Search results for: Elizabeth Jane Cross

Authors: Manoj K. Sharma, Neha Grover

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Dynamical cluster decay model (DCM) is applied to study the decay mechanism of 118Xe* nucleus in reference to recent data on 28Si + 90Zr → 118Xe* reaction, as an extension of our previous work on the dynamics of 112Xe* nucleus. It is relevant to mention here that DCM is based on collective clusterization approach, where emission probability of different decay paths such as evaporation residue (ER), intermediate mass fragments (IMF) and fission etc. is worked out on parallel scale. Calculations have been done over a wide range of center of mass energies with Ec.m. = 65 - 92 MeV. The evaporation residue (ER) cross-sections of 118Xe* compound nucleus are fitted in reference to available data, using spherical and quadrupole (β2) deformed choice of decaying fragments within the optimum orientations approach. It may be noted that our calculated cross-sections find decent agreement with experimental data and hence provide an opportunity to analyze the exclusive role of deformations in view of fragmentation behavior of 118Xe* nucleus. The possible contribution of IMF fragments is worked out and an extensive effort is being made to analyze the role of excitation energy, angular momentum, diffuseness parameter and level density parameter to have better understanding of the decay patterns governed in the dynamics of 28Si + 90Zr → 118Xe* reaction.

Keywords: cross-sections, deformations, fragmentation, angular momentum

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Authors: Mumtaz Begum Mustafa, Siti Salwah Salim, Feizal Dani Rahman

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Recently, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems were used to assist children in language acquisition as it has the ability to detect human speech signal. Despite the benefits offered by the ASR system, there is a lack of ASR systems for Malay-speaking children. One of the contributing factors for this is the lack of continuous speech database for the target users. Though cross-lingual adaptation is a common solution for developing ASR systems for under-resourced language, it is not viable for children as there are very limited speech databases as a source model. In this research, we propose a two-stage adaptation for the development of ASR system for Malay-speaking children using a very limited database. The two stage adaptation comprises the cross-lingual adaptation (first stage) and cross-age adaptation. For the first stage, a well-known speech database that is phonetically rich and balanced, is adapted to the medium-sized Malay adults using supervised MLLR. The second stage adaptation uses the speech acoustic model generated from the first adaptation, and the target database is a small-sized database of the target users. We have measured the performance of the proposed technique using word error rate, and then compare them with the conventional benchmark adaptation. The two stage adaptation proposed in this research has better recognition accuracy as compared to the benchmark adaptation in recognizing children’s speech.

Keywords: Automatic Speech Recognition System, children speech, adaptation, Malay

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Authors: Ziba Khalili, Mohsen Sheikholeslami, Ladan Momayez

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Combining the photovoltaic/thermal (PVT) systems with a thermoelectric (TE) module can raise energy yields since the TE module boosts the system's energy conversion efficiency. In the current study, a PVT system integrated with a TE module was designed and simulated in ANSYS Fluent 19.2. A copper heat transfer tube (HTT) was employed for cooling the photovoltaic (PV) cells. Four different shapes of HTT cross-section, i.e., circular, square, elliptical, and triangular, with equal cross-section areas were investigated. Also, the influence of Cu-Al2O3/water hybrid nanofluid (0.024% volume concentration), fluid inlet velocity (uᵢ ), and amount of solar radiation (G), on the PV temperature (Tₚᵥ) and system performance were investigated. The ambient temperature (Tₐ), wind speed (u𝓌), and fluid inlet temperature (Tᵢ), were considered to be 25°C, 1 m/s, and 27°C, respectively. According to the obtained data, the triangular case had the greatest impact on reducing the compared to other cases. In the triangular case, examination of the effect of hybrid nanofluid showed that the use of hybrid nanofluid at 800 W/m2 led to a reduction of the TPV by 0.6% compared to water, at 0.19 m/s. Moreover, the thermal efficiency ( ) and the overall electrical efficiency (nₜ) of the system improved by 0.93% and 0.22%, respectively, at 0.19 m/s. In a triangular case where G and were 800 W/m2 and 19 m/s, respectively, the highest amount of, thermal power (Eₜ), and, were obtained as 72.76%, 130.84 W and 12.03%, respectively.

Keywords: electrical performance, photovoltaic/thermal, thermoelectric, hybrid nanofluid, thermal efficiency

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Authors: Emma Avoyan

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The safety standards for flood protection in the Netherlands have been revised recently. It is expected that all major flood-protection structures will have to be reinforced to meet the new standards. The Dutch Flood Protection Programme aims at accomplishing this task through innovative integrated projects such as construction of multi-functional flood defenses. In these projects, flood safety purposes will be combined with spatial planning, nature development, emergency management or other sectoral objectives. Therefore, implementation of dike reinforcement projects requires early involvement and collaboration between public and private sectors, different governmental actors and agencies. The development and implementation of such integrated projects has been an issue in Dutch flood risk management since long. Therefore, this article analyses how cross-sector collaboration within flood risk governance in the Netherlands has evolved over time, and how this development can be explained. The integrative framework for collaborative governance is applied as an analytical tool to map external factors framing possibilities as well as constraints for cross-sector collaboration in Dutch flood risk domain. Supported by an extensive document and literature analysis, the paper offers insights on how the system context and different drivers changing over time either promoted or hindered cross-sector collaboration between flood protection sector, urban development, nature conservation or any other sector involved in flood risk governance. The system context refers to the multi-layered and interrelated suite of conditions that influence the formation and performance of complex governance systems, such as collaborative governance regimes, whereas the drivers initiate and enable the overall process of collaboration. In addition, by applying a method of process tracing we identify a causal and chronological chain of events shaping cross-sectoral interaction in Dutch flood risk management. Our results indicate that in order to evaluate the performance of complex governance systems, it is important to firstly study the system context that shapes it. Clear understanding of the system conditions and drivers for collaboration gives insight into the possibilities of and constraints for effective performance of complex governance systems. The performance of the governance system is affected by the system conditions, while at the same time the governance system can also change the system conditions. Our results show that the sequence of changes within the system conditions and drivers over time affect how cross-sector interaction in Dutch flood risk governance system happens now. Moreover, we have traced the potential of this governance system to shape and change the system context.

Keywords: collaborative governance, cross-sector interaction, flood risk management, the Netherlands

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Authors: Terrance Charles, Zhiyin Yang, Yiling Lu

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Heavy trucks are aerodynamically inefficient due to their un-streamlined body shapes, leading to more than of 60% engine power being required to overcome the aerodynamics drag at 60 m/hr. There are many aerodynamics drag reduction devices developed and this paper presents a study on a drag reduction device called Cross Vortex Trap Device (CVTD) deployed in the gap between the tractor and the trailer of a simplified tractor-trailer model. Numerical simulations have been carried out at Reynolds number 0.51×10⁶ based on inlet flow velocity and height of the trailer using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach. Three different configurations of CVTD have been studied, ranging from single to three slabs, equally spaced on the front face of the trailer. Flow field around three different configurations of trap device have been analysed and presented. The results show that a maximum of 12.25% drag reduction can be achieved when a triple vortex trap device is used. Detailed flow field analysis along with pressure contours are presented to elucidate the drag reduction mechanisms of CVTD and why the triple vortex trap configuration produces the maximum drag reduction among the three configurations tested.

Keywords: aerodynamic drag, cross vortex trap device, truck, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes, RANS

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Authors: Astha Sinha, Anjali Kanagali

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India has been tackling with less than sophisticated legislations when it comes to recovery of debt and bankruptcy situations for a while now. There were multiple overlapping laws and adjudication forums dealing with financial failures and insolvency of companies/individuals in India without really aiding the timely recover of defaulted assets. It remained dicey for businesses to invest in India since there was a lack of legal and institutional machinery for dealing with debt defaults as per the global standards. After much deliberation, the Indian Draft Insolvency code received the presidential assent on May 28, 2016 bringing the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code, 2016 into existence. The Code is expected to bring about great progress for the country and specifically has the two standout developments. The first is that it calls for resolution of corporate insolvency within a period of 180 days extendable by 90 days hence bringing about security in the minds of investors. Second is that it calls for the creation of a new class of insolvency professionals whose primary function shall be helping sick companies and banks with their takeovers, provides for setting up an Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board to regulate the same and provides for a two stage process of liquidation. The Code is estimated to help India move up its ranking on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index. It is currently ranked at the 130th position lower than some of the sub-saharan African countries. Besides this, however, there are various areas in which the Code falls short such as lack of provisions for aiding the issue of cross-border insolvency, impact on Medium and Small Enterprises in India etc. This paper aims to analyze the provisions of the new Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code, 2016 and its contribution in making India a more desirable location for doing business. It shall also emphasize on the cross-border insolvency issues, practices followed by other countries to resolve the same and the way forward for India to strengthen its Bankruptcy and Insolvency framework.

Keywords: bankruptcy and insolvency code 2016, cross-border insolvency provisions in the 2016 code, Ease of doing business and bankruptcy code, highlights of the new Indian bankruptcy code 2016

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Authors: Mai Nguyen-Phuong-Mai

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This paper incorporates insight from various models, studies and disciplines to construct a framework called the Inverted Pyramid Model. It is argued that such a framework has several advantages: (1) it reduces the shortcomings of the problem-focused approach that dominates the mainstream theories of cross-cultural management. With contributing insight from neuroscience, it suggests that training in business cross-cultural awareness should start with potential synergy emerged from differences instead of the traditional approach that focuses on the liability of foreigners and negative consequences of cultural distance. (2) The framework supports a dynamic and holistic way of analyzing cultural diversity by analyzing four major cultural units (global, national, organizational and group culture). (3) The framework emphasizes the role of individuals –an aspect of culture that is often ignored or regarded as a non-issue in the traditional approach. It is based on the notion that people don’t do business with a country, but work (in)directly with a unique person. And it is at this individual level that culture is made, personally, dynamically, and contextually. Insight from neuroscience provides significant evidence that a person can develop a multicultural mind, confirm and contradict, follow and reshape a culture, even when (s)he was previously an outsider to this culture. With this insight, the paper proposes a revision of the old adage (Think global – Act local) and change it into Think global – Plan local – Act individual.

Keywords: static–dynamic paradigm, cultural diversity, multicultural mind, neuroscience

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Authors: Gurjit Singh, Gurmail Singh

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The shape of microchannels in microchannel heat sinks can have a significant impact on both heat transfer and fluid flow properties. Heat Transfer, pressure drop, and Some effects of microchannel shape on these properties. The shape of microchannels can affect the heat transfer performance of microchannel heat sinks. Channels with rectangular or square cross-sections typically have higher heat transfer coefficients compared to circular channels. This is because rectangular or square channels have a larger wetted perimeter per unit cross-sectional area, which enhances the heat transfer from the fluid to the channel walls. The shape of microchannels can also affect the pressure drop across the heat sink. Channels with a rectangular cross-section usually have higher pressure drop than circular channels. This is because the corners of rectangular channels create additional flow resistance, which leads to a higher pressure drop. Overall, the shape of microchannels in microchannel heat sinks can have a significant impact on the heat transfer and fluid flow properties of the heat sink. The optimal shape of microchannels depends on the specific application and the desired balance between heat transfer performance and pressure drop.

Keywords: heat transfer, microchannel heat sink, pressure drop, chape of microchannel

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Authors: Sumayah Mohammed Asiri A., Aviva Levina B., Elizabeth New C., Peter Lay D.

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Pt compounds have been among the most successful anticancer drugs in the last 40 years, but the development of resistance to them is an increasing problem. Cellular homeostasis of an essential metal, Cu, is known to be involved in Pt resistance, but mechanisms of this process are poorly understood. We used a novel ratiometric Cu(I)-sensitive fluorescent probeInCCu1 dye to detect Cu(I) in the mitochondria. Total Cu and labile Cu pool measured using AAS and InCCu1 dye in A2780 cells and their corresponding resistant cells A2780-cis.R cells treated with Cu and cisplatin. The main difference between both cell lines in the presence and absence of Cu(II) is that resistant cells have lower total Cu content but higher labile Cu levels than cisplatin-sensitive cells. This means that resistant cells can metabolize and export excess Cu more efficiently. Furthermore, InCCu1 has emerged not only as an indicator of labile cellular Cu levels in the mitochondria but as a potentially versatile multi-organelle probe.

Keywords: AAS and ICPMS, A2780 and its resistant cells, ratiometric fluorescent sensors, inCCu1, and total and labile Cu

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Authors: Nguyen Huy Hoang, Do Thanh Quan, Tran Vu Kien

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The use of the active radar to measure the coordinates of ultra-light drones is frequently difficult due to long-distance, absolutely small radar cross-section (RCS) and obstacles. Since ultra-light drones are usually controlled by the Time Difference of Arrival (RF), the paper proposed a method to measure the coordinates of ultra-light drones in the space based on the arrival time of the signal at receiving antennas and the time difference of arrival (TDOA). The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is really potential and highly accurate.

Keywords: ultra-light drone, TDOA, radar cross-section (RCS), RF

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Authors: Elizabeth Stojanovski

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Associations between life events and various forms of cancers have been identified. The purpose of a recent random-effects meta-analysis was to identify studies that examined the association between adverse events associated with changes to financial status including decreased income and breast cancer risk. The same association was studied in four separate studies which displayed traits that were not consistent between studies such as the study design, location and time frame. It was of interest to pool information from various studies to help identify characteristics that differentiated study results. Two random-effects Bayesian meta-analysis models are proposed to combine the reported estimates of the described studies. The proposed models allow major sources of variation to be taken into account, including study level characteristics, between study variance, and within study variance and illustrate the ease with which uncertainty can be incorporated using a hierarchical Bayesian modelling approach.

Keywords: random-effects, meta-analysis, Bayesian, variation

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Authors: Smriti, Ajeet Kumar

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We present a variant of the Irving-Kirkwood procedure to obtain the microscopic expressions of the cross-section averaged continuum fields such as internal force and moment in one-dimensional nanostructures in the non-equilibrium setting. In one-dimensional continuum theories for slender bodies, we deal with quantities such as mass, linear momentum, angular momentum, and strain energy densities, all defined per unit length. These quantities are obtained by integrating the corresponding pointwise (per unit volume) quantities over the cross-section of the slender body. However, no well-defined cross-section exists for these nanostructures at finite temperature. We thus define the cross-section of a nanorod to be an infinite plane which is fixed in space even when time progresses and defines the above continuum quantities by integrating the pointwise microscopic quantities over this infinite plane. The method yields explicit expressions of both the potential and kinetic parts of the above quantities. We further specialize in these expressions for helically repeating one-dimensional nanostructures in order to use them in molecular dynamics study of extension, torsion, and bending of such nanostructures. As, the Irving-Kirkwood procedure does not yield expressions of stiffnesses, we resort to a thermodynamic equilibrium approach to obtain the expressions of axial force, twisting moment, bending moment, and the associated stiffnesses by taking the first and second derivatives of the Helmholtz free energy with respect to conjugate strain measures. The equilibrium approach yields expressions independent of kinetic terms. We then establish the equivalence of the expressions obtained using the two approaches. The derived expressions are used to understand the extension, torsion, and bending of single-walled carbon nanotubes at non-zero temperatures.

Keywords: thermoelasticity, molecular dynamics, one dimensional nanostructures, nanotube buckling

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Authors: Andrés I. Ávila, Patricia Aros, César San Martín, Elizabeth Kehr, Yovana Leal

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Planning models for fresh products is a very useful tool for improving the net profits. To get an efficient supply chain model, several functions should be considered to get a complete simulation of several operational units. We consider a linear programming model to help farmers to decide if it is convenient to choose what area should be planted for three kinds of export fruits considering their future investment. We consider area, investment, water, productivity minimal unit, and harvest restrictions to develop a monthly based model to compute the average income in five years. Also, conditions on the field as area, water availability, and initial investment are required. Using the Chilean costs and dollar-peso exchange rate, we can simulate several scenarios to understand the possible risks associated to this market. Also, this tool help to support decisions for government and individual farmers.

Keywords: mixed integer problem, fresh fruit production, support decision model, agricultural and biosystems engineering

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Authors: Debora P. Arce, Flavia J. Krsticevic, Marco R. Bertolaccini, Joaquín Ezpeleta, Estela M. Valle, Sergio D. Ponce, Elizabeth Tapia

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Small Heat Shock Proteins (sHSPs) are low molecular weight chaperones that play an important role during stress response and development in all living organisms. Fruit maturation and oxidative stress can induce sHSP synthesis both in Arabidopsis and tomato plants. RNA-Seq technology is becoming widely used in various transcriptomics studies; however, analyzing and interpreting the RNA-Seq data face serious challenges. In the present work, we de novo assembled the Solanum lycopersicum transcriptome for three different maturation stages (mature green, breaker and red ripe). Differential gene expression analysis was carried out during tomato fruit development. We identified 12 sHSPs differentially expressed that might be involved in breaker and red ripe fruit maturation. Interestingly, these sHSPs have different subcellular localization and suggest a complex regulation of the fruit maturation network process.

Keywords: sHSPs, maturation, tomato, RNA-Seq, assembly

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou, Maria F. Sartzetaki

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Transport infrastructure assets are key components of the national asset portfolio. The decision to invest in a new infrastructure in transports could take from a few years to some decades. This is mainly because of the need to reserve and spent many capitals, the long payback period, the number of the stakeholders involved in decision process and –many times- the investment and business risks are high. Therefore, the decision assessment framework is an essential challenge linked with the key decision factors meet the stakeholder expectations highlighting project trade-offs, financial risks, business uncertainties and market limitations. This paper examines the decision process for new transport infrastructure projects in cross border regions, where a wide range of stakeholders with different expectation is involved. According to a consequences analysis systemic approach, the relationship of transport infrastructure development, economic system development and stakeholder expectation is analyzed. Adopting the on system of system methodological approach, the decision making framework, variables, inputs and outputs are defined, highlighting the key shareholder’s role and expectations. The application provides the methodology outputs presenting the proposed decision framework for a strategic railway project in north Greece deals with the upgrade of the existing railway corridor connecting Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria.

Keywords: decision making, system of system, cross-border, infrastructure project

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Authors: Mehranoosh Gholipoor

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The effects of planting date on performance and yield components of maize single cross 704 was carried out in 2003.this experiment was designed in randomized complete block pattern with 3 replications in the field of College campus of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in Gorgan. Treatments consisted of four planting dates (May5, May19, June4 and June19) respectively. The results showed that the planting on June4 were the best time for planting date in the field of seed performance and many other measurement qualities while planting date on June19 had the lowest seed performance in corn, due to a severe reduction in seed numbers had the highest In 1000 seed weight. Between the planting date on May 5 and May19 were observed no significant differences

Keywords: corn, planting date, performance and yield components

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Authors: Mohammad Aminnia, Mahmood Hosseini

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Environmental and functional conditions sometimes necessitate the architectural plan of the building to be asymmetric, and this result in an asymmetric structure. In such cases, finding an optimal pattern for locating the components of the lateral load bearing system, including shear walls, in the building’s plan is desired. In case of shear walls, in addition to the location, the shape of the wall cross-section is also an effective factor. Various types of shear wall and their proper layout might come effective in better stiffness distribution and more appropriate seismic response of the building. Several studies have been conducted in the context of analysis and design of shear walls; however, few studies have been performed on making decisions for the location and form of shear walls in multi-story buildings, especially those with irregular plan. In this study, an attempt has been made to obtain the most reliable seismic behavior of multi-story reinforced concrete vertically chamfered buildings by using more appropriate shear walls form and arrangement in 7-, 10-, 12-, and 15-story buildings. The considered forms and arrangements include common rectangular walls and L-, T-, U- and Z-shaped plan, located as the core or in the outer frames of the building structure. Comparison of seismic behaviors of the buildings, including maximum roof displacement, and particularly the formation of plastic hinges and their distribution in the buildings’ structures, have been done based on the results of a series of nonlinear time history analyses by using a set of selected earthquake records. Results show that shear walls with U-shaped cross-section, placed as the building central core, and also walls with Z-shaped cross-section, placed at the corners give the building more reliable seismic behavior.

Keywords: vertically chamfered buildings, non-linear time history analyses, l-, t-, u- and z-shaped plan walls

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Authors: Shaode Yu, Jiajian Meng, Bing Zhu, Hang Yu, Qiurui Sun

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Speech emotion recognition (SER) is for recognizing human subjective emotions through audio data in-depth analysis. From speech audios, how to comprehensively extract emotional information and how to effectively fuse extracted features remain challenging. This paper presents a dual-stream SER framework that embraces both full training and transfer learning of different networks for thorough feature encoding. Besides, a plug-and-play cross-attention fusion (CAF) module is implemented for the valid integration of the dual-stream encoder output. The effectiveness of the proposed CAF module is compared to the other three fusion modules (feature summation, feature concatenation, and feature-wise linear modulation) on two databases (RAVDESS and IEMO-CAP) using different dual-stream encoders (full training network, DPCNN or TextRCNN; transfer learning network, HuBERT or Wav2Vec2). Experimental results suggest that the CAF module can effectively reconcile conflicts between features from different encoders and outperform the other three feature fusion modules on the SER task. In the future, the plug-and-play CAF module can be extended for multi-branch feature fusion, and the dual-stream SER framework can be widened for multi-stream data representation to improve the recognition performance and generalization capacity.

Keywords: speech emotion recognition, cross-attention fusion, dual-stream, pre-trained

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Authors: Jane O. Munonye

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Climate change has both negative and positive effects in agricultural production. For agriculture to be sustainable in adverse climate change condition, some natural measures are needed. The issue is to produce more food with available natural resources and reduce the contribution of agriculture to climate change. The study reviewed climate change and sustainable agriculture in southeast Nigeria. Data from the study were from secondary sources. Ten scientific papers were consulted and data for the review were collected from three. The objectives of the paper were as follows: to review the effect of climate change on one major arable crop in southeast Nigeria (yam; Dioscorea rotundata); evident of climate change impact and methods for sustainable agricultural production in adverse weather condition. Some climatic parameter as sunshine, relative humidity and rainfall have negative relationship with yam production and significant at 10% probability. Crop production was predicted to decline by 25% per hectare by 2060 while livestock production has increased the incidence of diseases and pathogens as the major effect to agriculture. Methods for sustainable agriculture and damage of natural resources by climate change were highlighted. Agriculture needs to be transformed as climate changes to enable the sector to be sustainable. There should be a policy in place to facilitate the integration of sustainability in Nigeria agriculture.

Keywords: agriculture, climate change, sustainability, yam

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Authors: Zafar Iqbal

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This article aims at analyzing the U.S.-Taliban peace deal considering the cross- pressures that both parties (U.S. and Taliban) faced and eventually paved the way for a negotiated settlement to the two-decade-long war. The paper first discusses the peace process initiated by President Obama in 2009 and then explores the factors that compelled both the parties to sign this deal. The study is based on secondary data and interviews done with the leading experts on Afghanistan along with the Taliban Qatar office spokesperson’s interview. The theoretical framework is based on the interplay of diplomacy and domestic politics: two-level games logic proposed by Robert D. Putnam. The two-level games suggest that actors involved in negotiations face cross-pressures and are constrained both by the expectations of the domestic audience and their counterpart’s zone of possible agreement. This paper will take the cross pressures for both sides as the permissive factors for the entire process of negotiations. However, there will be a slight aberration in the application of Putnam’s two-level games. In this case, it is not inter-state negotiations but between an all-powerful state and the unyielding non-state actors. The study concludes that both the parties faced domestic as well as international pressure which compelled them to sign a deal that could lead to an end of the two-decade-long war. Furthermore, it looks at the potential prospects and challenges of the deal following the U.S. withdrawal.

Keywords: neo-Taliban insurgency, negotiations, two-level game, U.S.-Taliban peace deal, U.S. withdrawal

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Authors: Amanda Kenny, Virginia Dickson-Swift, Jane Farmer, Sarah Larkins, Karen Carlisle, Helen Hickson

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Rural ECOH (Engaging Communities in Oral Health) is a collaborative project that connects policy makers, service providers and community members. The aim of the project is to empower community members to determine what is important for their community and to design the services that they need. This three-year project is currently underway in six rural communities across Australia. This study is specifically focused on Remote Services Futures (RSF), an evidence-based method of community participation that was developed in Scotland. The findings highlight the complexities of community participation in health service planning. We assumed that people living in rural communities would welcome participation in oral health planning and engage with their community to discuss these issues. We found that to understand the relationships between community members and health service providers, it was essential to identify the formal and informal community leaders and to engage stakeholders from the various community governance structures. Our study highlights the sometimes ‘messiness’ of decision making in rural communities as well as ways to ensure that community members have the training and practical skills necessary to participate in community decision making.

Keywords: community participation, health planning, rural ECOH, Remote Services Futures

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Authors: Azam Mohammadbagheri, Bahram Fathi

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DEA has become a very popular method of performance measure, but it still suffers from some shortcomings. One of these shortcomings is the issue of having multiple optimal solutions to weights for efficient DMUs. The cross efficiency evaluation as an extension of DEA is proposed to avoid this problem. Lam (2010) is also proposed a mixed-integer linear programming formulation based on linear discriminate analysis and super efficiency method (MILP model) to avoid having multiple optimal solutions to weights. In this study, we modified MILP model to determine more suitable weight sets and also evaluate the energy efficiency of MENA countries as an application of the proposed model.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, discriminate analysis, cross efficiency, MILP model

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Authors: Pei-Syuan Ruan, Ya-Chi Yu, Shao-Wen Chen, Jin-Der Lee, Jong-Rong Wang, Chunkuan Shih

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This study investigated the void fraction characteristics under low superficial gas velocity (J_g) and low superficial fluid velocity (J_f) conditions in a 3x3 rod bundle geometry. Three arrangements of conductivity probes were set to measure the void fraction at various cross-sectional regions, including rod-gap, sub-channel and rod-wall regions. The experimental tests were performed under the flow conditions of J_g = 0-0.236 m/s and J_f = 0-0.142 m/s, and the time-averaged void fractions were recorded at each flow condition. It was observed that while the superficial gas velocity increases, the small bubbles started to cluster together and become big bubbles. As the superficial fluid velocity increases, the local void fractions of the three test regions will get closer and the bubble distribution will be more uniform across the cross section.

Keywords: conductivity probes, rod bundles, two-phase flow, void fraction

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Authors: Adinew Gebremeskel Tizazu

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Nowadays, in our world of technological development, there is an enhanced intention imposed on the building construction industry to improve the time, economy, and structural efficiency of structures. Modern profiled steel sheets are mostly designed as formwork and tensile reinforcement. This research is concerned with the optimal design of profiled steel sheets for composite slabs. Apart from satisfying the safety requirement, the design should be economical. For a given condition, there might be a large number of alternatives that satisfy the requirement set by the codes. But the designer must be in a position to choose the design, which is optimal against certain measures of optimality. Therefore, the designers have to do some optimization to arrive at such a design. In this research, the optimal cross-sectional dimensions of profiled steel sheets will be determined by considering different spans, loadings, and materials.

Keywords: profiled sheeting, optimal cross-sectional dimensions, cold-formed profiled sheets, composite slab

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Authors: Oli Sophie Meredith, Jacquelyn Osborne, Sarah Verdon, Jane Frawley

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PROJECT OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND: Over one million Australians are affected by ADHD at an economic and social cost of over $20 billion per annum. Despite health outcomes being significantly worse compared with men, women have historically been overlooked in ADHD diagnosis and treatment. While research suggests physical activity and other non-prescription options can help with ADHD symptoms, the frontline response to ADHD remains expensive stimulant medications that can have adverse side effects. By interviewing women with ADHD, this research will examine women’s self-directed approaches to managing symptoms, including alternatives to prescription medications. It will investigate barriers and affordances to potentially helpful approaches and identify any concerning strategies pursued in lieu of diagnosis. SIGNIFICANCE AND INNOVATION: Despite the economic and societal impact of ADHD on women, research investigating how women manage their symptoms is scant. This project is significant because although women’s ADHD symptoms are markedly different to those of men, mainstream treatment has been based on the experiences of men. Further, it is thought that in developing nuanced coping strategies, women may have masked their symptoms. Thus, this project will highlight strategies which women deem effective in ‘thriving’ rather than just ‘hiding’. By investigating the health service use, self-care and physical activity of women with ADHD, this research aligns with a priority research areas as identified by the November 2023 senate ADHD inquiry report. APPROACH AND METHODS: Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with up to 20 women with ADHD. Interviews will be conducted in person and online to capture experience across rural and metropolitan Australia. Participants will be recruited in partnership with the peak representative body, ADHD Australia. The research will use an intersectional framework, and data will be analysed thematically. This project is led by an interdisciplinary and cross-institutional team of women with ADHD. Reflexive interviewing skills will be employed to help interviewees feel more comfortable disclosing their experiences, especially where they share common ground ENGAGEMENT, IMPACT AND BENEFIT: This research will benefit women with ADHD by increasing knowledge of strategies and alternative treatments to prescription medications, reducing the social and economic burden of ADHD on Australia and on individuals. It will also benefit women by identifying risks involved with some self-directed approaches in lieu of medical advice. The project has an accessible impact plan to directly benefit end-users, which includes the development of a podcast and a PDF resource translating findings. The resources will reach a wide audience through ADHD Australia’s extensive national networks. We will collaborate with Charles Sturt’s Accessibility and Inclusion Division of Safety, Security and Well-being to create a targeted resource for students with ADHD.

Keywords: ADHD, women's health, self-directed strategies, health service use, physical activity, public health

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Authors: Oluwayemisi Femi-Pius, Kazeem Arogundade, Eberechukwu Eke, Jimmy Eko

Abstract:

Introduction: Globally, community involvement in improving their own health has been widely adopted as a strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa principally to ensure equitable access to essential health care as well as improve the uptake of maternal and newborn health services especially in poor-resource settings. Method: The Saving Mother Giving Life (SMGL) Initiative implemented by Pathfinder International with funding support from USAID conducted a Health Facility Assessment (HFA) and found out that maternal mortality ratio in Cross River State was 812 per 100,000 live birth and perinatal mortality was 160 per 1000 live birth. To reduce maternal and perinatal mortality, Pathfinder International mobilized, selected and trained community members as community volunteers, traditional birth attendants, and emergency transport service volunteer drivers mainly to address the delay in decision making and reaching the health facility among pregnant women. Results: The results showed that maternal mortality ratio in Cross River State decrease by 25% from 812 per 100,000 live birth at baseline to 206 per 100,000 live birth at June 2018 and perinatal mortality reduced by 35% from 160 per 100,000 at baseline to 58 per 1000 live birth at June 2018. Data also show that ANC visit increased from 7,451 to 11,344; institutional delivery increased from 8,931 at baseline to 10,784 in June 2018. There was also a remarkable uptake of post-partum family planning from 0 at baseline to 233 in June 2018. Conclusion: There is clear evidence that community involvement yields positive maternal outcomes and is pivotal for sustaining most health interventions.

Keywords: maternal mortality, Nigeria, pathfinder international, perinatal mortality, saving mother giving life

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: Katsumi Hirata

Abstract:

To develop the useful acoustic environmental recognition system, the method of estimating 3D-position of a stationary random acoustic source using bispectral analysis of 4-point detected signals is proposed. The method uses information about amplitude attenuation and propagation delay extracted from amplitude ratios and angles of auto- and cross-bispectra of the detected signals. It is expected that using bispectral analysis affects less influence of Gaussian noises than using conventional power spectral one. In this paper, the basic principle of the method is mentioned first, and its validity and features are considered from results of the fundamental experiments assumed ideal circumstances.

Keywords: 4-point detection, a stationary random acoustic source, auto- and cross-bispectra, estimation of 3D-position

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Abdullah Alsayeqh

Abstract:

The burden of foodborne diseases in Saudi Arabia is currently unknown. The objective of this study was to identify risk factors associated with these diseases among women in Riyadh. A cross-sectional study was carried out from March to July, 2013 where participants’ responses indicated that they were at risk of these diseases through improper food-holding temperature (45.28%), inadequate cooking (35.47%), cross-contamination (32.23%), and food from unsafe sources (22.39%). The claimed food safety knowledge by 22.04% of participants was not evidenced by their reported behaviors (p > 0.05). This is the first study to identify the gap in food safety knowledge among women in Riyadh which needs to be addressed by the concerned authorities in the country by engaging women more effectively in food safety educational campaigns.

Keywords: foodborne diseases, risk factors, knowledge, women, Saudi Arabia

Procedia PDF Downloads 508

Authors: Sumit Roy

Abstract:

A clear understanding of pedestrian behaviour at road crossing at intersections is needed for providing necessary infrastructure and also for enhancing pedestrian safety at any intersection. Pedestrian road crossing behaviour is studied at Motijheel and Kakrail intersections where Motijheel intersection is a controlled roundabout, and Kakrail intersection is a signalized intersection. Around 60 people at each intersection were interviewed for a questionnaire survey and video recording at different time of a day was done for observation at each intersection. In case of Motijeel intersection, we got pedestrian road crossings were much higher than Kakrail intersection. It is because the number of workplaces here is higher than Kakrail. From questionnaire survey, it is found that 80% of pedestrians crosses at intersection to avail buses and their loading and unloading locations are at intersection, whereas at Kakrail intersection only 25% pedestrian crosses the road for buses as buses do not slow down here. At Motijheel intersection 25 to 40% of pedestrians choose to jump over the barricade for crossing instead of using overbridge for saving time and labour. On the other hand, the pedestrians using overbridge told that they use overbridge for safety. Moreover, pedestrian crosses at the same pace for both red and green interval with vehicle movement in the range of 12.5 to 14.5 km/h and gaps between vehicle were more than 4 m. Here pedestrian crossing speed varies from 3.5 to 7.2 km/h. In Kakrail intersection the road crossing situation can be classified into 4 categories. In case of red time, pedestrians do not wait to cross the road, and crossing speed varies from 3.5 to 7.2 km/h. When vehicle speed varies from 5.4 to 7.4 km/h, and gaps between vehicle vary from 1.5 to 2 m, most of the pedestrians initially choose to wait and try to cross the road in group with crossing speed 2.7 to 3.5 km/h. When vehicle speed varies from 10.8 to 18 km/h, and gaps between vehicles varies from 2 to 3 m most of the people waits and cross the road in group with crossing speed 3.5 to 5.4 km/h. When vehicle speed varies from 25.2 to 32.4 km/h and gaps between vehicles vary from 4 to 6 m most of the pedestrians choose to wait until red time. In Kakrail intersection 87% of people said that they cross the road with risk and 60% of pedestrians told that it is risky to get on and off the bus at this intersection. Planned location of loading and unloading area for buses can improve the pedestrian road crossing behaviour at intersections.

Keywords: crossing speed, pedestrian behaviour, road crossing, use of overbridge

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: Ananthakrishna L. R., Ramesh D., Kumar Wodeyar, Kotresh A. M., Gururaj P. M.

Abstract:

Malnad Gidda is the indigenous recognized cattle breed of Shivamogga District of Karnataka state, India is known for its disease resistance to many of the infectious diseases. There are 25 LRR (Leucine Rich Repeats) identified in bovine (Bos indicus) TLR9. The amino acid sequence of LRR is deduced to nucleotide sequence in BLASTx bioinformatic online tools. LRR2 to LRR10 are involved in pathogen recognition and binding in human TLR9 which showed a higher degree of nucleotide variations with respect to disease resistance to various pathogens. Hence, primers were designed to amplify the flanking sequences of LRR2 to LRR10, to discover the nucleotide variations if any, in Malnad Gidda breed of Cattle which is associated with disease resistance. The DNA isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of ten Malnad Gidda cattle. A desired and specific amplification product of 0.8 kb was obtained at an annealing temperature of 56.6ᵒC. All the PCR products were sequenced on both sides by gene-specific primers. The sequences were compared with TLR9 sequence of cross breed cattle obtained from NCBI data bank. The sequence analysis between Malnad Gidda and crossbreed cattle revealed no nucleotide variations in the region LRR2 to LRR9 which shows the conserved in pathogen binding domain (LRR) of TLR9.

Keywords: leucine rich repeats, Malnad Gidda, cross breed, TLR9

Procedia PDF Downloads 226