Search results for: supervisory control and data acquisition (scada)

Authors: Sunday Ose Ugadu

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Unemployment, especially graduate unemployment is, for now, the greatest problem facing Nigeria as a nation. It is responsible for most of the other ills of the country, including kidnapping, armed robbery, youth restiveness, thuggery, to mention but a few. More and more people in Nigeria are now losing confidence in the prospect of tertiary education as an instrument par excellence for effecting national development. This paper, therefore, critically examined the problem of graduate unemployment in Nigeria. It briefly traced the history of university education in Nigeria. The rate and causes of graduate unemployment in Nigeria were also discussed. Previous attempts made by the government to solve the problem of unemployment were highlighted. The paper also harped on the prospect of entrepreneurship education as an instrument for fighting graduate unemployment identifying obstacles to entrepreneurship education in Nigeria. The paper drew conclusion, and major recommendation made was a call for converting the National Youth Service Corps Scheme in Nigeria to entrepreneurship and skills acquisition scheme as soon as possible.

Keywords: graduate, unemployment, entrepreneurship education, national development

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: A. Juhász, M. Fogarasi

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Those causing fatal traffic accidents are traumatized, which negatively influences their cognitive functions and their personality. In order to clarify how much the trauma of causing a fatal accident effects their driving skills and personality traits, the results of a psychological aptitude and a personality test of drivers carelessly causing fatal accidents and of drivers not causing any accidents were compared separately. The sample (N = 354) consists of randomly selected drivers from the Transportation Aptitude and Examination Centre database who caused fatal accidents (Fatal group, n = 177) or did not cause accidents (Control group, n = 177). The aptitude tests were taken between 2014 and 2019. The comparison of the 2 groups was done according to 3 aspects: 1. Categories of aptitude (suitable, restricted, unsuited); 2. Categories of causes (ability, personality, ability and personality) within the restricted or unsuited (altogether: non-suitable subgroups); 3. Categories of ability and personality within the non-suitable subgroups regardless of the cause-category. Within ability deficiency, the two groups include those, whose ability factor is impaired or limited. This is also true in case of personality failure. Compared to the control group, the number of restricted drivers causing fatal accidents is significantly higher (p < .000) and the number of unsuited drivers is higher on a tendency-level (p = .06). Compared to the control group in the fatal non-suitable subgroup, the ratio of restricted suitability and the unsuitability due to ability factors is exclusively significantly lower (p < .000). The restricted suitability and the unsuitability due to personality factors are more significant in the fatal non-suitable subgroup (p < .000). Incapacity due to combination of ability and personality is also significantly higher in the fatal group (p = .002). Compared to the control group both ability and personality factors are also significantly higher in the fatal non-suitable subgroup (p < .000). Overall, the control group is more eligible for driving than drivers who have caused fatalities. The ability and personality factors are significantly higher in the case of fatal accident causers who are non-suitable for driving. Moreover the concomitance of ability and personality factors occur almost exclusively to drivers who caused fatal accidents. Further investigation is needed to understand the causes and how the aptitude test results for the fatal group could improve over time.

Keywords: aptitude, unsuited, fatal accident, ability, personality

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Authors: Simona Grasso, Gabrielle Smith, Sophie Bowers, Oluseyi Moses Ajayi, Mark Swainson

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Hybrid meat analogues are meat products whereby a proportion of meat has been partially replaced by more sustainable protein sources. These products could bridge the gap between meat and meat-free products, providing convenience, and allowing consumers to continue using meat products as they conventionally would, while lowering their overall meat intake. The study aimed to investigate the effect of introducing texturized soy protein (TSP) at different levels (15% and 30%) with and without nutritional yeast as flavour enhancer on the sensory and instrumental quality of beef meatballs, compared to a soy and yeast-free control. Proximate analysis, yield, colour, instrumental texture, and sensory quality were investigated. The addition of soy and yeast did not have significant effects on the overall protein content, but the total fat and moisture content went down with increasing soy substitution. Samples with 30% TSP had significantly higher yield than the other recipes. In terms of colour, a* redness values tended to go down and b* yellowness values tended to go up with increasing soy addition. The addition of increasing levels of soy and yeast modified the structure of meatballs resulting in a progressive decrease in hardness and chewiness compared to control. Sixty participants assessed the samples using Check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions and hedonic scales. The texture of all TSP-containing samples received significantly higher acceptability scores than control, while 15% TSP with yeast received significantly higher flavour and overall acceptability scores than control. Control samples were significantly more often associated than the other recipes to the term 'hard' and the least associated to 'soft' and 'crumbly and easy to cut'. All recipes were similarly associated to the terms 'weak meaty', 'strong meaty', 'characteristic' and 'unusual'. Correspondence analysis separated the meatballs in three distinct groups: 1) control; 2) 30%TSP with yeast; and 3) 15%TSP, 15%TSP with yeast and 30%TSP located together on the sensory map, showing similarity. Adding 15-30% TSP with or without yeast inclusion could be beneficial for the development of future meat hybrids with acceptable sensory quality. These results can provide encouragement for the use of the hybrid concept by the meat industry to promote the partial substitution of meat in flexitarians’ diets.

Keywords: CATA, hybrid meat products, texturised soy protein, yeast

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Authors: Mohamed Amarouayache, Badia Amrouche, Gharbi Akila, Boukadoume Mohamed

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This work is devoted to the modeling of DC-DC converter (boost) used for MPPT applications to set conditions of stability. For this, we establish a linear mathematical model of the DC-DC converter with an average small signal model. This model has allowed us to apply conventional linear methods of automation. A mathematical relationship between the duty cycle and the voltage of the panel has been set up. With this relationship we specify the conditions of the stability in closed-loop depending on the system parameters (the elements of storage capacity and inductance, PWM control).

Keywords: MPPT, PWM, stability, criterion of Routh, average small signal model

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Authors: Lori W. Gordon, Karen A. Jones

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Today’s high-speed data connectivity depends on a vast global network of infrastructure across space, air, land, and sea, with undersea cable infrastructure (UCI) serving as the primary means for intercontinental and ‘long-haul’ communications. The UCI landscape is changing and includes an increasing variety of state actors, such as the growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Non-state commercial actors, such as hyper-scale content providers including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon, are also seeking to control their data and networks through significant investments in submarine cables. Active investments by both state and non-state actors will invariably influence the growth, geopolitics, and security of this sector. Beyond these hyper-scale content providers, there are new commercial satellite communication providers. These new players include traditional geosynchronous (GEO) satellites that offer broad coverage, high throughput GEO satellites offering high capacity with spot beam technology, low earth orbit (LEO) ‘mega constellations’ – global broadband services. And potential new entrants such as High Altitude Platforms (HAPS) offer low latency connectivity, LEO constellations offer high-speed optical mesh networks, i.e., ‘fiber in the sky.’ This paper focuses on understanding the role of submarine cables within the larger context of the global data commons, spanning space, terrestrial, air, and sea networks, including an analysis of national security policy and geopolitical implications. As network operators and commercial and government stakeholders plan for emerging technologies and architectures, hedging risks for future connectivity will ensure that our data backbone will be secure for years to come.

Keywords: communications, global, infrastructure, technology

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Authors: Anand Kishore Kola, G. Uday Bhaskar Babu, Kotturi Ajay Kumar

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The modern dynamic systems used in industries are complex in nature and hence the fractional order controllers have been contemplated as a fresh approach to control system design that takes the complexity into account. Traditional integer order controllers use integer derivatives and integrals to control systems, whereas fractional order controllers use fractional derivatives and integrals to regulate memory and non-local behavior. This study provides a method based on the maximumsensitivity (Ms) methodology to discover all resilient fractional filter Internal Model Control - proportional integral derivative (IMC-PID) controllers that stabilize the closed-loop system and deliver the highest performance for a time delay system with a Smith predictor configuration. Additionally, it helps to enhance the range of PID controllers that are used to stabilize the system. This study also evaluates the effectiveness of the suggested controller approach for minimum phase system in comparison to those currently in use which are based on Integral of Absolute Error (IAE) and Total Variation (TV).

Keywords: modern dynamic systems, fractional order controllers, maximum-sensitivity, IMC-PID controllers, Smith predictor, IAE and TV

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Authors: Mehdi Piri Ouchtapeh, Fariba Mehrkhou, Maryam Fourouzan

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The cabbage aphid, Bravicoryne brassicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is known as an economically important and oligophagous pest of different cole crops. The polyvolitine characteristics of B. brassicae resulted in resistance to insecticides. For this purpose, in this study, the sub-lethal concentration (LC25) of two insecticides, clothianidin and summer oil, on the life table parameters and population projection of cabbage aphid were studied at controlled condition (20±1 ℃, R.H. 60 ±5 % and a photoperiod of 16:8 h (L:D). The dipping method was used in bioassay and life table studies. Briefly, the leaves of cabbage containing 15 the same-aged (24h) adults of cabbage aphid (four replicates) were dipped into the related concentrations of insecticides for 10 s. The sub-lethal (LC25) obtained concentration were used 5.822 and 108.741 p.p.m for clothianidin and summer oil, respectively. The biological and life table studies were done using at least 100, 93 and 82 the same age of eggs for control, summer oil and clothianidin treatments respectively. The life history data of the greenhouse whitefly cohorts exposed to sublethal concentration of the aforementioned insecticides were analyzed using the computer program TWOSEX–MSChart based on the age-stage, two-sex life table theory. The results of this study showed that the used insecticides affected the developmental time, survival rate, adult longevity, and fecundity of the F1 generation. The developmental time on control, clothianidin and summer oil treatments was obtained (5.91 ± 0.10 days), (7.64 ± 0.12 days) and (6.66 ± 0.10 days), respectively. The sublethal concentration of clothianidin resulted in decreasing of adult longevity (8.63 ± 0.30 days), fecundity (14.14 ± 87 nymphs), survival rate (71%) and the life expectancy (10.26 days) of B. brassicae, as well. Additionally, usage of LC25 insecticides led to decreasing of the net reproductive rate (R0) of the cabbage aphid compared to summer oil and control treatments. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) (day-1) was decreased in F1 adults of cabbage aphid compared with other treatments. Additionally, the population projection results were accordance with the population growth rate of cabbage aphid. Therefore, the findings of this research showed that, however, both of the insecticides were effective on cabbage aphid population, but clothianidin was more effective and could be consider in the management of aforementioned pest.

Keywords: the cabbage aphid, sublethal effects, survival rate, population projection, life expectancy

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Authors: Yuri Boiko, Iluju Kiringa, Tet Yeap

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We use modeling and simulation tools, to introduce a novel bias injection attack, named the ’Induced Pulsation Attack’, which targets Cyber Physical Systems with closed-loop controlled Brushless DC (BLDC) motor and Kalman filter driver in the feedback loop. This attack involves engaging a linear function with a constant gradient to distort the coefficient of the injected bias, which falsifies the Kalman filter estimates of the rotor’s angular speed. As a result, this manipulation interaction inside the control system causes periodic pulsations in a form of asymmetric sine wave of both current and voltage in the circuit windings, with a high magnitude. It is shown that by varying the gradient of linear function, one can control both the frequency and structure of the induced pulsations. It is also demonstrated that terminating the attack at any point leads to additional compensating effort from the controller to restore the speed to its equilibrium value. This compensation effort produces an exponentially decaying wave, which we call the ’attack withdrawal syndrome’ wave. The conditions for maximizing or minimizing the impact of the attack withdrawal syndrome are determined. Linking the termination of the attack to the end of the full period of the induced pulsation wave has been shown to nullify the attack withdrawal syndrome wave, thereby improving the attack’s covertness.

Keywords: cyber-attack, induced pulsation, bias injection, Kalman filter, BLDC motor, control system, closed loop, P- controller, PID-controller, saw-function, cyber-physical system

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Authors: Richard Madanda, Paul Isaac Musasizi, Sandy Stevens Tickodri-Togboa, Doreen Orishaba, Victor Tumwine

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New vehicle concepts targeting specific geographical markets are designed to satisfy a unique set of road and load requirements. The KIIRA-EV SMACK (KES) hybrid vehicle is designed in Uganda for the East African market. The engine and generator added to the KES electric power train serve both as the range extender and the power assist. In this paper, the design consideration taken to achieve the proper management of the on-board power from the batteries and engine-generator based on the specific drive cycle are presented. To harness the fuel- efficiency benefits of the power train, a specific control philosophy operating the engine and generator at the most efficient speed- torque and speed-power regions is presented. By using a suitable model developed in MATLAB using Simulink and Stateflow, preliminary results show that the steady-state response of the vehicle for a particular hypothetical drive cycle mimicking the expected drive conditions in the city and highway traffic is sufficient.

Keywords: control strategy, drive cycle, hybrid vehicle, simulation

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Authors: Wen-Bin Liau, Wan-Ting Wang, Chiang-Jen Hsiao, Sheng-Mao Tseng

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In this paper, an interesting and easy method to prepare one-dimensional nanostructured polyaniline/dendritic silver composites is reported. It is well known that the morphology of metal particle is a very important factor to influence the properties of polymer-metal composites. Usually, the dendritic silver is prepared by kinetic control in reduction reaction. It is not a thermodynamically stable structure. It is the goal to reduce silver ion to dendritic silver by polyaniline polymer via kinetic control and form one-dimensional nanostructured polyaniline/dendritic silver composites. The preparation is a two steps sequential reaction. First step, the polyaniline networks composed of nano fibrillar polyaniline are synthesized from aniline monomers aqueous with ammonium persulfate as the initiator at room temperature. In second step, the silver nitrate is added into polyaniline networks dispersed in deionized water. The dendritic silver is formed via reduction by polyaniline networks under the kinetic control. The formation of polyaniline is discussed via transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Nanosheets, nanotubes, nanospheres, nanosticks, and networks are observed via TEM. Then, the mechanism of formation of one-dimensional nanostructured polyaniline/dendritic silver composites is discussed. The formation of dendritic silver is observed by TEM and X-ray diffraction.

Keywords: 1D nanostructured polyaniline, dendritic silver, synthesis

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Authors: K. Sunitra, T. Srisuda

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Centella asiatica, asiatic pennywort is a medicinal herb plant used widely which held in herbal health care group. The problem of asiatic pennywort production is the outbreak of Sclerotium rolfsii causing a damp-off disease which caused plant stem turn yellowish, finally they begin to die and result in extremely damaging to growers. Therefore, the studies were caried out to control damping off with Trichoderma sp., Bacillus subtilis and fermented banana as compared to the control to suppress with bi-culture under the laboratory condition. It was found that Trichoderma harzianum showed the highest percentage of inbihition, 69.44%. The pot experiments in greenhouse condition showed that chemical had minimum of damping-off (31.54%) and highest yield (1.20 tons/rai) and following by Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus subtilis treatment. Due to the chemical usage leaving toxic residues on plants and affect the human bodies. Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus subtilis should be considered as alternatives which have percent of damp-off disease and yields as follows: 45.50 and 43.75%, and 1.12 and 1.09 tons/rai, respectively. These two products are known that they have no health risk for growers and consumers in the future.

Keywords: Centella asiatica, Sclerotium rolfsii, Trichoderma harzianum, Bacillus subtilis

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Authors: M. Bolacali

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The aim of the study is to determine the effect of immunocastration vaccine administration at different doses on fattening performance of feedlot Holstein bulls. Bopriva® is a vaccine that stimulates the animals' own immune system to produce specific antibodies against gonadotropin releasing factor (GnRF). Ninety four Holstein male calves (309.5 ± 2.58 kg body live weight and 267 d-old) assigned to the 4 treatments. Control group; 1 mL of 0.9% saline solution was subcutaneously injected to intact bulls on 1st and 60th days of the feedlot as placebo. On the same days of the feedlot, Bopriva® at two doses of 1 mL and 1 mL for Trial-1 group, 1.5 mL, and 1.5 mL for Trial-2 group, 1.5 mL, and 1 mL for Trial-3 group were subcutaneously injected to bulls. The study was conducted in a private establishment in the Sirvan district of Siirt province and lasted 180 days. The animals were weighed at the beginning of fattening and at 30-day intervals to determine their live weights at various periods. The statistical analysis for normal distribution data of the treatment groups was carried out with the general linear model procedure of SPSS software. The fattening initial live weight in Control, Trial-1, Trial-2 and Trial-3 groups was respectively 309.21, 306.62, 312.11, and 315.39 kg. The fattening final live weight was respectively 560.88, 536.67, 548.56, and 548.25 kg. The daily live weight gain during the trial was respectively 1.40, 1.28, 1.31, and 1.29 kg/day. The cold carcass yield was respectively 51.59%, 50.32%, 50.85%, and 50.77%. Immunocastration vaccine administration at different doses did not affect the live weights and cold carcass yields of Holstein male calves reared under intensive conditions (P > 0.05). However, it was determined to reduce fattening performance between 61-120 days (P < 0.05) and 1-180 days (P < 0.01). In addition, it was determined that the best performance among the vaccine-treated groups occurred in the group administered a 1.5 mL of vaccine on the 1st and 60th study days. In animals, castration is used to control fertility, aggressive and sexual behaviors. As a result, the fact that stress is induced by physical castration in animals and active immunization against GnRF maintains performance by maximizing welfare in bulls improves carcass and meat quality and controls unwanted sexual and aggressive behavior. Considering such features, it may be suggested that immunocastration vaccine with Bopriva® can be administered as a 1.5 mL dose on the 1st and 60th days of the fattening period in Holstein bulls.

Keywords: anti-GnRF, fattening, growth, immunocastration

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Muhammad Shafi’U Adamu

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This study examined the effects of two groups of Cognitive Behavioral Therapies (CBT) which, includes Cognitive Restructuring (CB) and Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), on the Psychological Distress of awaiting-trial Inmates in Correctional Centers in North-West Nigeria. The study had four specific objectives, four research questions, and four null hypotheses. The study used a quasi-experimental design that involved pre-test and post-test. The population comprised of all 7,962 awaiting-trial inmates in correctional centers in North-west Nigeria. 131 awaiting trial inmates from three intact Correctional Centers were randomly selected using the census technique. The respondents were sampled and randomly put into 3 groups (CR, REBT and Control). Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was adapted for data collection in the study. The instrument was validated by experts and subjected to a pilot study using Cronbach's Alpha with a reliability coefficient of 0.772. Each group received treatment for 8 consecutive weeks (60 minutes/week). Data collected from the field were subjected to descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation and mean difference to answer the research questions. Inferential statistics of ANOVA and independent sample t-test were used to test the null hypotheses at P≤ 0.05 level of significance. Results in the study revealed that there was no significant difference among the pre-treatment mean scores of experimental and control groups. Statistical evidence also showed a significant difference among the mean scores of the three groups, and thus, results of the Post Hoc multiple-comparison test indicated the posttreatment reduction of psychological distress in the awaiting-trial inmates. Documented output also showed a significant difference between the post-treatment psychologically distressed mean scores of male and female awaiting-trial inmates, but there was no difference in those exposed to REBT. The research recommends that a standardized structured CBT counseling technique treatment should be designed for correctional centers across Nigeria, and CBT counseling techniques could be used in the treatment of PD in both correctional and clinical settings.

Keywords: awaiting-trial inmates, cognitive restructuring, correctional centers, rational emotive behavioral therapy

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Authors: M. Kamal, Y. Wang, R. Kennon

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Quality Function Deployment is a useful tool in product development with the application of voice of customer. In this paper, it aims to be applied as a product development tool in redesigning fashion and textile product. The purpose of these studies is to apply the effective use of Voice of Customer in redesigning cultural fashion product. The data collection from Voice of Customer or consumers’ feedback might help the producer to improve the quality of merchandise ahead. Voice of Customer could give a specific detailing for quality which needs to be redesigned according to customers’ requirements. Meanwhile, the next objective is to differentiate design specifications and characteristics using House of Quality. In product designing phase, it is very important to distinguish each specification and characteristic which translated from Voice of Customer to House of Quality matrix. This matrix would help designers to development according to qualities that customer wants for the better and successful product in the market. It is hope this research would indicate the customers’ requirements and production team idea might be measured and translated to a systematic data. The specific technical data could be planned ahead with specific design details as well. This could be a sustainable approach for a traditional product which could control the material that they use and sustain the quality as the past production. As a conclusion, this study would benefit the Small Medium Enterprises design team or the designers to style an item from customers view with organised projection of the product. The finding also could assist designers or batik producers’ to recognise specific details Batik sarong from consumers as well as in in advertising and marketing strategy plan.

Keywords: house of quality, Malaysia batik sarong, quality function deployment, voice of customer

Procedia PDF Downloads 587

Authors: Abhinav Kumar Rajverma, Arun Kumar Misra, Abhijeet Chandra

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Family involvement in business is universal across countries, with varying characteristics. Firms of developed economies have diffused ownership structure; however, that of emerging markets have concentrated ownership structure, having resemblance with that of family firms. Optimization of dividend payout and leverage are very crucial for firm’s valuation. This paper studies dividend paying behavior of National Stock Exchange listed Indian firms from financial year 2007 to 2016. The final sample consists of 422 firms and of these more than 49% (207) are family firms. Results reveal that family firms pay lower dividend and are more leveraged compared to non-family firms. This unique data set helps to understand dividend behavior and capital structure of sample firms over a long-time period and across varying family ownership concentration. Using panel regression models, this paper examines factors affecting dividend payout and capital structure and establishes a link between the two using Two-stage Least Squares regression model. Profitability shows a positive impact on dividend and negative impact on leverage, confirming signaling and pecking order theory. Further, findings support bankruptcy theory as firm size has a positive relation with dividend and leverage and volatility shows a negative relation with both dividend and leverage. Findings are also consistent with agency theory, family ownership concentration has negative relation with both dividend payments and leverage. Further, the impact of family ownership control confirms the similar finding. The study further reveals that firms with high family ownership concentration (family control) do have an impact on determining the level of private benefits. Institutional ownership is not significant for dividend payments. However, it shows significant negative relation with leverage for both family and non-family firms. Dividend payout and leverage show mixed association with each other. This paper provides evidence of how varying level of family ownership concentration and ownership control influences the dividend policy and capital structure of firms in an emerging market like India and it can have significant contribution towards understanding and formulating corporate dividend policy decisions and capital structure for emerging economies, where majority of firms exhibit behavior of family firm.

Keywords: dividend, family firms, leverage, ownership structure

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Authors: Nicole Selvi Hill, Archchana Radhakrishnan

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Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of mortality among trauma patients. In the management of TBI, the main principle is avoiding cerebral ischemia, as this is a strong determiner of neurological outcomes. The use of vasoactive drugs, such as vasopressin, has an important role in maintaining cerebral perfusion pressure to prevent secondary brain injury. Current guidelines do not suggest a preferred vasoactive drug to administer in the management of TBI, and there is a paucity of information on the therapeutic potential of vasopressin following TBI. Vasopressin is also an endogenous anti-diuretic hormone (AVP), and pathways mediated by AVP play a large role in the underlying pathological processes of TBI. This creates an overlap of discussion regarding the therapeutic potential of vasopressin following TBI. Currently, its popularity lies in vasodilatory and cardiogenic shock in the intensive care setting, with increasing support for its use in haemorrhagic and septic shock. Methodology: This is a review article based on a literature review. An electronic search was conducted via PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Google Scholar. The aim was to identify clinical studies looking at the therapeutic administration of vasopressin in severe traumatic brain injury. The primary aim was to look at the neurological outcome of patients. The secondary aim was to look at surrogate markers of cerebral perfusion measurements, such as cerebral perfusion pressure, cerebral oxygenation, and cerebral blood flow. Results: Eight papers were included in the final number. Three were animal studies; five were human studies, comprised of three case reports, one retrospective review of data, and one randomised control trial. All animal studies demonstrated the benefits of vasopressors in TBI management. One animal study showed the superiority of vasopressin in reducing intracranial pressure and increasing cerebral oxygenation over a catecholaminergic vasopressor, phenylephrine. All three human case reports were supportive of vasopressin as a rescue therapy in catecholaminergic-resistant hypotension. The retrospective review found vasopressin did not increase cerebral oedema in TBI patients compared to catecholaminergic vasopressors; and demonstrated a significant reduction in the requirements of hyperosmolar therapy in patients that received vasopressin. The randomised control trial results showed no significant differences in primary and secondary outcomes between TBI patients receiving vasopressin versus those receiving catecholaminergic vasopressors. Apart from the randomised control trial, the studies included are of low-level evidence. Conclusion: Studies favour vasopressin within certain parameters of cerebral function compared to control groups. However, the neurological outcomes of patient groups are not known, and animal study results are difficult to extrapolate to humans. It cannot be said with certainty whether vasopressin’s benefits stand above usage of other vasoactive drugs due to the weaknesses of the evidence. Further randomised control trials, which are larger, standardised, and rigorous, are required to improve knowledge in this field.

Keywords: catecholamines, cerebral perfusion pressure, traumatic brain injury, vasopressin, vasopressors

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Authors: Kisik Song, Kyuwoong Kim, Sungjoo Lee

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Many global firms and corporations derive new technology and opportunity by identifying vacant technology from patent analysis. However, previous studies failed to focus on technologies that promised continuous growth in industrial fields. Most studies that derive new technology opportunities do not test practical effectiveness. Since previous studies depended on expert judgment, it became costly and time-consuming to evaluate new technologies based on patent analysis. Therefore, research suggests a quantitative and systematic approach to technology evaluation indicators by using patent data to and from customer communities. The first step involves collecting two types of data. The data is used to construct evaluation indicators and apply these indicators to the evaluation of new technologies. This type of data mining allows a new method of technology evaluation and better predictor of how new technologies are adopted.

Keywords: data mining, evaluating new technology, technology opportunity, patent analysis

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Authors: M. Kamel, A. Hoayek, M. Batton-Hubert

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With the increase of network virtualization and the disparity of vendors, the continuous monitoring and detection of anomalies cannot rely on static rules. An advanced analytical methodology is needed to discriminate between ordinary events and unusual anomalies. In this paper, we focus on log data (textual data), which is a crucial source of information for network performance. Then, we introduce an algorithm used as a pipeline to help with the pretreatment of such data, group it into patterns, and dynamically label each pattern as an anomaly or not. Such tools will provide users and experts with continuous real-time logs monitoring capability to detect anomalies and failures in the underlying system that can affect performance. An application of real-world data illustrates the algorithm.

Keywords: logs, anomaly detection, ML, scoring, NLP

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Authors: Baljinder Singh, Navneet Sharma

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Chromium is an essential nutrient involved in normal carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. It influences glucose metabolism by potentiating the action as taking part in insulin signal amplification mechanism. A placebo-controlled single blind, prospective study was carried out to investigate the effect of chromium supplementation on blood glucose, HbA1C and lipid profile in newly onset patients with type-2 diabetes. Total 40 newly onset type-2 diabetics were selected and after one month stabilization further randomly divided into two groups viz. study group and placebo group. The study group received 9 gm brewer’s yeast (42 μ Cr) daily and the other placebo group received yeast devoid of chromium for 3 months. Subjects were instructed not to change their normal eating and living habits. Fasting blood glucose, HbA1C and lipid profile were analyzed at beginning and completion of the study. Results revealed that fasting blood glucose level significantly reduced in the subjects consuming yeast supplemented with chromium (197.65±6.68 to 103.68±6.64 mg/dl; p<0.001). HbA1C values improved significantly from 9.51±0.26% to 6.86±0.28%; p<0.001 indicating better glycaemic control. In experimental group total cholesterol, TG and LDL levels were also significantly reduced from 199.66±3.11 to 189.26±3.01 mg/dl; p<0.02, 144.94±8.31 to 126.01±8.26; p<0.05 and 119.19±1.71 to 99.58±1.10; p<0.001 respectively. These data demonstrate beneficial effect of chromium supplementation on glycaemic control and lipid variables in subjects with newly onset type-2 diabetes.

Keywords: type-2 diabetes, chromium, glucose, HbA1C

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Authors: Jamie Wong, Daisy Sang, Chang-Shyh Peng

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Geofence is a virtual fence defined by a preset physical radius around a target location. Geofencing App provides location-based services which define the actionable operations upon the crossing of a geofence. Geofencing requires continual location tracking, which can consume noticeable amount of battery power. Additionally, location updates need to be frequent and accurate or order so that actions can be triggered within an expected time window after the mobile user navigate through the geofence. In this paper, we build an Android mobile geofencing Application to remotely and autonomously control a power switch.

Keywords: location based service, geofence, autonomous, remote switch

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Authors: Layal Karam, Rayan Roustom, Mohamad G. Abiad, Tahra El-Obeid, Ioannis N. Savvaidis

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The demand for marinated chicken worldwide, is continuously growing. To date, limited data on addition of active components of Essential Oils (EOs) to marinades for chicken preservation are available. The antimicrobial effect of carvacrol and thymol, added at 0.4 and 0.8% v/w to marinated fresh chicken, stored in air and under vacuum packaging (VP), for 21 days at 4°C, was examined. The samples were monitored for microbiological (total viable count (TVC), lactic acid bacteria (LAB), Brochothrix thermosphacta, Pseudomonas spp., total coliforms, Escherichia coli, yeasts and molds) and sensory attributes (odor characteristics). Our data supports that among the tested microorganisms, Pseudomonas spp., LAB and B. thermosphacta were the most dominant microbiota in the marinated chicken samples. Additionally, the use of active EOs components, especially the higher concentration (0.8% v/w) in combination with VP, retarded the growth of spoilage microbiota and resulted in a significant reduction of about 2.9-3.1 log cfu/g and a microbiological shelf-life extension of marinated chicken by > 6 days, as judged by TVC data. Interestingly, the combination of active components of EOs at the lower concentration (0.4% v/w) and packaging (air or vacuum) resulted in a significant sensorial shelf-life extension of 15 and >21 days, as compared to the controls’ shelf-life of 9 days. The results of our study demonstrated the potential of the active components, carvacrol and thymol, as natural effective antimicrobial hurdles to control the growth of spoilage microorganisms in marinated chicken meat.

Keywords: chicken, essential oils compounds, marination, meat spoilage, preservation

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Authors: Xingxin Wu, Fenli Shao, Tao Tan, Yang Tan, Yang Sun, Qiang Xu

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Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects about 2% of the world's population. IL-23 signaling plays a key role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Control of IL-23 release by small molecule compounds during developing psoriasis has not been well established. Here, we show that compound 1, a small molecule nature product, protected mice from imiquimod-induced psoriasis with improved skin lesions, reduced skin thickness, and reduced IL-23 mRNA expression in the skin tissue. FACS results showed compound 1 reduced the number of dendritic cells in the skin. Interestingly, compound 1 was not able to ameliorate IL-23-induced psoriasis-like skin inflammation in mice. Further, compound 1 inhibited MyD88-dependent IL-23 mRNA expression induced by LPS, CpG and imiquimod in BMDC cells, but not MyD88-independent CD80 and CD86 expression induced by LPS. The methods included real-time PCR, western blot, H & E staining, FACS and ELISA et al. In conclusion, compound 1 regulates MyD88-dependent signaling to control IL-23 release in dendritic cells, which improves imiquimod-induced psoriasis.

Keywords: dendritic cells, IL-23, toll-like receptor signaling, psoriasis

Procedia PDF Downloads 642

Authors: Angela Cristina Da F. De Oliveira, Salma E. Asmar, Norbert P. Battlori, Yaz Vera, Uriel R. Valencia, Tâmara D. Borges, Antoni D. Bueno, Leandro B. Costa

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The present study aimed to evaluate the replacement of 5% of starch per 5% of sunflower oil (SO) on meat quality and animal welfare of growing and finishing pigs (Iberic x Duroc), exposed to a heat stress environment. The experiment lasted 90 days, and it was carried out in a randomized block design, in a 2 x 2 factorial, composed of two diets (starch or sunflower oil (with or without) and two feed intake management (ad libitum and restriction). Seventy-two crossbred males (51± 6,29 kg body weight - BW) were housed in climate-controlled rooms, in collective pens and exposed to heat stress environment (32°C; 35% to 50% humidity). The treatments studies were: 1) control diet (5% starch x 0% SO) with ad libitum intake (n = 18); 2) SO diet (replacement of 5% of starch per 5% of SO) with ad libitum intake (n = 18); 3) control diet with restriction feed intake (n = 18); or 4) SO diet with restriction feed intake (n = 18). Feed were provided in two phases, 50-100 Kg BW for growing and 100-140 Kg BW for finishing, respectively. Within welfare evaluations, dirtiness score was evaluated all morning during ninety days of the experiment. The presence of manure was individually measured based on one side of the pig´s body and scored according to: 0 (less than 20% of the body surface); 1 (more than 20% but less than 50% of the body surface); 2 (over 50% of the body surface). After the experimental period, when animals reach 130-140 kg BW, they were slaughtered using carbon dioxide (CO2) stunning. Carcass weight, leanness and fat content, measured at the last rib, were recorded within 20 min post-mortem (PM). At 24h PM, pH, electrical conductivity and color measures (L, a*, b*) were recorded in the Longissimus thoracis and Semimembranosus muscles. Data shown no interaction between diet (control x SO) and management feed intake (ad libitum x restriction) on the meat quality parameters. Animals in ad libitum management presented an increase (p < 0.05) on BW, carcass weight (CW), back fat thickness (BT), and intramuscular fat content (IM) when compared with animals in restriction management. In contrast, animals in restriction management showing a higher (p < 0.05) carcass yield, percentage of lean and loin thickness. To welfare evaluations, the interaction between diet and management feed intake did not influence the degree of dirtiness. Although, the animals that received SO diet, independently of the management, were cleaner than animals in control group (p < 0,05), which, for pigs, demonstrate an important strategy to reduce body temperature. Based in our results, the diet and management feed intake had a significant influence on meat quality and animal welfare being considered efficient nutritional strategies to reduce heat stress and improved meat quality.

Keywords: dirtiness, environment, meat, pig

Procedia PDF Downloads 258

Authors: Anuj Pathare, Aleksandra Birn-Jeffery

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Background: The Anterior Cruciate Ligament(ACL) helps stabilize the knee joint minimizing tibial anterior translation. Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury is common in racquet sports and often occurs due to sudden acceleration, deceleration or changes of direction. This mechanism in badminton most commonly occurs during landing after an overhead stroke. Knee biomechanics during dynamic movements such as walking, running and stair negotiation, do not return to normal for more than a year after an ACL reconstruction. This change in the biomechanics may lead to re-injury whilst performing non-steady movements during sports, where these injuries are most prevalent. Aims: To compare if the knee kinetics and kinematics in ACL injury recovered athletes return to the same level as those from an uninjured cohort during standard movements used for clinical assessment and badminton shots. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine: Knee valgus during the single leg squat, vertical drop jump, net shot and drop shot; Degree of internal or external rotation during the single leg squat, vertical drop jump, net shot and drop shot; Maximum knee flexion during the single leg squat, vertical drop jump and net shot. Methods: This case-control study included 14 participants with three ACL injury recovered athletes and 11 uninjured participants. The participants performed various functional tasks including vertical drop jump, single leg squat; the forehand net shot and the forehand drop shot. The data was analysed using the two-way ANOVA test, and the reliability of the data was evaluated using the Intra Class Coefficient. Results: The data showed a significant decrease in the range of knee rotation in ACL injured participants as compared to the uninjured cohort (F₇,₅₅₆=2.37; p=0.021). There was also a decrease in the maximum knee flexion angles and an increase in knee valgus angles in ACL injured participants although they were not statistically significant. Conclusion: There was a significant decrease in the knee rotation angles in the ACL injured participants which could be a potential cause for re-injury in these athletes in the future. Although the results for decrease in maximum knee flexion angles and increase in knee valgus angles were not significant, this may be due to a limited sample of ACL injured participants; there is potential for it to be identified as a variable of interest in the rehabilitation of ACL injuries. These changes in the knee biomechanics could be vital in the rehabilitation of ACL injured athletes in the future, and an inclusion of sports based tasks, e.g., Net shot along with standard protocol movements for ACL assessment would provide a better measure of the rehabilitation of the athlete.

Keywords: ACL, biomechanics, knee injury, racquet sport

Procedia PDF Downloads 170

Authors: V. B. Bastos, M. P. Lima, P. R. G. Kurka

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This paper applies to the creation of virtual 3D environments for the study and development of mobile robot image based navigation algorithms and techniques, which need to operate robustly and efficiently. The test of these algorithms can be performed in a physical way, from conducting experiments on a prototype, or by numerical simulations. Current simulation platforms for robotic applications do not have flexible and updated models for image rendering, being unable to reproduce complex light effects and materials. Thus, it is necessary to create a test platform that integrates sophisticated simulated applications of real environments for navigation, with data and image processing. This work proposes the development of a high-level platform for building 3D model’s environments and the test of image-based navigation algorithms for mobile robots. Techniques were used for applying texture and lighting effects in order to accurately represent the generation of rendered images regarding the real world version. The application will integrate image processing scripts, trajectory control, dynamic modeling and simulation techniques for physics representation and picture rendering with the open source 3D creation suite - Blender.

Keywords: simulation, visual navigation, mobile robot, data visualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: Memory Ranga, Phillip Pretorious

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The South African Government has invested a lot of money in Information Technology Governance (ITG) within the Government departments. The ITG framework was spearheaded by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). This led to the development of a governing ITG DPSA framework and later the Government Wide Enterprise Architecture (GWEA) Framework for assisting the departments to implement ITG. In addition to this, the government departments have adopted the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) for ITG processes. Despite all these available frameworks, departments fail to fully capitalise and improve the ITG processes mainly as these are too generic and difficult to apply for specific governance needs. There has been less research done to evaluate the progress on ITG initiatives within the government departments. This paper aims to evaluate the existing ITG frameworks within selected government departments in South Africa. A quantitative research approach was used in this study. Data was collected through an online questionnaire targeting ICT Managers and Directors from government departments. The study is undertaken within a case study and only the Eastern Cape Province was selected for the research. Document review mainly on ITG framework and best practices was also used. Data was analysed using the Google Analytic tools and SPSS. A one–sample Chi-Squared Test was used to verity the evaluation findings. Findings show that there is evidence that the current guiding National governance framework (DPSA) is out dated and does not accommodate the new changes in other governance frameworks. The Eastern Cape Government Departments have spent huge amount of money on ITG but not yet able to identify the benefits of the ITG initiatives. The guiding framework is rigid and does to address some of the departmental needs making it difficult to be flexible and apply the DPSA framework. Furthermore, despite the large budget on ITG, the departments still find themselves with many challenges and unable to improve some of the processes and services. All the engaged Eastern Cape departments have adopted the COBIT framework, but none has been conducting COBIT maturity Assessment which is a functionality of COBIT. There is evidence of too many the ITG frameworks and underutilisation of these frameworks. The study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the ITG frameworks that have been adopted by the South African Government Departments in the Eastern Cape Province. The evaluation guides and recommends the government departments to rethink and adopt ITG frameworks that could be customised to accommodate their needs. The adoption and application of ITG by government departments should assist in better governance and service delivery to the citizens.

Keywords: information technology governance, COBIT, evaluate, framework, governance, DPSA framework

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Sinem Yıldırım, Çimen Özburak, Özge Özden

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Cities are facing a growing environmental issue as a result of the combined effect of urbanization and climate change. Climate change is the most conspicuousimpact on environmental issues. Nowadays, energy conservation is a very important subject for planners. It is known that green roofs can provide environmental benefits, which include building insulation and mitigating urban heat island effect within the cities. Some of the studies shown that green roofs regulate roof temperature and they have an effect on indoor temperatures of buildings. This research looks at the experimental investigation of different type green roof vegetation with control of no vegetation and their effect on indoor temperatures. The research has been carried out at Near East University Campus with the duration of four months in Nicosia, Cyprus. The experiment was consisting of four green roof types; three of them covered with vegetation, and one of them was not vegetated for control of the experiment. Each hut had 2.7 m2 roof areas, and the soil depth was 8 cm. Mediterranean climate drought resistant ground covers and shrubs were planted on the roof of the three huts. Three different vegetation type was used: 1-Low growing ground cover succulents 2-Mixture of low growing succulents and low shrubs 3-Mixture of low growing succulents, low shrubs, and high growing foliage plantsElitech RC-5 temperature data loggers were used in order to measure indoor temperatures of the huts. Research results were shown that the hut with a highly vegetated roof had the lowest temperatures during hot summer period in Cyprus.

Keywords: green roofs, indoor temperature, vegetation, mediterranean, cyprus

Procedia PDF Downloads 201

Authors: A. S. Gorobtsov, A. S. Polyanina, A. E. Andreev

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The movement of points feet of the anthropomorphous robot in space occurs along some stable trajectory of a known form. A large number of modifications to the methods of control of biped robots indicate the fundamental complexity of the problem of stability of the program trajectory and, consequently, the stability of the control for the deviation for this trajectory. Existing gait generators use piecewise interpolation of program trajectories. This leads to jumps in the acceleration at the boundaries of sites. Another interpolation can be realized using differential equations with fractional derivatives. In work, the approach to synthesis of generators of program trajectories is considered. The resulting system of nonlinear differential equations describes a smooth trajectory of movement having rectilinear sites. The method is based on the theory of an asymptotic stability of invariant sets. The stability of such systems in the area of localization of oscillatory processes is investigated. The boundary of the area is a bounded closed surface. In the corresponding subspaces of the oscillatory circuits, the resulting stable limit cycles are curves having rectilinear sites. The solution of the problem is carried out by means of synthesis of a set of the continuous smooth controls with feedback. The necessary geometry of closed trajectories of movement is obtained due to the introduction of high-order nonlinearities in the control of stabilization systems. The offered method was used for the generation of trajectories of movement of point’s feet of the anthropomorphous robot. The synthesis of the robot's program movement was carried out by means of the inverse method.

Keywords: control, limits cycle, robot, stability

Procedia PDF Downloads 327

Authors: Haifa Ben Saber, Mourad Elloumi

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In a number of domains, like in DNA microarray data analysis, we need to cluster simultaneously rows (genes) and columns (conditions) of a data matrix to identify groups of constant rows with a group of columns. This kind of clustering is called biclustering. Biclustering algorithms are extensively used in DNA microarray data analysis. More effective biclustering algorithms are highly desirable and needed. We introduce a new algorithm called, Enumerative tree (EnumTree) for biclustering of binary microarray data. is an algorithm adopting the approach of enumerating biclusters. This algorithm extracts all biclusters consistent good quality. The main idea of ​​EnumLat is the construction of a new tree structure to represent adequately different biclusters discovered during the process of enumeration. This algorithm adopts the strategy of all biclusters at a time. The performance of the proposed algorithm is assessed using both synthetic and real DNA micryarray data, our algorithm outperforms other biclustering algorithms for binary microarray data. Biclusters with different numbers of rows. Moreover, we test the biological significance using a gene annotation web tool to show that our proposed method is able to produce biologically relevent biclusters.

Keywords: DNA microarray, biclustering, gene expression data, tree, datamining.

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: Lynn Ruggieri

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The worldwide pandemic has only increased sustainability awareness. The public is demanding that businesses be held accountable for their impact on the environment. While financial data enjoys uniformity in reporting requirements, there are no uniform reporting requirements for non-financial data. Europe is leading the way with some standards being implemented for reporting non-financial sustainability data; however, there is no uniformity globally. And without uniformity, there is not a clear understanding of what information to include and how to disclose it. Sustainability reporting will provide important information to stakeholders and will enable businesses to understand their impact on the environment. Therefore, there is a crucial need for this data. This paper looks at the history of sustainability reporting in the countries of the European Union and throughout the world and makes a case for worldwide reporting requirements for sustainability.

Keywords: financial reporting, non-financial data, sustainability, global financial reporting

Procedia PDF Downloads 174