490 research outputs found
2026: Ruth Awad
No full textRuth Awad is a Lebanese-American disabled poet, a 2021 NEA Poetry fellow, and the author of Outside the Joy (Third Man Books, 2024) and Set to Music a Wildfire (Southern Indiana Review Press, 2017), winner of the 2016 Michael Waters Poetry Prize and the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. Her work can be found in The Atlantic, AGNI, Poetry, Poem-a-Day, The Believer, The New Republic, and elsewhere. She has an MGA in poetry from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and she lives and writes in Columbus, Ohio.https://thekeep.eiu.edu/lionsinwinter_writers/1055/thumbnail.jp
Surgical management of atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing cardiac surgery: a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines and recommendations
No full textAims: Surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) has been demonstrated to be a safe procedure conducted concomitantly alongside cardiac surgery. However, there are conflicting guideline recommendations surrounding indications for surgical ablation. We conducted a systematic review of current recommendations on concomitant surgical AF ablation. Methods and results: We identified publications from MEDLINE and EMBASE between January 2011 and December 2022 and additionally searched Guideline libraries and websites of relevant organizations in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Of 895 studies screened, 4 were rigorously developed (AGREE-II > 50%) and included. All guidelines agreed on the definitions of paroxysmal, persistent, and longstanding AF based on duration and refraction to current treatment modalities. In the Australia-New Zealand (CSANZ) and European (EACTS) guidelines, opportunistic screening for patients >65 years is recommended. The EACTS recommends systematic screening for those aged >75 or at high stroke risk (Class IIa, Level B). However, this was not recommended by American Heart Association or Society of Thoracic Surgeons guidelines. All guidelines identified surgical AF ablation during concomitant cardiac surgery as safe and recommended for consideration by a Heart Team with notable variation in recommendation strength and the specific indication (three guidelines fail to specify any indication for surgery). Only the STS recommended left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) alongside surgical ablation (Class IIa, Level C). Conclusion: Disagreements exist in recommendations for specific indications for concomitant AF ablation and LAAO, with the decision subject to Heart Team assessment. Further evidence is needed to develop recommendations for specific indications for concomitant AF procedures and guidelines need to be made congruent
Drivers’ Behavior at Signalized Intersections Operating with Flashing Green: Comparative Study
No full textIn Jordan, thirty-four signalized intersections out of 105 within Greater Amman Municipality were tested to operate with the flashing green change interval without prior justification or establishing guidelines for such practice. This research attempts to assess the impact of the used practice on driving behavior conducting a comparative study between two sets of signalized intersections. The first set of signalized intersections operates with flashing green and the second set of signalized intersections operates without flashing green. Results showed that average approach speed of vehicles crossing intersections that operate with flashing green change interval is higher than the average approach speed for vehicles crossing intersections which operate without flashing green. The proportion of vehicles crossing intersections during flashing green change interval is significantly higher than the proportion of vehicles crossing the intersections during change interval at intersections that operate without flashing green. While the proportion of vehicles jumps before green on intersections operating with flashing green light is lower than the proportion of vehicles jumps before green on intersections operating without flashing green. Guidelines should be developed to control such application. Future research will expand the sample size to cover wide spectrum of intersections allover Jordan, and will consider the crash history records at each studied intersection
Multicomponent image segmentation using a genetic algorithm and artificial neural network
No full textImage segmentation is an essential process for image analysis. Several methods were developed to segment multicomponent images, and the success of these methods depends on several factors including 1) the characteristics of the acquired image and 2) the percentage of imperfections in the process of image acquisition. The majority of these methods require a priori knowledge, which is difficult to obtain. Furthermore, they assume the existence of models that can estimate its parameters and fit to the given data. However, such a parametric approach is not robust, and its performance is severely affected by the correctness of the utilized parametric model. In this letter, a new multicomponent image segmentation method is developed using a nonparametric unsupervised artificial neural network called Kohonen's self-organizing map (SOM) and hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA). SOM is used to detect the main features that are present in the image; then, HGA is used to cluster the image into homogeneous regions without any a priori knowledge. Experiments that are performed on different satellite images confirm the efficiency and robustness of the SOM-HGA method compared to the Iterative Self-Organizing DATA analysis technique (ISODATA). © 2007 IEEE.ARIA EH, 2004, P 20 ISPRS C IST TUR, P117; AWAD M, IN PRESS INT J REMOT; BACAO F, 2005, P ICCS 2005 C, P476; Baker J. E., 1987, P 2 INT C GEN ALG, P14; CHEN Q, 2004, LECT NOTES COMPUT SC, V33, P621; Chun DN, 1996, PATTERN RECOGN, V29, P1195, DOI 10.1016-0031-3203(95)00148-4; Fauzi M., 2003, P BRIT MACH VIS C, P519; HOLLLAND J, 1975, ADAPT NATURAL ARTIFI; HUAPT R, 2004, PRACTICAL GENETIC AL; Jensen J. R., 1996, INTRO DIGITAL IMAGE; Kohavi R., 1998, APPL MACHINE LEARNIN, V30, P271; Levine M. D., 1985, VISION MAN MACHINE; NEVATIA R, 1980, COMPUT VISION GRAPH, V13, P257, DOI 10.1016-0146-664X(80)90049-0; Ng SC, 1996, IEEE SIGNAL PROC MAG, V13, P38, DOI 10.1109-79.543974; PARZEN E, 1962, ANN MATH STAT, V33, P1065, DOI 10.1214-aoms-1177704472; PERKINS S, 2000, FUZZY SYST EVOL COMP, V3, P52; Pina P, 2003, INT GEOSCI REMOTE SE, P3516; PRATT W, 1991, DIGITA IMAGE PROCESS; Tou J.T., 1974, PATTERN RECOGNITION; Wang X., 2004, P IEEE C ROB AUT MEC, P991; Xiaoying Jin, 2003, Proceedings of the 12th IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (Cat. No.03CH37442); Xu BG, 2002, AATCC REV, V2, P42; Yao KC, 2000, PATTERN RECOGN, V33, P1575, DOI 10.1016-S0031-3203(99)00135-1; YIN HJ, 1995, NEURAL COMPUT, V7, P1178, DOI 10.1162-neco.1995.7.6.117834232
The sorption of ammonia on brown coal
No full text© 1978 Dr. Awad Rizk OussaThis thesis is a report of an investigation carried out by the author between 1st April 1969 to 31st October 1973 on a full time basis and from 1st December 1975 to 31st July 1978 on a part time basis. The research project was conducted by the author in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Melbourne, and on the premises of Australian Char Pty. Ltd., Morwell.
The project was based on the premise that useful information on the brown coal-ammonia system can be obtained from sorption isotherms. The author designed and assembled the apparatus with this in mind, and developed a method of obtaining a self-consistent and meaningful interpretation of the sorption isotherms. Thermodynamic data for the ammonia sorption process was derived and used to develop a preliminary model for the ammonia-brown coal system.
No separate literature review has been presented in the thesis, though frequent reference to the literature has been made in the discussions in each chapter.
Finally, the experimental details have been included in the appendices at the end of the thesis
فاعلية استخدام edmodo على تحسين الاداء الكتابي باللغة الانجليزية لدى طالبات الصف السابع واتجاهاتهن نحو الكتابة
No full textThis study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using Edmodo as a teaching and learning virtual class to the product writing approach on enhancing Palestinian seventh graders‘ English writing skills and their attitudes towards writing. To achieve this aim, the researcher followed the experimental approach so she chose a random sample of 50 EFL female students studying at Al Majda Wasella prep "B" Girls' School in the Directorate of Education-west Gaza. The participants were divided into two equivalent groups. The two groups were equivalent in terms of their age, previous learning, and achievement in English language in general and achievement in English writing in particular and in the use of the writing production. The researcher used two tools. The first tool was a writing skills test to measure students' writing performance in general and their writing product skills in particular before and after the intervention. The second tool was writing attitudes scale to explore students' attitudes towards writing in English before and after the intervention. In addition, the Edmodo was used as a teaching and learning virtual class to the product writing approach for explaining the writing lessons included in the first-term of English for Palestine 7. The collected data were analyzed and treated statistically through the use of SPSS. The findings of the study revealed that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores attained by the experimental group and that attained by the control group in the post writing skills test in favor of the experimental group. This showed a remarkable improvement in English writing performance of the experimental group students in general and in their writing product skills in particular as compared with the control group students. Likewise, the findings indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group on the writing attitudes scale before and after the experiment in favor of the after administration of the experiment. This means that the participants' attitudes towards English writing after the implementation of the Edmodo positively changed. Additionally, implementing the effect size equation, the study revealed that Edmodo project had a large effect size in favor of the experimental group. The researcher recommended the necessity of using the Edmodo in teaching English writing to attain better results in students' English writing skills, to enable them to use the writing product and to develop their attitudes towards English writing. Also, the researcher suggested that further researches should be conducted to explore the effect of the use of the Edmodo on different English language skills and other school subjects
Superconducting properties of zinc substitution in Tl-2223 phase
No full textThe effect of partial replacement of copper by zinc in Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3O10-δ superconductor phase is studied. Superconducting samples of the nominal composition Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3-xZnx O10-δ with x ranging from 0 to 0.6 are prepared under normal pressure by a one step of solid-state reaction technique. The samples are characterized by using X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and EDX. The X-ray data indicate that the partial replacement of Cu2+ions by Zn2+ions does not influence the tetragonal structure of the samples, and the lattice parameters a and c vary according to the difference in the ionic radii of Cu and Zn. The superconducting parameters, such as superconducting transition temperature Tc, critical current density Jc and irreversibility field Bir are calculated from electrical resistivity and AC-magnetic susceptibility measurements. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Abou-Aly A.I., 2002, INT C RES TRENDS SCI, V91; ADACHI S, 1990, PHYSICA C, V111, P543; Awad R, 2000, PHYSICA C, V341, P685, DOI 10.1016-S0921-4534(00)00650-X; Awad R, 2007, SUPERCOND SCI TECH, V20, P401, DOI 10.1088-0953-2048-20-4-017; Awad R, 2001, PHYSICA B, V307, P72, DOI 10.1016-S0921-4526(01)00971-1; Batista-Leyva AJ, 2003, SUPERCOND SCI TECH, V16, P857, DOI 10.1088-0953-2048-16-8-305; BEAN CP, 1964, REV MOD PHYS, V36, P31, DOI 10.1103-RevModPhys.36.31; BERKLEY DD, 1993, PHYS REV B, V47, P5524, DOI 10.1103-PhysRevB.47.5524; CHEN DX, 1990, PHYSICA C, V167, P317, DOI 10.1016-0921-4534(90)90349-J; Chu SY, 2000, PHYSICA C, V337, P229, DOI 10.1016-S0921-4534(00)00107-6; Fradina IA, 1999, PHYSICA C, V311, P81, DOI 10.1016-S0921-4534(98)00563-2; Glowacki BA, 1997, CRYOGENICS, V37, P609, DOI 10.1016-S0011-2275(97)00053-2; HAZEN RM, 1988, PHYS REV LETT, V60, P1657, DOI 10.1103-PhysRevLett.60.1657; Isber S, 2005, SUPERCOND SCI TECH, V18, P311, DOI 10.1088-0953-2048-18-3-018; Isber S, 2006, J PHYS CONF SER, V43, P450, DOI 10.1088-1742-6596-43-1-112; Kayed TS, 2003, CRYST RES TECHNOL, V38, P946, DOI 10.1002-crat.200310118; Kuhberger M, 2003, PHYSICA C, V390, P263, DOI 10.1016-S0921-4534(03)00706-8; LEE MW, 1995, PHYSICA C, V245, P6, DOI 10.1016-0921-4534(95)00100-X; Mezzetti E, 2000, PHYSICA C, V332, P115, DOI 10.1016-S0921-4534(00)00008-3; MOHAMMED NH, 2005, ARAB INT C REC ADV P, P9; Nishida A, 2003, PHYSICA C, V392, P349, DOI 10.1016-S0921-4534(03)00848-7; Pavard S, 1999, PHYSICA C, V316, P198, DOI 10.1016-S0921-4534(99)00259-2; Ravi S, 2000, PHYSICA C, V330, P58, DOI 10.1016-S0921-4534(99)00611-5; REN ZF, 1991, PHYSICA C, V184, P24, DOI 10.1016-0921-4534(91)91496-Q; RUCKENSTEIN E, 1989, MATER LETT, V8, P421, DOI 10.1016-0167-577X(89)90065-7; Tang H, 1997, PHYSICA C, V282, P2111, DOI 10.1016-S0921-4534(97)01171-4; Triscone G, 1996, PHYSICA C, V264, P233, DOI 10.1016-0921-4534(96)00262-6; VANDERAH TA, 1992, CHEM SUPERCONDUCTOR, P90; WANG YB, 1993, J LOW TEMP PHYS, V15, P169; WESTERHOLT K, 1989, PHYS REV B, V39, P11680, DOI 10.1103-PhysRevB.39.11680; Wisniewski A, 2000, PHYS REV B, V61, P791, DOI 10.1103-PhysRevB.61.791; XU YW, 1990, PHYSICA C, V169, P205, DOI 10.1016-0921-4534(90)90177-G; Yamauchi H, 1998, SUPERCOND SCI TECH, V11, P1006, DOI 10.1088-0953-2048-11-10-022; Yang Li, 1994, Physics Letters A, V18543
STUDY OF BLAST-INDUCED MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY: LABORATORY SIMULATION OF BLAST SHOCK WAVES
No full textBlast-induced mild traumatic brain injury (BImTBI) is one of the most common causes of traumatic brain injuries. BImTBI mechanisms are not well identified, as most previous blast-related studies were focused on the visible and fatal injuries. BImTBI is a hidden lesion and long-term escalation of related complications is considered a serious health care challenging due to lack of accurate data required for early diagnosis and intervention.
The experimental studies presented in this thesis were performed to investigate aspects of blast shock wave mechanisms that might lead to mild traumatic brain injury. A compressed air-driven shock tube was designed and validated using finite element analysis (FEA) and experimental investigation. Two metal diaphragm types (steel and brass) with three thicknesses (0.127, 0.76, and 0.025mm) were utilized in the shock tube calibration experiment, as a new approach to generate shock wave. The consistency of generated shock waves was confirmed using a statistical assessment of the results by evaluating the shock waves parameters. The analysis results showed that the 0.127mm steel diaphragm induces a reliable shock waveform in the range of BImTB investigations.
Evaluation of the shock wave impacts on the brain was examined using two sets of experiments. The first set was conducted using a gel brain model while the second set was performed using a physical head occupied with a gel brain model and supported by a neck model. The gel brain model in both the experimental studies was generated using silicone gel (Sylgard-527). The effects of tested models locations and orientations with respect to the shock tube exit were investigated by measuring the generated pressure wave within the brain model and acceleration. The results revealed that the pressure waveform and acceleration outcomes were greatly affected by the tested model orientations and locations in relation to the path of shock wave propagation.ThesisDoctor of Philosophy (PhD
One stage bilateral endoscopic sympathectomy under local anesthesia: Is a valid, and safe procedure for treatment of palmer hyperhidrosis?
No full textObjective : Thoracoscopic sympathetic surgery is currently the best treatment for hyperhidrosis, and the success rate is quite high, but poor emphasis has been given to the type of anaesthesia and its application through either one or two stages of surgery. This study has evaluated the operative and postoperative results of one-stage bilateral thoracoscopic sympathectomy under local anaesthesia. Materials and Methods : From 2003 to 2007, n=14 patients with hyperhidrosis of the upper limbs [4 females and 10 males] with a mean age of 28±2.11 year [range 26-44] were included. They were operated on by means of bilateral ETS under local anaesthesia. The mean follow-up was 1.5 years (range 13-24 months). Results : No operative mortality was recorded. The mean operating room time for the whole bilateral procedure under was 73. 5±14.5 range [60 -120] min most of the patients were discharged the same day after a chest roentgenogram except, only two patients with gustatory sweating one recurrent sweating in the patient who had previously axillary hyperhidrosis. Also among them two patients (20%) experienced a minimal pneumothorax that required no treatment. Postoperative quality of life and satisfaction were excellent and cost was significantly reduced. Conclusions : Bilateral thoracoscopic sympathectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis could be safely and effectively performed in patients refusing GA regarding cost and satisfaction
- …
