Super Calculator using Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA)

Scientific computation requires a great amount of computing power especially in floating-point operation but a high-end multi-cores processor is currently limited in terms of floating point operation performance and parallelization. Recent technological advancement has made parallel computing technically and financially feasible using Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) developed by NVIDIA. This research focuses on measuring the performance of CUDA and implementing CUDA for a scientific computation involving the process of porting the source code from CPU to GPU using direct integration technique. The ported source code is then optimized by managing the resources to achieve performance gain over CPU. It is found that CUDA is able to boost the performance of the system up to 69 times in Parboil Benchmark Suite. Successful attempt at porting Serpent encryption algorithm and Lattice Boltzmann Method provided up to 7 times throughput performance gain and up to 10 times execution time performance gain respectively over the CPU. Direct integration guideline for porting the source code is then produced based on the two implementations

Comparison of Services of Public, Private and Foreign Hospitals from the Perspective of Bangladeshi Patients

Despite recent developments in the Bangladesh healthcare sector, there is still great concern about the quality of healthcare services in the country. This study compared the quality of healthcare services by different types of institutions, i.e. public and private hospitals, from the perspective of Bangladeshi patients to identify the relevant areas for development. A survey was conducted among Bangladeshi citizens who were in-patients in public or private hospitals in Dhaka city or in hospitals abroad within the last one year. About 400 exit-interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire that addressed the probable factors of the quality of healthcare services in 5-point interval scales. The results gave an overview of the perspectives of Bangladeshi patients on the quality of service in three types of hospitals. The quality of service in private hospitals scored higher than that in public hospitals for nursing care, tangible hospital matters, i.e. cleanliness, supply of utilities, and availability of drugs. The overall quality of service was better in the foreign hospitals compared to that in the private hospitals in Bangladesh in all factors, even the ‘perceived cost’ factor. This paper provides insights into the specific factors of the quality of hospital services that need to be addressed to meet the needs of Bangladeshi patients

Enzymatic hydrolysis of oil palm empty fruit bunch and its kinetics

Oil palm lignocellulosic biomass is a potential substrate for the production of renewable chemicals from agricultural wastes. Emptyfruit bunch (EFB) is one of the biomass waste aside from the trunk and frond from oil palm plantation. Bioconversion of oil palm lignocellulose using enzymes to fermentable sugar could be used for the production of bioethanol. However, the bioconversion is challenging due to the complex interactions between substrate and enzymes. In order to utilize EFB as the feedstock, it is important to understand the effect of enzyme concentration and substrate concentration on the bioconversion of EFB. In this study, we investigated the effect of enzyme loading and substrate loading for the maximum conversion of oil palm lignocellulose. The results show that as the enzyme loading increased, the rate of reaction and also the yield of reducing sugar (RS) and glucose initially increased and then plateaued. High enzyme loading might lead to enzyme in excess and enzyme layering around the substrate. Similar pattern was also observed on the reaction rate as the substrate loading increased. However, the yield of RS and glucosedecreased as the substrate loading increase. It could be explained by the substrate recalcitrance and product inhibition. The initial product formation rates were used to determine the kinetic parameters such as maximum rate constant Vmax and the half saturation constant Km. From this study, feasible amount of cellulase and EFB substrate could be identified for maximum conversion and facilitate bioethanol production

L’effet des outils pédagogiques sur la compréhension spatiale dans l’enseignement des sciences de la santé : une revue systématique

Background: The concept of spatial orientation is integral to health education. Students studying to be healthcare professionals use their visual intelligence to develop 3D mental models from 2D images, like X-rays, MRI, and CT scans, which exerts a heavy cognitive load on them. Innovative teaching tools and technologies are being developed to improve students’ learning experiences. However, the impact of these teaching modalities on spatial understanding is not often evaluated. This systematic review aims to investigate current literature to identify which teaching tools and techniques are intended to improve the 3D sense of students and how these tools impact learners’ spatial understanding. Methods: The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines were followed for the systematic review. Four databases were searched with multiple search terms. The articles were screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and assessed for quality. Results: Nineteen articles were eligible for our systematic review. Teaching tools focused on improving spatial concepts can be grouped into five categories. The review findings reveal that the experimental groups have performed equally well or significantly better in tests and tasks with access to the teaching tool than the control groups. Conclusion: Our review investigated the current literature to identify and categorize teaching tools shown to improve spatial understanding in healthcare professionals. The teaching tools identified in our review showed improvement in measured, and perceived spatial intelligence. However, a wide variation exists among the teaching tools and assessment techniques. We also identified knowledge gaps and future research opportunities.Contexte : Le concept d’orientation spatiale fait partie intégrante de l’enseignement des professions de la santé. Les étudiants qui s’y destinent utilisent leur intelligence visuelle pour se représenter mentalement en 3D des images en 2D comme la radiographie, l’IRM et le tomodensitogramme, ce qui constitue une lourde charge cognitive. On développe actuellement des technologies et des outils pédagogiques innovants pour améliorer l’expérience d’apprentissage des étudiants. Cependant, l’impact de ces ressources pédagogiques sur la compréhension spatiale est rarement évalué. L’objectif de cette revue systématique de la littérature était de recenser les outils et techniques pédagogiques destinés à améliorer la perception 3D des apprenants et d’examiner les effets de ces outils sur leur compréhension spatiale. Méthodes : Suivant les lignes directrices PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis), nous avons consulté quatre bases de données avec des termes de recherche multiples, examiné les articles recensés en fonction de critères d’inclusion et d’exclusion, et évalué leur qualité. Résultats : Dix-neuf articles correspondaient aux critères d’inclusion. Les outils pédagogiques axés sur l’amélioration des concepts spatiaux peuvent être regroupés en cinq catégories. L’examen a révélé que les résultats obtenus par les groupes expérimentaux ayant utilisé l’outil pédagogique pour effectuer les tests et les tâches sont aussi bons ou significativement meilleurs que les résultats obtenus par les groupes témoins. Conclusion : Notre revue de la littérature visant à recenser et catégoriser les outils pédagogiques a montré que ces derniers améliorent la compréhension spatiale, notamment l’intelligence spatiale mesurée et perçue, des professionnels de la santé. Toutefois, il existe une grande variation entre les divers outils pédagogiques et techniques d’évaluation. Nous avons également relevé les lacunes dans les connaissances et les pistes de recherche future

Health and well-being in higher education : student perception of an Australian university

The health and well-being of university students is a priority agenda, given the need to advance health in the university system and the United Nations Sustainability Development Goal regarding quality and inclusive education. However, current literature lacks adequate insights regarding health and well-being considerations. This study investigated students’ perceptions concerning how university students experience health and well-being. The study is underpinned using the biopsychosocial model of health and was conducted via a cross-sectional student survey with quantitative and open-ended questions at an Australian university in 2021. A hierarchical regression model with 625 respondents indicated health and well-being are significantly influenced by mental (t-value = 15.7, p < 0.001), physical (t-value = 9.48, p < 0.001), university learning (t-value = 5.16, p < 0.001), and economic (t-value = 4.78, p < 0.001) domains regardless of the demographic and study characteristics of students. Students’ perception of their health and well-being varied according to student age, the college of study, and whether they were an international student. Both the quantitative and qualitative findings supported that the mental, physical, university learning, and economic domains of students’ health and well-being are interdependent. There is a case for a proactive, continuous, inclusive, and holistic health and well-being approach to support student success in higher education

Age-associated sex and asymmetry differentiation in hemispheric and lobar cortical ribbon complexity across adulthood : A UK BioBank Imaging Study

Acknowledgements This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank resource. This work was supported by the Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre with financial support from the Roland Sutton Academic Trust (RSAT-0067/R/19). The authors would like to thank the participants of the UK Biobank imaging study and our colleague Dr Naif Majrashi for performing image pre-processing using FreesurferPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Super Calculator using Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA)

Scientific computation requires a great amount of computing power especially in floating-point operation but a high-end multi-cores processor is currently limited in terms of floating point operation performance and parallelization. Recent technological advancement has made parallel computing technically and financially feasible using Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) developed by NVIDIA. This research focuses on measuring the performance of CUDA and implementing CUDA for a scientific computation involving the process of porting the source code from CPU to GPU using direct integration technique. The ported source code is then optimized by managing the resources to achieve performance gain over CPU. It is found that CUDA is able to boost the performance of the system up to 69 times in Parboil Benchmark Suite. Successful attempt at porting Serpent encryption algorithm and Lattice Boltzmann Method provided up to 7 times throughput performance gain and up to 10 times execution time performance gain respectively over the CPU. Direct integration guideline for porting the source code is then produced based on the two implementations

Gynecologic radiology in fertility treatment: assessing tubal patency and ovarian reserve

Background: A tubal patency test is a medical procedure that can help determine if a woman is having trouble conceiving due to blocked fallopian tubes. Fallopian tubal pathology is a primary risk factor for female infertility. Ovarian reserve is the number of healthy eggs in a woman's ovaries, and it’s a measure of the ability to have children. This study aimed to assess tubal patency and ovarian reserve in fertility treatment. Methods: In a retrospective cohort study, 75 women aged 18-40, treated from January to December 2023, were included. Fallopian tube patency was tested using hysterosalpingography, hysterosalpingo-contrast sonography, or laparoscopic chromopertubation. Results: Of 75 women, 19 (25.5%) were found to have at least one blocked fallopian tube. Unilateral blockage was more common than bilateral blockage, occurring in 12 out of the 19 cases (63.2%) compared to 7 out of 19 cases (36.8%). Mainly, blockages occurred near the opening of the fallopian tubes 86.2%. After adjusting for other factors, the presence of hydrosalpinx (odds ratio, OR, 13.323, 95% confidence interval, CI: 2.679-66.253, p=0.002) and myomas (OR 2.108, 95%CI: 1.008-4.409; p=0.048) were statistically significant factors associated with fallopian tube blockage. Conclusions: Gynecologic radiology is still of major relevance in fertility evaluation. The presence of uterine myomas and hydrosalpinges significantly increases the risk

Comparison of Services of Public, Private and Foreign Hospitals from the Perspective of Bangladeshi Patients

Despite recent developments in the Bangladesh healthcare sector, there is still great concern about the quality of healthcare services in the country. This study compared the quality of healthcare services by different types of institutions, i.e. public and private hospitals, from the perspective of Bangladeshi patients to identify the relevant areas for development. A survey was conducted among Bangladeshi citizens who were in-patients in public or private hospitals in Dhaka city or in hospitals abroad within the last one year. About 400 exit-interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire that addressed the probable factors of the quality of healthcare services in 5-point interval scales. The results gave an overview of the perspectives of Bangladeshi patients on the quality of service in three types of hospitals. The quality of service in private hospitals scored higher than that in public hospitals for nursing care, tangible hospital matters, i.e. cleanliness, supply of utilities, and availability of drugs. The overall quality of service was better in the foreign hospitals compared to that in the private hospitals in Bangladesh in all factors, even the 'perceived cost' factor. This paper provides insights into the specific factors of the quality of hospital services that need to be addressed to meet the needs of Bangladeshi patients

Temperature dependence of power generation of empty fruit bunch (EFB) based microbial fuel cell

Microbial fuel cell has been considered a new emerging technology for renewable and sustainable electricity production. The energy can be extracted from organic waste materials which time independently increase in mass. In the present study, it was demonstrated that lignocellulosic material such as empty fruit bunch (EFB) can be used to produce electricity. Clostridium cellulolyticum and Bacilli E1 were used to activate EFB degradation and electricity generation respectively. It was also demonstrated that the present EFB based MFC was affected in terms of power produced with much higher power was obtained at 37.5 ℃ with power value of 825 ± 3.08 mW/m2 compared to 25 and 50 ℃, which produced 756 ± 1.14 mW/m2 and 345 ± 1.78 mW/m2. At elevated temperature (50 ℃) showed decrease of power density value compared to lower temperature operated MFC, which is believed to be microbial metabolism dependent