33 research outputs found
Cost-Related medication non-adherence in Pakistan: a pervasive public health challenge
Full text linkMadam,
Cost-related medication non-adherence (CRMNA) refers to failing to adhere to a prescribed medication regimen due to financial constraints. Predictors for CRMNA include high out-of-pocket medication costs, limited financial resources, lack of medication insurance, younger age, and poorer overall health.(1) Being one of the major determinants of non-adherence, CRMNA remains a significant barrier to effective treatment for patients in many countries, especially in developing countries like Pakistan. This is because, unlike developed nations with robust healthcare systems and widespread health insurance coverage, Pakistan relies heavily on out-of-pocket spending for medications. A recent study conducted in Pakistan found high medication costs to be a major cause of non-adherence to medication, with 92.7% of the patients’ responses reporting it as a factor.(2)
Non-adherence to medication reduces the effectiveness of the recommended treatment and therefore leads to disease progression, lower quality of life, and even death. Furthermore, non-adherence substantially increases the financial burden on the healthcare system by increasing the use of resources such as nursing homes, emergency services, hospital admissions, etc.(3) In this way, CRMNA creates a crippling cycle: As patients skip medications due to the high cost, their conditions worsen, leading to more expensive interventions, which subsequently further inflate medication costs. This is especially problematic for Lower Middle Income Countries (LMIC) such as Pakistan where the situation is further compounded by a healthcare system riddled with limitations including insufficient financing, weak healthcare infrastructure and a limited healthcare workforce. The introduction of the ‘Sehat Sahulat Program’ (SSP) in 2015 in Pakistan was a remarkable step towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC), an initiative by the World Health Organization (WHO), which aims to provide essential healthcare facilities to everyone protecting them from out-of-pocket health expenditures. However, since the program does not cover OPD facilities, it still does not solve the serious problem of CRMNA.(4)
Breaking the cycle of CRMNA necessitates a multi-pronged approach. Physicians should be encouraged to practice cost-conscious prescribing which may involve promoting the use of generic medications and considering the overall cost of treatment plans for patients. Government intervention is crucial to regulate drug pricing and foster competition within the pharmaceutical market. To improve access, public health insurance should fully cover or significantly subsidize essential medications. By proactively addressing CRMNA and prioritizing affordable healthcare solutions, we can pave the way for a healthier and more prosperous future for all Pakistanis
Collected Papers (on Neutrosophic Theory and Applications), Volume VII
Full text linkThis seventh volume of Collected Papers includes 70 papers comprising 974 pages on (theoretic and applied) neutrosophics, written between 2013-2021 by the author alone or in collaboration with the following 122 co-authors from 22 countries: Mohamed Abdel-Basset, Abdel-Nasser Hussian, C. Alexander, Mumtaz Ali, Yaman Akbulut, Amir Abdullah, Amira S. Ashour, Assia Bakali, Kousik Bhattacharya, Kainat Bibi, R. N. Boyd, Ümit Budak, Lulu Cai, Cenap Özel, Chang Su Kim, Victor Christianto, Chunlai Du, Chunxin Bo, Rituparna Chutia, Cu Nguyen Giap, Dao The Son, Vinayak Devvrat, Arindam Dey, Partha Pratim Dey, Fahad Alsharari, Feng Yongfei, S. Ganesan, Shivam Ghildiyal, Bibhas C. Giri, Masooma Raza Hashmi, Ahmed Refaat Hawas, Hoang Viet Long, Le Hoang Son, Hongbo Wang, Hongnian Yu, Mihaiela Iliescu, Saeid Jafari, Temitope Gbolahan Jaiyeola, Naeem Jan, R. Jeevitha, Jun Ye, Anup Khan, Madad Khan, Salma Khan, Ilanthenral Kandasamy, W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy, Darjan Karabašević, Kifayat Ullah, Kishore Kumar P.K., Sujit Kumar De, Prasun Kumar Nayak, Malayalan Lathamaheswari, Luong Thi Hong Lan, Anam Luqman, Luu Quoc Dat, Tahir Mahmood, Hafsa M. Malik, Nivetha Martin, Mai Mohamed, Parimala Mani, Mingcong Deng, Mohammed A. Al Shumrani, Mohammad Hamidi, Mohamed Talea, Kalyan Mondal, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Gulistan, Farshid Mofidnakhaei, Muhammad Shoaib, Muhammad Riaz, Karthika Muthusamy, Nabeela Ishfaq, Deivanayagampillai Nagarajan, Sumera Naz, Nguyen Dinh Hoa, Nguyen Tho Thong, Nguyen Xuan Thao, Noor ul Amin, Dragan Pamučar, Gabrijela Popović, S. Krishna Prabha, Surapati Pramanik, Priya R, Qiaoyan Li, Yaser Saber, Said Broumi, Saima Anis, Saleem Abdullah, Ganeshsree Selvachandran, Abdulkadir Sengür, Seyed Ahmad Edalatpanah, Shahbaz Ali, Shahzaib Ashraf, Shouzhen Zeng, Shio Gai Quek, Shuangwu Zhu, Shumaiza, Sidra Sayed, Sohail Iqbal, Songtao Shao, Sundas Shahzadi, Dragiša Stanujkić, Željko Stević, Udhayakumar Ramalingam, Zunaira Rashid, Hossein Rashmanlou, Rajkumar Verma, Luige Vlădăreanu, Victor Vlădăreanu, Desmond Jun Yi Tey, Selçuk Topal, Naveed Yaqoob, Yanhui Guo, Yee Fei Gan, Yingcang Ma, Young Bae Jun, Yuping Lai, Hafiz Abdul Wahab, Wei Yang, Xiaohong Zhang, Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas, Lemnaouar Zedam
A Comparative Study on Frequent Link Disconnection problems in VANETs
No full textVehicular Ad-hoc network is an emerging technology, which takes vehicles as nodes and forms a wireless network. The topology of such network changes rapidly as the nodes are in continuous motion with different speeds, leading to some serious issues that must be handled correctly in order to make VANETs reliable. One of the main problems associated with VANETs is Frequent Link Disconnection. There have been many designed for VANETs but Rapid change in topology has made it really problematic to design a routing protocol for VANETs that is efficient and effective in all terms. In this paper, we compared the four major VANET routing protocols, GPGR, GPSR, GPCR & HarpiaGrid in terms of Frequent Link Breakage with respect to velocity of nodes and the number of nodes. The results have proved, HarpiaGrid and GPGR are the better routing protocols than other two. If overhead cost is ignored, HarpiaGrid gives the outstanding performance
A review on the state of the art of dynamic voltage restorer: topologies, operational modes, compensation methods, and control algorithms
Full text linkEnhancing and regulating power quality is a fundamental necessity in any industry reliant on power, aiming for the optimal utilization of resources. The power quality challenges, including sags, swells, harmonic distortions, and interruptions, have been acknowledged as critical issues. Among these, sags and swells are prevalent and can significantly impact electrical devices or machines, necessitating swift compensation to prevent malfunction or failure. Custom power devices such as the Unified Power-Quality Conditioner (UPQC), Distribution Static Synchronous Compensator (DSTATCOM), and Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) are employed to address these issues. The DVR, a custom power device specifically designed for compensating voltage sags and swells, offers the advantage of active/reactive power control. A considerable body of literature over the past years has explored various DVR configurations and control techniques. This comprehensive review focuses on DVRs, presenting diverse power circuit topologies and control techniques available to address power quality issues. Noteworthy advancements in DVR technology include the incorporation of advanced control algorithms, facilitating more accurate voltage tracking and precise injection of compensating voltage. These algorithms can be implemented through digital signal processors (DSPs) or field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), ensuring rapid and precise DVR control. Furthermore, the adoption of high-frequency inverters in DVRs represents a significant development. These inverters operate at much higher frequencies than traditional counterparts, enabling quicker switching and the injection of a more precise compensating voltage. This review aims to assist in selecting optimal control strategies and power circuits for DVRs tailored to specific requirements, providing valuable insights for researchers in this field
Collected Papers (Neutrosophics and other topics), Volume XIV
Full text linkThis fourteenth volume of Collected Papers is an eclectic tome of 87 papers in Neutrosophics and other fields, such as mathematics, fuzzy sets, intuitionistic fuzzy sets, picture fuzzy sets, information fusion, robotics, statistics, or extenics, comprising 936 pages, published between 2008-2022 in different scientific journals or currently in press, by the author alone or in collaboration with the following 99 co-authors (alphabetically ordered) from 26 countries: Ahmed B. Al-Nafee, Adesina Abdul Akeem Agboola, Akbar Rezaei, Shariful Alam, Marina Alonso, Fran Andujar, Toshinori Asai, Assia Bakali, Azmat Hussain, Daniela Baran, Bijan Davvaz, Bilal Hadjadji, Carlos Díaz Bohorquez, Robert N. Boyd, M. Caldas, Cenap Özel, Pankaj Chauhan, Victor Christianto, Salvador Coll, Shyamal Dalapati, Irfan Deli, Balasubramanian Elavarasan, Fahad Alsharari, Yonfei Feng, Daniela Gîfu, Rafael Rojas Gualdrón, Haipeng Wang, Hemant Kumar Gianey, Noel Batista Hernández, Abdel-Nasser Hussein, Ibrahim M. Hezam, Ilanthenral Kandasamy, W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy, Muthusamy Karthika, Nour Eldeen M. Khalifa, Madad Khan, Kifayat Ullah, Valeri Kroumov, Tapan Kumar Roy, Deepesh Kunwar, Le Thi Nhung, Pedro López, Mai Mohamed, Manh Van Vu, Miguel A. Quiroz-Martínez, Marcel Migdalovici, Kritika Mishra, Mohamed Abdel-Basset, Mohamed Talea, Mohammad Hamidi, Mohammed Alshumrani, Mohamed Loey, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Shabir, Mumtaz Ali, Nassim Abbas, Munazza Naz, Ngan Thi Roan, Nguyen Xuan Thao, Rishwanth Mani Parimala, Ion Pătrașcu, Surapati Pramanik, Quek Shio Gai, Qiang Guo, Rajab Ali Borzooei, Nimitha Rajesh, Jesús Estupiñan Ricardo, Juan Miguel Martínez Rubio, Saeed Mirvakili, Arsham Borumand Saeid, Saeid Jafari, Said Broumi, Ahmed A. Salama, Nirmala Sawan, Gheorghe Săvoiu, Ganeshsree Selvachandran, Seok-Zun Song, Shahzaib Ashraf, Jayant Singh, Rajesh Singh, Son Hoang Le, Tahir Mahmood, Kenta Takaya, Mirela Teodorescu, Ramalingam Udhayakumar, Maikel Y. Leyva Vázquez, V. Venkateswara Rao, Luige Vlădăreanu, Victor Vlădăreanu, Gabriela Vlădeanu, Michael Voskoglou, Yaser Saber, Yong Deng, You He, Youcef Chibani, Young Bae Jun, Wadei F. Al-Omeri, Hongbo Wang, Zayen Azzouz Omar
Collected Papers (Neutrosophics and other topics), Volume XIV
No full textThis fourteenth volume of Collected Papers is an eclectic tome of 87 papers in Neutrosophics and other fields, such as mathematics, fuzzy sets, intuitionistic fuzzy sets, picture fuzzy sets, information fusion, robotics, statistics, or extenics, comprising 936 pages, published between 2008-2022 in different scientific journals or currently in press, by the author alone or in collaboration with the following 99 co-authors (alphabetically ordered) from 26 countries: Ahmed B. Al-Nafee, Adesina Abdul Akeem Agboola, Akbar Rezaei, Shariful Alam, Marina Alonso, Fran Andujar, Toshinori Asai, Assia Bakali, Azmat Hussain, Daniela Baran, Bijan Davvaz, Bilal Hadjadji, Carlos Díaz Bohorquez, Robert N. Boyd, M. Caldas, Cenap Özel, Pankaj Chauhan, Victor Christianto, Salvador Coll, Shyamal Dalapati, Irfan Deli, Balasubramanian Elavarasan, Fahad Alsharari, Yonfei Feng, Daniela Gîfu, Rafael Rojas Gualdrón, Haipeng Wang, Hemant Kumar Gianey, Noel Batista Hernández, Abdel-Nasser Hussein, Ibrahim M. Hezam, Ilanthenral Kandasamy, W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy, Muthusamy Karthika, Nour Eldeen M. Khalifa, Madad Khan, Kifayat Ullah, Valeri Kroumov, Tapan Kumar Roy, Deepesh Kunwar, Le Thi Nhung, Pedro López, Mai Mohamed, Manh Van Vu, Miguel A. Quiroz-Martínez, Marcel Migdalovici, Kritika Mishra, Mohamed Abdel-Basset, Mohamed Talea, Mohammad Hamidi, Mohammed Alshumrani, Mohamed Loey, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Shabir, Mumtaz Ali, Nassim Abbas, Munazza Naz, Ngan Thi Roan, Nguyen Xuan Thao, Rishwanth Mani Parimala, Ion Pătrașcu, Surapati Pramanik, Quek Shio Gai, Qiang Guo, Rajab Ali Borzooei, Nimitha Rajesh, Jesús Estupiñan Ricardo, Juan Miguel Martínez Rubio, Saeed Mirvakili, Arsham Borumand Saeid, Saeid Jafari, Said Broumi, Ahmed A. Salama, Nirmala Sawan, Gheorghe Săvoiu, Ganeshsree Selvachandran, Seok-Zun Song, Shahzaib Ashraf, Jayant Singh, Rajesh Singh, Son Hoang Le, Tahir Mahmood, Kenta Takaya, Mirela Teodorescu, Ramalingam Udhayakumar, Maikel Y. Leyva Vázquez, V. Venkateswara Rao, Luige Vlădăreanu, Victor Vlădăreanu, Gabriela Vlădeanu, Michael Voskoglou, Yaser Saber, Yong Deng, You He, Youcef Chibani, Young Bae Jun, Wadei F. Al-Omeri, Hongbo Wang, Zayen Azzouz Omar
A Threat Modelling Approach to Analyze and Mitigate Botnet Attacks in Smart Home Use Case
No full textPrivacy Preserving Inference for Deep Neural Networks:Optimizing Homomorphic Encryption for Efficient and Secure Classification
Full text linkThe application of machine learning in healthcare, financial, social media, and other sensitive sectors not only involves high accuracy but privacy as well. Due to the emergence of the Cloud as a computation and one-to-many access paradigm; training and classification/inference tasks have been outsourced to Cloud. However, its usage is limited due to legal and ethical constraints regarding privacy. In this work, we propose a privacy-preserving neural networks-based classification model based on Homomorphic Encryption (HE) where the user can send an encrypted instance to the cloud and receive an encrypted inference from it to preserve the user’s query privacy. In contrast to existing works, we demonstrate the realistic limitations of HE for privacy-preserving machine learning by changing its parameters for enhanced security and accuracy. We showcase scenarios where the choice of HE parameters impedes accurate classification and present an optimized setting for achieving reliable classification. We present several results to demonstrate its effectiveness using MNIST dataset with highly improved inference time for a query as compared to the state of the art
Temperature-Dependent Functional Response of Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) on the Eggs of Spodoptera litura (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Laboratory
No full textSpodoptera litura (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a major pest of several economically important crops with worldwide distribution. Use of insecticides is the principal strategy for its management, which has subsequently led to insecticide resistance and control failures. Functional response of Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) at larval and adult stages was evaluated in this study, using S. litura eggs as the prey at various temperatures varying between 15 and 35 °C. Based on logistic model findings, linear parameters of various predatory stages of H. axyridis at various temperatures were significantly negative, which indicate a type II functional response. The theoretical maximum number (T/Th) of eggs consumed increased with increasing temperature across all predatory stages. According to the random predator equation, the coefficients of attack rate increased and that of handling time decreased as the temperature increased. The 4th instar and adult stages were superior candidates for biocontrol of the target prey, typically at higher temperatures. The maximum attack rate (0.546 ± 0.058 h−1) and lowest handling time (0.189 ± 0.004 h) were exhibited by the females at 30 and 35 °C, respectively, whereas these parameters were inferior for early instars. These findings clearly depict that the 4th instar and adult predators are efficient egg consumers and can serve as potential suppressors of S. litura field populations. The limitations of the predictions formulated by functional response trials are also discussed
Power quality improvement using ultra capacitor based dynamic voltage restorer with real twisting sliding mode control
Full text linkIntroduction. Power quality is a major problem in today's power system, since it may have an impact on customers and utilities. Problem. Power quality is important issue of financial consequences for utilities, their consumers and load apparatus vendors. Voltage sag/swell are the most significant and usually occurring power quality issues in a secondary distribution system for sensitive loads. Goal. Dynamic voltage restorer is a fast, flexible, effective and dynamic custom power device can be used to compensate voltage sag/swell with integration of energy storage. Ultra capacitors have ideal properties of great power density and low energy density for elimination of voltage sag/swell. Their performance is mostly determined by the control strategy established for switching of voltage source converters. Originality. In this research, a strategy for the voltage source converter of dynamic voltage restorer based on the real twisting sliding mode control and ultra capacitor is developed to correct the fault that successfully eliminates the impacts of voltage sag/swell. Methodology. Ultra capacitor along with real twisting sliding mode control gives the more robustness and faster response, with also increasing the compensation time of the dynamic voltage restorer. Testing environment. To evaluate the performance of the proposed control approach, the MATLAB / Simulink SimPower System tool box is employed. Practical values. According to Simulation results clearly shows that the ultra capacitor along with real twisting sliding mode control effectively eliminate the voltage sag/swell in a very short time of 2 ms as compared to IEEE standards that is 20 ms, with less than 5 % total harmonic distortion for sensitive loads as per Information Technology Industry Council Curve and SEMI-F-47 Standards.Вступ. Якість електроенергії являє собою серйозну проблему в сучасній енергосистемі, оскільки вона може впливати на споживачів та комунальні служби. Проблема. Якість електроенергії є важливим питанням з точки хору фінансових наслідків для комунальних підприємств, їх споживачів та постачальників апаратури-навантажень. Провали/стрибки напруги є найбільш серйозними проблемами з огляду на якість електроенергії, які зазвичай виникають у вторинній системі розподілу для чутливих навантажень. Мета. Динамічний відновник напруги — це швидкий, гнучкий, ефективний і динамічний пристрій живлення, який можна використовувати для компенсації провалів/стрибків напруги за допомогою інтеграції накопичувача енергії. Суперконденсатори мають ідеальні властивості високої щільності потужності та низької щільності енергії для усунення провалів/стрибків напруги. Їх ефективність переважно визначається стратегією управління, встановленої для комутації перетворювачів джерел напруги. Оригінальність. У цьому дослідженні розроблено стратегію для перетворювача джерела напруги динамічного відновника напруги на основі керування реальним ковзним режимом скручування та суперконденсатора для виправлення несправності, яка успішно усуває наслідки провалу/стрибка напруги. Методологія. Суперконденсатор разом із керуванням реальним ковзним режимом скручування забезпечує більшу надійність та швидшу реакцію, а також збільшує час компенсації динамічного відновника напруги. Середовище для тестування. Для оцінки ефективності запропонованого підходу до управління використовується комплекс програмного забезпечення MATLAB/Simulink SimPower System. Практична цінність. Згідно з результатами моделювання ясно видно, що суперконденсатор разом з керуванням реальним ковзним режимом скручування ефективно усувають провали/стрибки напруги за дуже короткий час 2 мс у порівнянні зі стандартами IEEE, у відповідності до яких він становить 20 мс, із загальним спотворенням гармонік менше 5 % для чутливого навантаження відповідно зі стандартами Information Technology Industry Council Curve та SEMI-F-47
