Z Usmani - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Z Usmani

Oral presentation TO 103Keatley D, Jurisevic M, Liu X, Kidd P, Lawton K, Kotal L, Alexander S, Li... more Oral presentation TO 103Keatley D, Jurisevic M, Liu X, Kidd P, Lawton K, Kotal L, Alexander S, Liversidge C, Carson K, Brinn M, Esterman A, Veale A, Usmani Z, Mysore S, Smith

This paper gives the introduction for software project management toolkit developed for private o... more This paper gives the introduction for software project management toolkit developed for private organization. The paper describes role based collaborative system for the organization where the process of organizational project management is carried effectively with the database of all the various projects undertaken. The main objective of the project is to develop a system that is easy to use which includes less complications and have functional implicit use in the organization.

Journal of Plant Production, 2013

This study was carried out at Bany El-Hareth site north of Sana'a-Yemen to evaluated the ability ... more This study was carried out at Bany El-Hareth site north of Sana'a-Yemen to evaluated the ability of Brassica juncea (L.), which has already been recognized as a plant suitable for metal phytoremediation to extract Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Nickel (Ni), Zinc (Zn), and Copper (Cu) from waste water contaminated soil and investigated the effect of plant parts and contaminated soil on heavy metals accumulation in plant. Indian mustard plant (B. juncea) was grown in wastewater contaminated soil. This study showed that Brassica juncea (L.) was able to grow in heavy metals contaminated soils and also able to accumulate extraordinarily high concentrations of some metals such as Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn and Cu in its tissues. The results indicated that contaminated soil content of Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn and Cu decreased 45, 56, 73, 53and 79 % respectively after plant harvest. Plant parts and contaminated soil affected heavy metals accumulation in plant, the highest accumulation 54.0, 24.8 and 42.3 ppm of Pb, Cd and Ni respectively were in plant roots, whereas, the highest accumulation of Zn was 250.6 ppm in shoots and 35.6 ppm of Cu in fruits.

BMJ case reports, Jan 4, 2011

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) syndrome and result... more Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) syndrome and resultant hypercortisolism carries a poor prognosis with a short median survival and high incidence of infective complications. The combination of etoposide with either carboplatin or cisplatin is the current standard chemotherapy used for the management of SCLC. Etoposide is metabolised by cytochrome P450 3A4. Ketoconazole is an imidazole derivative possessing antifungal properties and also causes inhibition of adrenal corticosteroid and androgen production. There is an additional increased risk of toxicity due to a potential interaction between etoposide and ketoconazole, which is a strong inhibitor of cytochrome P450 3A4, and theoretically can lead to greater myelosuppression. Metyrapone can be a safe alternative in such settings.

Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, 2014

The object of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical, microbiological and sensory propert... more The object of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties of a dry-cured ham during storage, according to the level of diet processed sulfur (0%; CON, 0.1%; T1 and 0.3%; T2). The results showed that the moisture content of T1 and T2 had higher, whereas crude fat of T1 and T2 had lower than that of CON during storage (P < 0.05). T1 and T2 had significantly retarded lipid oxidation compared with CON during storage (P < 0.05). The number of lactic acid bacteria in T1 and T2 were higher than that of CON at 8 months. Linoleic acid content in CON was significantly higher than those in both sulfur groups (P < 0.05). In sensory test, T1 showed positive overall score than T2 and CON. The feeding processed sulfur can suppress lipid oxidation, improve of meat quality and sensory properties. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Many Asian countries are recently seeing an increase in meat consumption. However, dry-cured meat products from pork are not well known in Asia and consumed less than in Europe. The recent increase in import of fermented meat products from Europe leads to unbalanced consumption in the meat industry. To strengthen the international competitiveness of dry cured ham quality, it is necessary to develop better quality meat and process methods. Most of the previous studies were concentrated on the use of raw meat of sulfur fed pigs, but this study researches that the meat apply for fermented meat products. Changes of composition of amino acids from sulfur fed pigs prevent lipid oxidation and improve the meat quality. With the suitable combination of high quality raw meat from sulfur fed pork and processing, it is possible to manufacture high quality dry cured ham and extend its shelf life.

2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Security and Defense Applications, 2009

This paper introduces BlastSim - physics based stationary multi-agent simulation of blast waves a... more This paper introduces BlastSim - physics based stationary multi-agent simulation of blast waves and its impact on human body. The agents are constrained by physical characteristics and mechanics of blast wave. The simulation is capable of assessing the impact of crowd formation patterns on the magnitude of injury and number of casualties during a suicide bombing attack. It also examines

2013 International Symposium on Biometrics and Security Technologies, 2013

Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is a de-facto standard for processing of ident... more Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is a de-facto standard for processing of identity claims in criminal and civilian settings around the world. There are dozens of commercial organizations and vendors offering their end-to-end solutions and software development kits (SDKs) world wide, yet the development and deployment of such a system is always an uphill task due to interdisciplinary nature and complexity of technical issues it comes with. This paper presents a plug-n-play AFIS solution for criminal and civilian applications that can be developed and deployed in less than three months with basic functions and minimum technical expertise. The proposed framework will set a benchmark for the in-house development of such system and provide a clear technical road map for clients to pursue in case they want to develop their own solution and looking for the most economical and technical-savvy route. The proposed solution is capable of acquiring images directly from ten-print card, adding facial images and demographic information in one application, and performs the routine verification & authentication tasks.

Technological Developments in Education and Automation, 2009

Abstract – This paper asks a new question: how, as computer scientists, we can save the lives of ... more Abstract – This paper asks a new question: how, as computer scientists, we can save the lives of the people living in the troubled areas of the world where suicide bombing and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) explosions become routine incidents in daily lives. How we can ...

Innovations and Advances in Computer Sciences and Engineering, 2009

Abstract – Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and Suicide Bombing have become the headline news f... more Abstract – Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and Suicide Bombing have become the headline news for every other day. It is a growing global phenomenon that is happening from Iraq to Afghanistan, Syria to United Kingdom and Spain to Pakistan. An average US soldier in ...

MILCOM 2008 - 2008 IEEE Military Communications Conference, 2008

Suicide bombing has become one of the most lethal and favorite modus-operandi of terrorist organi... more Suicide bombing has become one of the most lethal and favorite modus-operandi of terrorist organizations around the world. While various attempts have been made to assess the impact of crowd density on suicide bomber effectiveness, the specifics of the actual crowd formation and orientation of the bomber with respect to the crowd has not been examined. A virtual simulation tool has been developed which is capable of assessing the impact of crowd formation patterns on the magnitude of injury and number of casualties during a suicide bombing attack. The tool examines variables such as the number and arrangement of people within a crowd for typical layouts, the number of suicide bombers, and the nature of the explosion including equivalent weight of TNT and the duration of the resulting blast wave pulse. The goals of the analysis are to determine optimal crowd formations to reduce the deaths and/or injuries of individuals in the crowd, to determine what architectural and geometric changes can reduce the number of casualties and injuries, and what is the correlation between variant crowd densities and formations with the weight and pulse duration of the explosives? Results indicated that the worst crowd formation is street (e.g. Zig-Zag) where 44% crowd can be dead and 71% can be injured (there is an overlap of injury and lethality), given typical explosive carrying capacity of a single suicide bomber. Bus and market crowd formations were found to be the best for reducing the effectiveness of an attack, with 24% and 26% crowd in lethal zone respectively and 58% and 54% in injury zones. Simulation results were compared and validated by the real-life incidents and found to be in good agreement. Line-of-sight with the attacker, rushing towards the exit, and stampede were found to be the most lethal choices both during the attack and post-explosion. These findings, although preliminary, may have implications for emergency response and counter terrorism. The paper also discu- - sses additional capabilities that are being developed for the model.

2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Control and Automation, 2009

This work proposes a supermarket optimization simulation model called Swarm-Moves is based on sel... more This work proposes a supermarket optimization simulation model called Swarm-Moves is based on self organized complex system studies to identify parameters and their values that can influence customers to buy more on impulse in a given period of time. In the proposed model, customers are assumed to have trolleys equipped with technology like RFID that can aid the passing of

2008 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, 2008

This work is set to implement, test, analyze and measure agentspsila behavior and its consequence... more This work is set to implement, test, analyze and measure agentspsila behavior and its consequences under extreme conditions like suicide bombing. The goals are to determine optimal crowd formations and architectural and geometrical recommendations which (when followed) will reduce the number of deaths and injuries in the crowd. Results indicate that the worst crowd formation is street, with 44% crowd in lethal zone and 7% in injury zones. Bus and market crowd formations were found to be the best with 24% and 26% crowd in lethal and 58% and 54% in injury zones respectively. Results were compared and validated by the real-life incidents and found to be in good agreement. These findings, although preliminary, may have implications for emergency response and counter terrorism.

Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, 2014

Purpose of review The use of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) is often employed f... more Purpose of review The use of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) is often employed for the management of acute respiratory failure as an alternative to endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. However, evidence to support the application of NPPV use in patients with acute severe asthma is less known. Recent findings A paucity of evidence is available to support the use of NPPV as part of clinical care in patients with acute severe asthma. A number of small studies in adult and paediatric populations suggest that NPPV may have a beneficial role through improving respiratory rate and reducing the need for more invasive alternatives. Overall NPPV use appeared to be well tolerated with few reports of adverse events. Summary Available evidence is limited by a small number of published trials and lack of methodological rigour in existing study design. There is a need for well conducted clinical studies to establish accurate treatment efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness, in both the adult and paediatric setting.

Innovations and Advances in Computer Sciences and Engineering, 2009

Human age is surrounded by assumed set of rules and behaviors imposed by local culture and the so... more Human age is surrounded by assumed set of rules and behaviors imposed by local culture and the society they live in. This paper introduces software that counts the presence of a person on the Internet and examines the activities he/she conducts online. The paper answers questions such as how "old" are you on the Internet? How soon will a newbie be exposed to adult websites? How long will it take for a new Internet user to know about social networking sites? And how many years a user has to surf online to celebrate his/her first "birthday" of Internet presence? Paper findings from a database of 105 school and university students containing their every click of first 24 hours of Internet usage are presented. The findings provide valuable insights for Internet Marketing, ethics, Internet business and the mapping of Internet life with real life. Privacy and ethical issues related to the study have been discussed at the end. I.

2008 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, 2008

This paper propose a novel software tool for recording intelligent web interactions to analyze wh... more This paper propose a novel software tool for recording intelligent web interactions to analyze what happened, when and how in the virtual world. The tool counts the presence of a person on the Internet and examines the activities he/she conducts online. These recorded interactions can help understand userspsila behavior based on their age, gender, demographics and experience. Paper findings, from

Sleep Medicine, 2013

Zafar A. Usmani, Michael Hlavac, Maureen Rischmueller, Subash S. Heraganahally, Cassie J. Hilditc... more Zafar A. Usmani, Michael Hlavac, Maureen Rischmueller, Subash S. Heraganahally, Cassie J. Hilditch, Sue Lester, Peter G. Catcheside, Nick Antic, Ching Li Chai-Coetzer, R. Doug McEvo

Respirology, 2012

ABSTRACTChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a serious contemporary health issue. Psyc... more ABSTRACTChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a serious contemporary health issue. Psychological co‐morbidities such as anxiety and depression are common in COPD. Current evidence for treatment options to reduce anxiety and depression in patients with COPD was examined. There is evidence available for the efficacy of pharmacological treatments, cognitive behavioural therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation, relaxation therapy and palliative care in COPD. Therapeutic modalities that have not been proven effective in decreasing anxiety and depression in COPD, but which have theoretical potential among patients, include interpersonal psychotherapy, self‐management programmes, more extensive disease management programmes, supportive therapy and self‐help groups. Besides pulmonary rehabilitation that is only available for a small percentage of patients, management guidelines make scant reference to other options for the treatment of mental health problems. The quantity and quality of ...

International Journal of Energy Research, 2004

Wave energy is the most abundant source of renewable energy in the World. For the last two decade... more Wave energy is the most abundant source of renewable energy in the World. For the last two decades, engineers have been investigating and defining different methods for power extraction from wave motion. Two different turbines, namely Wells turbine and impulse turbine with guide vanes, are most commonly used around the world for wave energy power generation. The ultimate goal is to optimize the performance of the turbine under actual sea conditions. The total research effort has several strands; there is the manufacture and experimental testing of new turbines using the Wave Energy Research Team's (WERT) 0.6 m turbine test rig, the theoretical and computational analysis of the present impulse turbine using a commercial software package and finally the prediction of the performance of the turbine in a representative wave power device under real sea conditions using numerical simulation. Also, the WERT 0.6 m turbine test rig was upgraded with a data acquisition and control system to test the turbine in the laboratory under real sea conditions using the computer control system. As a result, it is proven experimentally and numerically that the turbine efficiency has been raised by 7% by reducing the hub‐to‐tip ratio from 0.7 to 0.6. Effect of tip clearance on performance of the turbine has been studied numerically and designed tip clearance ratio of 1% has been validated. From the numerical simulation studies, it is computed that the mean conversion efficiency is reduced around 5% and 4.58% due to compressible flow and damping effects inside OWC device. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

European Journal of Neuroscience, 2013

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a respiratory condition occurring during sleep characterised by... more Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a respiratory condition occurring during sleep characterised by repeated collapse of the upper airway. Patients with OSA show altered brain structure and function that may manifest as impaired neuroplasticity. We assessed this hypothesis in 13 patients with moderate-to-severe OSA and 11 healthy control subjects. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to induce and measure neuroplastic changes in the motor cortex by assessing changes in motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in a hand muscle. Baseline measurements of cortical excitability included active (AMT) and resting motor thresholds (RMT), and the maximal stimulator output producing a 1-mV MEP. Intracortical inhibition (ICI) was investigated with short- and long-interval ICI paradigms (SICI and LICI, respectively), and neuroplastic changes were induced using continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS). At baseline, differences were found between groups for RMT (9.5% maximal stimulator output higher in OSA) and 1-mV MEPs (10.3% maximal stimulator output higher in OSA), but not AMT. No differences were found between groups for SICI or LICI. The response to cTBS was different between groups, with control subjects showing an expected reduction in MEP amplitude after cTBS, whereas the MEPs in patients with OSA did not change. The lack of response to cTBS suggests impaired long-term depression-like neuroplasticity in patients with OSA, which may be a consequence of sleep fragmentation or chronic blood gas disturbance in sleep. This reduced neuroplastic capacity may have implications for the learning, retention or consolidation of motor skills in patients with OSA.

Oral presentation TO 103Keatley D, Jurisevic M, Liu X, Kidd P, Lawton K, Kotal L, Alexander S, Li... more Oral presentation TO 103Keatley D, Jurisevic M, Liu X, Kidd P, Lawton K, Kotal L, Alexander S, Liversidge C, Carson K, Brinn M, Esterman A, Veale A, Usmani Z, Mysore S, Smith

This paper gives the introduction for software project management toolkit developed for private o... more This paper gives the introduction for software project management toolkit developed for private organization. The paper describes role based collaborative system for the organization where the process of organizational project management is carried effectively with the database of all the various projects undertaken. The main objective of the project is to develop a system that is easy to use which includes less complications and have functional implicit use in the organization.

Journal of Plant Production, 2013

This study was carried out at Bany El-Hareth site north of Sana'a-Yemen to evaluated the ability ... more This study was carried out at Bany El-Hareth site north of Sana'a-Yemen to evaluated the ability of Brassica juncea (L.), which has already been recognized as a plant suitable for metal phytoremediation to extract Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Nickel (Ni), Zinc (Zn), and Copper (Cu) from waste water contaminated soil and investigated the effect of plant parts and contaminated soil on heavy metals accumulation in plant. Indian mustard plant (B. juncea) was grown in wastewater contaminated soil. This study showed that Brassica juncea (L.) was able to grow in heavy metals contaminated soils and also able to accumulate extraordinarily high concentrations of some metals such as Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn and Cu in its tissues. The results indicated that contaminated soil content of Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn and Cu decreased 45, 56, 73, 53and 79 % respectively after plant harvest. Plant parts and contaminated soil affected heavy metals accumulation in plant, the highest accumulation 54.0, 24.8 and 42.3 ppm of Pb, Cd and Ni respectively were in plant roots, whereas, the highest accumulation of Zn was 250.6 ppm in shoots and 35.6 ppm of Cu in fruits.

BMJ case reports, Jan 4, 2011

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) syndrome and result... more Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) syndrome and resultant hypercortisolism carries a poor prognosis with a short median survival and high incidence of infective complications. The combination of etoposide with either carboplatin or cisplatin is the current standard chemotherapy used for the management of SCLC. Etoposide is metabolised by cytochrome P450 3A4. Ketoconazole is an imidazole derivative possessing antifungal properties and also causes inhibition of adrenal corticosteroid and androgen production. There is an additional increased risk of toxicity due to a potential interaction between etoposide and ketoconazole, which is a strong inhibitor of cytochrome P450 3A4, and theoretically can lead to greater myelosuppression. Metyrapone can be a safe alternative in such settings.

Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, 2014

The object of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical, microbiological and sensory propert... more The object of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties of a dry-cured ham during storage, according to the level of diet processed sulfur (0%; CON, 0.1%; T1 and 0.3%; T2). The results showed that the moisture content of T1 and T2 had higher, whereas crude fat of T1 and T2 had lower than that of CON during storage (P < 0.05). T1 and T2 had significantly retarded lipid oxidation compared with CON during storage (P < 0.05). The number of lactic acid bacteria in T1 and T2 were higher than that of CON at 8 months. Linoleic acid content in CON was significantly higher than those in both sulfur groups (P < 0.05). In sensory test, T1 showed positive overall score than T2 and CON. The feeding processed sulfur can suppress lipid oxidation, improve of meat quality and sensory properties. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Many Asian countries are recently seeing an increase in meat consumption. However, dry-cured meat products from pork are not well known in Asia and consumed less than in Europe. The recent increase in import of fermented meat products from Europe leads to unbalanced consumption in the meat industry. To strengthen the international competitiveness of dry cured ham quality, it is necessary to develop better quality meat and process methods. Most of the previous studies were concentrated on the use of raw meat of sulfur fed pigs, but this study researches that the meat apply for fermented meat products. Changes of composition of amino acids from sulfur fed pigs prevent lipid oxidation and improve the meat quality. With the suitable combination of high quality raw meat from sulfur fed pork and processing, it is possible to manufacture high quality dry cured ham and extend its shelf life.

2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Security and Defense Applications, 2009

This paper introduces BlastSim - physics based stationary multi-agent simulation of blast waves a... more This paper introduces BlastSim - physics based stationary multi-agent simulation of blast waves and its impact on human body. The agents are constrained by physical characteristics and mechanics of blast wave. The simulation is capable of assessing the impact of crowd formation patterns on the magnitude of injury and number of casualties during a suicide bombing attack. It also examines

2013 International Symposium on Biometrics and Security Technologies, 2013

Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is a de-facto standard for processing of ident... more Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is a de-facto standard for processing of identity claims in criminal and civilian settings around the world. There are dozens of commercial organizations and vendors offering their end-to-end solutions and software development kits (SDKs) world wide, yet the development and deployment of such a system is always an uphill task due to interdisciplinary nature and complexity of technical issues it comes with. This paper presents a plug-n-play AFIS solution for criminal and civilian applications that can be developed and deployed in less than three months with basic functions and minimum technical expertise. The proposed framework will set a benchmark for the in-house development of such system and provide a clear technical road map for clients to pursue in case they want to develop their own solution and looking for the most economical and technical-savvy route. The proposed solution is capable of acquiring images directly from ten-print card, adding facial images and demographic information in one application, and performs the routine verification & authentication tasks.

Technological Developments in Education and Automation, 2009

Abstract – This paper asks a new question: how, as computer scientists, we can save the lives of ... more Abstract – This paper asks a new question: how, as computer scientists, we can save the lives of the people living in the troubled areas of the world where suicide bombing and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) explosions become routine incidents in daily lives. How we can ...

Innovations and Advances in Computer Sciences and Engineering, 2009

Abstract – Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and Suicide Bombing have become the headline news f... more Abstract – Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and Suicide Bombing have become the headline news for every other day. It is a growing global phenomenon that is happening from Iraq to Afghanistan, Syria to United Kingdom and Spain to Pakistan. An average US soldier in ...

MILCOM 2008 - 2008 IEEE Military Communications Conference, 2008

Suicide bombing has become one of the most lethal and favorite modus-operandi of terrorist organi... more Suicide bombing has become one of the most lethal and favorite modus-operandi of terrorist organizations around the world. While various attempts have been made to assess the impact of crowd density on suicide bomber effectiveness, the specifics of the actual crowd formation and orientation of the bomber with respect to the crowd has not been examined. A virtual simulation tool has been developed which is capable of assessing the impact of crowd formation patterns on the magnitude of injury and number of casualties during a suicide bombing attack. The tool examines variables such as the number and arrangement of people within a crowd for typical layouts, the number of suicide bombers, and the nature of the explosion including equivalent weight of TNT and the duration of the resulting blast wave pulse. The goals of the analysis are to determine optimal crowd formations to reduce the deaths and/or injuries of individuals in the crowd, to determine what architectural and geometric changes can reduce the number of casualties and injuries, and what is the correlation between variant crowd densities and formations with the weight and pulse duration of the explosives? Results indicated that the worst crowd formation is street (e.g. Zig-Zag) where 44% crowd can be dead and 71% can be injured (there is an overlap of injury and lethality), given typical explosive carrying capacity of a single suicide bomber. Bus and market crowd formations were found to be the best for reducing the effectiveness of an attack, with 24% and 26% crowd in lethal zone respectively and 58% and 54% in injury zones. Simulation results were compared and validated by the real-life incidents and found to be in good agreement. Line-of-sight with the attacker, rushing towards the exit, and stampede were found to be the most lethal choices both during the attack and post-explosion. These findings, although preliminary, may have implications for emergency response and counter terrorism. The paper also discu- - sses additional capabilities that are being developed for the model.

2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Control and Automation, 2009

This work proposes a supermarket optimization simulation model called Swarm-Moves is based on sel... more This work proposes a supermarket optimization simulation model called Swarm-Moves is based on self organized complex system studies to identify parameters and their values that can influence customers to buy more on impulse in a given period of time. In the proposed model, customers are assumed to have trolleys equipped with technology like RFID that can aid the passing of

2008 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, 2008

This work is set to implement, test, analyze and measure agentspsila behavior and its consequence... more This work is set to implement, test, analyze and measure agentspsila behavior and its consequences under extreme conditions like suicide bombing. The goals are to determine optimal crowd formations and architectural and geometrical recommendations which (when followed) will reduce the number of deaths and injuries in the crowd. Results indicate that the worst crowd formation is street, with 44% crowd in lethal zone and 7% in injury zones. Bus and market crowd formations were found to be the best with 24% and 26% crowd in lethal and 58% and 54% in injury zones respectively. Results were compared and validated by the real-life incidents and found to be in good agreement. These findings, although preliminary, may have implications for emergency response and counter terrorism.

Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, 2014

Purpose of review The use of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) is often employed f... more Purpose of review The use of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) is often employed for the management of acute respiratory failure as an alternative to endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. However, evidence to support the application of NPPV use in patients with acute severe asthma is less known. Recent findings A paucity of evidence is available to support the use of NPPV as part of clinical care in patients with acute severe asthma. A number of small studies in adult and paediatric populations suggest that NPPV may have a beneficial role through improving respiratory rate and reducing the need for more invasive alternatives. Overall NPPV use appeared to be well tolerated with few reports of adverse events. Summary Available evidence is limited by a small number of published trials and lack of methodological rigour in existing study design. There is a need for well conducted clinical studies to establish accurate treatment efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness, in both the adult and paediatric setting.

Innovations and Advances in Computer Sciences and Engineering, 2009

Human age is surrounded by assumed set of rules and behaviors imposed by local culture and the so... more Human age is surrounded by assumed set of rules and behaviors imposed by local culture and the society they live in. This paper introduces software that counts the presence of a person on the Internet and examines the activities he/she conducts online. The paper answers questions such as how "old" are you on the Internet? How soon will a newbie be exposed to adult websites? How long will it take for a new Internet user to know about social networking sites? And how many years a user has to surf online to celebrate his/her first "birthday" of Internet presence? Paper findings from a database of 105 school and university students containing their every click of first 24 hours of Internet usage are presented. The findings provide valuable insights for Internet Marketing, ethics, Internet business and the mapping of Internet life with real life. Privacy and ethical issues related to the study have been discussed at the end. I.

2008 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, 2008

This paper propose a novel software tool for recording intelligent web interactions to analyze wh... more This paper propose a novel software tool for recording intelligent web interactions to analyze what happened, when and how in the virtual world. The tool counts the presence of a person on the Internet and examines the activities he/she conducts online. These recorded interactions can help understand userspsila behavior based on their age, gender, demographics and experience. Paper findings, from

Sleep Medicine, 2013

Zafar A. Usmani, Michael Hlavac, Maureen Rischmueller, Subash S. Heraganahally, Cassie J. Hilditc... more Zafar A. Usmani, Michael Hlavac, Maureen Rischmueller, Subash S. Heraganahally, Cassie J. Hilditch, Sue Lester, Peter G. Catcheside, Nick Antic, Ching Li Chai-Coetzer, R. Doug McEvo

Respirology, 2012

ABSTRACTChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a serious contemporary health issue. Psyc... more ABSTRACTChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a serious contemporary health issue. Psychological co‐morbidities such as anxiety and depression are common in COPD. Current evidence for treatment options to reduce anxiety and depression in patients with COPD was examined. There is evidence available for the efficacy of pharmacological treatments, cognitive behavioural therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation, relaxation therapy and palliative care in COPD. Therapeutic modalities that have not been proven effective in decreasing anxiety and depression in COPD, but which have theoretical potential among patients, include interpersonal psychotherapy, self‐management programmes, more extensive disease management programmes, supportive therapy and self‐help groups. Besides pulmonary rehabilitation that is only available for a small percentage of patients, management guidelines make scant reference to other options for the treatment of mental health problems. The quantity and quality of ...

International Journal of Energy Research, 2004

Wave energy is the most abundant source of renewable energy in the World. For the last two decade... more Wave energy is the most abundant source of renewable energy in the World. For the last two decades, engineers have been investigating and defining different methods for power extraction from wave motion. Two different turbines, namely Wells turbine and impulse turbine with guide vanes, are most commonly used around the world for wave energy power generation. The ultimate goal is to optimize the performance of the turbine under actual sea conditions. The total research effort has several strands; there is the manufacture and experimental testing of new turbines using the Wave Energy Research Team's (WERT) 0.6 m turbine test rig, the theoretical and computational analysis of the present impulse turbine using a commercial software package and finally the prediction of the performance of the turbine in a representative wave power device under real sea conditions using numerical simulation. Also, the WERT 0.6 m turbine test rig was upgraded with a data acquisition and control system to test the turbine in the laboratory under real sea conditions using the computer control system. As a result, it is proven experimentally and numerically that the turbine efficiency has been raised by 7% by reducing the hub‐to‐tip ratio from 0.7 to 0.6. Effect of tip clearance on performance of the turbine has been studied numerically and designed tip clearance ratio of 1% has been validated. From the numerical simulation studies, it is computed that the mean conversion efficiency is reduced around 5% and 4.58% due to compressible flow and damping effects inside OWC device. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

European Journal of Neuroscience, 2013

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a respiratory condition occurring during sleep characterised by... more Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a respiratory condition occurring during sleep characterised by repeated collapse of the upper airway. Patients with OSA show altered brain structure and function that may manifest as impaired neuroplasticity. We assessed this hypothesis in 13 patients with moderate-to-severe OSA and 11 healthy control subjects. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to induce and measure neuroplastic changes in the motor cortex by assessing changes in motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in a hand muscle. Baseline measurements of cortical excitability included active (AMT) and resting motor thresholds (RMT), and the maximal stimulator output producing a 1-mV MEP. Intracortical inhibition (ICI) was investigated with short- and long-interval ICI paradigms (SICI and LICI, respectively), and neuroplastic changes were induced using continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS). At baseline, differences were found between groups for RMT (9.5% maximal stimulator output higher in OSA) and 1-mV MEPs (10.3% maximal stimulator output higher in OSA), but not AMT. No differences were found between groups for SICI or LICI. The response to cTBS was different between groups, with control subjects showing an expected reduction in MEP amplitude after cTBS, whereas the MEPs in patients with OSA did not change. The lack of response to cTBS suggests impaired long-term depression-like neuroplasticity in patients with OSA, which may be a consequence of sleep fragmentation or chronic blood gas disturbance in sleep. This reduced neuroplastic capacity may have implications for the learning, retention or consolidation of motor skills in patients with OSA.