Exploratory Data Analytics to Study the Impact of Parameters to Enhance the Population of House Sparrow (Passer Domesticus).

To achieve a sustainable conservation or adaptation strategy, it is necessary to understand the impacts of habitat and weather on particular species. Hence the study was focused to analyze the parameters that influence the population of house sparrow in various locations of Madurai Dist. Furthermore, its present and future suitable habitats have been predicted using computational tools. Statistical analysis and correlation were performed with data gathered through random sampling. Using correlation analysis, the association between various parameters was studied. Hierarchical clustering of data was performed by a Kendall Correlation coefficient to identify the suitable habitat and weather. Subsequently the Selection of the major parameters of a study was determined using Principal Component Analysis approach. The study highlights the significance of utilizing data mining and computational analysis to precisely understand the influence of various geographical parameters on the distribution and survival of the house sparrow population in an area. Based on the results obtained, abundance and distribution of house sparrow were closely related to the area of habitat in which house sparrows were found. The preference of particular habitat can be briefly explained using Kendall Correlation Matrix and cluster analysis. Using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique, the population density of the house sparrow was studied. Taking these computational analyses into account will provide a new perspective on predicting the species distribution in the specific area thereby conserving it.

Local Accreditation in Outpatient Care as an Alternative to Attract Foreign Patients to Colombian Medical Travel: A Case Study in the City of Barranquilla

This article analyzes the contribution of the accreditation in outpatient care of the Colombian Institute of Technical Standards and Certification in the perception of satisfaction of patients treated in the city of Barranquilla (Colombia). Two groups of 67 participants underwent outpatient procedures at an accredited and non-accredited clinic. A quasi-experimental design based on a pre-test, post-test, and a focus group was applied to both groups. A t-test and a Tau Kendall correlation coefficient were applied. It was found that the patients treated in the accredited clinic were more satisfied in the time of consultation received, follow-up care, and the communication between them with their physicians and nurses. It was also found that each group had different preferences in the care received. This study contributes to knowing more about Colombian medical travel from case studies.

Organizational Learning and Teacher Performance in Public Educational Institutions in a District of Lima

The relationships and differences between organizational learning and the performance of teachers in five public educational institutions in a district of Lima were determined. It was a quantitative study with a comparative correlational, non-experimental design. 145 teachers were surveyed with two validated questionnaires. The Tau-b-Kendall correlation test was used for correlation analysis. For score comparisons, the normal Z test, analysis of variance and a Scheffe test were used. Significant associations were found between the variables, and it was also determined that there were differences between the average scores of the teachers by educational level (initial, primary and secondary), with greater associations between teachers at the initial and secondary levels. Finally, the promotion of learning is an aspect that would require greater attention for the better performance of regular basic education teachers, and more aggressive strategies should be established from the institutional directions to promote more and better organizational learning as a work philosophy in these professionals in a social context where knowledge and technology interact at the level of mimicry in a structure that requires competitiveness at the human evolutionary level.

Toxoplasmosis: An important risk factor for acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection and a severe course of Covid-19 disease

Background Latent toxoplasmosis, i.e. a lifelong infection with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, affects about a third of human population worldwide. In the past ten years, numerous studies had shown that infected subjects have a significantly higher incidence of mental and physical health problems and are more prone to exhibiting the adverse effects of various diseases. Methods A cross-sectional internet study was performed on a population of 4,499 Toxoplasma-free and 786 Toxoplasma-infected subjects and looked for factors which positively or negatively affect the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and likelihood of a severe course of Covid-19. Findings Logistic regression and partial Kendall correlation controlled for sex, age, and size of the place of residence showed that latent toxoplasmosis had the strongest effect on the risk of infection (OR = 1.50) before sport (OR = 1.30), and borreliosis (1.27). It also had the strongest effect on the risk of severe course of infection (Tau = 0.146), before autoimmunity, immunodeficiency, male sex, keeping a cat, being overweight, borreliosis, higher age, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Toxoplasmosis augmented the adverse effects of other risk factors but was not the proximal cause of the effect of cat keeping (in the form of higher likelihood of Covid infection and higher severity of the course of infection), which was observed especially in a subset of Toxoplasma-infected subjects (Tau = 0.153). Effects of keeping a cat were detected only in subjects from multi-member families, suggesting that a cat could a vector for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within a family. Interpretations Toxoplasmosis is currently not considered a risk factor for Covid-19 and Toxoplasma-infected subjects are neither informed about their higher risks nor prioritised in vaccination programs. Because toxoplasmosis affects a large segment of the human population, its impact on Covid-19-associated effects on public health could be considerable.

Central Banks Digital Currency: Detection of Optimal Countries for the Implementation of a CBDC and the Implication for Payment Industry Open Innovation

This article analyzes the current situation of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), which are digital currencies backed by a central bank. It introduces their current status, and how several countries and currency areas are considering their implementation, following in the footsteps of the Bahamas (which has already implemented them in its territory), China (which has already completed two pilot tests) and Uruguay (which has completed a pilot test). First, the sample of potential candidate countries for establishing a CBDC was selected. Second, the motives for implementing a CBDC were collected, and variables were assigned to these motives. Once the two previous steps had been completed, bivariate correlation statistical methods were applied (Pearson, Spearman and Kendall correlation), obtaining a sample of the countries with the highest correlation with the Bahamas, China, and Uruguay. The results obtained show that the Baltic Sea area (Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland) is configured within Europe as an optimal area for implementing a CBDC. In South America, Uruguay (already included in the comparison) and Brazil show very positive results. In the case of Asia, together with China, Malaysia also shows a high correlation with the three pioneer countries, and finally, on the African continent, South Africa is the country that stands out as the most optimal area for implementing a CBDC.

Clustering Simultaneous Occurrences of the Extreme Floods in the Neckar Catchment

Flood protection is crucial for making socioeconomic policies due to the high losses of extreme floods. So far, the synchronous occurrences of flood events have not been deeply investigated. In this paper, multivariate analysis was implemented to reveal the interconnection between these floods in spatiotemporal resolution. The discharge measurements of 46 gauges with a continuous daily time series for 55 years were taken over the Neckar catchment. Initially, the simultaneous floods were identified. The Kendall correlation between the pair sets of peaks was determined to scrutinize the similarities between the simultaneous events. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering tree (AHCT) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) were employed, and obtained clusters were compared and evaluated with the Silhouette verification method. AHCT shows that the Average and Ward algorithms are appropriate to detect reasonable clusters. The Neckar catchment has been divided into three major clusters: the first cluster mainly covers the western part and is bounded by the Black Forest and Swabian Alps. The second cluster is mostly located in the eastern part of the upper Neckar. The third cluster contains the remaining lowland areas of the Neckar basin. The results illustrate that the clusters act relatively as a function of topography, geology, and anthropogenic alterations of the catchment.

A five-year trend in pre-eclampsia admission and factors associated with inpatient eclampsia: a retrospective study from a resource-limited hospital in northeast Ethiopia

ObjectiveTo investigate the 5-year trend of pre-eclampsia admission, magnitude and factor associated with inpatient eclampsia among deliveries involving pre-eclampsia which have been attended at one of the resource-limited public hospitals in northeast Ethiopia.DesignRetrospective medical record review study.SettingWoldia General Hospital Medical archive, Woldia town, Ethiopia.ParticipantsAll antenatal admission and deliveries involving pre-eclampsia attended from 2011 to 2016 at the hospital were included in the review.Primary and secondary outcome measuresTrend of pre-eclampsia admission was determined using non-parametric Mann-Kendall correlation. Case management, clinical and patient-related factors were tested for possible association with the development of inpatient eclampsia using binary logistic regression. P value less than 0.05 considered significant.ResultAcross the 5-year period, there were 8764 deliveries attended at the hospital’s labour and delivery ward, of them 241 (2.76%) were co-diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. The trend showed marginal decrement through years (tau-b correlation coefficient (Tb)=−0.4, p=0.035) with the highest caseload (4.4%) observed on year 2013/2014. The rate of inpatient eclampsia was 19.6 per 10 000 births and the likelihood of its occurrence among pre-eclamptic women was 7.1% (95% CI 2.7% to 11.5%). In multivariate analysis, being multigravida (adjusted OR (AOR) 0.154, 95% CI 0.029 to 0.831) and spontaneous onset of labour (AOR 5.628, 95% CI 1.1247 to 9.401) were associated with inpatient eclampsia.ConclusionIn the study setting, the overall magnitude of pre-eclampsia admission was comparable with the global average, but its yearly trend showed marginal decrement from 2011 to 2016. High rate of inpatient eclampsia might indicate undertreatment which alarms further study and/or corrective measures. Waiting for spontaneous onset of labour could increase the risk of developing inpatient eclampsia whereas neither type of anticonvulsant nor duration of its usage has made significant association.

Confidence set for connected stocks of stock market

The problem of analysis of pairwise connections between stocks of financial market by observations on stock returns is considered. Such problem arise in stock market network analysis. It is assumed that joint distribution of stock returns belongs to the wide class of elliptical distributions. Classical Pearson correlation, Fechner correlation and Kendall correlation are used as measure of dependence. The construction problems of sets of stocks with strong connections between its returns are investigated. The construction problems of sets of stocks with strong connections between its returns are investigated. To construct such sets the multiple hypotheses testing procedures on values of correlations are used. The properties of these statistical procedures are investigated by simulations. The simulation results show that procedures based on individual Fechner and Kendall tests lead to such sets of stocks with given confidence probability unlike procedure based on Pearson individual tests which do not control the confidence probability. At the same time it is emphasized that for Student distribution the constructed set is nearly the same to the confidence set. The procedure of consistency testing with elliptical model is proposed and exemplified. The peculiarities of the model are discussed.

Comparing length of hospital stay during COVID-19 pandemic in the USA, Italy and Germany

Background COVID-19 is the most informative pandemic in history. These unprecedented recorded data give rise to some novel concepts, discussions and models. Macroscopic modeling of the period of hospitalization is one of these new issues. Methods Modeling of the lag between diagnosis and death is done by using two classes of macroscopic analytical methods: the correlation-based methods based on Pearson, Spearman and Kendall correlation coefficients, and the logarithmic methods of two types. Also, we apply eight weighted average methods to smooth the time series before calculating the distance. We consider five lags with the least distance. All the computations are conducted on Matlab R2015b. Results The length of hospitalization for the fatal cases in the USA, Italy and Germany are 2–10, 1–6 and 5–19 days, respectively. Overall, this length in the USA is 2 days more than that in Italy and 5 days less than that in Germany. Conclusion We take the distance between the diagnosis and death as the length of hospitalization. There is a negative association between the length of hospitalization and the case fatality rate. Therefore, the estimation of the length of hospitalization by using these macroscopic mathematical methods can be introduced as an indicator to scale the success of the countries fighting the ongoing pandemic.

Function test of the activity and interrelations of lower extremity muscles of football players with the use of surface electromyography method

Efficient performance of physical activity is becoming a vital trend in modern football, which requires maximum objectification of the functional state of muscles. Aim: studying the electrical activity and functional relationships of sartorius and crurae muscles involved in phase movements of walking (running) by the method of multichannel registration of surface electromyogram (SEMG). Materials and methods: the study engaged the students of KSMU attending the football section and participating in football matches (n = 12). The electrical activity (EA) of the muscles involved in the implementation of walking (running): biceps femoris, musculus semimembranosus of the thigh and tibilais anterior muscle was registered. EA research was conducted with maximum volitional muscle tension. The recording was conducted using an 8-channel electroneuromyograph Neuro-MVP-8 prior to the football training and 30-60 minutes after. The data obtained were checked using Shapiro - Wilk tests. Ansari-Bradley test was used for small groups. Lastly, Kendall correlation coefficient was calculated to evaluate the functional relationships between the parameters of muscle EA. Results : The most significant changes in EA parameters after training consisted in their correlation. The presence of medium negative correlations between musculus semimembranosus of the thigh on right and left (r = -0.349) and the absence of correlation between the latter in the amplitude of EA were registered. Concurrently, positive correlations were noted between the EA parameters of the biceps femoris and semimembranosus (values ram.= 0,204, rfreq.= 0,226), as well as biceps femoris and tibilais (values ram.= 0,486, rfreq.= 0,452) of the left feet of football players. Conclusion: SEMG allows you to quantify the changes in electrical activity and functional connection of the muscles of the thigh and crurae involved in stepping and running. A realignment of the functional muscle complexes appears, which contributes to motor actions and implementation of dribbling after a training.