Regressive Prediction Approach to Vertical Handover in Fourth Generation Wireless Networks

The over increasing demand for deployment of wireless access networks has made wireless mobile devices to face so many challenges in choosing the best suitable network from a set of available access networks. Some of the weighty issues in 4G wireless networks are fastness and seamlessness in handover process. This paper therefore, proposes a handover technique based on movement prediction in wireless mobile (WiMAX and LTE-A) environment. The technique enables the system to predict signal quality between the UE and Radio Base Stations (RBS)/Access Points (APs) in two different networks. Prediction is achieved by employing the Markov Decision Process Model (MDPM) where the movement of the UE is dynamically estimated and averaged to keep track of the signal strength of mobile users. With the help of the prediction, layer-3 handover activities are able to occur prior to layer-2 handover, and therefore, total handover latency can be reduced. The performances of various handover approaches influenced by different metrics (mobility velocities) were evaluated. The results presented demonstrate good accuracy the proposed method was able to achieve in predicting the next signal level by reducing the total handover latency

A Miniaturized Printed Circuit CRLH Antenna-based Hilbert Metamaterial Array

With the development of communication systems and antennas, various challenges arise that require antennas of small size with enhanced performance. Metamaterials (MTM) defects introduced a considerable solution to such a challenge. Therefore, in this paper, a lightweight with low profile antenna is designed based on a novel design of a Composite Right/Left-Handed CRLH-MTM Hilbert array. The proposed CRLH-MTM unit cell consists of a T-symmetric CRLH unit cell conjugated to the 3rd-order Hilbert on the ground plane through a T-stub structure to enhance the gain-bandwidth product. CST-MWS is used to stimulate and design the proposed antenna structure. The antenna parameters are optimized to evaluate the antenna performance in gain and S11. As a result, the antenna can operate forward and backwards with a large scanning angle ranging from +34o to -134o with changing frequency, and dual-band extended from 3.3GHz to 4.2GHz 4.86GHz 5.98GHz with a maximum gain of 7.24dBi and 3.74dBi, respectively. The beam steering is achieved by trough controlling the switching operation of PIN diodes. As a result, the antenna can scan up to 8° from 34° to 42° at 3.5GHz with constant gain along with the operating range

Parallel Methods and Higher Dimensional NLS Equations

Alternating direction implicit (ADI) schemes are proposed for the solution of the two-dimensional coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation. These schemes are of second- and fourth-order accuracy in space and second order in time. The resulting schemes in each ADI computation step correspond to a block tridiagonal system which can be solved by using one-dimensional block tridiagonal algorithm with a considerable saving in computational time. These schemes are very well suited for parallel implementation on a high performance system with many processors due to the nature of the computation that involves solving the same block tridiagonal systems with many right hand sides. Numerical experiments on one processor system are conducted to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of these schemes by comparing them with the analytic solutions. The results show that the proposed schemes give highly accurate results

Fuzzy Logic Controller Design for Intelligent Air-Conditioning System

Inefficient air cooling systems may cause of wasting energy in a great amount specially in the urban area. Being the most popular cooling system, air-conditioners have been used in domestic usage as well as in industrial applications. However, the unintelligent nature of such cooling system gives rise to excess energy consumption which causes a huge problem in the current energy hungry world. In this paper, we present design of a fuzzy logic controller for the intelligent air-conditioning system. The performance of the controller is also simulated. The proposed controller has the adaptive nature to control fan and compressor speed which leads to reducing power consumption. Also, the system controls the operation mode to retain the healthy oxygen level and humid condition of the indoor environment

The Use of Two Transform Methods in Fingerprints Recognition

Finger prints are the oldest and most widely used form of biometric identification. Despite the widespread use of fingerprints, there is little statistical theory on the uniqueness of fingerprint minutiae. Fingerprint matching is the process used to determine whether two sets of fingerprint ridge detail come from the same finger. There exist multiple algorithms that do fingerprint matching in many different ways. Some methods involve matching minutiae points between the two images, In this paper used median filter to enhance the images, and then use DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) and FDCvT Via Wrapping to compute the feature extraction from the images. The Template Matching can be applied by finding the more similar values between the original image and the template.The proposed system includes two stages: first stage is implemented by taking individual natural fingerprint images with several positions and calculation of the features vector (Mean and standard deviation) by using FDCvT via Wrapping and DCT. The second stage is implemented by taking several samples of new fingerprint images for testing the work. The results show that the fingerprints Recognition rate by the (FDCvT via Wrapping and DCT) achieves better recognition rate (84%)

Knowledge of modifiable risk factors of heart disease among patients with acute myocardial infarction in Karachi, Pakistan: a cross sectional study

BACKGROUND: Knowledge is an important pre-requisite for implementing both primary as well as secondary preventive strategies for cardiovascular disease (CVD). There are no estimates of the level of knowledge of risk factor of heart disease in patients with CVD. We estimated the level of knowledge of modifiable risk factors and determined the factors associated with good level of knowledge among patients presenting with their first acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, a major tertiary care hospital in Karachi Pakistan. Patients admitted with their first AMI were eligible to participate. Standard questionnaire was used to interview 720 subjects. Knowledge of four modifiable risk factors of heart disease: fatty food consumption, smoking, obesity and exercise were assessed. The participants knowing three out of four risk factors were regarded as having a good level of knowledge. A multiple logistic regression model was constructed to identify the determinants of good level of knowledge. RESULTS: The mean age (SD) was 54 (11.66) years. A mere 42% of our study population had a good level of knowledge. In multiple logistic regression analysis, independent predictors of "good" level of knowledge were (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]) more than ten years of schooling were 2.5 [1.30, 4.80] (verses no schooling at all) and nuclear family system (verses extended family system) 2.54 [1.65, 3.89]. In addition, Sindhi ethnicity OR [3.03], higher level of exercise OR [2.76] and non user of tobacco OR [2.53] were also predictors of good level of knowledge. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the lack of good level of knowledge of modifiable risk factors for heart disease among subjects admitted with AMI in Pakistan. There is urgent need for aggressive and targeted educational strategies in the Pakistani population

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

Geometric numerical schemes for the KdV equation

Geometric discretizations that preserve certain Hamiltonian structures at the discrete level has been proven to enhance the accuracy of numerical schemes. In particular, numerous symplectic and multi-symplectic schemes have been proposed to solve numerically the celebrated Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. In this work, we show that geometrical schemes are as much robust and accurate as Fourier-type pseudo-spectral methods for computing the long-time KdV dynamics, and thus more suitable to model complex nonlinear wave phenomena.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, 74 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.lama.univ-savoie.fr/~dutykh

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background: There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low-and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods: Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results: Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion: For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially

Laparoscopy in management of appendicitis in high-, middle-, and low-income countries: a multicenter, prospective, cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency worldwide. Differences between high- and low-income settings in the availability of laparoscopic appendectomy, alternative management choices, and outcomes are poorly described. The aim was to identify variation in surgical management and outcomes of appendicitis within low-, middle-, and high-Human Development Index (HDI) countries worldwide. METHODS: This is a multicenter, international prospective cohort study. Consecutive sampling of patients undergoing emergency appendectomy over 6 months was conducted. Follow-up lasted 30 days. RESULTS: 4546 patients from 52 countries underwent appendectomy (2499 high-, 1540 middle-, and 507 low-HDI groups). Surgical site infection (SSI) rates were higher in low-HDI (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.33-4.99, p = 0.005) but not middle-HDI countries (OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.76-2.52, p = 0.291), compared with high-HDI countries after adjustment. A laparoscopic approach was common in high-HDI countries (1693/2499, 67.7%), but infrequent in low-HDI (41/507, 8.1%) and middle-HDI (132/1540, 8.6%) groups. After accounting for case-mix, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.42-0.71, p < 0.001) and SSIs (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.33, p < 0.001). In propensity-score matched groups within low-/middle-HDI countries, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.23 95% CI 0.11-0.44) and SSI (OR 0.21 95% CI 0.09-0.45). CONCLUSION: A laparoscopic approach is associated with better outcomes and availability appears to differ by country HDI. Despite the profound clinical, operational, and financial barriers to its widespread introduction, laparoscopy could significantly improve outcomes for patients in low-resource environments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02179112