Deterministic scheduling for energy efficient and reliable communication in heterogeneous sensing environments in industrial wireless sensor networks

The present-day industries incorporate many applications, and complex processes, hence, a large number of sensors with dissimilar process deadlines and sensor update frequencies will be in place. This paper presents a scheduling algorithm, which takes into account the varying deadlines of the sensors connected to the cluster-head, and formulates a static schedule for Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) based communication. The scheme uses IEEE802.15.4e superframe as a baseline and proposes a new superframe structure. For evaluation purposes the update frequencies of different industrial processes are considered. The scheduling algorithm is evaluated under varying network loads by increasing the number of nodes affiliated to a cluster-head. The static schedule generated by the scheduling algorithm offers reduced energy consumption, improved reliability, efficient network load management and improved information to control bits ratio

Intelligent Image Retrieval Techniques: A Survey

AbstractIn the current era of digital communication, the use of digital images has increased for expressing, sharing and interpreting information. While working with digital images, quite often it is necessary to search for a specific image for a particular situation based on the visual contents of the image. This task looks easy if you are dealing with tens of images but it gets more difficult when the number of images goes from tens to hundreds and thousands, and the same content-based searching task becomes extremely complex when the number of images is in the millions. To deal with the situation, some intelligent way of content-based searching is required to fulfill the searching request with right visual contents in a reasonable amount of time. There are some really smart techniques proposed by researchers for efficient and robust content-based image retrieval. In this research, the aim is to highlight the efforts of researchers who conducted some brilliant work and to provide a proof of concept for intelligent content-based image retrieval techniques

Impact Of Anemia On Feto-Maternal Outcomes In One Of The Tertiary Care Hospitals In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Background: Iron deficiency in pregnancy is a major cause of anemia and can have significant negative effects on both maternal and fetal outcomes. It has been associated with low birth weight, prematurity, perinatal mortality, increased risk of maternal infections, and impaired neurodevelopment of infants. Introduction: The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of fetomaternal outcomes in pregnant women with iron deficiency anemia in Mardan medical complex, Mardan. The study was a descriptive case series conducted between December 2020 and May 2021 in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Methods: A total of 125 pregnant women with anemia were included in the study. The participants were followed up until delivery, and fetomaternal outcomes such as gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, prolonged labor, low Apgar score, low birth weight, preterm delivery, and early neonatal death were noted as per operational definition. Results: The age range of the participants was between 18 and 40 years with a mean age of 27.784±3.13 years. The mean gestational age was 30.112±2.89 weeks. Gestational hypertension was observed in 47.2% of the patients, preeclampsia in 60.8%, postpartum hemorrhage in 33.6%, prolonged labor in 40%, low Apgar score in 50.4%, low birth weight in 30.4%, preterm delivery in 28.8%, and early neonatal death in 8%. Conclusions: The study concluded that maternal anemia, particularly iron deficiency anemia, is associated with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Pregnant women with iron deficiency anemia should be closely monitored and treated promptly to reduce the risk of feto-maternal complications. Keywords: Pregnancy, Iron deficiency anemia, Feto-maternal outcomes. &nbsp

A critical analysis of research potential, challenges and future directives in industrial wireless sensor networks

In recent years, Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) have emerged as an important research theme with applications spanning a wide range of industries including automation, monitoring, process control, feedback systems and automotive. Wide scope of IWSNs applications ranging from small production units, large oil and gas industries to nuclear fission control, enables a fast-paced research in this field. Though IWSNs offer advantages of low cost, flexibility, scalability, self-healing, easy deployment and reformation, yet they pose certain limitations on available potential and introduce challenges on multiple fronts due to their susceptibility to highly complex and uncertain industrial environments. In this paper a detailed discussion on design objectives, challenges and solutions, for IWSNs, are presented. A careful evaluation of industrial systems, deadlines and possible hazards in industrial atmosphere are discussed. The paper also presents a thorough review of the existing standards and industrial protocols and gives a critical evaluation of potential of these standards and protocols along with a detailed discussion on available hardware platforms, specific industrial energy harvesting techniques and their capabilities. The paper lists main service providers for IWSNs solutions and gives insight of future trends and research gaps in the field of IWSNs

Diagnostic Accuracy Of Acromioaxillosuprasternal Notch Index For Prediction Of Difficult Airway Taking Cormack And Lehane Grading System As Gold Standard

Background: General anesthesia is still needed for several surgical interventions and requires endotracheal intubation. The difficult airway is a well-known entity, and a long list of predicting scores is present, yet a high degree of diagnostic accuracy still needs to be improved. Acromioaxillosuprasternal notch index (AASI) has shown some excellent results in recent times. Objective: Its objective is to determine the diagnostic accuracy of acromioaxillosuprasternal notch index for predicting difficult airways and to take the Cormack and Lehane grading system as the gold standard. Methodology:   In this study, adults of both genders aged 20 to 70 years undergoing any surgery under general anesthesia having ASA class I to IV were included. AASI score of equal or less than 0.49 was taken as difficult airway while on Cormack and Lehane grade; it was labeled as yes where grade III or IV was seen. Results: The total number of cases were 350 cases, out of which 218 (62.29%) were males, and 132 (37.71%) were females. The mean age was 40.20±12.86 years, and the mean BMI was 24.71±3.13 (table 17). There were 294 (84%) cases in ASA Class I and II and 56 (14%) in class III and IV. Difficult intubation on AASI was seen in 54 (15.43%) and 57 (16.29%) cases on Cormack and Lehane grading.  The diagnostic accuracy of AASI for prediction of difficult intubating a difficult was 96.29% with sensitivity of 90.74%, specificity of 97.30%, PPV of 85.96%, NPV of 98.29% with p= 0.001. This difference was also statistically significant with all the confounding variables like age, gender, ASA class, and BMI.  Conclusion: The acromioaxillosuprasternal notch index is a significant predictor for tubing a difficult airway and taking Cormack and Lehane's grading as the gold standard. This difference is considerably better regarding age, gender, BMI, and ASA class.&nbsp

A novel MAC proposal for critical and emergency communications in industrial wireless sensor networks

In this paper, three MAC protocols, EE-MAC, CF-MAC and OD-MAC, are proposed. EE-MAC incorporates emergency communication and allows immediate channel access for emergency traffic. CF-MAC compensates regulatory and open-loop control traffic and introduces a prioritized access for high priority nodes. It also allows nodes with critical data to reserve communication slots using control channel. Whereas OD-MAC presents a deadline based dynamic scheduler which ensures timely delivery of time-critical information. The paper presents mathematical modelling of the proposed protocols. For evaluation purposes, the performance of the proposed protocols is compared to IEEE 802.15.4e LLDN. The results show that the proposed protocols offer up to 92% reduction in delay in emergency communications at the cost of 5% to 15% increase in delay of time-insensitive data. A 60% and 85% reduction was observed in the channel access delay for regulatory and open-loop control traffic respectively along with notable improvements in communications reliability

Intelligent IoT Framework for Indoor Healthcare Monitoring of Parkinson's Disease Patient

Parkinson’s disease is associated with high treatment costs, primarily attributed to the needs of hospitalization and frequent care services. A study reveals annual per-person healthcare costs for Parkinson’s patients to be 21,482,withanadditional29,695 burden to society. Due to the high stakes and rapidly rising Parkinson’s patients’ count, it is imperative to introduce intelligent monitoring and analysis systems. In this paper, an Internet of Things (IoT) based framework is proposed to enable remote monitoring, administration, and analysis of patient’s conditions in a typical indoor environment. The proposed infrastructure offers both static and dynamic routing, along with delay analysis and priority enabled communications. The scheme also introduces machine learning techniques to detect the progression of Parkinson’s over six months using auditory inputs. The proposed IoT infrastructure and machine learning algorithm are thoroughly evaluated and a detailed analysis is performed. The results show that the proposed scheme offers efficient communication scheduling, facilitating a high number of users with low latency. The proposed machine learning scheme also outperforms state-of-the-art techniques in accurately predicting the Parkinson’s progression

Atitude do consumidor e intenção de compra em relação a produtos têxteis orgânicos

Social mobilization towards various environmental problems changed the consumer’s attitudes and induced purchase decisions towards Organic Textile products. The main purpose of the current study was to understand consumer attitudes towards the purchase intentions of green textile products in developing countries like Pakistan. The model was developed by using the theory of planned behaviour and further attempt to extend the TPB by adding additional constructs (environmental concern, personal norms, health consciousness, and consumer knowledge). Data were collected through emails and self-administered survey questionnaire. Smart PLS 3 was used for data analysis. The findings of the study reveal that Health Consciousness, consumer knowledge, environmental concern and personal norms had a positive relationship with consumer attitude. But Subjective Norms had insignificant impact on consumer attitude. On the other hand Consumer attitude mediates the effect of different factors (IV) on purchase intention (DV). Ultimately, positive consumer attitude resulted in to purchase intention of textile organic products. The findings of the current study provide important practical and theoretical implications for buyer’s behaviors towards green textile products.La movilización social para los diferentes problemas cambió el consumidor de las actitudes y las necesidades de compra de la demanda hacia los productos textiles textiles. El principal propósito del estudio actual fue el de consumir las actitudes relativas a la compra de intenciones de productos del verde productos en países de transición similares. El modelo se desarrolló utilizando la teoría de comportamiento de comportamiento y se ha intentado que se extienda el TPB por agregar construcciones adicionales (aspectos relativos a la seguridad, el comportamiento de las personas, el conocimiento de la conciencia, y el consumidor). Los datos fueron recabados por correo electrónico y auto-encuesta cuestionario. Smart PLS 3 se utilizó para el análisis de datos. Los resultados del estudio revelan que el bienestar de la salud, el consumidor de los consumidores, la atención de la salud y la personalidad de los miembros de la familia. But Subjective Norms había insignificante impacto en la industria de consumo. En la otra mano de atención al consumidor actúa el efecto de diferentes factores (IV) en la demanda (DV). Ultimately, la respuesta positiva de la actitud de la conducta en la compra de los productos de los productos del producto. Los resultados del presente estudio proporcionan un importante sentido práctico y las razones para los comportamientos de los consumidores para los productos del verde.A mobilização social para vários problemas ambientais mudou as atitudes do consumidor e induziu decisões de compra em relação aos produtos têxteis orgânicos. O principal objetivo do presente estudo foi entender as atitudes do consumidor em relação às intenções de compra de produtos têxteis verdes em países em desenvolvimento como o Paquistão. O modelo foi desenvolvido usando a teoria do comportamento planejado e mais uma tentativa de estender o TPB, adicionando construtos adicionais (preocupação ambiental, normas pessoais, consciência de saúde e conhecimento do consumidor). Os dados foram coletados por meio de e-mails e questionário de pesquisa autoaplicável. O Smart PLS 3 foi usado para análise de dados. Os achados do estudo revelam que a Consciência em Saúde, a consciência do consumidor, a preocupação ambiental e as normas pessoais tiveram uma relação positiva com a atitude do consumidor. Mas as Normas Subjetivas tiveram um impacto insignificante na atitude do consumidor. Por outro lado, a atitude do consumidor medeia o efeito de diferentes fatores (IV) na intenção de compra (DV). Em última análise, a atitude positiva do consumidor resultou na intenção de compra de produtos orgânicos têxteis. As conclusões do presente estudo fornecem importantes implicações práticas e teóricas para o comportamento do comprador em relação a produtos têxteis verdes

Volatilidade do mercado de ações do Paquistão: uma comparação de modelos do tipo Garch com cinco

This study conducts empirical analyses modeling the volatility of Pakistani stock market over the period of 1st January 2008 to 30th June 2018 via different GARCH type Model; Symmetric (GARCH & GARCH-M) and Asymmetric (EGARCH & TGARCH) with five different Distribution Techniques such as Normal Distribution (Norm), Student’s t Distribution (Std.), Generalized Error Distribution (GED), Student’s t Distribution with fix the degree of freedom (Std. with fix DOF) and Generalized Error Distribution with fix parameters (GED with fix parameters). The results are shown in GARCH (1, 1) lagged conditional variance and squared disturbance which effects conditional variance is significant in all distribution. GARCH-M (1, 1) depicts a positive significant at 1% results in Std. and GED which indicates the existence of risk premium and insignificant in rest of the distribution on. EGARCH and TGARCH both are found to leverage effect significant at 1% level. In determining the accuracy and adequacy of forecasting density and choice of volatility model the results on simulated data indicates choice of conditional distribution appear as a more dominant factor. EGARCH model with Student’s t the distribution technique is delivered satisfactory results as compare to other models which censored by statistical tools of maximum Log Likelihood, minimum AIC, and SIC. The previous study of Pakistani Stock Market is limited to GARCH family models with one or two distributions. This study covers the limitations and also contributes existing literature in this regard. This research is considered important for investors, policymakers, and researchers.Este estudio realiza análisis empíricos que modelan la volatilidad del mercado de valores pakistaní durante el período del 1 de enero de 2008 al 30 de junio de 2018 a través de diferentes modelos de tipo GARCH; Simétrico (GARCH & GARCH-M) y Asymmetric (EGARCH & TGARCH) con cinco técnicas de distribución diferentes, como la distribución normal (Norm), la distribución t de Student (Std.), La distribución de errores generalizada (GED), la distribución t de Student con la corrección del grado de libertad (Std. con corrección DOF) y Distribución de errores generalizada con parámetros de corrección (GED con parámetros de corrección). Los resultados se muestran en GARCH (1, 1) varianza condicional retrasada y perturbación al cuadrado, lo que afecta a la varianza condicional es significativo en toda la distribución. GARCH-M (1, 1) muestra un resultado positivo significativo al 1% en la norma. y GED, que indica la existencia de prima de riesgo e insignificante en el resto de la distribución en. Tanto EGARCH como TGARCH tienen un efecto de apalancamiento significativo al nivel del 1%. Al determinar la precisión y la adecuación de la densidad de pronóstico y la elección del modelo de volatilidad, los resultados en datos simulados indican que la elección de la distribución condicional aparece como un factor más dominante. El modelo EGARCH con la técnica de distribución de Student se entrega con resultados satisfactorios en comparación con otros modelos que están censurados por las herramientas estadísticas de máxima probabilidad de registro, mínimo AIC y SIC. El estudio anterior de la Bolsa de Valores de Pakistán se limita a los modelos de la familia GARCH con una o dos distribuciones. Este estudio cubre las limitaciones y también aporta la literatura existente en este sentido. Esta investigación se considera importante para los inversores, los responsables políticos y los investigadores.Este estudo realiza análises empíricas modelando a volatilidade do mercado de ações paquistanês no período de 1º de janeiro de 2008 a 30 de junho de 2018 através de diferentes modelos do tipo GARCH; Simétrico (GARCH & GARCH-M) e Assimétrico (EGARCH & TGARCH) com cinco diferentes Técnicas de Distribuição, como Distribuição Normal (Norm), Distribuição t de Student (Padrão), Distribuição de Erro Generalizada (GED), Distribuição t de Student com correção do grau de liberdade (Std. com correção de DOF) e distribuição de erros generalizada com parâmetros de correção (GED com parâmetros de correção). Os resultados são apresentados na variância condicional defasada GARCH (1, 1) e na perturbação quadrada que afeta a variância condicional em todas as distribuições. GARCH-M (1, 1) representa um significante positivo com resultados de 1% em Std. e GED que indica a existência de prêmio de risco e insignificante em resto da distribuição em. EGARCH e TGARCH ambos são encontrados para alavancar o efeito significativo ao nível de 1%. Ao determinar a precisão e a adequação da densidade de previsão e a escolha do modelo de volatilidade, os resultados em dados simulados indicam que a escolha da distribuição condicional aparece como um fator mais dominante. O modelo EGARCH com Student t a técnica de distribuição apresenta resultados satisfatórios quando comparado a outros modelos que foram censurados por ferramentas estatísticas de máxima Likelihood, mínima AIC e SIC. O estudo anterior do mercado de ações paquistanês é limitado a modelos de família GARCH com uma ou duas distribuições. Este estudo cobre as limitações e também contribui com a literatura existente a esse respeito. Esta pesquisa é considerada importante para investidores, formuladores de políticas e pesquisadores