2017 IEEE 13th Malaysia International Conference on Communications (MICC), 2017
In this work, we consider a joint power allocation and bit loading problem in an orthogonal frequ... more In this work, we consider a joint power allocation and bit loading problem in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based cognitive radio (CR) network. The objective is to maximize the end-to-end rate in a relay aided dual hop transmission subject to individual power constraints at each transmission node. More specifically, an underlay CR transmission is considered, where the secondary nodes transmit simultaneously with the primary nodes subject to an interference protection criteria. An efficient algorithm is proposed which maximizes the overall throughput while meeting all the constraints. Simulations results are presented to validate the performance of our proposed scheme.
2017 International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology (FIT), 2017
A channel amplitude quantization method that can effectively quantize the channel response using ... more A channel amplitude quantization method that can effectively quantize the channel response using just one single threshold value is proposed in order to extract a random manipulating sequence with good secrecy properties. Specifically, a Time Division Duplex (TDD) wireless system is considered over independent identical distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh fast fading channel, where potential passive eavesdroppers (Eves) can only estimate their own channel and have no knowledge about CSI between legitimate communication parties. The transmitter (Alice) is only aware of the CSI of the legitimate user (Bob). Particularly, the proposed security technique takes the bits of the transmitted data packets and manipulate them with a logical vector that characterizes the channel randomness based on the estimated CSI gain. The process of manipulation is implemented on a bit level basis using an XOR operation exactly before modulation process. The same XOR operation is implemented after demodulation process on the detected bits to extract the concealed bits. The obtained simulation results show that the employment of such mechanism can ensure data confidentiality. Furthermore, the simulation results are extended to include the effect of the selected quantization threshold on the BER performance of Eve as well as the amount of information leakage to its side. It is shown that security gap region between Bob and Eve is made very large over all expected Signal to Noise ratio (SNR) values despite the small degradation in the bit error rate (BER) performance of Bob because of the expected channel estimation errors due to noise.
Context: Maintaining precise ranges of urine pH and specific gravity (SG) is essential to avoid t... more Context: Maintaining precise ranges of urine pH and specific gravity (SG) is essential to avoid toxicity in patients receiving high-dose methotrexate (HDMTX) for acute lymphoblastic processes and osteosarcoma. Three urinalysis methods are used: manually read dipsticks (DpH/DSG), automated dipsticks (ApH/ASG), and urinalysis machines (UpH/USG). Objective: To compare the reliability of manual and automated dipsticks to urinalysis machines, as urinalysis machines are currently the most reliable and accurate method based on literature review. Design: Retrospective chart review comparing pH and SG measurements of patients who received HDMTX from January 2017 to June 2020. Setting: Southwest Cancer Center at University Medical Center (UMC) in Lubbock, TX (county hospital). Patients or Other Participants: Patients receiving HDMTX (≥ 500 mg/m2) who were tested by ≥ 2 methods during a 4-hour period. Seventeen patients (59% female, average age 9.2 years) met inclusion criteria, but only 11 (81% female, average age 9.7 years) had sufficient data for analysis. Interventions: The study did not involve therapeutic, clinical, or diagnostic interventions. Main Outcomes Measures: Primary outcome measures are pH and specific gravity as measured by manual dipstick, automated dipstick, and urinalysis machine. Outcomes parameters were analyzed by Pearson product-moment correlation and paired sample t-test. Results: Each pair of methods correlated for pH readings, but only ApH and UpH showed a significant, strong positive correlation (r = 0.65, p = 0.003). DSG and ASG had a strong positive correlation (r = 0.833, p = 0.167), while ASG and USG had a moderate negative correlation (r = -0.454, p = 0.067), but neither of these were significant. Paired sample t-test revealed ASG was higher than USG (α=0.011, p≤ 0.05). No other mean differences were significant. Conclusions: Manual and automated dipsticks are as reliable as urinalysis machines for testing pH, but automated dipsticks yield a higher SG, while ApH and UpH are highly correlated. However, our findings may not be clinically significant due to small sample size and missing data from chart review. Further study using a larger sample and prospective approach could help assess cost-effective alternatives to standard urinalysis.
Abstract To support the massive connectivity in Internet of Things (IoT), several promising techn... more Abstract To support the massive connectivity in Internet of Things (IoT), several promising techniques like cognitive radio (CR) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) enables the user to share spectrum resources. This work aims to achieve fairness among secondary users (SUs) in IoT cooperative NOMA-based CR transmission. We design a power allocation algorithm, an independent battery constraint at each node is considered, and power gap among transmissions of two NOMA users is applied for successive interference cancellation. The simulation results show that the proposed framework provides excellent performance and for sufficient available transmission power perfect fairness is achieved.
2017 International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology (FIT), 2017
In this study, we first quantify the secrecy performance achieved by employing precoded orthogona... more In this study, we first quantify the secrecy performance achieved by employing precoded orthogonal space time block coding (POSTBC) in order to use it as a benchmark for comparison purposes with a new proposed security scheme. In POSTBC, space time codewords are precoded before being transmitted with an optimum pre-coding matrix based on the main channel of the legitimate parties. The obtained results demonstrate a considerable secrecy gap region in the resulting bit error rate (BER) performance due to using POSTBC. Afterwards, a new method called pre-equlicodization (precoding along with semi pre-equalization) is proposed to further enhance the secrecy performance. In pre-equlicodization scheme, the transmitted symbols are precoded by a new modified matrix called pre-equalicodizing matrix. This matrix is built by manipulating each row element in the optimal selected precoding matrix by the corresponding amplitude square inverse of the estimated channel gain over each data stream. T...
The aim of our study is to compare Fentanyl(1 micro/kg) alone, with fentanyl (0.75 micro/kg) admi... more The aim of our study is to compare Fentanyl(1 micro/kg) alone, with fentanyl (0.75 micro/kg) administered with dexamethasone (8 mg), for the relief of pain in patients who are being operated for inguinal hernia repair. And compare the resulting analgesia using visual analog scale and hemodynamic variables. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The type of study is a randomized double blind case control study conducted for a period of one year from April 2013 to May 2014 at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi Pakistan. Patients diagnosed with inguinal hernia were admitted in the hospital. The patients were divided into two groups using a random number generator. Group A was selected to be given fentanyl 1 micro/kg−1 (control group) and the study group (group B)to be given 8 mg dexamethasone with fentanyl 0.75 micro/kg−1. Assessment of pain was based on hemodynamic changes intra operatively and visual analogue scale post operatively. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: In the control group, the hemodynamic variables including heart rate and blood pressure as compared with that of the study group (taken at 1, 5, 20 and 30 min after incision was given) were considerably higher (P ≤ 0.001). Intra-operative (rescue) analgesia that was required in the control group was n= 40 (100%) while n= 24 (60%) for study group. The mean scores for pain measured at pre determined and fixed time intervals were significantly lower in the study group as compared to the control group (p<0.001). The use of post operative (rescue) analgesia that was required was found to be n=40 (100%) patients in the control group, while it was required in n= 30 (75%)patients in the study group. CONCLUSION: Administration of Dexamethasone 8mg IV with fentanyl reduces intra and post operative pain in the 1st hour after unilateral inguinal hernia repair, as compared to administration of fentanyl alone.
2020 IEEE 14th International Conference on Semantic Computing (ICSC), 2020
An increasing amount of data and information coming from social networks that can be used to gene... more An increasing amount of data and information coming from social networks that can be used to generate a variety of data patterns for different types of investigation such as human social behavior, system security, criminology etc. A framework is developed to predict major types of social media crimes (Cyber stalking, Cyber bullying, Cyber Hacking, Cyber Harassment, and Cyber Scam) using the data obtained from social media website. The proposed framework is consist of three modules; data (tweet) pre-processing, classifying model builder and prediction. To build the prediction model Multinomial Naïve Bayes (MNB), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used that classify given data into different classes of crime. Further N-Gram language model is used with these machine learning algorithms to identify the best value of n and measure the accuracy of the system at different levels such as Unigram, Bigram, Trigram, and 4-gram. Results shows that all three algorithm attain the precision, Recall and F-measure above than 0.9 however Support vector machine performed slightly better. The proposed system produced better accuracy result as compared to existing network-based feature selection approach.
IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, 2021
Physical layer security (PLS) is an emerging area for information security against eavesdroppers ... more Physical layer security (PLS) is an emerging area for information security against eavesdroppers (Eve). Information security of any system can also be improved by using friendly jammers that produce interference signals to Eve. Traditional security techniques are limited by the processing power of the wireless nodes, whereas PLS can achieve communication secrecy without requiring computationally expensive cryptographic operations. The relay networks have emerged as a promising technology to enhance the performance of the wireless systems. This paper proposes a joint resource optimization framework for the PLS of dual-hop decode and forward (DF) relay network with and without cooperative jamming. In particular, the proposed framework consists of a base station (BS), multiple users, DF relays, multiple subcarriers, and an Eve. Our objective is to maximize the sum secrecy rate (SR) through optimal power loading over different subcarriers at BS and relay nodes, and efficient subcarrier assignment. We formulate a mixed binary integer programing problem for secrecy optimization and adopt Lagrangian dual method to achieve the efficient solutions. We also provide three benchmark frameworks, i.e., joint power optimization with random subcarrier assignment, equal power allocation with efficient subcarrier assignment and equal power with random subcarrier assignment to guage the performance of our joint resource optimization framework. Simulation results unveil that the proposed joint resource optimization framework under cooperative jamming and without jamming performs significantly better than the benchmark frameworks. INDEX TERMS Cooperative jamming, decode and forward relay, joint resource optimization, physical layer security.
IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking, 2021
The future generation of wireless communication networks demands for high spectral efficiency to ... more The future generation of wireless communication networks demands for high spectral efficiency to accommodate a large number of devices over the limited available frequency spectrum. Device to device (D2D) systems exploit channel reuse to offer high spectral efficiency and reduce the burden on the communication infrastructure by facilitating communication between devices without involving the base station. We can further enhance the efficiency of D2D systems by employing non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) for the transmission of the signals. In NOMA the signals of multiple users are transmitted on the same channel, simultaneously. Deployment of relays can assist the users that do not have a reliable link of communication. A combination of these advanced technologies may offer very high spectral efficiency and a robust communication system. This article aims to design efficient resource allocation techniques for the future communication systems. We consider sum rate maximization problem subject to limited power budget at different transmitting nodes and necessary transmit power gap among users for successful NOMA implementation. Under decode and forward relaying protocol, the problem turns out to be a unique joint uplink-downlink NOMA optimization. We then propose a deep neural networks (DNN) framework to acquire a joint power loading solution at source and relaying nodes. To obtain reliable data for DNN training and testing, we also derive an optimal solution of the problem through convex optimization paradigm, which is used later as a bench mark to verify the performance of proposed DNN based solution. It is observed that DNN provides promising results both in terms of sum rate and the computational complexity.
IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2021
In recent years, the concept of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has gathered much attention... more In recent years, the concept of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has gathered much attention due to its potential to offer high spectral efficiency, present user fairness and grant free access to sixth generation (6G) vehicular networks. This paper proposes a new optimization framework for NOMA-enabled cooperative vehicular network. In particular, we jointly optimize the vehicle paring, channel assignment, and power allocation at source and relaying vehicles. The objective is to maximize the sum rate of the system subject to the power allocation, minimum rate, relay battery lifetime and successive interference cancelation constraints. To solve the joint optimization problem efficiently, we adopt duality theory followed by Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions, where the dual variables are iteratively computed through sub-gradient method. Two less complex suboptimal schemes are also presented as the benchmark cooperative vehicular schemes. Simulation results compare the performance of the proposed joint optimization scheme compared to the other benchmark cooperative vehicular schemes. INDEX TERMS Sixth generation (6G), vehicular networks, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), optimal resource allocation, successive interference cancelation (SIC).
The current study was aimed at examining the prescribing patterns of antihypertensive medications... more The current study was aimed at examining the prescribing patterns of antihypertensive medications, dispensing time, generic prescribing, drug-drug interactions and to determining whether or not prescriptions are consistent with the recommendations of the Joint National Committee (JNC-8) guidelines. A cross-sectional study was conducted in three tertiary care hospitals among patients of 30 years and more who visited the outpatient departments (OPDs) from January 2018 to September 2018. Prescription patterns were assessed by reviewing the patient’s prescriptions, who were attending the OPDs of targeted hospitals during the study duration. Drug interactions in prescriptions were checked by using Micromedex® database to detect incompatible drug combinations. A total of 500 prescriptions were collected that met the criteria for inclusion. The sample data consisted of 57% of males with an average age of 54 years. The average time spent by the patients at the dispensing area was barely 1 min, and no proper counselling had provided them how and when to take medicine. One hundred one drug interactions have been identified in prescriptions. The most frequently first line prescribed drug class was found to be calcium channel blockers 27.8%, followed by 26.1% angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, and 16% vasodilators. The trend observed in double combinations was calcium channel blockers + angiotensin receptor blockers (18.6%) followed by vasodilator + Beta-blockers 14.1%, and Beta-blockers + angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor 7.1%. The study findings demonstrated average compliance with the JNC-8 guidelines; none of the drug was prescribed by generic name and had very short dispensing time without counselling; approximately 101 minor and major drug-drug interactions were identified. This multi-factorial phenomenon of average compliance with the guidelines must be addressed in order to ensure the rational and quality use of medicines to improve the quality of life of patients.
Background: Transcutaneous aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a novel percutaneous procedure for ... more Background: Transcutaneous aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a novel percutaneous procedure for severe aortic stenosis and has been recently approved by Food and Drug Administration in lower risk patients. We performed the first ever meta-analysis and literature review of clinical trials comparing both 30-day and 1-year outcomes in lower risk patients undergoing TAVR vs. surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR, having Society of Thoracic Surgeons score < 4% or equivalent). Methods: Using predefined selection criteria as above, 68 articles were identified. Seven eligible articles were selected after extensive review. Primary effect outcomes were 30-day and 1-year all-cause mortality using risk ratio (RR) with significant P value of < 0.05. Results: A total of 4,859 subjects were included. Risk of 30-day all-cause mortality was 40.1% less in TAVR group, RR 0.59 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.38-0.92, P = 0.02) with no significant heterogeneity. Six studies except Schymik et al also reported 1-year risk. This was, however, not statistically significant with a 21% decrease in the TAVR group, RR 0.79 (95% CI: 0.57-1.09, P = 0.15). Six studies reported 30-day risk of secondary outcomes. The risk of 30-day stroke was 36% less in TAVR group, although this was not statistically significant, RR 0.64 (95% CI: 0.38-1.9, P = 0.10). The risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) stage 2 and above was 56% less in post-TAVR patients, RR 0.43 (95% CI: 0.35-0.54, P < 0.001) with no heterogeneity. For vascular complications, RR was high in TAVR group 4.62 (95% CI: 1.42-15.18, P = 0.01). Significant heterogeneity was demonstrated though (I 2 = 81). The risks for permanent pacemaker (PPM) were also higher in the TAVR group, RR 3.30 (95% CI: 2.04-5.33, P < 0.001) and significant heterogeneity was observed. After removing Thyregod et al and Partner 3 trial from the analysis, heterogeneity was removed, but the RR was still high 3.21 (95% CI: 2.54-4.068, P < 0.001). Post-operative incidence of endocarditis among TAVR patients was low but not statistically significant. The 30-day risk for infective endocarditis was RR 0.67 (95% CI: 0.13-3.48, P = 0.63). The 1-year risk was similarly low but not significant, RR 0.73 (95% CI: 0.28-1.92, P = 0.53). Conclusions: Among low risk patients, TAVR was found to be superior in short-term all-cause mortality and 1-year stroke, a result that was statistically significant for TAVR and close to significance for stroke. TAVR patients were also less likely to have post-operative bleeding and AKI stage 2 and beyond. Post-operative incidence of endocarditis among TAVR patients was low but not statistically significant. However, the rates of PPM and vascular complications are higher in TAVR patients. The results of TAVR in low risk population are thus extremely encouraging. However, the issue of long-term valve durability in this group needs further studies. Also, caution needs to be exercised while extending the indications to extremely young patients due to lack of enough studies.
Team effectiveness models in the literature are primarily concentrated on traditional teams, with... more Team effectiveness models in the literature are primarily concentrated on traditional teams, with few involving the multiteam system (MTS) level of analysis in the model. Teams achieve their goals by managing both teamwork (e.g., interpersonal, effective, motivational, cognitive) and taskwork (e.g., strategy, goal setting, project management) activities. When MTSs are involved, multiple teams manage their own teamwork and taskwork activities, while leadership must be in place to coordinate these activities within and between teams in order to achieve the organization’s goal (the MTS’s goal). This research study conducted a systematic review of current team effectiveness frameworks and models. A narrative-based method for theorizing was utilized to develop a new MTS team effectiveness framework. This research contributes to the MTS literature by providing a new formula for team effectiveness at both the team level (team effectiveness formula) and the MTS level (MTS team effectiveness...
Device to device (D2D) communication has emerged as a potential candidate for next-generation com... more Device to device (D2D) communication has emerged as a potential candidate for next-generation communication networks to support higher data rates and minimize power consumption. The spectral and energy efficiency of D2D communication can further be improved using cognitive radio (CR) and radio frequency energy harvesting (RF-EH) technologies. Therefore, in this paper, a sum throughput maximization problem for a CR assisted D2D network is modeled considering the RF-EH mechanism. A joint optimization problem is formulated for sum-rate maximization of cellular and D2D users by considering power allocation, channel assignment, user pairing and transmission time ratio allocation. Then, the problem is transformed into a standard convex optimization problem subject to power constraints at individual nodes, interference constraint, and the individual rate. Furthermore, the secrecy capacity requirements of cellular and D2D nodes are also considered. The duality theory is used to decompose the problem into multiple sub-problems and Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions are exploited to provide the solution of the sub-problems. The simulation results are provided for the validation of our proposed schemes. INDEX TERMS Base station assisted users, channel allocation, device to device users, power optimization, RF energy harvesting, user pairing.
Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, 2019
The issue of spectrum scarcity in wireless networks is becoming prominent and critical with each ... more The issue of spectrum scarcity in wireless networks is becoming prominent and critical with each passing year. Although several promising solutions have been proposed to provide a solution to spectrum scarcity, most of them have many associated tradeoffs. In this context, one of the emerging ideas relates to the utilization of cognitive radios (CR) for future heterogeneous networks (HetNets). This paper provides a marriage of two promising candidates (i.e., CR and HetNets) for beyond fifth generation (5G) wireless networks. More specifically, a joint power allocation and user assignment solution for the multiuser underlay CR-based HetNets has been proposed and evaluated. To counter the limiting factors in these networks, the individual power of transmitting nodes and interference temperature protection constraints of the primary networks have been considered. An efficient solution is designed from the dual decomposition approach, where the optimal user assignment is obtained for the...
Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives, 2019
We are reporting a rare case of acupuncture-related acute pericarditis in an old-aged gentleman d... more We are reporting a rare case of acupuncture-related acute pericarditis in an old-aged gentleman due to Staphylococcus aureus infection who was successfully managed with drainage of pericardial fluid and broad-spectrum antibiotics. We also reviewed the literature and found cardiac tamponade as the most common acupuncture-related cardiac complication, followed by infective endocarditis, bacterial abscess, and infected myxoma. There was no available literature on post-acupuncture acute pericarditis.
Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives, 2019
Takotasubo Cardiomyopathy (TCM), also known as broken heart syndrome, is a syndrome of transient ... more Takotasubo Cardiomyopathy (TCM), also known as broken heart syndrome, is a syndrome of transient and reversible cardiac dysfunction in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease following an unpleasant emotional event. TCM commonly presents as chest pain mimicking acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in character. The most common electrocardiogram (EKG) findings associated with TCM are ST-segment elevation or T wave inversion. Herein, we present a case of TCM in an individual who presented with a sudden onset chest pressure following a stressful event. She was found to have QT interval prolongation on EKG and elevated troponins. Initially thought to have non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Cardiac catheterization did not reveal coronary artery disease. The ventriculography suggested apical ballooning and the diagnosis of TCM with atypical EKG presentation. Our case is unique as we describe an atypical electrocardiographic presentation of TCM. Our case emphasizes that physicians should refrain from prescribing QT-prolonging drugs to patients with TCM, to avert potential QT prolongation and progression to torsade de pointes (TDP).
Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies, 2018
Nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been recognized as a key solution to fulfill the demands... more Nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been recognized as a key solution to fulfill the demands of 5G wireless communication. In this paper, our aim is to maximize the fairness in the data rates of different users in a multiuser NOMA system. We optimize the downlink transmission subject to minimum rate requirement of each user, limited power budget at the transmitter, and the successive interference cancelation constraint. First, we solve the problem for two-user scenario where the nonconvex problem is transformed into a standard convex minimization problem and the duality theory is exploited to find the solution. The optimal power allocation is obtained from the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions, whereas the dual problem is solved via subgradient algorithm. As a next step, we consider the general multiuser optimization problem where more than two users can share the same channel under NOMA transmission. We design efficient solution techniques to solve the nonconvex optimization problem with sequential quadratic programming (SQP). Furthermore, two suboptimal low complexity solutions are also presented. We found that, under the proposed schemes, the fairness increases with increasing the available transmit power and decreases with the increasing the number of users. We show a complexity comparison of the dual-based solution and the SQP algorithm. It is observed that power optimization through KKT conditions exhibits much lower computational complexity as compared to the SQP-based solution.
2017 IEEE 13th Malaysia International Conference on Communications (MICC), 2017
In this work, we consider a joint power allocation and bit loading problem in an orthogonal frequ... more In this work, we consider a joint power allocation and bit loading problem in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based cognitive radio (CR) network. The objective is to maximize the end-to-end rate in a relay aided dual hop transmission subject to individual power constraints at each transmission node. More specifically, an underlay CR transmission is considered, where the secondary nodes transmit simultaneously with the primary nodes subject to an interference protection criteria. An efficient algorithm is proposed which maximizes the overall throughput while meeting all the constraints. Simulations results are presented to validate the performance of our proposed scheme.
2017 International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology (FIT), 2017
A channel amplitude quantization method that can effectively quantize the channel response using ... more A channel amplitude quantization method that can effectively quantize the channel response using just one single threshold value is proposed in order to extract a random manipulating sequence with good secrecy properties. Specifically, a Time Division Duplex (TDD) wireless system is considered over independent identical distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh fast fading channel, where potential passive eavesdroppers (Eves) can only estimate their own channel and have no knowledge about CSI between legitimate communication parties. The transmitter (Alice) is only aware of the CSI of the legitimate user (Bob). Particularly, the proposed security technique takes the bits of the transmitted data packets and manipulate them with a logical vector that characterizes the channel randomness based on the estimated CSI gain. The process of manipulation is implemented on a bit level basis using an XOR operation exactly before modulation process. The same XOR operation is implemented after demodulation process on the detected bits to extract the concealed bits. The obtained simulation results show that the employment of such mechanism can ensure data confidentiality. Furthermore, the simulation results are extended to include the effect of the selected quantization threshold on the BER performance of Eve as well as the amount of information leakage to its side. It is shown that security gap region between Bob and Eve is made very large over all expected Signal to Noise ratio (SNR) values despite the small degradation in the bit error rate (BER) performance of Bob because of the expected channel estimation errors due to noise.
Context: Maintaining precise ranges of urine pH and specific gravity (SG) is essential to avoid t... more Context: Maintaining precise ranges of urine pH and specific gravity (SG) is essential to avoid toxicity in patients receiving high-dose methotrexate (HDMTX) for acute lymphoblastic processes and osteosarcoma. Three urinalysis methods are used: manually read dipsticks (DpH/DSG), automated dipsticks (ApH/ASG), and urinalysis machines (UpH/USG). Objective: To compare the reliability of manual and automated dipsticks to urinalysis machines, as urinalysis machines are currently the most reliable and accurate method based on literature review. Design: Retrospective chart review comparing pH and SG measurements of patients who received HDMTX from January 2017 to June 2020. Setting: Southwest Cancer Center at University Medical Center (UMC) in Lubbock, TX (county hospital). Patients or Other Participants: Patients receiving HDMTX (≥ 500 mg/m2) who were tested by ≥ 2 methods during a 4-hour period. Seventeen patients (59% female, average age 9.2 years) met inclusion criteria, but only 11 (81% female, average age 9.7 years) had sufficient data for analysis. Interventions: The study did not involve therapeutic, clinical, or diagnostic interventions. Main Outcomes Measures: Primary outcome measures are pH and specific gravity as measured by manual dipstick, automated dipstick, and urinalysis machine. Outcomes parameters were analyzed by Pearson product-moment correlation and paired sample t-test. Results: Each pair of methods correlated for pH readings, but only ApH and UpH showed a significant, strong positive correlation (r = 0.65, p = 0.003). DSG and ASG had a strong positive correlation (r = 0.833, p = 0.167), while ASG and USG had a moderate negative correlation (r = -0.454, p = 0.067), but neither of these were significant. Paired sample t-test revealed ASG was higher than USG (α=0.011, p≤ 0.05). No other mean differences were significant. Conclusions: Manual and automated dipsticks are as reliable as urinalysis machines for testing pH, but automated dipsticks yield a higher SG, while ApH and UpH are highly correlated. However, our findings may not be clinically significant due to small sample size and missing data from chart review. Further study using a larger sample and prospective approach could help assess cost-effective alternatives to standard urinalysis.
Abstract To support the massive connectivity in Internet of Things (IoT), several promising techn... more Abstract To support the massive connectivity in Internet of Things (IoT), several promising techniques like cognitive radio (CR) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) enables the user to share spectrum resources. This work aims to achieve fairness among secondary users (SUs) in IoT cooperative NOMA-based CR transmission. We design a power allocation algorithm, an independent battery constraint at each node is considered, and power gap among transmissions of two NOMA users is applied for successive interference cancellation. The simulation results show that the proposed framework provides excellent performance and for sufficient available transmission power perfect fairness is achieved.
2017 International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology (FIT), 2017
In this study, we first quantify the secrecy performance achieved by employing precoded orthogona... more In this study, we first quantify the secrecy performance achieved by employing precoded orthogonal space time block coding (POSTBC) in order to use it as a benchmark for comparison purposes with a new proposed security scheme. In POSTBC, space time codewords are precoded before being transmitted with an optimum pre-coding matrix based on the main channel of the legitimate parties. The obtained results demonstrate a considerable secrecy gap region in the resulting bit error rate (BER) performance due to using POSTBC. Afterwards, a new method called pre-equlicodization (precoding along with semi pre-equalization) is proposed to further enhance the secrecy performance. In pre-equlicodization scheme, the transmitted symbols are precoded by a new modified matrix called pre-equalicodizing matrix. This matrix is built by manipulating each row element in the optimal selected precoding matrix by the corresponding amplitude square inverse of the estimated channel gain over each data stream. T...
The aim of our study is to compare Fentanyl(1 micro/kg) alone, with fentanyl (0.75 micro/kg) admi... more The aim of our study is to compare Fentanyl(1 micro/kg) alone, with fentanyl (0.75 micro/kg) administered with dexamethasone (8 mg), for the relief of pain in patients who are being operated for inguinal hernia repair. And compare the resulting analgesia using visual analog scale and hemodynamic variables. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The type of study is a randomized double blind case control study conducted for a period of one year from April 2013 to May 2014 at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi Pakistan. Patients diagnosed with inguinal hernia were admitted in the hospital. The patients were divided into two groups using a random number generator. Group A was selected to be given fentanyl 1 micro/kg−1 (control group) and the study group (group B)to be given 8 mg dexamethasone with fentanyl 0.75 micro/kg−1. Assessment of pain was based on hemodynamic changes intra operatively and visual analogue scale post operatively. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: In the control group, the hemodynamic variables including heart rate and blood pressure as compared with that of the study group (taken at 1, 5, 20 and 30 min after incision was given) were considerably higher (P ≤ 0.001). Intra-operative (rescue) analgesia that was required in the control group was n= 40 (100%) while n= 24 (60%) for study group. The mean scores for pain measured at pre determined and fixed time intervals were significantly lower in the study group as compared to the control group (p<0.001). The use of post operative (rescue) analgesia that was required was found to be n=40 (100%) patients in the control group, while it was required in n= 30 (75%)patients in the study group. CONCLUSION: Administration of Dexamethasone 8mg IV with fentanyl reduces intra and post operative pain in the 1st hour after unilateral inguinal hernia repair, as compared to administration of fentanyl alone.
2020 IEEE 14th International Conference on Semantic Computing (ICSC), 2020
An increasing amount of data and information coming from social networks that can be used to gene... more An increasing amount of data and information coming from social networks that can be used to generate a variety of data patterns for different types of investigation such as human social behavior, system security, criminology etc. A framework is developed to predict major types of social media crimes (Cyber stalking, Cyber bullying, Cyber Hacking, Cyber Harassment, and Cyber Scam) using the data obtained from social media website. The proposed framework is consist of three modules; data (tweet) pre-processing, classifying model builder and prediction. To build the prediction model Multinomial Naïve Bayes (MNB), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used that classify given data into different classes of crime. Further N-Gram language model is used with these machine learning algorithms to identify the best value of n and measure the accuracy of the system at different levels such as Unigram, Bigram, Trigram, and 4-gram. Results shows that all three algorithm attain the precision, Recall and F-measure above than 0.9 however Support vector machine performed slightly better. The proposed system produced better accuracy result as compared to existing network-based feature selection approach.
IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, 2021
Physical layer security (PLS) is an emerging area for information security against eavesdroppers ... more Physical layer security (PLS) is an emerging area for information security against eavesdroppers (Eve). Information security of any system can also be improved by using friendly jammers that produce interference signals to Eve. Traditional security techniques are limited by the processing power of the wireless nodes, whereas PLS can achieve communication secrecy without requiring computationally expensive cryptographic operations. The relay networks have emerged as a promising technology to enhance the performance of the wireless systems. This paper proposes a joint resource optimization framework for the PLS of dual-hop decode and forward (DF) relay network with and without cooperative jamming. In particular, the proposed framework consists of a base station (BS), multiple users, DF relays, multiple subcarriers, and an Eve. Our objective is to maximize the sum secrecy rate (SR) through optimal power loading over different subcarriers at BS and relay nodes, and efficient subcarrier assignment. We formulate a mixed binary integer programing problem for secrecy optimization and adopt Lagrangian dual method to achieve the efficient solutions. We also provide three benchmark frameworks, i.e., joint power optimization with random subcarrier assignment, equal power allocation with efficient subcarrier assignment and equal power with random subcarrier assignment to guage the performance of our joint resource optimization framework. Simulation results unveil that the proposed joint resource optimization framework under cooperative jamming and without jamming performs significantly better than the benchmark frameworks. INDEX TERMS Cooperative jamming, decode and forward relay, joint resource optimization, physical layer security.
IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking, 2021
The future generation of wireless communication networks demands for high spectral efficiency to ... more The future generation of wireless communication networks demands for high spectral efficiency to accommodate a large number of devices over the limited available frequency spectrum. Device to device (D2D) systems exploit channel reuse to offer high spectral efficiency and reduce the burden on the communication infrastructure by facilitating communication between devices without involving the base station. We can further enhance the efficiency of D2D systems by employing non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) for the transmission of the signals. In NOMA the signals of multiple users are transmitted on the same channel, simultaneously. Deployment of relays can assist the users that do not have a reliable link of communication. A combination of these advanced technologies may offer very high spectral efficiency and a robust communication system. This article aims to design efficient resource allocation techniques for the future communication systems. We consider sum rate maximization problem subject to limited power budget at different transmitting nodes and necessary transmit power gap among users for successful NOMA implementation. Under decode and forward relaying protocol, the problem turns out to be a unique joint uplink-downlink NOMA optimization. We then propose a deep neural networks (DNN) framework to acquire a joint power loading solution at source and relaying nodes. To obtain reliable data for DNN training and testing, we also derive an optimal solution of the problem through convex optimization paradigm, which is used later as a bench mark to verify the performance of proposed DNN based solution. It is observed that DNN provides promising results both in terms of sum rate and the computational complexity.
IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2021
In recent years, the concept of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has gathered much attention... more In recent years, the concept of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has gathered much attention due to its potential to offer high spectral efficiency, present user fairness and grant free access to sixth generation (6G) vehicular networks. This paper proposes a new optimization framework for NOMA-enabled cooperative vehicular network. In particular, we jointly optimize the vehicle paring, channel assignment, and power allocation at source and relaying vehicles. The objective is to maximize the sum rate of the system subject to the power allocation, minimum rate, relay battery lifetime and successive interference cancelation constraints. To solve the joint optimization problem efficiently, we adopt duality theory followed by Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions, where the dual variables are iteratively computed through sub-gradient method. Two less complex suboptimal schemes are also presented as the benchmark cooperative vehicular schemes. Simulation results compare the performance of the proposed joint optimization scheme compared to the other benchmark cooperative vehicular schemes. INDEX TERMS Sixth generation (6G), vehicular networks, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), optimal resource allocation, successive interference cancelation (SIC).
The current study was aimed at examining the prescribing patterns of antihypertensive medications... more The current study was aimed at examining the prescribing patterns of antihypertensive medications, dispensing time, generic prescribing, drug-drug interactions and to determining whether or not prescriptions are consistent with the recommendations of the Joint National Committee (JNC-8) guidelines. A cross-sectional study was conducted in three tertiary care hospitals among patients of 30 years and more who visited the outpatient departments (OPDs) from January 2018 to September 2018. Prescription patterns were assessed by reviewing the patient’s prescriptions, who were attending the OPDs of targeted hospitals during the study duration. Drug interactions in prescriptions were checked by using Micromedex® database to detect incompatible drug combinations. A total of 500 prescriptions were collected that met the criteria for inclusion. The sample data consisted of 57% of males with an average age of 54 years. The average time spent by the patients at the dispensing area was barely 1 min, and no proper counselling had provided them how and when to take medicine. One hundred one drug interactions have been identified in prescriptions. The most frequently first line prescribed drug class was found to be calcium channel blockers 27.8%, followed by 26.1% angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, and 16% vasodilators. The trend observed in double combinations was calcium channel blockers + angiotensin receptor blockers (18.6%) followed by vasodilator + Beta-blockers 14.1%, and Beta-blockers + angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor 7.1%. The study findings demonstrated average compliance with the JNC-8 guidelines; none of the drug was prescribed by generic name and had very short dispensing time without counselling; approximately 101 minor and major drug-drug interactions were identified. This multi-factorial phenomenon of average compliance with the guidelines must be addressed in order to ensure the rational and quality use of medicines to improve the quality of life of patients.
Background: Transcutaneous aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a novel percutaneous procedure for ... more Background: Transcutaneous aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a novel percutaneous procedure for severe aortic stenosis and has been recently approved by Food and Drug Administration in lower risk patients. We performed the first ever meta-analysis and literature review of clinical trials comparing both 30-day and 1-year outcomes in lower risk patients undergoing TAVR vs. surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR, having Society of Thoracic Surgeons score < 4% or equivalent). Methods: Using predefined selection criteria as above, 68 articles were identified. Seven eligible articles were selected after extensive review. Primary effect outcomes were 30-day and 1-year all-cause mortality using risk ratio (RR) with significant P value of < 0.05. Results: A total of 4,859 subjects were included. Risk of 30-day all-cause mortality was 40.1% less in TAVR group, RR 0.59 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.38-0.92, P = 0.02) with no significant heterogeneity. Six studies except Schymik et al also reported 1-year risk. This was, however, not statistically significant with a 21% decrease in the TAVR group, RR 0.79 (95% CI: 0.57-1.09, P = 0.15). Six studies reported 30-day risk of secondary outcomes. The risk of 30-day stroke was 36% less in TAVR group, although this was not statistically significant, RR 0.64 (95% CI: 0.38-1.9, P = 0.10). The risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) stage 2 and above was 56% less in post-TAVR patients, RR 0.43 (95% CI: 0.35-0.54, P < 0.001) with no heterogeneity. For vascular complications, RR was high in TAVR group 4.62 (95% CI: 1.42-15.18, P = 0.01). Significant heterogeneity was demonstrated though (I 2 = 81). The risks for permanent pacemaker (PPM) were also higher in the TAVR group, RR 3.30 (95% CI: 2.04-5.33, P < 0.001) and significant heterogeneity was observed. After removing Thyregod et al and Partner 3 trial from the analysis, heterogeneity was removed, but the RR was still high 3.21 (95% CI: 2.54-4.068, P < 0.001). Post-operative incidence of endocarditis among TAVR patients was low but not statistically significant. The 30-day risk for infective endocarditis was RR 0.67 (95% CI: 0.13-3.48, P = 0.63). The 1-year risk was similarly low but not significant, RR 0.73 (95% CI: 0.28-1.92, P = 0.53). Conclusions: Among low risk patients, TAVR was found to be superior in short-term all-cause mortality and 1-year stroke, a result that was statistically significant for TAVR and close to significance for stroke. TAVR patients were also less likely to have post-operative bleeding and AKI stage 2 and beyond. Post-operative incidence of endocarditis among TAVR patients was low but not statistically significant. However, the rates of PPM and vascular complications are higher in TAVR patients. The results of TAVR in low risk population are thus extremely encouraging. However, the issue of long-term valve durability in this group needs further studies. Also, caution needs to be exercised while extending the indications to extremely young patients due to lack of enough studies.
Team effectiveness models in the literature are primarily concentrated on traditional teams, with... more Team effectiveness models in the literature are primarily concentrated on traditional teams, with few involving the multiteam system (MTS) level of analysis in the model. Teams achieve their goals by managing both teamwork (e.g., interpersonal, effective, motivational, cognitive) and taskwork (e.g., strategy, goal setting, project management) activities. When MTSs are involved, multiple teams manage their own teamwork and taskwork activities, while leadership must be in place to coordinate these activities within and between teams in order to achieve the organization’s goal (the MTS’s goal). This research study conducted a systematic review of current team effectiveness frameworks and models. A narrative-based method for theorizing was utilized to develop a new MTS team effectiveness framework. This research contributes to the MTS literature by providing a new formula for team effectiveness at both the team level (team effectiveness formula) and the MTS level (MTS team effectiveness...
Device to device (D2D) communication has emerged as a potential candidate for next-generation com... more Device to device (D2D) communication has emerged as a potential candidate for next-generation communication networks to support higher data rates and minimize power consumption. The spectral and energy efficiency of D2D communication can further be improved using cognitive radio (CR) and radio frequency energy harvesting (RF-EH) technologies. Therefore, in this paper, a sum throughput maximization problem for a CR assisted D2D network is modeled considering the RF-EH mechanism. A joint optimization problem is formulated for sum-rate maximization of cellular and D2D users by considering power allocation, channel assignment, user pairing and transmission time ratio allocation. Then, the problem is transformed into a standard convex optimization problem subject to power constraints at individual nodes, interference constraint, and the individual rate. Furthermore, the secrecy capacity requirements of cellular and D2D nodes are also considered. The duality theory is used to decompose the problem into multiple sub-problems and Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions are exploited to provide the solution of the sub-problems. The simulation results are provided for the validation of our proposed schemes. INDEX TERMS Base station assisted users, channel allocation, device to device users, power optimization, RF energy harvesting, user pairing.
Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, 2019
The issue of spectrum scarcity in wireless networks is becoming prominent and critical with each ... more The issue of spectrum scarcity in wireless networks is becoming prominent and critical with each passing year. Although several promising solutions have been proposed to provide a solution to spectrum scarcity, most of them have many associated tradeoffs. In this context, one of the emerging ideas relates to the utilization of cognitive radios (CR) for future heterogeneous networks (HetNets). This paper provides a marriage of two promising candidates (i.e., CR and HetNets) for beyond fifth generation (5G) wireless networks. More specifically, a joint power allocation and user assignment solution for the multiuser underlay CR-based HetNets has been proposed and evaluated. To counter the limiting factors in these networks, the individual power of transmitting nodes and interference temperature protection constraints of the primary networks have been considered. An efficient solution is designed from the dual decomposition approach, where the optimal user assignment is obtained for the...
Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives, 2019
We are reporting a rare case of acupuncture-related acute pericarditis in an old-aged gentleman d... more We are reporting a rare case of acupuncture-related acute pericarditis in an old-aged gentleman due to Staphylococcus aureus infection who was successfully managed with drainage of pericardial fluid and broad-spectrum antibiotics. We also reviewed the literature and found cardiac tamponade as the most common acupuncture-related cardiac complication, followed by infective endocarditis, bacterial abscess, and infected myxoma. There was no available literature on post-acupuncture acute pericarditis.
Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives, 2019
Takotasubo Cardiomyopathy (TCM), also known as broken heart syndrome, is a syndrome of transient ... more Takotasubo Cardiomyopathy (TCM), also known as broken heart syndrome, is a syndrome of transient and reversible cardiac dysfunction in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease following an unpleasant emotional event. TCM commonly presents as chest pain mimicking acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in character. The most common electrocardiogram (EKG) findings associated with TCM are ST-segment elevation or T wave inversion. Herein, we present a case of TCM in an individual who presented with a sudden onset chest pressure following a stressful event. She was found to have QT interval prolongation on EKG and elevated troponins. Initially thought to have non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Cardiac catheterization did not reveal coronary artery disease. The ventriculography suggested apical ballooning and the diagnosis of TCM with atypical EKG presentation. Our case is unique as we describe an atypical electrocardiographic presentation of TCM. Our case emphasizes that physicians should refrain from prescribing QT-prolonging drugs to patients with TCM, to avert potential QT prolongation and progression to torsade de pointes (TDP).
Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies, 2018
Nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been recognized as a key solution to fulfill the demands... more Nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been recognized as a key solution to fulfill the demands of 5G wireless communication. In this paper, our aim is to maximize the fairness in the data rates of different users in a multiuser NOMA system. We optimize the downlink transmission subject to minimum rate requirement of each user, limited power budget at the transmitter, and the successive interference cancelation constraint. First, we solve the problem for two-user scenario where the nonconvex problem is transformed into a standard convex minimization problem and the duality theory is exploited to find the solution. The optimal power allocation is obtained from the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions, whereas the dual problem is solved via subgradient algorithm. As a next step, we consider the general multiuser optimization problem where more than two users can share the same channel under NOMA transmission. We design efficient solution techniques to solve the nonconvex optimization problem with sequential quadratic programming (SQP). Furthermore, two suboptimal low complexity solutions are also presented. We found that, under the proposed schemes, the fairness increases with increasing the available transmit power and decreases with the increasing the number of users. We show a complexity comparison of the dual-based solution and the SQP algorithm. It is observed that power optimization through KKT conditions exhibits much lower computational complexity as compared to the SQP-based solution.
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