New Immigrants’ Domestic Tourism Destination Choice Behavior: A Study of Bangladeshi-Origin Canadians

Dear Concern, Attached are the revised version of the abstract and contribution file for TTRA conference - student poster presentation. Will you be kindly able to issue me an unconditional acceptance letter based on this revised version of the abstract? I received an acceptance letter before with major revision. As I am a student and looking for funding for participating in the conference, it will be much helpful for me to submit unconditional acceptance letter to the funding authority. I hope you will now accept the changes and be kind enough to issue me an unconditional acceptance letter. Regards Shahin Ahmed Chowdhury & Dr. Joanne McNeis

Effects of gamma radiation and -20°C temperatures on the shelf life of Hilsa, Tenualosa ilisha (ham.-Buch. 1822)

The combined effect of radiation and refrigeration on the shelf life of hilsa, Tanualosa ilisha was studied by monitoring the microbiological, chemical and sensory changes of unirradiated and irradiated fish samples using low dose irradiation, doses of 300 krad, 600 krad and 900 krad. Irradiation (900 krad) dramatically reduced population of bacteria, namely total viable counts 48.850cfu per gm for unirradiated, 31.850cfu per gm and 19.600cfu per gm of 300 krad and 600 krad, respectively. The effect was more pronounced at the higher dose (900 krad), total viable count were 14.100cfu per gm. Another microbial indicator total mould counts (TMC) was 8.750cfu per gm, 6.350cfu per gm, and 19.600cfu per gm for 300 krad and 600 krad, respectively. The effect was more pronounced at the higher dose (900 krad) where total viable counts were 14,100cfu per gm. Total volatile nitrogen values increased slowly attaining a value of 101.02mgN per 100gm for unirradiated T. ilisha during refrigerated storage, whereas for irradiated fish, lower values of 71.13, 59.33 and 47.03mgN per 100gm muscle were recorded. Sensory evaluation showed a good correlation with bacterial populations on the basis of overall acceptability scores

Speaker- and Age-Invariant Training for Child Acoustic Modeling Using Adversarial Multi-Task Learning

One of the major challenges in acoustic modelling of child speech is the rapid changes that occur in the children's articulators as they grow up, their differing growth rates and the subsequent high variability in the same age group. These high acoustic variations along with the scarcity of child speech corpora have impeded the development of a reliable speech recognition system for children. In this paper, a speaker- and age-invariant training approach based on adversarial multi-task learning is proposed. The system consists of one generator shared network that learns to generate speaker- and age-invariant features connected to three discrimination networks, for phoneme, age, and speaker. The generator network is trained to minimize the phoneme-discrimination loss and maximize the speaker- and age-discrimination losses in an adversarial multi-task learning fashion. The generator network is a Time Delay Neural Network (TDNN) architecture while the three discriminators are feed-forward networks. The system was applied to the OGI speech corpora and achieved a 13% reduction in the WER of the ASR.Comment: Submitted to ICASSP202

Phonological Level wav2vec2-based Mispronunciation Detection and Diagnosis Method

The automatic identification and analysis of pronunciation errors, known as Mispronunciation Detection and Diagnosis (MDD) plays a crucial role in Computer Aided Pronunciation Learning (CAPL) tools such as Second-Language (L2) learning or speech therapy applications. Existing MDD methods relying on analysing phonemes can only detect categorical errors of phonemes that have an adequate amount of training data to be modelled. With the unpredictable nature of the pronunciation errors of non-native or disordered speakers and the scarcity of training datasets, it is unfeasible to model all types of mispronunciations. Moreover, phoneme-level MDD approaches have a limited ability to provide detailed diagnostic information about the error made. In this paper, we propose a low-level MDD approach based on the detection of speech attribute features. Speech attribute features break down phoneme production into elementary components that are directly related to the articulatory system leading to more formative feedback to the learner. We further propose a multi-label variant of the Connectionist Temporal Classification (CTC) approach to jointly model the non-mutually exclusive speech attributes using a single model. The pre-trained wav2vec2 model was employed as a core model for the speech attribute detector. The proposed method was applied to L2 speech corpora collected from English learners from different native languages. The proposed speech attribute MDD method was further compared to the traditional phoneme-level MDD and achieved a significantly lower False Acceptance Rate (FAR), False Rejection Rate (FRR), and Diagnostic Error Rate (DER) over all speech attributes compared to the phoneme-level equivalent

Sensing of Heavy Metal Ions via Fluorescence Quenching of Femtosecond-Laser-Synthesized Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles (NPs) for sensing of heavy metal ions (HMIs) via fluorescence quenching are becoming sought-after for their facile synthesis, cost effectiveness, and high degree of tunability. In this thesis, the sensitive and selective fluorescence-quenching detection of the four most toxic HMIs (Hg, Pb, Cd, and As), as listed by the World Health Organization (WHO), is demonstrated using femtosecond (fs)- laser-treated nanoparticles. A fs laser is used to exfoliate 2D flakes of nitrogen-doped graphene oxide (NGO) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) dissolved in acetonitrile and a 1:1 ethanol-water mixture and convert them into NPs. The chemically active NPs bond with atoms from the laser-dissociated acetonitrile (CH3CN), ethanol (C2H5OH), and water (H2O) molecules to form solvent-functionalized NPs, which are characterized by absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The high degree of functionalization of the 2D NPs with nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon groups allowed highly sensitive detection of HMIs owing to binding and charge transfer between the HMIs and functional groups, which reduces the excess carriers associated with the functional groups and leads to quenching of the nanoparticles’ PL. Selective sensing of the HMIs using the NP solutions is attributed to the different bond polarities associated with the different combinations of NPs and functional groups, which electrostatically attract HMIs with different affinities. The functional groups responsible for sensing HMIs selectively are studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and PL lifetime decay of the NPs before and after the addition of HMIs. The method demonstrated here is faster than most previous techniques for functionalizing 2D NPs. The tunable functionalization enables sensitive and selective detection of the four most toxic HMIs with limits of detection (LOD) three times lower than the safe concentration limits of the HMIs in water

Influence of deep excavation on behavior of adjacent single pile: effect of pile location

Even when located atop piles, deep excavations might result in Settlement and harm to nearby buildings. This work aims to investigate single-pile reactions to deep-braced excavation-induced soil movement in soft clay with a sand covering. The main goal of the experiment is to determine how a vertical single pile responds to produced axial force, lateral deflection, induced bending moment, and pile settlement. The pile\u27s diameter (dp) is 5 meters, and its embedded length (Lp) is 22 meters. The pile horizontally from the diaphragm wall is situated 3.75 meters (.25 He). The pile was simulated using the Embedded pile structural element. To enhance comprehension of the behavior of a single pile, a parametric analysis was conducted. to offer more information regarding the pile\u27s response. Design, procedure, and strategy A thorough three-dimensional numerical study is performed to explore pile responses during a nearby deep-braced excavation using the explicit finite element code PLAXIS 3D. Conclusions: The acquired data made it possible to fully comprehend the phenomena of soil-pile-structure interactions as well as the pile reaction. The results show that there could be significant axial forces, lateral deflections, and bending moments in the surrounding piles as a result of the deep excavation. Parametric research revealed that the position of the pile has a significant impact on the pile reactions. This work used 3D numerical modeling to fully examine the pile reaction in multi-layered soil. In this investigation, the Hardening soil model with small-strain stiffness was employed to account for the soil\u27s nonlinear small-strain behavior

Influence of deep excavation on behavior of adjacent single pile: effect of pile location

Even when located atop piles, deep excavations might result in Settlement and harm to nearby buildings. This work aims to investigate single-pile reactions to deep-braced excavation-induced soil movement in soft clay with a sand covering. The main goal of the experiment is to determine how a vertical single pile responds to produced axial force, lateral deflection, induced bending moment, and pile settlement. The pile\u27s diameter (dp) is 5 meters, and its embedded length (Lp) is 22 meters. The pile horizontally from the diaphragm wall is situated 3.75 meters (.25 He). The pile was simulated using the Embedded pile structural element. To enhance comprehension of the behavior of a single pile, a parametric analysis was conducted. to offer more information regarding the pile\u27s response. Design, procedure, and strategy A thorough three-dimensional numerical study is performed to explore pile responses during a nearby deep-braced excavation using the explicit finite element code PLAXIS 3D. Conclusions: The acquired data made it possible to fully comprehend the phenomena of soil-pile-structure interactions as well as the pile reaction. The results show that there could be significant axial forces, lateral deflections, and bending moments in the surrounding piles as a result of the deep excavation. Parametric research revealed that the position of the pile has a significant impact on the pile reactions. This work used 3D numerical modeling to fully examine the pile reaction in multi-layered soil. In this investigation, the Hardening soil model with small-strain stiffness was employed to account for the soil\u27s nonlinear small-strain behavior

The quest for legitimacy : the Egyptian state from Nasser to Sisi

Egypt could be described as a unique case in the region with regard to Arab Uprisings. Egypt appears to be the only country in the Arab Uprisings states that tread on a different path. It survived the revolutionary wave without neither collapse nor sustainably democratise. Hence was the idea of this research: how could one explain the Egyptian case? I attempt to analyse the Egyptian politics through the lenses of legitimacy. Thus, this thesis studies the legitimacy of the postcolonial Egyptian state. It aims to show that through studying legitimacy; the reasons and dynamics behind the regime change/stability and the underlying logic of political change in Egypt could be understood. To achieve this goal, this thesis analyses the concept of legitimacy and its application on Egypt’s contemporary history. Three basic sources of legitimacy are identified as the most crucial in terms of their impact of political change in Egypt: eudaemonic, institutional, and ideological legitimacy. I argue that legitimacy is linked to state-formation: The relative weights of the abovementioned legitimacy components vary from one state-formation’s phase to the other, as every phase structurally determines which component is more important than the other, or, in other words, the phase of state formation invites the relevant type of legitimacy component for the ruler to rely on. However each ruler indeed can choose the proper legitimacy type that fits the state-formation’s phase the country is going through, or avoid it and use, to the detriment of his rule, other legitimacy types. In this regard, Nasser created benchmarks of legitimacy that his predecessors found themselves obliged to, at least, not to ignore, otherwise facing the wrath of the people. Sadat and Mubarak attempted to reply more on institutional legitimacy to make for their decreasing levels of eudaemonic and ideological legitimacy. Although democratic legitimacy (a branch of institutional legitimacy) gained primacy after the Arab uprising in Egypt and the collapse of the Mubarak regime, many factors with the limitations of democratic legitimacy on the top of them caused the collapse of the political sphere after the brief democratic opening. Without a wide consensus on the state identity and the limits of the use of power, electoral democracy helps only to embody the deep divisions in the nation especially on the identity lines. This thesis thus argues that legitimacy, with its three components, is a pre-requisite to full sustainable democratisation

From Sparse to Precise: A Practical Editing Approach for Intracardiac Echocardiography Segmentation

Accurate and safe catheter ablation procedures for patients with atrial fibrillation require precise segmentation of cardiac structures in Intracardiac Echocardiography (ICE) imaging. Prior studies have suggested methods that employ 3D geometry information from the ICE transducer to create a sparse ICE volume by placing 2D frames in a 3D grid, enabling training of 3D segmentation models. However, the resulting 3D masks from these models can be inaccurate and may lead to serious clinical complications due to the sparse sampling in ICE data, frames misalignment, and cardiac motion. To address this issue, we propose an interactive editing framework that allows users to edit segmentation output by drawing scribbles on a 2D frame. The user interaction is mapped to the 3D grid and utilized to execute an editing step that modifies the segmentation in the vicinity of the interaction while preserving the previous segmentation away from the interaction. Furthermore, our framework accommodates multiple edits to the segmentation output in a sequential manner without compromising previous edits. This paper presents a novel loss function and a novel evaluation metric specifically designed for editing. Results from cross-validation and testing indicate that our proposed loss function outperforms standard losses and training strategies in terms of segmentation quality and following user input. Additionally, we show quantitatively and qualitatively that subsequent edits do not compromise previous edits when using our method, as opposed to standard segmentation losses. Overall, our approach enhances the accuracy of the segmentation while avoiding undesired changes away from user interactions and without compromising the quality of previously edited regions, leading to better patient outcomes.Comment: Accepted to MICCAI 202

Assessment of Urinary Kidney Injury Molecule-1 as an Indicator of Early Renal Insult in Children with Cystic Fibrosis

BACKGROUND: The risk of acute kidney injury in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is due to renal tubular affection by CFTR gene. AIM: Our study aimed at early detection of renal impairment in CF patients, to enable careful monitoring and adjustment of nephrotoxic medications. METHODS: Fifty patients with CF were enrolled in our study; they were age- and sex-matched to 40 healthy control children. All subjects were screened by urine analysis, measurements of kidney function tests, fractional excretion of sodium, β2-microglobulin (beta-2-M) excretion, and renal ultrasound examination. Urinary kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) was assayed using ELISA technique. RESULTS: Both urinary beta-2-M and KIM-1 concentrations were significantly higher in CF patients compared to the control group (p < 0.001). The duration of the disease was significantly positively correlated with the urinary beta-2-M and KIM-1 levels (r = 0.6 and 0.7, respectively; p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that urinary KIM-1 can be considered as a sensitive early indicator of acute renal injury