A systematic review of ADS-B performance monitoring methods

Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) is a surveillance system onboard aircraft that periodically transmits its state vector estimates. The state vector estimates are derived from navigation avionics and transmitted via common communication channel. These indicate that ADS-B is highly dependent on the navigation and communication systems. In addition, the system requires ground stations to retrieve the broadcast information. Due to this complex architecture, the system is prone to various failure modes. Therefore a systematic, comprehensive and periodic performance monitoring system is required to ensure safe use of ADS-B surveillance data for Air Traffic Control (ATC) operations. This is crucial to be in place before global ADS-B system mandate by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). A number of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) have developed ADS-B performance monitoring methods. These include EUROCONTROL, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Airservices Australia, Hong Kong China Civil Aviation Department and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore. This work conducts a systematic review on these methods. It then classifies the methods to identify gaps. Finally, derives a set of performances indicators for monitoring ADS-B stations, avionics and performance level

Formulation and invitro evaluation of oral extended release microspheres of aceclofenac using various natural polymers

In the present work, bioadhesive microspheres of Aceclofenac using Sodium alginate along with Carbopol 934, Carbopol 971, HPMC K4M as copolymers were formulated to deliver Aceclofenac via oral route. The results of this investigation indicate that ionic cross-linking technique Ionotropic gelation method can be successfully employed to fabricate Aceclofenac microspheres. The technique provides characteristic advantage over conventional microsphere method, which involves an “all-aqueous” system, avoids residual solvents in microspheres. FT-IR spectra of the physical mixture revealed that the drug is compatible with the polymers and copolymers used. Micromeritic studies revealed that the mean particle size of the prepared microspheres was in the size range of 512-903µm and are suitable for bioadhesive microspheres for oral administration. The in-vitro mucoadhesive study demonstrated that microspheres of Aceclofenac using sodium alginate along with Carbopol934 as copolymer adhered to the mucus to a greater extent than the microspheres of Aceclofenac using sodium alginate along with Carbopol 971 and HPMC K4M as copolymers. The invitro drug release decreased with increase in the polymer and copolymer concentration. Analysis of drug release mechanism showed that the drug release from the formulations followed non-Fickian diffusion and the best fit model was found to be Korsmeyer-Peppas. Based on the results of evaluation tests formulation coded T4 was concluded as best formulation

Women's Empowerment and Reproductive Choices

The 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in their Programme of Action calls for promoting gender equality and equity and the empowerment of women. Furthermore, the conference also recognises the basic rights of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of their children, as well as the right to the information and the means to do so [Sadik (1994)]. The need for such a programme of action arose in view of the fact that in many countries, including Pakistan, women are generally least empowered and hence they have negligible rights to decide about the number of their children. According to the 1990-91 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, over 54 percent women either wanted to stop having children or wanted to wait at least two years before having another child [Ali and Rukanuddin (1992)]. However, in practice, all of these women were not protected; instead, only 12 percent were practising contraception [Shah and Ali (1992)]. The low incidence of family planning practice on the part of the women is not so much due to the dearth of family planning services; rather it is due to resistance by husbands, in-laws, and other peer pressures. Demographers like Caldwell (1982) and Cain et al. (1979) also contend that in patriarchal societies it is the patriarchy which militates against the fertility decline.

ADVENT OF AUGMENTED REALITY EXPERIENCE IN RETAIL AND ONLINE SHOPPING AND ITS INFLUENCING SIGNIFICANCE IN FUTURE

Augmented Reality (AR) is a trending technology that augments or superimposes an image generated by a computer system virtually into the real world environment for the user’s viewpoint using a smart phone or other hand held devices. AR shows recent advancements in the shopping domain with various implementation trails and refinement. The simplicity and flexibility in online shopping where people stay in their own place and do shopping brought a great challenge to retail shopping environment today. Retail stores are now struggling a lot to bring in the customers and the foot traffic has been greatly reduced due to which online sales are boosting and retail sales are stalling. This necessitates to bring new technological innovations to offline shopping to attract people. With the use of AR, it is possible to merge digital component to physical products in the store to stimulate the engagement of the shopping experience with more fun and joy. On the other hand, in the online shopping, though user reviews and product showcase aids the customers to analyze the quality, look and feel of diverse products, the buyer still cannot see how exactly the product fits in a real environment or how it works. Here plays AR a vital role in online shopping where it uses animations and visualization techniques to offer more value to their shoppers virtually aiding to see exactly the look of the product in user environment. This paper explains the advancement of AR in both retail and online shopping of various product domains with an implementation model of ShopAR for Online shopping and AR significance in near future

Molecular characterization of multidrug-resistance in Gram-negative bacteria from the Peshawar teaching hospital, Pakistan

Extended-spectrum β-lactamases, carbapenemases, 16S rRNA methylases conferring pan-drug aminoglycoside resistance and colistin resistance were investigated among Gram-negative bacteria recovered from clinical samples (infections) from 200 individuals hospitalized at the Khyber Teaching Hospital of Peshawar, north Pakistan, from December 2017 to March 2018. Out of 65 isolates recovered, 19% were carbapenem resistant and 16% carried a bla NDM-1 gene, confirming the widespread distribution of NDM producers in this country. The association of the NDM carbapenem-resistance determinant, together with the extended-spectrum β-lactamase CTX-M-15 and 16S rRNA methylases, was frequent, explaining the multidrug-resistance pattern observed. All isolates remained susceptible to colistin

Automated MRI Field of View Prescription from Region of Interest Prediction by Intra-stack Attention Neural Network

Manual prescription of the field of view (FOV) by MRI technologists is variable and prolongs the scanning process. Often, the FOV is too large or crops critical anatomy. We propose a deep-learning framework, trained by radiologists' supervision, for automating FOV prescription. An intra-stack shared feature extraction network and an attention network are used to process a stack of 2D image inputs to generate output scalars defining the location of a rectangular region of interest (ROI). The attention mechanism is used to make the model focus on the small number of informative slices in a stack. Then the smallest FOV that makes the neural network predicted ROI free of aliasing is calculated by an algebraic operation derived from MR sampling theory. We retrospectively collected 595 cases between February 2018 and February 2022. The framework's performance is examined quantitatively with intersection over union (IoU) and pixel error on position, and qualitatively with a reader study. We use the t-test for comparing quantitative results from all models and a radiologist. The proposed model achieves an average IoU of 0.867 and average ROI position error of 9.06 out of 512 pixels on 80 test cases, significantly better (P<0.05) than two baseline models and not significantly different from a radiologist (P>0.12). Finally, the FOV given by the proposed framework achieves an acceptance rate of 92% from an experienced radiologist

Large sharing networks and unusual injection practices explain the rapid rise in HIV among IDUs in Sargodha, Pakistan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Of the nearly 100,000 street-based IDUs in Pakistan, 20% have HIV. We investigated the recent rise in HIV prevalence from 12 to 52% among IDUs in Sargodha despite > 70% coverage with syringe exchanges.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We interviewed approximately 150 IDUs and 30 outreach workers in focus group discussions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found six rural and 28 urban injecting locations. Urban locations have about 20–30 people at any time and about 100 daily; rural locations have twice as many (national average: 4–15). About half of the IDUs started injecting within the past 2 years and are not proficient at injecting themselves. They use street injectors, who have 15–16 clients daily. Heroin is almost exclusively the drug used. Most inject 5–7 times daily.</p> <p>Nearly all injectors claim to use fresh syringes. However, they load, inject and share using a locally developed method called scale. Most Pakistani IDUs prefer to double pump drug the syringe, which allows mixing of blood with drug in the syringe. The injector injects 3 ml and keeps 2 ml (the scale) as injection fee. The injector usually pools all the leftover scale (now with some blood mixed with drug) either for his own use or to sell it. Most IDUs backload the scale they buy into their own fresh syringes.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Use of an unprecedented method of injecting drugs that largely bypasses fresh syringes, larger size of sharing networks, higher injection frequency and near universal use of street injectors likely explain for the rapid rise in HIV prevalence among IDUs in Sargodha despite high level provision of fresh syringes. This had been missed by us and the national surveillance, which is quantitative. We have addressed this by hiring injectors as peer outreach workers and increasing syringe supply. Our findings highlight both the importance of qualitative research and operations research to enrich the quality of HIV prevention programs.</p

A retrospective review on antibiotic use in acute watery diarrhea in children in a tertiary care hospital of Karachi, Pakistan

Introduction: Responsible for at least one in nine pediatric deaths, diarrheal diseases are the leading, global cause of death. Further abetted by improper antibiotic use in a hospital setting, children with acute watery diarrhea can see prolonged hospital stays, and unwanted adverse effects such as antibiotic resistance. Hence, this study is aimed to identify the association between antibiotic usage for the treatment of acute watery diarrhea in children, and the impact this line of management has on the duration of their hospital stay.Methods: A retrospective review was conducted at the department of Pediatric of Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi. A total of 305 records of children aged 6 months to 5 years who were admitted with a diagnosis of acute watery diarrhea from June 2017 -December 2018 was screened, of which 175 fulfilled the eligibility criteria. A predesigned questionnaire was used to collect demographic information, comorbidities, and clinical features, severity of dehydration, clinical examination, treatment received, and laboratory investigations. The primary outcome of this study was the length of hospital stay measured against the number of hours a child stayed in hospital for treatment of acute watery diarrhea. The statistical analysis was carried out using STATA version 14 to reach conclusive results.Results: 175 patients presented with acute watery diarrhea, out of which 106 (60.6%) did not receive antibiotics. The median (IQR) age of the group that did not receive antibiotics was 12.0 (12.0) months compared to 15.0 (12.0) months for the group that did receive antibiotics. In both groups, there were more males than females, less than 15% of the patients were severely malnourished (WHZ score -3SD) and less than 10% of the patients were severely dehydrated. The median (IQR) length of hospital stay (hours) was 32.0 (19.0) respectively for the group that did not receive antibiotic and 41.0 (32.0) for the group that did receive antibiotic therapy. The expected length of hospital stay for the group that received antibiotic therapy was 0.22 hours higher than the group that did not. Finally, as compared to females, hospital stay for males was longer by 0.25 hours.Conclusion: In conclusion, antibiotic use was associated with a prolonged hospital stay in children with acute watery diarrhea as compared to children who did not receive antibiotics. Large scale robust prospective studies are needed to establish this association using this observational data