Search results for: tracking systems

Authors: Calvin Chiu, Samar Saade Needham

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The factors associated with the development of major depressive disorder (MDD) have been an ongoing area of concern within the field of psychopathology. Among parents, the rise in stress factors for individuals receiving less social support contributes to an increase in MDD cases. Understanding the causal aspects of MDD through the interworking of stress development within social support disparities provides critical insights into preventive measures for depressive symptoms. The present study seeks to assess the impact of social support on stress formation within MDD. Such that single parents lacking social support prompt an increase in stress formation, which proliferates the progression of MDD. Participants in this study were 450 ethnic minority mothers and fathers experiencing health inequities during pregnancy and early childhood. Perceived stress, social support, and depression are assessed by multi-item questionnaires that produce score ranges for general findings. Results indicated that lower social support scores resulted in higher depression scores, and higher perceived stress scores produced higher depression scores. Furthermore, single parents reported higher depression scores. These findings overlap with studies on paternal depression and suggest that MDD is a product of stress accumulation due to declining social support systems. Future studies may specify effective social support systems for decreasing stress accumulation in MDD formation in preventive strategies.

Keywords: major depressive disorder, stress formation, cognitive-behavioral outcomes, deficit-based behaviors

Procedia PDF Downloads 43

Authors: Chaoqun Tan, Naiyun Gao, Xiaoyan Xin

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Perxymonosulfate (PMS)-based oxidation processes, as an alternative of hydrogen peroxide-based oxidation processes, are more and more popular because of reactive radical species (SO4-•, OH•) produced in systems. Magnetic nano-scaled particles Fe3O4 and ferrous anion (Fe2+) were studied for the activation of PMS for degradation of acetaminophen (APAP) in water. The Fe3O4 MNPs were found to effectively catalyze PMS for APAP and the reactions well followed a pseudo-first-order kinetics pattern (R2>0.95). While the degradation of APAP in PMS-Fe2+ system proceeds through two stages: a fast stage and a much slower stage. Within 5 min, approximately 7% and 18% of 10 ppm APAP was accomplished by 0.2 mM PMS in Fe3O4 (0.8g/L) and Fe2+ (0.1mM) activation process. However, as reaction proceed to 120 min, approximately 75% and 35% of APAP was removed in Fe3O4 activation process and Fe2+ activation process, respectively. Within 120 min, the mineralization of APAP was about 7.5% and 5.0% (initial APAP of 10 ppm and [PMS]0 of 0.2 mM) in Fe3O4-PMS and Fe2+-PMS system, while the mineralization could be greatly increased to about 31% and 40% as [PMS]0 increased to 2.0 mM in in Fe3O4-PMS and Fe2+-PMS system, respectively. At last, the production of reactive radical species were validated directly from Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (ESR) tests with 0.1 M 5,5-Dimethyl-1-pyrrolidine N-oxide (DMPO). Plausible mechanisms on the radical generation from Fe3O4 and Fe2+ activation of PMS are proposed on the results of radial identification tests. The results demonstrated that Fe3O4 MNPs activated PMS and Fe2+ anion activated PMS systems are promising technologies for water pollution caused by contaminants such as pharmaceutical. Fe3O4-PMS system is more suitable for slowly remediation, while Fe2+-PMS system is more suitable for fast remediation.

Keywords: acetaminophen, peroxymonosulfate, radicals, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (ESR)

Procedia PDF Downloads 350

Authors: Hee Yong Kang, Hyeon Ho Shin, Jung Cheol Yoo, Il Taek Lee, Sung Mo Yang

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Lightweight technology using composites is being developed for vehicle seat structures, and its design must meet the safety requirements. According to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 207 seating systems test procedure, the back moment load is applied to the seat back frame structure for the safety evaluation of the vehicle seat. The seat back frame using the composites is divided into three parts: upper part frame, and left- and right-side frame parts following the manufacturing process. When a rear moment load is applied to the seat back frame, the side frame receives the bending load and the torsional load at the same time. This results in the largest loaded strength. Therefore, strength test of the component unit is required. In this study, a component test method based on the FMVSS 207 seating systems test procedure was proposed for the strength analysis of bending load and torsional load of the automotive Bulk Molding Compound (BMC) Seat Back Side Frame. Moreover, strength evaluation according to the carbon band reinforcement was performed. The back-side frame parts of the seat that are applied to the test were manufactured through BMC that is composed of vinyl ester Matrix and short carbon fiber. Then, two kinds of reinforced and non-reinforced parts of carbon band were formed through a high-temperature compression molding process. In addition, the structure that is applied to the component test was constructed by referring to the FMVSS 207. Then, the bending load and the torsional load were applied through the displacement control to perform the strength test for four load conditions. The results of each test are shown through the load-displacement curves of the specimen. The failure strength of the parts caused by the reinforcement of the carbon band was analyzed. Additionally, the fracture characteristics of the parts for four strength tests were evaluated, and the weakness structure of the back-side frame of the seat structure was confirmed according to the test conditions. Through the bending and torsional strength test methods, we confirmed the strength and fracture characteristics of BMC Seat Back Side Frame according to the carbon band reinforcement. And we proposed a method of testing the part strength of a seat back frame for vehicles that can meet the FMVSS 207.

Keywords: seat back frame, bending and torsional strength, BMC (Bulk Molding Compound), FMVSS 207 seating systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 210

Authors: J. Iwaro, A. Mwasha, K. Ramsubhag

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Global warming has become a threat of our time. It poses challenges to the existence of beings on earth, the built environment, natural environment and has made a clear impact on the level of energy and water consumption. As such, increase in the ambient temperature increases indoor and outdoor temperature level of the buildings which brings about the use of more energy and mechanical air conditioning systems. In addition, in view of the increased modernization and economic growth in the developing countries, a significant amount of energy is being used, especially those with hot climatic conditions. Since modernization in developing countries is rising rapidly, more pressure is being placed on the buildings and energy resources to satisfy the indoor comfort requirements. This paper presents a sustainable passive roof solution as a means of reducing energy cooling loads for satisfying human comfort requirements in a hot climate. As such, the study based on the field study data discusses indoor thermal roof design strategies for a hot climate by investigating the impacts of roof thermal performance on indoor thermal comfort in naturally ventilated building envelope small scaled structures. In this respect, the traditional concrete flat roof, corrugated galvanised iron roof and pre-painted standing seam roof were used. The experiment made used of three identical small scale physical models constructed and sited on the roof of a building at the University of the West Indies. The results show that the utilization of insulation in traditional roofing systems will significantly reduce heat transfer between the internal and ambient environment, thus reducing the energy demand of the structure and the relative carbon footprint of a structure per unit area over its lifetime. Also, the application of flat slab concrete roofing system showed the best performance as opposed to the metal roof sheeting alternative systems. In addition, it has been shown experimentally through this study that a sustainable passive roof solution such as insulated flat concrete roof in hot dry climate has a better cooling strength that can provide building occupant with a better thermal comfort, conducive indoor conditions and energy efficiency.

Keywords: building envelope, roof, energy consumption, thermal comfort

Procedia PDF Downloads 271

Authors: Matthew Kostawich, Mohammed Elmorsy, Mohamed Sayed Sifat, Shoukry Shams, Mahmoud Elsaadany

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6G communication systems represent the nominal future extension of current wireless technology, where its impact is extended to touch upon all human activities, including medical, security, and entertainment applications. As a result, human needs are allocated among the highest priority aspects of the system design and requirements. 6G communications is expected to replace all the current video conferencing with interactive virtual reality meetings involving high data-rate transmission merged with massive distributed computing resources. In addition, the current expansion of IoT applications must be mitigated with significant network changes to provide a reasonable Quality of Service (QoS). This directly implies a high demand for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) through mobile computing modules in future wireless communication systems. This article proposes the utilization of a Printed Ridge Gap Waveguide (PRGW) to host the wearable nodes. To the best of our knowledge, we propose for the first time a physical layer analysis within the context of a complete architecture. A thorough study is provided on the impact of the distortion of the guiding structure on the overall system performance. The proposed structure shows small latency and small losses, highlighting its compatibility with future applications.

Keywords: ridge gap waveguide, edge computing module, 6G, multimedia IoT applications

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: Vito M. Manghisi, Michele Gattullo, Alessandro Evangelista, Enricoandrea Laviola

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In this work, we compared two solutions for displaying a demo version of an Augmented Reality (AR) manual when the real product is not available, opting to replace it with its computer-aided design (CAD) model. AR has been proved to be effective in maintenance and assembly operations by many studies in the literature. However, most of them present solutions for existing products, usually converting old, printed manuals into AR manuals. In this case, authoring consists of defining how to convey existing instructions through AR. It is not a simple choice, and demo versions are created to test the design goodness. However, this becomes impossible when the product is not physically available, as for new products. A solution could be creating an entirely virtual environment with the product and the instructions. However, in this way, user interaction is completely different from that in the real application, then it would be hard testing the usability of the AR manual. This work aims to propose and compare two different solutions for the displaying of a demo version of an AR manual to support authoring in case of a product that is not physically available. We used as a case study that of an innovative semi-hermetic compressor that has not yet been produced. The applications were developed for a handheld device, using Unity 3D. The main issue was how to show the compressor and attach instructions on it. In one approach, we used Vuforia natural feature tracking to attach a CAD model of the compressor to a 2D image that is a drawing in scale 1:1 of the top-view of the CAD model. In this way, during the AR manual demonstration, the 3D model of the compressor is displayed on the user's device in place of the real compressor, and all the virtual instructions are attached to it. In the other approach, we first created a support application that shows the CAD model of the compressor on a marker. Then, we registered a video of this application, moving around the marker, obtaining a video that shows the CAD model from every point of view. For the AR manual, we used the Vuforia model target (360° option) to track the CAD model of the compressor, as it was the real compressor. Then, during the demonstration, the video is shown on a fixed large screen, and instructions are displayed attached to it in the AR manual. The first solution presents the main drawback to keeping the printed image with everyone working on the authoring of the AR manual, but allows to show the product in a real scale and interaction during the demonstration is very simple. The second one does not need a printed marker during the demonstration but a screen. Still, the compressor model is resized, and interaction is awkward since the user has to play the video on the screen to rotate the compressor. The two solutions were evaluated together with the company, and the preferred was the first one due to a more natural interaction.

Keywords: augmented reality, human computer interaction, operating instructions, maintenance, assembly

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Alice D. Dioquino, Olivia N. Buzon, Emilio F. Aguinaldo, Ruel Avila, Erwin R. Callo, Cristy Ocampo, Malvin R. Tabajen, Marla C. Papango, Marilou M. Ubina, Josephine Tondo, Cromwell L. Valeriano

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The main purpose of this study was to develop, evaluate and validate courseware on Selected Topics in Mathematics, Science, and the English Language. Specifically, it aimed to: 1. Identify the appropriate Instructional Systems Design (ISD) model in the development of the courseware material; 2. Assess the courseware material according to its: a. Content Characteristics; b. Instructional Characteristics; and c. Technical Characteristics 3. Find out if there is a significant difference in the performance of students before and after using the tutorial CAI. This research is developmental as well as a one group pretest-posttest design. The study had two phases. Phase I includes the needs analysis, writing of lessons and storyboard by the respective experts in each field. Phase II includes the digitization or the actual development of the courseware by the faculty of the ICT department. In this phase it adapted an instructional systems design (ISD) model which is the ADDIE model. ADDIE stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation. Formative evaluation was conducted simultaneously with the different phases to detect and remedy any bugs in the courseware along the areas of content, instructional and technical characteristics. The expected output are the digitized lessons in Algebra, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Communication Arts in English. Students and some IT experts validated the CAI material using the Evaluation Form by Wong & Wong. They validated the CAI materials as Highly Acceptable with an overall mean rating of 4.527and standard deviation of 0 which means that they were one in the ratings they have given the CAI materials. A mean gain was recorded and computing the t-test for dependent samples it showed that there were significant differences in the mean achievement of the students before and after the treatment (using CAI). The identified ISD model used in the development of the tutorial courseware was the ADDIE model. The quantitative analyses of data based on ratings given by the respondents’ shows that the tutorial courseware possess the characteristics and or qualities of a very good computer-based courseware. The ratings given by the different evaluators with regard to content, instructional, and technical aspects of the Tutorial Courseware are in conformity towards being excellent. Students performed better in mathematics, biology chemistry, physics and the English Communication Arts after they were exposed to the tutorial courseware.

Keywords: CAI, tutorial courseware, Instructional Systems Design (ISD) Model, education

Procedia PDF Downloads 346

Authors: S. Schröder, P. Ennen, T. Langer, S. Müller, M. Shehadeh, M. Haberstroh, F. Hees

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Since a bit over a year ago, Festo AG and Co. KG, Festo Didactic SE, robomotion GmbH, the researchers of the Cybernetics-Lab IMA/ZLW and IfU, as well as the Human-Computer Interaction Center at the RWTH Aachen University, have been working together in the focal point of assembly competences to realize different scenarios in the field of human-machine interaction (HMI). In the framework of project ARIZ, questions concerning the future of production within the fourth industrial revolution are dealt with. There are many perspectives of human-robot collaboration that consist Industry 4.0 on an individual, organization and enterprise level, and these will be addressed in ARIZ. The aim of the ARIZ projects is to link AI-Approaches to assembly problems and to implement them as prototypes in demonstrators. To do so, island and flow based production scenarios will be simulated and realized as prototypes. These prototypes will serve as applications of flexible robotics as well as AI-based planning and control of production process. Using the demonstrators, human interaction strategies will be examined with an information system on one hand, and a robotic system on the other. During the tests, prototypes of workspaces that illustrate prospective production work forms will be represented. The human being will remain a central element in future productions and will increasingly be in charge of managerial tasks. Questions thus arise within the overall perspective, primarily concerning the role of humans within these technological revolutions, as well as their ability to act and design respectively to the acceptance of such systems. Roles, such as the 'Trainer' of intelligent systems may become a possibility in such assembly scenarios.

Keywords: human-machine interaction, information technology, island based production, assembly competences

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Elif Gencturk, Ekin Yurdakul, Ahmet Y. Celik, Senol Mutlu, Kutlu O. Ulgen

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Yeast cells are generally used as a model system of eukaryotes due to their complex genetic structure, rapid growth ability in optimum conditions, easy replication and well-defined genetic system properties. Thus, yeast cells increased the knowledge of the principal pathways in humans. During fermentation, carbohydrates (hexoses and pentoses) degrade into some toxic by-products such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF or HMF) and furfural. HMF influences the ethanol yield, and ethanol productivity; it interferes with microbial growth and is considered as a potent inhibitor of bioethanol production. In this study, yeast single cell behavior under HMF application was monitored by using a continuous flow single phase microfluidic platform. Microfluidic device in operation is fabricated by hot embossing and thermo-compression techniques from cyclo-olefin polymer (COP). COP is biocompatible, transparent and rigid material and it is suitable for observing fluorescence of cells considering its low auto-fluorescence characteristic. The response of yeast cells was recorded through Red Fluorescent Protein (RFP) tagged Nop56 gene product, which is an essential evolutionary-conserved nucleolar protein, and also a member of the box C/D snoRNP complexes. With the application of HMF, yeast cell proliferation continued but HMF slowed down the cell growth, and after HMF treatment the cell proliferation stopped. By the addition of fresh nutrient medium, the yeast cells recovered after 6 hours of HMF exposure. Thus, HMF application suppresses normal functioning of cell cycle but it does not cause cells to die. The monitoring of Nop56 expression phases of the individual cells shed light on the protein and ribosome synthesis cycles along with their link to growth. Further computational study revealed that the mechanisms underlying the inhibitory or inductive effects of HMF on growth are enriched in functional categories of protein degradation, protein processing, DNA repair and multidrug resistance. The present microfluidic device can successfully be used for studying the effects of inhibitory agents on growth by single cell tracking, thus capturing cell to cell variations. By metabolic engineering techniques, engineered strains can be developed, and the metabolic network of the microorganism can thus be manipulated such that chemical overproduction of target metabolite is achieved along with the maximum growth/biomass yield.  

Keywords: COP, HMF, ribosome biogenesis, thermoplastic microbioreactor, yeast

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Philippe Larvet

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This paper presents the concept of an object-based programming language where tests (if... then... else) and control structures (while, repeat, for...) disappear and are replaced by conditions on data. According to the object paradigm, by using this concept, data are still embedded inside objects, as variable-value couples, but object methods are expressed into the form of logical propositions (‘conditions on data’ or COD).For instance : variable1 = value1 AND variable2 > value2 => variable3 = value3. Implementing this approach, a central inference engine turns and examines objects one after another, collecting all CODs of each object. CODs are considered as rules in a rule-based system: the left part of each proposition (left side of the ‘=>‘ sign) is the premise and the right part is the conclusion. So, premises are evaluated and conclusions are fired. Conclusions modify the variable-value couples of the object and the engine goes to examine the next object. The paper develops the principles of writing CODs instead of complex algorithms. Through samples, the paper also presents several hints for implementing a simple mechanism able to process this ‘COD language’. The proposed approach can be used within the context of simulation, process control, industrial systems validation, etc. By writing simple and rigorous conditions on data, instead of using classical and long-to-learn languages, engineers and specialists can easily simulate and validate the functioning of complex systems.

Keywords: conditions on data, logical proposition, programming without code, object-oriented programming, system simulation, system validation

Procedia PDF Downloads 221

Authors: Olumide Simeon Ogunnusi, Shukor Abd Razak, Michael Kolade Adu

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Inter-agent communication manager facilitates communication among mobile agents via message passing mechanism. Until now, all Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) compliant agent systems are capable of exchanging messages following the standard format of sending and receiving messages. Previous works tend to secure messages to be exchanged among a community of collaborative agents commissioned to perform specific tasks using cryptosystems. However, the approach is characterized by computational complexity due to the encryption and decryption processes required at the two ends. The proposed approach to secure agent communication allows only agents that are created by the host agent server to communicate via the agent communication channel provided by the host agent platform. These agents are assumed to be harmless. Therefore, to secure communication of legitimate agents from intrusion by external agents, a 2-phase policy enforcement system was developed. The first phase constrains the external agent to run only on the network server while the second phase confines the activities of the external agent to its execution environment. To implement the proposed policy, a controller agent was charged with the task of screening any external agent entering the local area network and preventing it from migrating to the agent execution host where the legitimate agents are running. On arrival of the external agent at the host network server, an introspector agent was charged to monitor and restrain its activities. This approach secures legitimate agent communication from Man-in-the Middle and Replay attacks.

Keywords: agent communication, introspective agent, isolation of agent, policy enforcement system

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Authors: Florian Monetti, Brett Beamsley, Peter McComb, Simon Weppe

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Land reclamation from the ocean has considerably increased over past decades to support worldwide rapid urban growth. Reshaping the coastline, however, inevitably affects coastal systems. One of the main challenges for coastal oceanographers is to predict the physical and morphological responses for nearshore systems to man-made changes over multiple time-scales. Fully-coupled numerical models are powerful tools for simulating the wide range of interactions between flow field and bedform morphology. Restricted and inconsistent measurements, combined with limited computational resources, typically make this exercise complex and uncertain. In the present study, we investigate the impact of proposed land reclamation within a wave-dominated bay in New Zealand. For this purpose, we first calibrated our morphological model based on the long-term evolution of the bay resulting from land reclamation carried out in the 1950s. This included the application of sedimentological spin-up and reduction techniques based on historical bathymetry datasets. The updated bathymetry, including the proposed modifications of the bay, was then used to predict the effect of the proposed land reclamation on the wave climate and morphology of the bay after one decade. We show that reshaping the bay induces a distinct symmetrical response of the shoreline which likely will modify the nearshore wave patterns and consequently recreational activities in the area.

Keywords: coastal waves, impact of land reclamation, long-term coastal evolution, morphodynamic modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Keaghan Brown

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The prioritization of drug resistance mutations impacting protein folding or protein-drug and protein-DNA interactions within macromolecular systems is critical to the success of treatment regimens. With a continual increase in computational tools to assess these impacts, the need for scalability and reproducibility became an essential component of computational analysis and experimental research. Here it introduce a bioinformatics pipeline that combines several structural analysis tools in a simplified workflow, by optimizing the present computational hardware and software to automatically ease the flow of data transformations. Utilizing preestablished software tools, it was possible to develop a pipeline with a set of pre-defined functions that will automate mutation introduction into the HIV-1 Integrase protein structure, calculate the gain and loss of polar interactions and calculate the change in energy of protein fold. Additionally, an automated molecular dynamics analysis was implemented which reduces the constant need for user input and output management. The resulting pipeline, Automated Mutation Introduction and Analysis (AMIA) is an open source set of scripts designed to introduce and analyse the effects of mutations on the static protein structure as well as the results of the multi-conformational states from molecular dynamic simulations. The workflow allows the user to visualize all outputs in a user friendly manner thereby successfully enabling the prioritization of variant systems for experimental validation.

Keywords: automated workflow, variant prioritization, drug resistance, HIV Integrase

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Authors: J. B. Qin, X. H. Jiang, Y. T. Ge

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The growing awareness of global warming potential has internationally aroused interest and demand in reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity. Much national energy in the UK had been consumed in the residential sector mainly for space heating and domestic hot water production. Currently, gas boilers are mostly applied in the domestic water heating which contribute significantly to excessive CO₂ emissions and consumption of primary energy resources. The issues can be solved by popularizing heat pump systems that are attributable to higher performance efficiency than those of traditional gas boilers. Even so, the heat pump system performance can be further enhanced if the dissolved gases in its hot water circuit can be efficiently discharged.  To achieve this target, the bubble behaviors in the heat pump water heating system need to be extensively investigated. In this paper, by varying different experimental conditions, the effects of various heat pump hot water side parameters on gas microbubble diameters were measured and analyzed. Correspondingly, the effect of each parameter has been investigated. These include varied system pressures, water flow rates, saturation ratios and heat outputs. The results measurement showed that the water flow rate is the most significant parameter to influence on gas microbubble productions. The research outcomes can significantly contribute to the understanding of gas bubble behaviors at domestic heat pump water heating systems and thus the efficient way for the discharging of the associated dissolved gases.  

Keywords: heat pump water heating system, microbubble formation, dissolved gases in water, effectiveness

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Authors: Tolga Hayit, Ucman Ergun, Ugur Fidan

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Being healthy is undoubtedly an indispensable necessity for human life. With technological improvements, in the literature, various health monitoring and imaging systems have been developed to satisfy your health needs. In this context, the work of monitoring and recording the data of individual health monitoring data via wireless technology is also being part of these studies. Nowadays, mobile devices which are located in almost every house and which become indispensable of our life and have wireless technology infrastructure have an important place of making follow-up health everywhere and every time because these devices were using in the health monitoring systems. In this study, Arduino an open-source microcontroller card was used in which a sample sugar measuring device was connected in series. In this way, the glucose data (glucose ratio, time) obtained with the glucometer is transferred to the mobile device based on the Android operating system with the Bluetooth technology channel. A mobile application was developed using the Apache Cordova framework for listing data, presenting graphically and reading data over Arduino. Apache Cordova, HTML, Javascript and CSS are used in coding section. The data received from the glucometer is stored in the local database of the mobile device. It is intended that people can transfer their measurements to their mobile device by using wireless technology and access the graphical representations of their data. In this context, the aim of the study is to be able to perform health monitoring by using different wireless technologies in mobile devices that can respond to different wireless technologies at present. Thus, that will contribute the other works done in this area.

Keywords: Arduino, Bluetooth, glucose measurement, mobile health monitoring

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Authors: Hao Cheng, Yingzhou Ni, Amr M. Bakry, Li Liang

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Functional foods containing bioactive nutrients offer benefits beyond basic nutrition and hence the possibility of delaying and preventing chronic diseases. However, many bioactive nutrients degrade rapidly under food processing and storage conditions. Encapsulation can be used to overcome these limitations. Food proteins have been widely used as carrier materials for the preparation of nano/micro-particles because of their ability to form gels and emulsions and to interact with polysaccharides. The mechanisms of interaction between bioactive nutrients and proteins must be understood in order to develop protein-based lipid-free delivery systems. Beta-lactoglobulin, a small globular protein in milk whey, exhibits an affinity to a wide range of compounds. Alfa-tocopherol, resveratrol and folic acid were respectively bound to the central cavity, the outer surface near Trp19–Arg124 and the hydrophobic pocket in the groove between the alfa-helix and the beta-barrel of the protein. Beta-lactoglobulin could thus bind the three bioactive nutrients simultaneously to form protein-multi-ligand complexes. Beta-casein, an intrinsically unstructured but major milk protein, could also interact with resveratrol and folic acid to form complexes. These results suggest the potential to develop milk-protein-based complex carrier systems for encapsulation of multiple bioactive nutrients for functional food application and also pharmaceutical and medical uses.

Keywords: milk protein, bioactive nutrient, interaction, protection

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Authors: T. A. Sakr, Hanaa E. Abd-El-Mottaleb

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Outrigger-braced wall systems are commonly used to provide high rise buildings with the required lateral stiffness for wind and earthquake resistance. The existence of outriggers adds to the stiffness and strength of walls as reported by several studies. The effects of different parameters on the elasto-plastic dynamic behavior of outrigger-braced wall systems to earthquakes are investigated in this study. Parameters investigated include outrigger stiffness, concrete strength, and reinforcement arrangement as the main design parameters in wall design. In addition to being significant to the wall behavior, such parameters may lead to the change of failure mode and the delay of crack propagation and consequently failure as the wall is excited by earthquakes. Bi-linear stress-strain relation for concrete with limited tensile strength and truss members with bi-linear stress-strain relation for reinforcement were used in the finite element analysis of the problem. The famous earthquake record, El-Centro, 1940 is used in the study. Emphasis was given to the lateral drift, normal stresses and crack pattern as behavior controlling determinants. Results indicated significant effect of the studied parameters such that stiffer outrigger, higher grade concrete and concentrating the reinforcement at wall edges enhance the behavior of the system. Concrete stresses and cracking behavior are sigbificantly enhanced while lesser drift improvements are observed.

Keywords: outrigger, shear wall, earthquake, nonlinear

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Authors: A. Caicedo Padilla, J. Zambrano Nájera

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Cali, the capital of Valle del Cauca and the second city of Colombia, is located in the Cauca River Valley between the Western and Central Cordillera that is South West of the country. The topography of the city is mainly flat, but it is possibly to find mountains in the west. The city has increased urbanization during XX century, especially since 1958 when started a rapid growth due to migration of people from other parts of the region. Much of that population has settled in eastern of Cali, an area originally intended for cane cultivation and a zone of flood from Cauca River and its tributaries. Due to the unplanned migration, settling was inadequate and produced changes in natural dynamics of the basins, which has resulted in increases in runoff volumes, peak flows and flow velocities, that in turn increases flood risk. Sewerage networks capacity were not enough for this higher runoff volume, because in first term they were not adequately designed and built, causing its failure. This in turn generates increasingly recurrent floods generating considerable effects on the economy and development of normal activities in Cali. Thus, it becomes very important to know hydrological behavior of Urban Watersheds. This research aims to determine the impact of urbanization on hydrology of watersheds with very low slopes. The project aims to identify changes in natural drainage patterns caused by the changes made on landscape. From the identification of such modifications it will be defined the most critical areas due to recurring flood events in the city of Cali. Critical areas are defined as areas where the sewerage system does not work properly as surface runoff increases considerable with storm events, and floods are recurrent. The assessment will be done from the analysis of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) theme layers from CVC Environmental Institution of Regional Control in Valle del Cauca, hydrological data and disaster database developed by OSSO Corporation. Rainfall data from a network and historical stream flow data will be used for analysis of historical behavior and change of precipitation and hydrological response according to homogeneous zones characterized by EMCALI S.A. public utility enterprise of Cali in 1999.

Keywords: drainage systems, land cover changes, urban hydrology, urban planning

Procedia PDF Downloads 264

Authors: Kakha Nadiardze, Nana Phirosmanashvili

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The goal of this paper is to present the problems of lack of information among farmers in food safety. Global food supply chains are becoming more and more diverse, making traceability systems much harder to implement across different food markets. In this abstract, we will present our work for analyzing the key developments in Georgian food market from regulatory controls to administrative procedures to traceability technologies. Food safety and quality assurance are most problematic issues in Georgia as food trade networks become more and more complex, food businesses are under more and more pressure to ensure that their products are safe and authentic. The theme follow-up principles from farm to table must be top-of-mind for all food manufacturers, farmers and retailers. Following the E. coli breakout last year, as well as more recent cases of food mislabeling, developments in food traceability systems is essential to food businesses if they are to present a credible brand image. Alongside this are the ever-developing technologies in food traceability networks, technologies that manufacturers and retailers need to be aware of if they are to keep up with food safety regulations and avoid recall. How to examine best practice in food management is the main question in order to protect company brand through safe and authenticated food. We are working with our farmers to work with our food safety experts and technology developers throughout the food supply chain. We provide time by time food analyses on heavy metals, pesticide residues and different pollutants. We are disseminating information among farmers how the latest food safety regulations will impact the methods to use to identify risks within their products.

Keywords: food safety, GMO, LMO, E. coli, quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 514

Authors: Piotr J. Balwierz, Mikhail Pachkov, Phil Arnold, Andreas J. Gruber, Mihaela Zavolan, Erik van Nimwegen

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Understanding the key players and interactions in the regulatory networks that control gene expression and chromatin state across different cell types and tissues in metazoans remains one of the central challenges in systems biology. Our laboratory has pioneered a number of methods for automatically inferring core gene regulatory networks directly from high-throughput data by modeling gene expression (RNA-seq) and chromatin state (ChIP-seq) measurements in terms of genome-wide computational predictions of regulatory sites for hundreds of transcription factors and micro-RNAs. These methods have now been completely automated in an integrated webserver called ISMARA that allows researchers to analyze their own data by simply uploading RNA-seq or ChIP-seq data sets and provides results in an integrated web interface as well as in downloadable flat form. For any data set, ISMARA infers the key regulators in the system, their activities across the input samples, the genes and pathways they target, and the core interactions between the regulators. We believe that by empowering experimental researchers to apply cutting-edge computational systems biology tools to their data in a completely automated manner, ISMARA can play an important role in developing our understanding of regulatory networks across metazoans.

Keywords: gene expression analysis, high-throughput sequencing analysis, transcription factor activity, transcription regulation

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Authors: Saltanat Zhilkibayeva, Muratulla Utenov, Nurzhan Utenov

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The distributed inertia forces of complex nature appear in links of rod mechanisms within the motion process. Such loads raise a number of problems, as the problems of destruction caused by a large force of inertia; elastic deformation of the mechanism can be considerable, that can bring the mechanism out of action. In this work, a new analytical approach for the definition of internal forces in links of robotic systems and mechanisms with statically indeterminate and determinate structures taking into account the distributed inertial and concentrated forces is proposed. The relations between the intensity of distributed inertia forces and link weight with geometrical, physical and kinematic characteristics are determined in this work. The distribution laws of inertia forces and dead weight make it possible at each position of links to deduce the laws of distribution of internal forces along the axis of the link, in which loads are found at any point of the link. The approximation matrixes of forces of an element under the action of distributed inertia loads with the trapezoidal intensity are defined. The obtained approximation matrixes establish the dependence between the force vector in any cross-section of the element and the force vector in calculated cross-sections, as well as allow defining the physical characteristics of the element, i.e., compliance matrix of discrete elements. Hence, the compliance matrixes of an element under the action of distributed inertial loads of trapezoidal shape along the axis of the element are determined. The internal loads of each continual link are unambiguously determined by a set of internal loads in its separate cross-sections and by the approximation matrixes. Therefore, the task is reduced to the calculation of internal forces in a final number of cross-sections of elements. Consequently, it leads to a discrete model of elastic calculation of links of rod mechanisms. The discrete model of the elements of mechanisms and robotic systems and their discrete model as a whole are constructed. The dynamic equilibrium equations for the discrete model of the elements are also received in this work as well as the equilibrium equations of the pin and rigid joints expressed through required parameters of internal forces. Obtained systems of dynamic equilibrium equations are sufficient for the definition of internal forces in links of mechanisms, which structure is statically definable. For determination of internal forces of statically indeterminate mechanisms (in the way of determination of internal forces), it is necessary to build a compliance matrix for the entire discrete model of the rod mechanism, that is reached in this work. As a result by means of developed technique the programs in the MAPLE18 system are made and animations of the motion of the fourth class mechanisms of statically determinate and statically indeterminate structures with construction on links the intensity of cross and axial distributed inertial loads, the bending moments, cross and axial forces, depending on kinematic characteristics of links are obtained.

Keywords: distributed inertial forces, internal forces, statically determinate mechanisms, statically indeterminate mechanisms

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Authors: Victor N. Anisimov, Lyubov A. Boyko, Yazgul R. Almukhametova, Natalia V. Galkina, Alexander V. Latanov

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Modern commercials presented on billboards, TV and on the Internet contain a lot of information about the product or service in text form. However, this information cannot always be perceived and understood by consumers. Typical sociological focus group studies often cannot reveal important features of the interpretation and understanding information that has been read in text messages. In addition, there is no reliable method to determine the degree of understanding of the information contained in a text. Only the fact of viewing a text does not mean that consumer has perceived and understood the meaning of this text. At the same time, the tools based on marketing analysis allow only to indirectly estimate the process of reading and understanding a text. Therefore, the aim of this work is to develop a valid method of recording objective indicators in real time for assessing the fact of reading and the degree of text comprehension. Psychophysiological parameters recorded during text reading can form the basis for this objective method. We studied the relationship between multimodal psychophysiological parameters and the process of text comprehension during reading using the method of correlation analysis. We used eye-tracking technology to record eye movements parameters to estimate visual attention, electroencephalography (EEG) to assess cognitive load and polygraphic indicators (skin-galvanic reaction, SGR) that reflect the emotional state of the respondent during text reading. We revealed reliable interrelations between perceiving the information and the dynamics of psychophysiological parameters during reading the text in commercials. Eye movement parameters reflected the difficulties arising in respondents during perceiving ambiguous parts of text. EEG dynamics in rate of alpha band were related with cumulative effect of cognitive load. SGR dynamics were related with emotional state of the respondent and with the meaning of text and type of commercial. EEG and polygraph parameters together also reflected the mental difficulties of respondents in understanding text and showed significant differences in cases of low and high text comprehension. We also revealed differences in psychophysiological parameters for different type of commercials (static vs. video, financial vs. cinema vs. pharmaceutics vs. mobile communication, etc.). Conclusions: Our methodology allows to perform multimodal evaluation of text perusal and the quality of text reading in commercials. In general, our results indicate the possibility of designing an integral model to estimate the comprehension of reading the commercial text in percent scale based on all noticed markers.

Keywords: reading, commercials, eye movements, EEG, polygraphic indicators

Procedia PDF Downloads 166

Authors: Taleb Odeh, Nizar Abu-Jaber, Nour Khries

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The southern part of Wadi Al Yarmouk catchment area covers north of Jordan. It locates within latitudes 32° 20’ to 32° 45’N and longitudes 35° 42’ to 36° 23’ E and has an area of about 1426 km2. However, it has high relief topography where the elevation varies between 50 to 1100 meter above sea level. The variations in the topography causes different units of landforms, climatic zones, land covers and plant species. As a results of these different landscapes units exists in that region. Spatial planning is a major challenge in such a vital area for Jordan which could not be achieved without determining landscape units. However, an integrated approach of remote sensing and geographic information Systems (GIS) is an optimized tool to investigate and map landscape units of such a complicated area. Remote sensing has the capability to collect different land surface data, of large landscape areas, accurately and in different time periods. GIS has the ability of storage these land surface data, analyzing them spatially and present them in form of professional maps. We generated a geo-land surface data that include land cover, rock units, soil units, plant species and digital elevation model using ASTER image and Google Earth while analyzing geo-data spatially were done by ArcGIS 10.2 software. We found that there are twenty two different landscape units in the study area which they have to be considered for any spatial planning in order to avoid and environmental problems.

Keywords: landscape, spatial planning, GIS, spatial analysis, remote sensing

Procedia PDF Downloads 528

Authors: Robert O. Abolade, Olumide O. Ajayi, Zacheaus K. Adeyemo, Solomon A. Adeniran

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Link adaptation is an important strategy for achieving robust wireless multimedia communications based on quality of service (QoS) demand. Scheme switching in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems is an aspect of link adaptation, and it involves selecting among different MIMO transmission schemes or modes so as to adapt to the varying radio channel conditions for the purpose of achieving QoS delivery. However, finding the most appropriate switching method in MIMO links is still a challenge as existing methods are either computationally complex or not always accurate. This paper presents an intelligent switching method for the MIMO system consisting of two schemes - transmit diversity (TD) and spatial multiplexing (SM) - using fuzzy logic technique. In this method, two channel quality indicators (CQI) namely average received signal-to-noise ratio (RSNR) and received signal strength indicator (RSSI) are measured and are passed as inputs to the fuzzy logic system which then gives a decision – an inference. The switching decision of the fuzzy logic system is fed back to the transmitter to switch between the TD and SM schemes. Simulation results show that the proposed fuzzy logic – based switching technique outperforms conventional static switching technique in terms of bit error rate and spectral efficiency.

Keywords: channel quality indicator, fuzzy logic, link adaptation, MIMO, spatial multiplexing, transmit diversity

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Ratchadaporn Ungcharoen, Lily Ingsrisawang

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Capture-recapture methods are popular techniques for indirect estimation the size of wildlife populations and the completeness of cases in epidemiology and social sciences. The aim of this study was to estimate the completeness of pulmonary tuberculosis cases confirmed by two sources of hospital registrations and surveillance systems in 2013 in Nakhon Pathom province, Thailand. Several estimators of population size were considered: the Lincoln-Petersen estimator, the Chapman estimator, the Chao’s lower bound estimator, the Zelterman’s estimator, etc. We focus on the Chapman and Chao’s lower bound estimators for estimating the completeness of pulmonary tuberculosis from two sources. The retrieved pulmonary tuberculosis data from two sources were analyzed and bootstrapped for 30 samples, with 241 observations from source 1 and 305 observations from source 2 per sample, for additional exploration of the completeness of pulmonary tuberculosis. The results from the original data show that the Chapman’s estimator gave the estimation of a total 360 (95% CI: 349-371) pulmonary tuberculosis cases, resulting in 57% estimated completeness cases. But the Chao’s lower bound estimator estimated the total of 365 (95% CI: 354-376) pulmonary tuberculosis cases and its estimated completeness cases was 55.9%. For the results from bootstrap samples, the Chapman and the Chao’s lower bound estimators gave an estimated 347 (95% CI: 309-385) and 353 (95% CI: 315-390) pulmonary tuberculosis cases, respectively. If for two sources recoding systems are available, record-linkage and capture-recapture analysis can be useful for estimating the completeness of different registration system. Both Chapman and Chao’s lower bound estimator approaches produce very close estimates.

Keywords: capture-recapture, Chao, Chapman, pulmonary tuberculosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 516

Authors: B. Umaru Mohammed, Faris A. Al-Maziad, Mohammad Y. Numan

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One of the most important factors affecting the energy performance within a building is a carefully and efficiently designed facade. The primary aim of this research was to identify and present the potentiality of utilising Double-Skin Facade (DSF) construction and critically examine its effect on the energy consumption of an office building located within a maritime desert climate as to the conventional single-skin curtain wall system. A comparative analysis of the effect on the overall energy consumption within an office building was investigated in which a combination of various Double-Skin Facade configurations, systems, and cavity depths, glazing types and orientations were utilised. A computer dynamic modelling was utilised in order to ensure accurate calculations and efficient simulations of the various DSF systems due to the complex nature of the various functions within the Facade cavity. Through the use of the dynamic thermal modelling simulations, the best cavity size glazed type and orientation were determined to lead to a detailed analysis of the efficiency of each respective combination of Double-Skin Facade construction. As such the optimal facade combination for use within an office building located in a maritime desert climate was identified. Results demonstrated that a multi-story Facade, depending on its configuration, save up to 5% on annual cooling loads respect to a Corridor Facade and while vented can save unto 12% when compared to the single skin façade, on annual cooling load in the maritime desert climate. The selected configuration of the DSF from SSF saves an overall annual cooling load of 32%.A comparative analysis of the effect on the overall energy consumption within an office building was investigated in which a combination of various Double-Skin Facade configurations, systems, and cavity depths, glazing types and orientations were utilized. A computer dynamic modelling was utilized in order to ensure accurate calculations and efficient simulations of the various DSF systems due to the complex nature of the various functions within the Facade cavity. Through the use of the dynamic thermal modelling simulations, the best cavity size glazed type and orientation were determined to lead to a detailed analysis of the efficiency of each respective combination of Double-Skin Facade construction. As such the optimal facade combination for use within an office building located in a maritime desert climate was identified. Results demonstrated that a multi-story Facade, depending on its configuration, save up to 5% on annual cooling loads respect to a Corridor Facade and while vented can save unto 12% when compared to the single skin facade, on annual cooling load in the maritime desert climate. The selected configuration of the DSF from SSF saves an overall annual cooling load of 32%.

Keywords: computer dynamics modelling, comparative analysis, energy computation, double skin facade, single skin curtain wall, maritime desert climate

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Alexander Wachtel, Michael T. Franzen, Walter F. Tichy

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Programming requires years of training. With natural language and end user development methods, programming could become available to everyone. It enables end users to program their own devices and extend the functionality of the existing system without any knowledge of programming languages. In this paper, we describe an Interactive Spreadsheet Processing Module (ISPM), a natural language interface to spreadsheets that allows users to address ranges within the spreadsheet based on inferred table schema. Using the ISPM, end users are able to search for values in the schema of the table and to address the data in spreadsheets implicitly. Furthermore, it enables them to select and sort the spreadsheet data by using natural language. ISPM uses a machine learning technique to automatically infer areas within a spreadsheet, including different kinds of headers and data ranges. Since ranges can be identified from natural language queries, the end users can query the data using natural language. During the evaluation 12 undergraduate students were asked to perform operations (sum, sort, group and select) using the system and also Excel without ISPM interface, and the time taken for task completion was compared across the two systems. Only for the selection task did users take less time in Excel (since they directly selected the cells using the mouse) than in ISPM, by using natural language for end user software engineering, to overcome the present bottleneck of professional developers.

Keywords: natural language processing, natural language interfaces, human computer interaction, end user development, dialog systems, data recognition, spreadsheet

Procedia PDF Downloads 311

Authors: Navah Z. Ratzon, Shlomit Cohen, Sigal Portnoy

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This work focuses on posture and risk factors for the musculoskeletal disorder in guitarists, which constitutes the largest group of musicians today. The source of the problems experienced by these musicians is linked to physical, psychosocial and personal risk factors. These muscular problems are referred to as Playing Related Musculoskeletal Disorder (PRMD). There is not enough research that specifically studies guitar players, and to the extent of our knowledge, there is almost no reference to the characteristics of their movement patterns while they play. This is in spite of the high prevalence of PRMD in this population. Kinematic research may provide a basis for the development of a prevention plan for this population and their unique characteristics of playing patterns. The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation between risk factors for PRMD among guitar players and self-reporting of pain in the skeletal muscles, and specifically to test whether there are differences in the kinematics of the upper body while playing in a sitting or standing posture. Twenty-five guitarists, aged 18-35, participated in the study. The methods included a motion analysis using a motion capture system, anthropometric measurements and questionnaires relating to risk factors. The questionnaires used were the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire for the Analysis of Musculoskeletal Symptoms and the Demand Control Support Questionnaire, as well as a questionnaire of personal details. All of the study participants complained of musculoskeletal pain in the past year; the most frequent complaints being in the left wrist. Statistically significant correlations were found between biodemographic indices and reports of pain in the past year and the previous week. No significant correlations were found between the physical posture while playing and reports of pain among professional guitarists. However, a difference was found in several kinematic parameters between seated and standing playing postures. In a majority of the joints, the joint angles while playing in a seated position were more extreme than those during standing. This finding may suggest a higher risk for musculoskeletal disorder while playing in a seated position. In conclusion, the results of the present research highlight the prevalence of musculoskeletal problems in guitar players and its correlation with various risk factors. The finding supports the need for intervention in the form of prevention through identifying the risk factors and addressing them. Relating to the person, to their occupation and environment, which are the basis of proper occupational therapy, can help meet this need.

Keywords: body posture, motion tracking, PRMD, guitarists

Procedia PDF Downloads 226

Authors: Ariesny Vera, Rodrigo Montecinos

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The rare-earth elements (REEs) or rare-earth metals (REMs), correspond to seventeen chemical elements composed by the fifteen lanthanoids, as well as scandium and yttrium. Lanthanoids corresponds to lanthanum and the f-block elements, from cerium to lutetium. Scandium and yttrium are considered rare-earth elements because they have ionic radii similar to the lighter f-block elements. These elements were called rare earths because they are simply more difficult to extract and separate individually than the most metals and, generally, they do not accumulate in minerals, they are rarely found in easily mined ores and are often unfavorably distributed in common ores/minerals. REEs show unique chemical and physical properties, in comparison to the other metals in the periodic table. Nowadays, these physicochemical properties are utilized in a wide range of synthetic, catalytic, electronic, medicinal, and military applications. Because of their applications, the global demand for rare earth metals is becoming progressively more important in the transition to a self-sustaining society and greener economy. However, due to the difficult separation between lanthanoid ions, the high cost and pollution of these processes, the scientists search the development of a method that combines selectivity and quantitative separation of lanthanoids from the leaching liquor, while being more economical and environmentally friendly processes. This motivation has favored the design and development of more efficient and environmentally friendly cation extractors with the incorporation of compounds as ionic liquids, membrane inclusion polymers (PIM) and supramolecular systems. Supramolecular chemistry focuses on the development of host-guest systems, in which a host molecule can recognize and bind a certain guest molecule or ion. Normally, the formation of a host-guest complex involves non-covalent interactions Additionally, host-guest interactions can be influenced among others effects by the structural nature of host and guests. The different macrocyclic hosts for lanthanoid species that have been studied are crown ethers, cyclodextrins, cucurbituryls, calixarenes and pillararenes.Among all the factors that can influence and affect lanthanoid (III) coordination, perhaps the most basic of them is the systematic control using macrocyclic substituents that promote a selective coordination. In this sense, macrocycles pillar[n]arenes (P[n]As) present a relatively easy functionalization and they have more π-rich cavity than other host molecules. This gives to P[n]As a negative electrostatic potential in the cavity which would be responsible for the selectivity of these compounds towards cations. Furthermore, the cavity size, the linker, and the functional groups of the polar headgroups could be modified in order to control the association of lanthanoid cations. In this sense, different P[n]As systems, specifically derivatives of the pentamer P[5]A functionalized with amide, amine, phosphate and sulfate derivatives, have been designed in terms of experimental synthesis and molecular dynamics, and the interaction between these P[5]As and some lanthanoid ions such as La³+, Eu³+ and Lu³+ has been studied by physicochemical characterization by 1H-NMR, ITC and fluorescence in the case of Eu³+ systems. The molecular dynamics study of these systems was developed in hexane as solvent, also taking into account the lanthanoid ions mentioned above, and the respective comparison studies between the different ions.

Keywords: lanthanoids, macrocycles, pillar[n]arenes, rare-earth metal extraction, supramolecular chemistry, supramolecular complexes.

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Lucian Pîslaru-Dănescu, George-Claudiu Zărnescu, Laurențiu Constantin Lipan, Rareș-Andrei Chihaia

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In recent years, the utilization of supercapacitors for energy storage (ES) devices that are designed for energy harvesting (EH) applications has increased substantially. The use of supercapacitors as energy storage devices in hybrid energy harvesting systems allows the miniaturization of electronic structures for energy storage. This study is concerned with the concept of energy management capacitors – supercapacitors and the new electronic structures for energy storage used for energy harvesting devices. Supercapacitors are low-voltage devices, and electronic overvoltage protection is needed for powering the source. The power management device that uses these proposed new electronic structures for energy storage is better than conventional electronic structures used for this purpose, like rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors, and hybrid systems. A hybrid energy harvesting system with energy storage management is able to simultaneously use several energy sources with recovery from the environment. The power management device uses a summing electronic block to combine the electric power obtained from piezoelectric composite plates and from a photovoltaic conversion system. Also, an overvoltage protection circuit used as a voltage detector and an improved concept of charging supercapacitors is presented. The piezoelectric composite plates are realized only by pressing two printed circuit boards together without damaging or prestressing the piezoceramic elements. The photovoltaic conversion system has the advantage that the modules are covered with glass plates with nanostructured film of ZnO with the role of anti-reflective coating and to improve the overall efficiency of the solar panels.

Keywords: supercapacitors, energy storage, electronic overvoltage protection, energy harvesting

Procedia PDF Downloads 83