Search results for: test mode

Authors: Farzad Jalilian, Mehdi Mirzaei Alavijeh

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Background: E-interventions as a universal approach to prevent a high-risk behavior, such as alcohol drinking. This study was conducted to evaluate web-based alcohol drinking preventative intervention efficiency among medical university students in Iran. Methods: Overall, 150 freshman and sophomore male student’s college students participated in this study as intervention and control group. This was a longitudinal randomized pre- and post-test series control group design panel study to implement a behavior modification based intervention to alcohol drinking prevention among college students. Cross-tabulation, t-test, repeated measures, and GEE by using SPSS statistical package, version 21 was used for the statistical analysis. The participants were followed up for 6 months with data collection scheduled at baseline, 3 and 6 months. The primary outcomes are attitude, self-control, and sensation seeking. Furthermore, the secondary outcome is comparing alcohol drinking among the study groups. Results: It was found significant reduce in average response for an attitude towards alcohol drinking and sensation seeking among intervention group (P < 0.05). But after intervention not significant difference between intervention and control group of improve self-control and reduce alcohol drinking (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Our intervention has been accompanied with reducing alcohol use rate. These findings indicate that e-intervention may be effectiveness approach to address the alcohol prevention among college students.

Keywords: e-interventions, alcohol drinking, students, Iran

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Authors: Glaucia Maricato

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Our research deals with specific use of DNA tests in Brazil – aimed at financial reparation for the institutionalized and otherwise scattered offspring of leprosy patients who, from the 1920s up through the 1980s, were subjected to compulsory internment in the 'hospital-colonies', specialized in the containment of Hansen’s disease. Through a social movement, the ex-patients themselves gained the right, in 2007, to financial compensations. At the moment, the movement is seeking reparation for the (now adult) children of these people as well. Many of these children grew up in orphanages, in adopted families, or do not have official documents to prove their family belonging. In 2011, a team of Brazilian geneticists had volunteered their services, applying DNA tests in order to ascertain the connection of certain individuals to an ex-internee of the leprosarium. We have accompanied the activities in four different ex-colonies in order to understand how the DNA test was being signified by those being tested, and how the test fit into already existent notions of family. Inspired in the writings of scholars such as Sheila Jasanoff and Helena Machado, we examine the possibility of a 'geneticization of family ties' when people are obliged to back their claim for human rights by producing legal proof based on blood tests. However, in like fashion to other ethnographic studies on this theme, we encountered among tested adults a number of creative strategies that allow for the co-existence of the idea of 'scientifically-based' blood ties alongside other more traditional ways of signifying kinship.

Keywords: human rights, social movements, DNA tests, Hansen's disease

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Authors: Aasheesh Raturi, Vimal Kothiyal, P. D. Semalty

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We studied mechanical properties of Eucalyptus tereticornis using FT-NIR spectroscopy. Firstly, spectra were pre-processed to eliminate useless information. Then, prediction model was constructed by partial least squares regression. To study the influence of pre-processing on prediction of mechanical properties for NIR analysis of wood samples, we applied various pretreatment methods like straight line subtraction, constant offset elimination, vector-normalization, min-max normalization, multiple scattering. Correction, first derivative, second derivatives and their combination with other treatment such as First derivative + straight line subtraction, First derivative+ vector normalization and First derivative+ multiplicative scattering correction. The data processing methods in combination of preprocessing with different NIR regions, RMSECV, RMSEP and optimum factors/rank were obtained by optimization process of model development. More than 350 combinations were obtained during optimization process. More than one pre-processing method gave good calibration/cross-validation and prediction/test models, but only the best calibration/cross-validation and prediction/test models are reported here. The results show that one can safely use NIR region between 4000 to 7500 cm-1 with straight line subtraction, constant offset elimination, first derivative and second derivative preprocessing method which were found to be most appropriate for models development.

Keywords: FT-NIR, mechanical properties, pre-processing, PLS

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Authors: Rajesh Karki, Safal Bhattarai, Saket Adhikari

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Reliable and economic operation of power systems are becoming extremely challenging with large scale integration of renewable energy sources due to the intermittency and uncertainty associated with renewable power generation. It is, therefore, important to make a quantitative risk assessment and explore the potential resources to mitigate such risks. Probabilistic models for different energy storage systems (ESS), such as the flywheel energy storage system (FESS) and the compressed air energy storage (CAES) incorporating specific charge/discharge performance and failure characteristics suitable for probabilistic risk assessment in power system operation and planning are presented in this paper. The proposed methodology used in FESS modelling offers flexibility to accommodate different configurations of plant topology. It is perceived that CAES has a high potential for grid-scale application, and a hybrid approach is proposed, which embeds a Monte-Carlo simulation (MCS) method in an analytical technique to develop a suitable reliability model of the CAES. The proposed ESS models are applied to a test system to investigate the economic and reliability benefits of the energy storage technologies in system operation and planning, as well as to assess their contributions in facilitating wind integration during different operating scenarios. A comparative study considering various storage system topologies are also presented. The impacts of failure rates of the critical components of ESS on the expected state of charge (SOC) and the performance of the different types of ESS during operation are illustrated with selected studies on the test system. The paper also applies the proposed models on the test system to investigate the economic and reliability benefits of the different ESS technologies and to evaluate their contributions in facilitating wind integration during different operating scenarios and system configurations. The conclusions drawn from the study results provide valuable information to help policymakers, system planners, and operators in arriving at effective and efficient policies, investment decisions, and operating strategies for planning and operation of power systems with large penetrations of renewable energy sources.

Keywords: flywheel energy storage, compressed air energy storage, power system reliability, renewable energy, system planning, system operation

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Authors: H. Namazi, H. T. N. Kuan

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Brain activity can be measured by acquiring and analyzing EEG signals from an individual. In fact, the human brain response to external and internal stimuli is mapped in his EEG signals. During years some methods such as Fourier transform, wavelet transform, empirical mode decomposition, etc. have been used to analyze the EEG signals in order to find the effect of stimuli, especially external stimuli. But each of these methods has some weak points in analysis of EEG signals. For instance, Fourier transform and wavelet transform methods are linear signal analysis methods which are not good to be used for analysis of EEG signals as nonlinear signals. In this research we analyze the brain response to visual stimuli by extracting information in the form of various measures from EEG signals using a software developed by our research group. The used measures are Jeffrey’s measure, Fractal dimension and Hurst exponent. The results of these analyses are useful not only for fundamental understanding of brain response to visual stimuli but provide us with very good recommendations for clinical purposes.

Keywords: visual stimuli, brain response, EEG signal, fractal dimension, hurst exponent, Jeffrey’s measure

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Authors: S. Sadegzadeh, A. Mousavi

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Temperature-dependent tunable photonic crystals have attracted widespread interest in recent years. In this research, transmission characteristics of a one-dimensional photonic crystal structure with a single defect have been studied. Here, we assume two different defect layers: InSb as a semiconducting layer and HgBa₂Ca₂Cu₃O₁₀ as a high-temperature superconducting layer. Both the defect layers have temperature-dependent refractive indexes. Two different types of dielectric materials (Si as a high-refractive index dielectric and MgF₂ as a low-refractive index dielectric) are used to construct the asymmetric structures (Si/MgF₂)^NInSb(Si/MgF₂)^N named S.I, and (Si/MgF₂)^NHgBa₂Ca₂Cu₃O₁₀(Si/MgF₂)^N named S.II. It is found that in response to the temperature changes, transmission peaks within the photonic band gap of the S.II structure, in contrast to S.I, show a small wavelength shift. Furthermore, the results show that under the same conditions, S.I structure generates an extra defect mode in the transmission spectra. Besides high efficiency transmission property of S.II structure, it can be concluded that the semiconductor-dielectric photonic crystals are more sensitive to temperature variation than superconductor types.

Keywords: defect modes, photonic crystals, semiconductor, superconductor, transmission

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Authors: Daodu Joshua Rotimi

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This study investigated the Efficacy of Self-Assessment Metacognitive Strategy on Academic performance in Energy Concepts among Upper Basic Science Students in Ankpa, Kogi State, Nigeria. The research design adopted for the study was a Quasi-experimental control group design which employed a pretest, posttest of the experimental and control groups. The population of the study consisted of one hundred and twenty-four (124) JSSII Students; sixty-five (65) for the experimental group and (59) for the control group. The instrument used for the study was the Energy Concept Performance Test (ECPT), with a reliability coefficient of 0.80. Two research questions were answered using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation, while two hypotheses were tested using a t-test at P≤0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that the use of the Self-Assessment Metacognitive Strategy has a positive effect on students’ performance in energy concepts among upper Basic Science Students leading to high academic performance; also, there is no significant difference in the mean Academic Performance scores between Male and Female students taught Energy Concept using Self-Assessment Metacognitive Strategy. Based on the research findings, recommendations were made, which include that Secondary school teachers should be encouraged the use Self-Assessment Metacognitive strategy so as to make the learning process attractive, interactive and enriching to the learners.

Keywords: metacognition, self-assessment, performance, efficacy

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Authors: Jun Yuan

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Shipping is a major transportation mode all over the world, and it has a significant contribution to global carbon emissions. Electrification of ships is one of the main strategies to reduce shipping carbon emissions. The number of electric ships has continued to grow in recent years. However, charging infrastructure is still scarce, which severely restricts the development of electric ships. Therefore, it is very important to design ship charging stations reasonably by comprehensively considering charging demand and investment costs. This study aims to minimize the full life cycle cost of charging stations, considering the uncertainty of charging demand. A mixed integer programming model is developed for this optimization problem. Based on the characteristics of the mathematical model, a simulation based optimization method is proposed to find the optimal number and rated power of chargers. In addition, the impact of renewable energy and storage systems is analyzed. The results can provide decision support and a reference basis for the design of ship charging stations.

Keywords: shipping emission, electricity ship, charging station, optimal design

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Authors: Abdullah Pandang, Mantasiah Rivai, Nur Fadhilah Umar, Azam Arifyadi

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This study aims to measure the validity of the politeness behaviour scale and obtain a model that fits the scale. The researcher developed the Politeness Behavior on Communicating (PBC) scale. The research method uses descriptive quantitative by developing the PBC scale. The population in this study were students in three provinces, namely South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, and Central Sulawesi, recorded in the 2022/2023 academic year. The sampling technique used stratified random sampling by determining the number of samples using the Slovin formula. The sample of this research is 1200 students. This research instrument uses the PBC scale, which consists of 5 (five) indicators: self-regulation of compensation behaviour, self-efficacy of compensation behaviour, fulfilment of social expectations, positive feedback, and no strings attached. The PBC scale consists of 34 statement items. The data analysis technique is divided into two types: the validity test on the correlated item values and the item reliability test referring to Cronbach's and McDonald's alpha standards using the JASP application. Furthermore, the data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The results showed that the adaptation of the Politeness Behavior on Communicating (PBC) scale was on the Fit Index with a chi-square value (711,800/375), RMSEA (0.53), GFI (0.990), CFI (0.987), GFI (0.985).

Keywords: polite behavior in communicating, positive communication, exploration factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis

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Authors: V. Saccà, A. Sarica, F. Novellino, S. Barone, T. Tallarico, E. Filippelli, A. Granata, P. Valentino, A. Quattrone

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The work aim was to evaluate how well Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms could support the early diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) from resting-state functional connectivity data. In particular, we wanted to explore the ability in distinguishing between controls and patients of mean signals extracted from ICA components corresponding to 15 well-known networks. Eighteen patients with early-MS (mean-age 37.42±8.11, 9 females) were recruited according to McDonald and Polman, and matched for demographic variables with 19 healthy controls (mean-age 37.55±14.76, 10 females). MRI was acquired by a 3T scanner with 8-channel head coil: (a)whole-brain T1-weighted; (b)conventional T2-weighted; (c)resting-state functional MRI (rsFMRI), 200 volumes. Estimated total lesion load (ml) and number of lesions were calculated using LST-toolbox from the corrected T1 and FLAIR. All rsFMRIs were pre-processed using tools from the FMRIB's Software Library as follows: (1) discarding of the first 5 volumes to remove T1 equilibrium effects, (2) skull-stripping of images, (3) motion and slice-time correction, (4) denoising with high-pass temporal filter (128s), (5) spatial smoothing with a Gaussian kernel of FWHM 8mm. No statistical significant differences (t-test, p < 0.05) were found between the two groups in the mean Euclidian distance and the mean Euler angle. WM and CSF signal together with 6 motion parameters were regressed out from the time series. We applied an independent component analysis (ICA) with the GIFT-toolbox using the Infomax approach with number of components=21. Fifteen mean components were visually identified by two experts. The resulting z-score maps were thresholded and binarized to extract the mean signal of the 15 networks for each subject. Statistical and machine learning analysis were then conducted on this dataset composed of 37 rows (subjects) and 15 features (mean signal in the network) with R language. The dataset was randomly splitted into training (75%) and test sets and two different classifiers were trained: RF and RBF-SVM. We used the intrinsic feature selection of RF, based on the Gini index, and recursive feature elimination (rfe) for the SVM, to obtain a rank of the most predictive variables. Thus, we built two new classifiers only on the most important features and we evaluated the accuracies (with and without feature selection) on test-set. The classifiers, trained on all the features, showed very poor accuracies on training (RF:58.62%, SVM:65.52%) and test sets (RF:62.5%, SVM:50%). Interestingly, when feature selection by RF and rfe-SVM were performed, the most important variable was the sensori-motor network I in both cases. Indeed, with only this network, RF and SVM classifiers reached an accuracy of 87.5% on test-set. More interestingly, the only misclassified patient resulted to have the lowest value of lesion volume. We showed that, with two different classification algorithms and feature selection approaches, the best discriminant network between controls and early MS, was the sensori-motor I. Similar importance values were obtained for the sensori-motor II, cerebellum and working memory networks. These findings, in according to the early manifestation of motor/sensorial deficits in MS, could represent an encouraging step toward the translation to the clinical diagnosis and prognosis.

Keywords: feature selection, machine learning, multiple sclerosis, random forest, support vector machine

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Authors: Khaled M. Mohamed

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Background: P-Phenylenediamine (PPD) is used in the manufacture of hair dyes and skin decoration. In some developing countries, suicidal, homicidal and accidental cases by PPD were recorded. In this work, a sensitive LC-MS/MS method for determination of PPD and its metabolites N-acetyl-p-phenylenediamine (MAPPD) and N,N-diacetyl-p-phenylenediamine (DAPPD) in human urine has been developed and validated. Methods: PPD, MAPPD and DAPPD were extracted from urine by methylene chloride at alkaline pH. Acetanilide was used as internal standard (IS). The analytes and IS were separated on an Eclipse XDB- C18 column (150 X 4.6 mm, 5 µm) using a mobile phase of acetonitrile-1% formic acid in gradient elution. Detection was performed by LC-MS/MS using electrospray positive ionization under multiple reaction-monitoring mode. The transition ions m/z 109 → 92, m/z 151 → 92, m/z 193 → 92, and m/z 136 → 77 were selected for the quantification of PPD, MAPPD, DAPPD, and IS, respectively. Results: Calibration curves were linear in the range 10–2000 ng/mL for all analytes. The mean recoveries for PPD, MAPPD and DAPPD were 57.62, 74.19 and 50.99%, respectively. Intra-assay and inter-assay imprecisions were within 1.58–9.52% and 5.43–9.45% respectively for PPD, MAPPD and DAPPD. Inter-assay accuracies were within -7.43 and 7.36 for all compounds. PPD, MAPPD and DAPPD were stable in urine at –20 degrees for 24 hours. Conclusions: The method was successfully applied to the analysis of PPD, MAPPD and DAPPD in urine samples collected from suicidal cases.

Keywords: p-Phenylenediamine, metabolites, urine, LC-MS/MS, validation

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Authors: Shankar M. Bakkannavar, Smitha Nayak, Vinod C. Nayak, Ravi Bagali

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Attendance rate for hospital outpatient appointments plays a pivotal role in operational efficiency of a hospital. Strategic interventions like ‘reminder systems’ prior to the scheduled appointment has proved to be an effective strategy for outpatient appointment ‘show-ups’. This study is designed with an objective to assess the effectiveness of SMS reminders as an intervention to enhance the effectiveness of hospital outpatient attendance. Method: The survey was conducted at Columbia Asia Hosiptal, Bangalore. We surveyed 60 patients who had a scheduled outpatient appointment in Department of General Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Orthopedics department, as these departments had a heavy patient flow and had higher contributions to the top line of the hospital. Results: Majority (64%) of the patients preferred to be sent an SMS reminder on the outpatient appointment schedule. 37 (61%) respondents stated that the ideally, reminders could be effective only if they are sent 24-48 hours prior to the appointment schedule. 41(68%) respondents were of the opinion that a minimum of two reminders would be necessary to ensure patients show up for the appointment. 1% level of significance. It also observed that there is strong association between age and preference on mode of reminder (P=0.002).

Keywords: reminder systems, appointment show-ups, SMS reminders, health Information

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Authors: Wai-Sum Lee

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This study investigates C-V and V-C co-articulation in Cantonese monosyllables of the CV, VC or CVC structure, with C = one of the three stop consonants [p, t, k] and V = one of the three corner vowels [i, a, u]. Five repetitions of each test syllable on a randomized list were elicited from Cantonese young adult speakers in their early-20s. A research tool, EMA AG500, was used to record the synchronized audio signals and articulatory data at three different locations of the tongue – tongue tip, tongue middle, and tongue back – and the positions of the upper and lower lips during the test syllables. The main findings based on the articulatory data collected from two male Cantonese speakers are as follows: (i) For the syllable-initial [p-], strong co-articulation is observed when [p-] preceding the high vowel [i] or [u], but not the low vowel [a]. As for the syllable-final [-p], it is strongly co-articulated with the preceding vowel, even when the vowel is [a]. (ii) The co-articulation between the initial [t-] and the following vowel of any type is weak. In the syllable-final position, the degree of co-articulatory resistance of [-t] is also large when following the vowel [u], but [-t] is largely co-articulated with the preceding vowel when the vowel is [i] or [a]. (iii) The strength of co-articulation differs when the initial [k-] precedes the different types of vowel. A stronger co-articulation between [k-] and [i] than between [k-] and [u], and the strength of co-articulation is much reduced between [k-] and [a]. However, in the syllable-final position, there is strong co-articulation between [-k] and the preceding vowel [a]. (iv) Among the three types of stop consonants in the syllable-initial position, the decreasing degree of co-articulatory resistance (CR) is [t-] > [k-] > [p-], and the degree of CR is reduced during all three types of stop in the syllable-final position. In general, the data on co-articulation between consonant and vowel in the Cantonese monosyllables are similar to those in other languages reported in previous studies.

Keywords: Cantonese, co-articulation, consonant, vowel

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Authors: S. A. Agbalajobi, W. A. Bello

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This study examines rock properties of crushed aggregate in some selected quarries in Kwara state, Nigeria. Some physical properties (chemical composition, mineral composition, particle size distribution) of gneiss sample were determined using ISRM standards. The physicomechanical properties (specific gravity, dry density, porosity, water absorption, point load index, tensile, and compressive strength) of the gneiss rock were evaluated. The analysis on the gneiss samples revealed the mean dry density and the unit weight are 2.52 g/m3, 2.63 g/m3, 2.38 g/m3; and 24.1 kN/m3, 25.78 kN/m3, 23.33 kN/m3, respectively (for locations A,B,C). The water absorption level of the gneiss rock sample ranged from 0.38 % – 0.57 % for the three locations. The mean Schmidt hammer rebound value ranged from 51.0 – 52.4 for the three locations and mean point load index values ranged from 9.89 – 10.56 MPa classified as very high strength while the uniaxial compressive strength of the rock samples revealed that its strength ranged from 120 - 139 MPa (for location A, B, and C) classified as strong rock. The aggregate impact value test and aggregate crushing value test conducted on the gneiss aggregates from the three locations in accordance with British Standard. The gneiss sample from the three locations (A, B, and C) is a good material for the production of construction works such as concrete, bricks, pavement, embankment among others, the compressive strength of the material is within the accepted limit.

Keywords: gneiss, aggregate impact, aggregate crushing, physic-mechanical properties, rock hardness

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Authors: J. Y. Sun, H. Z. Shen

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We study the photon blockade at exceptional points for a non-Hermitian optomechanical system coupled to the driven whispering-gallery-mode microresonator with two nanoparticles under the weak optomechanical coupling approximation, where exceptional points emerge periodically by controlling the relative angle of the nanoparticles. We find that conventional photon blockade occurs at exceptional points for the eigenenergy resonance of the single-excitation subspace driven by a laser field and discuss the physical origin of conventional photon blockade. Under the weak driving condition, we analyze the influences of the different parameters on conventional photon blockade. We investigate conventional photon blockade at nonexceptional points, which exists at two optimal detunings due to the eigenstates in the single-excitation subspace splitting from one (coalescence) at exceptional points to two at nonexceptional points. Unconventional photon blockade can occur at nonexceptional points, while it does not exist at exceptional points since the destructive quantum interference cannot occur due to the two different quantum pathways to the two-photon state not being formed. The realization of photon blockade in our proposal provides a viable and flexible way for the preparation of single-photon sources in the non-Hermitian optomechanical system.

Keywords: optomechanical systems, photon blockade, non-hermitian, exceptional points

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Authors: Dina Mahmoud Hammouri

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The study investigates the Jordanian EFL learners’ pragmatic competence through their production of the speech acts of responding to requests, making suggestions, making threats and expressing farewells. The sample of the study consists of 130 Jordanian EFL learners and native speakers. 2600 responses were collected through a Discourse Completion Test (DCT). The findings of the study revealed that the tested students showed similarities and differences in performing the strategies of four speech acts. Differences in the students’ performances led to pragmatic failure instances. The pragmatic failure committed by students refers to a lack of linguistic competence (i.e., pragmalinguistic failure), sociocultural differences and pragmatic transfer (i.e., sociopragmatic failure). EFL learners employed many mechanisms to maintain their communicative competence; the analysis of the test on speech acts showed learners’ tendency towards using particular strategies, resorting to modify strategies and relating them to their grammatical competence, prefabrication, performing long forms, buffing and transfer. The results were also suggestive of the learners’ lack of pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic knowledge. The implications of this study are for language teachers to teach interlanguage pragmatics explicitly in EFL contexts to draw learners’ attention to both pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic features, pay more attention to these areas and allocate more time and practice to solve learners’ problems in these areas. The implication of this study is also for pedagogical material designers to provide sufficient and well-organized pragmatic input.

Keywords: pragmatic failure, Jordanian EFL learner, sociopragmatic competence, pragmalinguistic competence

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Authors: Sohail Ahmed, Ahmad Raza

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Physical properties of maize grains were correlated with levels of the life history of Sitotroga cerealella (Oliv.) (Gelechiidae: Lepidoptera) in no choice test to find out relative resistance in different varieties. Eight maize varieties /lines (EV-6089, Sahiwal-2002, Golden, 34N43, EV-1098, Sultan, China-1, EV-20) including seven yellow and one white were obtained from Maize and Millet Research Institute, Yousaf Wala, Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan. Freshly laid eggs (one day old) of S. cerealella were obtained and cultured on a susceptible maize variety for two generations for later on shifting to test varieties. Results showed that maximum moth emergence (10.33), fecundity (35.66), hatching (87.66%), moth weight (5.05 mg), development time (36.0 days) damage (93.35%) and grain weight loss (38.84%) was found in varieties, 34N43 and Golden, Sultan, Sahiwal 2002, 34N43, EV-6089, 34N43 and EV-1089, respectively. Varieties had significant difference with other varieties in these parameters (P<0.05). The varieties had positive as well as negative correlation between hardness index, grain weight and bulk density with the biological parameters of S. cerealella, percent grain damage and weight loss. Possible involvement of these grain properties in the resistance of maize grains towards S. cerealella is discussed.

Keywords: sitotroga cerealella, hardness index, grain damage, maize, varieties

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Authors: Shipra Shukla, Gaurav Chaudhary, S. K. Tewari, Mahesh Pal, D. K. Upreti

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Cassia tora L. is widely distributed in tropical Asian countries, commonly known as sickle pod. Various parts of the plant are reported for their medicinal value due to presence of anthraquinones, phenolic compounds, emodin, β-sitosterol, and chrysophanol. Therefore a sensitive analytical procedure using UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS was developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of five phenolic compounds in leaf, stem and root extracts of Cassia tora. Rapid chromatographic separation of compounds was achieved on Acquity UHPLC BEH C18 column (50 mm×2.1 mm id, 1.7µm) column in 2.5 min. Quantification was carried out using negative electrospray ionization in multiple-reaction monitoring mode. The method was validated as per ICH guidelines and showed good linearity (r2 ≥ 0.9985) over the concentration range of 0.5-200 ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day precisions and accuracy were within RSDs ≤ 1.93% and ≤ 1.90%, respectively. The developed method was applied to investigate variation of five phenolic compounds in the three geographical collections. Results indicated significant variation among analyzed samples collected from different locations in India.

Keywords: Cassia tora, phenolic compounds, quantification, UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS

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Authors: Pei-Lin Yueh, Bor-Yann Chen, Chuan-Chung Hsueh

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This first-attempt study revealed that decolorized intermediates of azo dyes could act as redox mediators to assist wastewater (WW) decolorization due to enhancement of electron-transport phenomena. Electrochemical impedance spectra indicated that hydroxyl and amino-substituent(s) were functional group(s) as redox-mediator(s). As azo dyes are usually multiple benzene rings structured, their derived decolorized intermediates are likely to play roles of electron shuttles due to lower barrier of energy gap for electron shuttling. According to cyclic voltammetric profiles, redox-mediating characteristics of decolorized intermediates of azo dyes (e.g., RBu171, RR198, RR141, and RBk5) were clearly disclosed. With supplementation of biodecolorized metabolites of RR141 and 198, decolorization performance of could be evidently augmented. This study also suggested the optimal modes of microbial fuel cell (MFC)-assisted WW decolorization would be plug-flow or batch mode of operation with no mix. Single chamber-MFCs would be more favourable than double chamber MFCs due to non-mixing contacting reactor scheme for operation.

Keywords: redox mediators, dye decolorization, bioelectricity generation, microbial fuel cells

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Authors: Lablali Mohammed, Mes-Adi Hassan, Mazroui M’Hammed

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To tackle the complexity of grasping atomic-scale structures and unraveling the factors affecting the development of thin films. In our work, we perform the deposition of Nb atoms on Cu substrates using the molecular dynamics simulation combined with the embedded atom method to describe the interaction between different atoms. We investigated the impact of varying deposition rates and thermal annealing processes on the microstructural, morphological, and mechanical characteristics of the deposited Nb film. Our findings reveal that Nb atom growth on the Cu substrate occurs in island mode, accompanied by the presence of nucleation phenomena during growth. On the other hand, mixing behavior was observed at the interface between the film and the substrate, where Nb penetration is initially limited to the first Cu layer, whereas Cu atoms diffuse until reaching the third layer in the Nb film. Furthermore, Nb exhibits a BCC structure, with a significant concentration observed at a rate of 5 atoms/ps, and annealing further amplifies these percentages. Deposition at different rates leads to distinct levels of compressive normal and biaxial stress.

Keywords: molecular dynamics, Nb thin film, structure and morphology, atomic penetration

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Authors: B. Medani Amna, M. A. Elbadwi Samia, E. Amin Ahmed

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Variable plants present in nature are used by simple rural and urban people, researchers and drug manufacturers for medicinal purposes. Garad is one of the most commonly used in Sudan for both treatment and prophylaxis of infections in the respiratory, urinogenital tracts and the skin. Water exctracts from Acacia nilotica bods were used in this very experiment to test for their toxicity to Nubian goats at two dose rates under proper experimental conditions. The clinical, pathological, haematological and biological changes in Nubian goats given daily oral doses of 1 and 5 g/kg body weight of Acacia nilotica to two groups of test goats. The goats of the control group were undosed with Acacia nilotica.Other than the dose co-related mortality rates, the clinical signs were observed to be salivation, staggered gait, intermittent loss of voice and low appetite. On histopathological testing, the main lesions were hepatic centrolobular necrosis and fatty changes associated with the significant changes in GGT and ALP are indicating hepatic dysfunction.Renal malfunction is indicated by haemorrhages in addition to the change in the urea concentration. The congested, haemorrhagic, emphysematous, edematous and cyanotic lungs may contribute to the development of dyspnea. Acacia nilotica poisoning may lead to an immunosuppression pointed out by the lymphocyte infiltration. On evaluation of the above results, Acacia nilotica was considered toxic to Nubian goats at the above mentioned doses. Future work for Acacia nilotica was forwarded and practical implications of the result were highlighted.

Keywords: Acaia nilotica, toxicity data, Nubian goats, Garad

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Authors: M. Kaouane, A. Boukhelifa, A. Cheriti

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In this paper, a new Buck-Boost DC-DC converter is designed and simulated for photovoltaic energy system. The presented Buck-Boost converter has a double switch. Moreover, its output voltage is regulated to a constant value whatever its input is. In the presented work, the Buck-Boost transfers the produced energy from the photovoltaic generator to an R-L load. The converter is controlled by the pulse width modulation technique in a way to have a suitable output voltage, in the other hand, to carry the generator’s power, and put it close to the maximum possible power that can be generated by introducing the right duty cycle of the pulse width modulation signals that control the switches of the converter; each component and each parameter of the proposed circuit is well calculated using the equations that describe each operating mode of the converter. The proposed configuration of Buck-Boost converter has been simulated in Matlab/Simulink environment; the simulation results show that it is a good choice to take in order to maintain the output voltage constant while ensuring a good energy transfer.

Keywords: Buck-Boost converter, switch, photovoltaic, PWM, power, energy transfer

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Authors: Hamed Tohidi, James W. Mahar

Abstract:

One of the unknowns in the design of zoned earth dams is the percentage of sand which can be present in a clay core and still retain the necessary plasticity to prevent cracking in response to deformation. Cracks in the clay core of a dam caused by differential settlement can lead to failure of the dam. In this study, a series of Atterberg Limit tests and unconfined compression strength tests have been conducted in the ISU soil mechanics laboratory on prepared mixes of quartz sand and commercial clays (Kaolin and Smectite) to determine the relationship between sand content, plasticity and squeezing behavior. The prepared mixes have variable percentages of sand ranging between 10 and 90% by weight. Plastic limit test results in which specimens can be rolled into 1/8 in. threads without crumbling and plasticity index values which represent the range of water content over which the specimens can be remolded without cracking were used to evaluate the plasticity of the sand-clay mixtures. The test results show that the design mixes exhibit plastic behavior with sand contents up to 80% by weight. However, the plasticity of the mixes decreases with increasing sand content. For unconfined compression strength tests, the same mixtures of sand and clay (Kaolin) were made in plastic limit. The results which were concluded from the UCC tests represent the relationship between sand-clay content and chance of having squeezing behavior, also according to the results from UCC, strength of different samples and stress-strain curves can be obtained.

Keywords: clay's behaviour, plasticity, sand content, Kaolin clay

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Authors: Khadiga Kahwa, Aniza Ismail

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Depression, anxiety, and stress are associated with decreased role functioning, productivity, and quality of life. International students are more prone to psychological distress as they face many stressors while studying abroad. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety, and stress among international students, their help-seeking behavior, and their awareness of the available on-campus mental support services. A cross-sectional study with a purposive sampling method was performed on 280 international students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) between the age of 18 and 35 years. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) questionnaire was used anonymously to assess the mental health of students. Socio-demographic, help-seeking behavior, and awareness data were obtained. Independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA test, and multiple linear regression were used to explore associated factors. The overall prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among international students were 58.9%, 71.8%, and 53.9%, respectively. Age was significantly associated with depression and anxiety. Ethnicity showed a significant association with depression and stress. No other factors were found to be significantly associated with psychological distress. Only 9.6% of the international students had sought help from on-campus mental support services. Students who were aware of the presence of such services were only 21.4% of the participants. In conclusion, this study addressed the gap in the literature on the mental health of international students and provided data that could be used in intervention programs to improve the mental health of the increasing number of international students in Malaysia.

Keywords: anxiety, depression, stress, help-seeking behavior, students

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Authors: Pakenam Shiha, Nadine Lacsina

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Systematic and in-depth analysis of ESL learners’ lexical errors, in general, and of collocation errors, in particular, are relatively rare. Analysis as such proves crucial in understanding how ESL learners construct and use these fixed expressions. Collocational competence of ESL learners is necessary for achieving a native-like proficiency level, which is one of the objectives of foundation programs. This study aims to examine the collocational competence of 50 Saudi foundation program students and identify the collocation errors that they often make. Furthermore, using a questionnaire, the challenges that students encounter in learning collocations and the ways in which their L1 affects their ability to recognize these expressions are identified. To identify the lexical errors and the collocational competence of the students a collocation test was administered. The 150-item lexical collocation test consists of verb-noun and adjective-noun structures. Results of the study reveal that there is a significant difference between the scores of students in the verb-noun and adjective-noun structures. The majority of errors were recorded in the adjective-noun structures due to the students’ L1 influence on the English collocations and the inability to distinguish between synonyms. Moreover, some challenges that students encountered were problems in translation, non-exposure to certain collocations, and degree of L1-L2 difference. All in all, the findings of this study can be interpreted in relation to the student's proficiency level and L2 instruction. Other findings of the study provide insights into language pedagogy—specifically strategies to help students learn collocations more effectively.

Keywords: collocations, ESL, applied linguistics, lexical collocations

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Authors: James Bassey Ejue, Dorn Cklaimz Enamhe, Helen Francis Ejue

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The study examined the influence of personal variables such as sex, type of school, and parental socio-economic status on secondary school students’ perception of school security. To guide the study, three null hypotheses were formulated. The research design adopted was the survey design, and a 20-item instrument was constructed and validated by the researchers through a test-retest procedure. The sample size for the study comprised 2,198 students made up of male and female students selected through a stratified random sampling technique. This was drawn from a study population of 21,988, made up of 12,635 students and 9353 students from public and private secondary schools, respectively. Data were analyzed using an independent t-test statistical tool. The findings showed that female students were more fearful in their perception of school security; the students in private schools perceived school to be more insecure than those in public schools; and the students from high parental socio-economic status are more associated with the perception of school as insecure than the ones from low parental socio-economic status. Based on these findings, it was recommended that, among others, more reassuring measures be put in place to check school security for females, for those in private schools, and for those from high parental socio-economic status. School counsellors should also be guided accordingly in designing intervention strategies.

Keywords: personal variables, students, perception, school security

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Authors: Dustin Schöder

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The potential benefits of the utilization of highly automated and autonomous trucks in logistics operations are the subject of interest to the entire logistics industry. The benefits of the use of these new technologies were scientifically investigated and implemented in roadmaps. So far, reliable data and experiences from real life use cases are still limited. A German research consortium of both academics and industry developed a highly automated (SAE level 4) vehicle for yard operations at railports and container depots. After development and testing, a several month field test at the DUSS Terminal in Ulm-Dornstadt (Germany) and the nearby DB Intermodal Services Container Depot in Ulm-Dornstadt was conducted. The truck was piloted in a shuttle service between both sites. In a holistic automation approach, the vehicle was integrated into a digital communication platform so that the truck could move autonomously without a driver and his manual interactions with a wide variety of stakeholders. The main goal is to investigate the effects of highly automated trucks in the key processes of container loading, unloading and container relocation on holistic railport yard operation. The field test data were used to investigate changes in process efficiency of key processes of railport and container yard operations. Moreover, effects on the capacity utilization and potentials for smothering peak workloads were analyzed. The results state that process efficiency in the piloted use case was significantly higher. The reason for that could be found in the digitalized data exchange and automated dispatch. However, the field test has shown that the effect is greatly varying depending on the ratio of highly automated and manual trucks in the yard as well as on the congestion level in the loading area. Furthermore, the data confirmed that under the right conditions, the capacity utilization of highly automated trucks could be increased. In regard to the potential for smothering peak workloads, no significant findings could be made based on the limited requirements and regulations of railway operation in Germany. In addition, an empirical survey among railport managers, operational supervisors, innovation managers and strategists (n=15) within the logistics industry in Germany was conducted. The goal was to identify key characteristics of future railports and terminals as well as requirements that railports will have to meet in the future. Furthermore, the railport processes where automation and autonomization make the greatest impact, as well as hurdles and challenges in the introduction of new technologies, have been surveyed. Hence, further potential use cases of highly automated and autonomous applications could be identified, and expectations have been mapped. As a result, a highly detailed and practice-based roadmap towards a ‘terminal 4.0’ was developed.

Keywords: highly automated driving, autonomous driving, SAE level 4, railport operations, container depot, intermodal logistics, potentials of autonomization

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Authors: S. Rostami, S. H. Hosseini, A. A. Torabi, M. Bekhradi

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Introduction: Interest in the use of caffeine as an ergogenic aid has increased since the International Olympic Committee lifted the partial ban on its use. Caffeine has beneficial effects on various aspects of athletic performance, but its effects on training have been neglected. The purpose of this study was to investigate the acute effect of caffeine on testosterone and cortisole in young futsal players. Methods: Twenty-four professional futsal players with 18.3± 1.9 years ingested caffeine doses of 0, 200 and 800 mg in random order 1 hr before an anaerobic-exercise session (RAST test). Samples were taken at the time of caffeine ingestion and 30 min after the session. Data were log-transformed to estimate percent effects with mixed modeling, and effects were standardized to assess magnitudes. fects on training have been neglected. Results: Testosterone concentration showed a small increase of 15% (90% confidence limits, ± 19%) during exercise. Caffeine raised this concentration in a dose-dependent manner by a further small 21% (± 24%) at the highest dose. The 800-mg dose also produced a moderate 52% (± 44%) increase in cortisol. The effect of caffeine on the testosterone: cortisol ratio was a small decline (14%; ± 21%). Discussion and Conclusion: Caffeine has some potential to benefit training outcomes via the anabolic effects of the increase in testosterone concentration, but this benefit might be counteracted by the opposing catabolic effects of the increase in cortisol and resultant decline in the testosterone: cortisol ratio.

Keywords: anabolic, catabolic, performance, testosterone, cortisol ratio, RAST test

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Authors: Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Arnab Mondal, Ranjit Kumar Upadhyay

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Excitable cells often produce different oscillatory activities that help us to understand the transmitting and processing of signals in the neural system. We consider a FitzHugh-Rinzel (FH-R) model and studied the different dynamics of the model by considering the parameter c as the predominant parameter. The model exhibits different types of neuronal responses such as regular spiking, mixed-mode bursting oscillations (MMBOs), elliptic bursting, etc. Based on the bifurcation diagram, we consider the three regimes (MMBOs, elliptic bursting, and quiescent state). An analytical treatment for the occurrence of the supercritical Hopf bifurcation is studied. Further, we extend our study to a network of a hundred neurons by considering the bi-directional synaptic coupling between them. In this article, we investigate the alternation of spiking propagation and bursting phenomena of an uncoupled and coupled FH-R neurons. We explore that the complete graph of heterogenous desynchronized neurons can exhibit different types of bursting oscillations for certain coupling strength. For higher coupling strength, all the neurons in the network show complete synchronization.

Keywords: excitable neuron model, spiking-bursting, stability and bifurcation, synchronization networks

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Authors: Chin-Chih Chiou, Tai-Yuan Su, Ti-Yu Chen, Wen-Yu Chiu, Chungyu Chen

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of reaction time (RT) or balance performance as the number of stimulus-response choices increases, the amount of information processing of 0-bit and 1-bit conditions based on Hick’s law, using the dual-task design. Eighteen children (age: 9.38 ± 0.27 years old) were recruited as the participants for this study, and asked to assess RT and balance performance separately and simultaneously as following five conditions: simple RT (0-bit decision), choice RT (1-bit decision), single balance control, balance control with simple RT, and balance control with choice RT. Biodex 950-300 balance system and You-Shang response timer were used to record and analyze the postural stability and information processing speed (RT) respectively for the participants. Repeated measures one-way ANOVA with HSD post-hoc test and 2 (balance) × 2 (amount of information processing) repeated measures two-way ANOVA were used to test the parameters of balance performance and RT (α = .05). The results showed the overall stability index in the 1-bit decision was lower than in 0-bit decision, and the mean deflection in the 1-bit decision was lower than in single balance performance. Simple RTs were faster than choice RTs both in single task condition and dual task condition. It indicated that the chronometric approach of RT could use to infer the attention requirement of the secondary task. However, this study did not find that the balance performance is interfered for children by the increasing of the amount of information processing.

Keywords: capacity theory, reaction time, Hick’s law, balance

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