Ants diversity and composition between two wildlife corridor of Bukit Belata forest reserve and Bukit Tunggal Forest Reserve

Understanding the diversity and composition of two forest corridors will provide invaluable information on the suitability of the proposed wildlife corridor. Ants were used as bioindicator to determine to health status Bukit Belata and Bukit Tunggal Forest Reserves. Sampling were done using pitfall traps and leaf litter sifting along a 500m line transect. A total of 35 species of ants belonging to 15 genera and 4 subfamilies were collected. Bukit Belata FR yielded higher number of species compared to Bukit Tunggal FR. However, the species composition in Bukit Tunggal comprised mainly forest specialist species instead of generalist species in Bukit Belata

The Effectiveness of Physical Exercise on Bone Density in Osteoporotic Patients

Physical exercise is considered an effective means to stimulate bone osteogenesis in osteoporotic patients. The authors reviewed the current literature to define the most appropriate features of exercise for increasing bone density in osteoporotic patients. Two types emerged: (1) weight-bearing aerobic exercises, i.e., walking, stair climbing, jogging, and Tai Chi. Walking alone did not appear to improve bone mass; however it is able to limit its progressive loss. In fact, in order for the weight-bearing exercises to be effective, they must reach the mechanical intensity useful to determine an important ground reaction force. (2) Strength and resistance exercises: these are carried out with loading (lifting weights) or without (swimming, cycling). For this type of exercise to be effective a joint reaction force superior to common daily activity with sensitive muscle strengthening must be determined. These exercises appear extremely site-specific, able to increase muscle mass and BMD only in the stimulated body regions. Other suggested protocols are multicomponent exercises and whole body vibration. Multicomponent exercises consist of a combination of different methods (aerobics, strengthening, progressive resistance, balancing, and dancing) aimed at increasing or preserving bone mass. These exercises seem particularly indicated in deteriorating elderly patients, often not able to perform exercises of pure reinforcement. However, for these protocols to be effective they must always contain a proportion of strengthening and resistance exercises. Given the variability of the protocols and outcome measures, the results of these methods are difficult to quantify. Training with whole body vibration (WBV): these exercises are performed with dedicated devices, and while it seems they have effect on enhancing muscle strength, controversial findings on improvement of BMD were reported. WBV seems to provide good results, especially in improving balance and reducing the risk of falling; in this, WBV appears more efficient than simply walking. Nevertheless, contraindications typical of senility should be taken into account

Refugees in Malaysia: a study of the rights of children and women refugees / Che Rohana Ismail, Nor Rosmardhati Othman and Zati Farahiyah A. Halim

Generally, the word 'refugee' is used to describe a person who is forced to flee his or her home for any reason for which the individual is not responsible, be it persecution, public disorder, civil war, famine, earthquake or environmental degradation.1 Under the Refugee Convention 1951, the term 'refugee1 is defined as 'any persons who, owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country. In other words, a 'refugee' is a person who is forced to leave home for specified reasons and who is outside the country of his or her origin and does not have its protection. Persons who are compelled to move but do not cross international borders are classifying as 'internally displaced person

Kajian Tradisi Membangun Bangunan Rumah Tinggal di Kawasan Kampung Naga, Tasikmalaya Ditinjau dari Konsep Sustainable. STUDI KASUS : Bangunan RumahTinggal di Kawasan Kampung Naga

An architecture work can be an intact proof of the old to today cultures with improving the quality of the existing cultures and architectures, preserving the old culture and architecture to be the proof for the future time.Now earth condition that has been increasingly damaged because of the global warming, buildings become one of the causes of the environment damages.The study related with the sustainability of a residential building in a region aims to find out and understand whether the residential buildings in the area of Kampung Naga are sustainable buildings as well as how the tradition of building the residential buildings in Kampung Naga as viewed from sustainable building aspect.The research method used in this study is field research method. Based on the social aspect from the tradition of building the residential buildings has a good social interaction, from the economical aspect, the tradition of building the residential buildings is very economic; and from the environmental aspect, the tradition of building the residential buildings can preserve the environmental balance. Therefore, it can be concluded that the residential buildings in Kampung Naga are sustainable buildings

Study of hydrology of the Gorgan Bay

At the end of 2011 Iranian Fisheries Research Organization- Inland Waters Aquatics Stocks Research Centre measured salinity, temperature and density of the Gorgan bay. I have used these data and produced the profile of them versus to the depth and estimate the depth of mixed layer versus to the distance from the beach and bottom. This work has been carried out almost at 5 selected lines which are indicated on map. These profiles show that as the distance increase from the beach the mixed layer depth decreases. We also know that the maximum mixed layer depth is in center of bay. The increase of temperature decreases the mixed layer and vice versa. Input flux of mechanical energy of the wind also increases. This depth provided the wind stronger enough. This can lead to increase of turbulence kinetic energy, which with subcritical values of Richardson number; can significantly increase mixing in upper layer (mixed layer) of the bay. How ever, the excessive evaporation increases the water flux into the bay. This can account for the increase of the mixed layer depth in time. The estimated mixed layer depth has a modulated distribution over the area studied. This show that, mixing processes in the upper layer may have different sources

The use of artificial intelligence in the diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION: Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects more than 200 million people worldwide. Despite this, doctors often fail to detect it due to inconsistencies in screening criteria, inadequate patients, and a high prevalence of quiet or unusual symptoms. It is believed that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) will overcome these problems. This systematic review aims to summarize various previous studies that have investigated the use of artificial intelligence in managing PAD. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: This is a systematic review using high-quality articles from the PubMed, Science Direct, and ProQuest databases published between 2011-2023. The method of selection and analysis of articles followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA). EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: A total of six research articles were included in the analysis. Four studies documented its use to diagnose PAD based on clinical characteristics, with two of these studies revealing AI’s capacity to predict prognosis and give automated risk stratification for cardiovascular diseases. One research also indicated that it was used to classify PAD more precisely and more effectively. There were three studies that described the use of AI in radiological modalities such as Doppler ultrasonography, Angiography, and Multispectral Imaging. CONCLUSIONS: The use of AI based on clinical features and radiological examination AI based on clinical characteristics and radiological test findings can be utilized to manage PAD, particularly in the diagnostic and prognosis stratification processes

Assessment of predictive models for chlorophyll-a concentration of a tropical lake

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study assesses four predictive ecological models; Fuzzy Logic (FL), Recurrent Artificial Neural Network (RANN), Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm (HEA) and multiple linear regressions (MLR) to forecast chlorophyll- a concentration using limnological data from 2001 through 2004 of unstratified shallow, oligotrophic to mesotrophic tropical Putrajaya Lake (Malaysia). Performances of the models are assessed using Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), correlation coefficient (r), and Area under the Receiving Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Chlorophyll-a have been used to estimate algal biomass in aquatic ecosystem as it is common in most algae. Algal biomass indicates of the trophic status of a water body. Chlorophyll- a therefore, is an effective indicator for monitoring eutrophication which is a common problem of lakes and reservoirs all over the world. Assessments of these predictive models are necessary towards developing a reliable algorithm to estimate chlorophyll- a concentration for eutrophication management of tropical lakes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Same data set was used for models development and the data was divided into two sets; training and testing to avoid biasness in results. FL and RANN models were developed using parameters selected through sensitivity analysis. The selected variables were water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and Secchi depth. Dissolved oxygen, selected through stepwise procedure, was used to develop the MLR model. HEA model used parameters selected using genetic algorithm (GA). The selected parameters were pH, Secchi depth, dissolved oxygen and nitrate nitrogen. RMSE, r, and AUC values for MLR model were (4.60, 0.5, and 0.76), FL model were (4.49, 0.6, and 0.84), RANN model were (4.28, 0.7, and 0.79) and HEA model were (4.27, 0.7, and 0.82) respectively. Performance inconsistencies between four models in terms of performance criteria in this study resulted from the methodology used in measuring the performance. RMSE is based on the level of error of prediction whereas AUC is based on binary classification task.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, HEA produced the best performance in terms of RMSE, r, and AUC values. This was followed by FL, RANN, and MLR.</p

Inhaled ambient-level traffic-derived particulates decrease cardiac vagal influence and baroreflexes and increase arrhythmia in a rat model of metabolic syndrome

Background: Epidemiological studies have linked exposures to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and traffic with autonomic nervous system imbalance (ANS) and cardiac pathophysiology, especially in individuals with preexisting disease. It is unclear whether metabolic syndrome (MetS) increases susceptibility to the effects of PM2.5. We hypothesized that exposure to traffic-derived primary and secondary organic aerosols (P + SOA) at ambient levels would cause autonomic and cardiovascular dysfunction in rats exhibiting features of MetS. Male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were fed a high-fructose diet (HFrD) to induce MetS, and exposed to P + SOA (20.4 ± 0.9 μg/m3) for 12 days with time-matched comparison to filtered-air (FA) exposed MetS rats; normal diet (ND) SD rats were separately exposed to FA or P + SOA (56.3 ± 1.2 μg/m3). Results: In MetS rats, P + SOA exposure decreased HRV, QTc, PR, and expiratory time overall (mean effect across the entirety of exposure), increased breathing rate overall, decreased baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) on three exposure days, and increased spontaneous atrioventricular (AV) block Mobitz Type II arrhythmia on exposure day 4 relative to FA-exposed animals receiving the same diet. Among ND rats, P + SOA decreased HRV only on day 1 and did not significantly alter BRS despite overall hypertensive responses relative to FA. Correlations between HRV, ECG, BRS, and breathing parameters suggested a role for autonomic imbalance in the pathophysiologic effects of P + SOA among MetS rats. Autonomic cardiovascular responses to P + SOA at ambient PM2.5 levels were pronounced among MetS rats and indicated blunted vagal influence over cardiovascular physiology. Conclusions: Results support epidemiologic findings that MetS increases susceptibility to the adverse cardiac effects of ambient-level PM2.5, potentially through ANS imbalance. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12989-017-0196-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Leaching of weathered polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) obtained from a contaminated site: role of dissolved organic carbon and saturation conditions in a soil column experiment

Exposure assessment in contaminated soils is usually performed by the evaluation of the total residual concentrations of target pollutants in soils (e.g. ?PCBs). This approach does not take into account the actual mobility and bioavailability of the contaminants and may be inappropriate especially for historically contaminated soils where sorption processes may be scarcely reversible due to the presence of bound/weathered residues. Therefore, assuming that equilibrium conditions would occur using standard partitioning coefficients (e.g. Koc/Kd) may lead to misleading results in modelling attempts. Therefore, the estimation of the contaminant fraction available for leaching and transport in different soil conditions is recommended. During the last decades, several authors studied the release of pollutants from soil by using soil column leaching tests but the laboratory experiments were often performed in scarcely realistic conditions (e.g. fresh spiked contaminants). Additionally, often some variables influencing the mobility of contaminants were neglected, as well as the statistical scheme was poor (e.g. lack of replicates). In this context, a soil column leaching experiment was performed to evaluate: 1) the effects of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content in the leaching solutions, 2) equilibration time, 3) soil saturation conditions on leaching fluxes of selected weathered PCBs (PCB 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, 180, 209) present in an historically contaminated soil. These effects were evaluated collecting leached samples at different contact time (2, 5, 7, 48 days), in flow vs. no flow conditions and in saturated vs. field capacity conditions. The results show that the most influential factors are the DOC content in non-equilibrium conditions (flow condition samples) and the soil saturation conditions