A Case study on the effect of information technology related interface issues on overall guest experience in Hyatt Place hotels in the U.S.

Information technology has evolved and has become a major part of every aspect of business. Hotel industry has accepted changes in IT and is now moving towards fully integrating new technologies in order to fulfill the goal of guest satisfaction. Several systems are examined in this case study based on the Hyatt place model to see if their functionality has an effect on the guest satisfaction and their overall experience in the hotel setting. The results are inconclusive from this case study since a modified survey is utilized due to time and resource constraints. However there is a lot of potential for future researchers to design a customized study to study the correlation between IT systems and their efficiencies and how they affect the overall guest experience in a hotel setting. This research could also be expanded to include different types of hotels such as limited service, luxury or boutique hotels

The promoter polymorphism -232C/G of the PCK1 gene is associated with type 2 diabetes in a UK-resident South Asian population

Background: The PCK1 gene, encoding cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK-C), has previously been implicated as a candidate gene for type 2 diabetes (T2D) susceptibility. Rodent models demonstrate that over-expression of Pck1 can result in T2D development and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the promoter region of human PCK1 (-232C/G) has exhibited significant association with the disease in several cohorts. Within the UK-resident South Asian population, T2D is 4 to 6 times more common than in indigenous white Caucasians. Despite this, few studies have reported on the genetic susceptibility to T2D in this ethnic group and none of these has investigated the possible effect of PCK1 variants. We therefore aimed to investigate the association between common variants of the PCK1 gene and T2D in a UK-resident South Asian population of Punjabi ancestry, originating predominantly from the Mirpur area of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. \ud \ud Methods: We used TaqMan assays to genotype five tagSNPs covering the PCK1 gene, including the -232C/G variant, in 903 subjects with T2D and 471 normoglycaemic controls. \ud \ud Results: Of the variants studied, only the minor allele (G) of the -232C/G SNP demonstrated a significant association with T2D, displaying an OR of 1.21 (95% CI: 1.03 - 1.42, p = 0.019). \ud \ud Conclusion: This study is the first to investigate the association between variants of the PCK1 gene and T2D in South Asians. Our results suggest that the -232C/G promoter polymorphism confers susceptibility to T2D in this ethnic group. \ud \ud Trial registration: UKADS Trial Registration: ISRCTN38297969

Effectiveness of enhanced diabetes care to patients of South Asian ethnicity : the United Kingdom Asian Diabetes Study (UKADS) : a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background: Delivering high quality and evidence based healthcare to deprived sectors of the community is a major goal for society. We investigated the effectiveness of a culturally sensitive enhanced care package in UK general practice in improving cardiovascular risk factors in South Asian patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: 21 inner city practices were randomised to intervention (enhanced practice nurse time, link worker and diabetes specialist nurse support) (n=868) or control (standard care) (n=618) groups. Prescribing algorithms with clearly defined targets were provided for all practices. Main outcome measures comprised changes in blood pressure, total cholesterol and glycaemic control (HbA1c) after 2 years. Findings: At baseline, groups were similar with respect to age, sex and cardiovascular risk factors. Comparing treatment groups, after adjustment for confounders, and clustering, differences in diastolic blood pressure (1.91mmHg, P=0.0001) and mean arterial pressure (1.36mmHg, P=0.0180) were significant. There were no significant differences between groups for total cholesterol or HbA1c. Economic analysis indicates the nurse-led intervention was not cost-effective. Across the whole study population systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and cholesterol decreased significantly by 4.9mmHg, 3.8mmHg and 0.45mmol/L respectively, but there was no change in HbA1c. Interpretation: Additional, although limited, benefits were observed from our culturally enhanced care package over and above the secular changes achieved in the UK in recent years. Stricter targets in general practice and further measures to motivate patients are needed to maximise healthcare outcomes in South Asian patients with diabetes

Common variants of the TCF7L2 gene are associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in a UK-resident South Asian population

Background Recent studies have implicated variants of the transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene in genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus in several different populations. The aim of this study was to determine whether variants of this gene are also risk factors for type 2 diabetes development in a UK-resident South Asian cohort of Punjabi ancestry. Methods We genotyped four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of TCF7L2 (rs7901695, rs7903146, rs11196205 and rs12255372) in 831 subjects with diabetes and 437 control subjects. Results The minor allele of each variant was significantly associated with type 2 diabetes; the greatest risk of developing the disease was conferred by rs7903146, with an allelic odds ratio (OR) of 1.31 (95% CI: 1.11 – 1.56, p = 1.96 × 10-3). For each variant, disease risk associated with homozygosity for the minor allele was greater than that for heterozygotes, with the exception of rs12255372. To determine the effect on the observed associations of including young control subjects in our data set, we reanalysed the data using subsets of the control group defined by different minimum age thresholds. Increasing the minimum age of our control subjects resulted in a corresponding increase in OR for all variants of the gene (p ≤ 1.04 × 10-7). Conclusion Our results support recent findings that TCF7L2 is an important genetic risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes in multiple ethnic groups

The Mri Knee Pain Classification Using Cnn Algorithm And Segmentation Using Clustering Algorithm

The great demand for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the world of medical field has helped the doctors to analyse and detect relevant disease. MRI is not only an effective technique for the assessment of pathology but also a valuable method for tracking the progression of disease. The ability of MRI to provide rapid 3D visualization has led to extensive use of this technology in the diagnosis and therapy of pathologies of different organs that are then used during treatment. Deep learning algorithm for the initial, intermediate and final stages of knee pain is developed. Clustering technique is commonly used in image segmentation in order for users to access a data image to distinguish common preferences and patterns. Clustering is intended to divide a dataset into groups or clusters where similarities between the clusters are minimized while similarities within the clusters are maximized. This work focuses on a convolutionary neural network (CNN) for classification of knee pain and popular K-mean clusters to segment the image. Results of both techniques are presented and accuracy is calculated.

Inhaled human insulin (Exubera®): clinical profile and patient considerations

Inhaled human insulin (Exubera®) is a rapid-acting regular human insulin administered by oral inhalation before meals. It provides a non-invasive alternative to multiple subcutaneous injections for the treatment of hyperglycemia in adult patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Compared with subcutaneous rapid-acting insulin analogs, Exubera provides equivalent HbA1c control. As a monotherapy or in combination with oral agents, Exubera also provides greater glycemic control than oral agents alone, at least in patients with high levels of HbA1c. Exubera demonstrates improved patient satisfaction compared with subcutaneous insulin or oral agents alone. When offered as a treatment option together with standard treatments in uncontrolled patients naïve to insulin, Exubera increases acceptance of insulin therapy three-fold compared with patients offered standard regimens only. Exubera is well tolerated in comparison to subcutaneous insulin, with a similar incidence of mild to moderate hypoglycemia. Although cough is a common adverse effect early in therapy, this leads to treatment discontinuations in less than 1% of patients. Despite an increased incidence of insulin antibodies compared with subcutaneous administration, and a consistent but minor impact on pulmonary function, long-term safety data of up to 4 years continue to support the safety profile of Exubera

Novel evaluation framework for sensing spread spectrum in cognitive radio

The cognitive radio network is designed to cater to the optimization demands of restricted spectrum availability. A review of existing literature on spectrum sensing shows that there is still a broader scope for its improvement. Therefore, this paper introduces an efficient computational framework capable of evaluating the effectiveness of the spread spectrum concept in the context of cognitive radio network in a more scalable and granular way. The proposed method introduces a dual hypothesis using a different set of dependable parameters to emphasize the detection of optimal energy for a low signal quality state over the noise. The proposed evaluation framework is benchmarked using a statistical analysis method not present in any existing approaches toward spread spectrum sensing. The simulated outcome of the study exhibits that the proposed system offers a significantly better probability of detection than the current system using a simplified evaluation scheme with multiple test parameters

Study on Laser Surface Enhancement of Marine Propellers

Due to the effects of global warming reducing the extent of the sea ice, more and more merchant ships enter ice-infested waters. Ice damages on ships are frequently reported. Propeller is among the most vulnerable parts of a ship subject to ice damages. Propeller damages lead to efficiency loss, deterioration of cavitation and noise, and even malfunction of the propulsion system. Reparation of damaged propellers are costly. In this study, we aimed at enhancing a propeller’s ice strength while keeping its open-water profile. This was achieved by implementing cladding material on the bronze propeller blades through laser treatment. In this thesis work, numerical analyses of laser cladding process was carried out using finite element (FE) method to investigate if the laser cladding improves the resistance of the marine propeller materials against repeated ice impact loads. A Co-Cr alloy was cladded on two different substrate materials. The laser cladded surfaces were grounded where the effect of a grinding wheel was derived using a combination of rectangular distribution of heat source and grinding forces instead of the presence of actual grinding wheel. Repeated ice impact loads were applied on both the non-cladded substrate and the cladded substrates after grinding for a certain period of time. The efficiency of the cladding and grinding processes was estimated using the impact load simulations. It was observed that after the application of every impact load on the non-cladded substrate, the longitudinal residual stresses and the equivalent plastic strain were increased. But, after grinding the cladded substrate, there was an improvement in the equivalent plastic strain. The inference obtained after multiple simulations were that the grinding process improves the equivalent plastic strain on the cladded substrate. It thus concludes that the laser cladding and grinding processes improve the performance of the propellers against repeated ice impact loads considerably

Investigating Awareness and Usage of Electronic Information Resources by the Engineering Students of NMIMS (Deemed to be University), Mumbai

During Covid-19 restrictions, electronic information resources have become a prominent source in the library. Most of the university academic activities heavily depend on electronic resources because they are easy to share, refer and communicate to the audience. This study investigates the awareness and usage of electronic information resources subscribed to by the university library. The well-designed online questionnaire helps to collect data from Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Integrated engineering programs. A total of 232 filled questionnaires were received for the study. The data analysis shows that 91.38 % of the respondents know that electronic resources are available in the library, and the internet speed (56.90 %) is a significant hindrance in using resources. The detailed analysis of this study was discussed, and suggestions were also given to improve the awareness and usage of electronic information resources

E-Resources are boon for the teaching and research work of an academic institute: A survey on usage and awareness of e-resources by the NMIMS (Deemed University) engineering faculties, Mumbai

Information is a nervous system for the teacher and researcher, without the information they cannot teach and generate new information in an academic institute. The information and communication technology tools have changed the mode of communication and availability of information in a digital environment. In this study, efforts have been made to study the use and awareness of e-resources by the engineering faculties of NMIMS (Deemed to be University), Mumbai. The result shows that majority of the faculty members i.e. 85.71 % access e-resources for the research and learning purpose, it is also found that busy schedule in the institute prevents the effective and efficient use of the e-resources i.e. 552.38 % respondents