the clinicopathological data. Following the recording of the scanned array images and data analysis, results for selected candidate genes were verified using QRT-PCR. Upon analysis, a total of 263 genes [71 (27%) of unknown functions previously not reported in OSCCs and 192 (73%) of known functions] were found as differentially expressed between tumors and controls. For the genes with known functions, 66 (34%; such as COL4A1, MMP1, MMP3, PLAU, SPARC and KRT19) were previously reported in OSCC and for the remaining 126 (66%; such as CD47, APOL3, RRAGC, BPIL1 and AZGP1) this is the first report in OSCCs. Hierarchical clustering of the differentially expressed 263 genes grouped the samples into several clusters with the larger one being dominated by tumors of stage 3 and 4. Two cases (a verrucous SCC and an advanced SCC), did not cluster with any of the other samples. We found two main biological pathways (cell communication and integrin-mediated cell adhesion) and 5 gene ontology categories (transcription regulator activity, structural molecule activity, intracellular signaling, cytoskeleton and signal transduction) of relevance to the OSCCs examined. Results from the QRT-PCR verified the results from the microarray experiment. This study provides valuable information on gene expression profile of OSCCs of habitual users of BQ from Sri Lanka. Of particular interest were the list of genes of known and unknown functions and the two biological pathways that we suggest as candidate genes in oral cancers associated with BQ chewing in Southeast Asia, in particular Sri Lanka. The suggested candidate genes might be used as molecular biomarkers in the early detection of the alarming problem of OSCCs in Southeast Asia in association with BQ use. These findings provide valuable information that might help in the selection of possible biomarkers that can be used in early detection of the alarming problem of oral cancer in Southeast Asia.publishedVersio

Superconformal indices at large N and the entropy of AdS5 x SE5 black holes

The large N limit of the four-dimensional superconformal index was computed and successfully compared to the entropy of a class of AdS5 black holes only in the particular case of equal angular momenta. Using the Bethe ansatz formulation, we compute the index at large N with arbitrary chemical potentials for all charges and angular momenta, for general four-dimensional conformal theories with a holographic dual. We conjecture and bring some evidence that a particular universal contribution to the sum over Bethe vacua dominates the index at large N. For SYM, this contribution correctly leads to the entropy of BPS Kerr-Newman black holes in AdS5 x S5 for arbitrary values of the conserved charges, thus completing the microscopic derivation of their microstates. We also consider theories dual to AdS5 x SE5, where SE5 is a Sasaki-Einstein manifold. We first check our results against the so-called universal black hole. We then explicitly construct the near-horizon geometry of BPS Kerr-Newman black holes in AdS5 T^{1,1}, charged under the baryonic symmetry of the conifold theory and with equal angular momenta. We compute the entropy of these black holes using the attractor mechanism and find complete agreement with the field theory predictions

Using Project Performance to Measure Effectiveness of Quality Management System Maintenance and Practices in Construction Industry

This paper proposed seven existing and new performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of quality management system (QMS) maintenance and practices in construction industry. This research is carried out with a questionnaire based on QMS variables which are extracted from literature review and project performance indicators which are established from project management's theory. Data collected was analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The findings indicate that client satisfaction and time variance have positive and significant relationship with QMS while other project performance indicators do not show significant results. Further studies can use the same project performance indicators to study the effectiveness of QMS in different sampling area to improve the generalizability of the findings