Towards Social Autonomous Vehicles: Efficient Collision Avoidance Scheme Using Richardson's Arms Race Model

Background Road collisions and casualties pose a serious threat to commuters around the globe. Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) aim to make the use of technology to reduce the road accidents. However, the most of research work in the context of collision avoidance has been performed to address, separately, the rear end, front end and lateral collisions in less congested and with high inter-vehicular distances. Purpose The goal of this paper is to introduce the concept of a social agent, which interact with other AVs in social manners like humans are social having the capability of predicting intentions, i.e. mentalizing and copying the actions of each other, i.e. mirroring. The proposed social agent is based on a human-brain inspired mentalizing and mirroring capabilities and has been modelled for collision detection and avoidance under congested urban road traffic. Method We designed our social agent having the capabilities of mentalizing and mirroring and for this purpose we utilized Exploratory Agent Based Modeling (EABM) level of Cognitive Agent Based Computing (CABC) framework proposed by Niazi and Hussain. Results Our simulation and practical experiments reveal that by embedding Richardson's arms race model within AVs, collisions can be avoided while travelling on congested urban roads in a flock like topologies. The performance of the proposed social agent has been compared at two different levels.Comment: 48 pages, 21 figure

Antibiotic susceptibility pattern and multiple antibiotic resistances (MAR) calculation of extended spectrum β- lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella species in Pakistan

The aim of this study was to check for the antibiotic susceptibility pattern and multiple antibiotic resistances (MAR) of extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella species. All methods used in this study were according to the standard criteria of NCCLs. It was shown that there was high rate of resistance, which was alarming for health practitioners of Pakistan.Key words: Antibiotics, multiple antibiotic resistances (MAR), extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)

Families learning about toothbrushing: developing a scalable intervention

Background: Dental caries in children is a preventable condition. In Pakistan, despite high prevalence, there have been minimal efforts to address this public health problem. Aim: To develop and test feasibility of a behavioural intervention aimed at parents, delivered by Lady Health Workers (LHWs) for oral health promotion of children in Pakistan. Methods: The PhD used mixed methods approach following MRC guidance on developing and evaluating complex health interventions. The theoretical domains framework (TDF) provided theoretical underpinnings and COM-B model helped analyse drivers for behaviour change. Study 1: systematic review and meta-analysis for effectiveness of behaviour change interventions delivered by non-dental health workers for children's oral health promotion, to identify behaviour change techniques (BCTs). Study 2: focus groups to identify barriers & facilitators for children's toothbrushing and oral health promotion. Study 3: compilation and finalisation of intervention through identification of modifiable behavioural determinants, and patient and public involvement (PPI) to finalise the intervention materials. Study 4: feasibility study for feasibility assessment of intervention (LHW training, intervention delivery and fidelity), and evaluation methods (recruitment strategy, and data collection). Acceptability of intervention and perceived impact/sustainability explored using semi-structured interviews. Results: Systematic review identified 23 effective studies from which 18 individual BCTs were finalised to form the PROviding Support to Parents for Engaging in their Children's Toothbrushing (PROSPECT) intervention. The feasibility study recruited 7 LHWs and 34 mothers (>100% recruitment), and trained all LHWs who then delivered the intervention during home visits (n=34) with high fidelity. The data collection showed 91% response rate. An overall positive response reported by mothers and LHWs regarding intervention's acceptability, and perceived impact/sustainability. Conclusion: The results suggest incorporating toothbrushing advice as part of LHWs routine home visits as feasible and acceptable means to promote children's oral health in Pakistan. A definitive trial is needed to test intervention's effectiveness

Virtual merging of Ecoin applications and guidelines for building ontologies

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 89).The Ecoin system is used to perform context mediation among heterogeneous data sources. Ecoin applications present a fundamental module in the Ecoin system that are used to describe a domain of interest and to perform context mediation on data from that domain. We describe the CLAMP tool, which facilitates merging individual Ecoin applications so that the context mediation functionality of two domains of interest are combined in one single application. We also demonstrate some principles for building one of the most critical parts of an Ecoin application--the ontology--and build a sample ontology step-by-step using these principles.by Faisal R. Anwar.M.Eng

Antibacterial and Cytotoxic Activities of Acacia nilotica Lam (Mimosaceae) Methanol Extracts Against Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase Producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella Species

Purpose: To investigate lysates from Acacia nilotica pods for their antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities against a variety of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae as well as methicillin resistant Staphylococci aureus (MRSA).Methods: ESBLs-producing E. coli and Klebsiella spp were isolated from clinical and environmental specimens and incubated with Acacia nilotica pod lysates. The bactericidal activity and cytotoxic effects of the lysates were evaluated while fast protein liquid chromatography (size exclusion FPLC) was used to identify the various compounds showing bactericidal activity.Results: The lysates showed remarkable bactericidal properties, killing almost 100 % of the bacteria they were tested against, including neuropathogenic Escherichia coli, MRSA, and Klebsiella spp. The bactericidal activity was heat-resistant and showed minimal cytotoxic effects on human brain microvascular endothelial cells. FPLC revealed eight peaks, with three of them representing compounds that had maximum bactericidal activity against all the tested isolates, but showed < 30 % host cell cytotoxicity.Conclusion: The lysate of Acacia nilotica pods is a potentially good candidate for the therapy of antibacterial-resistant bacteria, and would therefore require further studies.Keywords: Acacia nilotica, ESBLs, MRSA, E. coli, Klebsiella, Antibacterial resistance, Cytotoxicit