Object Recognition in 3D data using Capsules

The proliferation of 3D sensors induced 3D computer vision research for many application areas including virtual reality, autonomous navigation and surveillance. Recently, dierent methods have been proposed for 3D object classication. Many of the existing 2D and 3D classication methods rely on convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which are very successful in extracting features from the data. However, CNNs cannot address the spatial relationship between features due to the max-pooling layers, and they require vast amount of data for training. In this work, we propose a model architecture for 3D object classication, which is an extension of Capsule Networks (CapsNets) to 3D data. Our proposed architecture called 3D CapsNet, takes advantage of the fact that a CapsNet preserves the orientation and spatial relationship of the extracted features, and thus requires less data to train the network. We use ModelNet database, a comprehensive clean collection of 3D CAD models for objects, to train and test the 3D CapsNet model. We then compare our approach with ShapeNet, a deep belief network for object classication based on CNNs, and show that our method provides performance improvement especially when training data size gets smaller

Adherence to antihypertensive medication in the UAE

Background: Poor adherence to medication is a major problem in healthcare services, particularly with chronic illness. In the United Arab Emirates, non-adherence to medication among hypertensive patients is believed to be a major barrier to the appropriate management of the disease. However, there are gaps in our understanding about the extent of nonadherence and reasons for not taking medication as prescribed in this population Aims: 1) To explore barriers to adherence to medications and other self-care behaviours among Emirati hypertensive participants. 2) To assess the extent and predictive factors of non-adherence to antihypertensive medications in the UAE in order to recommend potential interventions needed for improving adherence. Methods: A qualitative exploratory study using semi-structured interviews with 20 patients and a cross-sectional quantitative survey with 391 patients randomly selected from all seven Emirates of the UAE. Results: Qualitative interviews revealed issues that may affect antihypertensive medication adherence among Emirati patients, including: a) Beliefs about illness and medicines, b) Social support, c) Healthcare providers and system issues, and d) Perceptions of herbal medicines. Most of the participants reported non-adherence to medication, but adherence to exercise and diet was often even lower. The quantitative survey showed that approximately 66% of Emirati hypertensive patients were non-adherent to their medications. Four variables significantly predicted patients' non-adherence to medications in the logistic regression model. The model suggested that hypertensive patients with uncontrolled blood pressure who live in rural areas and who doubted the ability of the treatment to control their hypertension and had more concerns about their medicines were more likely to be non-adherent to their medication. Conclusion: This thesis showed that barriers to medication adherence in the UAE were complex and often interlinked, suggesting that multiple, tailored interventions may be needed to improve antihypertensive medication adherence and patient outcomes

Relationship Between Job Stress and Motivation Level Among Faculty Members

In the process of education, teacher plays a very important role. It is hard to achieve teaching objectives if teacher is not motivated to perform his duties. If teacher is motivated, then he will deliver knowledge with his full passion and zeal. The aim of study was to examine the relationship between job stress and motivational level of secondary school teachers. A sample of two hundred and fifty teachers was randomly selected from public and private sector schools of district Lahore. The study was correlational and assessment made through survey design (by means of questionnaire) and Likert scale. Collected data were statistically analyzed by applying correlation, descriptive analysis and inferential statistics. Results showed there was a strong relationship between job stress and teachers motivation. There was no significant difference in opinions of male and female teachers regarding job stress. Results of one way ANOVA represented a significant difference in mean scores of stress of teachers by school’s as well as on qualification basis. Mentoring Program may be held in all educational institutes that provide guidance, and mentoring to the teachers how is facing stress in their work. Keywords: Education, motivation, job stress, teachers, and mentoring programs. DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/49-03 Publication date:June 30th 2019

Teacher Interaction and Academic Freedom of University Students Learning: A Correlation Study

Classroom is the foremost important place in any institution and teacher plays vital role in learning activities. Teacher interacts with students in the learning settings. Students learn more and actively in such kind of environment, where they have academic freedom. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between teacher interaction and academic freedom of student learning at university level. The study was correlational and survey type in nature. The population of the study consisted of different programs of Institution of Education and Research. A sample of 200 students were selected randomly. A five point likert type scale was developed regarding teacher interaction and academic freedom of students learning. Pilot testing was ensured to validate and check the internal consistency of the instrument. Data were collected personally after validation of the scale. There was strong positive relationship between teacher interaction and academic freedom of students learning. In addition, there was no significant difference in perceptions of male and female students regarding teacher interaction but they had different opinions about academic freedom in their learning. University teachers need to develop positive interaction with learners and provide them academic freedom in their learning. Keywords: Teacher interaction, academic freedom, students learning, and environment. DOI: 10.7176/DCS/9-6-04 Publication date:June 30th 201

Metachronous primary cancers of colon and stomac

Synchronous or metachronous occurrence of esophageal, gastric and colonic cancers is a very rare occurrence, although there are several case reports in literature. A case of a 41 years old man with metachronous cancers of colon and stomach is reported

Experimental investigation on synthesis, characterization, stability, thermo-physical properties and rheological behavior of MWCNTs-kapok seed oil based nanofluid

Several researchers devoted their efforts for the thermal conductivity enhancement of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) based nanofluids as CNTs have excellent thermal properties. However, limited research is reported on the detailed thermo-physical properties of CNTs and oil based nanofluids. In this work, the one-step method synthesis of a new MWCNTs-Kapok seed oil based nanofluid at constant nanoparticle concentration (0.1 wt./wt.) is reported. The nanofluid is characterized by FESEM, FTIR, visual stability analysis and thermophysical properties are experimentally measured. The viscosity found in the range of (0.049–10.101¿Pa·s), the thermal conductivity of (0.165–0.207¿W/m·K) and enhancement of thermal conductivity (6.1538%) were observed. Moreover, the viscosity decreases, and thermal conductivity increases with an increase in temperature. The experimentally obtained data are found in agreement with existing models and modified correlations. The rheological behavior showed that nanofluid is non-Newtonian in nature and exhibiting shear thinning or pseudo plastic behavior.Preprin

High-Performance Corrosion-Resistant Polymer/Graphene Nanomaterials for Biomedical Relevance

Initially, pristine polymers were used to develop corrosion-resistant coatings. Later, the trend shifted to the use of polymeric nanocomposites in anti-corrosion materials. In this regard, graphene has been identified as an important corrosion-resistant nanomaterial. Consequently, polymer/graphene nanocomposites have been applied for erosion protection applications. Among polymers, conducting polymers (polyaniline, polypyrrole, polythiophene, etc.) and nonconducting polymers (epoxy, poly(methyl methacrylate), etc.) have been used as matrices for anticorrosion graphene nanocomposites. The corrosion-resistant polymer/graphene nanocomposites have found several important applications in biomedical fields such as biocompatible materials, biodegradable materials, bioimplants, tissue engineering, and drug delivery. The biomedical performance of the nanomaterials depends on the graphene dispersion and interaction with the polymers and living systems. Future research on the anti-corrosion polymer/graphene nanocomposite is desirable to perceive further advanced applications in the biomedical arenas

Utilizing Public Transport Networks for Bulk Data Transfer

Public transport networks are a subset of vehicular networks with some important distinctions; the actors in the network include buses and bus-stops, they are predictable and they provide reliable physical coverage of an area. The Public Transport Network of a city can also be interpreted as an opportunistic network where nodes are bus-stops and communication between these nodes occurs when a bus travels between two bus-stops. How will a data communication network perform when built upon the opportunistic network formed by the public transport system of a city? In this thesis we explore this question basing our analysis on Helsinki Region’s public bus transport system as a real example. We explore the performance of a public transport network when used for communication of data using both simulation of the network and graph analysis. The key performance factors studied are the data delivery ratio and data delivery time. Additional issues considered are the kind of applications such a system is suited for, the important characteristics governing the reliability and efficacy of such a data communications system, and the design guidelines for building such an application. The results demonstrate that data transfer applications can be built over a city’s Public Transport Network

Climate Change Journalism in Pakistan: Ethical Deliberations

In the 21st century, research on climate journalism has received exponential growth globally. However, the media’s ethical role in covering climate change has not sufficiently been explored enough. In this chapter, we provide a broad overview of climate change journalism in Pakistan, the role of stakeholders that are directly involved in this crisis, and further highlighted the need to follow the UNESCO-led ethical principles and deliberations by the local climate journalism. We conclude that though a great deal of attention has been paid by the local scholars and scientists to highlight different dimensions of climate emergency, however, the findings of such research has been scant in the climate and environmental journalism practices of the country. Finally, we proposed that being as an important stakeholder, the local mass media should not only adopt UNESCO’s climate ethics but also persuade all other stakeholders to adhere to its guidelines and, eventually, influence the environmental policymaking process