Search results for: three step search

Authors: Makhosi Buthelezi

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Mitochondrial DNA cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene analyses linked the South African groundnut leaf miner (GLM) to the Australian soya bean moth Aproaerema simplexella (Walker) and Indian Aproaerema modicella (Deventer). Thus, the genetic relatedness of GLM, A. simplexela, and A. modicella was examined by performing mitochondrial and nuclear (COI, cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII), mitochondrial cytochrome b (CYTB), nuclear ribosomal 28S (28S) and intergenic spacer elongation factor-1 alpha ( EF-1 ALPHA) on 44 specimens collected from South Africa, four from Mozambique, and three each from single locations in India and Australia. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted using the Maximum Parsimony (MP) and Neighbour-Joining (NJ) methods. All of the datasets of the five DNA gene regions that were sequenced were also analyzed using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) to find the closest matches for inclusion in the phylogenetic trees as outgroups and for purposes of information. In the phylogenetic trees for COI, COII, cytb and EF-1 ALPHA, a similar pattern was observed in the way that the sequences assembled into different groups; i.e., some sequences of A. simplexella from Australia were grouped separately from the others, but some Australian sequences grouped with those of the GLM from South Africa, India, and Mozambique. In the phylogenetic tree for 28S, all sequences from South Africa, Australia, India, and Mozambique grouped together and formed one group. For COI, genetic pairwise distance ranged from 0.97 to 3.60 %, for COII it ranged from 0.19% to 2.32%, for cytb it ranged from 0.25 to 9.77% and for EF-1 ALPHA it ranged 0.48 to 6.99%. Results of this study indicate that these populations are genetically related and presumably constitute a single species. Thus, further molecular and morphological studies need to be undertaken in order to resolve this apparent conundrum on the taxonomy of these populations.

Keywords: aproaerema modicella, aproaerema simplexella, mitochondrial DNA, nuclear DNA

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Authors: Rimel Mwamba, Mohan Gundeti

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Introduction: The use of robot-assisted laparoscopic surgeries (RALS) has largely increased in recent years, offering faster and safer treatment options for pediatric patients. In the field of urology, RALS has shown a significant advantage over laparoscopic and open surgeries but continues to be controversial in pediatric cases due to limited comprehensive data on its use. Methods: In this review, we aim to summarize the factors associated with RALS use in pediatric cases involving pyeloplasty, ureteral reimplantation, heminephrectomy, and lower urinary tract reconstruction. We used PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews to systematically search for literature on the topic. We then critically assessed and compiled data on RALS outcomes, complications, and associated factors. Results: To date, numerous comparative studies have been conducted on pediatric RALS, with only one randomized control trial investigating the nuances of robotic use against standard of care treatments. These robotic approaches have shown promise in post-surgical outcomes for pediatric patients undergoing upper and lower urinary tract reconstruction. Barriers to use still persist, however, showcasing a need to increase access to the technology, refine instruments for pediatric use, address cost barriers, and provide proper training for surgeons. Conclusion: RALS providesan opportunity to improve pediatric patient outcomes for numerous urologic complications. Additional studies are required to better compare the use of RALS with current standard practices. Due to the difficult nature of conducting randomized control trials, additional prospective observational studies are needed.

Keywords: pediatric urology, robot-assisted laparoscopic surgeries (RALS), pyeloplasty, ureteral reimplantation, heminephrectomy, and lower urinary tract reconstruction

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Authors: Shulamit Sternin

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Athletes experience injuries that can have both a physical and psychological impact on the individual. In such instances, athletes are able to rely on the established field of sports psychology to facilitate holistic rehabilitation. Musicians, like athletes rely on their bodies to perform in much the same way athletes do and are also susceptible to injury. Due to the similar performative nature of succeeding as an athletes or a musician, these careers share many of the same primary psychological concerns and therefore it is reasonable that athletes and musicians may require similar rehabilitation post-injury. However, musicians face their own unique psychological challenges and understanding the needs of an injured athlete can serve as a foundation for understanding the injured musician but is not enough to fully rehabilitate an injured musician. The current research surrounding musicians and their injuries is primarily focused on physiological aspects of injury and rehabilitation; the psychological aspects have not yet received adequate attention resulting in poor musician rehabilitation post- injury. This review paper uses current models of psychological response to injury in athletes to draw parallels with the psychological response to injury in musicians. Search engines such as Medline and PsycInfo were systematically searched using specific key words, such as psychological response, injury, athlete, and musician. Studies that focused on post-injury psychology of either the musician or the athlete were included. Within the literature there is evidence to support psychological responses, unique to the musician, that are not accounted for by current models of response in athletes. The models of psychological response to injury in athletes are inadequate tools for application to the musician. Future directions for performance arts research that can fill the gaps in our understanding and modeling of musicians’ response to injury are discussed. A better understanding of the psychological impact of injuries on musicians holds significant implications for health care practitioners working with injured musicians. Understanding the unique barriers musicians face post-injury, and how support for this population must be tailored to properly suit musicians’ needs will aid in more holistic rehabilitation and a higher likelihood of musician’s returning to pre-injury performance levels.

Keywords: athlete, injury, musician, psychological response

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Authors: Diego Alejandro Espíndola-Fernández, Ana María Posada-Cano, Dagnóvar Aristizábal-Ocampo, Jaime Alberto Gallo-Villegas

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Background: With the increase in life expectancy, aging has been subject of frequent research, and therefore multiple strategies have been proposed to quantify the advance of the years based on the known physiology of human senescence. For several decades, attempts have been made to characterize these changes through the concept of biological age, which aims to integrate, in a measure of time, structural or functional variation through biomarkers in comparison with simple chronological age. The objective of this scoping review is to deepen the updated concept of measuring biological age composed of biomarkers in the general population and to summarize recent evidence to identify gaps and priorities for future research. Methods: A scoping review was conducted according to the five-phase methodology developed by Arksey and O'Malley through a search of five bibliographic databases to February 2021. Original articles were included with no time or language limit that described the biological age composed of at least two biomarkers in those over 18 years of age. Results: 674 articles were identified, of which 105 were evaluated for eligibility and 65 were included with information on the measurement of biological age composed of biomarkers. Articles from 1974 of 15 nationalities were found, most observational studies, in which clinical or paraclinical biomarkers were used, and 11 different methods described for the calculation of the composite biological age were informed. The outcomes reported were the relationship with the same measured biomarkers, specified risk factors, comorbidities, physical or cognitive functionality, and mortality. Conclusions: The concept of biological age composed of biomarkers has evolved since the 1970s and multiple methods of its quantification have been described through the combination of different clinical and paraclinical variables from observational studies. Future research should consider the population characteristics, and the choice of biomarkers against the proposed outcomes to improve the understanding of aging variables to direct effective strategies for a proper approach.

Keywords: biological age, biological aging, aging, senescence, biomarker

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Authors: Lucian Mocan, Flaviu Tabaran, Teodora Mocan, Cristian Matea, Cornel Iancu

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We present method of Gold Nanoparticle enhanced laser thermal ablation of HepG2 cells (Human hepatocellular liver carcinoma cell line), based on a simple gold nanoparticle carrier system, such as serum albumin (BSA), and demonstrate its selective therapeutic efficacy. Hyperspectral, contrast phase, and confocal microscopy combined immunochemical staining were used to demonstrate the selective internalization of HSA-GNPs via Gp60 receptors and the caveolin-mediated endocytosis inside HepG2 cells. We examined the ability of laser-activated carbon nanotubes to induce Hsp70 expression using confocal microscopy. Hep G2 cells heat-shocked (laser activated BSA-GNPs) to 42°C demonstrated an up-regulation of Hsp70 compared with control cells (BSA-GNPs treated cells without laser), which showed no detectable constitutive expression of Hsp70. We observed a time-dependent induction in Hsp70 expression in Hep G2 treated with BSA-GNPs and LASER irradiated. The post-irradiation apoptotic rate of HepG2 cells treated with HSA-GNPs ranged from 88.24% (for 50 mg/L) at 60 seconds, while at 30 minute the rate increased to 92.34% (50 mg/L). These unique results may represent a major step in liver cancer treatment using nanolocalized thermal ablation by laser heating.

Keywords: gold nanoparticles, liver cancer, albumin, laser irradiation

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Authors: Souvik Phadikar, Nidul Sinha, Rajdeep Ghosh

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In brainwaves research using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, finding the most relevant and effective feature set for identification of activities in the human brain is a big challenge till today because of the random nature of the signals. The feature extraction method is a key issue to solve this problem. Finding those features that prove to give distinctive pictures for different activities and similar for the same activities is very difficult, especially for the number of activities. The performance of a classifier accuracy depends on this quality of feature set. Further, more number of features result in high computational complexity and less number of features compromise with the lower performance. In this paper, a novel idea of the selection of optimal feature set using a heuristically optimized deep autoencoder is presented. Using various feature extraction methods, a vast number of features are extracted from the EEG signals and fed to the autoencoder deep neural network. The autoencoder encodes the input features into a small set of codes. To avoid the gradient vanish problem and normalization of the dataset, a meta-heuristic search algorithm is used to minimize the mean square error (MSE) between encoder input and decoder output. To reduce the feature set into a smaller one, 4 hidden layers are considered in the autoencoder network; hence it is called Heuristically Optimized Deep Autoencoder (HO-DAE). In this method, no features are rejected; all the features are combined into the response of responses of the hidden layer. The results reveal that higher accuracy can be achieved using optimal reduced features. The proposed HO-DAE is also compared with the regular autoencoder to test the performance of both. The performance of the proposed method is validated and compared with the other two methods recently reported in the literature, which reveals that the proposed method is far better than the other two methods in terms of classification accuracy.

Keywords: autoencoder, brainwave signal analysis, electroencephalogram, feature extraction, feature selection, optimization

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Authors: Ahmad Samim Ranjbar, Shoshi Mizokami

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Kabul is the heart of political, commercial, cultural, educational and social life in Afghanistan and the Kabul fifth fastest growing city in the world, since 2001 with the establishment of new government Lack of adequate employment opportunities and basic utility services in remote provinces have prompted people to move to Kabul and other urban areas. From 2001 to the present, a rapid increase in population, and also less income of the people most of residence tend to use public transport, especially buses, however there is no proper bus system exist in Kabul city, because of wars, from 1992 to 2001 Kabul suffered damage and destruction of its transportation facilities including pavements, sidewalks, traffic circles, drainage systems, traffic signs and signals, trolleybuses and almost all of the public transit buses (e.g. Millie bus). This research is a primary and very important phase into Kabul city transportation and especially an initial and important step toward using large bus in Kabul city, which the main purpose of this research is to find the demand of Kabul city residence for public transport (Large Bus) and compare it with the actual supply from government. Finding of this research shows that the demand of Kabul city residence for the public transport (Large Bus) exceed the supply from the government, means that current public transportation (Large Bus) is not sufficient to serve people of Kabul city, it is mentionable that according to this research there is no need to build a new road or exclusive way for bus, this research propose to government for investment on the public transportation and exceed the number of large buses to can handle the current demand for public transport.

Keywords: transportation, planning, public transport, large bus, Kabul, Afghanistan

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Authors: Sujit Kumar Pradhan, Anil Kumar, Vijay Kumar

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The testing process of the software during the software development time is a crucial step as it makes the software more efficient and dependable. To estimate software’s reliability through the mean value function, many software reliability growth models (SRGMs) were developed under the assumption that operating and testing environments are the same. Practically, it is not true because when the software works in a natural field environment, the reliability of the software differs. This article discussed an SRGM comprising change-point and imperfect debugging in a simulated testing environment. Later on, we extended it in a multi-release direction. Initially, the software was released to the market with few features. According to the market’s demand, the software company upgraded the current version by adding new features as time passed. Therefore, we have proposed a generalized multi-release SRGM where change-point and imperfect debugging concepts have been addressed in a simulated testing environment. The failure-increasing rate concept has been adopted to determine the change point for each software release. Based on nine goodness-of-fit criteria, the proposed model is validated on two real datasets. The results demonstrate that the proposed model fits the datasets better. We have also discussed the optimal release time of the software through a cost model by assuming that the testing and debugging costs are time-dependent.

Keywords: software reliability growth models, non-homogeneous Poisson process, multi-release software, mean value function, change-point, environmental factors

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Authors: Ahmed Shaboub, Yusuf Jasim Althawadi, Shadi Alaa Abdelaal, Mohamed Hussein Abdalla, Hatem Amr Elzahaby, Mohamed Mohamed, Hazem S. Ghaith, Ahmed Negida

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Objectives: We aimed to compare the safety and outcomes of the minimally invasive approaches versus conventional sternotomy procedures for aortic valve replacement. Methods: We conducted a PRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis. We ran an electronic search of PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, Scopus, and Web of Science to identify the relevant published studies. Data were extracted and pooled as standardized mean difference (SMD) or risk ratio (RR) using StataMP version 17 for macOS. Results: Forty-one studies with a total of 15,065 patients were included in this meta-analysis (minimally invasive approaches n=7231 vs. conventional sternotomy n=7834). The pooled effect size showed that minimally invasive approaches had lower mortality rate (RR 0.76, 95%CI [0.59 to 0.99]), intensive care unit and hospital stays (SMD -0.16 and -0.31, respectively), ventilation time (SMD -0.26, 95%CI [-0.38 to -0.15]), 24-h chest tube drainage (SMD -1.03, 95%CI [-1.53 to -0.53]), RBCs transfusion (RR 0.81, 95%CI [0.70 to 0.93]), wound infection (RR 0.66, 95%CI [0.47 to 0.92]) and acute renal failure (RR 0.65, 95%CI [0.46 to 0.93]). However, minimally invasive approaches had longer operative time, cross-clamp, and bypass times (SMD 0.47, 95%CI [0.22 to 0.72], SMD 0.27, 95%CI [0.07 to 0.48], and SMD 0.37, 95%CI [0.20 to 0.45], respectively). There were no differences between the two groups in blood loss, endocarditis, cardiac tamponade, stroke, arrhythmias, pneumonia, pneumothorax, bleeding reoperation, tracheostomy, hemodialysis, or myocardial infarction (all P>0.05). Conclusion: Current evidence showed higher safety and better operative outcomes with minimally invasive aortic valve replacement compared to the conventional approach. Future RCTs with long-term follow-ups are recommended.

Keywords: aortic replacement, minimally invasive, sternotomy, mini-sternotomy, aortic valve, meta analysis

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Authors: Abdallah Bouguettoucha, Derradji Chebli, Tariq Yahyaoui, Hichem Attout

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The effect of acid -basic treatment of lingocellulosic material (forest wastes wild carob) on Ethyl violet adsorption was investigated. It was found that surface chemistry plays an important role in Ethyl violet (EV) adsorption. HCl treatment produces more active acidic surface groups such as carboxylic and lactone, resulting in an increase in the adsorption of EV dye. The adsorption efficiency was higher for treated of lingocellulosic material with HCl than for treated with KOH. Maximum biosorption capacity was 170 and 130 mg/g, for treated of lingocellulosic material with HCl than for treated with KOH at pH 6 respectively. It was also found that the time to reach equilibrium takes less than 25 min for both treated materials. The adsorption of basic dye (i.e., ethyl violet or basic violet 4) was carried out by varying some process parameters, such as initial concentration, pH and temperature. The adsorption process can be well described by means of a pseudo-second-order reaction model showing that boundary layer resistance was not the rate-limiting step, as confirmed by intraparticle diffusion since the linear plot of Qt versus t^0.5 did not pass through the origin. In addition, experimental data were accurately expressed by the Sips equation if compared with the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The values of ΔG° and ΔH° confirmed that the adsorption of EV on acid-basic treated forest wast wild carob was spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The positive values of ΔS° suggested an irregular increase of the randomness at the treated lingocellulosic material -solution interface during the adsorption process.

Keywords: adsorption, isotherm models, thermodynamic parameters, wild carob

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Authors: Brayan Daniel Riascos Arteaga, Carlos Costa Perez

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Landfill leachate has an important fraction of humic substances, mainly humic acids (HAs), which often represent more than half value of COD, specially in liquids proceeded from composting processes of organic fraction of solid wastes. We propose in this article a new method of pH sensitive flocculation for COD and colour reduction in landfill leachate based on the chemical properties of HAs. Landfill leachate with a high content of humic acids can be efficiently treated by pH sensitive flocculation at pH 2.0, reducing COD value in 86.1% and colour in 84.7%. Mechanism of pH sensitive flocculation is based in protonation first of phenolic groups and later of carboxylic acid groups in the HAs molecules, resulting in a reduction of Zeta potential value. For pH over neutrality, carboxylic acid and phenolic groups are ionized and Zeta potential increases in absolute value, maintaining HAs in suspension as colloids and conducting flocculation to be obstructed. Ionized anionic groups (carboxylates) can interact electrostatically with cations abundant in leachate (site binding) aiding to maintain HAs in suspension. Simulation of this situation and ideal visualization of Zeta potential behavior is described in the paper and aggregation of molecules by H-bonds is proposed as the main step in separation of HAs from leachate and reduction of COD value in this complex liquid. CHNS analysis, FT-IR spectrometry and UV–VIS spectrophotometry show chemical elements content in the range of natural and commercial HAs, clear aromaticity and carboxylic acids and phenolic groups presence in the precipitate from landfill leachate

Keywords: landfill leachate, humic acids, COD, chemical treatment, flocculation

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Authors: Dimitrios Orfanos, Yannis Maniatis, Alcestis Rodi

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The overconcentration of people in big cities (namely Athens and Thessaloniki) and the tendency to increase their density in the upcoming years cause various problems on a personal, environmental, and social level. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a reversal in urbanism was observed. The counter-urbanization that took place, along with the steady growth of the digital nomad lifestyle, opens up new paths for policies that rejuvenate the non-urban regions in Greece and elsewhere. Promoting actions, either through incentives or through creating organized structures, can transform the Greek rural regions into attractive destinations for those who want to avoid life in big cities permanently or for a short period of time. Subsequently, the gain of the regions that will apply such policies will have a multiplier effect. Greece, being a country with great touristic interest from foreigners, can use the infusion of long-stay visitors as a boost to give way to the Greek urban population that works remotely to move permanently to more rural regions and create the conditions for growth in those regions. The paper studies several cases of such policies, in combination with different options to be explored as to the methods that can be used to take better advantage of these policies. Examples from European and worldwide use cases are presented, noting the parts that can be applied in a country like Greece. An example of an abandoned village is also presented that can be revived through the methods described in the paper. The next possible step in research could be a case study in one of the various locations to determine the level of maturity of the market to pursue such actions.

Keywords: counter-urbanization, digital nomads, rural growth, village revival

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Authors: Stavros Palavouzis, Alexandra Triantafyllopoulou, Aliki Tzima, Epaminondas Paplomatas

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Mating-type genes are present in most filamentous fungi, even though teleomorphs for all species have not been recorded. Our study tries to explore the effect of different growth conditions on the expression of MAT genes in Neofusicoccum mediterraneum. As such, selected isolates were grown in potato dextrose broth or in water agar supplemented with pine needles under a 12 h photoperiod, as well as in constant darkness. Mycelia and spores were collected at different time points, and RNA extraction was performed, with the extracted product being used for cDNA synthesis. New primers for MAT gene expression were designed while qPCR results are underway. The second part of the study involved the isolation and cloning in a selected pGEM-T vector of the Botryosphaeria dothidea MAT1 1 1 and MAT1 2 1 mating genes, including flanking regions. As a next step, the genes were amplified using newly designed primers with engineered restriction sites. Amplicons were excised and subsequently sub-cloned in appropriate binary vectors. The constructs were afterward inserted into Agrobacterium tumefaciens and utilized for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (ATMT) of Neofusicoccum mediterraneum. At the same time, the transformation of a Verticillium dahliae tomato race 1 strain (70V) was performed as a control. While the procedure was successful in regards to V. dahliae, transformed strains of N. mediterraneum could not be obtained. At present, a new transformation protocol, which utilizes a combination of protoplast and Agro transformation, is being evaluated.

Keywords: anamorph, heterothallism, perithecia, pycnidia, sexual stage

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Authors: F. C. Amadi, G. C. Enyi, G. Nasr

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Relative permeabilities are practical factors that are used to correct the single phase Darcy’s law for application to multiphase flow. For effective characterisation of large-scale multiphase flow in hydrocarbon recovery, relative permeability and capillary pressures are used. These parameters are acquired via special core flooding experiments. Special core analysis (SCAL) module of reservoir simulation is applied by engineers for the evaluation of these parameters. But, core flooding experiments in shale core sample are expensive and time consuming before various flow assumptions are achieved for instance Darcy’s law. This makes it imperative for the application of coreflooding simulations in which various analysis of relative permeabilities and capillary pressures of multiphase flow can be carried out efficiently and effectively at a relative pace. This paper presents a Sendra software simulation of core flooding to achieve to relative permeabilities and capillary pressures using different correlations. The approach used in this study was three steps. The first step, the basic petrophysical parameters of Marcellus shale sample such as porosity was determined using laboratory techniques. Secondly, core flooding was simulated for particular scenario of injection using different correlations. And thirdly the best fit correlations for the estimation of relative permeability and capillary pressure was obtained. This research approach saves cost and time and very reliable in the computation of relative permeability and capillary pressures at steady or unsteady state, drainage or imbibition processes in oil and gas industry when compared to other methods.

Keywords: relative permeabilty, porosity, 1-D black oil simulator, capillary pressures

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Authors: Anastasia Papachristou, Anastasia Ntikoudi, Vasileios Saridakis

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The safety and health care needs of refugees have become an increasingly important issue all over the world especially during last few decades. Wars are the primary reason for refugees to leave their countries. Moreover, refugees are frequently exposed to a variety of stressors such as socioeconomic disadvantages, poverty, changes in family structure and functioning, losing social support, difficulty to access education, living in very crowded places, experiencing racism and isolation. This systematic review included research studies published between 2007-2017 from the search databases Medline, Scopus, Cinahl and PubMed, with keywords 'war survivors', 'war trauma', 'psychiatric disorders', 'refugees'. In order to meet the purpose of the systematic review, further research for complementary studies was conducted into the literature references of the research articles included in this study that would meet the criteria. Overall, 14 studies were reviewed and evaluated. The majority of them demonstrated that the most common psychiatric disorders observed among war refugees are post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and multiple somatic complaints. Moreover, significant relationship was shown between the number of traumatic events experienced by the refugees and sociodemographic features such as gender, age and previous family history of any psychological disorder. War violence is highly traumatic, causing multiple, long-term negative outcomes such as the aforementioned psychiatric disorders. The number of the studies reviewed in this systematic review is not representative of the problem and its significance. The need for care of the survivors and their families is vital. Further research is necessary in order to clarify the role of predictive factors in the development and maintenance of post-traumatic stress and the rest psychiatric disorders following war trauma. In conclusion, it is necessary to have large multicenter studies in the future in order to be able to draw reliable conclusions about the effects of war.

Keywords: psychiatric disorders, refugees, war survivors, war trauma

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Authors: Kizito Ugochukwu Nwajeria

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This paper presents a spectral quasi-linearization technique (SQLT) for solving time fractional diffusion wave equations in boundary value problems. The proposed method integrates spectral approximations for spatial derivatives with a quasi-linearization approach to address the nonlinearity introduced by fractional time derivatives. Time fractional differential equations typically formulated using Caputo or Riemann-Liouville derivatives, model complex phenomena such as anomalous diffusion and wave propagation, which are not captured by classical integer-order models. The SQLT method iteratively linearizes the nonlinear terms at each time step, transforming the original problem into a series of linear subproblems, which can be efficiently solved. Using high-order spectral methods such as Chebyshev or Legendre polynomials for spatial discretization, the technique achieves high accuracy in approximating the solution. A convergence analysis is provided, demonstrating the method's efficiency and establishing error bounds. Numerical experiments on a range of test problems confirm the effectiveness of SQLT in solving fractional diffusion wave equations with various boundary conditions. The method offers a robust framework for addressing time fractional differential equations in diverse fields, including materials science, bioengineering, and anomalous transport phenomena.

Keywords: spectral methods, quasilinearization, time-fractional diffusion-wave equations, boundary value problems, fractional calculus

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Authors: Jonni Guiller Madeira, Angel Sanchez Delgado, Ronney Mancebo Boloy

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The use bioenergy, in recent years, has become a good alternative to reduce the emission of polluting gases. Several Brazilian and foreign companies are doing studies related to waste management as an essential tool in the search for energy efficiency, taking into consideration, also, the ecological aspect. Brazil is one of the largest cassava producers in the world; the cassava sub-products are the food base of millions of Brazilians. The repertoire of results about the ecological impact of the production, by steam reforming, of biohydrogen from cassava wastewater biogas is very limited because, in general, this commodity is more common in underdeveloped countries. This hydrogen, produced from cassava wastewater, appears as an alternative fuel to fossil fuels since this is a low-cost carbon source. This paper evaluates the environmental impact of biohydrogen production, by steam reforming, from cassava wastewater biogas. The ecological efficiency methodology developed by Cardu and Baica was used as a benchmark in this study. The methodology mainly assesses the emissions of equivalent carbon dioxide (CO₂, SOₓ, CH₄ and particulate matter). As a result, some environmental parameters, such as equivalent carbon dioxide emissions, pollutant indicator, and ecological efficiency are evaluated due to the fact that they are important to energy production. The average values of the environmental parameters among different biogas compositions (different concentrations of methane) were calculated, the average pollution indicator was 10.11 kgCO₂e/kgH₂ with an average ecological efficiency of 93.37%. As a conclusion, bioenergy production using biohydrogen from cassava wastewater treatment plant is a good option from the environmental feasibility point of view. This fact can be justified by the determination of environmental parameters and comparison of the environmental parameters of hydrogen production via steam reforming from different types of fuels.

Keywords: biohydrogen, ecological efficiency, cassava, pollution indicator

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Authors: Leonardo E. Pacheco, Carlos A. Díaz

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An alternative way of addressing the difficult to recover the useless heat is through an ejector refrigeration cycle for vehicles applications. A group of thermo-compressor supply the mechanical compressor function at conventional refrigeration compression system. The thermo-compressor group recovers the thermal energy from waste streams (exhaust gases product in internal combustion motors, gases burned in wellhead among others) to eliminate the power consumption of the mechanical compressor. These types of alternative cooling system (air-conditioners) present a kind of advantages in both the increase in energy efficiency and the improvement of the COP of the system being studied from their its mechanical simplicity (decrease of moving parts). An ejector refrigeration cycle represents a significant step forward in the optimization of the efficient use of energy in the process of air conditioning and an alternative to reduce the environmental impacts. On one side, with the energy recycling decreases the temperature of the gases thrown into the atmosphere, which contributes to the principal beneficiaries of the average temperature of the planet. In parallel, mitigating the environmental impact caused by the production and handling of conventional cooling fluids commonly available in the market, causing the destruction of the ozone layer. This work had studied the operation of the multiejector cooling system for a truck with a 420 HP engine at different rotation speed. The operation condition limits and the COP of multi-ejector cooling systems applied in a truck are analyzed for a variable rpm range from to 800–1800 rpm.

Keywords: ejector system, exhaust gas, multiejector cooling system, recovery energy

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Authors: Ho-Hsin Lee, Yue-Min Jiang, Shu-Hui Tsai, Jian-Ren Chen, Mei-Yu XU, Wen-Tien Wu

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This project presents an AI-based method and system for wound status analysis. The system uses a three-in-one sensor device to analyze wound status, including color, temperature, and a 3D sensor to provide wound information up to 2mm below the surface, such as redness, heat, and blood circulation information. The system has a 90% accuracy rate, requiring only one manual correction in 70% of cases, with a one-second delay. The system also provides an offline application that allows for manual correction of the wound bed range using color-based guidance to estimate wound bed size with 96% accuracy and a maximum of one manual correction in 96% of cases, with a one-second delay. Additionally, AI-assisted wound bed range selection achieves 100% of cases without manual intervention, with an accuracy rate of 76%, while AI-based wound tissue type classification achieves an 85.3% accuracy rate for five categories. The AI system also includes similar case search and expert recommendation capabilities. For AI-assisted wound range selection, the system uses WIFI6 technology, increasing data transmission speeds by 22 times. The project aims to save up to 64% of the time required for human wound record keeping and reduce the estimated time to assess wound status by 96%, with an 80% accuracy rate. Overall, the proposed AI method and system integrate multiple sensors to provide accurate wound information and offer offline and online AI-assisted wound bed size estimation and wound tissue type classification. The system decreases delay time to one second, reduces the number of manual corrections required, saves time on wound record keeping, and increases data transmission speed, all of which have the potential to significantly improve wound care and management efficiency and accuracy.

Keywords: wound status analysis, AI-based system, multi-sensor integration, color-based guidance

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Authors: Lei Zhu, Nan Li

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Cold stamping has been widely applied in the automotive industry for the mass production of a great range of automotive panels. Predicting the springback to ensure the dimensional accuracy of the cold-stamped components is a critical step. The main approaches for the prediction and compensation of springback in cold stamping include running Finite Element (FE) simulations and conducting experiments, which require forming process expertise and can be time-consuming and expensive for the design of cold stamping tools. Machine learning technologies have been proven and successfully applied in learning complex system behaviours using presentative samples. These technologies exhibit the promising potential to be used as supporting design tools for metal forming technologies. This study, for the first time, presents a novel application of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based surrogate model to predict the springback fields for variable U-shape cold bending geometries. A dataset is created based on the U-shape cold bending geometries and the corresponding FE simulations results. The dataset is then applied to train the CNN surrogate model. The result shows that the surrogate model can achieve near indistinguishable full-field predictions in real-time when compared with the FE simulation results. The application of CNN in efficient springback prediction can be adopted in industrial settings to aid both conceptual and final component designs for designers without having manufacturing knowledge.

Keywords: springback, cold stamping, convolutional neural networks, machine learning

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Authors: Ramin Rostamkhani, Thurasamy Ramayah

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One of the most important topics of today’s industrial organizations is the challenging issue of supply chain management. In this field, scientists and researchers have published numerous practical articles and models, especially in the last decade. In this research, to our best knowledge, the discussion of data modeling of supply chain management components using well-known statistical distribution functions has been considered. The world of science owns mathematics, and showing the behavior of supply chain data based on the characteristics of statistical distribution functions is innovative research that has not been published anywhere until the moment of doing this research. In an analytical process, describing different aspects of functions including probability density, cumulative distribution, reliability, and failure function can reach the suitable statistical distribution function for each of the components of the supply chain management. It can be applied to predict the behavior data of the relevant component in the future. Providing a model to adapt the best statistical distribution function in the supply chain management components will be a big revolution in the field of the behavior of the supply chain management elements in today's industrial organizations. Demonstrating the final results of the proposed model by introducing the process capability indices before and after implementing it alongside verifying the approach through the relevant assessment as an acceptable verification is a final step. The introduced approach can save the required time and cost to achieve the organizational goals. Moreover, it can increase added value in the organization.

Keywords: analyzing, process capability indices, statistical distribution functions, supply chain management components

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Authors: Jonathan J. Burson

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With the rise of virtually costless, mobile-based trading platforms, stock market trading activity has increased significantly over the past decade, particularly for the millennial generation. This increased stock market attention, combined with the recent market turmoil due to the economic upset caused by COVID-19, make the topics of market-timing and forecasting particularly relevant. While the overall stock market saw an unprecedented, historically-long bull market from March 2009 to February 2020, the end of that bull market reignited a search by investors for a way to reduce risk and increase return. Similar searches for outperformance occurred in the early, and late 2000’s as the Dotcom bubble burst and the Great Recession led to years of negative returns for mean-variance, index investors. Extensive research has been conducted on fundamental analysis, technical analysis, macroeconomic indicators, microeconomic indicators, and other techniques—all using different methodologies and investment periods—in pursuit of higher returns with lower risk. The enormous variety of timeframes, data, and methodologies used by the diverse forecasting methods makes it difficult to compare the outcome of each method directly to other methods. This paper establishes a process to evaluate the market-timing methods in an apples-to-apples manner based on simplicity, performance, and feasibility. Preliminary findings show that certain technical analysis models provide a higher return with lower risk when compared to the buy-and-hold method and to other market-timing strategies. Furthermore, technical analysis models tend to be easier for individual investors both in terms of acquiring the data and in analyzing it, making technical analysis-based market-timing methods the preferred choice for retail investors.

Keywords: buy-and-hold, forecast, market-timing, probit, technical analysis

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Authors: Murali Aarthy, Sanjeev Kumar Singh

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High risk human papillomaviruses are highly associated with the carcinoma of the cervix and the other genital tumors. Cervical cancer develops through the multistep process in which increasingly severe premalignant dysplastic lesions called cervical intraepithelial neoplastic progress to invasive cancer. The oncoprotein E7 of human papillomavirus expressed in the lower epithelial layers drives the cells into S-phase creating an environment conducive for viral genome replication and cell proliferation. The replication of the virus occurs in the terminally differentiating epithelium and requires the activation of cellular DNA replication proteins. To date, no suitable drug molecule is available to treat HPV infection whereas identification of potential drug targets and development of novel anti-HPV chemotherapies with unique mode of actions are expected. Hence, our present study aimed to identify the potential inhibitors analogous to EGCG, a green tea molecule which is considered to be safe to use for mammalian systems. A 3D similarity search on the natural small molecule library from natural product database using EGCG identified 11 potential hits based on their similarity score. The structure based docking strategies were implemented in the potential hits and the key interacting residues of protein with compounds were identified through simulation studies and binding free energy calculations. The conformational changes between the apoprotein and the complex were analyzed with the simulation and the results demonstrated that the dynamical and structural effects observed in the protein were induced by the compounds and indicated the dominance to the oncoprotein. Overall, our study provides the basis for the structural insights of the identified potential hits and EGCG and hence, the analogous compounds identified can be potent inhibitors against the HPV 16 E7 oncoprotein.

Keywords: EGCG, oncoprotein, molecular dynamics simulation, analogues

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Authors: Souhir Chelly, Asma Ben Cheikh, Hela Ghali, Salwa Khefacha, Lamine Dhidah, Mohamed Ben Rejeb, Houyem Said Latiri

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The hospital risk management department is firstly involved in the methodological analysis of grade zero sterilization incidents. The system is based on a subsequent analysis process in compliance with the ongoing requirements of the Haute Autorité de santé (HAS) for a reactive approach to risk, allowing to identify failures and start the appropriate preventive and corrective measures. The use of the association of litigation and risk management (ALARM) method makes easier the grade zero analysis and brings to light the team or institutional, organizational, temporal, individual factors representative of undesirable effects. Two main factors come out again from this analysis, pre-disinfection step of the emergency block unsupervised instrumentalist intern was poorly done since she did not remove the battery from micro air motor. At the sterilization unit, the worker who was not supervised by the nurse did the conditioning of the motor without having checked it if it still contained the battery. The main cause is that the management of human resources was inadequate at both levels, the instrumental trainee in the block who was not supervised by his supervisor and the worker of the sterilization unit who was not supervised by the responsible nurse. There is a lack of research help, advice, and collaboration. The difficulties encountered during this type of analysis are multiple. The first is based on its necessary acceptance by the various actors of care involved, which should not perceive it as a tool leading to individual punishment, but rather as a means to improve their practices.

Keywords: ALARM (Association of Litigation and Risk Management Method), incident, risk management, sterilization

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Authors: Gadia Duhita, Noorhana, Tjhin Wiguna

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Background: ADHD is the most common behavioural disorder in Indonesia. A stimulant, specifically methylphenidate, has been the first drug of choice for an ADHD treatment more than half a century. During the last decade, non-stimulant therapy (atomoxetine) for ADHD treatment has been developing. Growing evidence of its efficacy and the difference in its side effects profile to stimulant therapy have made methylphenidate’s position as a first line therapy for ADHD in need of re-evaluation. Both methylphenidate and atomoxetine have proven themselves against placebos in reducing core symptoms of ADHD. More recent studies directly compare the efficacy of methylphenidate and atomoxetine. Objective: The objective of this paper is to find out if either methylphenidate or atomoxetine is superior to another. This paper will assess the validity, importance, and applicability of current available evidence which compare the effectivity, efficacy, and safety of methylphenidate to atomoxetine for treatment in children and adolescents with ADHD. Method: The articles were searched for through the PubMed and Cochrane databases with “attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder OR adhd”, “methylphenidate”, and “atomoxetine” as the search keywords. Two articles which were relevant and eligible were chosen by using inclusion and exclusion criterias to be critically appraised. Result: The study by Hazel et al. showed that the efficacy of methylphenidate and atomoxetine are comparable for treatment in child and adolescent ADHD. The result shows 53.6% (95% CI 48.5%-58.4%) of the patient responded to the treatment by atomoxetine and 54.4% (95% CI 47.6%-61.1%) patients responded to methylphenidate, with the difference in proportion of–0.9% (95% CI –9.2%-7.5%). The other study by Hanwella et al. also showed that the efficacy of atomoxetine was not inferior to metilphenidate (SMD = 0.09, 95% CI –0.08-0.26) (Z = 1.06, p = 0.29). However, the sub-group analysis showed that OROS methylphenidate is more effective compared to atomoxetine (SMD = 0.32, 95% CI 0.12-0.53) (Z = 3.05, p < 0.02). Conclusion: The efficacy of methylphenidate and atomoxetine in reducing symptoms of ADHD is comparable. None is proven inferior to another. The choice of pharmacological tratment children and adolescents with ADHD should be made based on contraindication and the side effects profile of each drug.

Keywords: attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, atomoxetine, methylphenidate

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Authors: Eric Fang, Robert Chen, Ghim Song Chia, Bien Soo Tan

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Objective and Rationale: Training of radiology residents hinges on practical, on-the-job training in all facets and modalities of diagnostic radiology. Although residency is structured to be comprehensive, clinical exposure depends on the case mix available locally and during the posting period. To supplement clinical training, there are several e-learning resources available to allow for greater exposure to radiological cases. The objective of this study was to survey residents and faculty on the usefulness of these e-learning resources. Methods: E-learning resources were shortlisted with input from radiology residents, Google search and online discussion groups, and screened by their purported focus. Twelve e-learning resources were found to meet the criteria. Both radiology residents and experienced radiology faculty were then surveyed electronically. The e-survey asked for ratings on breadth, depth, testing capability and user-friendliness for each resource, as well as for rankings for the top 3 resources. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS 9.4. Results: Seventeen residents and fifteen faculties completed an e-survey. Mean response rate was 54% ± 8% (Range: 14- 96%). Ratings and rankings were statistically identical between residents and faculty. On a 5-point rating scale, breadth was 3.68 ± 0.18, depth was 3.95 ± 0.14, testing capability was 2.64 ± 0.16 and user-friendliness was 3.39 ± 0.13. Top-ranked resources were STATdx (first), Radiopaedia (second) and Radiology Assistant (third). 9% of responders singled out R-ITI as potentially good but ‘prohibitively costly’. Statistically significant predictive factors for higher rankings are familiarity with the resource (p = 0.001) and user-friendliness (p = 0.006). Conclusion: A good e-learning system will complement on-the-job training with a broad case base, deep discussion and quality trainee evaluation. Based on our study on twelve e-learning resources, no single program fulfilled all requirements. The perception and use of radiology e-learning resources depended more on familiarity and user-friendliness than on content differences and testing capability.

Keywords: e-learning, medicine, radiology, survey

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Authors: M. Aljumaan, F. Alkhadra, A. Aldajani, M. Alarfaj, A. Alawami, Y. Aljamaan

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Introduction: The internet has been widely available with 18 million users in Saudi Arabia alone. It was shown that 58% of Saudis are using the internet as a source of health-related information which may contribute to overcrowding of the Emergency Room (ER). Not many studies have been conducted to show the effect of online searching for health related information (HRI) and its role in influencing internet users to visit various health care facilities. So the main objective is to determine a correlation between HRI website use and health care facility visits in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: By conducting a cross sectional study and distributing a questionnaire, a total number of 1095 people were included in the study. Demographic data was collected as well as questions including the use of HRI websites, type of websites used, the reason behind the internet search, which health care facility it lead them to visit and whether seeking health information on the internet influenced their attitude towards visiting health care facilities. The survey was distributed using an internet survey applications. The data was then put on an excel sheet and analyzed with the help of a biostatician for making a correlation. Results: We found 91.4% of our population have used the internet for medical information using mainly General medical websites (77.8%), Forums (34.2%), Social Media (21.6%), and government websites (21.6%). We also found that 66.9% have used the internet for medical information to diagnose and treat their medical conditions on their own while 34.7% did so due to the inability to have a close referral and 29.5% due to their lack of time. Searching for health related information online caused 62.5% of people to visit health care facilities. Outpatient clinics were most visited at 77.9% followed by the ER (27.9%). The remaining 37.5% do not visit because using HRI websites reassure them of their condition. Conclusion: In conclusion, there may be a correlation between health information website use and health care facility visits. However, to avoid potentially inaccurate medical information, we believe doctors have an important role in educating their patients and the public on where to obtain the correct information & advertise the sites that are regulated by health care officials.

Keywords: ER visits, health related information, internet, medical websites

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Authors: Mohammed Ahmed Alghamdi, Hazem Mahmoud Ali Darwish, Mostafa Mohamed Abdelraheem

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Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) possess low resistivity, exhibit good adherence to many substrates, and have good transmission characteristics from the visible to near-infrared wavelengths, which make it useful for various applications. Thin films of transparent conducting oxide (TCO’s) have received much attention because of their wide applications in the field of optoelectronic devices. Advancement of transparent conducting oxides TCO’s may not only lie within the improvement of existing materials in use, but also the development of novel materials. Solar cells are devices, which convert solar energy into electricity, either directly via the photovoltaic effect, or indirectly by first converting the solar energy to heat or chemical energy. Solar power has attracted attention of late as the most advanced of the alternative energy resources. The project aims to access the solar energy in Al-Baha region by search for materials (transparent-conductive oxides (TCO's)) to use in solar cells with highly transparent to the solar spectrum, have low electrical resistivity, be stable under H-plasma, and have a suitable structure in particular for a-Si solar cells. As the PV surface is exposed to the sunlight, the module temperature increases. High ambient temperatures along with long sunlight exposure time increases the temperature impact on PV cells efficiency. Since Al-Baha area is characterized by an atmosphere and pressure different from their counterparts in Saudi Arabia due to the height above sea level, hence it is appropriate to do studies to improve the efficiency of solar cells under these conditions. In this work, some ion change materials will be deposited using either sputtering/ or electron beam evaporation techniques. The optical properties of the synthesized materials will be studied in details for solar cell application. As we will study the effect of some dyes on the optical properties of the prepared films. The efficiency and other parameters of solar cell will be determined.

Keywords: thin films, solar cell, optical properties, electrical properties

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Authors: Renata Markiewicz-Żukowska, Patryk Nowakowski, Sylwia K. Naliwajko, Jakub M. Bołtryk, Katarzyna Socha, Anna Puścion-Jakubik, Jolanta Soroczyńska, Maria H. Borawska

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Selenium (Se) is an essential element for human health. As an integral part of glutathione peroxidase, it has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities. Unfortunately, Se dietary intake is often insufficient, especially in regions where the soil is low in Se. Therefore, in search for good sources of Se, the content of this element in food products should be monitored. Food product can be considered as a source of Se when its standard portion covers above 15% of recommended daily allowance. In the case of nuts, 42g is recognized as the standard portion. The aim of this study was to determine the Se content in nuts and to answer the question of whether the studied nuts can be considered as a source of Se in the diet. The material for the study consisted of 10 types of nuts (12 samples of each one): almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts. The nuts were mineralized using microwave technique (Berghof, Germany). The content of Se was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry method with electrothermal atomization in a graphite tube with Zeeman background correction (Hitachi, Japan). The accuracy of the method was verified on certified reference material: Simulated Diet D. The statistical analysis was performed using Statistica v. 13.0 software. Statistical significance was determined at p < 0.05 level. The highest content of Se was found in Brazil nuts (4566.21 ± 3393.9 µg/kg) and the lowest in almonds (36.07 ± 18.8 µg/kg). A standard portion (42g) of almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts covers the recommended daily allowance for Se respectively in: 2, 192, 28, 2, 16, 7, 4, 3, 12, 6%. Brazil nuts, cashews and macadamia nuts can be considered as a good source of Se in diet.

Keywords: atomic absorption spectrometry, diet, nuts, selenium

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Authors: M. Adamczak-Retecka, O. Hołub-Śniadach

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Dangerous of climate change is now global problem and as such has a strategic priority also for the European Union. Europe and European citizens try to do their best to cut greenhouse gas emissions, moreover they substantially encourage other nations and regions to follow the same way. The European Commission and a number of Member States have developed adaptation strategies in order to help strengthen EU's resilience to the inevitable impacts of climate change. The EU has long been a driving force in international negotiations on climate change and was instrumental in the development of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. As the world's leading donor of development aid, the EU also provides substantial funding to help developing countries tackle climate change problem. Global warming influences human health, biodiversity, ecosystems but also many social and economic sectors. The aim of this paper is to focus on impact of claimant change on for food security. Food security challenges are directly related to globalization, climate change. It means that current and future food policy is exposed to all cross-cutting and that must be linked with environmental and climate targets, which supposed to be achieved. In the 7th EAP —The new general Union Environment Action Program to 2020, called “Living well, within the limits of our planet” EU has agreed to step up its efforts to protect natural capital, stimulate resource efficient, low carbon growth and innovation, and safeguard people’s health and wellbeing– while respecting the Earth’s natural limits.

Keywords: climate change, food security, sustainable food consumption, climate governance

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