922 research outputs found

    Selecting Wavelet Transforms Model in Forecasting Financial Time Series Data Based on ARIMA Model

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    Abstract Recently, wavelet transforms have gained very high attention in many fields and applications such as physics, engineering, signal processing, applied mathematics and statistics. In this paper, we present the advantage of wavelet transforms in forecasting financial time series data. Amman stock market (Jordan) was selected as a tool to show the ability of wavelet transform in forecasting financial time series, experimentally. This article suggests a novel technique for forecasting the financial time series data, based on Wavelet transforms and ARIMA model. Daily return data from 1993 until 2009 is used for this study. 316 S. Al Wadi et a

    Prognosis of Liver Disorders in Dna Positive Hbv Patients Based on Fuzzy Soft Sets

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    Liver disease and disorders are serious public health burdens because of the high prevalence among populations worldwide and poor long-term clinical outcome. The outcomes of the disease include deaths from liver decompensation, cirrhosis and HCC. Many liver diseases, including chronic HBV and HCV infection, ALD, NAFLD, autoimmune liver disease and drug-induced liver disease (DILI), potentially threaten a large proportion of the global population. The fuzzy soft set principle theory has been used for the developing of a diagnostic system in medicine and devise a prediction system named as fuzzy soft expert system which is a rule-based system uses fuzzy set and fuzzy soft set. There are five main components included in the basic structure, they are: (1) A fuzzication that translates the inputs (real-values) into fuzzy values, (2) obtaining fuzzy sets, (3) changing in to fuzzy soft sets, (4) reduction of normal parameter of fuzzy soft sets, (5) output data by algorithm. Fifty two individuals suspected and managed as HBV patients were involved in this study.All of them were attending liver diseases unit at Azadi teaching hospital in Duhok, Kurdistan Region-Iraq. They were being managed by the herpetology specialist as HBV infected patients. Their parameters (Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Total Serum Albumin (Alb.), and Total Serum Bilirubin (T.S.Bil.)), were used as input data and the score of each patient was calculated. The developed fuzzy soft expert system was used to obtain the score for each as prognostic model for liver disorders. The score of 10 of those patients are selected and compared with the clinical status of each base on signs and symptoms of the HBV infection. Score more than 101.844 was considered to be highly linked with HBV infection. Scores less than 101.844 was considered to be not related to HBV infection

    Fresh and hardened properties of concrete containing effective microorganisms

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    Nowadays, concrete is popularly used in many areas and applications in construction industry. If designed and manufactured properly it can be one of the most durable construction materials. However, during the life span of the structure the surrounding environment where the structure is built may pose long-term durability problem to concrete such as cracks and corrosion of steel reinforcement. Thus, researchers around the world continue searching for any possible means to improve concrete qualities. This paper presents study on the effects of Effective Microorganism on fresh and hardened properties of concrete. The percentage of Effective Microorganisms (EM) used in this study was 10% and incorporated in the concrete mix by replacing the water content. In this research work, a number of control and EM concrete cube samples were cast, cured in water and tested at the ages of 3, 7 and 28 days. The workability of fresh concrete was measured through the slump test. The effect of EM on hardened concrete was assessed through compression test and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) test. The experimental result shows that the workability of concrete with EM was 67% higher than the control concrete. This may indicate that the EM has the potential to be used as workability enhancer. In terms of compressive strength, the EM concrete recorded 8% higher strength at 28 days compared to concrete without EM. In addition, the early strength of EM concrete was found to be higher by 41% and 27% at 3 and 7 days compared to control, respectively. The UPV result for EM concrete also shows higher value than control concrete indicating denser concrete. All experimental results indicated that the use of EM has positive effects on concrete properties

    The present state of system analysis and design in East Malaysia

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    Many government agencies everywhere in the globe, including those in the developing regions, are intimately involved in developing their Information Systems (IS) projects. To favourably develop these IS projects, those agencies have spent lots of funding, forces and time to assure that they are amply equipped with the latest system design and analysis methods. However, the literature is scarce with the published evidence showing that these government agencies are claiming that they have successfully used these cultivated analysis and design techniques. The intricate system analysis and design techniques may only remain theoretical with limited use. Many of these system analysis and design techniques had never succeeded the claimed benefits made when they were acquired, which begs the principal research question of what is the present deployment state of system analysis and design in these government institutions, particularly in the developing regions? The article thus discusses the exploratory case studies on the present state of system analysis and design methods deployed by the public institutions in East Malaysia, a developing region within South-East Asia

    Load-deformation analysis on a slope at Gunung Pulai water treatment plant, Sultan Ibrahim reservoir

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    The Sultan Ibrahim Reservoir located at Gunung Pulai catchment area was previously managed by the Singapore's Public Utilities Board before the Board handed over the reservoir to Johor State Government under current management of the Syarikat Air Johor. At the present time, the Syarikat Air Johor is operating a Gunung Pulai Water Treatment Plant consisted of two main plants, i.e. Water Sedimentation Plant and Water Filtration Plant for treating raw water from the reservoir before supplying to the consumers. However, the integrity of water treatment plant's structure should be checked due to several cracks were observed, and moreover the structure was built over more than 90 years. The formation of the cracks in the Gunung Pulai Water Treatment Plant may be induced by movement of the sloping area to the south-east of Water Sedimentation Plant. The calculated Factor of Safety (FOS) via sensitivity analysis for cross sections of original slope indicates any decrease in friction angle and/or cohesion strength or increase in horizontal seismic load will further cause instability on slope. Also, the results of Load-Deformation analysis on cross sections of original slope show significant vertical displacement and horizontal displacement on the bottom and both sides of sedimentation tanks, respectively. The results indicate applied structural and water loads significantly affect deformation at both vertical and horizontal directions which could have contributed to FOS < 1 in slope stability analysis

    Improved functionalization of oleic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications

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    Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can providemultiple benefits for biomedical applications in aqueous environments such asmagnetic separation or magnetic resonance imaging. To increase the colloidal stability and allow subsequent reactions, the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups onto the particles’ surface is essential. During this process, the original coating is exchanged by preferably covalently bonded ligands such as trialkoxysilanes. The duration of the silane exchange reaction, which commonly takes more than 24 h, is an important drawback for this approach. In this paper, we present a novel method, which introduces ultrasonication as an energy source to dramatically accelerate this process, resulting in high-quality waterdispersible nanoparticles around 10 nmin size. To prove the generic character, different functional groups were introduced on the surface including polyethylene glycol chains, carboxylic acid, amine, and thiol groups. Their colloidal stability in various aqueous buffer solutions as well as human plasma and serum was investigated to allow implementation in biomedical and sensing applications.status: publishe

    Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

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    Introduction Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality. Methods Prospective cohort study in 109 institutions in 41 countries. Inclusion criteria: children &lt;18 years who were newly diagnosed with or undergoing active treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, glioma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Of 2327 cases, 2118 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months. Results All-cause mortality was 3.4% (n=71/2084) at 30-day follow-up, 5.7% (n=113/1969) at 90-day follow-up and 13.0% (n=206/1581) at 12-month follow-up. The median time from diagnosis to multidisciplinary team (MDT) plan was longest in low-income countries (7 days, IQR 3-11). Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with 12-month mortality, including low-income (OR 6.99 (95% CI 2.49 to 19.68); p&lt;0.001), lower middle income (OR 3.32 (95% CI 1.96 to 5.61); p&lt;0.001) and upper middle income (OR 3.49 (95% CI 2.02 to 6.03); p&lt;0.001) country status and chemotherapy (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86); p=0.008) and immunotherapy (OR 0.27 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.91); p=0.035) within 30 days from MDT plan. Multivariable analysis revealed laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 5.33 (95% CI 1.19 to 23.84); p=0.029) was associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions Children with cancer are more likely to die within 30 days if infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, timely treatment reduced odds of death. This report provides crucial information to balance the benefits of providing anticancer therapy against the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with cancer

    Use of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents in stable outpatients with coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation. International CLARIFY registry

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    Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

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    Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p&lt;0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p&lt;0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised
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