Strenuous Task Research Articles

Experimental implementation of fully controlled dephasing dynamics and synthetic spectral densities

Engineering, controlling, and simulating quantum dynamics is a strenuous task. However, these techniques are crucial to develop quantum technologies, preserve quantum properties, and engineer decoherence. Earlier results have demonstrated reservoir engineering, construction of a quantum simulator for Markovian open systems, and controlled transition from Markovian to non-Markovian regime. Dephasing is an ubiquitous mechanism to degrade the performance of quantum computers. However, all-purpose quantum simulator for generic dephasing is still missing. Here, we demonstrate full experimental control of dephasing allowing us to implement arbitrary decoherence dynamics of a qubit. As examples, we use a photon to simulate the dynamics of a qubit coupled to an Ising chain in a transverse field and also demonstrate a simulation of nonpositive dynamical map. Our platform opens the possibility to simulate dephasing of any physical system and study fundamental questions on open quantum systems.

JAVANT-GARDE: A Cross-Platform Serious Game for an Introduction to Programming With Java

Background. Programming is widely known to be a cognitively demanding field. Learning programming can be a strenuous task without the proper guidance and methodology. Students often face difficulties in understanding even the most basic and fundamental concepts of programming, leading to their confusion and disappointment. Serious games for programming have the potential to alleviate students’ difficulties with programming. Aim. This article introduces a new serious game named jAVANT-GARDE which aims to educate the player on the basic concepts of programming and object-oriented programming through Java. By design, the game is suitable for everyone, even for players with no previous knowledge of programming. This article aims to present important information regarding the design, implementation and pilot evaluation of jAVANT-GARDE. Method. The game was evaluated by 42 high school students (age 16-17) in terms of perceived player experience and short-term learning. The participants played the game for one hour in the school lab and then answered a questionnaire based on the MEEGA+ framework. Results. Students evaluated positively the game in terms of its usability, confidence in playing the game, challenge, satisfaction, fun, focused attention and relevance. Moreover, the majority of students stated that would prefer learning programming with this game to learning through other teaching methods. Conclusions. The results of the pilot study and students’ replies in the questionnaire are rather positive. This gives us the initiative to proceed with studying the effect of the game in long-term learning of programming concepts.

Task related cerebral blood flow changes of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: an arterial spin labeling study

ABSTRACT Purpose: One hallmark of chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is task related worsening of fatigue. Global brain hypoperfusion, abnormal regional activation, and altered functional connectivity of brain areas associated with cognition and memory have been reported but remain controversial. Methods: We enrolled 17 female participants fulfilling the CDC Criteria for ME/CFS and 16 matched healthy controls (HC). Using a 3T-Phillips Achieva MRI-scanner, pseudo-continuous arterial spin-labeling (pCASL), was used to study the dynamics of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and their relationship to mental fatigue in ME/CFS patients and HC during a demanding cognitive task, i.e. modified Paced-Auditory-Serial-Addition-Testing (PASAT). Results: ME/CFS subjects reported more fatigue than HC at baseline (p < .01). Global brain perfusion of ME/CFS and HC subjects was similar at rest. The PASAT resulted in significantly increased fatigue in ME/CFS participants and HC. Although not different between groups, overall CBF significantly increased over the first 3 min of the PASAT and then decreased thereafter. Regional CBF (rCBF) changes were significantly different between groups during the post-task recovery period. Whereas improvement of fatigue of ME/CFS subjects was associated with decreased rCBF in both superior temporal gyri (STG), precuneus, and fusiform gyrus, it was associated with increased rCBF in the same areas in HC. Conclusions: Our results suggest that ME/CFS is associated with normal global CBF at rest and during a strenuous task (PASAT); however rCBF of several brain regions associated with memory, goal-oriented attention, and visual function was differentially associated with recovery from fatigue in ME/CFS patients and HC.

An Investigation on HTTP/2 Security

In the current world scenario where everyone is using the Internet, it is becoming a strenuous task to preserve security. Furthermore the world is becoming progressively digital by the passing of each minute.Alarge portion of the Internet is conducted using the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). But in 2015, it underwent a consequential enhancement and was released as HTTP/2. HTTP/2 includes pipelining, response multiplexing, server push and header compression using HPACKbesides the properties of HTTP/1.1. These properties make it difficult for the eavesdroppers to monitor or fingerprint a website running on HTTP/2. This paper deals with the research on how strong the HTTP/2 protocol keeps the user information hidden and secure. By monitoring a live network traffic, its properties with HTTP/2 is assessed. This study helps understand the different aspects of the protocol and its influence on the network and browsers.

A survey and taxonomy on nonorthogonal multiple‐access schemes for 5G networks

AbstractThe intensity in the requirements of Internet of Things and mobile internet makes the efficiency of fifth‐generation (5G) wireless communications very challenging to achieve. Accomplishing the drastically increasing demand of massive connectivity and high spectral efficiency is a strenuous task. Because of the very large number of devices, 5G wireless communication systems are inevitable to satisfy the traffic requirements. Recently, nonorthogonal multiple‐access (NOMA) schemes are immensely being explored to address the challenges in 5G, which include effective bandwidth utilization, support for a massive number of devices, and low latency. This paper provides the reader with a holistic view of multiple‐access schemes, methods, and strategies for optimization in NOMA. First, we discuss the taxonomy of multiple‐access schemes in the literature; then, we provide a detailed discussion of objectives, constraints, problem types, and solution approaches for NOMA. This paper also discusses the decoding methods and key performance indicators used in NOMA. Finally, we outline future research directions.

Effect of portable non-invasive ventilation & environmental conditions on everyday activities

The current study examined the effect of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) within environments of differing temperature and humidity on several physiological and perceptual responses while performing six activities of daily living (i.e. putting on shirt/shoes/trousers, vacuuming, hanging towels, and walking on a treadmill). Sixteen healthy participants completed the activities of varying difficulty within four experimental conditions: with and without NIV; and in temperate (22°C, 40% relative humidity) and hot-humid environments (32°C, 70% relative humidity). Comparisons of physiological responses between conditions were examined via repeated measures ANOVAs. Overall, NIV resulted in similar physiological and perceptual responses within all environmental conditions for healthy participants. Further, NIV use increased heart rate during the most strenuous task (29.5±12.7 vs. 22.8±12.0bpm, p=0.008) indicating NIV use may stress cardiovascular functioning during moderate-high intensity activities. Tropical conditions did not alter physiological or perceptual responses during everyday tasks with NIV use by healthy adults. Future investigations examining the independent and combined impacts of task intensity, extreme environments and NIV use will clarify the benefits of NIV for healthy and clinical populations.

DIMINUTION OF HEAVY METALS IN INDUSTRIAL SOLID WASTE BY AN AMALGAMATION OF MYCO AND VERMI REMEDIATION

Due to the development of Industrialization and urbanization, a wide variety of industrial and consumer products, by products and solid waste has been produced. The solid waste generated constitutes the hazardous substance which possesses certain impacts on humans and their environment. In that heavy metal pollution from industries are the serious environmental problems. Rapid development in industries in the last few decades resulted in the strenuous task for finding to manage the waste generated. These hazardous solid wastes have been formulated into reusable end product by the process of bioremediation. Bioremediation is a natural process, which involves the use of organism to remove or neutralize the toxic pollutant from the contamination site. This review focus on the toxic effects of heavy metals on the environment and on the human health as well as the possible bioremediation method of these metals using fungus and earthworm. In order to conserve the environment and resources, the biological remediation by both fungus and earthworm for heavy metals and their efficiency have been summarised in detail.

Dealing with plagiarism in the academic community: emotional engagement and moral distress

This article deals with the demands that plagiarism places on academic communities, and with the resources staff possess in dealing with these demands. It is suggested that plagiarism ought to be placed in the context of network of intertwining communities (scholarly, pedagogical and administrative), to which participants are engaged to a different extent. The relationship to the ethical issue of plagiarism is related to the subject’s engagement in these communities. The article examines the way teachers deal with plagiarism from the point of view of work engagement and work-related wellbeing. In particular, we analyse job demands created by episodes of dealing with plagiarism as well as job resources teachers possess that aid them in coping with these demands. We used thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews of teachers in two universities. Our results show that the demands fall on five thematic categories: 1. rupture in the personal pedagogical relationship, 2. challenge on the supervisory “gatekeeping” responsibility; 3. a breach of the “everyday normality”; 4. ambivalence in explaining plagiarism and 5. the strain of performing the act of accusation. A key job demand in dealing with plagiarism is that teachers must balance both rule-ethical and care-ethical orientations in their reactions and actions. The resources teachers draw upon when dealing with these demands are: 1) dialogue and reflection in collegial dialogue 2) support from superiors and administration 3) shared protocols, procedures and plagiarism detection software. Our analysis shows that there are various demands that make dealing with plagiarism a strenuous task, but university environments also provide teachers with resources to cope with them.

Proposing a new index to quantify instantaneous symmetry during manual wheelchair propulsion

Propelling a manual wheelchair (MWC) is a strenuous task that causes upper limb musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in a large proportion of MWC users. Although most studies on MWC propulsion biomechanics assume that MWC propulsion is a relatively symmetric task, recent literature suggests that this is the case only when the assessed outcome measures are averaged over long periods of time, and not over short periods (i.e., instantaneously). No method is currently available to assess instantaneous symmetry. In this work, we present the Instantaneous Symmetry Index (ISI), a new method that quantifies how a variable has been instantaneously asymmetric during a selected time period. Thirteen experienced MWC users propelled on different cross slopes of 0%, 2%, 4%, 6% and 8%. As the cross slope is increased, the upper hand produced less propulsive moments and the lower hand produced more propulsive movements. This has been reflected in the ISI, which increased from 0.20 (0% slope) to 0.84 (8% slope) with a Spearman׳s coefficient of 0.90. The ISI has great potential to evaluate the ability of a user to propel symmetrically and synchronously, and will be a relevant measure to include in future studies on the impact of MWC propulsion asymmetry on MSD risk.

Determination of Infiltration Rate and Soil Indices using Double Ring Infiltrometer and Implementing it by GIS and RS for Selected Areas in Zaheerabad, India

Background/Objectives: Infiltration is important process due to which rainwater percolates into the soil and moves down to join the groundwater. Methods/Statistical Analysis: There are two methods used for measuring infiltration like indirect method and direct method. In indirect method, infiltrometer, rain simulators are used. Direct method is done by the analysis of runoff hydrograph resulting from natural precipitation. For small watersheds, like milli and micro infiltrometer values and storm hydrograph analysis gives best results. Findings: The infiltration process is affected by surface runoff, ground water recharge and erosion of soil. At a certain moment the infiltration capacity of soil is indicated by maximum infiltration rate. By adopting Ф index, which gives average rate throughout the rainfall, it is well suited for calculating maximum run off from a major storm on wet soils. In this study constant infiltration rates of the soils under different soil conditions were studied, compared with the infiltration rates and were verified with IS code 15792-2008. Because of highest infiltration rate in Malchalma village surface water is available even in summer. It has been proved that maximum infiltration results in excess of ground water. Application/Improvements: It is a strenuous task to measure infiltration in the field. The infiltration rates can be estimated from the proposed model by using ArcGIS 10.2.2 different images have been developed.

Preference Refinement in Deliberative Choice Experiments for Ecosystem Service Valuation

Choice experiments have gained considerable popularity in ecosystem service valuation. In a one-shot survey respondents are faced with a strenuous task asking them to discover and monetize their preferences for often unfamiliar ecosystem services in a previously unknown hypothetical market situation. We present a deliberative choice experiment that aims to generate well-rationalized value estimates for policy advice. Two aspects of deliberation—discussion and time to reflect—are examined in terms of their effect on preference refinement. We find more comprehensive choice motives after deliberation, as well as indications for preference adjustment and a slight increase in choice certainty. (JEL Q51, Q57)

A Linked Data Visualiser for Finite Element Biosimulations

Biosimulation models are used to understand the multiple or different causative factors that cause impairment in human organs. Finite Element Method (FEM) provide a mathematical framework to simulate dynamic biological systems, with applications ranging from human ear, cardiovascular, to neurovascular research. Finite Element (FE) Biosimulation experiments produce huge amounts of numerical data. Visualising and analysing this huge numerical biosimulation data is a strenuous task. In this paper, we present a Linked Data Visualiser–called SIFEM Visualiser–to help domain-experts (experts in the field of ear mechanics) and clinical practitioners (otorhinolaryngologists) to Visualise, analyse and compare biosimulation results from heterogeneous, complex, and high volume numerical data. The SIFEM visualiser builds on conceptualising different aspects of biosimulations. In addition to the visualiser, we also propose how biosimulation numerical data can be conceptualised, such that it sustains the visualisation of large numerical data. The SIFEM Visualiser aims to help domain scientists and clinical practitioners exploring and analysing Finite Element (FE) numerical data and simulation results obtained from different aspects of inner ear (Cochlear) model — such as biological, geometrical, mathematical, and physical models. We validate the SIFEM Visualiser in both dimensions of qualitative and quantitative evaluation.

THE NOTION OF DEFINITION: A PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH

Philosophy and terminology, semantics and lexicography all study definition as a key concept. Each of these disciplines approaches the concept from a different angle. However, it is the comprehensive knowledge of all these aspects that reveals the essence of definition and leads to its creditable study. The present paper is an attempt to examine some of the focal philosophical ideas on the notion of definition. Since ancient times the process of defining definition has been a strenuous task and not all the theories proposed by philosophers were justified, yet each of them suggested a unique approach to the concept of definition and contributed to the development of the general theory.

Knowledge Discovery in Learning Management System Using Piecewise Linear Regression

Recent developments in database technology have seen a wide variety of data being stored in huge collections. The wide variety makes the analysis tasks of a generic database a strenuous task in knowledge discovery. One approach is to summarize large datasets in such a way that the resulting summary dataset is of manageable size. Histogram has received significant attention as summarization/representative object for large database. But, it suffers from computational and space complexity. In this paper, we propose an idea to transform the histogram object into a Piecewise Linear Regression (PLR) line object and suggest that PLR objects can be less computational and storage intensive while compared to those of histograms. On the other hand to carry out a cluster analysis, we propose a distance measure for computing the distance between the PLR lines. Case study is presented based on the real data of online education system LMS. This demonstrates that PLR is a powerful knowledge representative for very large database.

Classifying Stress From Heart Rate Variability Using Salivary Biomarkers as Reference.

An accurate and noninvasive stress assessment from human physiology is a strenuous task. In this paper, a pattern recognition system to learn complex correlates between heart rate variability (HRV) features and salivary stress biomarkers is proposed. Using the Trier social stress test, heart rate and salivary measurements were obtained from volunteers under varying levels of stress induction. Measurements of salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol were used as objective measures of stress, and were correlated with the HRV features using fuzzy ARTMAP (FAM). In improving the predictive ability of the ARTMAPs, techniques, such as genetic algorithms for parameter optimization and voting ensembles, were employed. The ensemble of FAMs can be used for predicting stress responses of salivary alpha-amylase or cortisol using heart rate measurements as the input. Using alpha-amylase as the stress indicator, the ensemble was able to classify stress from heart rate features with 75% accuracy, and 80% accuracy when cortisol was used.

Predicting Hearing Aid Gain Values for Enhancing the Speech Intelligibility Using Correlation Algorithm

The tranquil solution for the hearing impaired subjects to get rid of the impairment is to wear the appropriate hearing aid to increase the hearing level and clarity of the perceived speech. Though the present day hearing aids are inbuilt with a suitable noise removing algorithm to get a clear speech signal, the satisfaction among the users is low. The satisfaction of the hearing aid users will be enhanced only with the fixation of appropriate Real Ear Insertion Gain (REIG) values for different frequency bands of the perceived speech signal. Various prescriptive procedures were developed so far in prescribing these values. But, the strenuous task for the audiologists is in selecting the best procedure and to suggest required modifications. The present work focuses this problem faced by the audiologists by analyzing the various technical snags and arrived with suitable solutions. In the present work, an expert system was developed to predict gain values without the need of the prescriptive procedures and reduced the trial and error time of the audiologists. A gain suggestion database of the satisfied subjects was developed, and later it was used by the correlation algorithm in the gain prediction process. The successful gain suggestions of the most correlated subject for different frequencies in the database are recommended for the new subject. The developed expert system was validated by performing hearing aid trials with 256 hearing impaired subjects and 93.7% of them received satisfaction. The successful gain suggestions made by the expert system are stored continuously to strengthen the database, so as to recommend the most appropriate gain values for the new subject.

Automatic detection of absence seizures with compressive sensing EEG

Absence epilepsy, a neurological disorder, is characterized by the recurrence of seizures, which have serious impact on the sufferers׳ daily life. The seizure detection has a great importance in the diagnosis and therapy of epileptic patients. Visual inspection of the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals for detection of interictal, pre-ictal and ictal activities is a strenuous and time-consuming task due to the huge volumes of EEG segments that have to be studied. In this study, we proposed a novel automatic detection method based on the altered compressibility of EEG during the three states with compressive sensing. To evaluate the proposed method, segments of interictal, pre-ictal and ictal EEG segments (100 segments in each state) were used. Two entropies, namely the Sample Entropy (SE) and the permutation Entropy (PE), and Hurst Index (HI) were extracted respectively from the segments to compare with the proposed method. Significant features were selected using the ANOVA test. After evaluating the performance of the selected features by four classifiers (Decision Tree, K-Nearest Neighbor, Discriminant Analysis, Support Vector Machine) respectively, the results show that the proposed method can achieve the highest accuracy of 76.7%, which is higher than HI (55.3%), sample entropy (71%), and permutation entropy (73%). Hence, the altered compressibility of EEG with CS can act as a good biomarker for distinguish seizure-free, per-seizure and seizure state. In addition, compressive sensing requires less energy but has competitive compression ratio compared to traditional compression techniques, which enables our method to tele-monitoring of epilepsy patients using wireless body-area networks in personalized medicine.

Optimal location of STATCOM using chemical reaction optimization for reactive power dispatch problem

Abstract Optimal reactive power dispatch (ORPD) problem has a significant influence on optimal operation of power systems. However, getting optimal solution of ORPD problem is a strenuous task for the researchers. The inclusion of flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices in the power system network for solving ORPD problem adds to its complexity. This paper presents the application of chemical reaction optimization (CRO) for optimal allocation of a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) to minimize the transmission loss, improve the voltage profile and voltage stability in a power system. The proposed approach is carried out on IEEE 30-bus and IEEE 57-bus test systems and the simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed approach can converge to the optimum solution and obtains better solutions as compared to other methods reported in the literature.

AN EXPERIENCE OF SERELAXINE USE FOR ACUTE HEART FAILURE IN PATIENTS WITH ONCOHEMATOLOGICAL DISEASES

Treatment of acute heart failure (ACF) remains a strenuous task. Modern treatment methods — diuretics, vasodilators, inotropic drugs — are effective in ACF symptoms reduction, but do not decrease risk of death, that is still very high in this urgent condition. This determines a necessity of novel treatment methods search. Aim. To assess efficacy of serelaxine in ACF caused by cardiotoxic effect of cytostatic therapy. Material and methods. Serelaxine is a recombinant human relaxine-2, having hemodynamic and pleiotropic organoprotective effects. The data on the drug efficacy for one or other cause of ACF is non-sufficient. In single-center observational study there is an experience presented of serelaxine in pulmonary oedema, developed as complication of polychemotherapy (PCT) in oncohematological diseases. Results. The use of serelaxine in addition to the standard treatment led to successful cessation of pulmonary oedema, stabilization of hemodynamics and of blood gases, therefore to completion of full PCT program. Conclusion. The first clinical experience presented has shown efficacy of serelaxine in ACF due to cardiotoxic action of PCT in oncohematological patients. Further clinical trials are aimfull in this category of patients.

English

A CSTR is an Continuously Stirred Tank Reactor with the main function of agitation and to achieve constant composition. It has an important role in chemical process plants. A CSTR has an higher degree of nonlinearity when compared with other chemical reactors, this is mainly due to the temperature variations that occur because of uncertainity in feed. Hence, temperature control is a strenuous task. The proposed work focusses on control of temperature in a jacketed chemical reactor, by effectively designing a internal model controller (IMC). The process is a open loop unstable system due to the effect of scale-up on the steady state and other dynamic characteristics. The proposed digital controller is capable of providing system stability, set point tracking and disturbance rejection. The simulation result shows the suitability of using the proposed controllers for control of the unstable CSTR process.