Deployment of wireless sensor networks and wireless communication systems have become indispensable for better real-time data acquisition from ground monitoring devices, gas sensors, and equipment used in underground mines as well as in locating the miners, since conventional methods like use of wireline communication are rendered ineffective in the event of mine hazards such as roof-falls, fir...

BACKGROUND Obesity is one of the most significant risk factors for hypertension. However, there is controversy regarding which measure is the best predictor of hypertension risk. We compared body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) in subjects as predictive indicators for development of hypertension. METHODS The data were obta...

Malaria remains one of the most common vector-borne diseases in the world and the definition of novel control strategies can benefit from the modeling of transmission processes. However, data-driven models are often difficult to build, as data are very often incomplete, heterogeneous in nature and in quality, and/or biased. In this context, a knowledge-based approach is proposed to build a robu...

The aim of this study is to analyze the reliability modeling indices and to study the mechanical system of a thermal power plant. The reliability of a system, equipment and a product is very important aspect of quality for its consistence performance over its expected life span. In fact, uninterrupted service and hazard free operation is an essential requirement of large complex systems like el...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Studies of blood pressure (BP) indices as disease predictors have offered conflicting conclusions. We compare pulse pressure (PP), systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) as risk markers for long-term mortality with emphasis on stroke. METHODS Male civil servants (40 to 65 years of age; n=9611) were examined in 1963 and followed up unt...

In follow-up studies, interactions are often assessed by including a cross-product term in a (multiplicative) Cox model. However, epidemiologists/clinicians often misinterpret a significant multiplicative interaction as a genuine mechanistic interaction. Though indices specific to mechanistic interactions have been proposed, including the 'relative excess risk due to interaction' (RERI) and the...

Several studies have been devoted to calibrate damage indices for steel and reinforced concrete members with the purpose of overcoming some of the shortcomings of the parameters currently used during seismic design. Nevertheless, there is a challenge to study and calibrate the use of such indices for the practical structural evaluation of complex structures. In this paper, an energy-based damag...

BACKGROUND There are two widely used tools to classify frailty in older adults: the frailty phenotype and the frailty index. Both have been validated for prediction of adverse outcomes. OBJECTIVE To assess the ability of different frailty indices to predict a number of adverse outcomes (falls, disability, and mortality) by adding deficits in a fixed sequence (with the first five deficits as i...