Search results for: radioactive source direction

Authors: Satya Narayan

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India, a rapidly growing economy with a burgeoning population, grapples with the dual challenge of meeting rising energy demands and reducing its carbon footprint. Geothermal energy, an often overlooked and underutilized renewable source, holds immense potential for addressing this challenge. Geothermal resources offer a valuable, consistent, and sustainable energy source, and may significantly contribute to India's energy. This paper discusses the importance of geothermal exploration in India, emphasizing its role in achieving sustainable energy production while mitigating environmental impacts. It also delves into the methodology employed to assess geothermal resource feasibility, including geophysical surveys and borehole drilling. The results and discussion sections highlight promising geothermal sites across India, illuminating the nation's vast geothermal potential. It detects potential geothermal reservoirs, characterizes subsurface structures, maps temperature gradients, monitors fluid flow, and estimates key reservoir parameters. Globally, geothermal energy falls into high and low enthalpy categories, with India mainly having low enthalpy resources, especially in hot springs. The northwestern Himalayan region boasts high-temperature geothermal resources due to geological factors. Promising sites, like Puga Valley, Chhumthang, and others, feature hot springs suitable for various applications. The Son-Narmada-Tapti lineament intersects regions rich in geological history, contributing to geothermal resources. Southern India, including the Godavari Valley, has thermal springs suitable for power generation. The Andaman-Nicobar region, linked to subduction and volcanic activity, holds high-temperature geothermal potential. Geophysical surveys, utilizing gravity, magnetic, seismic, magnetotelluric, and electrical resistivity techniques, offer vital information on subsurface conditions essential for detecting, evaluating, and exploiting geothermal resources. The gravity and magnetic methods map the depth of the mantle boundary (high-temperature) and later accurately determine the Curie depth. Electrical methods indicate the presence of subsurface fluids. Seismic surveys create detailed sub-surface images, revealing faults and fractures and establishing possible connections to aquifers. Borehole drilling is crucial for assessing geothermal parameters at different depths. Detailed geochemical analysis and geophysical surveys in Dholera, Gujarat, reveal untapped geothermal potential in India, aligning with renewable energy goals. In conclusion, geophysical surveys and borehole drilling play a pivotal role in economically viable geothermal site selection and feasibility assessments. With ongoing exploration and innovative technology, these surveys effectively minimize drilling risks, optimize borehole placement, aid in environmental impact evaluations, and facilitate remote resource exploration. Their cost-effectiveness informs decisions regarding geothermal resource location and extent, ultimately promoting sustainable energy and reducing India's reliance on conventional fossil fuels.

Keywords: geothermal resources, geophysical methods, exploration, exploitation

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Authors: Somboon Sarasit

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This research aims to develop a model small ceramic kiln using burner from a high-pressure household gas stove. The efficiency of the kiln and community technology transfer. The study of history shows that this area used to be a source of pottery on the old capital of Ayutthaya. There is evidence from pottery kilns unearthed many types of wood kiln since 2535 and was assumed that the production will end when the war with Burma in the Ayutthaya period. The result of the research design and performance testing of ceramic kiln using burners by gas cooker and outside from 200-liter steel drums inside with ceramic fiber. It was found that the Graze Firing of the products to be at a temperature of 1230°C. The duration of the burn approximately 5-6 hours and uses only 3-4 kg of LPG products, a coffee can burn up to 40-50 pieces. It is an energy-efficient Kiln. Use safe and appropriate opportunities for entrepreneurs, small ceramic and entrepreneurs with new investments or those who want to produce ceramic products as a hobby. The community interest in the pottery to create a new one to continue the product development and manufacturing in the harshest existence forever.

Keywords: ceramics kiln design and development, ceramic gas kiln, burners application, high-pressure of household gas stove

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Authors: Pranvera Shehaj

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Unlike any prior analysis on the withholding tax rates negotiated in tax treaties, this study looks at the treaty heterogeneity content, by investigating the impact of the residence country’s double tax relief method and of tax-sparing agreements, on the difference between developing countries’ domestic withholding taxes on dividends on one side, and treaty negotiated withholding taxes at source on portfolio dividends on the other side. Using a dyadic panel dataset of asymmetric double tax treaties between 2005 and 2019, this study suggests first that the difference between domestic and negotiated WHTs on portfolio dividends is higher when the OECD member uses the credit method, as compared to when it uses the exemption method. Second, results suggest that the inclusion of tax-sparing provisions vanishes the positive effect of the credit method at home on the difference between domestic and negotiated WHTs on portfolio dividends, incentivizing developing countries to negotiate higher withholding taxes.

Keywords: double tax treaties, asymmetric investments, withholding tax, dividends, double tax relief method, tax sparing

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Authors: Jennifer Fane, Mike Gray, Melissa Sager

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Children with diagnosed or suspected learning disabilities frequently experience significant skill gaps in foundational learning areas such as reading, writing, and math. Remedial one-to-one instruction is a highly effective means of supporting children with learning differences in building these foundational skills and closing the learning gap between them and their same-age peers. However, due to the learning challenges children with learning disabilities face, and ensuing challenges with self-confidence, many children with learning differences struggle with motivation and self-regulation within remedial one-to-one learning environments - despite the benefits of these sessions. Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) are an innovative educational technology tool that has been trialled in a range of educational settings to support diverse learning needs. Yet, little is known about the impact of SARs on the learning of children with learning differences in a one-to-one remedial instructional setting. This study sought to explore the impact of SARs on the engagement of children (n=9) with learning differences attending one-to-one remedial instruction sessions at a non-profit remedial education provider. The study used a mixed-methods design to explore learner engagement during learning tasks both with and without the use of a SAR to investigate how the use of SARs impacts student learning. The study took place over five weeks, with each session within the study followed the same procedure with the SAR acting as a teaching assistant when in use. Data from the study included analysis of time-sample video segments of the instructional sessions, instructor recorded information about the student’s progress towards their session learning goal and student self-reported mood and energy levels before and after the session. Analysis of the findings indicates that the use of SARs resulted in fewer instances of off-task behaviour and less need for instructor re-direction during learning tasks, allowing students to work in more sustained ways towards their learning goals. This initial research indicates that the use of SARs does have a material and measurable impact on learner engagement for children with learning differences and that further exploration of the impact of SARs during one-to-one remedial instruction is warranted.

Keywords: engagement, learning differences, learning disabilities, instruction, social robotics.

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Authors: S. A. Nirmal, G. S. Asane, S. C. Pal, S. C. Mandal

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Objective: Ficus religiosa Linn (Moraceae) is being used in traditional medicine to improve immunity hence present work was undertaken to validate this use scientifically. Material and Methods: Dried, powdered bark of F. religiosa was extracted successively using petroleum ether and 70% ethanol in soxhlet extractor. The extracts obtained were screened for immunomodulatory activity by delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH), neutrophil adhesion test and cyclophosphamide-induced neutropenia in Swiss albino mice at the dose of 50 and 100 mg/kg, i.p. 70% ethanol extract showed significant immunostimulant activity hence subjected to column chromatography to produce tyrosine rich fraction (TRF). TRF obtained was screened for immunomodulatory activity by above methods at the dose of 10 mg/kg, i.p. Results: TRF showed potentiation of DTH response in terms of significant increase in the mean difference in foot-pad thickness and it significantly increased neutrophil adhesion to nylon fibers by 48.20%. Percentage reduction in total leukocyte count and neutrophil by TRF was found to be 43.85% and 18.72%, respectively. Conclusion: Immunostimulant activity of TRF was more pronounced and thus it has great potential as a source for natural health products.

Keywords: Ficus religiosa, immunomodulatory, cyclophosphamide, neutropenia

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Authors: E. Saeedian, M. Shakerian, A. Zarif Sanayei, Z. Rakeb, F. N. Alizadeh, S. Sarshough, S. Sina

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Radiological protection for plants and animals is an area of regulatory importance. Acute doses of 0.1 Gy/d (10 rad/d) or below are highly unlikely to produce permanent, measurable negative effects on populations or communities of plants or animals. The advancement of radio diagnostics for domestic animals, particularly dogs and cats, has gained popularity in veterinary medicine. As pets are considered to be members of the family worldwide, they are entitled to the same care and protection. It is important to have a system of radiological protection for nonhuman organisms that complies with the focus on human health as outlined in ICRP publication 19. The present study attempts to assess surface-skin entrance doses in small pets undergoing abdominal radio diagnostic procedures utilizing a direct measurements technique with a thermoluminescent dosimeter. These measurements allow the determination of the entrance skin dose (ESD) by calculating the amount of radiation absorbed by the skin during exposure. A group of Thirty TLD-100 dosimeters produced by Harshaw Company, each with repeatability greater than 95% and calibration using ¹³⁷Cs gamma source, were utilized to measure doses to ten small pets, including cats and dogs in the radiological department in a veterinary clinic in Shiraz, Iran. Radiological procedures were performed using a portable imaging unit (Philips Super M100, Philips Medical System, Germany) to acquire images of the abdomen; ten exams of abdomen images of different pets were monitored, measuring the thicknesses of the two projections (lateral and ventrodorsal) and the distance of the X-ray source from the surface of each pet during the exams. A group of two dosimeters was used for each pet which has been stacked on their skin on the abdomen region. The outcome of this study involved medical procedures with the same kVp, mAs, and nearly identical positions for different diagnostic X-ray procedures executed over a period of two months. The result showed the mean ESD value was 260.34±50.06 µGy due to the approximate size of pets. Based on the results, the ESD value is associated with animal size, and larger animals have higher values. If a procedure doesn't require repetition, the dose can be optimized. For smaller animals, the main challenge in veterinary radiology is the dose increase caused by repetitions, which is most noticeable in the ventrodorsal position due to the difficulty in immobilizing the animal. Animals are an area of regulatory importance. Acute doses of 0.1 Gy/d (10 rad/d) or below are highly unlikely to produce permanent, measurable negative effects on populations or communities of plants or animals. The advancement of radio diagnostics for domestic animals, particularly dogs and cats, has gained popularity in veterinary medicine. As pets are considered to be members of the family worldwide, they are entitled to the same care and protection. It is important to have a system of radiological protection for nonhuman organisms that complies with the focus on human health as outlined in ICRP publication 19. The present study attempts to assess surface-skin entrance doses in small pets undergoing abdominal radio diagnostic procedures utilizing direct measurements.

Keywords: direct dose measuring, dosimetry, radiation protection, veterinary medicine

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Authors: Nimit Soonsan

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Hotel image is a key business issue in today’s hotel market and has been increasingly been recognized as a valuable and inimitable source of competitive advantage by many hotel. The current study attempted to develop and test a relationship of hotel image, overall satisfaction, and future behavior. Based on the above concepts, this paper hypothesizes the correlations among four constructs, namely, hotel image and overall satisfaction as antecedents of future behavior that positive word-of-mouth and intention to revisit. This study surveyed for a sample of 244 international customers staying budget hotel in Phuket, Thailand and using a structural equation modeling identified relationship between hotel image, overall satisfaction and future behavior. The major finding of structural equation modeling indicates that hotel image directly affects overall satisfaction and indirectly affects future behavior that positive word-of-mouth and intention to revisit. In addition, overall satisfaction had significant influence on future behavior that positive word-of-mouth and intention to revisit, and the mediating role of overall satisfaction is also confirmed in this study. Managerial implications are provided, limitations noted, and future research directions suggested.

Keywords: hotel image, satisfaction, word-of-mouth, revisit

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Authors: Turuganti Venkateswarlu, Jagadeesh Anmala

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Excessive runoffs from various non-point source land uses, and other point sources are rapidly contaminating the water quality of streams in the Upper Green River watershed, Kentucky, USA. It is essential to maintain the stream water quality as the river basin is one of the major freshwater sources in this province. It is also important to understand the water quality parameters (WQPs) quantitatively and qualitatively along with their important features as stream water is sensitive to climatic events and land-use practices. In this paper, a model was developed for predicting one of the significant WQPs, Fecal Coliform (FC) from precipitation, temperature, urban land use factor (ULUF), agricultural land use factor (ALUF), and forest land-use factor (FLUF) using Random Forest (RF) algorithm. The RF model, a novel ensemble learning algorithm, can even find out advanced feature importance characteristics from the given model inputs for different combinations. This model’s outcomes showed a good correlation between FC and climate events and land use factors (R2 = 0.94) and precipitation and temperature are the primary influencing factors for FC.

Keywords: water quality, land use factors, random forest, fecal coliform

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Mi Jianing

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The lack of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) infrastructure in African countries is hampering the successful adoption, development and implementation of e-government in Africa. Electronic government is the use of ICTs to modernize government public administration processes and to provide government services to citizens with a purpose to enhance efficiency, accountability, and transparency in government’s interaction with the citizenry. ICT application in public administration has the potential to modernize and create smarter government and improvement in public service delivery. China’s Internet Plus policy and One Belt One Road strategy present a golden opportunity for countries in Africa to attract the huge financial investment through Chinese IT companies to develop and close Africa’s ICT infrastructure gap. This study recommends the establishment of One Belt One Road ICT Infrastructure Fund for Africa (OBOR ICT Fund for Africa) to enable countries in Africa to source solely for the purpose of ICT infrastructure development in the public sector/government machinery which would in turn promote the adoption and development of e-government in the public sectors of respective countries in Africa.

Keywords: e-government, public service delivery, internet plus, one belt one road initiative, China, Africa

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Authors: Tabrej Khan, Tamer A. Sebaey, Balbir Singh, M. A. Umarfarooq

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Spread-tow thin-ply-based technology has resulted in the progress of optimized reinforced composite plies with ultra-low thicknesses. There is wide use of composite bolted joints in the aircraft industry for load-bearing structures, and they are regarded as the primary source of stress concentration. The purpose of this study is to look into the bearing strength and structural performance of single shear bolt joint configurations in composite laminates, which are basically a combination of conventional thin-plies and thick-plies in some specific stacking sequence. The placement effect of thin-ply within the configured stack on bearing strength, as well as the potential damages, were investigated. Mechanical tests were used to understand the disfigurement mechanisms of the plies and their reciprocity, as well as to reflect on the single shear bolt joint properties and its load-bearing capacity. The results showed that changing the configuration of laminates by inserting the thin plies inside improved the bearing strength by up to 19%.

Keywords: hybrid composites, delamination, stress concentrations, mechanical testing, single bolt joint, thin-plies

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Authors: Mahyar Mehrafarin, Reza Mehrafarin

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The Sistan region in eastern Iran is a significant archaeological area in Iran and the Middle East, encompassing 10,000 square kilometers. Previous archeological field surveys have identified 1662 ancient sites dating from prehistoric periods to the Islamic period. Research Aim: This article aims to explore the utilization of modern technologies and computers in archaeological field surveys in Sistan, Iran, and the benefits derived from their implementation. Methodology: The research employs a descriptive-analytical approach combined with field methods. New technologies and software, such as GPS, drones, magnetometers, equipped cameras, satellite images, and software programs like GIS, Map source, and Excel, were utilized to collect information and analyze data. Findings: The use of modern technologies and computers in archaeological field surveys proved to be essential. Traditional archaeological activities, such as excavation and field surveys, are time-consuming and costly. Employing modern technologies helps in preserving ancient sites, accurately recording archaeological data, reducing errors and mistakes, and facilitating correct and accurate analysis. Creating a comprehensive and accessible database, generating statistics, and producing graphic designs and diagrams are additional advantages derived from the use of efficient technologies in archaeology. Theoretical Importance: The integration of computers and modern technologies in archaeology contributes to interdisciplinary collaborations and facilitates the involvement of specialists from various fields, such as geography, history, art history, anthropology, laboratory sciences, and computer engineering. The utilization of computers in archaeology spanned across diverse areas, including database creation, statistical analysis, graphics implementation, laboratory and engineering applications, and even artificial intelligence, which remains an unexplored area in Iranian archaeology. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: Information was collected using modern technologies and software, capturing geographic coordinates, aerial images, archeogeophysical data, and satellite images. This data was then inputted into various software programs for analysis, including GIS, Map source, and Excel. The research employed both descriptive and analytical methods to present findings effectively. Question Addressed: The primary question addressed in this research is how the use of modern technologies and computers in archeological field surveys in Sistan, Iran, can enhance archaeological data collection, preservation, analysis, and accessibility. Conclusion: The utilization of modern technologies and computers in archaeological field surveys in Sistan, Iran, has proven to be necessary and beneficial. These technologies aid in preserving ancient sites, accurately recording archaeological data, reducing errors, and facilitating comprehensive analysis. The creation of accessible databases, statistics generation, graphic designs, and interdisciplinary collaborations are further advantages observed. It is recommended to explore the potential of artificial intelligence in Iranian archaeology as an unexplored area. The research has implications for cultural heritage organizations, archaeology students, and universities involved in archaeological field surveys in Sistan and Baluchistan province. Additionally, it contributes to enhancing the understanding and preservation of Iran's archaeological heritage.

Keywords: archaeological surveys, computer use, iran, modern technologies, sistan

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Authors: Talal Alsulaiman, Khaldoun Khashanah

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In this paper, we provided a literature survey on the artificial stock problem (ASM). The paper began by exploring the complexity of the stock market and the needs for ASM. ASM aims to investigate the link between individual behaviors (micro level) and financial market dynamics (macro level). The variety of patterns at the macro level is a function of the AFM complexity. The financial market system is a complex system where the relationship between the micro and macro level cannot be captured analytically. Computational approaches, such as simulation, are expected to comprehend this connection. Agent-based simulation is a simulation technique commonly used to build AFMs. The paper proceeds by discussing the components of the ASM. We consider the roles of behavioral finance (BF) alongside the traditionally risk-averse assumption in the construction of agent's attributes. Also, the influence of social networks in the developing of agents’ interactions is addressed. Network topologies such as a small world, distance-based, and scale-free networks may be utilized to outline economic collaborations. In addition, the primary methods for developing agents learning and adaptive abilities have been summarized. These incorporated approach such as Genetic Algorithm, Genetic Programming, Artificial neural network and Reinforcement Learning. In addition, the most common statistical properties (the stylized facts) of stock that are used for calibration and validation of ASM are discussed. Besides, we have reviewed the major related previous studies and categorize the utilized approaches as a part of these studies. Finally, research directions and potential research questions are argued. The research directions of ASM may focus on the macro level by analyzing the market dynamic or on the micro level by investigating the wealth distributions of the agents.

Keywords: artificial stock markets, market dynamics, bounded rationality, agent based simulation, learning, interaction, social networks

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Authors: Zhaojun Zheng, Yuanfa Liu, Jiaxin Li, Jinwei Li, Yong-jiang Xu, Chen Cao

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Black bean is an excellent protein source for preparing hydrolysates, which attract much attention due to their biological activity. The objective of this study was to characterize the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of black bean protein, hydrolyzed by ficin, bromelain or alcalase until 300 min of hydrolysis. Results showed that bromelain and alcalase hydrolysates possessed a higher degree of hydrolysis (DH) than that of ficin, thereby presenting different ultraviolet absorption, fluorescence intensity, and circular dichroism. Moreover, all hydrolysates possessed the capacity to scavenge DPPH radical with the lowest IC₅₀ of 21.11 µg/mL, as well as to chelate ferrous ion (Fe²⁺) with the IC₅₀ values ranging from 6.82 to 30.68 µg/mL. Intriguingly, the oxidation of linoleic acid, sunflower oil, and sunflower oil-in-water emulsion was remarkedly retarded by the three selected protein hydrolysates, especially by bromelain-treated protein hydrolysate, which might attribute to their high hydrophobicity and emulsifying properties. These findings can provide strong support for black bean protein hydrolysates to be employed in food products acting as natural antioxidant alternatives.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, black bean protein hydrolysate, emulsion physicochemical properties, sunflower oil

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Authors: Arsenio Jose Mindu

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The concern to carry out a study related to Energy Efficiency arose based on the various debates in international television networks and not only, but also in several forums of national debates. The concept of Energy Efficiency is not yet widely disseminated and /or taken into account in terms of energy consumption, not only at the domestic level but also at the industrial level in Mozambique. In the context of the energy audit, the time during which each of the appliances is connected to the voltage source, the time during which they are in standby mode was recorded on a spreadsheet basis. Based on these data, daily and monthly consumption was calculated. In order to have more accurate information on the daily levels of daily consumption, the electricity consumption was read every hour of the day (from 5:00 am to 11:00 pm), since after 23:00 the energy consumption remains constant. For ten days. Based on the daily energy consumption and the maximum consumption power, the design of the photovoltaic system for the residence was made. With the implementation of the photovoltaic system in order to guarantee energy efficiency, there was a significant reduction in the use of electricity from the public grid, increasing from approximately 17 kwh per day to around 11 kwh, thus achieving an energy efficiency of 67.4 %. That is to say, there was a reduction not only in terms of the amount of energy consumed but also of the monthly expenses with electricity, having increased from around 2,500,00Mt (2,500 meticais) to around 800Mt per month.

Keywords: energy efficiency, photovoltaic system, residential sector, Mozambique

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Authors: Norhidayah Suleiman, Afza Zulfaka

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Zingiber officinale var. Bentong has been identified as the source of high added value compound specifically gingerol-related compounds. The extraction of the high-value compound using conventional method resulted in low yield and time consumption. Hence, the motivation for this work is to investigate the effect of the extraction technique on the essential oil from Zingiber officinale var. Bentong rhizome for commercialization purpose in many industries namely, functional food, pharmaceutical, and cosmeceutical. The investigation begins with a pre-treatment using ultrasound assisted in order to enhance the recovery of essential oil. It was conducted at a fixed frequency (20 kHz) of ultrasound with various time (10, 20, 40 min). The extraction using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) were carried out afterward at a specific condition of temperature (50 °C) and pressure (30 MPa). scCO2 extraction seems to be a promising sustainable green method for the extraction of essential oil due to the benefits that CO2 possesses. The expected results demonstrated the ultrasound-assisted-scCO2 produces a higher yield of essential oil compared to solely scCO2 extraction. This research will provide important features for its application in food supplements or phytochemical preparations.

Keywords: essential oil, scCO2, ultrasound assisted, Zingiber officinale Var. Bentong

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Authors: Paul Okonkwo, Howard Smith

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This paper describes a methodology to integrate the Athena Vortex Lattice Aerodynamic Software for automated operation in a multivariate optimisation of the Blended Wing Body Aircraft. The Athena Vortex Lattice code developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Mark Drela allows for the aerodynamic analysis of aircraft using the vortex lattice method. Ordinarily, the Athena Vortex Lattice operation requires a text file containing the aircraft geometry to be loaded into the AVL solver in order to determine the aerodynamic forces and moments. However, automated operation will be required to enable integration into a multidisciplinary optimisation framework. Automated AVL operation within the JAVA design environment will nonetheless require a modification and recompilation of AVL source code into an executable file capable of running on windows and other platforms without the –X11 libraries. This paper describes the procedure for the integrating the FORTRAN written AVL software for automated operation within the multivariate design synthesis optimisation framework for the conceptual design of the BWB aircraft.

Keywords: aerodynamics, automation, optimisation, AVL

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Authors: O. A. Olagunju, S. L. Kiambi

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Municipal Plastic Wastes (MPW) can have several negative effects on the environment, and this is causing a growing concern which requires urgent intervention. Addressing these environmental challenges by proffering alternative end-of-life (EOL) techniques for MPW treatment is thus critical for designing and implementing effective long-term remedies. In this study, the environmental implications of several MPW treatment technologies were assessed using life cycle assessment (LCA). Our focus was on four potential waste treatment scenarios for MPW: waste disposal via landfill, waste incineration, waste regeneration, and reusability of recycled waste. The findings show that recycling has a greater benefit over landfilling and incineration methods. The most important environmental benefit comes from the recycling of plastics, which may serve as reliable source materials for environmentally friendly products. Following a holistic evaluation, five major factors that influence the overall impact on the environment were outlined: the mass fraction in waste, the recycling rate, the conversion efficiency, the waste-to-energy conversion rate, and the type of energy which can be utilized from incineration generated energy

Keywords: end-of-life, incineration, landfill, life cycle assessment, municipal plastic waste, recycling, waste-to-energy

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Authors: Anuruddha Jagoda, Samiddhi Samarakoon, Anil Jasinghe

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In its simplest form, data quality can be defined as 'fitness for use' and it is a concept with multi-dimensions. Emergency Departments(ED) require information to treat patients and on the other hand it is the primary source of information regarding accidents, injuries, emergencies etc. Also, it is the starting point of various patient registries, databases and surveillance systems. This interventional study was carried out to improve data quality at the ED of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) by introducing an e health solution to improve data quality. The NHSL is the premier trauma care centre in Sri Lanka. The study consisted of three components. A research study was conducted to assess the quality of data in relation to selected five dimensions of data quality namely accuracy, completeness, timeliness, legibility and reliability. The intervention was to develop and deploy an electronic emergency department information system (eEDIS). Post assessment of the intervention confirmed that all five dimensions of data quality had improved. The most significant improvements are noticed in accuracy and timeliness dimensions.

Keywords: electronic health records, electronic emergency department information system, emergency department, data quality

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Authors: Pablo Chico De Guzman, Cesar Sanchez

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Microservice architectures are increasingly in distributed cloud applications due to the advantages on the software composition, development speed, release cycle frequency and the business logic time to market. On the other hand, these architectures also introduce some challenges on the testing and release phases of applications. Container technology solves some of these issues by providing reproducible environments, easy of software distribution and isolation of processes. However, there are other issues that remain unsolved in current container technology when dealing with multiple machines, such as networking for multi-host communication, service discovery, load balancing or data persistency (even though some of these challenges are already solved by traditional cloud vendors in a very mature and widespread manner). Container cluster management tools, such as Kubernetes, Mesos or Docker Swarm, attempt to solve these problems by introducing a new control layer where the unit of deployment is the container (or the pod — a set of strongly related containers that must be deployed on the same machine). These tools are complex to configure and manage and they do not follow a pure immutable infrastructure approach since servers are reused between deployments. Indeed, these tools introduce dependencies at execution time for solving networking or service discovery problems. If an error on the control layer occurs, which would affect running applications, specific expertise is required to perform ad-hoc troubleshooting. As a consequence, it is not surprising that container cluster support is becoming a source of revenue for consulting services. This paper presents i2kit, a deployment tool based on the immutable infrastructure pattern, where the virtual machine is the unit of deployment. The input for i2kit is a declarative definition of a set of microservices, where each microservice is defined as a pod of containers. Microservices are built into machine images using linuxkit —- a tool for creating minimal linux distributions specialized in running containers. These machine images are then deployed to one or more virtual machines, which are exposed through a cloud vendor load balancer. Finally, the load balancer endpoint is set into other microservices using an environment variable, providing service discovery. The toolkit i2kit reuses the best ideas from container technology to solve problems like reproducible environments, process isolation, and software distribution, and at the same time relies on mature, proven cloud vendor technology for networking, load balancing and persistency. The result is a more robust system with no learning curve for troubleshooting running applications. We have implemented an open source prototype that transforms i2kit definitions into AWS cloud formation templates, where each microservice AMI (Amazon Machine Image) is created on the fly using linuxkit. Even though container cluster management tools have more flexibility for resource allocation optimization, we defend that adding a new control layer implies more important disadvantages. Resource allocation is greatly improved by using linuxkit, which introduces a very small footprint (around 35MB). Also, the system is more secure since linuxkit installs the minimum set of dependencies to run containers. The toolkit i2kit is currently under development at the IMDEA Software Institute.

Keywords: container, deployment, immutable infrastructure, microservice

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Authors: Jin-Siang Shaw, Patricia Moya Caceres, Sheng-Xiang Xu

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This paper aims to integrate the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method with the adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller (AFSMC) to achieve vibration attenuation in a piezoelectric actuator subject to base excitation. The piezoelectric actuator is a complicated system made of ferroelectric materials and its performance can be affected by nonlinear hysteresis loop and unknown system parameters and external disturbances. In this study, an adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller is proposed for the vibration control of the system, because the fuzzy sliding mode controller is designed to tackle the unknown parameters and external disturbance of the system, and the adaptive algorithm is aimed for fine-tuning this controller for error converging purpose. Particle swarm optimization method is used in order to find the optimal controller parameters for the piezoelectric actuator. PSO starts with a population of random possible solutions, called particles. The particles move through the search space with dynamically adjusted speed and direction that change according to their historical behavior, allowing the values of the particles to quickly converge towards the best solutions for the proposed problem. In this paper, an initial set of controller parameters is applied to the piezoelectric actuator which is subject to resonant base excitation with large amplitude vibration. The resulting vibration suppression is about 50%. Then PSO is applied to search for an optimal controller in the neighborhood of this initial controller. The performance of the optimal fuzzy sliding mode controller found by PSO indeed improves up to 97.8% vibration attenuation. Finally, adaptive version of fuzzy sliding mode controller is adopted for further improving vibration suppression. Simulation result verifies the performance of the adaptive controller with 99.98% vibration reduction. Namely the vibration of the piezoelectric actuator subject to resonant base excitation can be completely annihilated using this PSO based adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller.

Keywords: adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller, particle swarm optimization, piezoelectric actuator, vibration suppression

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Authors: Jie Su, Zhenghua Zhou, Yushi Wang, Yongyi Li

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The ground motion characteristics, which are given by the analysis of acceleration records, underlie the formulation and revision of the seismic design code of structural engineering. China Digital Strong Motion Network had recorded a lot of accelerograms of main shock from 478 permanent seismic stations, during the Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake on 12th May, 2008. These accelerograms provided a large number of essential data for the analysis of ground motion characteristics of the event. The spatial distribution characteristics, rupture directivity effect, hanging-wall and footwall effect had been studied based on these acceleration records. The results showed that the contours of horizontal peak ground acceleration and peak velocity were approximately parallel to the seismogenic fault which demonstrated that the distribution of the ground motion intensity was obviously controlled by the spatial extension direction of the seismogenic fault. Compared with the peak ground acceleration (PGA) recorded on the sites away from which the front of the fault rupture propagates, the PGA recorded on the sites toward which the front of the fault rupture propagates had larger amplitude and shorter duration, which indicated a significant rupture directivity effect. With the similar fault distance, the PGA of the hanging-wall is apparently greater than that of the foot-wall, while the peak velocity fails to observe this rule. Taking account of the seismic intensity distribution of Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake, the shape of strong ground motion contours was significantly affected by the directional effect in the regions with Chinese seismic intensity level VI ~ VIII. However, in the regions whose Chinese seismic intensity level are equal or greater than VIII, the mutual positional relationship between the strong ground motion contours and the surface outcrop trace of the fault was evidently influenced by the hanging-wall and foot-wall effect.

Keywords: hanging-wall and foot-wall effect, peak ground acceleration, rupture directivity effect, strong ground motion

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Authors: Bharath Kenchappa, Kunigal Shivakumar

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Lightweight, low thermal conductivity and high temperature resistant materials or the system with moderate mechanical properties and capable of taking high heating rates are needed in both commercial and military applications. A single material with these attributes is very difficult to find and one needs to come with innovative ideas to make such material system using what is available. To bring down the cost of the system, one has to be conscious about the cost of basic materials. Such a material system can be called as the thermal barrier system. This paper focuses on developing, testing and characterization of material system for thermal barrier applications. The material developed is porous, low density, low thermal conductivity of 0.1062 W/m C and glass transition temperature about 310 C. Also, the thermal properties of the developed material was measured in both longitudinal and thickness direction to highlight the fact that the material shows isotropic behavior. The material is called modified Eco-Core which uses only less than 9% weight of high-char resin in the composite. The filler (reinforcing material) is a component of fly ash called Cenosphere, they are hollow micro-bubbles made of ceramic materials. Special mixing-technique is used to surface coat the fillers with a thin layer of resin to develop a point-to-point contact of particles. One could use commercial ceramic micro-bubbles instead of Cenospheres, but it is expensive. The bulk density of Cenospheres is about 0.35 g/cc and we could accomplish the composite density of about 0.4 g/cc. One percent filler weight of 3mm length standard drywall grade fibers was used to bring the added toughness. Both thermal and mechanical characterization was performed and properties are documented. For higher temperature applications (up to 1,000 C), a hybrid system was developed using an aerogel mat. Properties of combined material was characterized and documented. Thermal tests were conducted on both the bare modified Eco-Core and hybrid materials to assess the suitability of the material to a thermal barrier application. The hybrid material system was found to meet the requirement of the application.

Keywords: aerogel, fly ash, porous material, thermal barrier

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Authors: Mingshu Liu, Laura Santamaria, Xavier Carmaniu Mainadé

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As one of the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism is facing challenges in revitalizing the industry. But at the same time, it would be a good opportunity to take advantage of digital communication as an effective tool for tourism promotion. Our proposal aims to verify the linguistic operations on online platforms in China. The research is carried out based on the theory of Eco-traductology put forward by Gengshen Hu, whose contribution focuses on the translator's adaptation to the ecosystem environment and the three elaborated parameters (linguistic, cultural and communicative). We also relate it to Even-Zohar's and Toury's theoretical postulates on the Polysystem to elaborate on interdisciplinary methodology. Such a methodology allows us to analyze personal treatments and phraseology in the target text. As for the corpus, we adopt the official Spanish-language website of Turismo de España as the source text and the postings on the two major social networks in China, Weibo and Wechat, in 2019. Through qualitative analysis, we conclude that, in the tourism advertising campaign on Chinese social networks, chengyu (Chinese phraseology) and honorific titles are used very frequently.

Keywords: digital communication, eco-traductology, polysystem theory, tourism advertising

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Authors: Maryam Tajadod

Abstract:

The treatment of cancer is one of the main challenges of nuclear medicine; while cancer begins in an organ, such as the breast or prostate, it spreads to the bone, resulting in metastatic bone. In the treatment of cancer with radiotherapy, the determination of the involved tissues’ dose is one of the important steps in the treatment protocol. Comparing absorbed doses for Lu-177 and Ra-223 and Ac-225 in the bone marrow and soft tissue of bone phantom with evaluating energetic emitted particles of these radionuclides is the important aim of this research. By the use of MCNPX computer code, a model for bone phantom was designed and the values of absorbed dose for Ra-223 and Ac-225, which are Alpha emitters & Lu-177, which is a beta emitter, were calculated. As a result of research, in comparing gamma radiation for three radionuclides, Lu-177 released the highest dose in the bone marrow and Ra-223 achieved the lowest level. On the other hand, the result showed that although the figures of absorbed dose for Ra and Ac in the bone marrow are near to each other, Ra spread more energy in cortical bone. Moreover, The alpha component of the Ra-223 and Ac-225 have very little effect on bone marrow and soft tissue than a beta component of the lu-177 and it leaves the highest absorbed dose in the bone where the source is located.

Keywords: bone metastases, lutetium-177, radium-223, actinium-225, absorbed dose

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Authors: Ehsan Derikvand, Hamid Kaykha, Rooholah Mansoori Yekta, Taleb Javanmard, Mohsen Mehdi Zadeh

Abstract:

Corrosion and scaling are one of the most complicated and costly problems of drinking water supply. Corrosion has adverse effect on general health and public acceptance of water source and drinking water supply costs. The present study aimed to determine the potentials of corrosion and scaling of potable water supply reservoirs of Ilam city in June 2013 and August 2014 by Langelier Index (LI) and Reynar. The results of experiments and calculations show that the mean index of LSI in the first and second sampling stages is 0.34, 0.2, respectively and the mean index RSI in the first and second stages of sampling is 7.15 and 7.22, respectively. Based on LSI index of reservoirs water in the first phase, none of stations are corrosive and only one station in the second sampling phase has corrosive tendency. According to RSI index, there is no corrosive tendency in two phases. Based on the results, the water of drinking water reservoirs in Ilam city has no corrosion tendency and the analyses and results of Langelier Index (LI) and Ryznar are in relatively good condition.

Keywords: corrosion, scaling, water reservoirs, langelier and ryznar indices, Ilam city

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Authors: Priti Saha, Biswajit Paul

Abstract:

Rapid urbanization and industrialization has increased the pollution load in surface water bodies. However, these water bodies are major source of water for drinking, irrigation, industrial activities and fishery. Therefore, water quality assessment is paramount importance to evaluate its suitability for all these purposes. This study focus to evaluate the surface water quality of an industrial city in eastern India through integrating interdisciplinary techniques. The multi-purpose Water Quality Index (WQI) assess the suitability for drinking, irrigation as well as fishery of forty-eight sampling locations, where 8.33% have excellent water quality (WQI:0-25) for fishery and 10.42%, 20.83% and 45.83% have good quality (WQI:25-50), which represents its suitability for drinking irrigation and fishery respectively. However, the industrial water quality was assessed through Ryznar Stability Index (LSI), which affirmed that only 6.25% of sampling locations have neither corrosive nor scale forming properties (RSI: 6.2-6.8). Integration of these statistical analysis with geographical information system (GIS) helps in spatial assessment. It identifies of the regions where the water quality is suitable for its use in drinking, irrigation, fishery as well as industrial activities. This research demonstrates the effectiveness of statistical and GIS techniques for water quality assessment.

Keywords: surface water, water quality assessment, water quality index, spatial assessment

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Authors: A. Alem, Y. Dahmani, A. Hadjali, A. Boualem

Abstract:

Managing the problem of the conflict, either by using the Dempster-Shafer theory, or by the application of the fusion process to push researchers in recent years to find ways to get to make best decisions especially; for information systems, vision, robotic and wireless sensor networks. In this paper we are interested to take account of the conflict in the combination step that took the conflict into account and tries to manage such a way that it does not influence the decision step, the conflict what from reliable sources. According to [1], the conflict lead to erroneous decisions in cases where was with strong degrees between sources of information, if the conflict is more than the maximum of the functions of belief mass K > max1...n (mi (A)), then the decision becomes impossible. We will demonstrate in this paper that the multiplication of mass functions by coefficients of reliability is a decreasing function; it leads to the reduction of conflict and a good decision. The definition of reliability coefficients accurately and multiply them by the mass functions of each information source to resolve the conflict and allow deciding whether the degree of conflict. The evaluation of this technique is done by a use case; a comparison of the combination of springs with a maximum conflict without, and with reliability coefficients.

Keywords: Dempster-Shafer theory, fusion process, conflict managing, reliability factors, decision

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Authors: Hala A. Hassan, Vasiliki K. Tsiouri, Konstantinos E. Konstantinos

Abstract:

Fugitive particulate matter (PM) is a major source of airborne pollution in the Middle East countries. The meteorological conditions and topography of the area make it highly susceptible to wind-blown particles which raise many air quality concerns. Air quality tools such as field monitoring, emission factors, and dispersion modeling have been used in previous research studies to analyze the release and impacts of fugitive PM in the region. However, these tools have been originally developed based on experiments made for European and North American regions. In this work, an experimental campaign was conducted on April-May 2014 in a construction site in Doha city, Qatar. The ultimate goal is to evaluate the applicability of the existing emission factors for construction sites in dry and arid areas like the Middle East. This publication was made possible by a NPRP award [NPRP 7-649-2-241] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Keywords: particulate matter, emissions, fugitive, construction, air pollution

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Authors: Isaac Ali Kwasu, Aje Tokan

Abstract:

The research was set to design a manually pedal operated water pump to aid water flow technology for irrigation activities for rural farmers. The development was carried out first by a prototype design to guide the fabrication. All items needed for the fabrication were used for the final product. The machine is operated manually by pedaling. This engages all the parts of the machine into active motion. Energy is generated and transfer finally to the pumping unit which is wired with plastic pipes. The pumping unit which is wired with PVC pipes, both linked to the water source and the reservoir respectively. The (rpm) revolution per minute of the machine is approximated at 3130 depending on the pedaling speed of the user. The machine does not have gear arrangement yet can give high (rpm) for effective performance. The pumping performance of the machine is 125 liters in one minute and can sustain small scale irrigation farming activities and to supplement water management system to sustain crop growth.

Keywords: pump, development, manual, flywheel, sprocket, pulley, machine, v belt, chain, hub, pipe, steel, mechanism, irrigation, prototype, fabrication

Procedia PDF Downloads 199

Authors: Iniye Irene Wodi, Kennedy B. Gibson

Abstract:

Students’ poor performance in mathematics in both internal and external examinations has been a source of concern to researchers in Nigeria. The cause of this has been attributed to both teachers and students. To this end, this study sought to find out students’ perceptions of teachers’ attributes as a cause of mathematics phobia among secondary school students in Bayelsa State Nigeria. The population of the study comprised of all students of senior secondary schools in Yenagoa metropolis. A sample of 120 students was drawn from this population using clustering and simple random sampling techniques. The instrument for data collection was a researcher constructed questionnaire titled Mathematics Phobia Questionnaire (MPQ). Data were analysed, and the results revealed that students perceived teachers’ attributes such as methods and styles of teaching, difficulty in communication, etc. as causes of mathematics phobia among students in senior secondary schools in Bayelsa State. Based on the result, it was therefore recommended that mathematics teachers should be retrained periodically in order to learn new and innovative ways of teaching mathematics to prevent its phobia among students.

Keywords: mathematics phobia, teacher attributes, teaching method, teaching style

Procedia PDF Downloads 107