Webcam-Based Optical Mark Reader for Grading Assessments

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) is a process of retrieving information from the forms where users put marks in particular locations. OMR technique has been improved significantly since its inception, moving from specialized hardware-based solutions to more adaptable and sophisticated software-based solutions using a scanner. Recently, webcam-based software solutions have emerged because of their affordability and ease of use. In this thesis, we propose an improved webcam-based OMR solution for grading the student tests given on a specifically formatted answer sheet. We apply various image processing techniques to achieve effective grading, resolving technical problems stemming from multiple factors like image orientation, skewness, and uneven illumination. In particular, we propose a new variant of the Otsu binarization technique for image segmentation to effectively separate the background and foreground. The proposed grading solution aims at maximizing the criteria for acceptable operations so that 100% accurate grading among those accepted ones can be achieved. The evaluation of the proposed method is two-fold: (i) the proposed variant of Otsu is compared with other binarization algorithms for its effectiveness in background separation; (ii) the grading system is compared with the state-of-the-art webcam-based systems where the individual contribution of each applied image processing technique to the grading enhancement will be identified

Etiology and outcome of severe community acquired pneumonia in immunocompetent adults.

BACKGROUND: Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is a commonly encountered disease, one third of which is Severe Community Acquired Pneumonia (SCAP) that can be potentially fatal. There is a paucity of data on etiology and outcome of patients with SCAP in South Asian Population. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2002 till December 2008 on patients of 16 years and above who were admitted with the diagnosis of SCAP in accordance to the criteria of American Thoracic Society Guidelines (2001). The patients underwent clinical and diagnostic evaluations to detect the severity of illness as well as the etiology and other risk factors influencing the eventual outcome of SCAP. RESULTS: A total of 189 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 60 ± 18.0 years and 110 (58%) patients were males. The most common isolated pathogens were Staphylococcus aureus (15 patients), Streptococcus pneumoniae (14 patients) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (9 patients). The highest mortality was seen in patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (89%) and Staphylococcus aureus (53%). Overall mortality rate was 51%. On univariate analysis, septic shock (p \u3c0.001), prior antibiotic use (p = 0.04), blood urea nitrogen \u3e 30 mg/dl (p = 0.03), hematocrit \u3c 30% (p = 0.03) and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score \u3e 20 (p \u3c 0.001) were significantly different between the patients who survived as compared to those who did not. On multivariate analysis, septic shock (p \u3c0.001, OR: 4.70; 95% CI= 2.49-8.87) was found to be independently associated with mortality. CONCLUSION: The microbes causing SCAP in our study are different from the usual spectrum. Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the common causative pathogens and associated with high mortality. It is important to establish clinical guidelines for managing SCAP according to the etiologic organisms in our setting

Efficacy of Enamel Matrix Derivative in Vital Pulp Therapy: A Review of Literature

Introduction: Vital pulp therapy (VPT) aims to preserve the health and maintain life of the tooth pulp which has been compromised by caries, trauma or restorative procedures. Recently, enamel matrix derivative (EMD) has been introduced as a material for vital pulp therapy. The aim of this review is to critically analyze and summarize the available literature on EMD for VPT. Methods and Materials: Online databases (PubMED/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, ISI Web of Science, and Wiley-Online) were searched by using the following keywords in various combinations: Enamel Matrix Derivative, Emdogain, ‘Vital Pulp Therapy, ‘Apexogenisis’, Apexification, Pulp Capping, Endodontics, Dentine and Pulpotomy for studies indexed from January 1949 to April 2016. We used an English-limited search in Google.co.uk for the missing grey literature. All studies fulfilling the selection criteria were carefully reviewed for the focused question: “Does using EMD in VPT, compared with other materials, result in better clinical, radiographic and histological outcomes?”. Results: The primary search resulted in 18 articles of which, 14 articles (including 6 animal studies and 6 clinical trials and 2 case reports) met the inclusion criteria for this review and hence were included. The number of teeth tested in the animal studies ranged from 8 to 144 including pigs, rats and dogs teeth. A number of studies used EMD in the experimental group in comparison with calcium hydroxide, propylene glycol alginate (PGA) and MTA as a control. The observation period ranged from 1 to 2 months and 4 out of 6 animal trials reported more favorable outcomes with EMD while two studies reported comparable outcomes. Conclusion: Although EMD has potential for various applications in endodontics, studies conducted to date have failed to demonstrate any significant advantage of EMD over conventional VPT materials. Additionally, the 5-year and 10-year survival rate of EMD-treated teeth is not yet known. Hence, studies with a longer follow-up periods are required to deduce the long-term viability of teeth treated with EMD.Keywords: Enamel Matrix Derivative; Pulp Capping; Pulpotomy; Root Canal; Vital Pulp Therap

Additively Manufactured High-Strength Aluminum Alloys: A Review

This chapter summarizes the recent advances in additive manufacturing of high-strength aluminum alloys, the challenges of printability, and defects in their builds. It further intends to provide an overview of the state of the art by outlining potential strategies for the fabrication of bulk products using these alloys without cracking. These strategies include identifying a suitable processing window of additive manufacturing using metallic powders of conventional high-strength aluminum alloys, pre-alloying the powders, and developing advanced aluminum-based composites with reinforcements introduced either by in situ or ex situ methods. The resulting microstructures and the relationship between these alloys’ microstructure and mechanical properties have been discussed. Since post-processing is inevitable in several critical applications, the chapter concludes with a brief account of post-manufacturing heat treatment processes of additively manufactured aluminum alloys

Inpatient Case-mix Cost Vs Average Cost for Health Care Services in King Fahd Central Hospital, Saudi Arabia: A Comparative Study

Health care systems aim to deliver high-quality medical care while considering efficient resource usage and cost-effective forms of interventions. Such purposes require scientific tools or mechanisms which aid in cost assessment before the efforts of cost reduction are considered. Diagnosis-related groups based costing methodology (Case-mix) is considered one of the preferred costing approaches in the health care sector. King Fahd Central hospital Jazan, the only tertiary hospital in the Jazan region, was selected for case-mix system-based patient-level costing of health services. The study’s objective was to estimate the cost per Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) per inpatient admission and compare it with the already established average cost of health care services for inpatients. We applied a cross-sectional retrospective approach to categorize the inpatients based on their diagnosis and procedures and then estimate the actual cost of health care services provided to inpatients during 2018 and compared it with the average cost of the health services. There was a considerable difference between DRG-based costing (SAR 269,663,897) and average costing (SAR 247,035,938). The Diagnosis Related Group costing was found to be more reliable and representative of the services provided to the patients and is recommended to be used for reimbursement purposes

Inpatient Case-mix Cost Vs Average Cost for Health Care Services in King Fahd Central Hospital, Saudi Arabia: A Comparative Study

Health care systems aim to deliver high-quality medical care while considering efficient resource usage and cost-effective forms of interventions. Such purposes require scientific tools or mechanisms which aid in cost assessment before the efforts of cost reduction are considered. Diagnosis-related groups based costing methodology (Case-mix) is considered one of the preferred costing approaches in the health care sector. King Fahd Central hospital Jazan, the only tertiary hospital in the Jazan region, was selected for case-mix system-based patient-level costing of health services. The study’s objective was to estimate the cost per Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) per inpatient admission and compare it with the already established average cost of health care services for inpatients. We applied a cross-sectional retrospective approach to categorize the inpatients based on their diagnosis and procedures and then estimate the actual cost of health care services provided to inpatients during 2018 and compared it with the average cost of the health services. There was a considerable difference between DRG-based costing (SAR 269,663,897) and average costing (SAR 247,035,938). The Diagnosis Related Group costing was found to be more reliable and representative of the services provided to the patients and is recommended to be used for reimbursement purpose

Prospects of Hybrid Energy in Saudi Arabia, Exploring Irrigation Application in Shaqra

Dynamics in rainfall patterns due to climate change are posing a threat to crop production globally. The core issue of food security is expected to intensify, and improving crop yield using motorized power irrigation mechanisms can help in curtailing the impact of drought and changing weather patterns to meet the crop water requirement. To meet the energy demand of irrigation systems, this paper explores the use of hybrid energy sources, i.e., wind and solar energy, taking Shaqra Saudi Arabia as case study. This paper presents a systematic case study that evaluates crop water requirements for 3 different crops using the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s software CROPWAT 8.0 and converts the water requirement into energy demand to design the water pumping system. The energy requirement water pumping system is used to design a hybrid energy system using HOMER PRO 3.14.4 that can reliably meet the energy demand. The results suggests that, contrary to the common consideration in Saudi Arabia, a hybrid of wind and solar energy proves to be more cost effective and yields a higher amount of energy. The results suggest that a significant reduction in cost can be achieved with a hybrid energy system as compared to a solar PV system only

Techno-Economic and Environmental Impact Analysis of Large-Scale Wind Farms Integration in Weak Transmission Grid from Mid-Career Repowering Perspective

Repowering a wind farm enhances its ability to generate electricity, allowing it to better utilize areas with high mean wind speeds. Pakistan’s present energy dilemma is a serious impediment to its economic development. The usage of a diesel generator as a dependable backup power source raises the cost of energy per kWh and increases environmental emissions. To minimize environmental emissions, grid-connected wind farms enhance the percentage of wind energy in the electricity system. These wind generators’ effects, on the other hand, are augmented by the absorption of greater quantities of reactive electricity from the grid. According to respective grid codes, integration of commercial onshore Large-Scale Wind Farms (LSWF) into a national grid is fraught with technical problems and inter-farm wake effects, which primarily ensure power quality while degrading overall system operation and limiting the optimal use of attainable wind resources. The goal of this study is to examine and estimate the techno-economic influence of large-scale wind farms linked to poor transmission systems in Pakistan, contemplating the inter-farm wake effect and reactive power diminution and compensating using a range of voltage-ampere reactive (VAR) devices. This study presents a partial repowering technique to address active power deficits produced by the wake effect by raising hub height by 20 m, which contributed to recovering the active power deficit to 48% and so reduced the effects of upstream wind farms. Simulations were conducted for several scenarios on an actual test system modeled in MATLAB for comparative study using capacitor banks and different flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) devices. Using the SAM (System Advisor Model) and RETscreen, a complete technical, economic, and environmental study was done based on energy fed into the grid, payback time, net present value (NPV), and greenhouse gases (GHG) emission reduction. The studies suggest that the unified power flow controller (UPFC) is the optimum compensating device via comparison analysis as it improved the power handling capabilities of the power system. Our best-case scenario includes UPFC with hub height augmentation, demonstrating that it is technically, fiscally, and environmentally viable. Over the course of its lifespan, the planned system has the potential to save 1,011,957 tCO2, resulting in a greener environment. When the energy generated annually by a current wake-affected system is compared to our best-recommended scenario, a recovered shortfall of 4.851% is seen, with improved system stability. This modest investment in repowering boosts energy production due to wake effects, resulting in increased NPV, revenue, and fewer CO2 footprints