From the time when Roentgen and other physicists made the discoveries which led to the development of radiology, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine, medical physicists have played a pivotal role in the development of new technologies that have revolutionized the way medicine is practiced today. Medical physicists have been transforming scientific advances in the research laboratories to improving the quality of life for patients; indeed innovations such as computed tomography, positron emission tomography and linear accelerators which collectively have improved the medical outcomes for millions of people. In order for radiation-delivery techniques to improve in targeting accuracy, optimal dose distribution and clinical outcome, convergence of imaging and therapy is the key. It is timely for these two specialties to work closer again. This can be achieved by means of cross-disciplinary research, common conferences and workshops, and collaboration in education and training for all. The current emphasis is on enhancing the specific skill development and competency of a medical physicist at the expense of their future roles and opportunities. This emphasis is largely driven by financial and political pressures for optimizing limited resources in health care. This has raised serious concern on the ability of the next generation of medical physicists to respond to new technologies. In addition in the background loom changes of tsunami proportion. The clearly defined boundaries between the different disciplines in medicine are increasingly blurred and those between diagnosis, therapy and management are also following suit. The use of radioactive particles to treat tumours using catheters, high-intensity focused ultrasound, electromagnetic wave ablation and photodynamic therapy are just some areas challenging the old paradigm. The uncertainty and turf battles will only explode further and medical physicists will not be spared. How would medical physicists fit into this changing scenario? We are in the midst of molecular revolution. Are we prepared to explore the newer technologies such as nanotechnology, drug discovery, pre-clinical imaging, optical imaging and biomedical informatics? How are our curricula adapting to the changing needs? We should remember the late Professor John Cameron who advocated imagination and creativity - these important attributes will make us still relevant in 2020 and beyond. To me the future is clear: "To achieve more, we should imagine together."
Vegetation fires have become an increasing problem in tropical environments as a consequence of socioeconomic pressures and subsequent land-use change. In response, fire management systems are being developed. This study set out to determine the relationships between two aspects of the fire problems in western Indonesia and Malaysia, and two components of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System. The study resulted in a new method for calibrating components of fire danger rating systems based on satellite fire detection (hotspot) data. Once the climate was accounted for, a problematic number of fires were related to high levels of the Fine Fuel Moisture Code. The relationship between climate, Fine Fuel Moisture Code, and hotspot occurrence was used to calibrate Fire Occurrence Potential classes where low accounted for 3% of the fires from 1994 to 2000, moderate accounted for 25%, high 26%, and extreme 38%. Further problems arise when there are large clusters of fires burning that may consume valuable land or produce local smoke pollution. Once the climate was taken into account, the hotspot load (number and size of clusters of hotspots) was related to the Fire Weather Index. The relationship between climate, Fire Weather Index, and hotspot load was used to calibrate Fire Load Potential classes. Low Fire Load Potential conditions (75% of an average year) corresponded with 24% of the hotspot clusters, which had an average size of 30% of the largest cluster. In contrast, extreme Fire Load Potential conditions (1% of an average year) corresponded with 30% of the hotspot clusters, which had an average size of 58% of the maximum. Both Fire Occurrence Potential and Fire Load Potential calibrations were successfully validated with data from 2001. This study showed that when ground measurements are not available, fire statistics derived from satellite fire detection archives can be reliably used for calibration. More importantly, as a result of this work, Malaysia and Indonesia have two new sources of information to initiate fire prevention and suppression activities.
Many researchers documented that the stock market data are nonstationary and nonlinear time series data. In this study, we use EMD-HW bagging method for nonstationary and nonlinear time series forecasting. The EMD-HW bagging method is based on the empirical mode decomposition (EMD), the moving block bootstrap and the Holt-Winter. The stock market time series of six countries are used to compare EMD-HW bagging method. This comparison is based on five forecasting error measurements. The comparison shows that the forecasting results of EMD-HW bagging are more accurate than the forecasting results of the fourteen selected methods.
The science of the brain and nervous system cuts across almost all aspects of human life and is one of the fastest growing scientific fields worldwide. This necessitates the demand for pragmatic investment by all nations to ensure improved education and quality of research in Neurosciences. Although obvious efforts are being made in advancing the field in developed societies, there is limited data addressing the state of neuroscience in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we review the state of neuroscience development in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and its largest economy, critically evaluating the history, the current situation and future projections. This review specifically addresses trends in clinical and basic neuroscience research and education. We conclude by highlighting potentially helpful strategies that will catalyse development in neuroscience education and research in Nigeria, among which are an increase in research funding, provision of tools and equipment for training and research, and upgrading of the infrastructure at hand.
Time series forecasting has gained much attention due to its many practical applications. Higher-order neural network with recurrent feedback is a powerful technique that has been used successfully for time series forecasting. It maintains fast learning and the ability to learn the dynamics of the time series over time. Network output feedback is the most common recurrent feedback for many recurrent neural network models. However, not much attention has been paid to the use of network error feedback instead of network output feedback. In this study, we propose a novel model, called Ridge Polynomial Neural Network with Error Feedback (RPNN-EF) that incorporates higher order terms, recurrence and error feedback. To evaluate the performance of RPNN-EF, we used four univariate time series with different forecasting horizons, namely star brightness, monthly smoothed sunspot numbers, daily Euro/Dollar exchange rate, and Mackey-Glass time-delay differential equation. We compared the forecasting performance of RPNN-EF with the ordinary Ridge Polynomial Neural Network (RPNN) and the Dynamic Ridge Polynomial Neural Network (DRPNN). Simulation results showed an average 23.34% improvement in Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) with respect to RPNN and an average 10.74% improvement with respect to DRPNN. That means that using network errors during training helps enhance the overall forecasting performance for the network.
The Colorado River has experienced a significant streamflow reduction in recent decades due to climate change, resulting in pronounced hydrological droughts that pose challenges to the environment and human activities. However, current models struggle to accurately capture complex drought patterns, and their accuracy decreases as the lead time increases. Thus, determining the reliability of drought forecasting for specific months ahead presents a challenging task. This study introduces a robust approach that utilizes the Beluga Whale Optimization (BWO) algorithm to train and optimize the parameters of the Regularized Extreme Learning Machine (RELM) and Random Forest (RF) models. The applied models are validated against a KNN benchmark model for forecasting drought from one- to six-month ahead across four hydrological stations distributed over the Colorado River. The achieved results demonstrate that RELM-BWO outperforms RF-BWO and KNN models, achieving the lowest root-mean square error (0.2795), uncertainty (U95 = 0.1077), mean absolute error (0.2104), and highest correlation coefficient (0.9135). Also, the current study uses Global Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (GMCDA) as an evaluation metric to assess the reliability of the forecasting. The GMCDA results indicate that RELM-BWO provides reliable forecasts up to four months ahead. Overall, the research methodology is valuable for drought assessment and forecasting, enabling advanced early warning systems and effective drought countermeasures.
The production of palm oil (PO) is highly profitable. The economies of the principal producers, Malaysia and Indonesia, and others, benefit considerably. Climate change (CC) will most likely have an impact on the distribution of oil palms (OP) (Elaeis guineensis). Here we present modelled CC projections with respect to the suitability of growing OP, in Malaysia and Indonesia. A process-oriented niche model of OP was developed using CLIMEX to estimate its potential distribution under current and future climate scenarios. Two Global Climate Models (GCMs), CSIRO-Mk3.0 and MIROC-H, were used to explore the impacts of CC under the A1B and A2 scenarios for 2030, 2070 and 2100. Decreases in climatic suitability for OP in the region were gradual by 2030 but became more pronounced by 2100. These projections imply that OP growth will be affected severely by CC, with obvious implications to the economies of (a) Indonesia and Malaysia and (b) the PO industry, but with potential benefits towards reducing CC. A possible remedial action is to concentrate research on development of new varieties of OP that are less vulnerable to CC.
The Sixth International Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) Meeting was held 30 May-3 June 2016 at the Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, California, USA. The conference included 28 workshops covering topics in BCI and brain-machine interface research. Topics included BCI for specific populations or applications, advancing BCI research through use of specific signals or technological advances, and translational and commercial issues to bring both implanted and non-invasive BCIs to market. BCI research is growing and expanding in the breadth of its applications, the depth of knowledge it can produce, and the practical benefit it can provide both for those with physical impairments and the general public. Here we provide summaries of each workshop, illustrating the breadth and depth of BCI research and highlighting important issues and calls for action to support future research and development.
In nature, streamflow pattern is characterized with high non-linearity and non-stationarity. Developing an accurate forecasting model for a streamflow is highly essential for several applications in the field of water resources engineering. One of the main contributors for the modeling reliability is the optimization of the input variables to achieve an accurate forecasting model. The main step of modeling is the selection of the proper input combinations. Hence, developing an algorithm that can determine the optimal input combinations is crucial. This study introduces the Genetic algorithm (GA) for better input combination selection. Radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is used for monthly streamflow time series forecasting due to its simplicity and effectiveness of integration with the selection algorithm. In this paper, the RBFNN was integrated with the Genetic algorithm (GA) for streamflow forecasting. The RBFNN-GA was applied to forecast streamflow at the High Aswan Dam on the Nile River. The results showed that the proposed model provided high accuracy. The GA algorithm can successfully determine effective input parameters in streamflow time series forecasting.
This paper proposes A Hybrid Wavelet-Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (W-ARIMA) model to explore the ability of the hybrid model over an ARIMA model. It combines two methods, a Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and ARIMA model using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) drought data for forecasting drought modeling development. SPI data from January 1954 to December 2008 used was divided into two - (80%/20% for training/testing respectively). The results were compared with the conventional ARIMA model with Mean Square Error (MSE) and Mean Average Error (MAE) as an error measure. The results of the proposed method achieved the best forecasting performance.
The prediction of rainfall on monthly and seasonal time scales is not only scientifically challenging but is also important for planning and devising agricultural strategies. In this paper, the study is conducted to examine the pattern of monthly rainfall in Alor Setar, Kedah within ten years which is from 2008 to 2018. This paper considered a model based on real data that obtained from Department of Meteorology Malaysia. This study indicates that the monthly rainfall in Alor Setar has a seasonal and trend pattern based on yt vs t plotting, autocorrelation function and Kruskal Wallis Test for seasonality. The examined rainfall time-series modelling approaches include Naïve Model, Decomposition Method, Holt-Winter’s and Box-Jenkins ARIMA. Multiplicative Decomposition Method was identified as the best model to forecast rainfall for the year of 2019 by analysing the previous ten-year’s data (2008-2018).As a result from the forecast of 2019, October is the wettest month with highest forecasted rainfall of 276.15mm while the driest month is in February with lowest forecasted rainfall of 50.55mm. The model is therefore adequate and appropriate to forecast future monthly rainfall values in the catchment which can help farmers to plan their farming activities ahead of time.
In general, the nature of gold that acts as a hedge against inflation and its stable price over the course of the financial crisis has made it a unique commodity. Priceforecasts are a must for gold producers, investors and central bank to know the current trends in gold prices. Forecasting the future value of a variableis often done with time series analysis method. This study was conducted to determine the best model for forecasting gold commodity prices as well as forecasting world gold commodity prices in 2018 using Box-Jenkins approach. The data used in this study wasobtained from Investing.Com from 2015 until 2017. Thisstudy shows that ARIMA (1,1,1) is the best model to predict gold commodity prices based on Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). MAPE value for ARIMA (1,1,1) is 0.02%, where this value proves that forecasting using ARIMA (1,1,1) is the best forecasting becauseMAPE value is less than 10%.
Early detection of chronic kidney disease is important to prevent progression of irreversible kidney damage, reducing the need for renal transplantation. Shear wave elastography is ideal as a quantitative imaging modality to detect chronic kidney disease because of its non-invasive nature, low cost and portability, making it highly accessible. However, the complexity of the kidney architecture and its tissue properties give rise to various confounding factors that affect the reliability of shear wave elastography in detecting chronic kidney disease, thus limiting its application to clinical trials. The objective of this review is to highlight the confounding factors presented by the complex properties of the kidney, in addition to outlining potential mitigation strategies, along with the prospect of increasing the versatility and reliability of shear wave elastography in detecting chronic kidney disease.
This paper presents the housing improvement proposition in the Melaka resident area.Quality Function Deployment is used as a method to analyze customer behavior regarding customer requirement, satisfaction and comparison among the developers. By using this method, the main requirement by the buyer for their bungalow is their need of sufficient space to place their appliances in the house. At the end of the study, the details of buyer requirements are plotted into House of Quality, where it is believed to improve the quality of future bungalow house development in Melaka.
Prolonged drought conditions have adverse environmental and socio-economic impacts due to unmet water demands. Defining drought is difficult because of its onset and ending time. Therefore, characterisation of drought is essential for drought management operations. Thus, drought indices come in handy and are a practical approach to assimilate large amounts of data into quantitative information which can then be applied for drought forecasting, declaring drought levels, contingency planning and impact assessments. This study analyses drought events using indices, namely SPI and Deciles Index, computed with DrinC software program but are not popular in Malaysia. It is observed that both indices are identical and suitable for drought occurrences.